January  2,  1896, 
JOURNAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER. 
5 
orthodox  lines.  But  the  Vines  are  altogether  too  cramped  ;  still, 
by  the  practice  of  training  in  young  canes  and  removing  spurred 
rods,  they  may  continue  to  be  useful.  It  is  not  easy  to  see  to  what 
better  purpose  such  a  mere  glazed  corridor  could  be  put,  but  we 
live  to  learn. 
There  is  a  long  low  Peach  house — too  low  ;  not  in  the  structure 
alone,  but  the  site.  The  trees  grow  well,  make  fruitful-looking 
wood,  but  the  promise  of  spring  in  abundant  blossom  is  rarely 
fulfilled  in  full  crops  of  fruit.  The  roots  are  in  a  pit,  much  below 
the  ground  level — exactly  what  the  Peach  does  not  like. 
The  latest  novelty  in  glass  structures  is  a  curvillinear  wire 
tension  span-roof.  This  is  the  lightest  house  in  the  garden  by 
far — rigid,  strong,  and  in  its  sustaining  parts  practically  inde¬ 
structible.  Not  a  square  of  glass  has  been  broken  by  storm  or 
frost,  but  two  or  three  have  yielded  under  the  influence  of  heat,  or 
expansion  of  the  framework.  This  is  an  experimental  house — one 
of  the  first  erected,  and  such  contingencies  provided  for,  also  the 
ventilation  perfected,  as  now  shown  in  advertisements,  the 
structures  will  answer  admirably  for  all  fruits  and  plants  that 
require  the  greatest  amount  of  light  for  their  highest  development. 
This  particular  house  was  devoted  to  Tomatoes  in  pots  during  the 
summer.  The  growth  was  unusually  firm,  free  from  disease, 
the  fruit  abundant  and  highly  coloured. 
Plant  houses.  There  is  only  one  worthy  of  the  name — the 
“  Paxton  ”  span-roof  in  two  divisions  ;  but  we  have  seen  very  good 
Cannas  in  another,  while  there  are  Palms  mainly  in  a  third,  kept 
in  case  they  may  be  wanted  for  furnishing  on  any  special  occasion, 
and  Pelargoniums  in  a  fourth.  There  are  also  long  propagating 
pits,  one  for  increasing  soft-wooded  plants  the  other  for  raising 
Palms  and  Ferns,  chiefly  for  distribution  among  Fellows.  There 
is  no  plant  stove  at  Chiswick  in  which  to  grow  specimens,  and  none 
is  wanted.  Such  plants  could  be  of  no  service,  and  their  production 
would  amount  to  a  waste  of  space  and  labour. 
The  “  Paxton  ”  house  has  been  gay  this  last  summer,  one  end 
with  the  newer  Cannas  chiefly,  the  other  with  a  collection  of 
Fuchsias.  In  some  years  the  compartments  have  been  occupied 
with  Begonias  and  Ivy-leaved  Pelargoniums,  indeed  most  kinds  of 
plants  for  which  the  house  is  adapted,  have  been  grown  from  time 
to  time  for  the  comparison  of  the  then  new  varieties.  However,  in 
the  ordinary  acceptation  of  the  term,  Chiswick  is  not  a  “plant 
place,"  and  cannot  be  made  one  that  would  in  any  sense  be  worthy 
of  the  fame  of  the  garden  or  of  the  name  of  the  Royal  Horti¬ 
cultural  Society.  There  are  plenty  of  plants  near  by — at  Kew. 
Even  the  Paxton  house  would  be  far  more  usefully  occupied 
with  varieties  of  Cucumber*  next  year  than  with  Cannas  or 
Fuchsias,  while  these  would  grow  outdoors  in  summer  as  well  as 
under  glass.  There  has  not  been  a  trial  of  Cucumbers  at  Chiswick 
for  thirty  years.  At  present  varieties  are  bewildering,  and  names 
confusing.  There  is  little  choice  of  suitable  structures  for  such  a 
trial,  but  the  Paxton  house  might  be  made  to  answer  well,  under 
what  gardeners  call  “  late  planting,”  by  which  the  finest  of  crops 
are  obtained. 
Outdoors  the  work  at  Chiswick  is  well  advanced.  There  has 
been  no  spurt  to  make  a  show.  The  ordinary  routine  has  been 
pursued,  and  though  a  great  deal  of  pruning  and  digging  is  done, 
there  will  be  something  left  to  keep  the  new  Superintendent  in 
exercise  in  seeing  that  everything  which  needs  attention  receives  it 
in  due  season.  He  will  take  to  a  grand  collection  of  pyramid  Pears, 
the  oldest  trees  presented  by  Dr.  Hogg  more  than  thirty  years  ago, 
planted  and  trained  by  Barron,  who  also  raised  as  well  as  trained 
the  remainder,  and  he  has  reason  to  be  proud  of  them.  When  in 
blossom  they  are  pyramids  of  silvery  beauty,  models  in  form  and 
fruitfulness. 
Mr.  S.  T.  Wright  will  also  find  a  plantation  of  dwarf  Apples, 
not  trained  to  any  ideal  form,  or  any  thing  of  that  kind,  but  for 
bearing  ;  and  they  have  never  failed  for  nearly  twenty  years,  no 
matter  what  the  weather.  In  the  worst  of  bad  Apple  years  these 
trees  have  surprised  both  their  grower  and  visitors  by  bearing 
good  crops  of  excellent  fruit,  and  have  been  unquestionably  profit¬ 
able.  The  new  gardener — for  a  “  gardener  ”  he  is,  and  a  good  one, 
who  can  desire  no  more  honourable  appellation — will  also  find 
another  plantation  of  the  same  varieties  of  Apples  all  grafted  and 
planted  at  the  same  time  on  different  stocks  that  will  puzzle  him. 
The  stock  “  influence  ”  may  be  found  exactly  what  he  expects  in 
one  case,  and  just  what  he  does  not  expect  in  another.  He  will 
find  the  growth  of  some  Apples  all  alike  on  all  the  stocks,  from  the 
miserably  weak  (ungrafted)  Pomme  de  Paradis  to  the  free-growing 
Crab  ;  generally  speaking,  the  stocks  have  “  mastered  the  scions  ” — 
so  far  ;  and,  although  the  trees  are  in  a  bearing  state,  we  must 
await  developments. 
The  new  Superintendent  will  find  a  wall  of  double  grafted  Pears 
that  will  please  him — young  trees  raised  in  the  Gardens,  and  fan- 
trained  Plums  in  choice  varieties  with  which  he  will  not  find  much 
fault,  also  a  new  plantation  of  bush  Plums  which  he  can  mould  to 
his  liking.  He  will  perhaps  learn  a  little  lesson  in  Morello 
Cherries,  and  there  he  will  see  the  influence  of  stocks.  There  are 
trees  on  the  ordinary  Cherry  stock,  on  the  Kentish,  and  on  the 
Malaheb,  those  on  the  last  named  stock  being  of  twice,  thrice  the  size 
and  value  of  the  others.  The  system  of  Peach  training  will  commend 
itself  to  him  as  simple  and  well  suited  to  the  representation  of  a 
number  of  varieties  on  a  limited  length  of  wall.  Each  tree  has  one 
stem  only,  trained  obliquely,  the  trees  3  to  4  feet  apart,  the 
bearing  parts  trained  in  the  spaces  between  herring-bone  fashion. 
It  is  an  excellent  plan  easily  carried  out  and  it  is  a  little  surprising 
not  to  find  the  system  adopted  in  many  gardens. 
A  large  collection  of  Red  and  White  Currants  will  prove 
interesting  in  due  season,  and  Mr.  Wright  probably  knows,  what 
hundreds  of  persons  do  not,  that  the  grand  fruited  La  Versaillaise,  • 
so  imposing  on  the  exhibition  table,  is  the  most  awkward  of  all  in 
growth,  the  summer  shoots  bending  down  and  twisting  about  on 
the  ground  as  if  in  trouble  because  they  could  not  bury  themselves 
in  it.  He  will  find  clean  and  interesting  standard  Gooseberries 
ready  for  removal.  They  are  grafted  on  stocks  of  Ribes  aureum 
grown  from  cuttings.  These  make  clean  stems  quickly.  Gooseberry 
scions  take  to  them  well,  and  grow  freely.  The  stems  are  3  to 
4  feet  high.  He  should  raise  a  number  of  Red  Currants  in  the  same 
way,  and  so  should  nurserymen  for  sending  all  over  the  country. 
Such  trees  are  ornamental,  useful,  and  convenient  for  certain  posi¬ 
tions  in  gardens  generally. 
But  though  Chiswick  is  not  a  “  plant  place  ”  (under  glass), 
there  is  no  lack  of  flowers  in  the  garden  in  summer  in  the  beds  and 
in  the  trial  ground.  Extensive  named  collections  of  Irises, 
Phloxes,  Paeonies,  Asters,  Helianthuses,  and  others  which,  with  trials 
of  annuals,  display  a  combination  of  beauty  with  utility.  The 
mention  of  beds  reminds  us  of  those  filled  with  Tea  Roses,  the  growths 
drawn  together  loosely  with  matting  the  better  to  pile  cones  of  cocoa- 
nut  fibre  refuse  6  or  7  inches  up  the  stems.  Let  the  winter  be  ever 
so  severe  these  Roses  are  safe.  They  may  be  killed  down  to  the 
fibre,  but  not  within  it.  Cut  them  down  in  the  spring  and  they 
will  grow  more  vigorously,  and  produce  finer  blooms  abundantly, 
than  if  they  had  not  been  frozen  or  cut  down  at  all.  There  is  no 
neater  and  better  way  of  protecting  Tea  Roses  than  that.  Dahlias 
in  their  season  make  a  brave  show,  and  there  appears  to  be  an 
extensive  collection  of  Clematises. 
Vegetables  are  “off”  now,  but  in  the  summer  the  trials  are 
always  interesting  and  instructive.  These  prove  how  many  more 
names  there  are  than  distinct  varieties  of  the  different  kinds; 
but  still  there  are  always  some  that  are  worthy  of  special 
recognition.  The  trials  are  conducted  with  absolute  fairness  and 
impartiality,  and  those  vegetables  which  pass  the  ordeal  with 
honours  are  stamped  with  the  highest  hall  mark  of  excellence  that 
can  be  conferred  in  this  country. 
Mr.  Barron’s  successor  is  reputed  to  be  great  on  insects.  It  is 
said  he  does  not  like  them  and  they  do  not  like  him.  He  will  be 
disappointed  if  he  expects  to  find  many  to  kill  on  plants,  Vines,  or 
trees  ;  yet  there  is  a  stock — as  good  a  sample  as  he  could  wish  to 
practise  on — in  a  remote  corner.  He  will  have  a  chance  of  dealing 
with  a  generally  unconquerable  pest  when  the  attack  is  virulent — 
the  Black  Currant  bud  or  gall  mite — and  will  do  a  public  service  if 
he  prove  the  victor  without  destroying  the  bushes  in  this  case. 
The  garden  is  a  garden  of  variety  and  emphatically  of 
usefulness.  As  has  been  previously  said,  it  is  becoming  more  and 
more  of  a  town  garden.  When  Mr.  Barron  entered  on  his  dutie* 
the  surrounding  population  numbered  only  5000  ;  it  is  now  nearly 
40,000.  This  means  that  the  fine  open  space  is  the  more  valuable. 
With  good  support  and  under  the  best  management  it  may 
remain  productive  and  prove  instructive  to  students  within  its 
walls  and  the  public  outside  them  everywhere  for  years  to  come. 
In  point  of  fact,  though  Victoria  Street,  Westminster,  is  the  head¬ 
quarters  of  the  Royal  Horticultural  Society,  yet  in  the  estimation 
of  the  great  body  of  earnest  horticulturists  Chiswick  is  its  heart. 
And  now,  as  we  would  speed  the  parting  guest,  who  has  won 
well -merited  rest  from  the  anxieties  inseparable  from  the  position, 
and  wish  for  him  everything  that  can  conduce  to  a  long  and  happy 
life,  so  would  we  welcome  the  coming  guest  and  bespeak  for  him, 
not  any  special  favour,  but  a  fair  field  for  the  display  of  his 
abilities,  in  the  hope  that  time  will  prove  him  a  worthy  successor 
of  a  worthy  man,  and  that  the  reputation  of  the  grand  old  Garden 
will  not  suffer  in  his  keeping. 
PRESENTATIONS  TO  MR.  S.  T.  WRIGHT. 
Before  Mr.  S.  T.  Wright  left  Herefordshire  to  take  up  the  duties  of 
his  new  appointment  as  Superintendent  of  the  Royal  Horticultural 
Society’s  Gardens  at  Chiswick  a  desire  was  naturally  felt  by  horticultural 
friends  in  the  county  of  Hereford  to  testify  their  personal  esteem  for  him, 
their  admiration  of  his  extraordinary  success  at  Glewstone  Court 
Gardens,  near  Ross  (the  residence  of  Mr.  C.  Lee  Campbell),  as  a  grower, 
