THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
by the end of May; asks whether a trellis, or resting on ! 
; the soil is most suitable; wishes to know if, in a i)it ten ^ 
i feet by six, loop holes round the bottom are wanted loi j 
■ the admission of air; and greatly desiderates a list ot 
Cucumbers, with a faithful description as to habit, size i 
‘ of fruit, and foliage, as he has had live distinct kinds 
j of Cucninbers ont of one of the packets, at least, 
i I hope this will meet the eye of some subscriber who is 
; more conversant with varieties of Cucumbers than I have 
I lately been, so that any omission may be supplied. The 
' Sion House and Sion House Improved, or Kenyon s, would 
i yield a large crop. It is a smooth, greenisli Cucumlier, 
without any spines. Many families use it all the year 
round, but I have always had a prejudice against it after 
July, and used to think it rather bitter in August and 
September. After that it is the best Cucumber for the 
winter. Then comes the Southgate, a good old sort ol 
the kind wanted; then, perhaps, better. Cuthills Blach 
Spined, Weedens Blach Spined, Allens Victory of Suffolk. 
All these will produce abundance of fruit about one 
foot in length, and the leaves are generally moderate in 
size. Abundance of produce will farther be secured by 
either growing the plants in large pots, or giving them 
a rather limited supply of soil. 
A good idea of this will be found in the “ Notes on 
Whittlebury Gardens.” No man knew better how to 
get the greatest number of Cucumbers from a plant 
tliau the father of Mr. Ayres. 01 white-spined sorts, 
the best for your purpose will be Snotv's Cucumber, the 
Manchester, and Hunters Prolific. These all bear 
plentifully, have a beautiful bloom, and are in perfec- 
1 tion for eating when a foot long, though they will often 
I grow to eighteen and twenty-four inches. 
I do not clearly understand what you mean by loopi- 
, holes. Other matters will be found referred to already. 
I I can easily imagine that you may have had several varie¬ 
ties from one packet of seed ; and yet, the seed-grower 
I and the seed-merchant be perfectly blameless. The sorts 
‘ I mentioned first, to which may be added the Stochwood 
j Ridge, are more likely to be true than any others, because 
I they are grown in large quantities, and fair-sized fruit 
! seed freely. Even they, however, lose caste at times. I 
I sowed some Stochwood Ridge not long ago, and they 
I came Gherkins. The friend I had seeds from had Gher- 
j kins, that year, himself, though he washed the seed 
from a good fruit with his own hands. Gherkins for 
pickling had been growing in the neighbourhood. Large 
I kinds, such as the famous John Bull, and even such 
beauties as Snow’s and Hunter s Prolific, do not jjro- 
duce seed freely from fine grown specimens like gun 
barrels; in fact, you might allow a hundred of sucli to 
I ripen, and not get a seed from the whole. Unless, in 
I these long, straight growing kinds, you get a fruit with 
; a knob at its point, it is almost vain to extract seed. 
When the gardener sees such a thing on a good speci- 
I men, he ties, a string round some inches behind the 
I swelling, to increase its size. Erom such a knob, the 
! seed is likely to be true, if cross impregnation is avoided. 
In a fine, new, long sort, it is dillicult to get these 
knobby fellows early enough to mature the seeds; and, 
therefore, on the principle that luxuriance and fruitful¬ 
ness are opposed to each other, tlie person who wishes 
for a quantity of seed allows the ])lants to overbear 
themselves. 'J'lie check thus given causes many fruit to 
come with the desired knobbed deformities at the point. 
In pursuance of the desired object, all are allowed to 
remain, and a good quantity of seed is secured for the 
market. Is it likely that the merits of the variety can 
all be secured I'roin such misshapen and distorted fruit? 
Merely allow that other Cucumbers, Ridge, or otherwise, 
are growing at no great distance, and the reasons are 
palpable why the seed does not come true to its variety, 
—and why that kind of variety becomes deteriorated in 
I time, unless extra care is taken to prevent it. 
October 23. . 
I 
I find I cannot refer to other inquiries about Cucum¬ 
ber-pits and houses to bo heated with hot-water, &c. ; 
but full information will be obtained in late volumes on 
almost every subject alluded to. I will think the matter i 
over. R- Fish. 
j 
FAWSLET PARK. 
The Seat of Sir Charles Knightley, B.art. 
{Continued from page 22.) 
I HAVE now arrived at the glass structures. These are 
placed at the upper side of the garden, and consist of 
two Vineries; a large greenhouse, seventy feet long and 
sixteen feet wide; and two exotic stove houses. They are 
arranged thus :—the greenhouse and the two Vineries 
are in the centre, and are lean-to houses. The two 
stoves are at each end, and project forwards. Tliese two 
are span-roofed. This arrangement has a very pretty j 
effect, giving an air of finished appearance. In front 
of these, Mr. Drown has formed a broad terrace gravelled 
walk, from which you have a good view of the houses, 
and the whole garden, and the wooded dingle below. 
It is in contemplation to erect a Peach-house on the 
Trentham plan, and that will be a useful improvement; 
for here, as elsewhere, the crop of this delicious, melting 
fruit is always uncertain, and seldom perfect. 
In the two stove-houses, which have been erected 
since Mr. Brown took the command, I found some well- 
grown specimen plants. The internal plan of the 
houses is worthy of notice. In the centre is a pit filled 
with tan, then a w'alk, and then a slate jilatform next 
the glass over the hot-water pipes. The bark-bed gives 
moisture and bottom-heat, always useful adjuncts to 
plants growing. This arrangement is simple, yet 
efficacious, as the healthy appearance of the plants 
indicated. 
The following plants were in flower in the stoves ;— 
Allamanda Schottii, eathartica, auhletia, and neriifolia. 
The three first trained to a cylindrical upriglit trellis, 
four feet, which they densely covered. Hoya carnosa 
and Steplianotis florahunda, in as fresh flower as we see 
them in June or July. Dipladenias, several fine plants 
of the best species. Passfiora Princeps and Middletonia; i 
the first full of scarlet racemes of flowers; one other I 
well covered witli deep blue. Ixora coccinea, three feet \ 
high, with many heads of scarlet flowers. Medinilla ' 
speciosa. This was a truly noble plant, with upwards 
of fifty racemes of its pretty pink flowers, or equally 
pretty fruit. Clerodendron splendens, with many scarlet 
blooms. Cyrtoceras rejiexa, a good plant, with ten heads 
of its Hoya-like blossoms. Rondeletui speciosa major, 
very large heads of scarlet flower. Aphelandra cristata 
ditto. A good plant of the new Aphelandra Leopioldii, 
with its golden spike and beautifully-marked leaves. 
Cissus discolor, remarkable for its richly-hued leaves, 
was trained as a dense pyramid. Another plant of it 
was plunged in the bark close to the edge of the pit, the 
shoots brought over and trained so as to entirely cover 
the wall of the pit. This had a good effect. 
In the greenhouse, I noticed a fine collection of 
Fuschias well-bloomed, and some good plants of Pleronm 
elegans sliowing plenty of bloom-buds. The old Begonia 
Hvansiana is made use of here as a summer plant I'or 
the greenhouse. One plant was three feet high, and as 
much through, and was covered with its jiretty jiink | 
flower. Truly, there are few species of this useful genus l 
that surpass it when grown in such dense masses. The ■ 
collection of greenhouse plants is rather deficient, but l 
will be increased when Mr. Brown has time to attend to j 
it. He is a young, enterprising man, and, 1 think, from | 
what I have described above, the readers will agree with 
me, has renovated the gardening at Fawsley very much, 
ami grows his plants in the best style. 
