394 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[ May 18^ 18891 
winter Grape for the past sixteen years, I can honestly say that our 
crops have at no time been materially injured by scalding. From the 
time the Grapes commence stoning until they are fully half coloured we 
always take care to have the hot-water pipes kept moderately warm 
through the night. I do not like to see the thermometer much below 
65° in early morning. During dull days we never throw much water 
about after dinner. This coupled with a chink of air on all night on 
the front ventilators is all we do. Even if the weather is very warm 
at the time it will not do to let the pipes get cold, and more front air will 
prevent the atmosphere of the house getting ‘•'stuffy.” Vineries that 
present an end to the morning sun should be lightly painted over with 
summer cloud or some other permanent shading. I have found a few 
berries on the side of the bunches exposed to the sun’s rays get scalded 
£ven when the above-mentioned treatment is carried out. Madresfield 
Court is another Grape with us apt to scald like Lady Downe’s, but is 
amenable to the same treatment for preventing it. In my opinion 
scalding and berry-splitting are both brought on by atmospheric causes. 
The berries of the two Grapes mentioned are very similar in texture 
during the period scalding takes place.—H. J. C., Grimston. 
Some ten years ago on writing for “ our Journal ” my experience with 
Lady Downe s Grapes I drew attention to giving air to prevent scalding 
being a fallacy. Since then it has frequently been a pleasure to me to 
see that the Editors in giving advice to correspondents recommended the 
-same treatment that I then advocated. My experience was that the Vine 
which grew close to where the spout came through the roof, and which 
hole was open continually, was always the most scalded. I at once 
concluded that the scalding could not be from want of air, and determined 
to try a high night temperature during that period. This is still my 
practice, or perhaps it is more correct to say that I take about 8° from 
the day and add it to the night. If you do not let the temperature 
vary more than 15°, and during the period keep your house a little on 
the dry side, if the wood has been in a good ripe condition, I do not 
think there will be much to complain about. The fact is, whilst it 
requires exceptional treatment to scald some varieties it also requires 
exceptional treatment to prevent the scalding of Lady Downe’s.— 
Joseph Witherspoon, Red Rose Nurseries, Chester-le-Street. 
SPRING GARDENING AT BEL VOIR. 
There is not a pleasanter phase of gardening than that of preparing 
some bright and cheerful floral pictures to greet the advent of spring. 
The garden never appeals more strongly to those who love flowers than 
when clothed in vernal beauty, at once a contrast to the dullness an 1 
dreariness of winter, and a promise of the pleasure it will yield when 
fruits and flowers have been mellowed by the summer sun. Buds are 
now bursting into leaf and blossom, the former robed in the tenderest 
hues of green, the latter sparkling with a freshness which they rarely 
assume in the hot days of summer. Their fragrance, too, seems more 
full and grateful now, after the flowerless days of winter, than it cau 
be by-and-by. Cold winds come occasionally, it is true, as do frosts— 
these are among the drawbacks of spring; but there are a host of 
beautiful plants which will brave the bitterest blasts and bloom cheer¬ 
fully in spite of nipping frosts. 
Spring gardening, it must be confessed, finds some detractors. The 
flowers are beautiful, the effect they produce everyone must admire ; 
but look at the work ! The propagation and planting of some thousands 
of Arabises, Aubrietias, Primroses, Tulips, Daffodils, and other plants is 
no joke.” Thus says some gardener, who has a large garden to manage 
with perhaps half the number of hands he ought to have. The force of 
the objection must be readily admitted, and it would be well if all 
owners of gardens who expect a beautiful and varied spring display 
would give it due consideration, and endeavour to provide the necessary 
facilities. A second objection, that spring beds are at their best when 
the time arrives for bedding plants to be put out, is, though a very com¬ 
mon one, perhaps less weighty. Too much importance is possibly attached 
to placing Zonal Pelargoniums and other summer bedders in the ground 
at the earliest possible moment, desirable though it may be to get more 
space under glass. As a rule summer beds cannot compare in interest 
and beauty with a free assortment of spring flowers, such as those 
already referred to, and others, and that these should be neglected for 
the sake of giving place to the summer flowers is in direct opposition to 
the law of the survival of the fittest. 
After allowing every objection to the practice of spring gardening 
as generally understood, its manifest advantages are so numerous and 
-so commanding that its extension may well be asked for. To bring life 
and cheerfulness where there is only barrenness in the early months of 
the year should be every gardener’s object. The majority of the plants 
required for the purpose are hardy and easily increased by seeds or 
division, and within certain limits there is scope for the exercise of taste 
and judgment in many different, but withal simple ways. What may 
be first attempted on a modest scale will, if successful, stimulate to 
higher aims, and taste in flower gardening will progressively increase. 
In large arrangements something in the shape of a reserve garden will 
be needed for the propagation of the plants and for their culture when 
their period of duty is temporarily over, but in smaller places many out- 
of-the-way corners could be utilised with admirable results. 
Some remarks on spring gardening in its higher phases, and where 
it is carried out on a scale quite dazzling in its beauty and complete¬ 
ness, will serve to illustrate these remarks. Who has not heard of the 
spring gardening at Belvoir Castle, and of the marvellous pictures 
spread out there by that true artist and admirable gardener, Mr. 
William Ingram ? I had listened to many to whom Belvoir in spring- 
was a familiar scene, and the chorus of praise and appreciation ran in 
an unbroken stream. There was such flower grouping there as could 
hardly be found even where Nature had been most lavish in the disposi¬ 
tion of her favourites. Hardy plants, from the rarest to the commonest, 
bloomed in such profusion and diversity that to every visitor Caesar’s- 
proud boast, veni, vidi, vici, recurred only to be changed—“ I came, I 
saw, I was conquered.” Reader, has it ever been your lot to pass 
through the Vale of Belvoir, to mount its crested hills, and to view the 
noble landscape with its glistening floods of bloom that spreads from 
your ’vantage ground ? If so, there will be no need for words of mine ' 
to represent its beauty ; it will be fresh within your recollection. But 
should the pleasure have been hitherto denied you, read, and then seek, 
the evidence of your own eyes as to whether aught I say is an exag¬ 
geration. Belvoir is not the delight of the privileged few. Its gates 
are open to whomsoever may choose to come. Humble artisans from, 
smokq-laden cities are as free to ramble there as the titled friends of its- 
ducal owners. That many avail themselves of the pleasant privilege 
goes without saying. Only too glad must the-jaded townsmen be to 
escape for a brief space from the busy haunts of men, and note with joy 
that wealth and high station are not always exercised exclusively for 
selfish ends. 
Belvoir is seven miles distant from its post town, Grantham, and the 
drive thence is a pleasant experience on a bright April morning, but to 
many it is more convenient to take the train again and go to Redmile, 
a small station about three miles from Belvoir, and from which convey¬ 
ances may be engaged to take visitors to the Castle. 
The enclosed gardens at Belvoir provide a pleasant foretaste of the- 
rich treat in store without the walls in the herbaceous garden. It is 
extensive, and furnished with a great diversity of hardy plants such as a 
connois=eur could linger over for many a pleasant hour, some plants being 
in bold clumps. An example of the latter was observed in the beautiful 
Anemone nemorosa casrulea, a delightful mass of pale satiny blue. Indi¬ 
vidually the flowers are as large as a half-crown piece, and clustered 
thickly over a space of 20 square feet the effect they produce can be 
imagined. Iris pumila bicolor, white flaked with purple, and 5 or 
0 inches high, is very attractive. Myosotis alpestris Victoria is a beau¬ 
tiful new Forget-me-not, very large and free. Megasea (Saxifraga) 
crassifolia purpurascens is the finest of its class. The flower stems are 
as large and rich in colour as Rhubarb, and surmounted by a noble head, 
of lilac flowers. Narcissi are numerous. The greatest advance is- 
Duchess of Westminster, one of the Leedsi varieties, with white seg¬ 
ments and a creamy cup, almost white, and quite Eucharis-like. All 
the better known kinds are present, and need not be enumerated. Of 
the larger Trumpet section the most distinct and showy is the rich 
yellow, almost orange, obval'aris maximus. Only one or two of the 
finest features of this splendid herbaceous garden are referred to, but it, 
is worthy of a long inspection. 
The visitor passes from it and upwards by winding paths into the . 
pleasure grounds. These are delightfully informal, and the beds, which 
spring upon one as it were here and there, are charming in their bright¬ 
ness and simplicity. One is composed solely of the blue Aubrietia grasca 
edged with Daisies, and with rose Tulips springing from the soft cushion 
of flowers. Another several feet across is a mass of the lovely and 
distinct crimson Aubrietia Leichtlini, a great acquisition to hardy flowers.- 
The mixed beds are most effective too. In these Violas, Forget-me- 
nots, Anemone nemorosa fl.-pl., Megasea ligulata, Primroses, Wallflowers, 
and others are happily associated, but not in lines. A bold and original 
arrangement is that of planting the Megasea referred to in association 
with crimson Tulips, but the result amply justifies it. Magnificent 
indeed are these groups of beds, some consisting of twenty to thirty, all 
differently planted, but all with the dominating idea of showing the 
plants in the most natural form. One may look upon them again and 
again, with their noble background of trees, through which the 
turrets of the castle can be seen, and the eye does not become satiated. 
Beautiful as they are, however, they afford but a faint idea of what is- 
to come when, passing along winding walks bordered by shrubs, the 
garden at length melts away into the woodland. Not in the pleasure 
gardens about the Castle, but far away from it, in the tree-studded 
heights, are found the real glories of Belvoir. Nodding Daffodils on 
the almost unscaleable banks greet the visitor as he pursues his way ; 
Violets proclaim their presence by the rich waves of perfume which are 
wafted from their sloping couch long before it is discovered. How 
cunningly the hand of man is hidden in all this, with what skill every 
natural advantage has been seized upon to form, as it were, a connecting 
link, and steal from the beholder the consciousness that Art, not Nature, 
is responsible for it all, can only be appreciated by actual inspection 
and deep afterthought. The effect is gradual, cumulative, but none the- 
less it conquers in the end ; and when at length the visitor finds himself 
at the culminating point, where, from a lofty bank, he can look down 
on flower-clad slopes, with a rivulet dashing down from some hidden 
source over a stony bed glowing with Daffodils, Forget-me-nots, and 
Arabises, the whole scene appears quite natural, and the guiding hand 
has gained its end. 
The spring gardening at Belvoir is at once a study and a lesson. The- 
simplest and boldest effects are attempted, but the result is always the 
same. If a discordant note is struck one feels that with the garden 
artist, as with the musician, the harsh introduction has an object—the 
throwing out into proper relief of the more subtle themes. 'The thread,. 
