November SI, 1889 J 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
441 
cient amount of piping to preserve a night temperature of 70° in 
severe weather without violently heating the pipes). That tempera¬ 
ture may not always be required, but it is none the less necessary 
that the pipes should be able to produce it. Overheated pipes 
promote red spider, weakly growths, and deformed fruits. In 
addition to pipes for affording bottom heat I like a good quantity 
of dung and leaves, and the Cucumbers like it too. A bottom 
heat of 80° to 85° is a suitable temperature for the roots. 
Soil, of course, is important. It should be fresh, good, and 
rough. Chopped turf just blackened with soot I have found suit¬ 
able ; if at all poor, one-third of horse droppings—old Mushroom- 
bed manure—may be mixed with the loam. A great bulk should 
not be employed at once. Commence with a small hillock for each 
plant, and surface-dress weekly or whenever roots protrude and 
ask for fresh food. Active surface roots induce healthy fruit¬ 
ful growth, and open—previously warmed—turfy soil and warm 
water secure active roots. Water must be given according to 
circumstances. It must at all times be sufficient, at no time 
excessive. 
Temperature, ventilation, and atmospheric moisture areimpoit- 
ant elements in winter Cucumber culture, and not much less 
important is bright clean glass. A night temperature of 65° is a 
safe one, with just a chink for air in the top ventilators. During 
very severe and also dull weather the thermometer may fall to 60° 
at 6 a.m. The day temperature should be 5° or 6° higher by lire 
heat, and should reach its maximum at 0 a.m. That is important. 
The sun heat may rise to 80° to 85°. Watch for this, and bottle it 
up by early closing ; it will save coals and produce green foliage 
(which red spiders do not appear to like), and green Cucumbers, 
too, which look well anywhere—on the plants or the table. As the 
temperature increases so let the moisture increase ; this will be 
insured by the troughs on the pipes when the heat is from the fire 
alone,, but with sun heat the walls and paths occasionally need 
damping. Syringe on favourable occasions. The water must not 
hang about the plants during hour after hour. One good syringing 
weekly is more effectual than daily dampings. Prevent red spider 
appearing if possible. Perfectly clear soot water is a deterrent; 
it is also stimulating to the plants. 
Great watchfulness of the weather at night, early morning 
attention, cautious admittance of air, intelligent guidance of heat 
and moisture, are the chief essentials to success in winter Cucumber 
culture.—R. G. 
NOTES ON EARLY ENGLISH HORTICULTURE. 
{Continued from page 33 7.) 
Not many months before that event in English history of no 
small importance, the revolution of 1688, Charles Cotton died in 
St. James’s, Westminster, where he probably was sometimes resi¬ 
dent, and may have had a house, also a garden there. It is likely, 
however, that the chief of his experiments in gardening were made 
at his abode in Derbyshire, on the banks of the far-famed Dove, 
the place being Beresford, and here he was visited by Isaak 
Walton, to whose “ Complete Angler ” he contributed the second 
part. A man evidently not wanting in genius, master of several 
languages (ancient and modern), a composer of poetry, and great 
in gardening as well as in angling. We see him in another aspect 
when we also view him as an officer in the Guards, and more than 
once mixed up in duels. A moderate sized book he published in 
1675 represents the state of knowledge at that date on the subject 
of fruit culture, and he gives full directions, resting evidently on 
practice, not theory, how the various sorts of fruit trees should be 
planted, pruned, and cultivated ; whether they yielded “ stone 
fruits or pepin fruits,” as he puts it. Cotton was apparently the 
author of the original definition of an espalier—“ a hedgerow of 
fruit trees against a latticed pole or stakes ; ” and of a centre- 
spalier—“ a hedge of fruit trees against a wall.” He descants upon 
the benefits of brick walls, especially in exposed localities, because 
they afforded warmth and shelter to the larger fruits. When trees 
are planted in the open ground he commends the quincunx order of 
planting—that is, the putting four to form a square, and one in the 
centre. October is the month in which he advises that young trees 
should be set and older trees removed, showing that one fancy of 
the early horticulturists had not lost its influence— i.e., limiting to 
one month what might be done in several, or varied according to 
the species of tree. Cotton advises that the surface soil round 
fruit trees should be frequently turned over during the summer. 
Modern gardeners will not spare the time, but if it could be done 
at least occasionally many insects in their chrysalis stage would be 
destroyed. The use, not of nails, but of other points, formerly 
called “ sheepshanks,” is recommended by him, to which the shoots 
can be tied. 
The close of the eighteenth century is a time which draws our 
attention to the village of Chelsea—for village it then was, though 
now a part of the great metropolis—since it is associated with 
important horticultural experiments. That lengthy pile of build¬ 
ings, Chelsea Barracks, which overlook the gardens of Chelsea 
College, is probably on the site of what we should call the home 
garden of Ranelagh House, but the gardens extended over many 
acres round, and, if Bowack is to be believed, were regarded as the 
finest in England, the space considered. Lord Ranelagh was of 
Irish descent, and a peer who gave much time to the promotion of 
horticulture. He had greenhouses with glass roofs (then a greit 
novelty), and laid out his beds and walks in a manner that excited 
much admiration. As I previously pointed out, what were styled 
“ greenhouses ” two hundred years ago had not glass roofs, and 
even far on in the eighteenth century they were often without 
them, though they might have large side windows. It has been 
stated that an orangery at Woollaton Hall, near Nottingham, con¬ 
structed about 1696, was the first glass-roofed house in Britain, but 
the matter is doubtful. A visitor, one Mr. Gibson, who during 
the reign of William inspected the gardens near London, tells us 
that Lord Ranelagh’s kitchen garden was provided with seats ! A 
remark made by another author, that he saw a part of the grounds 
of the Apothecaries’ Company arranged in the Irish style, suggests 
that this particular style, whatever it might be, was introduced by 
Lord Ranelagh. He had in his ground a wilderness, so-called then, 
or what we should now call a shrubbery, which remained intact 
many years, giving name afterwards to “ Wilderness Row.” This 
quaint old peer would be astonished could he see the modern 
shrubberies and clumps of trees in the locality he once tried to 
beautify. 
But the apothecaries’ garden at Chelsea, still existent, and which 
■was the fourth of the botanical gardens in England, is of great 
interest, as being far more important than its precursors in stimu¬ 
lating research for exotics ; it also formed a centre, to which 
gardeners resorted to see novelties, and to inquire about methods 
of propagation or culture. There had been a garden at West¬ 
minster for the cultivation of medical and other plants during the 
middle of the seventeenth century, and in the year 1676 this place 
was the property of a Mrs. Gape. We should like to know whether 
she was a cultivator of plants, or simply the owner of the land, for 
the fact is very prominent and seems singular that in the early 
annals of horticulture the female sex scarcely figure at all, though 
subsequently gardening became such a favourite pursuit with 
ladies. However, the apothecaries purchased the collection of 
plants in this Westminster establishment, and they became the 
nucleus of their Chelsea garden, which was to receive so many 
exotics in after days. It would be curious to see a greenhouse of 
two centuries ago, but the oldest extant at Chelsea does not date as 
far back, though there are antiquated structures there, which tell 
us of a time when forcing and the nurture of plants in winter taxed 
seriously the resources of the gardener. According to Evelyn, in ten 
years “ there hid been obtained a large assortment of rarities, and 
in the autumn of 1685 he saw a conservatory of the newest design, 
vaulted beneath, and kept warm all the winter by a stove below, so 
that the windows might be opened even in hard frost. A year or 
two after Gibson, already mentioned, reports that Watts, keeper 
of the garden, had allowed much of it to fall into neglect, and 
though he was a man of ability he was removed from his post. 
This garden seems to have been the first place where an endeavour 
was made to have an arrangement of growing plants in which they 
were grouped to exhibit their natural affinities. Several new ever¬ 
greens were introduced here. Probably the number growing in 
Britain did not exceed a dozen when William III. landed, excluding 
of course our few native species. It was about this date that in 
the London nurseries they began to raise forest trees and hedge 
plants by striking slips, or from seeds. 
There was an increased demand for evergreens, it is observable. 
Owing to the prevalence of the Italian style of gardening during 
the seventeenth century certain species were in favour, such as the 
Myrtle, Bay, and Box. Myrtle was also occasionally used for 
hedges at Chiswick. Round part of Sir Stephen Fox’s garden were 
hedges of this shrub, which were protected in the winter by boards. 
Some of the evergreens were sold at moderate pi ices ; a nursery¬ 
man named Pearson had in 1691 abundance of Cypresses, 3 feet 
high, at 4d. Versprit, a Dutchman probably, is noted by Gibson as 
having specimens of the Lentiscus, for two of which he got £40 
from Sir Henry Capel of Ivew. At Hoxton, then famous for its 
gardens, Darby had begun to obtain varieties of the Holly, and he 
kept specimens in books of the deciduous plants he grew. Fair- 
child, of the same place, introduced the Aconite and Hellebore ; he 
studied botany, which few gardeners then did, and read a paper 
before the Royal Society upon the motion of sap. He was^also 
author of the “ City Gardener,” published in his later years (1722), 
and the founder of an annual botanical sermon. His Vineyard is 
referred to, about 1700, as being remarkable for the Grapes it 
