40 
THE GARDENING WORLD 
January 17, 1903. 
A Visit to the Channel Islands. 
The Channel Islands, of which the principal are Jersey, 
Guernsey, Alderney, and Sark, belong politically to the 
British Crown, but geographically to France, and lie off the 
coast of Normandy, between latitude 49deg. and 50deg. N. 
and between longitude 2deg. and 3deg. W. They came into' 
the possession of the English Crown at the Norman Conquest, 
and have, been a British possession ever since. For some time 
past they have been a great resort for visitors from the 
British Isles as well as from France. Some time ago I paid 
a visit to these islands. I left Weymouth in September, by 
the Royal Mail steamer by night, and entered the harbour 
at St. Peter’s Port, Guernsey, at 7 a.m. 
On passing down Channel between the islands in the grey 
dawn of the morning, the tide was full and the current very 
strong, as it generally is amongst the islands; there was a 
strong breeze, and as it had been raining somewhat the sea 
was choppy. On the left, the islands of Herm and Jethou 
rose out of the sea like huge black mounds, or mountains, if 
I may be permitted to call them, while the eastern coast of 
Guernsey sloped gradually up from the sea, and was beauti¬ 
fully wooded, especially in the semi-circular hollow in which 
lies the town of St. Peter’s Port, the chief commercial centre 
of the island. Away on the right the harbour and fortifica¬ 
tions of St. Sampson were prominent objects, while Fort 
George occupied the heights on the left. The guns of Castle 
Comet on the middle of the breakwater to' the left, overshadow 
and protect the entrance to the harbour. 
The channel is always a dangerous one, and difficult to navi¬ 
gate on account of the numerous sunken rocks, most of which 
are invisible at high water. At low tide rocks innumerable 
make their appearance all round the islands, as far as the eye 
can reach, giving one an impression of a sunken or drowned 
world, of which the islands are the mountain tops. I find that 
Mr. J. Starke Gardner, the English geologist, is of this opinion, 
for he states that, “ A great tract of land formerly existed 
where the sea now is, and that Cornwall, the Scilly, and 
Channel Islands, Ireland- and Brittany are the remains of its 
highest summits.” 
Guernsey. 
This island is roughly triangular, and indented on all sides 
by numerous bays. The coast is high and precipitous from 
St. Peter’s Port to St. Martin’s Point on the east, and 
thence all along the south numerous small islands or rocks 
lie along the west coast. The northern part of the island is 
moderately flat and slopes to the sea. The surface may be 
described as an undulated plateau of fertile soil overlying 
granite, and .consists of an area of 28 to 30 square miles, with 
a population of from 30,000 to 35,000. Like all the other 
islands, it was originally peopled from the neighbouring French 
coast, but within recent times there has been a good sprinkling 
of the English element. The islanders speak a native patois, 
but all the educated people speak good English. 
The native industries are agriculture and horticulture, 
especially fruit-growing, granite quarrying, in the shape of 
pavement blocks and macadam, of which they annually send 
210,000 to 250,000 tons to London, and fishing. The granite 
is shipped chiefly from St, Sampson’s, where about 500 men 
are engaged in its preparation. The land is valuable and laid 
out in small farms, 50 acres being a large one, while a farm 
of 100 acres is rare. Early Potatoes are largely grown for 
the London and other markets of large British towns. A 
large number of cattle, chiefly milch cows, are kept on the 
island, and sheep on the rocky seaboard. 
Fkuit-growing. 
The importance of fruit-growing may be judged from the 
fact that nearly everybody who can does grow either Grapes, 
Tomatos, or Melons, or all three. Grapes are the most uni¬ 
versally grown of the three kinds of fruit. The chief market 
is Covent Garden, hut consignments are also sent to Birming¬ 
ham, Manchester, Glasgow, and elsewhere. Extensive glass¬ 
houses are being erected every year; but the wary islander, 
with one eye on his crops and the other on Covent Garden, is 
anxious to know how long the market is to remain good, or 
offer them sufficient remuneration. 
Messrs. Smith and Son, of the Caledonia Nursery, had many 
large vineries, which were lean-to structures of great width, 
thus allowing for a great length of rod; and the Vines -were 
planted in outside borders. The varieties grown were Black 
Hamburgh, Gros Colman, and Muscat of Alexandria. Some 
of the houses had no' means of being heated artificially, yet 
most of the crops were cut with the exception of some Muscats 
and a house of Gros Colman 210ft. long. Most of the fruit 
was ripe, and the crop; a heavy one 1 , presented a magnificent 
spectacle. The immense number of bunches, consisting of 
large-sized berries, in looking along the house presented an 
almost black, heavily embossed surface. The floor of the 
early vineries was planted out with the conns of Freesia 
refracta alba, the leaves of which were already well above 
ground. 
As far as fruit is concerned, Mr. Domaille 1 , Summerfield, 
The Vale', was a more extensive grower. His vineries vary 
from 17Oft. to 250ft. long, and in many cases 42ft. wide, all 
span-roofed structures. All the Vines were forced not only to 
obtain the fruit early, but because the keeping of late Grapes 
was not much practised by reason of the difficulty of preserving 
them, owing to the naturally moist and misty climate of thb 
small sea-girt islands. Some of the Vines were planted inside, 
but most of those round the sides of the house were planted 
outside and the rods taken inside. 
The object was to ripen an early crop, then to turn the 
Vines outside, and plant Melons or Tomatoes in rows all 
across the floor of the house. The latter were planted in 
double rows, lft. apart and 3ft. between every two rows. They 
were heavily manured and the narrow untrampled alley was 
for the reception of heavy supplies of water. About 3 tons 
of Tomatoes as a second crop were taken out of a house 170ft. 
long, and about 2,000 Melons as a second crop from a similar 
house. 
A method of filling a large vineiy in one season, was to 
plant a row round the sides of the house with five rows 
along the interior of the building to be removed ultimately. 
The rods were generally planted at 18in. apart. Gros Colman 
and Alicante were the popular varieties}. The method of 
raising young Vines, both in Guernsey and in Jersey, is to 
insert cuttings in the open ground, or strike eyes in pots, and 
then plant them out till they attain a suitable size in the open 
ground. 
Apples, Pears, and bush fruits were grown to some extent 
on the island, but the last-named chiefly for home consump¬ 
tion. Fig-growing, apparently, might be made an important 
item, provided a good market and safe carriage could be 
secured. A novel system of training the Fig was prevalent 
on the island. The branches or stems were trained horizon¬ 
tally over a wooden framework of circular outline at 3 ft. from 
the ground in the open garden. There was a fine example 
in the garden of the Hon. James Saumarez, Saumarez Hall, 
Cixtel. During the height of the season from 60 to 80 dozen 
fruits a week used to be gathered. 
A good example of an amateur's fruit garden was that of 
Mr. Richards, Candie Villas, Grange Road, who grew 37 
varieties of Pears and 78 of Apples. The latter were mostly 
grown on the bush system, and included all the more popular 
varieties which were grown here. The same may be said of 
Pears, which were chiefly grown on high walls with five upright 
cordons to a tree. Many of them were bearing heavily. They 
were kept regularly pruned all through the summer, so that 
no useless wood was allowed to attain any size, and the fruit 
was thinned. A tree of Madame Treyve, on the bush system, 
one year bore 1,100 fruits, but not a fourth of that the next. 
Doyenne du Commice, Doyenne Boussock, Mareehal de Com', 
Passe Colman, and others were heavily cropped upon the 
wall. 
(To be continued.) 
