lonuaiy U, 1872. ] 



JOUBNAL OF HOKTICULTUEE KSD COTTAGE GAUDENEK. 



33 



crop tliis season. Previously we had esammed another — the 

 Peach Apple, bearing its second crop — no scanty sprinkling of 

 fruit, but in both instances to be reckoned by hundreds. Mr. 

 Crook then showed us some Pumpkins, one of which weighed 

 130 lbs., and six of which weighed 5 cwt. ! He then let us see 

 a marvellous breed of ducks — the West Cornwall (the grand- 

 papa of which had been given him by Captain Ford of Swan- 

 sea), in one of whose nests in the garden he had a few days 

 previously foimd tifty eggs ! The strong presumption is that 

 they were all laid by one duck, as the daily produce of the 

 others had been duly accounted for. The same lucky cultiva- 

 tor of Nature avers that he has a heu which has scarcely 

 stopped laying for the last twelve months, has not moulted 

 during that period, and is laring now ! Has the golden age 

 begun ? People had better go to Mr. Crook to learn " how to 

 make fowls pay." — {The Cambrian.) 



MBS. PINCE GKAPE. 



I worLD not trouble you with any remarks about this Grape 

 had I not formed a very different opinion of it to that of Mr. 

 Donaldson. He declares that he has no hesitation in sajHng 

 it is the best late black Grape iu cultivation. I know Mr. 

 Donaldson is a good Grape-grower, and his opinion ought to 

 be worth something to Vine-planters ; but if he has formed it 

 from the Vines under his own care, and from the state and 

 appearance of the crop at this time of the year, I think that 

 he is premature. 



This is not the time either to condemn or praise a Grape for 

 its late-keeping, as many others as well as myself have not yet 

 ceased sending to table the old Black Hamburgh, which is well 

 known to be anything but a late Grape. If Mr. Donaldson suc- 

 ceed in keeping his crop of Mrs. Pince Grapes fresh and plump in 

 berry until the middle of next March, he will have accomplished 

 ■what very few, if any, have hitherto done ; and if he send a 

 dish to the Fruit Committee in that month, so that it may be 

 compared with the Lady Downe's Grape, he will induce many 

 gardeners to alter their opinions about this Grape, and deserve 

 the thanks of them all. Mr. Donaldson says this is the first 

 year he has succeeded in growing them to perfection, as neither 

 in the first nor second year of fruiting were they satisfactory ; 

 therefore I am incUned to think that the age of the Vines has 

 something to do with bringing about these good results. It is 

 well known that if a Viue ijroduces better fruit at one par- 

 ticular part of its life it is pretty sure to be when it is young. 

 I nevertheless admii-e Mr. Donaldson's skill, and hope to see 

 more of the Grape towards the spring. 



I agree with much of what the Editors say, for I have known 

 opinions expressed about new Grapes when there has been only 

 the raiser's notice to signify that a new Grape was to be sent 

 out, to say nothing of the adverse opinions of it after it had 

 been seen, but not tried. I believe Mrs. Pince was thus- treated 

 by many at first, but most of those gardeners who had the 

 opportunity of trying it did so, and I know of some really first- 

 rate Grape-growers who appUed the utmost of their skill in 

 order to prove its title to being the best late black Grape, but 

 failed at the last to discover its pretensions. There is no lack 

 of vigour in the Vine, and with care it has been found to set 

 its fruit well, and swell-oS evenly. The flavour is known to 

 be good, but its great failure appears to be in the colour, which 

 eannot compare with that of AUcaute and Lady Downe's, and 

 before the new year comes in, it shrivels-up'so as to become 

 unsightly, while aU other popular late sorts are plump, fresh, 

 and good. 



I do not myself grow Mrs. Pince Grape, but the above de- 

 scription is taken from what I have witnessed in a dozen places 

 this autumn and winter, so that Mr. Donaldson has reason to 

 be proud of his crop, and no one wishes more that he may 

 succeed in preserving it plump and fresh throughout the next 

 two months than — Thomas Eecoed. 



NOTES ON THE LILIES. 

 Thanking my friend. Major Trevor Clarke, for the good in- 

 formation which he has given us (page 10), I proceed to 

 answer his queries as to Lilies seeding. Here, at Weybridge, 

 li. auratum seeds freely out of doors, L. longiflorum oc- 

 casionally. In the orchard house, L. auratum, speciosum, 

 and Wilsoui seed freely. Of L. peuduliflorum I had one good 

 seed-pod. L. longiflorum seeds freely. By the same token we 

 have now in a seed-pan a beautiful flower just expanding; the 



seed was sown November 26th, 1868. I have, unfortunately, 

 lost the register of the father, but I am ahnost sure that the 

 L. longiflorum was impregnated by pollen either of L. Wilsoni 

 or of a very fine variety of L. Thuubergianum. The seedlings 

 are very strong, the leaves larger than those of L. longiflorum 

 usually are, and the stems quite dark, but otherwise I can so 

 far detect no change. The reason for the late blooming of the 

 present flower appears to be this : One of its sisters bloomed 

 beautifully in early summer, the new blooming stem was then 

 growing wealdy as though the seed-pan was deep, the earth was 

 not enough for all the pulls on it, and the roots were all away 

 among the crocks at the bottom, so we wedged the pan down 

 into a half lard-keg fiUed with good peat ; the plants then all 

 went ahead. 



Since my last notes (page 502), there has been an addition 

 to the beautiful famUy, in the shape of three if not of new 

 species, at least of very distinct varieties of Lilies imported by 

 Messrs. Teutschel, of Colchester. Two of them, called A and 

 B, differ only in size and, perhaps, width of openiug; they are, 

 in the drawings exhibited, a purpUsh-pink-shaded compound 

 of L. longiflorum and L. auratum without spots or bands. 

 I hope some other grower will keep the ball roUing. The 

 now happily-expanded Journal " gives ample room and verge 

 enough," the characters of L. to trace. — Geokge F. AVilson. 



OBSERVATIONS ON CAULIFLOWEES. 



In regard to this useful vegetable, the past few seasons have 

 not been without their instructive lessons as to the soils and 

 other circumstances most suited to its successful cultivation. 

 From 1808 to 1870 inclusive, excessively di-y summers have been 

 the lot of at least a great part of the United Kingdom — a state of 

 tilings very trjing, to say the least of it, to the vegetable-grower. 

 Prominent amongst a goodly Ust of gaa'den crops which suffer 

 severely from drought stands the Cauliflower ; and in very 

 light soils the effects (which many a gardener knows no doubt 

 frequently to his cost) are most clearly illustrated, especially if 

 such soils be shallow and gravelly. The best, I had almost 

 said the only, remedy in such circumstances is thick mulchings 

 of the best material that can be spared — if rotten manui'e, so 

 much the better — and copious supplies of Uquid manui'e at 

 stated intervals during the drought. In fact, unless the soil be 

 approaching to deep clay, mulching may be judiciously prac- 

 tised with every hope of good results. In 1809 we found plants 

 treated in this way far surpass those that had the benefit of 

 the " latter rain," planted only a fortnight later. The old 

 system of potting a number of plants in autmnn, and protect- 

 ing from fi'ost in any cold plant-structure, is an excehent way 

 of secm-ing early produce ; but they should not by any means 

 be allowed to get pot-bound, as is sometimes the case. This 

 can be avoided by not using too small pots. Use 3-inch pots 

 instead of the smaller sizes, which are generally as often 

 used. When weather is unfavourable for planting in spring, 

 the plants suffer less from drought in the lai'ge pots. When 

 dry pot-bomid plants are put out, buttoning invariably follows. 

 The past season here has been more favourable for second and 

 thkd plantings than it has been farther east for the last thi'ee 

 years, but late plantations have been a failure. I attribute 

 this to the prevalence of heavy cold rains almost incessantly 

 from end of June to August ; while in seasons immediately pre- 

 ceding, the heat of the earth counteracted the cooling tendency 

 of late rains, and these were therefore beneficial to late crops. 

 The vegetable quarters here are objects of more interest to the 

 proprietor than the plant houses, which fact has led me to pen 

 the foregoing notes on one of a variety of vegetables demand- 

 ing most of our resources, and which may interest some of 

 your readers. — David Mackie, Dunlossit Castle, Islay (iu The 

 Gardener.) 



MARECHAL NIEL WORKED ON GLOIRE DE 



DIJON FOR FORCING. 

 Let me recommend anyone who loves this glorious Rose 

 to force it when worked on the Gloire de Dijon. I bought a 

 quantity of trees in pots, and put them in heat in October, and 

 on Christmas-day they began to bloom, and on January Ith I 

 picked the finest bloom I have ever seen. I have never, since 

 I began to grow Eoses, been so dehghted with anything as the 

 way in which these Marechal Niels are blooming. I have them 

 budded on the Briar in the same pit, but the size and form of 

 the blooms is not to be compared with those of the former 

 trees. Will Mi'. Eadclyffe tell me what Eoses, mentioned iu 



