36 
THE GABDENING WORLD. 
September 17, 1887. 
tired ere be readies liis garden; lienee labour 
with him is more stolid and listless. To all 
these the Saturday half-holiday movement 
would come as a welcome boon, for half a day 
so employed in the garden-plots would be pro¬ 
ductive of much good. Still, it is very obvious 
that if the labourer in the rural districts is to 
have an acre of ground for garden purposes, he 
can only hope to cultivate it profitably and well 
by having more time at his disposal; and 
there we see at once is presented, on the part 
of the guardian employer, a cause for objection 
to action by the local authority in purchasing 
ground for allotments, which will certainly 
weigh heavily. The demand for cow-pasturage 
is a fair and rightful one ; but we think it can 
be more reasonably met by the jwovision of one 
area, in which all alike can pasture a cow, than 
in having many small—and, of course, safely 
fenced—pasture allotments. Certainly, cows 
running loose in jmstures would be far more 
healthy than if perpetually tethered in small 
areas. 
As to the value of allotments for garden 
purposes, the time has passed for urging argu¬ 
ments in their favour. Objections are dead 
horses, and it would be a waste of time to flog 
them. Certainly, in a paper devoted to the 
promotion of horticulture, it is not jnobable 
that any objection 'will be stated, or that any 
will be assumed. We wish to see the labourer, 
no matter what his ordinary vocation is, become 
a zealous gardener, and if but in a limited 
degree, at least better so than not at all. But 
still, so far wedded to the soil, the labourer, in 
his small plots, at least does invariably make 
them pay him, and if farmers or tenants of 
large areas of land cannot accomplish so much, 
the worse it is for them ; rvhilst it would seem 
as if the ultimate saviour of the landed interest, 
whatever that may be, must ultimately be found 
in allotments and small holdings, in which the 
labourer shall also be the tenant, and his profits 
be his wages. 
No one can doubt but that the family 
which has a goodly garden or allotment, to 
assist in supplying food, is by far the best 
fed, and it is by far the best served in 
other ways. Garden work gives to labourers 
more elevated tastes. The man who has his 
weekly wages only to sustain life, and looks 
out over myriads of acres of land upon which 
he may neither set foot, or break with a 
spade, is a dissatisfied man, and an indifferent 
citizen. But when he has his allotment he 
feels at once that he has an interest in the 
land and in life, which he never felt before. 
He has now his ambitions, which in gardening 
cannot be more nobly or more virtuously 
exercised. Perhaps no ambition is stronger 
than is the one which enables a man to 
enjoy the products of his own labour. 
Imperfect as the measure may be, we hope 
to see the recently passed Allotment Act made 
a liberal reality. 
-->X<-- 
We regret to hear that Me. Edward Rodger 
Cutler, secretary to the Gardeners’ Royal Benevolent 
Institution, is so unwell as to be quite unable to attend 
to his correspondence for the present. 
With reference to the Mushroom Culture 
Nuisance at Edinburgh, noticed in our last, we 
understand that a meeting of the Public Health 
Committee of the Town Council was held on Tuesday, 
when a report was submitted by Dr. Littlejohn. The 
medical officer had communicated with the Mushroom 
Company, and they had agreed to remove the mixing 
beds to a distance of some 500 yds. in another direction, 
where it was not expected to be objectionable. 
We regret to hear that Mr. T. B. Heywood, the 
treasurer of the Gardeners’ Orphan Fund, has had the 
misfortune to be thrown out of a dog-cart at Sandown, 
in the Isle of Wight, whereby he was somewhat 
seriously injured. His friends will be pleased to hear 
that he is progressing favourably towards recovery. 
The Great Quinquennial International Horticultural 
Exhibition of the Royal Agricultural and Botanical 
Society of Ghent will take place in the last fortnight 
of April, 1888. The preliminary schedule has just 
been published, and may be obtained of the secretary. 
The same society will hold a Chrysanthemum Exhi¬ 
bition on the 13th and 14th of November next. 
Among other Continental exhibitions we learn that 
the First Show of Chrysanthemums will be held 
in Roubaix about the middle of November next. 
Mushrooms have been very plentiful in Somerset 
and Devon lately, and a correspondent informs us that 
they have been retailed in shops at 1 \d. per lb. 
The Revue d’Horticulture Beige states that in France 
the Patron Saint of the Gardeners is St. Fiacre, 
whose celebration is kept on the 30th of August. In 
Belgium they invoke the protection of St. Dorothy. 
In Greece their patron is St. Tryphon, whose celebrated 
gardens are still to be seen at the Monastery of 
Kiliandri on Mount Athos. 
Mr. William Colchester, Ipswich, has received 
a First Class Certificate of Merit from the committee of 
the Sandy (Beds) and District Floral and Horticultural 
Society for Pure Ichthemic Guano, the award having 
been made on the recommendation of the six judges at 
the recent show. 
One of the largest Cauliflowers ever seen in 
Blairgowrie is now being exhibited in Mr. Slater’s 
window, High Street, and was grown by Mr. John 
Galloway, cottager, Baldinnie, Coupar Angus. It 
measures 36 ins. round the head, which is of fine white 
quality, and weighs exactly 6 lbs. 
The assistant secretary of the Royal Horticultural 
Society requests us to correct an error which we 
inadvertently made in our last issue with reference to 
the distribution of seeds from Sikkim. We should 
have said that plants and seeds were ready for distribu¬ 
tion among the Fellows, and not seeds from Sikkim 
only. 
Mr. J. Lye, of Clyfle Hall, took to the Bath show 
some blooms of New Seedling Fuchsias of a very 
pleasing character, showing much novelty of appearance. 
As a matter of course the judges could not deal with 
them in the form they were produced, though they 
could commend the strain. The distance at which 
Mr. Lye lives from London, prevents him from lettiDg 
the Floral Committee of the Royal Horticultural 
Society see them in the form they could desire ; but 
there is no doubt that Mr. Lye’s seedlings, being of 
such good habit, so free and of such fine quality, are 
being much grown for exhibition and decorative 
purposes. Some two months ago, when the Floral 
Committee inspected the collection of Fuchsias being 
grown at Chiswick, several of Mr. Lye’s raising received 
three marks—equivalent to a First Class Certificate of 
Merit. 
A report of the Bath Floral FLte appears in 
another column, but what we desire here is to bear our 
testimony to the admirable convenience offered by the 
Sydney Gardens for flower shows of this kind. The 
drainage is so perfect, that though it rained heavily at 
three o’clock in the morning, by nine o’clock the walks 
were quite firm to the feet and there was an entire 
absence of mud, and that notwithstanding the gardens 
are very much crowded with trees ; so much so, indeed, 
that it is difficult to find spaces for the tents. A 
judicious thinning out of the trees is desirable ; as 
through being so crowded they are doing each other 
harm. But there is an abundance of shade and many 
pleasant walks ; the Great Western Railway and also 
the Canal runs through the garden, making bridges 
necessary, and so the scenery is diversified in con¬ 
sequence. There is a good working committee, an 
excellent secretary in Mr. B. Pearson, and the in¬ 
habitants of the city appear to be generous in their 
support of the various undertakings of this enthusiastic 
body. 
An^ctochilus Lansbergiie.— This species has not 
yet flowered in Europe. It possesses a more vigorous 
growth than plants of this class generally have, and 
the leaves are larger than those of the pretty well- 
known A. Lowii. The foliage is of a dark velvety 
maroon, with the venation along the centre of a deep 
and distinct emerald-green. Towards the margin the 
veins assume some shade of red, while the under-surface 
is clear salmon. Owing to the numerous longitudinal 
and transverse veins the leaves present a fine tesselated 
appearance. Native of the Malay Islands.— L'Illus¬ 
tration Horticole, 5 ser., I., t. 1. 
EXHIBITION VEGETABLES. 
It is very much the fashion with some writers, and, 
indeed, with some who are not writers, to decry 
exhibition vegetables as grown only for size and beauty, 
and not for average service or general usefulness. 
“ B. L.’s” note about Ne Plus Ultra Bean reminds 
me that in this variety we have, I think, without 
exception, one of the best exhibition Runner Beans in 
cultivation, and yet it is not only a great cropper, but 
also of first-rate quality. In Onions, for example, we 
see splendid specimens of such a kind as Rousham Park, 
grown under special culture for show, hut yet when 
grown under ordinary culture it is also a fine cropper, 
producing an excellent kitchen sample of solid bulbs. 
In Carrots, what kinds find more favour at the show 
table than do Early Nantes or New Intermediate ? and 
yet both are first-rate kinds for general use, and are 
now almost universally grown. Of Peas, we find in 
Telephone, Duke of Albany, Triumph, Stratagem, &c., 
grand show podders, and yet they are capital cropping 
kinds, worthy of cultivation in any garden. In dwarf 
Beans, the Canadian Wonder and Long-podded Negro 
are producers of beautiful beans as perfect as can well 
be desired, and yet they cannot be excelled for ordinary 
garden purposes ; whilst in Turnips, at once very 
handsome and of the best quality, is the Early Six- 
Weeks, or by whatsoever names good stocks of it may 
be termed. 
Veitch’s Autumn Giant Cauliflower for autumn, and 
the Snowball for early work, have no superiors for 
ordinary uses, and yet both are unbeatable on the 
show table. As to Potatos, handsome tubers, conjoined 
to good croppers and fine quality, are legion. Where 
are there better cropping or handsomer Tomatos than 
Hackwood Park or Perfection ; or better Celery for all 
purposes than Major Clarke’s Red and Incomparable 
White ; or handsomer and more serviceable (Marrows 
than the Long White ? It may be truly said then, 
that the best exhibition kinds of vegetables are those 
that give the best satisfaction to both gardener and 
cook.— A. D. 
-- 
BLICKLING HALL, NORFOLK. 
This is the principal residence of The Marchioness of 
Lothian (widow of the eighth marquis), and is situated 
about 1J mile from the pleasant little town of Aylsham. 
The mansion is a quadrangular building of large size, 
having fine turrets at each of the four corners and a 
clock tower in the centre of the two on the south side, 
which is the carriage front. It is of the Elizabethan 
style of architecture, and has a history of its own 
sufficient to form a considerable-sized volume. It must 
suffice for me to say that King Harold owned the 
manor of Blickling before the Norman conquest. After 
him it was held by the Bishops of Thetford, before the 
See was removed from that town to Norwich. In 1431 
it became the property of Sir Thomas Erpingham, who 
sold it to Sir John Fastolf, who again sold it in 1452 
to Sir Geoffrey Buleyne (who was Lord Mayor of 
London in 1457). From him it passed to Sir Thomas 
Boleyn, father of Anne Boleyn (one of the martyred 
wives of Henry VIII.), and who with her brother, 
Viscount Rochford (also beheaded by that monarch), 
were born at Blickling. The marriage of the king to 
this his second queen took place in a room at the hall. 
From the Boleyns the estate passed to the Cleves’ 
family, and then came into the hands of the Hobarts. 
Henry Hobart, the first of the family who resided here, 
was Lord Chief Justice of the Common Pleas. His 
son, Sir John Hobart, rebuilt Blickling Hall, which he 
completed in 1620. Charles the II., with his queen, 
the former Princess Catherine of Braganza, visited 
Blickling in 1671, and in one of the rooms in the 
Hall there is a fine oak bedstead, with rich hangings, 
on which their Majesties are said to have slept. 
A descendant of Sir John Hobart was appointed 
British ambassador to Russia, and was created Earl of 
Buckinghamshire. Presents given to him by the 
Empress Catherine II. of Russia are still preserved in 
the hall. His son, the second Earl and last of the 
male line, is buried in a fine stone mausoleum on a 
lovely eminence in the park, a mile from the hall. 
The youngest of his two daughters, Lady Caroline 
Hans Hobart, married the second Lord Suffield, and 
she resided here for many years, the estate passing, at 
her decease in 1850, to her grand-nephew, the late 
Marquis of Lothian, who died in 1870, at the early 
age of thirty-eight. His widow keeps Blickling Hall 
and grounds in perfect order, and allows the public 
free access to the flower gardens, pleasure grounds, and 
park every Tuesday during the months of July, 
