201 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
August 
remain to thoroughly organise the hnds for the next 
year’s crop. One large leaf beyond the fruit, if a 
healthy one, will suffice to cater for the bunch, and 
we would leave as many as we could of the growing 
extremities at the back of the house, rambling to the 
latest period : these will keep the root in play, and 
thus promote the feeding of the berries. 
Now, if the vines are confined to the spurring 
system (which they assuredly ought to be, as con¬ 
nected with the culture of exotic plants in pots), 
these matters will be more easily carried out with a 
much less amount of severe stopping than here re¬ 
commended ; for, be it understood, our recommenda¬ 
tions are not based on shear abstract principles or 
sound practice, as applied specially to the vine or to 
pot culture—they are expedients, and, of course, less 
or more, are a compromise in degree of some princi¬ 
ples. Nevertheless, the case may be brought to bear 
by a judicious course of action. If, on the other 
hand, the vines are, as we have many times seen 
them, spread over the whole area of the roof of a 
greenhouse, and plants cultivated, or rather (in too 
many cases) merely vegetated, beneath them, why 
then it requires some nicety of management to pre¬ 
vent the grapes from spoiling and the pot plants 
from “ drawing.” 
We have now handled most of the details con¬ 
nected with greenhouse grapes and pot plants in 
combination ; and we would urge on the amateur a 
consideration of the principles themselves which 
govern the success of such procedures. To under¬ 
stand these principles well is to obtain the “ master- 
key” which unlocks all rule-of-thumb mysteries; this 
will enable an ingenious and mind-working amateur 
to fiy where others creep. In the course of our la¬ 
bours, and before the year is out, we hope to return 
to this subject, and to deal with it on a broader foot¬ 
ing, commencing with the very house and border; 
perhaps, however, our clever coadjutor, Mr. R. Fish, 
will anticipate us, and divert our labours to another 
track, for in handling the matter we certainly ap¬ 
proach his confines. R. Errington. 
THE FLOWER-GARDEN. 
NOTES OF A JOURNEY IN HERTFORD¬ 
SHIRE ( Concluded ). 
BrcSxbourne Bury, the Residence of Mrs. Bo- 
sanquet. —In a preceding Number we made some 
remarks on this place, but, as we only mentioned it 
in reference to the pillar roses, we shall now briefly 
notice a few other points in gardening that we ob¬ 
served on this occasion. The house stands on a 
gentle eminence, and has on the east front a valley, 
with a hill beyond it clothed with wood. On the 
south the valley widens, and the country is more 
open. West from the house are the flower-gardens ; 
a wall covered with roses and other creepers dividing 
this garden from the vegetable and fruit-gardens. 
The part we are now in is laid out in variously- 
shaped flower-beds, grouped on grass. One cluster 
of them is occupied entirely with verbenas, effectively 
arranged in different colours, one colour to a bed. 
Near to them stands a splendid tulip-tree, 00 feet 
high, of which the branches spread over a circle of 
40 feet diameter. Beyond this flower-covered lawn 
a walk turns round the angle of the kitchen-garden, 
under a collection of hardy weeping trees. Amongst 
them, in particular, wc noticed an uncommonly fine 
rose acacia ( Robinia hispida ); the stem is seven feet 
high, and a number of stakes are so arranged that 
the shoots can lie tied to them; as the tree advances 
in growth other stakes are set up, and the year’s 
shoots tied to them. This has been repeatedly acted 
upon, and the result is a very pleasing one. Looking 
over the top of' the tree it appears like a green table, 
whilst inside, when in flower, it looks like a fairy's 
bower, of which its pendant, elegant, rose-coloured 
blossoms serve for the festal lamps. This shrub is 
very apt to be broken with the wind, but trained in 
the above manner it is preserved from that danger. 
Passing under this beautiful, novel, weeping tree, we 
came to the rose garden. Perhaps tliis is the largest 
private rose garden in the kingdom. We did not 
learn the exact measurement, but it must occupy at 
least two acres; it is separated from the park by a 
plantation of laurels : this is in good taste, for, by 
this evergreen division, the eye is confined to the 
roses, and not distracted by other alluring objects, 
'fhe standard roses are planted in long rows, and the 
ground between is occupied by dwarfs, thus covering 
it, and partly hiding the long naked stems of the 
others. At the farthest end a terrace walk has been 
formed, with rockwork in front, and a seat beyond 
it. Standing on this terrace, and looking down the 
rose garden, the effect is most beautiful, at least it was 
so then (July 9th). We walked down next to the wall 
between the kitchen-garden and rosery: this wall 
was covered with fruit-trees, which we understood, as 
might have been expected, bore no fruit, or very 
little, iu the best season. These trees ought to be 
rooted up, and then place covered with such roses as 
Laura Davoust and others frequently mentioned in 
these pages as suitable for the purpose. We next 
visited the kitchen and fruit gardens, which we found 
well managed and in neat order. Leaving the gar¬ 
dens by the road to the Broxbourne Station, on the 
Eastern Counties line of railway, just in the hollow 
of the valley above mentioned, but within the wood, 
is a plot of ground laid out as an American garden 
and hardy fernery. A number of trees had been 
cleared away to make room for it, yet not to such an 
extent as to expose the plants to more light than is 
needful for their health. An irregularly winding 
walk led around this interesting spot, and at the 
turning point of this walk a shady grotto-like arbour 
is formed. Here we met with, and were introduced 
to, Mrs. Bosanquet, the amiable owner of this sylvan 
scene : she had the kindness to point out some of 
the rarer species of ferns. The health and luxu¬ 
riance of all the established plants was really sur¬ 
prising. The soil in which they flourish so well is 
composed of sandy peat and leaf-mould in a half- 
decayed state : in this the kinds with creeping roots 
(or rhizomas) have formed large patches, particularly 
Polypodium driopteris, Onoclea sens'll His, Asplenium 
filix fcemina, and others of similar habits. Many of 
those patches were from three to four feet across. 
Such kinds as do not creep were flourishipg in a 
most extraordinary manner. Aspidium lonchitis (the 
holly fern) had fronds more than a foot long, and 
was sending up others of still greater vigour. ’The 
soil was covered with moss, which kept it moist, and 
no doubt was of great assistance in maintaining the 
ferns in such perfect health. If any of our readers 
should visit tliis place, they will do well to inquire 
for, and request to be shewn, this fern garden. We 
could have with pleasure spent a much longer time 
amongst its tenants, for the ferns are a tribe of espe¬ 
cial favourites with us. But evening was approach¬ 
ing, and, what was quite as important, the time for 
