August 5,1899. 
THE GARDENING WORLD 
779 
TEWIN WATER, WELWYN. 
(Concluded from p. 756 .) 
Fruit and Kitchen Garden. 
Being an old and well-established place, the resi¬ 
dential seat of H. Tower, Esq., though in the vicinity 
of the garden, is well screened from that by the lib¬ 
eral planting of trees and shrubs of an ornamental 
character. The fruit trees are, however, youDg and 
vigorous, particularly the Apple trees in half-standard 
form surrounding the vegetable quarters. They 
carry a fairly good, and, in some instances, a heavy 
crop of fruit. Pears are in a similar condition. The 
unfavourable condition of the weather in spring has 
made the crop of Peaches a very poor one. Plums 
are good, particularly those on walls. White and 
Red Currants upon walls are good; while Black 
Currants carry a heavy crop, weighting down the 
bushes. Raspberries are good, and Strawberries a 
heavy crop, particularly Royal Sovereign and Latest 
of All, the latter still in bearing the other week. 
The soil being light and gravelly alluvium, special 
care is necessary in order to ensure good crops of 
the Pea family. In the case of Scarlet Runners a 
wide trench was taken out, and plenty of dung put 
in the bottom. Then the seeds were sown in a 
double row, and a double row of tall stakes set widely 
so as to enclose the Scarlet Runners, now at the top, 
laden with blossom and setting freely. Veitch’s 
Dwarf Early Forcing has done well, and was being 
gathered. There is also a fine sowing of Veitch’s 
Parsley now in fine form. There is a fine brake of 
Brussels Sprouts following Cauliflowers, which were 
planted between, and now cut. The early Brussels 
Sprouts are 2 ft. high and in perfect health. There 
are also good crops of Leeks, Beet, Carrots, Parsnips, 
Onions, Cottager's Kale, Couve Tronchuda, Savoys, 
Celery, and Peas. The Celery, planted in double 
rows, is now well advanced, clean, healthy, and per¬ 
fectly free from the Celery Fly. The Peas are 
beginning to feel the drought, but they have been 
very good. 
Near one end of the garden is a new storeroom for 
Potatos, Onions and other subjects for kitchen use. 
The fruit room is also new, The Mushroom house 
is idle at present but will soon be cleared out and 
started afresh. 
Flower Garden. 
This occupies a rectangular piece of ground in front 
of the mansion and in keeping with it. The middle 
portion recedes a little by the flanking wings being 
set on at right angles. The walls are smooth, white 
and clean. Their lower portions are more or less 
covered with Roses, Jasminum officinale, J. grandi- 
florum, Ivies, Aristolochia Sipho, Ribes speciosum 
and the single flowered form of Calystegia pubescens, 
bearing a profusion of large, pink flowers. A large 
bed of choice shrubs on the left contains, amongst 
other things, Chimonanthus fragrans, dwarfer than it 
would be against a wall but healthy ; and Ceanothus 
Gloire de Versailles, now flowering profusely. 
The flower garden used to be occupied with 
herbaceous plants of no great value, and a few carpet 
beds, but has now been laid out in quite a new design, 
and Mr. Thomson, the gardener, has got together a 
great variety of plants of a showy character in the 
short time the place has been under his control. A 
great many of the beds consist of the mixed style 
of planting so popular at the present day. Ricinus, 
Cannas, Fuchsias and' Pelargoniums in variety are 
freely planted. Nemesia Suttoni in several varieties 
fill some of the smaller beds, and besides being pretty 
are notable for their profusion of blossom. Abed 
each is devoted to white and yellow Antirrhinums of 
medium height. Pelargonium Mdme. Sallery makes 
a. bright and dwarf patch or two with its dwarf and 
silvery variegated foliage. Bright, rich and varied, 
are the colours of Phlox Drummondi. The double 
white and fragrant Stock Princess Alice has large 
and pure white flowers of great refinement. Choice 
varieties of Montbretias are making vigorous growth 
and will no doubt bloom finely later on. One inter¬ 
esting bed is planted with Abutilon Thompsoni, 
Cannas, and the dark leaved Lobelia Victoriae, 
edged with Coleus Verschaffelti, and a dense mass 
of Sempervivum calcareum. 
Plant Houses. 
The first stove entered was planted with Musa 
Cavendishii along the centre; several of them are 
fruiting, and the fruits being gathered. The suckers, 
in some cases, were much stronger than the fruiting 
stems. Maidenhair Ferns are largely grown for 
cutting, and Smilax on threads is required for the 
same purpose for they are fond of flowers in the 
house. Woodwardia radicans is very fine. 
Kentias, Arecas, Phoenix rupicola and other 
Palms form part of the furnishing of this 
house. Passiflora quadrangularis adorns the roof 
of another division ; and Aristolochia flowers freely 
earlier in the year. A large plant or two of a 
strong growing Philodendron are very prominent at 
one end of the house. Asparagus Sprengeri is 
found very useful as a basket plant. 
A Melon pit next engaged our attention, a heavy 
crop being gradually reaching maturity. Large 
fruits of Countess were yellow and beautifully netted. 
OUaer sorts grown are Blenheim Orange and Syon 
Perfection, with dark green fruits, netted with gray 
when we saw them. They are planted out. 
Allamandas have been very conspicuous on the 
roof of a house for some time past. A grandiflora 
may readily be recognised by the five white spots at 
the base of the corolla segments. It is certainly 
very handsome, but the flowers are relatively small 
compared with those of A. nobilis, which measure 
from 6 in. to 9 in. across the expanded lamina. 
They are borne in pairs, the individuals being of 
different age, upon long stalked cymes that hang 
down loosely in the body of the house, and are very 
freely produced. A small plant of Heliconia illustris 
last year has now grown into a vigorous and healthy 
specimen, several feet through, and beautifully 
coloured. Dendrobium nobile, suspended in pans, is 
making good growth, and the same may be said of 
afine dark variety of D. Phalaenopsis schroderianum. 
The house next to this contains various Orchids 
new to the place, including Cypripediums, Calanthes, 
Cattleyas, and others, all doing well. A collection 
of Caladiums has also found its way here, as well as 
floriferous plants of the ubiquitous Acalypha 
Sanderi. Bougainvillea glabra, Plumbago capensis, 
P. c. alba, and P. coccinea clothe the roof, the 
latter doing very well here. The Poinsettias in a 
neighbouring house are strong ; and a great portion 
of the space is devoted to Carnations. Malmaison 
Carnations are plentiful, together with other tree 
varieties including the soft pmk Reginald Godfrey 
and Germania in beautiful form. 
A ccol house contained batches of the Messrs. 
Sutton and Veitch's strains of Gloxinias in a great 
variety of beautiful colours. Torenia Fournieri and 
T. F. alba made the front of the central staging gay. 
Streptocarpus was notable for the size of its flowers. 
■Tuberoses were advancing in various stages of 
growth and flower. Numerous varieties of 
Achimenes are suspended in baskets. Variety is 
also furnished by Cannas, Campanula pyramidalis, 
Ivy-leaved Pelargoniums, Pancratium fragrans, and 
P. speciosum. Outside of this house is the tank 
containing some fine water Lilies to be removed 
presently to the bog garden. 
One of the vineries is occupied by Black Ham¬ 
burgh Vines, with Figs on the back wall. Alicante 
fills another vinery, but in both cases the Vines are 
to be done away with, as the aspect is highly unsuit¬ 
able for this crop. A fine batch of Euphorbia 
jacquiniaeflora is being brought on for the winter. 
The young trees in the Peach house, making 
vigorous growth, were planted about eighteen 
months ago. Fair crops are borne by Bellegarde, 
Princess of Wales and Violette Hative Peaches. 
Lord Napier and Belle de Douay Nectarines are also 
fairly cropped. The early house is occupied with 
Violette Hative and Humboldt, both early ripening 
varieties. In a year or two the place will be greatly 
renovated, and many improvements made, judging 
from the progress that has been made. 
HARDY HERBACEOUS PLANTS. 
Verbascums are a very extensive genus, some of 
which are very handsome plants, well worth the 
gardener's attention. The tall Mullein (V. Thapsus) 
reaches to 10 ft. in very favourable places, 
as on the top of an old heap of brick soil and mortar, 
On such a site, too, it throws out tremendous leaves 
covered with a gray carpet of woolly hairs. For 
certain parts of rough grounds or amassed in 
clumps to give a distant effect, their worth in such 
positions is almost unique. Of the smaller though 
not less bright and certainly more adaptable varie¬ 
ties we have V. olympioides, reaching ODly to about 
6 ft., and very much finer in all respects, and suitable 
for a lawn plant, or better, in beds cut in grass at 
the edge of a shrubbery. V. Blattaria is a refined 
border plant with violet-purple centre, and a clear 
yellow corolla, and V. pyramidatum is another good 
thing. These species of Verbascum are all easy to 
cultivate, their special desires being a warm, rich 
calcareous soil. Propagation is effected by seeds. 
Spiraeas are, one and all, of great utility and of 
much beauty. For naturalising in rootery, rockery, 
on grass, or by the sides of streams they compare 
against the choicest plants or shrubs which adorn our 
gardens. All of them are also valuable for cut 
purposes. S. Aruncus is one of the tallest and 
most lovely, for the long creamy white plumes arch 
very beautifully and just look like a snow-fall 
held suspended. S. Filipendula fl. pi is so softly 
rounded and altogether so trim and neat a plant, 
that in those gardens from which it is absent I think 
the owners must not know of it. S. palmata, the 
crimson Meadow-Sweet, reaches z\ ft. high. S. 
Ulmaria fl. pi. goes to 3 ft. and 4 ft., and thrives very 
well in damp ground. They can all be increased by 
division or from seeds.— J. Harris. 
--- 
CULTURE OF THE STRAWBERRY. 
The Strawberry is one of the best and most whole¬ 
some fruits, as an honest physician cnce remarked 
to me (the late Dr. Davis), that one could not eat 
too many of them, being a change to the system. 
The Strawberry delights in a rather stiff soil, but 
it can be grown in most soils where the ground is 
not shaded with large trees. Trench the ground 
2 ft. in depth ; put a good layer of rough manure in 
the bottom of the trench, and another good layer 
under the second spit. Allow the ground to 
settle down, then before planting in the autumn or 
spring give them 30 in. between the rows, and 18 in. 
in the rows. Never dig between the rows, merely 
hoe the ground to keep the weeds in check. Every 
spring, during the first week in March, cover all the 
space between the rows with a good coating of 
stable litter, which starts the plants into growth. It 
keeps the ground moist, and by the time the fruit is 
ripe it forms a nice clean bed for the fruit to lay od. 
Propagating is generally effected by runners. I 
used to lay the runners in small pots, but I much 
prefer to lay them by placing a small stone on the 
first runner formed, which keeps it firm and cool, 
so there is no watering required in Scotland at least. 
They will soon get rooted. Then have them 
removed and bedded out till wanted. The stones 
may remain for the second and third lot of 
runners. They may also be raised from seed, 
which is quite a science. Remove all the stamens 
when the flower opens before the pollen is formed. 
Sow the seed as soon as it is ripe in a pan. Fill the 
pot or pan three parts with drainage, then fill up 
with fine light soil pressed down firmly. Sprinkle 
with water, then pare the pulp off with a sharp 
knife, and lay it on the soil. Sprinkle a little silver 
sand all over, and then press it down. They will 
soon vegetate in a cool greenhouse or frame. In the 
end of April they may be planted out, and they will 
fruit the following season. In 1893 I made my first 
attempt in raising seedlings, Waterloo being my 
best late sort. I thought I could manage to get the 
Queen shape and flavour with Waterloo, which I 
succeeded in getting in the sort which I have named 
Prince of Wales. Next year I crossed Lax'on's 
Latest of All with Waterloo, and from it I setit out 
Princess of Wales. My next season's crop was Water¬ 
loo crossed with Frogmore Late Pine, and from that 
cross I selected the best, and named them Queen of 
Denmark and Richard Gilbert. My next cross was 
between Queen of Denmark and Richard Gilbert, 
which fruited last season, and which I have named 
Charles Carmichael, and hope to get stock to send 
out this season. The seedlings are all prolific doers. 
I believe it was owing to the cross with Waterloo 
which has given some new blood into the Straw¬ 
berry .—William Carmichael, 14 ,Piit Street, Edinburgh. 
-- 
SOCIETIES. 
PETERSHAM FLOWER SHOW.— July igth. 
What with so many counter attractions and ihe 
excessive heat on July 19th, the hopes of a thoroughly 
successful show at Petersham might have been 
deemed frail, but such was not so. True it is that 
the plants and flowers suffered greatly and people 
cared rather to sit or walk about in the cool grounds 
