106 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
November ll 
lighted room, and well adapted for the purpose. The 
plants were well gi-own and beautifully flowered, espe¬ 
cially Dipladenia crassinoda, Aphelandra cristata, Aila- 
manda cathartica, Russelia juncca and grandiflora, 
Crinum amahile, Jmticia carnea, Pleroina elegans, and 
varieties oi Liliuin lancifolium, which were exceedingly 
well grown and bloomed. These plants would not have 
disgraced Chiswick or tlie Botanic Regent’s-park shows. 
There was also a fine collection of excellent vegetables, 
especially Potatoes. One, named King of Beauties, was 
as beautiful as a peach—white skin, size medium, eyes 
shallow. This was a seedling, exhibited by j\Ir. Watts, 
a market gardener. Mr. Watts said that it had never 
been diseased. He was kind enough to give me one, 
which I shall propagate as fast as I can, and, if it prove 
one that will withstand the attack of that fatal disease, 
the potato-rot, it will be a treasure indeed. There was 
also a variety known in that locality by the cognomen, 
Holland Red. This also, I was assured by several 
gardeners, was a hardy variety, not one in twenty being 
diseased; among ten varieties grown in one garden 
this was the least diseased of all; it is round, medium 
size, and reddish skinned. This was exhibited by Mr. 
Mackie, gardener to E. Bouverie, Esq. I obtained two 
sets of this variety. Jackson’s Improved Ash-leaved 
Kidneij is also a fine variety, and was free from disease. 
These facts are useful; and if every potato-grower 
throughout the country would notice the varieties that 
are the least subject to the disease, and publish his 
notes, a number of valuable varieties would become 
better known, and might be distributed more throughout 
the kingdom. Here, as at Coventry, the cottagers’ 
vegetables and hardy fruits were quite equal in quality 
to the gentlemens’ gardeners. And when we recollect 
that such products must have had great pains, and 
regular, almost daily, attention bestowed upon them, it 
is a proof that the encouragement given to cottagers, by 
giving prizes for their productions, is a great induce¬ 
ment to them to strive to deserve such distinction. By 
such notice and encouragement, habits of industry are, 
as it were, incidentally adduced amongst a class of 
persons who would, probably, without such a stimulus, 
have spent their hours in idleness, if not in pursuits 
more demoralizing and injurious to their comfort and 
that of their families here and hereafter. It is a matter 
of regret to me, and, no doubt, to many others, that 
there are so few cottager’s prizes given near the metro- 
]3olis. The London Horticultural Society has begun 
to give prizes, at their rooms, in Regent Street, for vege¬ 
tables, and there is no reason why they sliould not open 
a class for cottagers especially. I am quite sure the 
subscribers would not grudge a few pounds a-year for 
such a praiseworthy purpose. And in large hamlets 
round London, such as Hammersmith, Highgate, 
Hampstead, Clapton, Clajrham, and others, there are 
plenty of benevolent clergy and gentry that would be 
glad to subscribe to have exhibitions purposely to 
encourage their poor cottage neighbours. If 1 live, I 
shall certainly try to establish one at Uxbridge. There 
is no neighbourhood where cottage gardens are better 
kept, and they would be still more so if due encourage¬ 
ment were given to the owners. At this (Northampton) 
show, I had the pleasure to meet my esteemed friend 
and able coadjutor, Mr. Fish, which was an agreeable 
surprise indeed. He was there in the capacity of J udge, 
and our readers will agree with me, a better could not 
have been chosen. I understand he fills that office here 
frequently, and I am sure we should be glad if he would 
give a few jottings by the way when he attends such 
pleasing meetings. The reports of country exhibitions 
shows the progress of gardening in various parts, and is 
always interesting to the garden-loving-reader. 
'The next day I visited Einedon Park, the residence of 
M. Dolben, Esq. The lawn in front of the house is 
large, eight or ten acres, I should think. It rvas planted i 
thinly with all the choice Coniferm. I was particularly ^ 
pleased with a healthy specimen of Finns patnla, fifteen 
feet high, and twelve feet through, foliage light green, ' 
and elegantly drooping. This species is said to bo ! 
rather tender, but here it was perfectly hardy, and did 
not appear to have sufl'ered from frost in the least, every 
branch being perfect. Finns insignis was thirty feet 
high, and twenty feet diameter; a perfect pyramid of 
hranches, clothed with healthy foliage of the richest 
green imaginable. Cupressus torulosa, twenty feet high; 
0. lusitanim, a rare species in this country, twelve feet; 
G. thurifera, fifteen feet high; C. macrocarpa, fifteen 
feet; and C. expansa, twelve feet. Finns nohilis, a 
handsome, healthy plant, with a strong leader, and short 
stem, six feet. The great rarity, however, of this place 
is the Ahies Douglassii-pendula, a tree unique, and only 
in this garden; no other place, I believe, possesses a 
plant of it. In one part of the grounds is a fine dense 
avenue of old Limes, nearly half a mile long. In walk¬ 
ing through this, the spectator might easily imagine he 
was in some religious edifice, the cloisters of an old 
abbey, so imposing and solemn is the effect it has upon 
the senses. Mr. Dolhen is justly proud of his choice col¬ 
lection, and spares no pains or expense to add to it every 
new species of Conifer®. 
Close to the town is an ancient place named De la 
Pre, the residence of E. Bouverie, Esq. The gardener, 
Mr. Mackie, two years ago, had occasion to rebuild or 
improve an old vinery. 'The vines were about five years 
old. He took them carefully up, preserving every living 
root, made a new border, considerably elevated it, re¬ 
planted the vines, and they were, when I saw them, in 
most excellent health, with a fine crop of grapes, 
without a single shanked berry; and, what was more 
reraarkahle, they were all of that somewhat tender vine, 
the I'rontignan variety. This was an experiment, and 
shows what care and judicious management will effect. 
In the pleasure grounds were some noble Cedars of 
I.ebanon, a gigantic Tulip tree, sixty feet high, wbich 
flowers every year; a long yellow-flowered Horse Ches- 
nut; and a fine succession of that rare tree, the Pinas 
LUaveana, eighteen feet high. 
On the back wall of a forcing house, Mr. Mackie planted, 
five or six years ago, a number of Roses, chiefly the 
Provence varieties. These, he said, furnish him with 
an abundant crop of Roses from February to June. I 
was much pleased with this wall of roses, and think it 
worthy of adoption in every garden where cut roses are 
in request. T. Appleby. 
{To he concluded in our next). 
THE PETUNIA. 
{Continued from page 86.) 
In my last paper on these showy plants I described 
the properties of a good variety; I now proceed to give 
its culture, and trust my remarks and iustructioiis will 
be useful to)such readers of The Cottage Gardener as 
may either cultivate Petunias, or desire to do so. 'The 
subject may be divided into, 1st, Propagation by cuttings 
and by seed, 2nd, Soil; 3rd, Summer treatment; 4th, 
Winter treatment; 5th, General management, so as to 
render the plants fit for exhibition. 
1st, Fropagation by Guttings. Petunias arc easily 
pi'opagated by cuttings during nine months in the year; 
that is, from February to October. The best cuttings 
are the young tops of rather weakly growing plants. 1 ! 
have always found that cuttings of most kinds of soft I 
wooded plants, such as Galceolarias, Heliotroj>es, Ayer- \ 
atums, and such-like, when growing very strong with 
thick succulent stems, soon damp off, especially in early 
spring, or late in the autumn, and more especially if put 
