August  30,  1900. 
JOURNAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER. 
195 
Palace  an'i^pUcined  the’park  in  1853—54.  It  cootains  a  good  variety 
ot  trees  and  shrubs.  Ttie  beds  and  walks  have  for  miny  years  made  a 
display  of  ttie  most  beautiful  and  popular  flowers.  Tne  shows,  too, 
are  a  notable  part  of  its  history,  and  one  of  the  latest  events  was  the 
■Celebration  of  the  bicentenary  of  the  Sweet  Pea. — J.  R.  S.  C. 
- - 
Frnit  in  monmonthsliire  and  Soatli  Wales. 
{Continued  from  page  175.) 
On  several  occasions  I  have  visited  what  is  known  as  the  Penhow 
and  Llandevaud  districts.  In  the  latter  place  large  quantities  of 
Shropshire  Prune  Damsons  are  grown,  chiefly  in  the  hedgee  and  on 
waste  pieces  ot  land,  and  heavy  crops  of  fruit  are  produced,  which  is 
•a  source  of  considerable  profit  to  the  cottagers  and  others.  The  soil 
•here  is  shallow,  but  the  trees  root  down  into  the  crevices  of  the  lime- 
«tone,  which  in  some  places  projects  above  the  suitace  of  the  ground. 
No  attempt  is  mide  to  propagate  by  budding,  but  the  trees  are 
all  raised  from  suckers.  On  the  opposite  side  of  the  valley,  and  under 
what  is  known  as  the  Wentwood  Forest,  Cherries  are  grown  in  large 
quantities.  The  fruit  is  small,  but  finds  a  ready  sale  in  Newport  and 
Cardiff,  especially  as  they  come  in  after  the  better  varieties  are  gone. 
The  trees  are  very  large,  and  bear  fine  heavy  crops  of  fruit.  One  of 
the  growers  told  me  that  many  times  he  has  gathered  from 
•50  to  60  lbs.  without  moving  the  ladder.  The  whole  of  these  Cherry 
trees  are  teedlings,  and  are  said  to  be  nearly  200  years  old,  and  I  have 
no  reason  to  doubt  it. 
In  Penhow  there  are  several  large  orchards,  most  of  the  fruit  being 
grown  tor  market.  The  favourite  Apples  are  King  of  Pippins  and  the 
old  C*ssy.  At  one  time  great  care  was  bestowed  on  these  orchards, 
but  alterwards  thuy  were  allowed  to  fall  into  a  very  dilapidated 
condition  ;  lately,  however,  there  has  been  a  great  improvement.  The 
old  and  broken-down  trees  have  been  removed,  and  the  vacancies 
have  been  filled  up. 
We  now  cross  the  Wentwood  ridge,  and  descend  into  the  fertile 
valley  of  the  Usk.  On  each  side  of  the  river  the  soil  is  of  a  rich 
loam,  whilst  most  of  the  hilly  land  adjoining  is  heavy  clay.  Of  the 
more  important  orchards  of  this  district,  one  on  the  Bertholly  estate  is 
about  5  acres  in  extent.  Many  of  the  older  trees  are  local  varieties, 
whilst  amongst  th)se  recently  planted  are  Bismarck,  Ecklinville,  Lord 
Derby,  Newton  Wonder,  and  Warner’s  King.  In  the  same  parish 
there  are  several  other  orchards  of  which  great  care  is  taken,  and  this 
refers  more  especially  to  those  situated  near  to  the  village  of  Lliu- 
trissant.  In  one  of  these  nearly  the  whole  of  the  trees  were  raised 
from  seed  by  the  father  of  the  present  owner,  and  they  have  never 
been  grafted ;  and  here  my  attention  was  drawn  to  a  very  heavy  crop  of 
Russets,  the  total  weight  of  which  I  estimated  to  be  over  10  cwt.  on 
tne  one  tree;  and  I  bave  since  been  informed  that  I  was  very  much 
below  the  mark.  On  the  opposite  side  of  the  river,  in  the  parish  of 
Tredunnock,  the  trees  are  equally  well  cared  for.  One  case  I  should 
like  to  mention  where  the  owner  took  me  to  see  his  orchard.  It  is 
situated  in  a  deep  hollow,  there  being  only  one  narrow  outlet.  To  this 
gentleman  the  trees  were  like  children :  no  effort  was  spared  to  keep 
them  clean;  vacincies,  whenever  they  occurred,  were  at  once  filled 
up;  the  ground  was  regularly  manured  with  the  scrapings  from  the 
farmyard,  and  all  anima.s  dying  from  disease  or  accident  were  buried 
there — the  result  being  that  the  trees  were  laden  with  large  and  well- 
coloured  fruit.  A  similar  case  I  discovered  in  Llanbad  lock,  near  Usk, 
at  a  farm  callel  Pant  y  Cuckoo,  or  Cuckoo’s  Hollow.  Soma  two  years 
ago  this  old  orchard  was  renovated  at  the  expense  of  the  landlord,  and 
alter  planting  the  trees,  iron  guards  were  sent  to  protect  them  at  a 
cost,  I  was  told,  of  13s.  each — to  take  care  of  2s.  !  Some  of  the  best 
specimens  ol  Apples  exhibited  in  the  collection  from  Monmouthshire 
to-day  were  gathered  from  those  very  trees. 
Passing  through  the  town  of  Usk,  and  taking  the  main  road 
leading  to  Abergavenny,  we  cjine  to  several  orchards,  the  first  at 
Trostrey  larm,  in  the  occupation  of  Mr.  Marfell.  Here  were  excellent 
crops  ot  Kings,  Cox’s  Orange,  Alexanders,  an<l  also  the  old  Cats-head. 
Near  the  chain  bridge  which  spans  the  Usk,  on  each  side  of  the 
river,  and  also  in  the  pans  i  of  Goytrey,  I  found  excellent  crops  of 
fruit.  The  Blenhe  ms,  Cox’s  Oran-^e,  King  of  Pippins,  and  many 
other  varieties  in  the  whole  of  this  district  were  very  highly  coloured. 
Most  of  the  fruit  is  sold  in  the  Pontypool  and  Abergavenny  markets. 
In  some  of  these  orchirds  there  is  a  marked  improvement  in  the  way 
in  which  they  are  kept,  whilst  others  are  still  in  a  very  backward 
condition.  • 
Alter  leaving  Cwincarvan  we  passed  through  Dingestow  and 
Mitcheltroy  ;  the  orchards  here  are  well  cared  lor,  Blenheims  and 
.King  of  Pippins  (or,  as  it  is  known  locally.  Orange  Pearmain)  are 
grown  in  large  quantities.  Some  of  the  farmers  here  have  a  much 
better  system  of  gathering  and  marketing  their  fruit,  the  result  being 
that  much  better  prices  are  obtained.  On  the  banks  of  the  Trothy, 
and  within  a  short  distance  of  Troy  House,  I  visited  an  orchard 
situated  in  a  well  sheltered  hollow  :  the  soil  was  of  a  deep  rich  loam. 
To  a  question  which  I  put  to  the  aged  farmer,  a  very  intelligent  man, 
as  to  some  of  the  trees  I  saw,  he  replied  that  they  could  not  be  less 
than  two  hundred  years  old,  for  when  he  first  knew  them  they  were 
quite  aSjlarge  as  they  are  now.  Some  of  the  trunks  of  Pear  trees  were 
at  least  8  feet  in  circumference.  I  need  hardly  add  that  they  were 
very  common  varieties,  and  that  little  care  was  taken  in  gathering  the 
fruit,  most  of  it  being  shaken  from  the  trees,  with  the  result  that  it 
was  much  bruised,  and  only  realised  a  very  low  price  in  the  market. 
I  will  now  refer  to  a  very  in' cresting  experiment  which  has  been 
made  near  by,  and  which  should  be  an  object  lesson  to  the  inhabitants 
in  this  district.  Three  yeirs  ago  about  half  an  acre  of  ground  was 
planted  with  the  better  varieties  of  culinary  and  dessert  Apples  and  a 
few  Pears;  the  trees  were  nearly  all  on  dwarfing  stocks,  the  ground 
between  loeing  cultivated  and  regularly  cropped  with  vegetables. 
Lime  and  stable  manure  is  used,  and  this  year  at  least  75  per  cent,  of 
the  trees  bore  heavy  crops  of  fruit,  one  dish  of  Newton  Wonder  taking 
the  champion  prize  in  the  Monmouth  Fruit  Show. 
I  afterwards  visited  the  Trelleck,  Llanishea,  and  Llansoy  districts. 
At  the  two  latter  places  fruit-growing  is  considered  one  of  the  best  and 
most  profitable  investments  on  the  farm.  Several  of  the  orchards  have 
been  recently  renovated,  and  the  young  trees  are  well  protected  and 
manured.  Here  I  found  a  large  number  of  Broad  Eye  Pippins,  or 
what  is  known  locally  as  the  Kentish  Pippin  ;  Blenheims  and  Kings 
are  also  grown  in  quantity.  In  one  of  the  orchards  in  this  place  I  was 
somewhat  amused  at  a  remark  made  by  a  farmer  in  reply  to  a  question 
as  to  the  name  of  one  of  the  trees  which  was  loaded  with  Apples.  He 
said,  “  We  call  that ‘The  Parson,’  sir,  for  until  about  ten  years  ago 
that  tree  never  had  an  Apple  on  it,  but  I  put  up  a  small  shed  near  by 
for  a  colt  to  shelter  in  in  the  winter,  and  the  whole  of  the  manure 
Irom  that  shed  was  thrown  under  that  tree,  and  ever  since  it  has  borne 
heavy  crops  of  fruit.”  Evidently  the  farmer  thought  it  paid  better 
to  feed  the  parson  than  to  starve  him,  for  the  lesson  ho  learned  by 
observing  the  result  of  manuring  this  one  tree  was  put  into  practice 
throughout  the  whole  of  his  orchard,  and  I  have  never  seen  a  more 
healthy  or  cleaner  lot  of  trees.  Before  I  pass  on  to  describe  what  I 
saw  in  other  places  I  feel  that  I  must  say  a  word  about  the  large 
number  of  cottages,  well  built,  and  gardens  formerly  well  stocked  with 
fruit  trees  that  are  now  fast  falling  into  ruins.  Through  the  depression 
in  agriculture,  very  few  men  are  now  regularly  employed  on  the  farms, 
the  result  being  that  they  have  left  the  country  for  the  more  populous 
districts  and  large  towns. 
Monmouth  and  the  surrounding  district  is  one  of  the  prettiest  parts 
of  the  county.  About  six  miles  from  the  town  we  come  to  The  Hendre, 
the  seat  of  Lord  Langattock.  Tbe  fruit  gardens  were  laid  out  in  the 
year  1893  under  the  superintendence  of  Mr.  Thomas  Ooomber,  and  are 
about  2  acres  in  extent.  Tne  soil  is  stiff  clay  and,  underneath,  blue 
marl.  Previous  to  laying  it  out  as  fruit  gardens  it  was  pasture  land, 
and  before  planting,  the  whole  of  it  was  trenched  and  divided  into 
squares.  The  lower  part  is  devoted  to  the  different  kinds  of  small 
11  uit;  adjoining  and  above  are  the  plantations  of  Pears  and  Plums,  the 
whole  of  which,  including  the  small  fruit,  is  enclosed  and  covered  over 
with  wire  netting  to  the  height  of  8  feet.  Most  of  the  varieties  of 
Plums  were  bearing  very  heavy  crops,  many  of  them  weighted  to  the 
ground;  amongst  others  I  notice  1  the  Czar,  Early  Prolific,  Early 
i'ranspareot,  Denniston's  Supero,  Jefferson’s,  Kirk’s,  Grand  Duke, 
Monarch,  Oullins  Golden  Gage,  Pond’s  Seedling,  and  Victoria.  The 
Pears  included  most  of  the  leading  varieties,  and  many  of  them  were 
c  irrying  good  crops  of  fruit.  The  Apples  are  on  the  upper  side  of  the 
gardens,  and  are  enclosed  with  wire  netting.  The  trees  are  planted 
12  by  10  feet  apart,  and  it  is  difficult  to  find  words  to  describe  the 
magnificent  crop  of  fruit.  The  whole  of  the  trees  are  in  pyramid 
form  and  are  well  shaped;  up  to  the  present  time  the  pruning  has  been 
done  by  Mr.  Ooomber  personally.  During  the  latter  part  of  the 
summer  the  lateral  shoots  are  taken  out,  to  enable  the  fruit  buds  for 
the  coming  year  to  develop  and  ripen,  the  leading  shoots  only  being 
shortened  in  the  winter  months.  The  ground  between  the  trees  is 
cultivated  and  kept  free  from  weeds  by  continually  stirring  the 
surface;  but  no  manure  of  any  kind  has  ever  been  applied,  not  even 
when  they  were  plante  1,  and  yet  the  branches  of  nearly  every  tree 
were  laden  with  large  and  well  coloured  fruits.  Some  of  the  best 
varieties  were  American  Mother,  Bismarck,  Bramley’s,  Belle  de 
Pontoise,  Cox’s  Orange,  Gascoyne’s  Scarlet,  Lord  Darby,  Lane’s  Prince 
Albert,  Peasgood’s,  Baumann’s  Reinette,  Tyler’s  Kernel,  Wellington, 
Newton  Wonder,  Ribstons,  and  Worcester  Pearmain.  The  fruit  trees 
on  the  walls  in  the  kitchen  garden,  and  the  whole  of  the  grounds  are  a 
credit  to  the  genial  and  kindly  hearted  head  gardener. — {Paper  read 
by  Mr.  J.  Basham  before  the  Royal  Horticultural  Society.) 
(To^be  concluded.) 
