June  i  1,  1896. 
JOURNAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER. 
543 
would  be  a  break  in  the  supply.  Many  Vines  have  been  cleared  of  their 
crops,  but  there  still  remains  a  large  number  to  cut  from.  Blaok 
Hamburgh,  Muscat  of  Alexandria,  Alicante,  Buckland  Sweetwater, 
Foster’s  Seedling,  are  amongst  the  most  extensively  cultivated,  and  all 
of  them,  despite  the  heavy  crops  that  each  has  to  carry  every  year,  are 
in  splendid  condition.  Clean,  free  from  insects  or  fungoid  pests,  they 
look  as  though  they  would  continue  bearing  for  an  unlimited  time. 
Trained  under  the  roof,  up  the  back  walls,  and  in  pots,  are  Figs  as  one 
rarely  sees  them.  Apparently  the  treatment  and  the  surroundings  are 
entirely  congenial,  that  is  if  the  heavy  leafage,  the  healthy  wood,  and 
the  numbers  of  fruits  may  in  combination  be  taken  as  a  criterion.  Need 
it  be  said  that  Brown  Turkey  is  the  prime  favourite,  though  St.  John, 
White  Ischia  and  Negro  Largo  are  also  represented  in  an  equally  good 
condition. 
In  addition  to  the  fruits  already  particularised,  there  are  Peaches  and 
Nectarines  in  pots  and  on  the  trellises  from  which  ripe  fruits  are  con¬ 
stantly  being  gathered  of  the  standard  early  varieties,  the  names  of 
them  being  too  well  known  to  call  for  mention  here.  Beautiful  are 
these  trees  with  their  straight  young  wood,  and  finely  formed,  good  sized 
fruits.  In  another  house  Bananas  find  a  home  such  as  they  evidently 
delight  in,  for  they  make  rapid  growth,  and  afford  hundreds  of  fruits, 
as  does  the  Monsteradeliciosa  mentioned  as  growing  in  the  conservatory. 
Melons  are  a  great  feature  at  Syon,  and  admirably  they  are  grown. 
Scores  of  fruits  are  seen  hanging  on  the  healthy  plants,  many  of  the 
varieties  being  seedlings  of  Mr.  Wythes’  own  raising.  The  gardener  and 
the  fruit  grower  would  find  a  visit  and  a  look  through  these  houses  one 
of  great  interest,  and  replete  with  useful  hints  on  the  culture  of  the 
several  kinds.  The  difficulties  that  have  to  be  contended  with  might 
advantageously  be  noted,  together  with  the  means  that  are  adopted 
to  surmount  them,  and  the  lesson  thoroughly  learnt  cou'd  not  but  be 
of  value  to  everyone,  no  matter  how  varied  may  have  been  their 
experience  with  fruits  under  glass. 
The  culture  of  hardy  fruits  is  carried  out  in  a  really  admirable  manner, 
all  kinds  being  represented  in  first-class  condition.  The  wall  of  magnifi¬ 
cent  cordon  Pears,  the  fan-trained  Peaches,  Nectarines,  Apricots,  Plums, 
and  Cherries,  the  handsome  pyramid  Apples  aDd  Pears,  with  the 
standards  of  several  kinds,  and  the  bush  fruits  and  Strawberries,  go  to 
make  up  a  grand  collection.  The  varieties  and  the  treatment  to  which 
the  trees  are  subjected  speak  volumes  for  Mr.  Wythes  as  a  hardy  fruit 
man.  Bushels  of  fruits  are  taken,  and  some  of  the  Pears  from  the  cordons 
are  of  exceptional  beauty.  Mulching  has  been  of  enormous  advantage 
during  the  drought,  and  the  trees  have  not  suffered  in  the  least. 
Master  as  is  this  gardener  of  fruit  culture,  he  is  no  whit  less  so  in  all 
the  branches  of  vegetable  gardening,  and  the  collections  staged  from 
Syon  at  the  various  Drill  Hall  meetings  are  as  much  appreciated  by  the 
visitors  as  almost  anything  else  in  the  shows.  In  all  8  acres  of  ground 
are  devoted  to  vegetables,  of  which  there  are  of  course  large  breadths  of 
Potatoes.  Kidney  Beans  and  Peas  may  now  be  picked  in  abundance 
from  a  warm  border,  and  of  the  former  many  hundreds  of  pots  have 
been  forced.  Asparagus  is  very  largely  forced,  as  also  is  Seakale  ;  while 
the  crops  of  Tomatoes  and  Cucumbers  are  prodigious.  All  kinds  of 
vegetables  are  grown,  and  as  the  demand  is  very  heavy,  of  course  large 
quarters  of  each  one  have  to  be  formed. 
Speaking  of  Cabbages  bolting  in  many  places  this  season,  we  made 
our  way  to  a  quarter  on  which  there  had  been  quite  2000  plants,  and 
very  few  indeed  had  “  run.”  The  variety  depended  on  for  early  purposes 
is  Edam's  Early,  and  its  general  excellence  thoroughly  justifies  the 
confidence  that  is  placed  in  it.  As  a  whole  the  vegetable  garden  is  a 
model  of  cleanliness,  neatness,  and  good  order-;  and  the  system  of 
cropping  is  so  thorough  as  to  preclude  the  possibility  of  any  plot  of 
ground  being  vacant  for  a  very  long  time.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  the 
vegetables  and  the  ground  on  which  they  are  grown  receive  unremitting 
attention,  or  it  would  be  impossible  to  secure  such  praiseworthy  results. 
Not  very  long  ago  the  Syon  House  estate  passed  from  His  Grace  the 
Duke  of  Northumberland  to  his  eldest  son,  the  Earl  Percy,  and  it  is 
particularly  gratifying  to  all  to  find  this  gentleman  take  such  a  keen 
interest  in  it.  Indeed,  this  interest  does  not  cease  with  the  estate,  but 
extends  to  the  employes  thereon,  as  is  shown  by  the  fact  that  a  reading 
r  om  for  the  men  in  the  gardens  has  just  been  inaugurated,  and  it 
cannot  fail  to  be  of  great  benefit  to  those  who  use  it.  The  gardening 
and  other  periodicals  are  provided,  with  several  good  works  on  gardening, 
as  also  are  ample  chairs  and  tables  for  reading  and  writing,  the  room 
being  adequately  lighted  and  comfortably  warmed.  This  is  a  decided 
boon  to  the  men,  and  one  which  is  doubtless  highly  appreciated. 
Enough  has  now  been  said  to  allow  the  reader  to  form  some  slight 
conception  of  what  this  noble  demesne  is  like,  and  of  the  many  plants 
that  are  there  grown.  A  few  words  relative  to  the  freedom  of  the  plants, 
both  under  glass  and  in  the  open  ground,  from  insect  visitations,  and 
also  of  the  order  that  prevails  throughout  must,  however,  be  in  justice 
recorded.  In  presenting  a  portrait  of  Mr.  Wythes  (fig.  89,  page  540) 
we  would  thank  both  him  and  Mrs.  Wythes  for  the  kindness  and  hearty 
hospitality  accorded  on  tbe  occasion  of  the  visit  of  which  these  notes  are 
the  outcome — a  visit  that  was  full  of  instruction,  interest,  and  enjoy¬ 
ment.— H.  J.  Wright. 
HARDY  CYTISUS. 
The  common  Broom  (C.  scoparius)  is  a  well-known  native  plant, 
growing  in  the  open  parts  of  woods  and  on  the  hills  and  commons  of 
this  country.  It,  however,  is  not  nearly  so  common  as  Furze,  Gorse, 
or  Whin,  nor  by  any  means  as  hardy  ;  and  whilst  the  latter  will  grow 
on  strong  soils,  the  common  Broom  is  a  sandy  or  gravelly  soil-loving 
plant,  and  impatient  of  wet  land  or  excessive  moisture  at  the  roots. 
Though  thriving  well  on  the  sandy  peats  overlying  gravel  or  rock,  it  is 
always  in  the  shelter  of  hills  or  scrubby  trees,  never  facing  the  moorland 
exposures  like  the  Heather  and  Gorse  ;  and  even  this  gets  browned  by 
the  keen  wintry  blasts,  and  Broom  cut  off  by  severe  winters  to  the  snow¬ 
line.  In  old  stony  hillside  pastures  it  sometimes  becomes  more  or  less 
a  weed,  certainly  not  of  any  good  to  cattle  ;  but  sheep  browse  it  closely, 
and  even  in  winter  may  profit  tbe.eby.  Hares  and  rabbits  eat  it  off  to 
the  snow-line  in  hard  winters,  and  where  there  is  a  number  of  these 
vermin  (to  farmers,  foresters,  and  gardeners)  it  is  a  good  plan  to  have 
patches  of  it  in  the  woods,  or  where  the  situation  is  sufficiently  open  and 
the  soil  of  a  suitable  nature. 
As  cover,  the  common  Broom  finds  little  favour  with  keepers,  for  it 
does  not  harbour  rabbits  to  anything  like  the  same  extent  as  Gorse,  nor 
is  the  herbage  so  good  for  the  animals.  Whins,  however,  will  only  grow 
in  open  places,  but  Broom  does  fairly  well  in  semi-shade,  and  on  that 
account  is  well  worth  introducing,  as  it  readily  may  be  by  sowing  the  seed, 
about  20  lbs.  being  an  ample  seeding  for  a  statute  acre.  For  ornament¬ 
ing  embankments,  or  other  places  that  grow  little  beyond  rubbish  and 
render  the  points  eyesores,  a  scattering  of  Broom  seeds,  preferably  by  a 
rough  preparation  of  the  soil  from  rank  weeds,  will  soon  give  growth  of 
no  mean  value  for  keeping  rabbits  from  trees  in  the  winter  time,  especi¬ 
ally  during  hard  and  long  frosts.  If  this  does  not  occur  and  the  Broom 
attains  flowering  size,  the  wealth  of  golden  blossom  produced  in  the 
spring  and  early  summer  gladden  the  eyes  as  few  other  plants  do,  whilst 
the  bees  make  merry  amongst  them. 
The  flexible  twigs  or  branches  make  excellent  thatch  for  outhouses, 
and  not  bad  besoms,  but  not  equal  to  the  Birch.  The  flower  buds,  just 
before  they  become  yellow,  are  pickled  in  the  manner  of  caper*,  and 
i he  twigs  yield  a  fibre  capable  of  being  manufactured  into  coarse  cloth. 
They  have  also  been  used  in  tanning  leather  and  mixed  with  Hops  in 
brewing.  Bradley  calculated  that  an  acre  of  Broom  of  full  blossoming 
size  was  worth  £G  a  year  for  the  feeding  of  bees,  and  withs  and  stumps 
sufficient  to  pay  the  rent.  Mead  and  Cullen  wax  eloquent  over  the 
common  Broom  for  the  cure  of  dropsy,  a  decoction  of  the  young  twigs 
or  green  top  being  used  ;  but  it  is,  perhaps,  as  much  a  matter  of  faith 
as  of  medicine.  Cows  generally  reject  the  tope,  and  the  butter  of  those 
eating  them  is  made  bitter. 
The  common  Broom  is  a  deep  rooting  plant.  It  strikes  straight 
down  into  the  earth,  and  brings  up  mineral  matter  that  is  apt  to  get 
there  and  be  of  little  use  to  agricultural  or  horticultural  plants.  The 
plant,  therefore,  yields  when  burnt  a  tolerably  pure  alkaline  salt,  hence 
it  was  sometimes  had  recourse  to  as  a  source  of  potash,  but  the  amount 
varied  in  different  soils,  or  rather  the  Broom  from  them,  as  shown  by  the 
following  two  analyses  by  Dr.  Emil  Wolff. 
Analyses  of  Common  Broom  (Cytisus  scoparius,  syn.  Spartium 
scoparium). 
Potash,  KO  . . 
Soda,  NaO 
Lime,  CaO 
Magnesia,  MgO  . . 
Iron,  Fe203  .. 
Phosphoric  acid,  P05 
Sulphuric  acid,  S03 
Silica,  SiOj  .. 
Chlorine,  Ci  . . 
— ( Asehen  Analysen') 
23  06  ..  48-23 
4-35 
— 
20-15 
11-74 
11-29 
12-20 
4-55 
4-72 
346 
13-24 
3-06 
3-49 
172-5 
1-28 
2-90 
2-26 
The  comparative  analyses  are  valuable,  as  the  nature  of  the  soil  is 
clearly  indicated,  that  of  the  first  being  sandy  and  poor  in  potash  and 
phosphoric  acid,  but  there  being  plenty  of  lime  that  element  hag  to 
some  extent  made  up  for  the  deficiency  of  potash,  yet  in  a  way  conducive 
more  to  floriferousnes  and  comparative  dwarfness  of  plant.  The  Becond 
shows  a  soil  rich  in  potash  and  in  phosphoric  acid,  two  of  the  most 
important  food-elements  of  plants.  Possibly  the  land  producing  the 
plant  giving  tbe  ash  of  the  second  analysis  was  rather  strong,  and 
for  the  purpose  of  cultivating  useful  crops  worth  twice  as  much  as 
the  first. 
Now  there  is  the  question  of  nitrogen,  which  we  will  assume  to  be 
destroyed  in  the  plant,  supposing  this  wag  burned  on  the  land  prepara¬ 
tory  to  its  breaking  up  for  purposes  of  cultivation.  Is  there  more 
nitrogenic  nodosities  on  the  roots  of  the  plants  showing  the  poorest  in 
analysis  than  on  the  stronger  growing,  or  is  there  any  difference  1  There 
will  be  double  the  amount  of  potash  and  nearly  four  times  more 
phosphoric  acid  returned  to  the  soil  by  the  second  plant  ash  as  by  the 
first ;  but  there  are  four  times  more  nitrogenic  nodosities  on  the  poor 
soil  as  on  the  rich,  and  vegetable  mould  will  form  much  faster  on  the 
former  than  the  latter,  consequently  it  is  the  richer  in  nitrogen. 
Further,  if  soil  is  wanted  for  potting  purposes,  especially  for  growing 
species  of  the  order  Leguminoase,  such  as  the  Glory  Pea  (Clianthus 
Dampieri),  which  is  the  most  suitable?  or  why  is  it  that  this  finest  of 
all  the  Leguminosae  cuts  such  a  sorry  figure  in  this  country  1 
But  to  return  to  the  species  of  Cytisus,  there  are  several  hardy,  yet 
