October 6, 1887. ] 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
297 
are well grown at Alnwick, and by means of a process of renovating old 
specimens, or planting young, the bouses are now filled with healthy 
fruitful ^ ines, of which Mr. Harris may well be proud. Several of the 
best varieties are grown, Black Hamburgh and Muscat of Alexandria 
being first favo irites, and fine bundles of both are produced. The 
Muscats are an especial feature, capital bunches being obtained weigh¬ 
ing from 4 to 6 lbs. each, and these from cut-down Vines. Some young 
A ines, two years planted, are thriving well, making fine rods that in a 
year or two will give some substantial results. Mrs. Pince, Lady Downe’s, 
Alicantes, and Trebbiano are the other leading varieties, all being ex¬ 
tremely good, the first-named unusually so. In the Peach houses are 
some fine old trees, several perhaps exceeding fifty years in age, and one 
tree of Royal George, I think, has its stem over a foot in diameter at the 
juncture of the stock and scion, yet this has had 300 fruits in one season, 
and is in good health now. Violette Hative. in the same division, is also 
of groat size, similarly vigorous and fruitful. The second division con- 
Red affording the principal crops of the latter. Out of doors Earliest of 
All has proved not only the earliest but the most prolific cropper, as the 
other cultivators have found. Mushrooms are grown extensively, and a 
large house is appropriated to this purpose filled with four tiers of iron stage s 
each !) inches deep, so that a very m oderate amount of manure and soil 
is required on each bed. Care is exercised in procuring good spawn, and 
plentiful crops are obtained throughout the greater portion of the year. 
In the plant houses, of which there are several, for the propagation and 
culture of decorative plants, table plants, Ferns, See., is a fine stock of 
healtay little specimens, Ferns and Palms being uncommonly well 
grown. Calanthcs are similarly successful, and a plant that is much 
valued is the Otaheite Orange. Numbers of these are grown m 43 and 
32-size pots, and when bearing twenty or more small brightly coloured 
fruits they have a very ornamental appearance. The cuttings are struck 
in spring, this variety being rea lily increased by this means, anti in two 
jears compact bushy little specimens in 32-size pots are secured which 
Fig. 38.—ALNWICK CASTLE. 
tains some younger trees, and others that have been lifted, the borders 
drained, and their condition correspondingly improved. A specimen of 
Royal George, two years planted, is making good progress ; Pineapple 
Aectarine is a favourite, and does well. Barrington has had a magnificent 
crop, some of the fruits weighing 11 ozs., and Prince of Wales is much 
*ipreciated as a late varietv, bearing a large crop of fine, good-flavoured 
fruits. In the third division, Late Admirable Peach. Elruge, Violette 
Hative. and Hunt’s Tawny Nectarines, are surprisingly prolific, from 
tan to fifteen dozen fruits having been gathered daily. 
Numerous other houses are devoted to fruit and plants. Pines occupy 
several houses and pits, about 400 fruiting plants being grown every 
year. Queens, Smooth Cayenne, Charlotte Rothschild, witha few Black 
Jamaica and Lambton Castle, are the varieties, and fine even fruits are 
obtained of each, the two first named being mainly relied upon. Melons 
rire in much demand, and a long succession of fruits are obtained from 
La Favourite, Victory of Bristol, Read’s Scarlet Flesh, and Longleat 
1 erfection, some of the latter weighing 6.J lbs., and the variety is valued 
highly for its fine quality and excellent flavour. The plants are grown 
ia pots, several crops being obtained from the same plants, by liberal 
■treatment and encouragement of fresh growth. Cucumbers and Toma¬ 
toes are also largely grown, Earliest of All, Hackwood Park, and the Old 
ripen their fruits by Christmas time, and are then most useful for many 
purposes. 
FLOWER GARDEN AYD HOLLY BEDS. 
The flower garden, as previously stated, extends from the conserva¬ 
tory up to the kitchen garden wall, the principal beds and borders being 
formed in four large oblong grass lawns, with broad paths up the centre 
and across at right angles. Facing the conservatory at the end of tl e 
central path is a fountain or pool of water surrounded by masonry, and 
above this is a steep slope with a scroll in Box and large masses of 
variegated Hollies, Laurels, and Mahonias arranged in festoon-shaped 
beds on the banks at the side. Hypericum calycinum also covers a 
large spaci on the bank, having been established in a sandy soil, where 
little else would thrive. The central portion of this slope is occupied 
with an uncommon and effective design representing the Ducal badge 
of the crescent, interlaced in small closely clipped Hollies. The plan of 
this design is shown in fig. 37 greatly reduced, the entire circle beii g 
72 feet in diameter. In the centre (1) is a specimen plant of the Golden 
Queen Holly surrounded by a neat e Ige of the small-leaved Wood Ivy 
(2), and common Box (3), which also forms the defining line to the 
crescents, as marked in the plan. The latter are planted with Hollies 
as follows ;—In opposite pairs, 4, 4, with Golden Queen; 5, 5, with 
