April -25, 1372. ] 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTUEE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



343 



will be li mch, and of the others 2 inches. — [Midland Counties 

 Reraht)~ 



I HAVE now before me the " Code of Regulations," which, for 

 all practical purposes to exhibitors, are about as opeu and unde- 

 fined as it is possible to frame them. Permit me to illustrate 

 my meaning by supposing that eight biulders compete, and that 

 each exhibits a distinct and separate class of building. Builder 

 No. 1 exhibits, say, a conservatory; No. 2, a lean-to vinery; 

 No. 3, a span-roof greenhouse ; No. 4, a Cucumber and Melon 

 house; No. 5, a length of Peach-wall covering; No. 0, a Pine 

 stove ; No. 7, an orchard house ; and No. 8, an improved form 

 of Strawberry house. Now, in the absence of any second or 

 corresponding structure to one of the foregoing, there can be 

 no comparison, and I respectfully submit that no Judge could 

 be able to decide, in the tei-ms of the "regulations," which is 

 •* the best horticultural building," or which would be entitled to 

 an award. The fact is, each and every house woiild be " best " 

 for the respective purposes for wliidi it was intended, but would 

 necessarily be disqualitifd ii-oui nctiving the medal because 

 there was no similar housf witli whiuh to compete. 



In order to remedy this anomaly, why not separate iron from 

 wooden houses under schedules A and B respectively, and then 

 sub-divide each schedule into classes, and enumerate what 

 houses each class shall embrace ? Every builder would then 

 be at Uberty to elect into which class he would enter. 



With respect to the date of entries, this should be confined 

 to some definite period prior to the Show, when each apj)Ucant 

 exhibitor should be apprised by the authorities whether or not 

 sufiicient appHcations had been made to constitute a competition 

 in such particular class, and if not, then such exhibitor would 

 have an opportunity to apply to enter into another class. Of 

 -coiu'se, if he decide to remain a solitary exhibitor in any one 

 class, with a "Ndew of obtaining " honourable mention " or a 

 " special certificate " for what he considers a novel and meritori- 

 'Ous i^roduction, so fir so good, as it would be purely optional 

 with himself. But if an arrangement somewhat similar to the 

 foregoing were mads, exhibitors would have a better idea what 

 they were competing for. It would also tend to inspii-e con- 

 fidence, whereas now all is uncertainty. 



Again, why should not specific and suitable awards be mads 

 for a display of plans, models, machinery for ventilating, de- 

 tached ventilators, door and sash fastening, modes of shading, 

 - and construction of stages ? These are surely open to improve- 

 ment, and deserve some notice. — S. 



VEGETABLE AND FRUIT GROWING. 

 {Continued from page 334.) 

 Here I would remark how much the unsettled and hand-to- 

 mouth position of agricultural labourers of the present daymili- 

 tates against the best cultivation of their cottage -gardens and allot- 

 ment grounds, and the propagation of fruit trees. In Cheshire, 

 where labourers are almost permanently established in their 

 cottages, it is not an uncommon thing for them to pay their 

 rents and something more by the sale of the surplus fruit crops ; 

 for they use a great deal themselves. And here I would observe 

 that the Damsons grown in this county, principally in the far- 

 mers' and cottagers' gardens, are like their famed cheese, which 

 ■cannot be produced elsewhere '* unless," as was quaintly said 

 by an old county historian, " j'ou take not only the kine and the 

 dairywomeu, but the land also ; " for in size and flavom- they are 

 not approached even by the best prodiicts of Kent. They are 

 not kno-n-n in the South any more than their best cheese, because 

 there are too many people with long purses in the Lancashire 

 and Yorkshire manufacturing towns to allow them, or almost 

 any other good thing, to leave the districts. This is another 

 proof of the pecuhar ingredients possessed naturally by different 

 soils and subsoils; and as no economic process can alter the 

 latter, though you may the former, deep-rooted plants and trees 

 must always take their character from the natural geological 

 formations. In my own district, on the Bagshot sands, we can 

 gi'ow very good Strawberries, but we are obliged to cart the 

 Strawberry loams from other districts to do so; and our white 

 sands and black peaty soils are being constantly carted away to 

 grow deciduous plants elsewhere. The only transposition of 

 soils that will pay practically is when found on the spot, and 

 cither in the formation or renewal of orchard or market-garden 

 ground may be profitably resorted to ; thus in double-spit work 

 a good rich clay, marl, or gravel may be brought to the top ; or 

 if not good enough for this, it may be simjjly turned over. In 

 three-spit work it may be dealt with in three ways — brought to 

 the top, placed in the middle, or simply turned over. 



Trenching and deep draining, if necessary, of one kind or 

 another, is the basis in the formation of all orchards and market 

 gardens. The next important step is the proper stocking with 

 trees suitable to the soil, and for the purposes required, whether 

 for conversion into cider and perry or for dessert ; and, in the 

 case of market gardens, the adoption of a rotation by which a 

 succession of crops can be obtained without plants of the same 



tribe following one another. The original cost of forming 

 orchards and market-garden grounds is vei-y various, but in 

 amount it is prett}' much alike, because in the cider districts, 

 where grass is allowed to grow amongst the trees, it is regularly 

 manured and mowed, and in subiu^ban districts the land is highly 

 cultivated. The minimum cost of formation and stocldng I 

 have found to be about £30, and the maximum _£50 per acre, and 

 in exceptional cases I have known it twice as high. Tlie rents 

 vary from £5 to i'20 per acre. The latter siim appears high, but 

 an occupier in Bermondsey who paid £16 an acre and all rates 

 and taxes, to whom some years ago I let a farm eight miles from 

 Covent Garden, at a third of that rent, lamented that this was 

 being curtailed by buildings, as he said it was the most profitable 

 land he occupied. The returns from land of this kind, and from 

 orchards round the metropolis, or at greater distances, are so 

 fluctuating that it is no guide to quote them. I have known the 

 produce realise ±150 an acre, and in other seasons barely the cost 

 of production, which, including rent and interest of capital, 

 seldom runs short of £30 an acre on well-managed gi'ound. 



One great di'awback to gi'owers is the smallness of wholesale 

 prices in proportion to those at which their goods are retailed. 

 Last year I question if they averaged one-fourth ; and yet con- 

 sumers complain, and say the cost of vegetables is a grievance 

 in every household. Many small growers protect themselves by 

 ** standing the market " themselves, and the larger farmers have 

 special agents, old, proved, and trusted foremen, or some one 

 interested in their profits ; but there is still a very large class 

 who are obliged to trust to salesmen, who charge their 10 per 

 cent, in the fruit and vegetable, and 55. per ton in the Potato 

 markets, and be content to take what residue they can get. A 

 novice in the trade, or an amateur, has no chance in the Lou- 

 don markets, however sixecessfully he may grow the articles 

 required ; and it is a question whether consumers have not an 

 adequate inducement to establish co-operative stores in their 

 respective districts. The follo-v\'ing articles, which were sent 

 from one moderate-sized garden in Fulham to the Loudon 

 market in one year, will show the amount and variety of articles 

 it takes to make iip a market gardener's returns : — 



Forced Radishes 5,000 punnets. 



Natm-al ditto 2&S,000 bunches. 



Greens 3fi0,030 ditto. 



Cabbages 312,000 heads. 



Wallflowers 4,800 bunches. 



Moss Roses 9,600 ditto. 



Hand-glass Cauliflowers 4,800 heads. 



Asparagus 600 bundles in a single day. 



Lettuces 200,000 in one month. 



(To be continued.) 



THE NEILL BEQUEST. 



Dr. Patrick Neill, of Ediuburgh, left by bis will a sum of 

 £500, tbe interest of whicb, after acciimulating for two or tbree 

 years, has to be voted hy the Council of the Koyal Culedouiau 

 Horticultm-al Society to some distiuguished horticulturist or 

 botanist. This year the sum so accumulated, amounting, we 

 nuderstaud, to £65, has fallen to the lot of Mr. Andrew Turnbull, 

 gardener to the Earl of Home, at BothwcU Castle (where he has 

 been upwards of forty j'ears) — one highly esteemed both for his 

 personal qualities and professional skill, and to whom we are 

 indebtgd for the raising of several of our best Cape Heaths, as 

 BothwelUaua alba, Marnockiana, and Turnbullii. We notice this 

 award the more particularly because the existence of the beqtiest 

 appears not to be widely known, and further, because Dr. Keill 

 was one of the first to cheer us on our course, and that at a time 

 when such encouragement was most needed. Born at Edin- 

 bm-gh, he died on the 5th of September, 1851, in his 75th year. 

 We append the following account of his life from the seventh 

 volume of our old series : — 



"Dr. NeiU was by profession a printer, his office, one of the 

 oldest in Edinburgh, being in one of those ancient narrow closes 

 or alleys which descend from the High Street to the Cowgate 

 in that city. Latterly his business was conducted chiefly by a 

 partner, and the Doctor devoted his time principally to hterary 

 pursuits, in connection with his favourite study of horticulture. 

 Essentially a tradesman, yet the Doctor was a most gentlemanly 

 personage, and exemplified in his life what may be done in the 

 way of unitingbusiness with literal iiri'. 'j'hr Doctor was several 

 times a member of the civic (.''i|! i ::i.i' .jf Edinburgh,^ and 

 was noted for his i^lacid temperaMi; ul a: 1 muservative views. 

 Usually sagacious, he was also a IiIlIl- ou.l lu some things. For 

 old-fashioned abuses he had a sort of veneration ; a gentle retir- 

 ingness of character, perhaps, disposing him to fear changes, 

 even seemingly for the better. The Doctor Uved most of his 

 life in a curious out-of-the-way house within a garden at Canon- 

 miUs, a suburb of the New Town of Edinbm-gh, and here he 

 amused himself with his hortioixltural operations, and two or 

 three domestic pets, such as a venerable guU, which was allowed 

 the range of tbe enclosiu'e. The Doctor was a bachelor, and 

 scrupulous in personal neatness. He wore a well-brushed brown 

 wig ; his face was always as if fresh shaven from ear to ear ; he 

 firmly adhered to the white cambric cravat of past times ; and 



