May SO, 1886. 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER, 
405 
winter, and tbe soaking in January benefited everything else in the 
border, trees and flowers alike, 
THE ROSBRY-A GOOD MANURE. 
Then we come to the Rose garden. It is just a slice of one end of the 
lawn, and divided from it by a Yew hedge, the boundary wall affording 
shelter from the opposite side, the greenhouse and wall on the north and 
a tall hedge with outside screen of trees completing the shelter allround. 
The space may be about 30 to 40 yards wide and 50 to 60 long, sloping to 
the south. With the exception of a line of Carnations and Pansies, and a 
bed of Delphiniums on the north or shaded end, it is all Roses, mostly 
dwarfs, planted 2 to 3 feet apart on the level, with Teas on raised beds on 
the west border, and some covering the wall. It is plain to see by the 
stumps that the growth last year was remarkable. Mr. Williams is a close 
pruner, but the winter’s severity left him no choice, and not a few of his 
plants or bushes have had to be levelled to the ground. But most of them 
are pushing up fat deep green shoots. So strong are they that many will 
probably be topped shortly, and there can be little or no doubt that the 
second or axillary growths will be quite sufficiently vigorous for support¬ 
ing fine blooms, while a more compact habit of growth will be secured. 
Roses on walls have not been injure! by the winter, and their vigour is 
extraordinary. A Belle Lyonnaise on the stable, a beautiful Rose, but 
with many growers “ shy,” has a bud in apparently every shoot, and there 
are hundreds of them. Pruning to moderately strong hard wood, not 
close spurring, is adopted with this fine tree. The ground is deeply 
trenched and well manured. Rose-growing was tried without trenching, 
“ but it would not do ” where first-class blooms were expected. The 
manure used is rich in potash, phosphates, and nitrogen, dry wood ashes 
passed through earth closets, and it tells its tale wherever it is applied. 
If any reader should wish to have something of the same nature prepared 
in a different way here is a Bimple formula. Take 1 lb. of dry wood 
ashes, 2 ozs. of bonemeal, 1 oz. of sulphate of ammonia; mix, apply this 
quantity to a square yard of Rose bed, and await results. This simple 
mixture will be found good for other plants, crops, and trees that require 
more support than the soil contains. The same generous treatment 
accorded by Mr. Williams in his Rose garden enables him to obtain a great 
quantity of vegetables from a small plot of ground, and a bed of Bath Cos 
Lettuce with not a blank in it, except by removals for use, would have 
gladdened the eyes of many a gardener if he had it at home, for such beds 
were undeniably few and very far between during the first week in May. 
We are busy “gardening” till nightfall, take a stroll to the tune of the 
nightingale’s trill, retire, for we have a long day before us on the morrow 
and must be up with the sun. Mr. Williams has an appointment with a 
friend some miles distant, and I have the privilege of his company. 
SHAKESPEARE’S LAND. 
Stratford-on-Avon is about five miles from Alderminster, and so 
curiously do counties dovetail into each other, that we have to cut across 
the corners of two or three to reach the station. The drive is delightful, 
the morning bright, and the nightingales still singing in tbe hedgerows. 
The field culture is also better ; the home farm of Mr. West showing what 
can be done in developing the resources of the soil. It is far within the 
bounds of truth to say that if all the land in the Midlands were managed 
like his the produce would be trebled and more. These bright spots 
demonstrate that the land is capable of improvement, and without better 
culture it is futile to expect prosperity. But we are nearing the town in 
which pilgrims from many lands assemble, and must leave farming for a 
moment. But stay, was not Shakespeare a farmer? If he was not, how 
came it that he sued Philip Rogers, in the Borough Court of Stratford, for 
35s. lOd. for corn delivered to him at various times? He was that, and 
much more. He was a man of many talents ; yet as Emerson says, “ they 
never seduced him into ostentation, nor did he harp on one string ; he 
has no peculiarity ; no discoverable egotism ; the great he tells greatly, the 
small subordinately. He is wise without emphasis or assertion ; he is 
strong as Nature is strong, who lifts the land into mountain slopes 
without effort, and by the same rule as she floats a bubble in the air, and 
likes as well to one thing as the other.” Such is the estimate of the great 
man by a great essayist. The beautiful church in the valley contains the 
bones of the world-famed dramatist, preserved, mayhap, by the memorable 
invocation and the curse that covers them :— 
“ Good friend, for leans sake forbeare, 
To digg the dvst enclosed heare ; 
Blest be ye man yt spares thes stones, 
And cvrst be he yt moves my bones.” 
Let them rest. His works are imperishable, and his memory appears 
to be more cherished as years roll round. The fine new Memorial 
Theatre, to which Mr. Flower has contributed £22,600, and endowed with 
several tenements, is evidence of this ; and the bard’s house is prized as 
a jewel—set, it must be said, in a clean and beautiful town. We did not 
tarry long, yet just long enough to lose the Worcester train for Stourport, 
which would be met. What is to be done now ? “ Oh I I have it; wire 
Stourport to keep the carriage; go round, by Birmingham to Kidder¬ 
minster, then cut across country, and we shall only keep the coachman a 
quarter of an hour.” The quickly arranged programme was carried out 
to the letter, and we were next on our way to 
ABBERLEY HALL. 
It was a delightful drive of about seven miles, through a generally 
well, and in places admirably cultivated, district; orchards near and 
distant, like masses of silvery clouds, for the Plums and the Cherries were 
laden with blossom. This may perhaps be called the Dandelion wine 
district, for children appeared to be determined to gather all the flowers 
of that plant, which they sell for Id. a quart for wine-making in the 
town. Steadily rising, the rendezvous was eventually reached, nearly 
700 feet above sea level; and what a view 1 Abberley Hall is a noble 
mansion. On the one side we look down on Witley Court with its 
golden dome; on the other we see in the distance the mountains of 
Wales; in the immediate foreground, on the south, is the lofty eminence, 
Abberley Hill, from which eleven counties are brought within the range of 
vision ; on the north the eye rests on the clock tower, which, taking it all 
in all, can scarcely have an equal in this country. It is a new, great, and 
substantial work, and could only bo completed at enormous cost. The 
architect, Mr. St. Aubyn, has produced a monument of art. The clock is 
illuminated at night, and the chimes, which consist of twenty bells, 
ranging in weight from nearly 4 tons downwards, fill the air with music 
every three hours, playing some forty or fifty tunes in turn, full, rich, and 
melodious. The tune selected for the day, in celebration of some 
nuptials, was “ Haste to the Wedding,” and nowhere else could it be 
similarly rendered. The owner of Abberley, J. J. Jones, Esq., has, more¬ 
over, a private band, which discourses in the elegant stand on the lawn 
during dinner on summer evenings, and on tbe great monthly luncheon 
days, when guests assemble from all around. Abberley is one of those 
country seats where wealth and a spirit of improvement are evidently 
co-existent. There is no resisting that overpowering impression. It is 
apparent in everything and everywhere. A wilderness is being trans¬ 
formed into a pleasure ground, and rooteries and rockeries formed in 
suitable'positions ; and as water is scarce, a “ tank ” is being made about 
14 acre in extent, and as it is on a hillside it is a stupendous work, will, 
in fact, when completed, be a miniature lake with its island and fountain 
—a great ornament, and of greater value, for pipes will be laid from it 
for conveying water to the lower grounds and gardens. Of these a rapid 
glance could only be had. There are good ranges of glass, good Vines, 
and provision appears to be made for a bountiful supply of hardy fruit. 
Noticeable was an Eucalyptus tree that had passed the winter with sur¬ 
prising little injury. The high bank on which it stands, and the great 
altitude, have doubtless contributed to its hardiness. It is pleasing to 
observe further that the proprietor of Abberley does not live for himself 
alone. The tenants’ dining room, with the different phases of agriculture 
painted on its walls, affords ample proof of this, for it serves also for a 
theatre, concert room, or lecture hall for the estate community. Abberley 
was a great surprise, and the few hours all too short for inspecting its 
many features of interest, which are such as to create a longing to see 
them once again. 
The homeward journey was via Worcester to Oxford, through Evesham 
and Pershore, famed for fruit culture, and the Plum and Cherry orchards 
were in the zenith of their spring beauty. A few hours afterwards the 
“ Lights of London ” were in view, and the “ day into the country ” was 
brought to a close.—A City Man. 
THE ORCHID SHOW AT BIRMINGHAM. 
May 12th and 13th. 
A brief outline of this Exhibition was giveD in our last issue, but it well 
deserves a fuller description than the short time at our disposal allowed us 
to furnish then. It was a remarkable Show, in every respect highly credit¬ 
able to those who contributed to its attractions, and to the Curator and 
Committee of the Society who so ably carried the idea into execution. 
Most unfortunately, however, the weather was extremely adverse, rain 
falling heavily on both days ; and though the Exhibition must be charac¬ 
terised as a decided success horticulturally, it is feared that there will be 
some financial loss, as the prize fund wa3 a heavy one and the greater por¬ 
tion was allotted to exhibitors. With such strong local support it may be 
expected that the experiment will be repeated another year, and should 
this be the case we hope the weather conditions may prove more favourable, 
so that a substantial balance may be obtained. 
The value of the prizes was noted last week, and some additional notes 
on the classes may now be given. Four classes were appropriated to 
nurserymen, but Mr. J. Cypher was the only exhibitor in each, taking the 
premier prizes in those and two open classes. Very seldom indeed has he 
scored such profitable victories. The Cheltenham plants throughout were 
healthy well-flowered specimens, of moderate size, and affording good 
evidence of the careful treatment they receive. The premier collection of 
twenty Orchids constituted a beautiful group, comprising the following 
plants :—Cattleya Skinneri oculata, a beautiful variety, of high colour, 
with a light throat to the lip; it had six racemes of about five flowers each. 
Dendrobium thyrsiflorum, a grand plant, in fine condition, bearing forty 
handsome spikes ; Cypripedium Lawrencianum, a beautiful plant, with 
two dozen flowers ; Oncidium concolor, very bright yellow, seven racemes ; 
Odontoglossum Roezli, a vigorous plant, with nine racemes; Cattleya 
Mossi® grandiflora, well flowered; Anguloa Clowesi, four large flowers ; 
Laalia elegans, the same number ; Dendrobium nobile, in capital condition, 
bearing some scores of flowers; Odontoglossum citrosmum, three racemes ; 
Cypripedium biflorum, a pretty variety, with tweniy-eigBt flowers ; D,ndro- 
bium crystallinum, loaded with flowers; Cattleya Mossi®, a strong hand¬ 
some plant, twenty flowers ; Calanthe veratrifolia, four racemes of its pure 
white flowers; Cypripedium villosum, a strong specimen, with twenty 
large flowers, a particularly good variety, the flowers suffused with a bright 
yellowish tint; Cattleya Mendeli, with a dozen flowers of a good variety; 
Vanda suavis, well grown, three racemes of nine and ten flowers each ; 
Lffilia purpurata, fifteen flowers; Saccolabium, two racemes ; and Dendro¬ 
bium chrysotoxum, twelve drooping racemes of bright yellow. The second 
place in this class was worthily gained by A. Wills, Esq. (gardener, Mr. J. 
Morgan), whose plants were smaller than those from Cheltenham, but they 
were all in admirable health, and the group contained several species or 
varieties of sterling merit. Especially notable was a grand Dendrobium 
