46 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[ July 16, 1891. 
- Lemoine's Habdy Hybrid Gladioli.— Mr. W. E. Gumbleton 
of Belgrove, Q leenstown, asks to be allowed “ to enter a most emphatic 
protest against the accuracy of the statement of ‘ D., Deal' page 491, 
to this effect, that ‘ in beauty these hybrids cannot touch the hybrids 
of the gandavensis section.’ ” I have been a grower of the latter—at 
least several hundred varieties—for twenty yearn, and have also grown 
the supposed “hardy” hybrids raised by Lemoine. Their great merit 
is supposed to be that they are “hardy,” but my experience's that 
they are not, and that when the young growths come Itlirough the 
ground in May or later they are just as liable to be cut back a3 any 
of Souchet’s, Kehvay’s, Barrel’s or Campbell’s. These latter willjremain 
in this climate quite safe in the ground any ordinary winter, say 
4 inches deep in friable soil. But what is gained by that? I find it 
more convenient and more desirable to lift my limited stock out of the 
ground every season, and remake the beds or lines, while the corms 
fully mature and ripen indoors. Now as to the “ beauty,” I am 
thoroughly in accord with “ D., Deal," and as to size (an item in the 
consideration), the hybrids of Lemoine, even the newer varieties, not 
generally known except to a favoured few, are, I venture to say, 
nowhere. If this is contested there is an easy test accessible to Mr. 
W. E. Gumbleton or any other grower. Let a box of say twenty varieties, 
or more if possible, be shown at one of the exhibitions of the Royal 
Horticultural Society against a corresponding number of the hybrids 
of gandavensis, and the public and members can then judge between 
“ D., Deal," and your correspondent. I believe that “ H., Deal," will 
himself freely dispose of any opponent with his own hybrids of 
gandavensis. There is plenty of room for growers who prefer those 
curiously incurved and oddly tinted flowers to those immense blooms 
of gandavensis with thirty .on a spike that you could run your hand 
into, as richly marked as a Cattleya.—W. J. Murphy, Clonmel. 
- Earlham Hall Gardens, Norwich.—A visit to the old 
gardens attached to the residence of the Rev. W. N. Ridley is always 
well repaid, abounding as they do in old and fine timber. Particularly 
noticeable amongst the Orchids, in the culture of which the courteous 
head gardener, Mr. Bartlett, excels, were Sobralia xantholeuca, an 
immense plant with three dozen stems bearing fine bloom3; Thunia 
Marshalliana, a handsome specimen; Miltonia vexillaria, a truly 
magnificent example, outvieing anything I have seen in this respect, in 
a 7 inch pot, bearing thirteen huge spikes, and had been grown from a 
single bulb. A few varieties of Odontoglossum Alexandras were 
conspicuous, and deservedly held in high esteem. The Freesias (both 
refracta alba and Leichtlini) too, are grown with great success, attributed 
to never thoroughly drying them off. Recourse to manufactured Mush¬ 
room spawn is never required here, as from an old manure bank 
f jrmerly made to raise the heat in an old vinery plenty are gathered 
from time to time. Plants of Vicomtesse Hericart de Thury Straw¬ 
berries are worthy of inspection in frames ; they were lifted and planted 
in March last on an old bed after Asparagus. This variety, Sir Jo3. 
Paxton, President, and Lord Napier, are successfully grown. In the 
Peach houses Hale’s Early, Stirling Castle, Diamond, Royal George, 
Violette Hative, Barrington, Early Alfred, and Late Admirable were 
exceedingly well set. Fine Cauliflowers were being cut three w r eeks 
ago from seed sown the 24th of January. A fine trained tree of Oullins 
Golden Gage Plum promised a heavy crop, indeed it is worthy of note 
that this variety always bears when others fail. A wonderful head of 
bloom was to be seen on an eighteen-year-old Quince, which bears 
freely every year, but whose trunk^was nothing but a shell. Indeed 
the whole of this charming place, both outside and in,' is brimful of 
interest.— Albert F. Upstone. 
MR. ROBERT FENN AT HOME. 
“ Come when you can and stay as long as you like ; you will 
find a welcome and a change of food—cabbage and bacon one day, 
bacon and cabbage the next ; with potatoes and buttermilk always, 
also wine, jellies, and jams, all and everything home raised, grown, 
and made. So if that style suits you come to Sulhamstead, and 
don’t go back very soon.” Such is the substance of an invitation 
received a long time ago and often since repeated from the 
youthful veteran Robert Fenn, Potato maker, wine brewer, and 
knight of the pen. On the second day of July, 1891, I went, 
and so far as can be remembered was only about thirteen years 
behind time. 
The address, “Sulhamstead, near Reading,” naturally sug¬ 
gested the capital of Berks, famous for its clean wide streets, seeds, 
and biscuits, as the base of operations, and Messrs. Sutton & Sons 
as the inquiry office for the best way of reaching the cottage farm 
of which I was in quest. They gave good guidance, and also an 
invitation to their trial grounds, at which a pleasant hour was spent, 
and a few vegetables and flowers noted, as mentioned in another 
column. Mr. Fenn’s home was, I found, nearly an hour’s drive 
from Reading, though there is a railway station—Theale—within 
a mile or two of his village. The country traversed is beautifully 
wooded, the Elms being particularly fine, showing that the soil is 
good, but much of the land is not well farmed. We passed the 
Cob-nut gardens at Calcot about which so much was heard some 
years ago, then turned from the main road down to and along a 
narrow tree-lined leafy lane skirting the estate of Major Thoyt’s. 
It is a “ truly rural” lane, which Mr. Fenn is pleased to call his 
coach road, and we eventually reached the Cottage Farm, the cosy 
and commodious Rose, Clematis, Honeysuckle, Fig, and Vine-clad 
home of the veteran who has made his mark in the domain of 
gardening, and will leave the world (may it be long first) the richer 
for his work and his teachings through the Press. His first com¬ 
munication appeared in the Cottage Gardener in 1851, his last in 
March, 1891, covering a period of forty years. But he has not 
finished, for did he not write in the month just mentioned, and on 
page 214 of the last volume of the Journal of Horticulture , “ The 
cultivation of Potatoes must go on, and if you will permit me to 
do so I will still strive in these pages to assist to shape our course, 
and make it better, surer, and easier to live ? ” 
He has told us in his sprightly narrative “ As of a Dream, 
that was so widely appreciated, what he had done—of his disap¬ 
pointments and rewards, his predatory difficulties and home happi¬ 
ness—that the “reality” is looked for; and a description of how he, 
with “Eliza Temple’s” aid, made the wines, jams, and jellies, 
and how they worked together to make life so good, easy, and 
happy could scarcely fail to meet with an unanimity of acceptance. 
Though the veteran has told us it is fifty-five years since he 
planted his first orchard, he is as active, physically and mentally, 
as if in his teens, and there is yet much to come, if he wills it, 
from his well-stored mind. Mr. Fenn has now and then half 
suggested that he has lived so long as to be forgotten. That is not 
so by those who are familiar with his career. He has himself 
outlived many of his once old friends, and a new generation has 
succeeded who knew him not in the earlier years of his experi¬ 
ments and their records through the press. He is not to be 
forgotten, but his features, as they aie now, ripened with time 
and brightened by “ a mind at ease ’’ after a well-spent life, are 
transmitted to posterity through a medium with which he has 
been.so long and so pleasantly connected. 
What has he done ? He pointed the way to the revolution and 
evolution of the Potato, and the world is more indebted to him 
than to any man living for the great improvements that have been 
effected in the “ noble tuber.” He was not the immediate raiser of 
several of the most serviceable varieties, but he was the Columbus 
who led the way and others followed to further discoveries. It 
was not, for instance, by the work of his hands that Magnum 
Bonum was produced, yet if it had not been for him the famous 
variety would probably never have appeared. His neighbour, the 
late Mr. Clarke, was busy in crossing the American sorts, but he 
was advised by Mr. Fenn to let them alone and work for quality 
with vigour by crossing Fox’s Seedling with Patterson’s Victoria, 
and so came Magnum Bonum. Mr. Fenn’s aim has been for still 
higher quality, and in the varieties he has raised, some in com¬ 
merce, and others to follow, he has accomplished his object, for 
they are remarkable for culinary excellence. 
But wbat about his home ? On arrival, rosy faced “ Alice,” 
her mother’s cheerful helper, bounced in to fetch out the “ Eliza 
Temple,” as was, the Royal prize girl of thirty-three years ago, and 
we received a hearty greeting. Mrs. Fenn is a model gardener’s 
and farmer’s wife, and has, without doubt, been a real practical 
helper of her experimenting husband over many long years. Those 
who knew them in the great Potato raising period tell how she 
urged him on. It was dig, dig, dig, root after root, row after 
row, and nothing good turned up. “ We must give it up, 
my girl, it’s weary work.” “No,” was the encouraging 
response, “ we must never give up ; keep digging away, Bob, 
we shall come at ’em yet.” “ Come at ’em ” they did, just 
as many another reward has been found by “digging away.” 
Bravo, Mrs. Fenn ! The late Prince Consort’s words, on handing 
you the medal for long and good service in a first place, were 
prophetic—“ As the first prize girl educated at the Queen’s School 
you ought to be distinguished,” and so it came to pass, but 
distinguished in a way that no prince could have anticipated— 
namely, in helping “ Bob ” to become famous as a raiser of 
seedling Potatoes. 
“ But where is the young man?” was our inquiry on arrival. 
“ Oh, dancing about in the hay field." There sure enough he was, 
whirling his fork and hat, and no doubt talking to us two fields off; 
