7G 
THE GARDENING WORLD. 
January 28, 1905. 
Sion that it was cheaper to buy Grapes than to grow them, 
notwithstanding his success in the same. The Vines were up¬ 
rooted therefore, much to the regret of the previous gardener, 
and the vinery was transformed into a plant house, as he was 
always in want of more flowers. He had, however, a more un¬ 
fortunate experience in an attempt to grow stove plants. The 
leading idea of the then gardener was to keep the stove at 
tropical temperature, but was evidently unprepared to battle 
with the insects and fungi which throve under such a tem¬ 
perature, and knew nothing of the means for combating such 
enemies. The owner at last did away with the stove plants 
and grew Cucumbers instead. Since then, however, the same 
house has been transformed into a cool Orchid house, with 
excellent results, the plants grown being Masdevallias, Cym- 
bidiums, and Odontoglossums, which flourish exceedingly. 
Following the writer into another part of the garden, we 
find him dealing with vegetables, Dahlias, Sweet Peas, Goose¬ 
berries, and Raspberries. He speaks of growing Gooseberries 
on his own principle, though we are uncertain whether he 
takes the credit for originality in the plan he pursues. He 
trains them to wires, so as to form thin hedges, which are 
easily protected from birds, and allow of the easy gathering 
of the fruit, if the bushes are properly pruned. He finds that 
they bear enormously under this form of treatment. There 
are other gardens, however, in Surrey and Sussex, probably 
elsewhere, in which this plan is pursued with advantage. 
Opening the book on another page we find that like all 
other gardeners he has to learn how to battle with the plant 
enemies. In speaking of mice which had dug down to the 
roots of his Beans in order to eat the seeds, he describes them 
as thieves. In the minds of the speculative this would raise 
the question of what is a thief, just in the same way as what 
is a weed. These mice take what they can find, and are pro¬ 
bably unaware that they are tampering with other people’s 
property. In the case of wild and unappropriated plants, 
probably no one would even notice the damage done by mice. 
In this case the seeds were soaked in paraffin to keep the 
marauders at bay. The writer is also a determined enemy 
of the common garden fowl, which is an experience known 
to most gardeners where the fowl-yard is too near the garden. 
In order to keep off this class of enemy he baffled them by 
the use of wire netting. The unsuspecting barndoor fowl had 
been attracted by the food placed for the sole use of his 
favourite dogs located near the house. 
The lady gardener does figure a little in his pages as well 
as the lady farmer, of one of whom he gives a very appreciative 
account. This lady manages her father’s farm, not figura¬ 
tively, but in fact. In speaking of lady gardeners, he men¬ 
tions their physical incapability of doing such work as 
digging, but that is quite an unneecessary operation for them, 
seeing that a man obtainable at half-a-crown a day could do 
more sod-lifting than three of them ought to attempt. He 
thinks that lady gardeners should confine themselves to the 
higher walks of the profession. Most gardeners would agree 
to that, but the point on which discussion usually arises is 
their acting as an all-round gardener on a private establish¬ 
ment, for instance. 
Opening the book where it is dated May 28th we note that 
he journeyed up to London to see the Temple Show, when an 
extraordinary storm was brewing, greatly to the discomfort 
of everybody, even in London where the show was held. We 
may here lemmd our readers that the calendar given is 
intended for 1903, and those who were at the Temple Show on 
that occasion will readily remember the facts of the case. As 
might be expected he was very much impressed by the exhibi¬ 
tion of various subjects. He speaks not much about the show 
as a whole, but. rather in reference to those things which most 
attracted his interest, condescending to particulars concern¬ 
ing individual varieties of flowers. The Black ffulip named 
Xoir, as well as the green Tulipa viridiflora, took his attention 
very much. The Black Tulip, we believe, is the best of this 
tvpe_, but there is another green Tulip which is somewhat more 
handsome and ornamental. Tuberous Begonias, Cacti, Strep- 
tocarpus, Cannas, Callas, and other subjects of that nature 
took his attention. 
Of all things exhibited, however, we have no doubt that the 
Orchids most attracted his attention, for the species, varieties 
or hybrids which took his fancy occupy some pages with the 
details given concerning them. Amongst all these flowers, 
however, we cannot detect that Mr. Haggard is a botanist, and 
indeed he makes no pretensions in that respect. He specu¬ 
lates, however, on some of the plants, but describes particularly 
Tulips and Orchids. He also learned at this show that hybrid 
Orchids had a better and more vigorous constitution than the 
imported ones, and no doubt he will profit by this item of 
information. He gives his reason for the better constitution 
of the European-born Orchid. 
Elsewhere we learn that a fruiting plant of Trollius jacaulis 
Mas developing a crop of seed for which he was eagerly waiting 
vdien a lamb pushed its head between the bars of a fence and 
ate the seed. We do not learn that he took the same offence 
at the lamb as at the barndoor-fowl, though he certainly re¬ 
gretted his loss. On the other hand a tom-tit took possession 
of the pump for domestic purposes, but he considerately allowed 
the bird to rear its young, although the pump was badly 
wanted. 
In reference to Roses, we must admit that he has learned 
something concerning the Banksian Rose. An antiquated 
old specimen covering the south front of the house produced 
thousands of flowers in May. In relation to this he says that 
Banksias hate the knife.” Gardeners might make a note of 
this. We sometimes see the Banksian Rose trained to a low 
wall, and pruned to fit the wall. In the case of suckers from 
this Rose, no Roses can be obtained until the second genera¬ 
tion of branches from the main stem produces tliem.^ Inci¬ 
dentally, we learn also that other old family heirlooms amongst 
Roses upon walls have enjoyed a life of sixty to seventy years. 
At the same time he has borders of Roses grown upon modern 
principles. 
In speaking of certain shrubs, such as Lilacs and Conifers 
he regrets having had to sacrifice some of them as they be¬ 
came too crowded. We think, however, he might have suc¬ 
cessfully transplanted some of them as he did in the case of 
the antiquated Honeysuckle, which w r as older than anyone 
could remember, but, nevertheless, flourished in its new posi¬ 
tion. 
In relation to Kessingland we may say that the author 
thoroughly believes in that garden for the production of vege¬ 
tables, with which the sea air evidently agrees, and seems to 
contain something to their liking. The question of boomed 
Potatos has not escaped his notice, as he has added some 
of them to his cultures at a price of 4s. fid. per pound. He 
states, however, that according to the report of a certain show 
Potatos were selling at £450 per lb., which would make 
them eight times the price of pure gold. He seems, however, 
to entertain an honest doubt as to whether this fabulous sum 
was actually paid. He limits the life of a Potato to ten or 
twelve years, after which it becomes like older kinds liable 
to be attacked by disease. 
In relation to the book as a whole, we may say, although it 
is not written in the language of a professional,' it will prove 
interesting to those who have leisure to read through the 
whole book and study the failures and successes here recorded 
there are certainly plums in it that could neither fail to be 
interesting nor prove unprofitable to the professional and the 
more advanced amateur. 
r!lf- TI ° N F ° R TfniTT-six Years. —The “Royal Cornwa 
Gazette is responsible ior the statement that a field at Pe 
ranuthnoe has grown a crop of Potatos and a crop of Brocco 
, lT‘ S3X yeai 7 “ t UC> --° sio -i- Sur ely this land must hai 
een well mamaed if the crops of those vegetables, were in an 
way remunerative. _ We do not doubt, however, that this coul 
be equalled m various other parts of the country, both wit 
iotatos, Onions, and probably many other subjects. We ai 
surprised, however, that Broccoli had not been destroyed b 
tn^ club-root disease- m half the time mentioned. 
