488 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[ November 29, 18891 
at a less cost than I could build the structure 1 foot higher ; and 
secondly, if the soil was of a suitable nature for Roses it would be 
placed in the central and side beds. This would prove a saving of 
labour, and require considerably less soil to make up the beds. The in¬ 
ternal walls for the central and side beds would not be 2 feet 6 inches, 
the same as the outer ones ; they would not exceed 18 inches, which 
would allow head room for the plants. If I was compelled to have 
the walks of the house practically on the ground level, or a very few 
inches below it, I should have the structure 8 feet high. Houses of the 
nature I am advising would not do well for private places where 
ladies might wish to go round them, but in growing specially for the 
market I should construct them on the principle that no one required 
to go through the houses but myself. I may add that the side glass 
would simply consist of squares of glass placed edge to edge, resting on 
the wall plate and supported against the cave. To keep them in posi¬ 
tion a small strip of wood would be secured to the wall plate, and the 
same on the under side of the wood to which the rafters are secured, 
as well as on the uprights from the wall plate to the eave, the squares 
being pressed against a little putty and tacked into position ; no side 
ventilation would thus be provided according to the orthodox method, 
but the squares could readily be removed if deemed necessary.— 
Wm, Bardney. 
CLOYELLY COURT, BIDEFORD. 
A description of Clovelly Court would be incomplete without a 
reference being made to the picturesque village from which it takes its 
name. Leaving Ilfracombe at ten o’clock in the morning by the well- 
fitted Velindra steamer, the visitor, passing Lundy Island half-way on 
the right hand side, will find himself two hours later within 200 yards 
of the rough boulder-constructed pier of Clovelly, whither he and his 
companions are rowed in boats of the sturdy fishermen. The view of 
Clovelly from the sea, with its string of irregular white and partly 
lichen-covered cottages ensconced on either side of the gigantic stair¬ 
case-like street, with wooded slopes on each side, is strikingly beautiful. 
From the pier, which is reached at low water by means of perpendicular 
ladders, to that point at the top where the principal street, which is 
almost precipitous in some parts, joins with the high road, there is not 
60 yards of level ground. The only piece of level is a kind of landing 
in the street-staircase, one-third of the way up, commanding a view of 
the harbour, with its red sailed fishing boats. Pretty cottages line the 
street, here two or three together, there standing apart, almost all with 
well-cared-for gardens, and at one point the village seems to end 
abruptly, till the visitor discovers that the road is carried through a 
tower-like house. 
Clovelly Court, the North Devon residence of Miss Hamlyn Fane, 
is high among tufted trees, half a mile west of the village. It is a 
handsome mansion, erected in 1780. Close by stands the church, in which 
the late Canon Kingsley ministered for so many years to the spiritual 
requirements of the Clovellian population. The grounds are open to 
visitors by favour of the owners. They are extensive, of great beauty, 
and a variety of pleasing view’s present themselves at every turn in the 
winding paths, w'hich, passing by lichen-covered rocks, and through 
leafy glens and ferny combes, suddenly opens upon the sea. The 
zigzag drive through the “Hobby” wood, though of great beauty, is, 
nevertheless, calculated to inspire the stoutest heart with a wholesome 
fear in ascending and descending, as it W’ere, on the verv edge of the 
precipitous rocky slopes some 400 feet above the sea. It skirts the cliff 
line for three miles, thereby affording grand glimpses of the sea on the 
one hand, and on the other of the woods, streams, and glens for which 
North Devon is celebrated. “Gallantry Bow r er” is the name given to 
a steep and lofty cliff overlooking a glorious panorama of sea on the 
one side and richly wooded country on the other. It is 360 feet above 
the sea, and less than one mile westward of the Court. A short distance 
from Gallantry Bower is Mouth Mill. It is a pretty combe, where two 
streams unite, opening to the sea. The view westward to Hartland 
Point is very striking. Eastward it stretches over Bideford Bay to Baggy 
Point. A couple of hundred yards to the right from the top of the 
village and on high ground to the left of the entrance gate to 'Clovelly 
grounds, stands the lighthouse. The Park, opposite the north-west 
front of the Court, consists of table land, the soil being a deep loam 
resting on a stratum of clay. It was once famous for its hawks. “ A 
Clovelly hawk against all the world.” 
Nearly all trees do well in the park and grounds at Clovelly, except 
at a few points where they are exposed to the Atlantic breeze, notably 
all Conifers. In the West Wood there are several fine specimens of 
the Silver Fir nearly 100 feet high, and ranging in girth from 11 feet 
to 15 feet, Spanish Chestnuts having a circumference of stem of 10 feet 
at 3 feet from the ground, while two specimens of the common Horse 
Chestnut measure 16 feet 8 inches and 19 feet 3 inches respectively 
round the trunk at the same distance from the ground. The Hobby 
Wood contains fine examples of Beech, Oak, Chestnuts, &c. The timber 
in the hollow being out of the reach of the Atlantic spray is especially 
good, and the declivity from the drive alluded to above down to the 
beach is wood throughout. Flowering shrubs, especially Rhodo¬ 
dendrons (which form a cover in the Wilderness), Escallonia 
macrantha, and Hydrangeas do remarkably well here. It is a notable 
fact that in a rather exposed part of the park north-west of the Court 
and extending to the terraced grounds southward of it there are several 
remarkable fiat-headed bushes of Thorn of unduly large horizontal 
dimensions, remarkable by reason of the uniform flatness and height of 
head of all the bushes within the line of the Atlantic breeze, thereby 
giving one the idea that a huge switching-hook had been passed with' 
gigantic force simultaneously over their heads every spring and autumn- 
To this fact, the persistent restriction of top growth to a certain line, is 
to be attributed the unusually large spread of branches of the individual 
bushes, underneath and between which are to be seen a good number of 
the mottled deer scampering about, keeping time, as it w r ere, to the- 
music of the birds in the trees overhead. 
All the glass houses, with the exception of the elegant conservatory 
adjoining the east end of the mansion and communicating with the 
interior and facing due south, are situate against south walls in the 
kitchen garden. They consist of three vineries, two Peach houses, one 
orchard house, one greenhouse, and one stove. Vines of Black Ham¬ 
burgh, Golden Hamburgh, Muscat of Alexandria. Grizzly Frontignan,.. 
Alicante, and Venn’s Black Muscat were all carrying heavy crops of 
medium-sized bunches of Grapes, which at the time of my visit gave 
promise of finishing well. Mr. David Atkins, the head gardener, finds 
Venn’s Black Muscat Grape to set as freely as a Black Hamburgh does 
in a greenhouse temperature, and to colour as well as could be desired,, 
thereby showing it to be a low-temperature Grape—that is, that it suc¬ 
ceeds best in a cool dry atmospheric temperature while in flower and 
colouring. On the back wall of the late vinery there was a fine display 
of such excellent Roses as Niphetos, Bouquet d’Or, and Gloire de Dijon. 
Trees of Noblesse and Royal George Peaches, and Pine Apple, Pitmaston. 
Orange, and Rivers’ Orange Nectarines were in good condition and 
swelling good crops of clean healthy-looking fruit. I noticed that Mr. 
Atkins allows, as everybody ought to do, a good distance between the- 
shoots of his Peach and Nectarine trees in training ; from 4 to 6 inches 
is none too much, allowing for one shoot of the current year’s growth 
being laid in between. There is no greater mistake in fruit culture, 
whether it be indoors or out, than crowding the branches and shoots 
proceeding therefrom. 
In the stove I noticed good specimens of Asparagus plumosus nanus,. 
Allamanda Hendersoni, in fine flower trained over back wall, against 
which are also trained flourishing plants of Euphorbia jacquinifeflora, 
growing in narrow border. Euphorbia splendens, Clerodendrons Balfouri- 
anum and Thomsoni, Hibiscuses (double and single flowered varieties),. 
Crotons, &c. The greenhouse was gay with a variety of well-flowered 
plants usually met with in such structures at that time of the year. 
The conservatory alluded to above was remarkably bright with well- 
flowered plants of Pelargoniums, tuberous-rooted Begonias (double and 
single), among which were many promising seedlings, the flowers being 
large, well formed, and of pleasing if not new and distinct shades of 
colour ; Fuchsias, including a grandly flowered plant of Clapton Hero, 
trained round a pillar 20 feet high in the centre of house. This lis a 
good dark free flowering old variety, after the habit of the Old Carolina. 
Abutilon Boule de Ncige, similarly trained, made a nice contrast. Tree 
and other Ferns judiciously intermixed with the flowering plants had a 
very good effect. A plant of Dicksonia squarrosa, having a stem 4 feet 
high and nearly a foot in diameter, supporting a good head of fine 
healthy fronds, gave a finishing touch to the central arrangement of the 
house, as also did some four or five dozen pots of the Gladiolus. The 
Bride, in grand flower, stood on the tessellated floor at the base of the 
front side stage, gave finish to an arrangement in that side of this 
beautiful house, which did Mr. Atkins credit. 
A view of great extent and beauty is obtained from the conservatory 
terrace. Croyde, Morte Point, Baggy Point, and Braunton in the north¬ 
east, eastward thence is Westward Ho, and should the atmosphere be 
clear, Port Eynon, the nearest point in Wales ; the opposite side of Bay 
of Bristol Channel may be seen thirty miles off, and half that distance 
in a north-westerly direction is Lundy Island, a place covering an area 
of 2000 acres of land, and almost encircled by iron-bound inaccessible 
cliffs, and interesting to geologists as affording “sections at the junction 
of the granite and slate.” Out of doors hard by the conservatory I 
noticed a grandly flowered bush, 10 feet through of a pink-flowered 
Veronica, and in another part of the gardens a Clematis Flammula 
completely covered a house and tree close by, with its white sweetly 
scented flowers. Three hundred plants of Chrysanthemums, including 
the best varieties, are grown for the winter embellishment of the con¬ 
servatory, &c. The kitchen garden is two acres in extent, the soil being, 
a deep loam of good quality. It was well and judiciously cropped with 
vegetables of the most approved kinds and varieties. In conclusion, I 
may say that the general keep of the gardens and grounds attached to- 
Clovelly Court reflect credit on Mr. Atkins, who has presided over them 
during the past twelve years, and that Bideford, eleven miles off, is the 
nearest railway station to Clovelly, Ilfracombe being twenty miles by. 
road in a north-easterly direction.—H. W. Ward. 
FORCING LILY OF THE VALLEY- 
YoUR correspondent “ M. M.” seems to find forcing Lily of the 
Valley during the early winter months a decided failure, and some 
by reading his communication on page 418 may be deterred from 
attempting to have this much-valued flower as early as Christmas or 
the new year. In my opinion the difficulties are mot nearly so 
great as “ M. M.” asserts. "VVe find it comparatively easy in a house 
devoted to Melon growing during the season to have them in 
flower at Christmas, and even sooner. The crowns we obtain are 
English grown. They are procured as soon as practicable, and after 
being potted or boxed they are placed out of doors until required 
