THE COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRY GENTLEMAN'S COMPANION.— July 15, 1856. 277 
The grand conservatory is connected with the house and 
with the stables by glazed passages, heatable by hot w r ater, 
so that the whole may be visited, even in the soverest 
weather, without leaving a climate like that of Madeira. 
The reason for this is said to have been that Mr. Smith 
preferred bringing Madeira to Mrs. Smith, rather than that 
Mrs. Smith should go to Madeira, when her physician 
recommended her wintering in that island. 
Of the fruit forcing at Tidworth every one has heard; 
Grapes are required for dessert on every day of the year, 
and when we were there in June, Peaches, Nectarines, Green 
Gages, and Bigarreau Cherries, were profuse in the stoves, 
all of the finest quality, and the trees in the highest health. 
This was to be expected, for Mr. Sanders is widely known 
as a skilful fruit forcer; and we were glad to hear’ from him 
that in a second edition of his “ Practical Treatise on the 
Culture of the Vine,” lie purposes to include directions for 
forcing other fruit. 
The Grapes were looking especially healthy, and we were 
glad to find that Mr. Sanders thinks we are right in telling 
our correspondents that “ shanking " arises from the roots 
of the Vine being kept too cold in proportion to the tem¬ 
perature in which the branches are vegetating. He takes 
great pains to keep the roots warm, and free from excessive 
wet; and as shanking never occurs in Iris Vineries, this may 
be accepted as an evidence that our opinion of the cause is 
correct. 
In the kitchen-garden we observed that Mr. Sanders 
adopts the out-door-bed mode of forcing Asparagus. There 
are, we think, twelve equal sized beds, six of which are 
alternately forced annually, and the others lie fallow, that is, 
are not cut from at all. Trenches three feet deep, and two 
feet wide, are dug between the beds to bo forced, and these 
trenches are filled with fermenting dung. The beds have 
each a moveable span-roofed glazed frame put over them, 
and the time of cutting from the beds so forced,^extends 
from the end of October until June. The plan we pub¬ 
lished last week of the Asparagus forcing-beds at PYogmore 
may be taken as examples of those at Tidworth, duug being 
put in the place of the Frogmore hot-water pipes. 
Unfortunately, we had not time sufficient to see the whole 
of the grounds, which are tastefully laid out; but we bad a 
passing glance, and noted one very beautiful vista which we 
longed to examine more closely. The house is placed in a 
hollow, and on one side, where the ground rises steeply, the 
trees are densely planted, and at the end of a long opening, 
among their lofty and varied forms, is seen a temple pecu¬ 
liarly effective in its position. 
In visiting Tidworth from London, the best route is by 
the South Western Railway to Andover, from whence the 
house is distant nine miles. The gardens are thrown open 
at two o’clock, and wo can testify from experience to the 
courtesy and information the visitor will obtain from Mr. 
Sanders. 
EXHIBITING FRUIT-TREES IN POTS. 
I believe that Pines, Grapes, Peaches, Nectarines, Plums, 
Cherries, Figs, Guavas, and other fruits, grown in pots, will 
shortly form one of the principal and most important fea- I 
tures in the exhibitions of fruits ; in fact, I think they ought j 
to take the lead. See what the Chiswick Shows did for the 
Roses in pots ; therefore, let us have no more such misera¬ 
ble apologies as representatives of the pot-culture of fruit in 
England, such ns was exhibited in the Crystal Palace on 
Wednesday last, with the single exception of four pots of 
Grapes, exhibited by Mr. Forsyth, gardener to Baron 
Rothschild, which formed two very tempting arches, and 
richly deserved the prize awarded to them ; while, on the 
other hand, the Grapes opposed to them reflected no credit 
on the sender. 
The liberal prize offered for Apricots, Plums, and Cherries 
in pots was gained by my old friend Mr. Fleming, who, 
it is needless to say, stands at the head of his profession. 
He had four Plum-trees, without either Cherry or Apricot, 
showing the groat liberality of the Crystal Palace Company, 
and more particularly as I observed several of the fruit 
tied on, that, I have no doubt, had fallen off on their 
journey. Still, if this is to be allowed, we shall soon have 
it carried to such excess by the unprincipled, that fair and 
honest showing will be out of the question. 
Again, another very liberal prize was awarded to Mr. Lane 
for four Peach and Nectarine trees, one of whicli trees was, I 
without exception, the best fruited I ever saw, and reflected 
credit on our friend, if it is possible to add to his already 
load of well-earned laurels. 
Still, with the exception of one or two fruit that had 
started swelling the second time, the rest were as green and 
as hard as marbles. Now, this ought not to be allowed, at 
least, amongst an exhibition of what ought to be ripe fruit; 
for, if allowed, how easy it would be to exhibit them green 
in May, and carry them to every Exhibition of any con¬ 
sequence within reach up till October; for we have all seen 
this hawking system too frequently put in praotice with such 
as Ixoras, Azaleas, &c., that were brought to the Horticul¬ 
tural Society’s Show in May, hardly out, sent in June full 
blown, and again in July when fading away. Not that two 
such persevering lions practise this ; still I think it is quite : 
time for the patrons of Exhibitions to draw an unmis- I 
takeable line at the commencement of, if I am not much I 
mistaken, a new era in fruit exhibiting, which, judging by I 
i the great interest ladies and gentlemen take in fruit Exhi- 
I bitions, will not want supporters. It is amusing to observe 
the keen looks bestowed on the fruit. One gentleman in 
particular I remarked spell bound before the splendid 
Peaches of Mr. Snow, to the great annoyance of his 
neighbours, who could not move him ! 
One word on the arrangement of fruit at the Palace, which 
is improved since the first, though far from perfection. Why 
not turn some of the spare spaces in the courts to advan¬ 
tage for this purpose? Take, for instance, the Pompeian 
Court. Where could be a more appropriate place for exhi¬ 
biting Peaches, Cherries, Ac., in pots ? At least, I thought a 
certain friend of ours, with some score of Peaches, <fcc., in pots, 
along with a rather not bad-looking specimen of humanity, 
would have made an agreeable addition, though when I 
visited iton Wednesday it was certainly furnished in a manner 
that few would wish to have altered. The first sight was so 
fascinating and striking, that on entering I stood still on the 
threshold, I took my hat off, and, perhaps, for the moment 
wished that I was “ monarch of all I surveyed,” or, at least, 
thought a grand Turk or Sultan ought to have been pleased 
with the sight; for there were some sixty or seventy Sultanas 
enjoying themselves with all the easy Eastern style imagin- | 
able. 
But what has all this to do with fruit-trees in pots? Much ; 
for, in looking round, I saw the garden without a flower, and 
what had once been grass edges were scorched up ; therefore, j 
ns I have said before, I thought this would be a very appro- I 
priate place for the fruit-trees, or such as Messrs. Lane | 
and Francis’s Roses, which, if plunged and the surface | 
covered with moss, would have had a good effect. 
Again, we have the garden of the Alhambra, which would 
also be a delightful place for fruit in pots, Roses, or Fancy 
and other Geraniums, Heaths, Azaleas, Orcbidere, &c. 
It may be said, that if an arrangement of this kind was 
carried out it would attract crowds to those places, and create 
confusion. I am of a different opinion, and in the belief 
that if the large specimen plants were arranged similar to 
the last, forming, as they did, a grand centre, and the minor 
exhibitions advantageously placed in various places in the 
building, thereby equalising and dispersing the visitors, 
without marring the good effect of the Crystal Palace itself, 
which the arrangement last week made a matter of necessity, 
it would be a step in the right direction.—D. Ferguson, 
Stowe, Buckingham. 
Monkshood and Horseradish. —The two roots are j 
essentially different at every part, except in shape, and 
nothing hut extreme ignorance could mistake them. 
They are both conical, but the Monkshood tapers away 
perceptibly, whilst the Horseradish is of the same thick¬ 
ness for many inches. The Monkshood is coffee-coloured, 
whilst the Horseradish is white with a yellow tinge. 
The Monkshood is merely earthy in odour, the Horse- I 
I radish very pungent when scraped. The former, more- 
I over, is succulent, and acquires a pinkish hue when 
j scraped, whilst the latter is firm and dry, and does not 
alter its colour. The only resemblance in the two roots 
) is in their crowns .—Pharmaceutical Journal. i 
