July 27 . 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
crimson-colour, and very showy; also a fine specimen 
in bloom of Magnolia soulangeana, and the yellow 
Sophora. 
In the borders, I noticed several large "bushes of that, 
pretty and showy plant the C'lderanthus Marthnllii , a 
plant that every garden, however small, ought to 
possess; and also some splendid patches of the Bromp- 
tou and Queen Stocks. These were particularly well 
grown, and finely bloomed; seeing these so well done, 
aud so very showy, led me to write about Stocks lately, 
and recommend their culture. 
At right augles with this wall there is a glade, or 
opening, bounded by a plantation of evergreens, planted 
on a rising bank of soil. This bad evidently been placed 
there to hide the kitchen-garden walls. Amongst the 
shrubs, ray attention was drawn to some tall Conifers, 
especially Cupressus torulosa, which had withstood the' 
! severe winter bravely. There are several fine specimens 
more than twenty feet high. It is difficult to account 
for the fact, that in some places this handsome tree is 
: quite hardy, whilst in others it is more or less injured. 
I One reason may be, that in a low, warm situation, this 
species, as well as several others, continue growing so 
late in the season that the young shoots do not become 
solidified, or, in other words, ripened; hence the severe 
frost expands the cellular tissue, causing them to burst, 
and thus destroying their cohesion. 
Passing this boundary, we enter the kitchen and fruit- 
garden. In it are placed the Pineries, Vineries, Peach, 
and Plant-houses, all kept in perfect order, and all full 
of fruit in various stages. The Vines were quite healthy, 
though some of them were of a considerable age. Mr - . 
Snow, instead of grubbing up old Vines, inarches young 
ones upon them ; and some that had been so operated 
upon were making extraordinary strong shoots. This, 
1 think, is a good practice, where the Vines have healthy 
roots. They grow stronger than any fresh-planted Vines 
would do, and come sooner into bearing. The method 
is good, also, in the case of desiring to change the kind 
of Grape for a new or better variety. 
In the Stove, I noticed several fine things in flower. 
A good specimen of a plant almost out of cultivation, 
named Melhania erythtrxylon, with its silvery leaves 
and large white flowers, was blooming freely ; Ganna 
irklifolia, a tall species, with splendid deep crimson 
blossoms, and noble foliage, was a striking object; 
Gesncra Cuoperii, several fine plants; one had eleven 
spikes of its truly showy scarlet flowers. AEschy- 
\ nanthus, several species. These plants are usually ’ 
j grown as droopers, but here they were trained in the 
i pyramidal form, and were blooming profusely. Of Ama- 
\ ryllis, Mr. Snow has several superior seedlings bloomiug j 
freely. As he justly remarks, no plants in the stove 
make a more splendid show than these South American 
bulbs; yet they are, comparatively, neglected to make 
room for more questionable things. I observed several 
pots filled with the Zepliyrantlies rosea, a plant of low 
growth, suitable for the front of larger plants. It is a 
lovely object when so grown as it is here. Tall Cacti 
were numerous, and so well-flowered, that could they 
have found their way uninjured to Chiswick, they would 
have matched, and run a race with that veteran in Cacti 
growing, Mr. Green. 
My space warns me that I must be brief, therefore I can 
only notice further, that Mr. Snow is the gardener who 
raised the excellent Brocoli so much in demand, named 
Snow’s Early White. He informed me that it is a very 
difficult one to seed. I saw a small plot devoted to that 
purpose. Many of the heads only sent up one or two 
flower-stems, aud those were weak and puny ; and the 
question naturally occurred to my mind, Where does 
all the seed come from sold under that name? I leave 
my readers to draw the inference, aud give the answer. 
Mr. Snow has, also, a new excellent Cos Lettuce, 
821 
which he has named Snow's Matchless, and a very ex¬ 
cellent variety it i3, very hard, very close, compact, aud 
dwarf. When it becomes better known, and plenty of 
seed raised from it, I venture to predict that most other 
green Cos Lettuces will bo driven out of culture. 
I have one more note that 1 must mention. In a 
small reserve garden, 1 saw a bed of an old favourite 
plant ot mine, the Narcissus Eulbocodium. They were 
planted here in a bed of deep, light, rich earth ; and 
such clusters of flowers ! ! I counted one, and found 
it had the astonishing number of fifty-two blossoms 
upon it. Lady Do Grey greatly esteems this lovely 
spring flower, and, therefore, it is cultivated here, per¬ 
haps, more largely that in any garden in the kingdom. 
My visit to these gardens gave me great pleasure; 
and I am only sorry that I cannot give a fuller 
description of them. All I can say is, if any of our 
readers can make it convenient to go and see for them¬ 
selves, I am sure they will be as highly gratified and in- | 
structed as 1 was. Lord de Grey very liberally allows | 
the place to be seen by the public, if I remember ! 
rightly, every Monday during the summer season. 
T. Appleby. 
STRAY NOTES ON THE ONION. 
Some twenty years ago, or more, it was mooted in the 
gardening periodicals of that day, that the English 
summer was not long enough, nor warm enough, 
to perfect the growth and ripen the tissue of this bulb, 
and that recourse to a part of the previous one ought to 
be had in order to secure a good crop of Onions. This 
startling theory, backed by the appearance and reports 
on certain Onions of fabulous size, which had then 
come to our shores, in somewhat liberal quantities, from 
the Sunny Isles and coasts of the Mediterranean, for a 
season or two led some of our more ardent cultivators 
astray in their endeavour to put the so-called “im¬ 
proved” plan of growing them into practice; for it is 
almost needless to say that the plan failed. Bulbs of a 
large size might be occasionally obtained that way, 
still they did not possess that compact growth and 
solidity requisite to ensure their keeping. Hence the 
plan was abandoned; yet, the discomfited projector cf 
the scheme, doubtless, did some good ; for the anxiety 
of those who grew them on the old “ spring sown 
method” being called into action, greater attention was 
paid to the crop, so as to rival the new fashioned 
system. And after the failure of the plan, “theorists” i 
were not wanting to describe and expatiate on the cause 
of it, in doing which they did no good, for they merely 
followed in the wake of practice, rather than led or 
directed it. However, the result was, that the same 
period of sowing was resorted to that our jgreat grand¬ 
fathers had adopted, aud excepting the more general 
adoption of rows instead of beds, the plan of growing 
Onions did not seem to have undergone much change 
lor a century or more. True, an ardent hunter after 
novelties would now and then point out what he 
conceived to be important improvements in the shape of 
manures peculiarly adapted to the wants of the Onion; 
but with that exception, little has been done deserving 
of notice, unless we admit that the varieties now grown, 
being more carefully selected for saving seed from, an 
improvement in their size and keeping qualities is very 
perceptible; and this being a point of no mean im¬ 
portance, a few words on the subject may not be 
altogether out of place. 
I believe, it will generally be acknowledged, that an 
Onion being deeply formed, and ripening off so as to 
leave the smallest possible space to which the roots 
have been adhering to, coupled with a small neck, aud 
firm at its base, is considered a better specimen than 
those broad, flat bulbs, which have more the shape of an 
