230 
[ September 15, 1892. 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
gardens at Frogmore, and of the beautiful terrace gardens at 
Windsor. Frogmore is a great supply establishment, five or six men 
being constantly employed in gathering and packing produce for 
the Castle, Balmoral, Osborne, or wherever the Court may be. The 
kitchen garden ground is nearly 50 acres in extent, and every part 
as clean and orderly as a well-kept villa garden. The aggregate 
length of rows of one sowing of Peas was just a mile, and other 
crops are grown on a proportionately large scale ; 11 acres are 
devoted to Potatoes, Asparagus, Seakale ; and even Horseradish 
are grown by the acre. The walks are margined by Lothian 
Stocks—fine bushes, 2 feet high and through, from seed sown in 
February. 
On the walls the Peach crop is a magnificent one, hundreds of 
dozens of fruit having been gathered with plenty more to follow. 
On the walks are 2000 Chrysanthemums admirably grown, mostly 
for producing large blooms, and many buds are set ; but several 
plants are grown as bushes for supplying armfuls of cut flowers, 
while a few hundreds of hardy little plants for decorative purposes 
are coming on from cuttings inserted early in August. Of Straw¬ 
berries, 10,000 are established in pots for forcing, some with huge 
crowns, others not long placed in their fruiting pots. La Grosse 
Sucree is preferred to all other varieties. Good work is being 
done under glass. Vines are in various stages, the roof lights are 
off the early houses, and the Vines ready for pruning. Several 
houses have been planted with young Vines, which have made 
excellent and firm growth. Mr. Thomas is no believer in the wild 
system of unrestricted growth in summer to be cut away by yards 
in the autumn, and he tops young Vines when he thinks they have 
gone far enough. That he will have fine Grapes is certain ; and 
he is almost certain to work on the steady extension system. 
Very good crops of Grapes are hanging on established Vines, 
and in one house especially the beneficial effects of a change in 
pruning is very striking. The Vines had been closely spurred for 
years, with the result that the growth became weaker and the crop 
lighter. The laterals were shortened to the best eyes on ripe wood 
from 3 to 6 inches from the rods, and the house was filled with 
good Grapes, the crop being quadrupled in a season. Amongst 
them is a seedling of the Lady Downe’s type, though much finer, 
but its quality and keeping value remain to be tested. 
The Pines for which Frogmore has long been famed, planted in 
2 feet of soil on beds of 6 feet of leaves in Dutch pits, are in 
splendid condition and supporting magnificent fruit. Successional 
plants from suckers planted in April have made marvellous pro¬ 
gress, the plants reminding of Yuccas by their broad thick leaves. 
Massive fruits may be expected from them next year, and the re¬ 
putation of the Royal Gardens in this department will be sustained. 
Melons are grown in hundreds—enough for a town, one would 
think, and something like a town has to be supplied, for when the 
majestic old castle is full, the demand for all kinds of produce is 
enormous. A glance was cast across the terrace garden, in which 
bright and sweet flowers are charmingly associated with choice 
Conifers and ornamental shrubs. The combination is a delightful 
one and possibly unique. 
Mr. Thomas has been long enough to get a firm grip of his 
duties and to prove himself master of his great charge. He is 
loyally supported by permanent departmental foremen, of whom 
he speaks highly ; they will find in him a chief as just as he is 
able, and the fair fame of the Royal Gardens is safe in his keep¬ 
ing. — J. Weight. 
P.S.—I have to revert to the Manresa Vine, to give Mr. 
Cannell of Swanley the credit to which he is entitled. He is the 
real author of the famous Vine. Thirty-five years ago he was 
engaged in a public discussion, and it was because his arguments in 
favour of extension appeared stronger than those of his opponent 
against it—at least to Mr. Davis—that he determined to try the 
plan on the first opportunity, and this occurred at Roehampton. 
Mr. Davis stated this to Mr. Thomas and myself at our recent 
visit, and it is only fair to the Swanley original—for an “ original ” 
he is—that the fact should be recorded. Mr. Davis not only raised 
the "V ine, but built the house and glazed its 3584 square feet of 
roof with his own hands. Mr. Cannell should go to see his 
disc pie.—J. W. 
THE ROCK GARDEN. 
( Concluded from page .97.) 
The Saxifrages, Sempervivums, and Sedums form a very 
numerous group of plants of the most varied forms and characters, 
many of which are admirably adapted for the rockery ; indeed, 
I once remember seeing in the North of England a rock garden 
in which the plants were almost exclusively of these groups, 
and a very pretty rockery it was ; but while few will be inclined 
to imitate this, there is no one who has a rockery that does not feel 
himself indebted to these plants for many an adornment to it. 
Although there may be some more “ coy to please ” than others, 
yet, as a rule, they are easily grown ; they are amongst the very 
earliest flowers to bloom, for Saxifraga Burseriana comes even 
before the Snowdrop, and from these a long succession of plants, 
pretty in foliage and in flower, follow on for several months. In 
a small garden like mine one cannot indulge in the luxury of 
growing all or anything like all of these plants, and I have, 
therefore, made a selection of a few of the best. 
Saxifraga Burseriana.—Nothing can be neater than this pretty 
but slow growing species, its “hedgehog-like” rosettes being 
covered in early spring with large white flowers on bright red 
flower stems. These are produced so abundantly that they com¬ 
pletely hide the foliage. The variety major i9 larger. 
Saxifraga lantescana.—A fine rosette, sending up large panicles 
of white blooms, closely resembling pyramidalis. 
Saxifraga Macnabiana.—A charming plant with panicles of 
white flowers, beautifully spotted, and marked with carmine. 
Saxifraga longifolia vera.—This great Pyrenean Saxifrage has 
been called, and not undeservedly, the queen of Saxifrages. I have 
had it many times, and it has grown and flowered well, but unfortu¬ 
nately its habit is to die after this, bearing no offsets—at least, I 
have never found any, so that it has to be constantly raised from 
seed. By far the finest lot of plants I have ever seen were at the 
Millmead Nursery, Guildford. There was a bed of them containing 
hundreds of plants, which had all been imported from the Pyrenees 
—plants measuring 15 to 18 inches across, and all in most vigorous 
health. Their appearance was a treat indeed, and disposed of the 
idea, which had always been stated by growers, that it required to 
be planted on a slope in the rockery, for it is evident that, like 
Ramondia from the same region, it will do on level ground equally 
well. Probably it is generally found in this position, and hence it 
has been supposed that it was necessary to imitate Nature in the 
garden. There is this, however, to be said in favour of planting it 
laterally—that you see the beautiful rosette of foliage to much 
greater perfection. It is extremely hardy ; no amount of frost 
seems to have any effect upon it. 
Saxifraga oppositifolia.—This charming dwarf Saxifrage is one 
that for a long time puzzled me. I tried it in various situations 
and on various soils, but to no purpose, and yet everybody told me 
it was amongst those plants that “duffers” could grow, so that I 
was worse than a duffer. At last I tried it on a small rockery, just 
under my study window, and there it has done admirably, and it is 
certainly one of the most delightful of our early spring flowers. 
Where it has freer scope than it has with me I have seen it clothing 
rocks and stones with its pretty close foliage. The variety alba is 
also very pretty, and there have been some varieties introduced 
which are more desirable even than the type, the flowers being 
larger, and also produced in greater abundance. Of these pyrenaica, 
introduced by Mr. Backhouse, and splendens are perhaps the most 
desirable. Of the Mossy Saxifrages perhaps the prettiest, both in 
its large cushions of mossy looking foliage and its bright flowers, is 
atro-purpurea ; it thrives, too, in almost any situation on the 
rockery, and increases very rapidly ; its brilliant starry red flowers 
set on their soft cushions of moss make it a very attractive object. 
Sempervivums.—Of these I have only grown two or three 
of the most distinct kinds. Arachnoideum is well known for its 
curious spider’s web-like filaments, which spread from point to point 
of its charming rosettes. It is best grown in poor soil, and with a 
quantity of broken stones, or in the crevice between two pieces of 
rock. It will bear any amount of fierce sunlight, for I have seen 
it in chinks of rocks in the very hottest place in the “Mauvais 
Pas,” near Chamounix, where one would think it could not have 
found any soil to root in. Our wet autumns and winters, 
although they do not kill the plant, take away a great deal 
from its beauty, washing off to a large extent the delicate web-like 
structure, and it is, therefore, one of those plants which will be 
all the better for a piece of glass over it in the winter. 
