524 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER . 
[ December 17, 1891. 
are not. The loss of time in picking out joints in case of accident 
during severe frost is a serious matter. When our hot-water apparatus 
was put down several years since, the joints were made with iron borings, 
sal ammoniac, and the usual hemp, named by the then fitters “ gaskin.” 
Not asingle joint in 3000 feet of piping ever leaked or burst, so well was the 
work done, but the inconvenience of picking some of them out has been 
experienced, and I now consider nothing beyond red lead and “ gaskin ” 
is necessary to make joints good enough for any strain to which such 
pipes and joints may be subjected to. Portland cement I have not tried, 
nor do I think it is necessary, for the same reason that I object to the 
iron borings—difficulty in removing.—-S. 
INWOOD. 
It is worth anyone’s while to visitlnwood, the seat of Mr. Merthyr 
and Lady Theodora Guest. From Onions to stove plants everything 
is grown to the highest state of perfection. The conservatory is one of 
the prettiest it has ever been my lot to see. Formed exactly in the 
shape of a horseshoe, 200 feet long, it has an intertwining walk, each 
bend of which opens up a fresh view different in its main features from 
the rest. It is in this conservatory that Mr. Wilkins and his able 
assistants gain their skill in the arrangement of groups of plants, which 
at the Salisbury Show this summer gained highest honours in two classes 
against great competition. E very foot of this great conservatory is arranged 
to give the best decorative effect to every plant. One stately Latania 
borbonica is a magnificent specimen; it measures 13 feet high, 27 feet 
through, and bears twenty-eight finely developed leaves. It stands 
alone to show its full magnificence, dipping its drooping leaves into a 
pool of water with which it is surrounded. 
The houses abound in choice and rare specimens, which are seldom to 
be met with in this country away from Kew. In one huge house the 
luxuriant growth is tropical indeed. At the entrance was an immense 
Brugmansia suaveolens, planted in the centre of a bed. Its white 
trumpet flowers measured over a foot long, while its delicate perfume 
pervaded the whole house. It flowers three times a year, and bears 
hundreds of blooms. Immediately behind was a noble group of Bananas 
growing rampant with their mighty leaves and noble clusters of flowers 
and fruit. Fruit has been cut from these plants weighing 80 lbs. In 
the same house also growing and fruiting were the Custard Apple, the 
Guava from which 10 lbs. of Guava jelly has been made this year. 
Monstera delicio3a in fruit is also there ; while clambering up the pillars 
and high overhead are Allamanda, Ipomaea Leari, the Giant Grana- 
dilla (Passiflora macrocarpa), all twining and flowering in happy 
fellowship. 
Chrysanthemums were in fine exhibition form if only one could have 
persuaded Mr. Wilkins to show, but he generously thought he had won 
his share of prizes for one year. There are three Fern houses with some 
grand specimens of Adiantum cuneatum and farleyense 6 feet through, 
Davallias 8 and 10 feet, Gymnogrammas 6 feet, besides many others. 
The long range of vineries contained fine bunches of Alicante, Lady 
Downe’s, Foster’s Seedling, and Gros Colman, averaging 4 lbs. to 5 lbs. 
each. 
Lady Theodora Guest is devoted to her garden ; in fact, to every 
part of it. Through her efforts so mapy beautiful and rare plants 
have been collected. The pleasure grounds were most tastefully laid 
out nine years ago under the direction of Lady Theodora Guest and 
Mr. Wilkins. A wild ove.rgrown wood was converted into an immense 
pleasure garden. Here, again, the statuary is alone worth a visit. The 
lovely garden walks, the herbaceous borders, the rock gardens, are things 
to dream of but defy description. Being a Rose man though, I must just 
mention a Madame Isaac Perriere covered with blooms late in the year. 
This is a glorious Rose for very early and very late bloom. The Onions 
are as wonderful and perfect in their way as any of the more beautiful 
things mentioned. They are from Mr. Deverill’s strain, and every 
one is a perfect specimen worthy of any exhibition table. Mr. Wilkins 
tells me he has not been beaten either this year or last with Onions, 
though he has exhibited far and wide, besides securing the gold medal 
this year at Edinburgh. In a quaint old tower, possibly a watch tower 
of the olden time, is the Onion room. Rather prosaic, is it not ? but 
methinks they would well serve as cannon balls now, so smooth and 
hard and round are they. I never fell in love with an Onion before, 
but these giants had not even the smell of Onion upon them. 
Every convenience seems to be at Mr. Wilkins’ hands, and the skill 
he shows proves him to be one of those thoroughly good all-round 
gardeners who can only be found in such a place as this. 
Iwebne, 
Now we speed away by strange ways and ever-changing roads to 
Iwerne Minster, where the baronial seat of Lord Wolverton is found. 
The noble park with clustering trees, bright in their autumn glory, were 
very handsome. Between groups of immemorial Elms there are some 
splendid young plantations some twelve years old. Just now few sights 
give more pleasure in a landscape than the judicious blending of Larch, 
Silver Beech, and Scotch Fir. The soil and situation are evidently well 
suited to these young trees, for the progress they have made is 
wonderful. 
The gardens are reached after passing across the vast lawns and by 
the handsome modern mansion, on which it is evident no expense has 
been spared in order to secure comfort aDd refinement. It does one 
good to receive the sincere and hearty greetings of Mr. Davidson, than 
whom a more genuinely enthusiastic gardener it would be hard to find. 
All true gardeners are gentlemen, and this is one of the true varieties, 
and a grand old specimen of his class. Mr. Davidson was a pupil of the 
late Charles Macintosh of Dalkeith Palace Gardens, and Editor of the 
“ Book of the Garden.” Mr. Davidson’s forte seems to be Grapes, and 
many are the laurels he has won. In spite of the past unpropitious 
weather there was still a grand crop of Grapes hanging, amonu which 
were Lady Downe’s, exceptionally fine in bunch, berry, and colour, also 
Alnwick Seedling, Mrs. Pearson, Alicante, and Mrs. Pince. It is a pity 
Zonal Pelargoniums arc not more universally grown as they may be seen 
here, lovely plants in 6-inch pots covered in rich blooms. With their 
strongly contrasting colours they make a grand display on a dull 
November day. Such varieties as our old favourites Niphetos, Queen of 
the Belgians, Henry Jacoby, F. V. Raspail seem exactly suited for this 
purpose. 
The conservatory is a stately lofty building adjoining the house 
arranged with Chrysanthemums, Palms, Poinsettias, <fcc. The electric 
light in here at night must be very effective. Tea Roses seem to thrive 
here far better than Hybrid Perpetuals. The soil is a very heavy loam, 
and has been entirely remade by the addition of hundreds of loads. The 
natural subsoil is hungry chalk. 
Many and quaint are the anecdotes our old Scotch friend has to tell, 
not the least interes'ing of which was that some years ago Mr. Gladstone 
visited the late Lord Wolverton Mr. Davidson had the honour of show¬ 
ing him round the garden. Five years afterwards Mr. Gladstone again 
visited Iwerne. He remembered and asked for Mr. Davidson, and though 
that veteran statesman must have gone through more in those five years 
than most men go through in a lifetime Mr. Gladstone remembered the 
conversation of the former visit. It was late on a dark winter afternoon 
before I could tear myself away from my hospitable friends (for I must 
include Mrs. Davidson if she will allow me), and ride my thirty miles 
home.—W. H. W. 
SARRACENIA PURPUREA. 
The history of this curious plant is as interesting, probably, as that 
of any of our wild flowers. The pilgrims who landed in the “ Mayflower ” 
paid considerable respect to the Epigaea, if the ideas of our poets are to 
be trusted ; but they did not seem to have noticed this, for John 
Josselyn, who styles his profession “ Gentleman,” and who wrote a work 
on “ New England Rarities ” in 1672, was led to “ wonder where the 
knowledge of this plant hath slept all this while— i.e., above forty 
years.” He gives a rough sketch of the plant and the following quaint 
description : “ Hollow leaved Lavender is a plant that grews in salt 
marshes overgrown with moss, with one straight stalk about the bigness 
of an oak straw, better than a cubit high, upon the top standeth one 
fantastical flower, the leave? grow close from the roots, in shape like a 
tankard, hollow, tough, and always full of water ; the root is made up 
of many small fibres, growing only in the moss and not in the earth, 
the whole plant comes to its perfection in August, and then it has 
leaves, stalks and flowers as red as blood, except the flower, which hath 
some yellow admixt.” But even “John Josselyn, Gentleman,” might 
exclaim “ there is nothing new under the sun,” for in spite of his 
wonder where the “ knowledge had slept ” till he discovered it, it was 
known to Charles de Clusius, who in a history of rare plants, published 
at Antwerp in 1601, describes it as a plant “ allied to the Sea Lavender,” 
which then, as now, was the common name of the Statice Limonium. 
In those days plants were grouped according to their external re¬ 
semblances, and those who are familiar with the broad, thick, dark 
green leaves of our common Sea Lavender will not wonder that our early 
botanists saw in our Pitcher Plant a close ally, but with a hollow leaf. 
It may be interesting to observe that according to Mr. Tuckerman, who 
edited Joselyn’s work, “ Clusius’ figure was derived from a specimen 
furnished to him by Mr. Claude Gonier, apothecary at Paris, who 
himself had it from Lisbon, whither we may suppose it was carried by 
some fishermen from Newfoundland coast.” So that, we may look back 
on near three hundred years since this remarkable plant was known to 
Europeans, and it was, perhaps, one of the first plants of our continent 
to make its bow to the lovers of plants in the Old World. 
As a cultivated or living plant, however, it does not seem to have 
been further known till Dr. Sarrazin sent it to the Royal Garden at 
Paris, from whence Tournefort described it in 1700. It was about this 
time that the true relationships of plants were becoming understood, 
and Tournefort, seeing the distinctness of the plant from Limonium — 
the Sea Lavender—made a new genus, calling it Sarracena, after his 
friend Dr. Sarrazin. But we have no account of its culture in England 
till the time of Peter Collinson. In the notes he made of his garden, 
and which were published by Dillwyn under the title of *■ Hortus 
Collinsonianns,” he says, “ Sarracenia canddensis,” which was Tourne- 
fort’s name, the i being finally added by Linnaeus, “ has for some 
years flowered annually, being: placed in large pots, and the roots set 
only in moss, and no earth, and the pots set in pans of water, kept 
always full ; this makes an artificial bog, in which they naturally grow ; 
the plants were sent to me from New York anno 1755.” We can further 
trace these plants by the correspondence of Dr. Colden, published some 
ye?rs ago by Prof. Gray, in which a letter appears from Collinson to 
Colden, dated June 9th, 1755, in which he says “the Sarracenias you 
sent me are now in flower.” Of late years the plants of the genus 
have been brought strongly before the general public through the im¬ 
pression that tbeir singular structure was especially des : gned for catching 
insects, and this has led to a more general culture of our present species 
particularly than ever before. It has also been employed by the late 
