January 5. THE COTTAGI 
liacl a lot of it from Holland this season, and they came 
over quite safe, were potted immediately, and are now 
growing well. 
The soil this species requires is a rather strong one; 
that is, a compost of three-parts good loam, such as an 
old pasture will afford, one-part well decomposed hotbed 
manure, or the horse-droppings from off our public 
highways. If the former manuro is used, then add a 
good addition of sand; the latter will, perhaps, not re¬ 
quire it, because sand, or, at least, grated stone, will 
generally be scraped up with the dung. In this mate¬ 
rial I find them to grow very satisfactorily. The Shusan 
Iris is nearly hardy in the south of England, but is apt 
to go oil' with the damp weather of autumn; therefore 
it is safer always to keep a few in pots, sheltered through 
winter in a cold frame or pit. 
At Messrs. Henderson’s, of Pine-Apple-Place, it 
is kept plunged in a pit, which pit is simply pro¬ 
tected with mats thrown over a frame-work made ot 
iron rods length ways, and bent over in half-circles 
at about seven feet apart across the pit or bed. It 
is one of the neatest habitations for half-hardy bulbous 
plants I know of anywhere. It is a winter habi¬ 
tation for rarer kinds of Squill ( Scilia ), for the Bui- 
bocoditnn vernum, for the Cyclobothras, Rigidellas, and 
other rare, scarce, half-hardy, and difficult-to-do-well 
bulbs. The pit is simply a parallellogram formed by 
building two walls four feet apart, about one-and-a-half 
feet high, with cross walls at each end. It is filled with 
brick rubble to within six inches of the top, and that 
space is filled with ashes, in which the pots are plunged 
up to the rim ; then on the top of the bricks is placed a 
long piece of timber, about the size of a brick in the 
square. Into this sill the iron hoops are fixed, thus 
rendering all firm and substantial. It has been in use, 
to my knowledge, for more than ten years, and is appa¬ 
rently quite as perfect now as the day it was built and 
finished. An additional shelter is given to it by a thick, 
four-feet high, Yew hedge on the north side. So con¬ 
vinced am 1 of the excellence of this hybernaculum, that 
I shall put one up for my own use. I am certain it 
would be an excellent place for many things that are 
now damping off in close pits or frames; such, for 
instance, as Verbenas and shrubby Calceolarias, plants 
that invariably suffer more, or rather perish more, from 
damp than the severest cold. In such an airy pit damp 
would vanish every fine day, and frost might be kept 
out, or from the plants, by coverings of non-conducting 
materials, such as that called frigulomo, which I have 
seen in use at Dyrliam Park, near Barnet, and which 
the excellent and scientific gardener, Mr. 0. Thomson, 
assured me was the best covering material either for 
shade or shelter of which he had ever had experience. 
This is a digression in favour of a pit, or rather, per¬ 
haps, it might be termed a raised and sheltered bed, 
which I am sure the readers of The Cottage Gardener 
will excuse, nay, many of them will be glad of the in¬ 
formation how to form such a place. Whoever visits 
the Piue - Apple Nursery should request to be shown 
this raised bed in which are grown the rarer bulbs in 
pots. Its neatness and efficiency would bo sure to 
gratify the visitor. The only fault I could ever find 
about it was the hedge being a little too near it, so that 
there is scarcely room to creep along between the pit 
and the hedge. 
After the winter season is over, this beautiful Iris may 
then be planted out to bloom, and taken up again in the 
autumn. It is easily propagated by division. On each side 
of the (leshy root-stock there springs forth shoots ; these 
gradually elongate till they have a root-stock belonging 
to each. This young root-stock will form roots, and 
then it may be safely divided off the parent plant, potted 
in a proportionate sized pot, and placed in a shady place 
till fresh roots are emitted, and the plant is fairly esta- 
1 GARDENER. 203 
blished; afterwards give it a second potting, and then 
it may be treated like the old plants. The species also 
produces seeds, and may be increased by them as a 
matter of course; but hitherto there has been no dis¬ 
position to (as florists term it) sport. All the seedlings 
have come exactly like the parents. Whether a Beaton, 
or a Leeds, could, by hybridizing, produce such a result, 
l must leave to them; the flower is really such a fine 
one that it seems almost impossible to improve it. 
One point in its culture I must not forget. If a plant 
has become old, aud branchy, and weak, then it will be 
advisable to break it up entirely, make of it as many 
as possible, aud commence afresh. T. Appleby. 
(Z'o be continued.) 
ENVILLE PARK, 
The Seat of the Earl of Stamford and Warrington, 
Wherever there are improvements taking place, or 
going on, I am pretty certain to hear of them, and quite 
as certain to go and see them, and also to take notes; 
and, as Burns says, “P faith to prent them.” A very 
good and entertaining book might be written on the 
progress of gardening, and we should find, that in pro¬ 
portion as the taste for gardening increases or wanes, 
so will the taste for all that is good or lovely in the 
moral world increase or wane also. Great Britain 
stands, perhaps, the highest of any nation or kingdom, 
ancient or modern, as a gardening people; and 1 need 
not insist upon the moral and intellectual superiority ol 
her people. Long may gardening flourish among us, 
especially the ornamental part of it; for I say, increase 
the love of flowers, and the lovely part of the human 
character will be developed in proportion. 
Enville is quite a household word among Pine-growers. 
It was here that the kind known as the Enville was 
either raised from seed, or first fruited, and hence took 
its name. 
The place is situated about five miles from Stour¬ 
bridge, a town famous for the manufacture of glass, 
and the boundary on that side of the black country. I 
was staying, about a month ago, a few days with my 
esteemed friend, Mr. Catling, curator of the Birmingham 
Botanic Gardens, and whilst there, I heard that Lord 
Stamford was making great improvements in his 
gardens. That news induced me to start forth on a 
journey of discovery through what is called “ the black 
country.” Whoever has read the beautiful story oi Nell 
and her Grandfather, in Dickens “ Old Curiosity Shop,” 
will remember his vivid description of this country. It 
commences as soon as the passenger leaves the noble 
station of the London and North Western Railway, in 
New Street, Birmingham, and stretches, without any 
relief, to Stourbridge. A bleak, barren, desolate, and 
black, smoky district, with scarcely a tree, or a hedge, 
or a green field to relieve the eye. Even the cottage 
gardens, where there are any, are barren; or, if there 
are a few hardy Scotch Kale plants to be seen, they are 
so dark coloured that the mind is distressed with the 
idea of having them cooked to eat. Thanks, however, 
to the steam and iron way, I was quickly conveyed over 
it, and as soon as I passed over the line of hills just 
beyond Stourbridge 1 entered into as pleasant a country 
as can be found anywhere in Britain. 
I cheerfully pursued my way on foot, l'or there is no 
public conveyance that way, till the towers of Envillo 
appeared in view. Every step told me that improve¬ 
ment was the order of the day. The hills are covered 
with young thriving plantations, in which the Larch 
appeared to preponderate greatly, though I could detect 
a mixture of the sturdy Oak, the graceful Ash, and the 
slender Birch amongst them. Doubtless the Oak is 
intended to be chief when the rest are thinned out. 
Many of these young plantations are now just at the 
