September 1, 1887. ] 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
183 
day every wasp will be found dead. They can be destroyed in this way 
in all places where the air can be excluded.—G. Garner, Amberwood 
Gardens, Hants. 
MR. ALEXANDER HILL GRAY AT HOME. 
BEAULIEU, NEWBRIDGE-IN-BATH. 
There are few Rose lovers to whom the name of this enthusiastic 
Scotchman is not well known, and the readers of the “ Rosarian’s Year 
Book ” will not fail to remember the amusing and instructive articles 
that he has written, both of his experience in Rose growing and Rose 
showing in Scotland, and also of his explorations in the Azores, &c. 
There are many, too, to whom he is well known personally, who 
have enjoyed the wonderful stories he has to tell of his experiences 
in all parts of the world ; of a three-years sojourn in the diamond fields 
of South Africa, of adventures in Borneo and the Golden Chersonese, 
of the share he had in the scenes of the Indian Mutiny, and of “ hair¬ 
breadth ’scapes by flood and field.” When, then, I found after the 
Taunton Show that I had a day at my disposal I determined to accept 
his kind invitation and “ beard the Douglas in his hall,” for it is in Bath, 
or rather close to it, at Newbridge Hill, that he has now located 
himself. 
When his little boy was asked some time ago what he would like to 
be, his reply was, “ The same as father.” “ And what do you think 
that is ?” “ Why, growing Roses ;” and I do not think a truer description 
of the bent and purpose of Mr. Gray’s life could be given, only I 
should have interpolated “ Tea ” before the Roses. He has been living 
at Dunkeld in Perthshire, but finding that that northern climate was far 
too bleak for his favourites he determined to migrate south, and, like 
most of those persons who form an ideal of what they want and then 
go to look for it, he found it very difficult to get what he wanted. 
He had to consider a home for himself and a home for his Roses. He 
had to be near a railway, and not far from a town ; not that he cared 
much about a place being secluded, for he has lived so much of a hermit 
life in his wanderings that, while one of the pleasantest of companions, 
he hates the conventionalities of ultra-civilised life, but there are con¬ 
veniences connected with large towns which cannot be ignored. He 
searched over the southern counties—Mid-Kent, Surrey, and Sussex, 
hunted up everything that was offered for sale, and at last has pitched 
his tent near to Bath. But even now he has not obtained all he wanted, 
for the soil in the neighbourhood is not a Rose soil. But I have ever 
maintained that this is a matter of secondary importance ; if you have 
climate you can make soil, and the climate of Bath is admirably adapted 
for Rose culture. I have not the slightest doubt that Mr. Gray will 
overcome all the difficulties of soil, and the steps that he has already 
taken in this direction show clearly that he intends so to do. 
The house is situated at the top of the hill facing the south ; on the 
foot of it a fine Magnolia luxuriates (perhaps it will have to give way 
to a Rose by-and-by). It is now approached in a quiet sort of way 
f rom the high road down a series of stone steps, but among the altera¬ 
tions intended is that of making a carriage road from the far entrance 
of the grounds to the front of the house ; indeed, it has been already 
begun. The ground slopes very steeply to the river Avon, on the banks 
of which is a level meadow, a portion of which I should never be sur¬ 
prised to hear had been absorbed by the Roses. It would be a nice cool 
place for late blooming. Inside of the house is a suitable museum, and 
in the dining-room is a grand collection of horns of buffaloes, deers, and 
other ruminants. All over the house are chests, closets, boxes, Ac., 
which contain curios from all parts of the world ; indeed, the owner 
once upon a time filled a town hall with his productions ; he has books 
of photographs from countries (such as Borneo) very little known to 
Europeans, and altogether eyes and ears may have a real treat here, 
but these things must not and did not keep me from the main object of 
my visit, the Tea Rose growing. 
Situated on a very steep declivity it was felt by Mr. Gray that it 
would be hopeless to grow Tea Roses or any Roses of any kind in such 
a position, as the soil would be immediately washed away ; moreover, 
the soil was unsuitable and would have to be removed. The place alto¬ 
gether had been greatly neglected, and so strong measures were needed, 
and strong measures have been adopted, for Mr. Gray has made a series 
of broad terraces with stone walls. Some of these walls are 20 feet high, 
and it may readily be imagined what a work this has been. There are 
several of these terraces, and in the laying of them out only one thing 
has been taken into account, the Tea Rose and its requirements. The 
walls are all wired, and although I was told that Mr. Gray intended to 
grow fruit trees and Roses on them, I suspect very much that it is Roses 
and fruit trees, and that by-and-by the latter will be dropped. I have 
Slid that the soil is not a good Rose one, but there is every probability 
that it will be in a v ry short time all that the Roses require. I have 
said that there was plenty for eyes and ears, and so there is also for 
noses, for of all the loud smells that I ever happened to come across I 
think the whiffs one got in going through the garden could hold com¬ 
parison with any. The seventy smells of Cologne, the delightful odours 
of a French country town, the abominations of Widnes were, I think, left 
behind in the race by especially one heap I passed. What could it con¬ 
tain 1 Oh I only brewers’ grains, paring of horses’ hoofs, of which he had 
laid in a ton weight, and sheep manure, the brewers’ grains being possibly 
the most potent factor. Already he has put 400 tons of manure in his 
garden, and still the cry is for more. We were calling together at Aider- 
man Chaffin’s to see Mr. Taylor’s wonderful Grape growing, and on his 
asking him what manure he used and being told it was cowdung, “ Are 
you offered more than you require ?” “ Oh ! yes.” “ Well, then I wish 
you would put me in the way of a hundred loads of it.” It may be 
thought that Mr. Gray is overdoing it in the matter of manure. I do 
not think so. There is a large space of ground to fill in, and the soil 
evidently will absorb a great deal of the richest material that can be 
placed in it. And now about the Roses themselves. Most of the trees (which 
are dwarfs) have been removed from Dunkeld, and are evidently re¬ 
joicing in the change; they all looked well and in good health. They were 
in many cases planted somewhat thickly, but that is only temporary, as 
they will have to be lifted in the autumn and planted permanently. On 
the terraces are large beds full of Tea Roses ; on the walls and under 
the glass verandah are some of the seedlings he raised from the heps 
gathered in the Azores, but as yet nothing very remarkable has ap¬ 
peared amongst them. There was one very pretty buttonhole something 
in the way of William Allen Richardson, but very much smaller, that 
I thought very pretty. There were also single ones, but as yet nothing 
very worthy of notice has flowered. There are many more still to bloom, 
and it has always been found by raisers of seedling Roses that the most 
precocious are of very little use. Then in one corner we found a flou¬ 
rishing bush of Fortune’s Yellow. Here again is a good promising row 
of Marfichal Niel standards promising well, while in another place a fine 
piece of budded Briars had to be sacrificed for the alterations. Mr. 
Gray evidently felt very much the heinousness of his sin in thus giving 
them up to destruction ; but what could he do ? Necessity has no laws, 
and there was a necessity for his doing this. You cannot turn any¬ 
where in the garden but Tea Roses confront you. 
Roses to Tight of them; 
Boses to left ot them, &c. 
like the guns at Balaclava. Already upwards of 2000 Teas have been 
planted; about 1500 more have been budded this year on Briar cuttings 
and the seedling Briar, and I have no doubt that these are but the 
advanced guard of more numerous battalions. It may readily be 
surmised, then, that some of our champion amateur Tea men are very 
considerably exercised about this prospective competitor, and there is 
no doubt that he will be a very formidable antagonist. There is one 
point on which their hopes considerably rest—that he will in such a 
situation be too early for the general run of exhibitions, and that his 
Teas will be over before the National holds its meeting. I should be 
sorry to dash their hopes, but I do not think that there is much comfort 
to be derived from this consideration. In the first place, while Bath is 
early as a rule, yet the situation of Beaulieu being high up, will, I 
think, make it somewhat later than many situations round the city, and 
as a matter of fact excellent Teas are those from Bath up to the middle 
of July ; then, in the second place, the large number of plants, and the 
different positions in which they are to be found, will always be in his 
favour. It is here that big battalions carry weight; even the same 
variety of Rose shows a difference in the time of blooming, even in a 
short row of plants ; and where so many aspects are available, there 
can never, in so large a collection, be a deficiency of bloom. And then, 
thirdly, there is the consideration of pruning. By judiciously varying 
the time of pruning, the flowering may be accelerated or retarded, and 
Mr. Gray is too wary a grower not to take advantage of this. He has 
not as yet decided whether he shall enter the lists or not next year, but 
should he do so, all Tea growers will find in him a very formidable 
competitor. 
I have thus endeavoured to give an idea of what I cannot but consider 
the most remarkable Rose garden in the kingdom. It is now in a state 
of transition, but when Mr. Gray’s work is complete, and when his army 
of labourers (there were twenty-one at work there the day I saw it), 
have been paid off, I venture to believe it will be a unique Rose garden. 
I know most of those in the kingdom, but I may fearlessly say that 
there is not one like this. 
When the night closed in and we had a quiet chat together, many 
subjects connected with the Rose and Rose showing were touched upon. 
On some we agreed, and on others we differed. There was one point of 
interest that he was very persistent about—viz., that the judges should, 
in the principal classes when awarding the prize, also place on the card 
the number of points it had received, for the benefit of learners. It 
was in vain I pointed out to him the trouble and the difficulty of 
doing it in time, or the fact that some judges would take a higher 
standard than others, and that unless each Rose were marked, no great 
advantage would be reaped. He returned to the charge, and so I 
promised that' I would bring it before the public. He did not 
want it, he said, so as to make it appear that judges had to give 
reasons for their adjudication, but for the purpose of teaching 
others. 
1 need hardly say that I received a most kind and courteous 
reception, and I am quite sure that when Mr. Gray has got his place into 
order he will welcome all true lovers of the Rose, and be glad to have 
a chat with them over the flower they love, not only wisely, but well. 
—D., Heal. 
VINE BORDERS AND UNORTHODOX PRUNING. 
“ Experientia docet ” asks, page 133, “ What is the subject in 
dispute ? ” and answers the question by the refreshing statement that 
where the spur system of pruning produces satisfactory Grapes no 
one will be urged to change his plan of action. “ It may be right for 
one class of Vines, and it is right, but it is utterly wrong for others.” 
“What reasonable man,” further queries “Experientia docet,” “can 
object to that, except for the sake of controversy and argument l ” 
