August I, 1889. ] 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
95 
exhibitor as the duplicated classes, I think that it is a truer test of the 
skill of any grower to win where all the blooms are required to be 
distinct. I am a strong believer in challenge cups both for the exhibitor 
and the society who offer them, as I consider no other form of prize will 
add to the reputation of both so much. But even challenge vase com¬ 
petitions must have a limit in number. The Kingston Society have also 
encouraged those growers who have never taken a prize for cut blooms 
in open competition, and all classes of cut blooms are represented at 
their exhibitions. They were, I think, the first to recognise the merits 
of the new Japanese Anemone class by offering prizes specially for 
them. 
Kingston Drill Hall has long been noted for its groups of 
Chrysanthemums ; in fact the first groups of the kind now so much in 
request at exhibitions were staged here by Mr. Orchard, who is the 
generally acknowledged pioneer of the method of cutting down plants 
with a view to obtaining dwarf plants for grouping. Many first-class 
trained plants have also been staged. One. other class at Kingston must 
not be omitted—table plants, which have been here staged in great pro¬ 
fusion and of excellent quality. The Kingston Society, like many 
others, publish the names of the judges in the schedule. This I consider 
to be a good plan, as it gives confidence to the exhibitor when the judges 
are known to be competent men. Chrysanthemum judging requires a 
sDecial training which does not fall to the lot of every gardener. — 
E, Molyneux. 
HETHERBURY, GUILDFORD. 
This, the residence of H. Selfe Leonard, Esq., is a substantial villa 
in a commanding situation on the Portsmouth Road. From it there is 
an excellent view of Guildford with the sluggish waters of the Wey 
which abound with the yellow Water Lily (Nuphar lutea). In full 
view also there is the old castle of Guildford, the ruins well preserved, 
and the adjoining grounds laid out in gardens for the benefit of the 
people of Guildford. The nature of the ground afforded an excellent 
opportunity to a landscape gardener with an eye to the fitness of things 
to lay the place out in keeping with the old castle to form, as it were, a 
harmonious whole ; but the gardener was not forthcoming, or his plans 
were rejected in favour of the geometrical form of garden with its 
usual concomitant of bedding plants, sub-tropical plants, and a squirt¬ 
ing fountain to amuse the children. 
It is a great relief to turn to Mr. Leonard’s garden laid out in 
terraces and arrangements of rocks and stones for hardy herbaceous 
and alpine plants ; where every subject is a study by itself, and choice 
delicate alpines or sturdy herbaceous plants are placed in positions best 
fitted to their natural requirements. Roses find a prominent place in the 
garden ; and there is also a corner for bedding plants, for we find a 
colour in the crimson and scarlet of Zonal Pelargoniums not to be found 
in herbaceous plants at any season, and those who would banish 
bedding plants a together from the garden must be content to be with¬ 
out brilliant masses of crimson and scarlet, not to mention the lovely 
shades of rose and salmon colours. 
Show Auriculas, Alpine Auriculas, and some of the choicest 
Primulas are grown in pots. Frames and pits are wanted for many 
plants of a delicate nature, and unless they are grown in them and 
sheltered from the weather there is in many seasons a chance of losing 
them altogether. Many plants are hardy enough as regards frost if 
they can be kept dry during winter; but this is not possible in our 
insular climate, and so it happens that wise men who have valuable or 
choice plants in their possession will take care not to lose them, nor 
will they place them in a position where they linger out a miserable 
existence. When a good stock of any particular species has been 
obtained plants of it may be trusted out of doors in the position that is 
thought most suitable for them, and experiments may be made with 
choice plants out of doors in winter, which it would not be safe to make 
unless a small reserve was held under glass. This remark specially 
applies to the Primulacese. Of this genus Mr. Leonard possesses a very 
full collection ; indeed, a great deal of labour has been bestowed in 
making the entire collection of hardy plants as complete as possible. I 
was rather surprised to find so many in flower about the middle of July. 
The finest display is in May and June. 
Some of the Lilies are very beautiful. The fair white Lilium 
candidum was in its prime. It is the loveliest and sweetest of garden 
flowers, and is best left alone to its own sweet will. Masses of L. testa- 
ceum were very beautiful ; its delicate nankeen colour had a fine effect. 
L. pardalinum is one of the handsomest of garden plants in July, and 
in good soil grows as tall as a man. Two handsome Achilleas were 
conspicuous objects. The tallest of the two, A. eupatorium, had stems 
about 5 feet high, each of them furnished with large umbels of golden 
flowers. A. fegyptiaca is not more than half as tall, and is much like 
the other as regards its umbels of yellow flowers. 
The handsome Piatycodon grandiflorum was flowering freely, and 
quite as tall again as it grows in our garden. The deep blue colour of 
the flowers, 2 to 3 inches across, are very effective in the rock garden. 
Actsea alba is thought highly of as a tall-erowing decorative plant. It 
is the white Baneberry, producing white berries with red stalks from its 
bottle brush-like flower spikes. 
Dictamnus Fraxinella, flowers pale purple and pure white, are splendid 
garden plants. Although we have grown this plant for years I never 
noticed that its seed pods were perfumed like the Lemon-scented 
Verbena. 
Heuchera sanguinea was freely producing its spikes of blood-red 
flowers. This is a new or at least recent species, and is an excellent- 
p'ant for the front rows of herbaceous borders or the rock garden. 
Erigeron mucronatum (Vittadenia triloba), is a very pretty Daisy¬ 
like free-flowering plant. It is termed the Austrian Daisy ; the flowers 
open pinkish and change to white, so that a dense mass of flowers have? 
a charming effect. 
Two Gentians were in flower, both of them producing their flowers 
in clusters on erect stems—viz , G. septemfida and G. cruciata. The 
Gentians are all beautiful and interesting plants, and do well in Mr. 
Leonard’s garden on the chalk. 
Dracocephalum grandiflorum is a beautiful plant, well grown here. 
Its intensely blue Salvia-like flowers cannot fail to please. D. altaiens’e- 
is also a very pretty plant, with Gentian blue flowers. 
The Ramondias are grown in great numbers, mostly in pots. The 
purplish-flowered variety plentiful, the white form scarce, and slightly 
tinged with blue ; but, as Mr. Leonard remarked, for all practical 
purposes it is white. 
Irises are grown in immense quantities, and the soil, though com¬ 
paratively dry in summer, seems well adapted for the moisture-loving 
I. kevigata (syn. Kfempferi), which was making vigorous growth. 
Grand masses of the finest of the Onosmas (O. taurica) were in 
flower. Its drooping clusters of yellow flowers are distinct and pretty- 
Edraianthus dalmaticus was producing freely its heads of purplish 
flowers. Some of the dwarf Linarias were scattered promiscuously about 
the garden, the prettiest of them being L. alpina. Dianthuses in many 
species, Spiraeas, Campanulas, and Digitalis were abundant in the dressed 1 
garden. Outside of this is a space set apart for a wild garden, and a 
very pleasant place it is in summer, with all sorts of plants in a tangle 
—Poppies and wild Strawberries, Sedums, tall Campanulas, the Rosa 
rugosa, and the banks where the wild Thyme grows, Lilies towering 
above the tall Grasses, &c. 
Rubus canadensis is a useful species for the margins of shrubberies.. 
Besides his large garden, which one would think sufficient to absorb alt 
the spare time of a busy city man, Mr. Leonard is much interested in the 
Millmead Nursery of Mr. Harper. It has been formed for hardy her¬ 
baceous and alpine plants principally, and they succeed admirably on 
the rich loam over the chalk. The leading feature of the nursery is to 
supply choice plants of this kind in large established plants at a cheap- 
rate. An amateur may not succeed even with well established plants of 
difficult species, but he has a better chance to do so than if he received 
a scrap of a plant not well established. The climate of Guildford and 1 
the fine loam over the chalk seems right for alpines, but those who 
fancy there is a royal road to success will find themselves in error. The 
plants must be placed in the right positions, some of them in shallow 
high ground amongst rocks and stone-, others in the deep rich loam of 
shady borders, and again ethers well exposed to the sun, and a man's 
heart must be in his work. Mr. Leonard has a good knowledge of the 
plants both as regards their names and their cultural requirements* 
and as regards the latter he is well seconded by his excellent gardener 
Mr. Harper. Together they have accomplished excellent work, which is. 
not yet finished. The owner of the garden has his head full of large 
schemes for the future.—J. D. 
VINES FROM SEED. 
Sow in the open ground a Grape seed, bestow on the young plant all 
imaginable care, and you will have to wait at least five or six years- 
before being able to eat the first bunch of Grapes. By forced culture 
thi3 result can be obtained in four times less time. M. Etienne 
Salomon of Thomery has already shown Vines from seeds from fifteen 
to eighteen months old laden with golden bunches. This is the process 
for obtaining early fruiting. The seeds are sown in pots, which are 
placed in the frame of a conservatory, the temperature of which, kept 
during the first fifteen days at 68° Fahr., is afterwards raised progres¬ 
sively to 86°. Under the influence of this temperature the seeds are not 
long in germinating. The young plants rapidly increase in height, and 
as soon as they have two or three leaves they are again placed in pots 
3 inches in diameter. After watering the pots are plunged in heat, and 
they are watered frequently in order that the growth of the plants may 
not undergo any check. When the pots are full of roots a removal to a 
larger pot becomes necessary. 
It is not necessary to say that the nourishment given to the plant 
is in proportion to its growth. If the soil of the pot is not sufficient to 
nourish the Vine, the growth of which should be quickened, they must 
be watered with liquid manure—stable water and guano dissolved in. 
water. The temperature of the house being always maintained at 8S° 
one understands how rapid ought to be the growth of the Vines. The 
plants are pinched when they are 2 feet high, and again when the? 
branches have attained a height of 2 yards. 
The sowing being done in the month of February, the Vines have 
attained the desired development towards the end of summer. A little 
air is afforded them, and they are more and more exposed, until they 
may be taken out of the house without danger in order to ripen the canes. 
At the approach of cold weather they are taken into a cellar or under a-, 
shed to protect them from the cold. In December, January, and 
February they are taken to undergo the forcing process. The Vines, 
in pots having their branches rolled in spirals on stakes, are at first 
placed in a temperature of 43°. Progressively the temperature is raised, 
bringing it at the end of from thirty-five to forty days, to 77° or 86 a 
Fahr. If the operation is well conducted—that is to say, if the heat is 
gradually raised, and if the waterings are abundant, without,nevertheless. 
