494 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[ December 3, 1885. 
unavoidable absence your correspondent had reluctantly to act alone.— 
W. J. Murphy. 
ERIOBOTRYA JAPONICA (LOQUAT) FRUITING IN THE 
OPEN AIR IN ENGLAND. 
Being much interested in your reply to “Medicus,” page 411 in a 
recent Journal respecting the above plant, I beg to enclose for the Editor’s 
inspection a leaf from a plant growing against a south wall (front of the 
mansion here, six miles from Tunbridge), also a seed from one of the 
fruits which ripened in the latter part of September of this year. The 
plant has been in its present position for probably over fifty years. We 
have an old workman employed in the gardens who has been on the estate 
nearly forty years, and he has no recollection of its being planted. 
This is the first time that the tree has been known to fruit, and pos¬ 
sibly it would not have been observed this season had it not been acci¬ 
dentally observed by a lady from an upper window. The form of the 
fruit much resembled a small summer Pippin Apple, both in size and 
colour. If the above simple statement requires further authentication, I 
would refer to my worthy employer, who first called my attention to the 
beautiful shining yellow fruit peeping out from among the large dark 
green foliage. I noticed, when at Linton Park four or five years ago, Mr. 
Groom, one of dear old Robson’s successors, had several fruits on a plant 
under glass, but I have not before seen the fruit of this country’s produce, 
although I have been constantly gardening for the past thirty years from 
beyond John o’ Groats southwards.—Wx, Chisholm, Oxon Heath Park 
Gardens, Tunbridge, Kent. 
[The leaf sent was very fine, 1 foot long and 5 inches broad, proving 
the plant to be in vigorous health.] 
THE ONION FARMS OF OHIO. 
An American paper gives the following description of the most extensive 
Onion farms in the United States. Ohio has four remarkable “ Onion 
beds,” Berea, Perry, Kinsman, and Aurora, but those at Berea are the most 
noted, and at Perry the most scattering, for anyone can raise Onions in the 
latter place. In a general way the practices at Berea govern all the rest. 
Onions have been raised there as a special crop for at least twenty-five 
years. The cultivation has never been abandoned on any of the farms, but, 
on the contrary, has gradually increased, so that the original fifty acres has 
now spread over five times that area. The first Onion lands were located 
about the margin of a marshy lake, known locally as Lake Abram. In 
years the farm has been extended by clearing, the lake has been drained 
down to less than one-third of its size, adjoining swamps have been cleared 
out and Onions planted, and even the uplands have, by modern ideas of 
fertilising, been made to yield profitable crops of Onions. Along Rocky 
River occasional “ pockets of muck ” are found. One of the most noticeable 
of these is the farm of Dr. D. T. Gould, located among encircling hills, and 
so completely drained that the floods and disasters that so often overtake 
the owners of the low farms never trouble him, and it is on this that some 
of the most interesting problems relating to Onion culture have been 
solved and some of the mysteries cleared up, as will be shown further on. 
The great Onion farm comprises nearly 200 acres. It is composed of the 
richest and blackest of vegetable mould, from 4 to 25 feet in thickness, and 
completely free from clay, and shows but little if any disposition to turn 
to clay. The soil packs fairly well, and sufficiently not to blow away, 
except on rare occasions. The water line of constant moisture does not 
vary much from 2 feet from the surface, and fairly dry seasons are therefore 
more to be desired than feared. The danger is of too much water. The 
discharge, or outlet of the lake, finds no fall for over two miles, and a 
freshet is liable to cause the lake to overflow its boundaries and submerge 
the Onion lands, once its natural bed; this season three inundations 
occurred. But the drainage and lay of the fields are all made to conform 
to certain rules, and the damage is not as great as one would suppose. The 
farm is traversed at stated distances with wide ditches, often planked like 
a flume, and these are again crossed and recrossed by smaller ditches and 
underdrains. At the foot of the low hills that surround the basin huge 
canal-like ditches with their inside embankments, looking very warlike, are 
dug going to the river, and these keep out the hillside brooks and the rain¬ 
fall from the high lands, and convey it away to the streams. 
The division of the land is a matter of curiosity to the visitor, whose 
ideas of line fences are associated with rail and wire. The farm at Berea is 
owned by about forty persons, but as about six acres is the largest area of 
crop controlled by one man, the growing of the crop is thus farmed out to 
hundreds of renters, who occupy from one-fourth acre up to two or three. 
The rental is half of the crop, one to furnish muck and fertility; the other 
the seed and labour. The land is rarely rented for a monetary considera¬ 
tion. The Onions are made to pay rent, and the owner and renter thus 
share all successes and failures. Onions fluctuate so in value one year with 
another that it is hard to say what rent amounts to, but probably one year 
with another 100 dollars per acre is about the sum received from the rent. 
These lands are not for sale ; they cannot be purchased, and if they could 
speculators would gladly purchase them at 1000 dollars per acre as an 
investment. 
Once these lands were supposed to be of inexhaustible fertility and 
would never require any artificial aid, but now well-rotted manure, ashes, 
bonemeal, limekiln was.te, Ac., are used in great quantities, and the principal 
office of the soil seems to be a receptacle for the fertility, and agent to 
change it into plant food. Less manure is used each year, and more 
purchased fertilisers. The adding of great quantities of manure tends to 
lighten the soil, and the object is to make it as compact as possible without 
interference with rapid working. There is already enough vegetable matter, 
and will be for years, and the crop better responds to concentrated manures, 
like bone meal, Ac. Deep working is also objected to. A few years ago it 
wa3 argued that deep turning would be advisable, but now no one recom¬ 
mends it, and surface-stirring of the soil is only practised. Spring harrows, 
notably the Whipple, are held in great favour, as they stir all the soil, leave 
no unworked places, and do not clog. The oblique set of the teeth seem to 
perfectly prepare the soil, and when the roller has followed nothing seems 
to be desired. 
CYPRIPEDIUMS IN VINERIES. 
Can any of your correspondents recommend a Cypripedium which 
will make a good companion for C.jinsigne, which does well with us 1 It 
flowered in the spring, showing two flowers on one stem, and is in bloom 
again this autumn with seven stems. We have only one house, which has to 
do duty as a vinery ; it has a rockery built against the back wall and 
planted with Ferns, besides stages filled with Ferns in pots, Adiantums- 
generally, which do well with us. Then in the autumn it is filled with 
Chrysanthemums in pots, which do fairly well. The house is 30 feet by 
15 feet, is heated with a flue, and we use a little fire all winter, which 
keeps the house between 40° and 50°, according to the weather. The 
Vines start during March, and come on gently as the weather improves. 
Our Grapes (Black Hamburghs) always finish well and have a good 
flavour. 
I shall be glad to see some remarks from Mr. Molyneux on Chrysan¬ 
themum-growing. I think he has set a good example to us young men as 
to what can be done by perseverance.—D. R. D. 
GOODWOOD. 
Pleasantly situated on one of the southern fringes of the famous 
South Downs and within four miles of Chichester is Goodwood, the 
charming Sussex residence of His Grace the Duke of Richmond, K.G.. 
Goodwood does not boast a very ancient history, only dating from the 
early part of the last century, when the estate which previously formed 
part of the Manor of East Lavant came by purchase into the possession of 
the first Duke of Richmond, who built the greater part of the present 
magnificent residence. The name is, however, not altogether unknown,, 
as it has gained a widespread celebrity on account of its famous race¬ 
course and annual races, and horticulturally for its grand specimens of 
Cedars. 
The house is a magnificent example of the Grecian style of architec¬ 
ture, the massive columns supporting the portico at the principal entrance 
being of a very imposing character. The walls are built with small' 
flints collected for the purpose from the neighbouring downs, and a very 
pretty effect is produced thereby. This noble structure occupies a grand 
position commanding extensive views of the surrounding country, in¬ 
cluding the seacoast from Worthing to Portsmouth, with the Isle of 
Wight in the distance, and is surrounded by a remarkably well-wooded 
and beautifully undulated park of 2000 acres. The park slopes gently 
southward, and as the visitor enters it from one of the southern entrances, 
and follows the bold sweeping course of the long and capitally made 
drive, the scene before him presents one of the richest panoramas of sylvan- 
beauty it is possible to behold. The magnificent specimens of Cedars of 
Lebanon and remarkable groves of Quercus Ilex rising terrace-like one 
above the other, a huge promontory of the Downs revealing its masses of 
chalk through the distant foliage, and the Pine-clad slopes stretching 
away to the verge of the horizon, recalled to our mind, as we gazed upon 
this scene, the lines of Milton, whose words faithfully pourtray its beauties 
as— 
“ A sylvan scene, and as the ranks ascend 
Shade above shade, a woody theatre 
OI stateliest view.” 
Nowhere, we are told on good authority, dees the Quercus Ilex succeed 
so well as it does at Goodwood. Planted on the northern and eastern 
sides of the mansion, they form an excellent shelter to the latter as well 
as the gardens. There is a very large specimen of Cedrus Libani growing 
in the park, which has very few equals in size in the kingdom. This tree 
was planted in 1761, and has now attained a height of about 68 to 70 feet, 
and its principal branches measuring from 50 to 55 feet in length. This 
noble specimen was much larger in width, but time and heavy gales and 
snowstorms have dealt somewhat harshly with it and caused it to lose 
several of its large branches. Those who are interested in these fine 
specimens of Cedars of Lebanon will find a full page illustration of the 
one we have just described in that excellent and valuable work Veitch’s 
“ Manual of the Coniferte.” 
The principal front of the mansion opens almost immediately into the 
park. The ornamental grounds on this side are of very modest pre¬ 
tensions, being confined to a few beds within an ornamental iron fence. 
These beds are filled chiefly with sweet-scented flowers, such as Heliotrope, 
Stocks, Mignonette, and Carnations, intermixed with Zonal Pelargoniums, 
single Petunias, and Salvia patens in accordance with the wish of the 
Duchess. Hard by is a remarkably large and vigorous example of the 
Cork Oak (Quercus Suber) with its peculiar corrugated outer bark, and a 
number of other fine trees. 
A very prettily designed conservatory in three divisions sweeps round 
in a graceful curve from the left of the principal front, and this is beauti¬ 
fully fitted inside and tastefully arranged with choice ornamental and 
flowering plants. As the family is only resident here in July and August, 
all the efforts of the gardeners are concentrated on the preparation of the 
best display during that time, and especially during the race week, when 
the guests amount to upwards of 200. Particularly conspicuous among 
the flowering plants in this structure were a large quantity of the beauti¬ 
ful blue and white varieties of Campanula pyramidalis. These are, 
indeed, most effective for conservatory decoration at the period we are 
