May 1. 
COUNTRY GENTLEMAN’S COMPANION. 
73 
suddenly thawed by the warm, sunny days of February 
and March, that the buds, instead of opening, dropped off', 
and the crop for that year was lost. Had these been 
retarded by the same plan as Mr. Jennings adopts, the 
crop would have been saved. 
There are here extensive forcing-houses, and they 
are ,well-managed. The day I was there, I saw a Vinery 
of ten rafters, each one having from fifteen to twenty 
bunches of ripe Grapes hanging upon it from the Vine. 
Ripe! Indeed, quite ripe ; good bunches, good berries, 
and quite black, aud only the third week in March. Not 
in pots, but on Vines planted inside, indeed, but the 
roots in the border outside. As the Americans say, 
I calculate this was considerably early. In the very 
next house the fruit of last year’s growth had not 
been cut many weeks ! There are considerable altera¬ 
tions and improvements going on here. Two ranges 
of houses are to be pulled down, and the site converted 
into pleasure ground; others are being rebuilt, and 
some repaired. 
The last time I w r as here there was a good collection 
of Orchids, and there was also a splendid menagerie. 
The animals were collected by the late Earl of Derby, 
and the Orchids also. When the present Earl came 
into possession they were all disposed of, and the ouly 
remains is an extensive aviary, and a few Orchids in a 
small stove. The old Orchid-house is converted into 
a greenhouse filled with well-grown plants, forced Rho¬ 
dodendrons, Kalmia latifolia, and many Acacias in 
bloom. I noticed, more especially, a Hardenbergia 
trained up a pillar, with fine blue blossoms; it was 
named H. Jarrattii . I am sure any London nurseryman 
would think this a treasure. 
In front of this greenhouse there is a long, narrow 
range of houses, occupied with Peaches, Nectarines, and 
Cherries, in large square boxes. The Cherry-house is 
100 feet long; each was full of bloom. It must be a fine 
sight when the fruit is ripe. There are three Peach- 
houses, and the trees were all in fruit in three suc¬ 
cessions. In one house the fruit was just stoning; in 
the next, about the size of my thumb end; and in the 
third, just set. To produce such a succession there 
must have been great care and skill bestowed. Forcing 
is one of the triumphs of gardening art, and in no place 
is it better exhibited than at Knowesley. 
Near to Mr. Jennings’s new and excellent dwelling- 
house there is one of the most complete Mushroom- 
houses in the kingdom; that savoury esculent is grown 
here by bushels. The house is as clean, sweet, and 
pleasant as can be imagined. It is lighted with gas, so 
the vegetable can be seen at all hours, without letting in 
too much daylight. It is worth going many miles to 
see. It is spacious, lofty, well-paved, and well-lighted. A 
lady dressed in silks and satin slippers might promenade 
through it, without staining the one, or wetting the 
other. 
Close to and adjoining the mansion' there is a long 
conservatory in two divisions; one for greenhouse-plants, 
and the other for stove-plants. In the former is the 
Luculia gratissima I mentioned lately; also a good 
number of lofty, yet bushy, Camellias in full bloom. 
The end wall is brick, and it was covered with the 
finest specimens of the ancient Kennedya monophjlla 
that I ever saw. It had thousands of spikes of its 
beautiful blue flowers upon it. 
On the rafters of the stove division there was a fine 
plant of Begonia picta, or, as some name it, B. speciosa. 
The plant was full of flowers, a rare circumstance. The 
flowers are large, and of a pleasing lilac-rosy colour, 
spotted with pink. It is a very desirable climber. 
In walking from the gardens to the Ilayton Station, 
on my way to Manchester,‘I saw avenues of young trees, 
such as Coniferai, and also many Oaks. To protect these 
from cattle, they are enclosed in squares of posts and 
rails. On the upper rail the name of each is painted 
legibly, and such large letters, that the names can be 
read from a carriage as it rolls along the smooth gravel 
road. I thought this a very good idea, instructive and 
amusing to the gay lady in her carriage, as well as to 
the, like myself, more humble pedestrian. 
T. Appleby. 
STYLIDIUMS. 
{Continued from jnige 40.) 
Thep.e are in this genus two divisions; the first 
contains a few species that are half shrubby and ever¬ 
green; the second consists of such as are herbaceous, aud 
lose their leaves in winter. The latter are the most 
numerous. I have selected a few of the most desirable. 
They are all from New Hollaud. 
GREENHOUSE EVERGREENS. 
Stylidium Brunonianum (Dr. Brown’s).—This pretty 
species, growing a foot high, is yet rare. It has rose- 
coloured flowers, appearing in June. 
Stylidium fasciculatum (Bundled).—This curious 
species produces several branches, and each branch 
sends forth again a close bundle of shoots, from each of 
which a spike of flowers proceeds. I know no plant 
| like it. The flowers are produced in short spikes, are 
of a pink colour, and appear in August. A desirable 
plant. 
I Stylidium fruticosum (Shrubby).—The stems of 
this species approach to woody, though it is a rather 
! straggling plant, requiring good management to keep it 
in a tidy form. Grows a foot or more high, has pink 
flowers, appearing in July. 
Stylidium scandens (Climbing).—This handsome 
species may be called a tiny climber, but it requires 
i sticks and to be tied to them to keep it upright. It 
| will, with this help, rise two feet high, with rose-coloured 
I flowers in July. 
GREENHOUSE HERBACEOUS. 
Stylidium androsaceum (Androsaco - like). — This 
| pretty, tiny plaut does not rise more than two inches, 
forming a neat, small tuft, from which springs numerous 
spikes of white flowers in May ; the petals are broad 
and flat, much more so than any other of the very small 
species. Very desirable. 
Stylidium ciliatum (Fringed).—A May flower of a 
yellow colour, growing a foot high. 
Stylidium Drummondi (Drummond’s).—A tall-grow¬ 
ing species, with pink flowers appearing in November. 
Styltdium graminifolium (Grass-leaved). — When 
not in flower, this fine species might easily be mistaken 
for a patch of Thrift (Statice). The flower-stem rises 
two feet in height; the flowers are large, comparatively, 
are rather conspicuous, and of a pinkish-purple colour. 
It is the most easy to cultivate of all the genus, and I 
think the handsomest. The irritable power is also the 
most seen. It flowers in July. 
Stylidium recurvum (Curled-back).—One of the tiny 
gems of the genus, growiug only three inches high, with 
deep reddish flowers. Very interesting. 
Stylidium Saxifragoides (Saxifrage - like), — Very 
much like a small tuft of the rock Saxifrage; grows 
four inches high, with white flowers in June. 
There are, at least, as many more species grown in 
this country, aud still more in Australia; in fact, they 
are the weeds of that country. Travellers that do not 
understand plants, cull seeds of grand-looking, large- 
flowered trees in foreign countries, and send them homo 
as treasures, forgetting that we cannot, or, at least, in a 
limited degree, find habitations for such large-growing 
