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JOURNAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER. 
March  30,  1899. 
TRANBY  CROFT. 
Beino  in  Hessle  recently  I  made  a  point  of  having  a  look  round  the 
gardens  of  Tranby  Croft.  1  am  not  now  going  to  attempt  a  full 
description  of  them.  ]\Iy  notes  were  brief,  time  being  an  evening.  Besides, 
this  is  not  the  time  of  year  to  do  full  justice  to  the  several  branches  of 
gardening  so  well  carried  out  by  Mr.  Leadbetter.  In  the  fruit  houses  I 
noticed  the  earliest  house  of  A'lnes  swelling  off  a  nice  crop  of 
bunches  after  thinning.  Later  Vines  were  breaking  very  well,  with  a 
promise  of  abundance  of  Grapes  later  on.  Peaches  and  Nectarines  were 
swelling  freely  in  the  early  house,  and  the  trees  betokened  their  ability  to 
carry  a  full  crop  of  fine  fruit  to  maturity. 
In  the  general  plant  houses  there  was  a  fine  display  of  bulbous  plants 
of  sorts — viz.,  Amaryllis  in  variety,  Hyacinths  and  Tulips,  Lachenalia 
Nelsoni,  Begonia  Gloire  de  Lorraine,  Cyclamens,  and  to  my  great 
surprise  some  very  nice  heads  of  Poinsettias.  Tlie  plants  were  in  only 
3  and  4-inch  pots,  and  yet  had  heads  fully  G  to  8  inches  in  diameter. 
I  was  assured  they  had  done  duty  on  the  dinner  table  and  other  forms  of 
point  north  and  south.  It  is  about  75  feet  in  length  by  18  in  width. 
The  pitch  of  the  roof  is  somewhat  flat,  say^  at  an  angle  of  about  30°.  As 
will  be  known  to  many  of  your  readers  the  temperature  in  houses  of  this 
form  is  not  so  liable  to  sudden  fluctuations  as  when  the  roof  is  of  a 
steeper  pitch.  The  lights  on  each  side  are  about  3  feet  high,  and  so 
hung  tliat  an  abundance  of  ventilation  can  be  given  when  required.  Mr. 
Leadbetter  tells  me  that  free  ventilation  is  one  of  the  main  necessities  of 
successful  Carnation  culture  iudoors.  Of  course  in  the  bitter  weather 
like  we  are  having  at  the  time  of  writing  care  is  required.  For  a  week 
we  have  had  keen  north  and  north-east  winds,  with  from  10°  to  14°  of 
frost  every  night.  At  no  time  must  a  stuffy  damp  atmosphere  be  allowed, 
or  the  plants  are  certain  to  suffer  thereby. 
There  are  side  stages  all  around  the  house  with  a  path  and  a  central 
stage,  as  is  usual  with  the  general  run  of  plant  houses  of  the  width  given. 
These  stages  are  covered  with  small,  clean,  sea  gravel.  The  centre 
division  is  filled  mostly  with  varieties  of  Tree  Carnations.  Flowers  have 
to  be  supplied  all  the  year  round.  Some  fine  plants  of  Winter  Cheer  full 
of  flowers  were  very  prominent.  Uriah  Pike  promised  well  shortly);  I 
Fig.  62.— tranby  CROFT. 
house  decoration  on  several  occasions,  and  yet  were  quite  fresh  when  I  saw 
them.  Mr.  Leadbetter  should  give  your  readers  his  method  of  producing 
them  at  this  time  of  year.  In  a  north  house  were  some  very  fine  potfuls 
of  Disa  grandifloro,  which  promised  to  give  a  fine  display  later  on. 
Amongst  forcing  shrubs  w’fre  a  good  lot  of  Spirtea  confusa.  It  was  new 
to  me  in  this  form,  but  I  am  disposed  to  think  it  has  a  future  before  it  for 
forcing.  I  am  not  sure  as  to  its  lasting  qualities  when  used  for 
cutting,  but  can  answer  for  its  adaptability  for  this  purpose. 
The  night  previous  to  my  visit  to  Tranby  there  was  a  fairly  large 
meeting  of  members  of  the  llessle  Horticultural  Mutual  Improvement 
Society'.  This  society  offers  small  prizes  during  its  winter  session  to 
various  objects  in  connection  with  gardening.  Many  of  these  competitions 
are  confined  to  under  gardeners.  The  night  in  question  the  competition 
was  for  the  best  arranged  vase  of  cut  flowers  for  a  drawing  room  table. 
One  of  the  u^der  gardeners  from  Tranby,  viz.,  Mr.  Donoghue,  was  rightly 
adjudged  the  winner.  Cut  sprays  of  Spirma  confusa  along  with  a 
few  flowers  of  single  Narcissi  were  with  foliage  the  occupants  of  his  vase. 
However,  1  must  not  wander  away  from  what  mainly  took  me  to  Tranby  . 
It  was  to  see  the  Carnation  houses. 
I  had  heard  from  gardening  friends  who  had  recently  seen  them  that 
they  were  very  good,  both  the  structures  and  their  occupants.  The  house 
the  plants  are  growing  in  is  a  span-roof  in  three  divisions.  Its  ends 
have  not  seen  such  healthy,  free-growing  plants  of  this  variety  as  were 
here.  The  two  end  compartments  were  filled  with  varieties  of  Malmaison 
Carnation,  They  certainly  were  fine,  well-grown  plants.  Mr.  Leadbetter 
does  not  grow  them  on  after  the  second  year  from  the  layers,  unless  it 
chances  to  be  a  plant  or  two  of  some  new  variety.  Last  year’s  layers 
were  on  the  side  stages,  mostly  in  5  and  6-inch  pots.  The  previous 
year’s  layers  were  on  the  centre  stages  in  8  and  9-inch  pots.  These 
latter  are  allowed  to  carry  one  flower  only  to  a  shoot.  I  could  see  that 
many  of  them  would  thus  produce  from  fifteen  to  twenty  flowers. 
The  potting  material  is  mainly  Banstead  loam,  with  clean  sand,  and 
in  some  cases  a  little  fine  peat  or  well  decayed  leaf  soil  is  added.  Good 
drainage  is  an  absolute  necessity.  Some  broken  oystershells  may  be 
used  over  the  crocks.  Firm  potting  should  be  attended  to,  as  if  potted 
at  all  loosely  the  roots  are  sure  to  suffer  in  winter  from  over-moisture. 
When  the  flowers  are  opening  occasional  waterings  of  weak  clear  soot 
water  are  given.  Great  care  should  be  used  in  giving  artificial  manure. 
The  flowers  may  be  increased  in  size  by  it,  but  there  is  risk  in  the  constitution 
of  the  plants  being  injured,  which  tells  later  on  when  either  repotted  for 
the  second  year’s  blooming  or  used  for  increasing  the  young  stock  of 
plants  raised  annually  about  August. 
Mr.  Leadbetter  affirms  that  if  a  suitable  structure  is  at  hand  and 
attention  paid  to  airing,  watering,  firm  potting,  also  good  general  attention 
