332 
JOURNAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER. 
October  11,  1900. 
Grove  Notts. 
Gu'en  a  place  of  historic  interest  like  Grove  Hall,  the  home  of 
the  Harcourt  Vernons,  standing  high  up,  and  overlooking  the  Dukeries 
(as  that  part  of  Sherwood  Forest  where  stand,  in  almost  regal  splendour, 
the  homes  of  the  Duke  of  Newcastle  at  Clumber,  the  Duke  of  Portland 
at  Welbeck,  and  once  the  Duke  of  Kingston,  now  Earl  Manvers,  at 
Thoresby),  a  place  of  sweet  sylvan  surroundings,  of  magnificent  and 
venerable  old  trees,  of  beautiful  grassy  glades,  of  onward,  outward,  far¬ 
away  sights,  of  alluring,  rounded,  wooded  headlands  all  round  the 
horizon,  the  minster  of  Lincoln  being  a  conspicuous,  if  distant,  object 
on  the  eastern  side  on  a  clear  day,  and  you  have  something  worth  going 
to  see.  Given  also  a  thorough  gardener  like  Mr.  Welch,  who  has  been 
on  the  place,  boy  and  man,  for  forty  years  let  us  say ;  a  genial,  courteous 
man  of  animated  speech,  physically  vigorous,  tremendously  energetic,  an 
insatiable  worker,  a  skilled  inventor  with  a  determined  will  to  carry  his 
inventions  out,  and  you  are  sure  of  a  hearty  welcome  and  something 
worth  seeing — but,  given  also  as  a  visitor,  a  quiet,  dreamy,  meditative 
man  who  wanted  nothing  better  than  to  sit  down  and  silently  look 
around  and  think,  and  let  the  sweet  influences  of  the  place,  with  its 
divine  and  refreshing  air,  soak  into  him,  but  who  was  led  about  here 
and  there  to  see  first  one  gardening  triumph  after  another  ;  who  saw, 
and  admired,  and  wondered  at  all  that  he  saw,  and  who,  as  he  walked 
about,  made  notes  in  his  note-book — and  you  may  be  quite  sure  that 
his  note-book  is  a  mass  of  hieroglyphics,  and  his  head  full  of  kaleido¬ 
scopic  pictures  of  wonder  and  beauty,  which  he  enjoys  himself  to  his 
complete  happiness  and  satisfaction,  but  which,  either  notes  or  pictures, 
are  not  easily  translatable  on  paper.  That  is  how  the  matter  stands. 
We  will  get  to  Grove  Hall  as  quickly  as  we  can,  however,  looking  out  at 
things  by  the  way  as  we  go.  Mr.  Welch  is  a  brother  gardener  of  many 
years’  standing  ;  I  had  long  promised  to  visit  him,  but  put  it  off. 
At  last  he  fastened  me  down  to  a  date.  On  getting  out  at  Retford 
station  I  found  a  trap  waiting  to  take  me  the  three  or  four  miles  to 
Grove,  passing  through  the  town  of  Retford  on  our  way.  A  smiling 
welcome  awaited  us  from  Mr.  Welch  at  his  neat  and  pleasant  home, 
and  we  had  to  partake  of  his  hospitality  as  a  first  and  necessary  thing. 
Then  the  work  began,  and  it  was  work. 
Young  Heads  on  Old  Shoulders. 
To  begin  we  inspected  an  old  orchard,  and  in  it  the  gardening 
interests  rose  to  excitement.  For  why  ?  Well,  this  old  orchard  had 
been  one  of  the  old  school  with  the  tree  tops  in  the  sky  and  the  trunks 
and  bottom  branches  naked  and  bare ;  the  fruit,  what  fruit  did  come, 
small  and  insignificant.  This  fretted  my  friend,  and  at  last  he  got 
consent  to  head  them  down  and  regraft  them.  Not  by  any  means  a 
small  concession  this,  as  the  dislike  to  have  an  old  tree  out  down  on  any 
part  of  the  estate  is  very  strong  with  most  members  of  old  families. 
We  are  very  ccnservative  in  the  country.  Mr.  Welch  had  no  sooner 
got  his  permission  than  he  set  to  work  and  headed  the  whole  lot  down, 
having  pi  eviously  prepared  grafts  of  the  special  varieties  he  desired  to 
propagate,  such  as  Newton  Wonder,  Bramley’s  Seedling,  Cornish 
Aromatic,  and  such  like.  The  trees  were  at  least  a  hundred  years  old, 
having  boles,  as  a  rule,  10  or  12  inches  in  diameter.  In  cutting  them  off 
Mr.  Welch  cut  with  a  slight  slope  to  the  north,  thus  insuring  the  rains 
passing  off  and  pi  eventing  rot  or  fungus  settling  and  doing  damage, 
and  in  the  putting  in  of  the  grafts  he  carried  out  the  plan  advocated 
and  figured  some  time  ago  in  the  Journal  by  Mr.  Merryweather  of 
Southwell,  that  is  to  say,  he  put  the  grafts  in  only  about  an  inch  apart 
all  round  the  crown  of  the  stock,  so  that  on  an  average  there  were 
about  twenty  scions  in  each  crown.  The  reason  for  doing  this  is  that 
the  stock  may  find  an  outlet  for  the  sap  stores  it  contains,  and  of 
which  it  has  been  deprived  by  the  cutting  off  of  its  head.  The  plan 
evidently  works  well,  for  there  was  not  a  failure  in  the  whole  lot  of 
stocks  operated  upon,  though  something  must  be  said  for  the  skill  of 
ths  operator,  who  all  his  life  has  been  an  enthusiastic  budder  and 
grafter,  and  he  makes  a  particular  clay  of  his  own  to  finish  them  off 
with,  never  using  wax. 
Cox’s  Orange  Pippin  in  Excelsis. 
Then  we  came  upon  a  sight  of  Cox’s  Orange  Pippin  Apple  such  as  I 
certainly  had  never  seen  before  as  to  crop,  size  of  fruit,  and  colouring. 
They  formed  a  long  row  of  bushes  on  the  French  Paradise  stock,  supplied 
a  few  years  ago  by  Messrs.  Pearson  &  Sons.  Every  branch  of  every 
bush  had  its  complement  of  the  finest  and  highest  coloured  Cox’s  it  has 
ever  been  my  privilege  to  see.  Three  or  four  things  had  evidently 
contributed  to  such  a  high  state  of  perfection  ;  first  the  soil,  which  is 
an  ideal  fruit-growing  soil,  a  brown  heavy  loam  ;  next  the  dwarfing 
nature  of  the  stock ;  next  open  pruning  and  thinning  of  the  fruit ;  and 
last,  what  must  be  a  stiong  factor  in  the  fruit  productions  all  over  the 
place,  the  purity  and  rarity  of  the  air  from  the  elevated  position. 
Behind  the  Cox’s  was  a  row  of  fourteen  Bramley’s  Seedlings,  young 
trees  just  coming  to  their  best,  and  showing  well  now  and  what  they 
would  do  in  the  coming  years.  Open  pruning  of  these,  as  well  as  all 
other  orchard  tiees,  is  a  great  point  in  Mr.  Welch’s  fruit  management, 
and  it  is  a  strong  item  in  his  success  undoubtedly,  though  climate 
and  elevated  position  must  be  recognised,  for  all  over,  both  in  the  open 
orchards,  and  on  walls  and  amongst  bu=hes  and  Strawberries,  there  was 
not,  nor  had  been,  one  single  failure  of  any  one  crop.  Apples,  Plums, 
and  Pears  in  the  orchards  were  heavy  crops,  so  also  Pears  on  walls,  whilst 
Apricots  (the  heaviest  crop  possible).  Peaches,  Nectarines,  and  dessert 
Plums,  as  Green  Gage  and  Transparent  Gage,  were  full  with  overflowings 
crops,  and  were  being  retarded  for  a  prolonged  use  at  table  by  being- 
covered  with  Nottingham  brown  netting,  which  kept  off  the  fierce  rays- 
of  the  sun  and  the  damaging  action  of  wind  and  rain,  and  yet  allowed" 
the  vivifying  influence  of  the  air  to  fill  them  with  their  respective- 
characteristic  good  qualities  of  high  colour,  sweet  flesh,  and  exquisite- 
flavour  (I  sampled  a  lot,  so  I  know).  But  time  flies  ;  we  must  getr 
away  from  the  fruit  garden,  as  my  space  is  becoming  filled,  though  I 
have  one  or  two  notes  on  fruit  culture  which  will  have  to  be  brought 
out  on  some  future  occasion  :  they  are  so  practical. 
The  Flower  Gardens — Beauty  and  Utility. 
The  flower  gardening  at  Grove  may  be  divided  into  two  portions — 
the  decorative  near  the  hall,  and  the  utility  in  the  kitchen  garden  and 
other  borders  outside.  The  decorative  flower  gardening  near  the^ 
mansion  is  not  extensive,  but  it  is  in  just  the  right  proportion,  and  just 
of  the  right  character.  There  is  such  a  weight  of  heavy  green  colour 
from  trees,  shrubberies,  lawns,  and  park  that  strong  simple  colours  in 
large  masses  are  necessary  to  give  character  to  the  scene,  and  the 
nowadays  much  despised  scarlet  “  Geranium  ”  is  precisely  the  plant  and 
colour  to  achieve  this  object.  Henry  Jacoby  “  Geranium  ”  is  a  great 
favourite,  and  some  bold  beds  were  well  filled  by  it ;  this  was  the  chief 
tone  colour,  and.  it  was  relieved  by  pink  “  Geraniums,”  blue  Lobelia,  a- 
lovely  small  white  Alyssum,  yellow  Lamium,  Golden  Feather,  Iresine- 
Lindeni,  and  the  usual  order  of  summer  bedders.  The  utility  flower 
gardening,  where  the  supply  of  cut  flowers  comes  from,  is  very  largely 
on  one  long  border  filled  from  end  to  end  with  all  the  useful  stock  for 
cutting,  from  the  best  of  the  herbaceous  plants  mingled  here  and  there 
with  Asters  and  Stocks ;  and  Roses  are  here,  there,  and  everywhere, 
the  Teas  being  in  the  largest  abundance,  and  of  the  best  and  newest 
varieties.  The  soil  at  Grove  is  admirable  for  the  Brier,  and  so  Mr. 
Welch  plants  a  yearly  lot  of  stocks  and  buds,  the  best  of  the  old  varieties 
and  the  cream  of  the  newer  ones,  which  he  gets  in  by  either  buying 
plants  or  buds.  By  this  means  he  keeps  himself  up  to  date,  and 
satisfies  the  Rose  loving  tastes  of  his  employers.  Dahlias  of  the  Cactus 
section  are  extensively  grown  for  cutting  purposes  ;  all  other  varieties 
are  discarded.  I  took  down  a  few  names  of  those  in  favour,  such  as 
Wm.  Cuthbertson,  Dr.  Nansen,  Countess  of  Lonsdale,  Daffodil,  Chae. 
Woodbridge,  Matchless,  Primrose  Dame,  Keynes’  White,  Magnificent, 
Exquisite,  and  Harry  Stredwick. 
The  Vegetable  Department. 
The  kitchen  garden  must  not  be  passed  over,  because  in  it  were  all 
the  best  vegetable  crops  in  the  highest  state  of  cultivation,  the  result  of 
a  good  holding  soil,  well  manured  and  well  worked,  and  every  crop  of 
the  highest  character,  both  as  to  selection  and  management,  not  the 
least  being  a  quarter  devoted  to  the  noted  Grove  White  and  Red  Celery, 
This  Celery  was  raised  here  and  kept  very  select.  It  is  yearly  seeded, 
the  Red  one  year,  the  White  another,  and  the  seed  plants  are  selected 
with  the  greatest  care,  and  the  rows  and  lows  of  it  then  being  earthed 
up  were  as  true,  every  plant  in  every  row,  as  if  they  had  been  all  struck 
out  of  one  mould.  Intelligent  managt  ment  was  written  in  bold 
characters  all  over  the  kitchen  garden  as  elsewhere. 
Plants  and  Fruits. 
By  the  time  we  had  gone  through  this  department  there  was  only 
opportunity  to  make  a  hasty  survey  of  other  things,  as  the  ”  Mums,”" 
a  fine  stock  of  bush  plants  for  conservatory  work  and  cutting,  with  a  few 
of  the  tall  bud-selected  Japanese ;  then  through  the  houses — a  house  of 
Tomatoes  finishing  its  crop,  which  must  have  been  a  very  heavy  one 
judging  from  the  fruits  remaining,  the  varieties  grown  being  only  two, 
Chemin  Rouge  as  a  red  one,  and  Blenheim  Orange  as  a  golden  one;  two 
houses  of  Grapes,  black  and  white,  in  table  perfection  as  to  both  size,, 
colour,  and  finish  ;  then  through  the  plant  houses,  stove  and  green¬ 
house,  filled  with  grand  stuff  for  table  and  house  decoration — Palms, 
Crotons,  Dracajnas,  Aspidistras,  Ferns,  Eulalia  japonica  (very  well 
done),  and  other  good  things  ;  then  a  cup  of  tea  with  my  host  and  his 
kindly  family,  and  good-bye  to  them  and  Grove,  he  driving  me  back  to 
the  station  at  Retford,  pointing  out  on  the  way  some  of  the  salient 
features  of  the  very  lovely  country  of  ancient  Sherwood.  Thus  ended 
my  visit  to  Giove  Hall,  everything  connected  therewith  being  a  daily 
joy  to  me,  and  the  mental  pictures  of  it  are  ineffaceable  in  my  memory, 
and  in  my  dreamy  meditative  way  I  go  over  them  again  and  again ;  but 
alas  !  I  feel  how  poor  and  ineffective  these  notes  are,  and  how  very  much 
better  I  ought  to  have  made  them. — N.  H.  P. 
- ♦«#,> - 
Flowers  as  Food  — In  a  recent  issue  the  “Spectator”  pleads  for 
a  return  to  the  fashions  of  our  forefathers  in  the  matter  of  syrups  and 
cordials  and  different  floral  food  stuffs.  For  example,  Roses  were 
apparently  a  favourite  article  of  food  in  the  time  of  our  great-grand¬ 
mothers,  for  we  find  a  recipe  in  an  old  time  cookery  book  for  making  a 
“conserve  of  Roses  boiled,”  and  in  this  great  stress  is  laid  upon 
removing  all  the  white ;  in  the  directions  for  pudding-making,  also, 
rosewater  is  a  frequent  flavouring.  Next  to  Roses  the  most  popular 
of  flowers  seem  to  have  been  the  Cowslip. 
