762 
THE GARDENING WORLD 
August 1st, 1885. 
Then there are some Peaches in pots, pyramids, 
8 ft. in height, among them the Salway, which does 
well in pots. Early Alfred, Bellegarde, and Lord 
Palmerston. Then comes a vinery planted this 
season with Hamburgh and Duke of Buccleuch 
Grapes. In a late vinery are Gros Colmar, Barba- 
rossa, Gros Maroc, Lady Downes, and Alicante. 
In the stove could be seen a pair of very fine plants 
of Kentia Fosteriana, also Thrinax rupicola, an excel¬ 
lent subject for table decoration; also Draerenas, 
Crotons, Ac., for the same purpose ; and indeed a host 
of useful decorative stuff, all in the best condition. 
Next follows a lean-to range, the first portion used 
as a Strawberry-house, the sorts President and James 
Yeitch for main crop, commencing with Yieomtesse 
H. de Thury; Tomatos in pots are grown at the 
tack. Then comes a Fig-house with the trees planted 
out. Brown Turkey is relied upon for a main crop, 
while Bourjassotte Noire and Negro Largo are also 
grown with success, but in order to drive the latter 
into fruiting, it is spaded round three times in the 
year, when it fruits with remarkable freedom. The 
trees of Brown Turkey have their branches laid in 
at the full length. Tomatos are grown at the back of 
this house also. 
Then follows a range of curvilinear plant-houses, 
with span roofs. In the first portion is a collection 
of Orchids, among them some fine plants of Zygo- 
petalum Maekayi, Cymbidium eberneum, and some 
splendid pans of La?Iia anceps, in fine variety; 
there are also some bits of the fine Cattleya Sanderi- 
ana. Then came two Melon-houses in fine fruit; 
the sorts Hero of Loekinge, Eastnor Castle, and 
Cox’s Golden Gem. Lastly came a house of Gardenias 
in pots, with Stephanotis floribunda overhead. 
Then followed a pair of ridge and furrow vineries, 
the first a mixed house, planted with Golden Queen, 
Muscat Hamburgh, Ac. Here too, temporarily 
housed, were some very fine specimen Azaleas. The 
s cond is a Muscat-house, planted in January 1883; 
the occupants Muscat of Alexandria, Cannon Hall 
Muscat, and Trebbiano. Cannon Hall sets perfectly, 
and averages 4 lbs. a bunch; Muscat of Alexandria 
the same ; Trebbiano reaches 7 lbs. a bunch. These 
Vines have made a wonderful growth, and are in 
admirable condition. 
Next came some lean-to houses, one employed for 
the growth of Tree Carnations, Fuchsias, Ac.; the 
other contained a good collection of Orchids, such as 
Masdevallia tovarense, Ada aurantiaca, Odontoglos- 
sum cirrhosum, O. grande, 0. citrosmum, Ac., with a 
good lot of Pancratiums and other useful plants. 
Then followed a house of Calanthes in admirable 
condition, principally Veitchii, together with Palms, 
Ac. Next came a house of cool Orchids, including 
Odontoglossum Alexandra and 0. Pescatorei, Masde- 
vallia Yeitchii, M. Harryana, and some fine Pleiones. 
From this point the visitor passes into a charming 
fernery, the walls formed of Tufa, and the Ferns 
planted against them, ornamental-leaved Begonias 
being mingled with them. Overhead was a dense 
growth of F’icus repens. Here can be cut large 
quantities of Fern fronds for table decoration all the 
year round. Adiantum amabilis is seen to make an 
admirable basket Fern. The house is glazed with 
Hartley’s rough plate-glass, shaded beneath on the 
sunny side. Here are some fine Tree Ferns. In the 
centre is a fine piece of Cyathea Smithiana, some 
admirable pieces of Lomaria Gibba, Ac. Next came 
the conservatory, a spacious building, in which are 
planted out Palms, Cyeads, Ficus, Bamboos, Ac. On 
the side stages are various Palms, Ac., in pots; 
growing against the wall at the sides are very fine 
plants of Asparagus plumosus scandens and nanus in 
slate tubs, the leading shoots trained to the walls, 
where they make a prodigious growth. These plants 
are of great value to cut from. 
Then some descending steps lead to a corridor with 
an arched glass roof and walls of Tufa on the right. 
Against the side walls and growing up overhead are 
Habrothamnus, Fuchsias, Brugmansias, Ac.; and at 
the end, glass sides with stages for plants. Ferns 
grow here in plenty, and the corridor makes a 
charming adjunct to the mansion. This is the 
record of a hasty run through the plant-houses. It 
could be noted that everything was in capital con¬ 
dition, suggestive of intelligent oversight. 
The kitchen-garden, or, as it should be more 
properly termed, the walled-in fruit garden, is close 
by, and as the dimensions of this have proved too con¬ 
tracted to grow an adequate supply of vegetables, a 
new kitchen-garden has recently been formed in the 
lower grounds. In walking round we note an exten¬ 
sive herb garden ; at various points come in useful 
decorative flowers, such as a border of Gladiolus, the 
bulbs having been left in the ground all the winter, 
and now through again with scarcely a failure. 
Here are to be seen good kitchen-garden crops, and 
we regret that larger space cannot be devoted to them. 
In the pleasure grounds surrounding the mansion, 
Hollies have been extensively jDlanted and do well, 
besides, they furnish excellent shelter from winds. 
The leading variegated forms are Milkmaid, Golden 
Queen, Elegantissima, and Waterer’s; the green 
types, Shepherd’s, Hodgin’s, Maderensis, and the old 
green, which is in the form of huge bushes. 
A very large bed near the mansion is devoted to 
Japanese plants, and they form an interesting and 
instructive feature. Here are good specimens of 
Betinospora lycopodioides, and B.squarrosa, Cupressus 
Nutkaeensis, and Lawsoniana pygmea, Betinospora 
obtusa, filicoides, leptoelada, filifera, pisifera, all green 
forms. Those with variegated foliage are Cupressus 
Lawsoniana lutea, 8 ft., ditto Compacts, Betinospora 
plumosa aurea and argentea, Young’s pisifera aurea, 
very fine ; tetragons aurea, 3 ft., Biota elegantissima, 
Ilex ornata aurea, a fine specimen, 4 ft. in height; 
Young’s Golden Juniper, a very fine specimen of 
Betinospora obtusa aurea nana, fully 10 ft. in height, 
Ac. 
Of specimen Conifer* there is a good 'collection, 
including Araucaria imbricata, 30 ft. high; Abies 
Alcoquiana, 15 ft.; A. polita, 10 ft.; A. concolor, 
5 ft. ; A. Engelmanni glauca, 8 ft.; Cupressus Lasio- 
carpa, 15 ft. ; Fisher’s Golden Yellow Holly, in fine 
specimen, 10 ft. in height; Taxus Dovastoni, 8 ft. ; 
Pieea nobilis glauca, 18 ft. 
On the west and north-west sides of the mansion 
especially, one realizes the fine proportions of the 
trees forming a protecting line about it; there are 
huge Beech, Elm, Oak, Ash, Ac., and they all appear 
to do well, having a firm grip of the sandstone, which 
appears to abound here. 
In this hasty and imperfect way we have endeavoured 
to give a rapid outline of the main features of this 
interesting place ; under the able management of Mr. 
W. Elphistone, every department flourishes. The 
garden offices, Ac., are commodious and convenient, 
the comfort of the toilers who reside in them being 
well cared for. 
Fruit Culture under Glass.— Vines : These in 
every stage of growth should have abundance of water 
at the roots every week or ten days, following the clear 
water with good supplies of liquid manure, irrespective 
of the Grapes having commenced colouring, or the 
fruit of them having approached maturity; the result 
will be the same in every case—beneficial. In short, 
Vines should never be allowed to get dry at the roots 
until they have shed their leaves, and then only 
moderately so, but always inclining to the moist side, 
which is but their natural condition. 
As soon as the Grapes are cut from early and 
second-early Vines syringe the latter thoroughly over¬ 
head morning and afternoon, with a view to washing 
off any red-spider that may happen to be on the leaves, 
leaving the ventilators—in the absence of stormy 
weather—fully open day and night, so as to get the 
wood well ripened, and at the same time to prevent 
the Vines in the early house from pushing into growth, 
as they frequently show a tendency to do when the 
atmosphere of the house is kept close and moist 
instead of moist and airy—moist so far as the syring¬ 
ing of the Vines morning and afternoon, and damping 
the pathways, Ac., about mid-day goes. 
Vines cropped light rather than otherwise, and kept 
well supplied with moisture at the roots, and a free 
circulation of fresh air maintained from the time the 
berries begin to colour, are sure to finish their crops 
well. 
During the present intensely hot weather the 
vineries containing ripe and ripening Grapes should 
have the pathways and surface borders damped 
over with the syringe about eleven o’clock in the 
morning, and again at one and half-past four o’clock 
in the afternoon, so as to render the atmosphere more 
congenial to the requirements of the Grapes and 
foliage alike.— II. W. Ward. 
Strawberry Culture.—After trying every method 
of culture that has suggested itself to me, as well as 
those advocated by others, I am convinced that there 
is none to surpass that of planting annually and 
destroying the plants as soon as the fruit is gathered. 
This plan is particularly adapted for light or gravelly 
soils, of which I had substantial proof when practising 
near London. When I took charge of the garden, 
which was of a sandy nature, the Strawberry season 
was just coming on, and from about ten rows about 
20 yards long we were not able to pick more than 1 lb. 
of fruit a day, and that only of third-rate quality. 
The plants looked healthy, and were of great size 
but they only produced puny runners, and they were 
late. The best, however, were selected and layered 
in 3-in. pots, and to make up the stock more were 
procured from a nursery that had been similarly 
treated. The best plants were planted the usual 
distance apart of 2 ft. each way, and the smaller ones 
in clumps of three, forming a triangle. The following 
year, as soon as the fruit was picked, two of these 
were cut out, leaving the others 2 ft. apart to bear the 
second year, which they did after a fashion. 
But the first season, though the plants were small, 
the three yielded as good a crop as the best single 
plants of any age could do, besides giving a greater 
percentage of large fruit than is produced by old 
plants. I had practised this plan of triple planting 
in Kent some years previously, and there the plants 
bore fairly well the third time. 
It is the practice with the Kentish Strawberry 
growers to clear the plants the fourth year after 
planting. But it must be understood that the plants 
are so small that they produce no fruit the first year, 
as planting is not performed till autumn, and some¬ 
times very late. This is not because the growers 
ignore the advantage of early planting, but because 
other work is -pressing and labour is much more 
expensive at that season than later on ; and, lastly, 
land is cheaper than labour, and the former is frequent¬ 
ly cropped with an early vegetable, so that the growers 
work matters the most economical way in the end. 
Those, however, in charge of small or moderate 
sized gardens will find it worth their while to make a 
little effort at this season of the year, and layer all the 
runners they can in 3-in. or 4-in. pots, and when 
thoroughly established plant them in clumps of 
three’s, or in single rows 2 ft. distant and 1 ft. from 
plant to plant in the row. I have found the latter to 
answer very well, and as we cannot find time to layer 
enough plants at the right period, we cut out every 
other plant and allow the others to carry another 
crop. Plants in their third year do not pay for their 
room ; but as land is more abundant than labour, we 
are tempted to allow a few to remain and confine our 
annual planting to half of what we should like. As 
young plants are more fruitful than old ones, with the 
double or triple system of planting little more than 
half the ground now occupied would be required for 
Strawberries, and in early districts they could be 
cleared away and the ground cropped with something 
else. I yearly plant out a few forced plants, but 
beyond that they produce a few late fruit, I see 
nothing commendable in the practice, and those 
growers who so strongly advocate that plan must have 
had better success than I have had, or they would not 
persist in urging its claims as the season comes 
round. If health and vigour have anything to do 
with fertility in a Strawberry plant, then I should say 
we may reasonably conclude that a plant which has 
had the life forced out of it has very little chance 
against a well-grown yearling. We grow several sorts 
here, and I will reserve the few remarks I have to 
make on their behaviour for a future time.— W. P. li. 
Who is the Largest Strawberry Grower in 
Kent p—Such was the nature of a query which came 
to hand a few days ago, with a request that we would 
furnish the most reliable information. Our old friend, 
Mr. Henry Cannell, who resides at Swanley, in the very 
midst of the Strawberry-gardens, tell us that Messrs. 
H. A E. Vinson, Swanley, are unquestionably, the 
largest growers of Strawberries in the world, and they 
are at present much too busy to know the exact 
