NEW YORK, MAY 27, 1882. 
[Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1882. by the Rural New-Yorker, In the office of the Librarian of Congress at Washington. 
PRICE FIVE CENTS 
£2,00 PER YEAR. 
GARDENER'S COTTAGE AT LAMBTON 
CASTLE. 
There are, we judge, but few places where 
more thoughtful consideration has been given 
to the wants and comforts of employes on 
large estates than at Lambton Castle, Durham, 
north of England. In that country there has 
been a greater improvement in the habitations 
where gardeners and their assistants are 
housed than in America; in fact, here there 
are few, if any, as neat and costly houses for 
those who care for the estate, as is shown in 
the accompanying illustration, which we re¬ 
engrave from the London Gardeners’ Chron¬ 
icle. It is kuown as the Gardener’s Cottage 
at Lambton Castle. We present it, not with 
plans and specifications, though the house is 
apparently conveniently arranged, but rather 
to show what many of our friends here might 
do to make their homes more pleasant and 
their surroundings more attractive. 
“ A LITTLE MORE GRAFE.” 
MR. GEO. W. CAMPBELL’S REPLY TO MR. 
WOODWARD. 
1 am surprised that friend Woodward is so 
much disturbed at my 
notice of the Niagara 
Grape when it has af¬ 
forded him such an ex¬ 
cellent opportunity of 
"grinding his own 
hatchet at the public 
expense,” and also of 
appropriating the title 
of “ Secretary, ” to 
which he so seriously 
objects, in my case. To 
relieve the gentleman’s 
miud, I will-here say. 
I did not sign my name 
as Secretary, this ad¬ 
dition must have been 
made by the editor; 
hence all Mr. W'sstric¬ 
tures upon that point 
require no comment. 
[We advised Mr. Wood¬ 
ward that we were not 
positive that Mr. 
Campbell wrote “ Sec¬ 
retary” after his name. 
—Eds.] 
Mr. W. seems to for¬ 
get that it is the Niaga¬ 
ra Grape and not the 
“ Secretary ” that is 
under discussion, and 
he strives to divert at¬ 
tention from it by per¬ 
sonal attacks upon me, 
and because 1 cannot 
see in the Niagara tbe 
wonderful excellence 
he is trying to impose 
upon the public by 
“ praising what he has 
to sell in uustinted mea¬ 
sure,” he is quite ready 
to accuse me of unfair¬ 
ness, and to impute to 
me uuwi rthy motives. 
I think no unpreju¬ 
diced or fair-minded \ ( 
man whose judgment 
is not warped by self-interest, could find 
fault with my notice of the Niagara. 
And upon carefully reading Mr. Wood¬ 
ward’s article, I cannot see that he either 
denies, or successfully controverts any state¬ 
ment which I made. Whatever Mr. Wood 
ward may insinuate, I have no wish to present 
either the Niagara or its owners in any other 
than their true character. And if I am not 
competent to judge of the quality of a grape 
after having seen and eaten of the best the 
company could select for exhibition "five 
times,” let my opinion, as an individual, pass 
for just what it is worth. If there is a better 
judge, or a man more honest and fearless in 
the expression of his opinion of fruits than 
Chas. Downing, I do not know him; and he 
says of the quality of the Niagara, about, the 
same as Concord. The editor of the Rural 
New-Yorker, if I am not greatly mistaken, 
said last season the quality was not better 
than that of the Concord. [We so stated, but 
subsequently stated that we thought it rather 
better.— Eds.] I believe I have always said, 
that to my taste, it was rather better. But 
for all this, I have seen nothing to indicate 
that the grape has any wonderful and extra¬ 
ordinary merit such as its introducers are try¬ 
ing to make the public believe. And their 
persistently withholding it from any fair and 
impartial test out of their own hands and 
control, is tp my mind sufficient reason for 
regarding both the grape and its owners with 
suspicion. That there ore already more valu¬ 
able and better grapes in market unrestricted 
by any selfish obstructions, I think even Mr. 
Woodward cannot deny. He knows it is in¬ 
ferior in quality, not only to the. Duchess, 
Prentiss, Lady Washington and Empire Sta'e, 
but also to some of the older and more com- 
Eds.] and, except that the latter is rather 
more foxy, scarcely better in quality. 
Mr. Woodward says I intimate that the 
Niagara is not hardy. Hardy is a relative 
term; but, as generally understood, I do not 
believe it is; or that it will be found to succeed 
in general cultivation without Winter pro¬ 
tection. If many of the vines were badly 
winter killed at Lock port during the Winter 
of 1881-2, it will not stand the severer tests it 
must undergo in less favorable localities. 
From the best information I can obtain, I 
judge that it will be found about equal to tbe 
old Isabella, in habit of growth, hardiness, and 
productiveness. Mr. Woodward seems to 
think it unreasonable that I would not pay 
$1.50 apiece for the privilege of growing 
Niagara vines for the benefit of his company, 
giving them half the fruit, and the use of tbe 
cuttings fora long term of years, and binding 
myself not to propagate, sell, or give away 
any wood, or vines. To show that I am not 
singular in my opiuions, 1 will quote from Mr. 
H. J. Edgell, of Michigan, who said in a paper 
before the Michigan State Horticultural 
Society: " the Niagara is supposed to embody 
all the qualities necessary to commend it to 
public favor, but plants cannot be bought, 
and are obtainable only upon such terms as 
no sane man can accept At the last meet¬ 
ing of the American Pomological Society in 
Boston, where Mr. Woodward was "grinding 
his hatchet,” by extolling the Niagara, I heard 
it denounced as an insult to the Society, while 
the company held the position it had assumed 
toward the public with this grape. And it 
GARDENER’S COTTAGE IN ENGLAND.— After the Agricultural Gazette.— Fig. 152. 
mon varieties. It is inferior in size, and pro¬ 
bably in health and hardiness, to the Poekling- 
ton; [In size, yes, but not in health and 
hardiness as it seems at the Rural Grounds.— 
does seem to me the " Secretary ” must have 
a cast-iron "cheek,” to impute unworthy 
motives to others when every act and word of 
himself and his company in reference to this 
grape are so palpably influenced by insatiate 
greed. 
Mr. Woodward is pleased to bring the Lady 
Grape and my connection with it into the 
discussion. The Lady is fairly in the hands 
of the public, free to all who want it, and it 
has ever been since its first introduction. I 
have never said anything of it that I wish to 
retract; and others who are, so far as I 
know, entirely disinterested, speak far more 
highly of it than I have ever done. That it 
may have disappointed the expectations of its 
planters in some places, is no more than 
might be reasonably expected: but It is just 
as certain that it has more than met expecta¬ 
tions in others. I think Mr. Woodward 
himself has been disappointed in finding the 
Lady earlier, healthier, hardier, and better- 
flavored than his Niagara, though it is not a g 
strong in growth or as long a keeper. The 
Lady has only been recommended as an early 
grape, superior to others of its season. It has 
a thinner skin than the Niagara, and will not 
be as good a shipper for long distances. But 
for an extra-early grape, for home use. or 
near market, for most localities, I know of no 
other grape yet introduced that is both as 
early, and as good I must also correct Mr. 
Woodward in his statement that I ever said 
to him, or any one else, that the Niagara had 
the best leaf I ever saw. I have seen the foli¬ 
age as well as the grape, and while I cannot 
say the foliage is tho best, I regard it as good, 
and so far as I can judge, should class it as 
among the best. 
Mr. Purdy also would have the public be¬ 
lieve I have not spoken 
fairly of the "White 
Ann Arbor.” Mr. E. 
H. Scott, who intro¬ 
duced this grape to the 
American Pomological 
Society last Septem¬ 
ber, has only this to say 
of it: “ White Ann 
Arbor. The specimens 
shown have been picked 
about two weeks. It 
has the fault of drop- 
ping from the stem. 
The quality is very fair 
as you will see.” The 
fruit-committee simply 
say of it : “ White 
grape, too acid." 
Delaware, O. 
[We have liberally 
presented both Mr. 
Gampbeil’s and Mr. 
Woodward's views as 
to the Niagara Grape, 
and we hope that no 
further discussion may 
be deemed necessary 
by either as to its mer¬ 
its or demerits. Vine¬ 
yards have been plant¬ 
ed in many different 
parts of this country 
and Canada, and we 
have now to await the 
verdict of time which, 
iu spite of individual 
predilections,will place 
the plain facts before 
the people. We cer¬ 
tainly do think that 
those who control new 
plants have the right 
to introduce them just 
as they choose, and that 
the right of the public 
in the method of intro- 
[G duction is confined to 
its undoubted privilege 
e of accepting or rejecting the proffered terms. 
f We may add that the Niagara has thus far 
f proven hardy nd extremely vigorous at the 
s Rural Expe* imental Grounds.—E ds.] 
