September 17, 1885. ] 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
255 
sorts.” The kitchen garden is 2 acres in extent, and surrounded by a 
wall 10 feet high, well covered principally with Apple and Pear trees 
trained horizontally. Many of them were carrying heavy crops. The 
south wall is covered with select Peach, Plum, and Cherry trees, all of 
which were young, clean, and vigorous. A small brook passes through 
the garden running from east to west, with a neat rustic bridge in the 
centre. The ground has a gentle slope towards the brook on each side. 
The garden is divided into proportionate quarters by 6-feet walks, with 
Box edgings, and it was well stocked with excellent vegetables, very 
notably being some fine Asparagus plants in 4 feet beds. Boot crops 
were looking uncommonly well, especially Carrots and Parsnips. A 
quarter devoted to small fruits was well stocked with fine old Gooseberry, 
and the Currant bushes were bearing an immense crop. In short, the 
kitchen garden was in the same high state of keeping as the place through¬ 
out. The garden is small, and there are few fruit trees planted in the 
borders ; but immediately to the back of it is a fine old orchard, well 
stocked with established trees, which were scarcely carrying an average 
crop. Apple and Pear crops (generally) in this locality are under the 
average. 
Glass structures are rather wanting in this old establishment; but 
doubtless many of the readers of the Journal have heard or read of the 
Hensol Old Vine. I think I may safely say it is the largest and the 
oldest Vine in the principality. The vinery is 80 feet long by 18 feet 
wide, and the whole ground surface is covered with flagstone, sloping from 
the walk at the back of the house to the front wall. The Vine (a cutting 
from the Hampton Court Vine) was planted eighty years since by the 
late Mr. Crawshaw in a prepared border outside, and introduced through 
a hole in the wall at the centre of the house. The stem of the old Vine 
before entering the house is nearly 3 feet in circumference. On entering 
it branches horizontally off right and left in two leading shoots, which 
have grown to each end of the house. Rods are trained up the rafters at 
4 feet apart to the top, and they fill the house. The border is 80 feet in 
length and 45 feet broad with a fall to the south. This grand old Vine 
until a few years ago bore heavy crops of well-finished Grapes, but as 
there is no artificial heat in the house they did not keep well in damp 
autumns. More than 900 bunches have been cut from it in a season. 
The gardener in charge two years ago thought to renovate the old Vine 
by lifting all the roots and adding a fresh compost. This he did, but I 
need hardly say at the expense of the Vine, for a season or two at least. 
Last year it was nearly nude of foliage, and the little it had was weak 
and sickly. Mr. Dorward, Miss Fothergill’s present gardener, informed 
me that when he took charge of the gardens fully twelve months since 
he did not know whether it would live or die with no artificial heat at 
command. The first steps taken were to shade the house with whitening 
and open the ventilators as little as possible, giving plenty of moisture 
when the temperature rose high enough to admit of it. The Vine kept the 
little foliage it had well on in the season, which showed that the roots 
were laying hold of the new compost. And this season, when the Vine 
commenced to break, the house was again shaded, and kept close and 
moist. It must have been a pleasure to the owner, who prizes it very much, 
to see it break fairly well, and I am glad to say (at the time of my visit) 
it seemed to be gaining strength and vigour—in fact, it bore a few small 
bunches. If I mistake not Miss Fothergill will in another season have 
the pleasure of seeing her old favourite in good condition, under the 
fostering care of her intelligent gardener, who is deserving of much 
credit for the clean and orderly manner in which the place is kept.— 
A. Smith. 
SALPIGLOSSIS SINUATA COCCINEA. 
The singular variety of colour afforded by the different forms of 
Salpiglossis sinuata, a variety hardly equalled by any other genus in 
cultivation, has enabled this plant to retain its place in popular estima¬ 
tion, notwithstanding the very considerable number of more recent intro¬ 
ductions in the class of annual plants. But for one rather serious defect 
the Salpiglots would unquestionably take even higher rank : we allude 
to their height, which renders them less fitted for small masses or beds 
than many dwarfer but less showy plants. It is true that so-called dwarf 
varieties have been raised, and are annually offered in the seedsmen’s 
lists, but the difference between these and the older varieties is less 
marked than could be wished, and much remains to be accomplished ia 
perpetuating a strain of these elegant annuals of decidedly dwarf habit. 
Of the numerous distinct shades of colour in which Salpiglossis 
sinuata occurs, none are more pleasing than coccinea. In its general 
habit and characters it resembles the other varieties ; like them attaining 
a height of 1J to 2 feet, with erect branching stems clothod with clammy 
hairs. Its colour is “a clear vivid tender scarlet,” relieved by darker 
veins of the same tint, 
Its cultivation is precisely that of the other varioties. The seeds 
require the aid of a hotbed, and are best sown in March in pots of light 
sandy loam : they should be thinly distributed, and as soon as the seed¬ 
lings are an inch or two high abundance of air should be admitted if the 
weather is sufficiently mild to allow of it, for the Salpiglots are by no 
mefcas tender, and will not bear “coddling.” When the young plants 
are large enough to handle without injury they may be transferred in 
small patches to larger pots of light, rich, but well-drained soil. If, how¬ 
ever, the seedlings have come up thickly, they will need transplanting 
separately, or thinning-out. In either case they should, when repotted, 
be returned to the hotbed, and be kept closed for a few days ; after which, 
about the end of April, they may be placed in a cold frame, and gradually 
hardened off before planting out in May. A light rich soil, composed of 
a little leaf mould and thoroughly decayed manure mixed with sandy 
loam, suits them best. They form a very beautiful bed where the mass¬ 
ing system is adopted, but are equally valuable for planting in clum ps in 
the mixed borders, and will flower through the summer. 
In favourable localities the Salpiglossis may be treated as a hardy 
annual, the seed being sown in the open border in April, and sturdier 
plants will be thus obtained, which will, however, bloom somewhat later 
than those raised under glass. 
The Salpiglots are all natives of Chili.—W. T. 
JUDGING AT EXHIBITIONS. 
[A paper read before the Dundee Horticultural Society by Mr. W. Williamson 
Tarvit House Gardens, Cupar, Fifeshire.] 
( Continued from page 221.) 
FRUIT. 
I Will now briefly point out the characteristics of other kinds of 
fruit as bearing on their exhibition qualities. The first to be noticed 
is the Melon, the point of most importance being flavour with size. If we 
have a fruit of fine quality we wish plenty of it. Thinness of rind and 
depth of flesh are to be considered when the fruit is cut; if uncut, the 
eye, the nose, and a knowledge of the different varieties will have to guide 
to possibly an unsatisfactory conclusion. I am not an advocate for tasting 
fruit when judging, especially amongst Grapes, unless to prove their ripe¬ 
ness, or when a variety is unknown, otherwise they should be judged for 
flavour by their appearance; if the points which indicate good quality 
are all present it may not be the fault of the cultivator if the flavour is 
wanting. The next in order are Peaches aud Nectarines, both to be 
judged alike as to size and quality, not to sacrifice the latter for the 
former, as is too often done, awarding the prize to well-known coarse 
varieties because they are large, ignoring the claim of finer more inviting 
fruits. Judges often have great difficulty in deciding when they have 
two varieties, one coarse but well-grown, the other an excellent variety, 
but small beside a well-grown fruit of the same sort. The prize should be 
awarded to the larger fruit, because cultural merit must weigh to a certain 
extent against quality only. Coloured Peaches should be preferred to 
light or yellow ones if equal in size and quality. The Fig shows well 
in dessert, and should be fully ripe, but with a dry skin free from splitting, 
which comes with cver-ripeness, should be solid and sweet. Apricots, 
Pears, and Plums are much the same value in competition. Some judges 
would be inclined to give Apricots a point more than Plums, but the 
one is as easily grown as the other, and as much valued for dessert. 
Pears may be shown on equal terms with either of the two, some of the 
late sorts a point better, but the early autumn varieties, of which Jai- 
