THE COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRY GENTLEMAN, November 24, J857. 
119 
and such kindly helps, they managed to mqke a most 
respectable appearance at the first starting—much better 
than ever we did with that tribe in Regent Street. I 
only heard .of this move on my way home from Stoke 
Newington, hut I took the liberty of calling in “ pro¬ 
miscuously,” and I got in gratis. They did not ask my 
name, for which I was most thankful, as it was getting 
late; but go where you like about the suburbs of 
London, if the natives you meet are fond of flowers they 
are sure to bo “ perfect gentlemen ” in politeness. 
Mr. Holland’s collection of Pompones, which shone 
at Stoke Newington, was first exhibited here the day 
before, and left just as many plants and pots here as 
were found at Stoke Newington, but only about one- 
tenth part of the number of cut flowers. 
Some one or two collections of Pompones here were 
better grown than I ever saw among the gardeners. 
There was not a single stick in them, the plants had 
five, six, or seven inches of clear clean stems above the 
pots, and no suckers, with spreading tops of from 
eighteen to twenty-four inches through, stiff, erect, and 
in one mass of bloom. The kinds differed very little 
, from those at Stoke Newington, but there were some 
newer kinds here. Next week I shall sum up all this 
and a whole day at Mr. Salter’s Versailles Nursery. 
D. Beaton. 
FRUITS OF EUGENIA UGNI AND FUCHSIA 
CORYMBIFLORA. 
As the fruit of Eugenia TJgni has attained a somewhat 
important feature from the fact of a prize being offered 
for it at the late Horticultural Show in London, it may 
be as well here to explain to the inexperienced what this 
fruit really is. As a new dessert fruit is a matter in 
which every one must feel an interest, and every one 
not being in possession of the tree, or, perhaps, not 
knowing what it is like, it may be well here to describe it. 
The Eugenia Ugni is a small-leaved evergreen shrub, 
apparently of slow growth, its foliage somewhat like 
the common Box tree, but I believe not very hardy. 
The fruit, of which so much was expected, is anything 
but handsome, being, in fact, as like the common Haw 
as anything else, and, though larger than the commonest 
of all, is not so large as those of the fancy kinds of that 
commonest of all fruit; but in colour and largeness of 
eye it very much resembles the Haw. Now, a fruit 
with no great pretensions to appearance ought to have 
some good qualifications to entitle it to a place at table, 
and I am far from denying this its due in that respect, 
for its flavour*is to my taste far from disagreeable; on 
the contrary, if the fruit was larger I think it might 
become a favourite. There is a sort of richness about 
it which I have not found in anything else, that on 
the whole I like it better than some fruits that are 
occasionally sent to table, as the Passion fruit, Plan¬ 
tain, &c.; but its diminutive size and appearance are a 
defect not easily got over, that it is likely most people 
will feel dissatisfied with it after seeing it once. As a 
plant, however, it is worthy of attention, and it would 
seem to be well fitted to cover a low wall, it being on a 
situation of that kind that I have it growing, facing the 
south, the few berries there were being ripe the middle 
of September. 
In its present condition the fruit of Eugenia TJgni is 
certainly inferior in point of appearance to that of 
several of the Fuchsias, and the latter are, I believe, 
equally wholesome and agreeable, the best bearing one 
being Fuchsia corymb?flora, which, if cultivated for its 
fruit, might be made both a useful and ornamental 
object, and its juicy berries of a dark plum colour might 
find themselves many friends. F. fulgens is equally 
fruitful, but the fruit is less showy, being a yellowish 
green; but these fruits arc certainly as much entitled 
to attention as that of Eugenia, and possibly may get 
it when the failure of the other becomes patent. 
J. Robson. 
NOTES FROM THE CONTINENT.—No. 14. 
SAXON SWITZERLAND. 
About eighteen miles south-east of Dresden commences 
a tract of country of no great size, being only about eighteen 
miles square, but exceedingly attractive to the traveller. It 
is known under the name of Saxon Switzerland, and for 
interest is*only inferior to its original namesake. It was 
until the last few years comparatively unvisited, and its 
beauties unknown; but now the steamboats plying outlie 
Elbe, which passes through the centre of this tract, the 
railroad which follows for some distance the left bank of 
the river, and the opening of numerous roads and paths 
through it, have rendered its access easy, and during sum¬ 
mer it now has very many visitors. It possesses all the 
elements of tire beautiful, the grand, and the simply 
picturesque. There is the frowning precipice and the 
almost inaccessible and giddy height; the roaring waterfall 
and the murmuring brook ; the rocky gorge, and the ravine 
so narrow that the light of day hardly penetrates it; the 
echoing cavern and towering pinnacles of rock, slender and 
fragile-looking as the minarets of a Turkish mosque ; over¬ 
hanging masses of stone, which look as though a child’s 
hand might send them toppling into the wooded glen be¬ 
neath ; and several natural archways, one with a span of 
more than eighty feet. Amid such scenes the landscape 
gardener can learn more practical lessons in a day than 
from theoretical studies for months. The soil is a rich 
fibrous peat. I. have never seen the beauty of wild flowers 
to such an advantage as there. The Ferns, though only of 
the common British species, looked very beautiful growing 
from the crevices of the rock and overhanging the numerous 
streams ; and the student of Mosses might find employment 
here for a whole summer. Sometimes in a narrow ravine we 
came upon a saw-mill and a few cottages. Very picturesque 
they looked half built into the wall of rock. The few in¬ 
habitants of this district are all Catholics, and here and 
there a simple wooden cross was seen, or a rudely sculptured 
figure of a saint, at whose feet lay an offering of flowers. 
Every wild and romantic spot here has its tale. Where 
modern history has. failed to invest it with interest tradition 
has stepped in, and thrown an unspeakable charm over all. 
When war swept over the surrounding country the poor 
villagers here found a secure retreat, and the signs of their 
occupation are seen to this day far up among the heights. 
Upon the border of this romantic district, and just before 
it assumes so wild a character, the vineyards of the king of 
Saxony are situated. They are very extensive, giving em¬ 
ployment to twenty families, and occupy the steep southern 
slope of a hill. From the very obliging and hospitable 
head gardener I learned the mode of cultivation adopted 
here. With a few slight exceptions it is the same as that 
followed in all the Saxon vineyards, and is as follows :—The 
ground vras first trenched two feet deep, throwing the turf 
which covered it into the bottom of the trench ; then in 
February and March cuttings were taken about eighteen 
inches long, and planted so deep that only tw r o eyes were 
visible. They were placed in rows three feet apart, and 
from two feet to two feet and a half in the row. A short 
stick was placed against each when they were planted, and 
nothing further was done the first year than to keep them 
tied to this, and the ground well stirred between them. In 
autumn they were shortened back, laid upon the ground, 
and a little soil drawn over to protect them from the severity 
of the cold. This is necessarily done every winter. The 
second year they had longer stakes given them, and pro¬ 
duced a little fruit. The following spring they were pruned 
back, leaving four or five buds, and produced a heavy crop. 
There is no thinning either of bunches or of shoots practised 
here, and they are only shortened when they become too 
long for their stakes, which are about seven feet high, and 
one to each plant. The ground is dug or forked over every 
winter, and every alternate winter little dung is given 
them. The plants usually require renewing every eight or 
