252 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
August 
therefore, every sucker which is barren he pulled 
away or cut down; the former mode is preferable 
when it can be accomplished; this, however, is not 
always the case, for the suckers sometimes form 
merely a portion of the old stool, not a colonised 
fragment. However, away they must come, and well- 
dressed stools must only possess workers at this 
period; like the bees, they must cast out their drones 
when the day arrives which nature has marked out. 
The rest of the culture will now be resolved into 
some nice training of those shoots which are blos¬ 
soming, and our readers will readily imagine, without 
our advice, that the chief maxim is to obtain as much 
unobstructed sunlight as possible on the reserved 
suckers, now about swelling off their autumnal ofler- 
ing. 
Wasps. —We must now point to the amount oi 
caution necessary with this insidious enemy of gar¬ 
den produce; so great are the depredations, and, as 
a consequence, loss, occasioned by this marauder, that 
we think, like the rat case, legislative enactments for 
their suppression, could they bo brought to bear on 
the community at large, would not be altogether mis¬ 
placed. To those, then, who would reap the benefit 
of their labours, and those who are determined in 
spite of a little expense to endeavour to enjoy the 
fruits of the current year, together with a fair pros¬ 
pective view for years to come, we would say take 
every nest within your reach, and endeavour to 
convert influential neighbours to the same doctrine. 
Also, when very choice things, such as grapes, &c., 
are in question, purchase a little gauze, thin canvas, 
or other economical and durable material, and invest 
your choice fruit with it betimes. 
Pity it is, in our way of thinking, the public are 
not more alive to the destruction of these hope-de¬ 
stroying insects: surely every nest destroyed has a 
tendency to reduce their numbers in future seasons. 
“Little strokes fell great oaks;” or, in other words, 
“ effect is bound to follow cause.” This character of 
tenure seems, in the present condition of affairs, 
stamped on all sublunary things. R. Ekbington. 
NOTES OF A JOURNEY IN HERTFORD¬ 
SHIRE ( Continued ). 
We left the pleasant village of Hoddesden behind 
us, continuing our route on a road formed some 
seventeen or eighteen hundred years ago by the 
Romans, and an easy and excellent road it is to this 
day. In passing on, the wide-spreading hedges at¬ 
tracted our attention; beautiful though they are, they 
are a costly ornament to the country: in some very 
bad cases these hedges were as much as three yards 
wide, and even then were but an indifferent protec¬ 
tion to keep the cattle out of the turnip and corn 
fields. Certainly a revolution is wanted here. These 
wide-spreading and land-devouring hedges ought to 
bo rooted up, the banks levelled, single rows of 
quickwood planted, and protected for three or four 
years by double rails on each side, kept clean, neatly 
clipped or slashed with a hand-hill annually, and as 
often manured and slightly dug for two feet on each 
side. Let all this be done, and the country will gain 
some hundreds of acres, and a proportionate increase 
of bushels of corn, soon repaying the labour and, 
cost. We detailed the method of planting and ma* 
uaging hedges at p. 77 of our first volume. 
Wo soon, whilst descending a gentle declivity, 
observed before us the ancient market town of Ware, 
rendered famous by the author of “John Gilpin.” 
Our road lay through the town, which is clean, neat, 
and healthy. It is the seat of a considerable trade 
in malt, the country around producing, it is said, 
some of the finest barley of England. Turning to 
the left as soon as wo got clear of the town, the road 
began to rise; on one side a steep bank circumscribed 
our view, but as soon as we arrived at the summit 
of the hill we came in sight of the object of our 
journey—• 
The Poles, the seat of R. Hanbury, Esq. The 
road we had taken led to the garden entrance, near 
to which is the gardener’s dwelling-house, a new and 
truly comfortable residence. AVe were fortunate 
enough to find the gardener at home in the garden. 
The smile of his face and the hearty shake of his 
hand assured us that he was right glad to see us. 
We were soon ready for the treat to the mind we ex¬ 
pected, and when we mention that our worthy enter¬ 
tainer is one (and not the least in any sense of the 
word) of the “ Barnes’s,” whose successful doings in 
horticulture have been so famous for a number of 
years, our readers, at least that portion of them 
who have had the opportunity of reading the garden¬ 
ing periodicals, will expect to read of this place news 
that will add to the well-earned celebrity of our good 
friend, Mr. W. Barnes. 
In the first place we must remark that the whole 
of the gardens, hothouses, greenhouse, conservatory, 
flower and kitchen garden, are entirely new, of con¬ 
siderable extent, and the whole laid out and built 
under the superintendence of the present gardener 
in little more than three years. AVe understand the 
designs for the improvements were furnished by Mr. 
Glendinning, of the Chiswick nursery, and in our 
opinion do great credit to him. The mansion is 
placed happily on the summit of a gentle elevation, 
having a good prospect of the park in front. The 
park is furnished with some fine groups of noble 
oaks, “ not set too thick, but scattered here and 
there.” The south front has a broad terrace of 
walk, lawn, and flower bed, extending beyond the 
house to the east, in front of the range of plant 
houses. Close to the house and adjoining one of the 
principal rooms is a neat moderate sized conserva¬ 
tory : this is kept constantly furnished with plants 
in flower from the other houses; it was very gay on 
this occasion with gloxinias, aehiinenes, calceolarias, 
and other summer flowering plants. In front of 
this conservatory is a French parterre with beds of 
flowers in masses: here we saw for the first time a 
bed of that famous plant, Plumbago Larpcntce. Now 
that we have seen it here under favourable circum¬ 
stances and undoubted good management, our rea¬ 
ders will, no doubt, expect us to give our opinion as 
to its fitness for bedding purposes. On the one hand 
we cannot positively say that it is a good plant for 
that purpose, neither, on the other hand, can we say 
that it is worthless. Several of the plants were in 
flower, but these evidently had been in a blooming 
state when they were planted; others had not as yet 
flowered, so that the time to determine the full 
merits of the plant as a bedding-out one had not 
arrived. AVe may venture to say there was room to 
hope it would answer for that purpose. The verbe¬ 
nas, lobelias, scarlet geraniums, salvias, &c., &c., 
were in full flower and well covered with bloom, 
making the garden rich in colours of every hue. 
The division from the park is effected by a parapet 
wall; four or five feet from it is a broad straight 
