39ti 



JOURNAL OF HOBTICULTUKE AND COTTAGE GAEDENEE. 



[ May IS, 1872. 



size. Here wo have a perfect canopy of Eoses in all stages 

 from the iucipient bud to the fully expauded bloom, and 

 emitting that delicate perfume which the lovers of Tea Eoses 

 60 much delight in, and which can be discovered out of doors 

 50 or 80 yards away from the conservatory. 



I did not attempt to count the blooms, but at my request 

 Mr. Piggott, the able gardener at Oakwood, gave me two of 

 them taken at random from the most accessible part of the 

 plant; and as mcasuilng flowers is, in my opmion, a very un- 

 satisfactory way of describing their size and properties, I 

 thought it better to adopt the ))lan that is making its way very 

 rapidly into mercantile transactions, and have it weighed. I 

 fancy Eose-growers of the advanced school will smile at my 

 mode of describing the merits of a Eose, but will they tell me 

 any better way of explaining what a really good one is that 

 possesses all the other recognised points, and which cannot be 

 placed before the censor? To the scales Marechal Niel was 

 consigned, and one of the two blooms, including about 6 inches 

 of stalk, was found to weigh IJ oz. avou'dupois, and when 

 that was cut o£f it was IJ oz. ; the other Eose was sUghtly 

 over an ounce. I by no means assume this to be extra- 

 ordinary, but it is certainly good when it is understood that 

 the blooms were taken from a plant heavily loaded with flowers. 

 ■ Perhaps some one who has this Eose growing under similar' 

 circumstances will favour us with the weight of the ordinary 

 blooms. At the same time flowers which are produced later 

 in the season (if the first for that season), are likely to be 

 larger and finer. Those at Oakwood were gathered on 

 AprU 24th. 



I found that since my last visit the shrubs had made consider- 

 able progress, and some fresh features had been introduced in this 

 naturally fine place. The mansion is backed and flanked with 

 fine old Oaks, which have given at once a clothed appeai'ance 

 to a modern dwelling. A large portion of the dressed grounds 

 was originally a quarry, and the debris was thrown into irTe- 

 gular mounds. Some of these have been judiciously left, 

 while the face of the unwi'ought quarry has been converted 

 into rockwork. Winding walks skirt its base, and every now 

 and then present fresh objects to the view ; a sharp turn in one 

 place is made round a projecting boulder, at another the path- 

 way leads underneath a rustic arch, whiJe climbers at places 

 hang over the natural rock on the one side, or the bank is 

 planted on the other with masses of shrubs, each kind separately, 

 but care has been taken to leave important distant views clear 

 of all obstruction. Some flower-beds had also been made, and 

 will doubtless contribute to render tills pleasantly situated 

 abode one of the most attractive of its class. In addition to 

 the enlargement of the pleasui-e grounds, I fovmd that the 

 park was being increased by some land, previously in tillage, 

 being laid down in grass. — .J. Roesox. 



DWAEF KIDNEY BEANS FOR FOECING. 



FiiOM the illustrated advertisements of Canadian Wonder 

 Kidney Beau, I was led to consider it just what we wanted in 

 a Kidney Bean for forcing — one with the characteristics of the 

 Newiugtou Wonder — namely, prolific, with round fleshy pods 

 four times the size of those of that variety. I procured some 

 seed, and have tried it as a forcer with very satisfactory residts. 



I sowed twenty-four 11-inch pots with eight beans in each, 

 on the 26th of February, and a like number of Su- Joseph 

 Paxton, an improved Six-weeks with yellow seeds, and it is a 

 kind I hitherto liked the best of alffor forcing. I fancy it 

 .';^a3 some of the blood of the Long-podded Golden Dun or 

 Yellow Canterbury ; but whether or no, Sir Joseph Paxton is a 

 most excellent Bean, and so is Yellow Canterbury. I think I 

 have forced aU the kinds of Kidney Bera, and therefore have 

 named those which I have found the best ; and though there 

 are others which will pass muster, they have in a greater or 

 less degree the di'awbacks of a forcing Kidney Bean — i.e., thin 

 flat pods, which are too frequently short, curled-pointed, all 

 neck and point, and the seeds too prominent at an early stage. 

 I must add Newiugton Wonder, a most proUfic sort, and tlie 

 only one that is fit for cooking whole. 



Canadian Wonder has a bean longer and flatter than Negro, 

 but in other respects it is of the same type, and of a h°ght 

 reddish maroon colour. In style of growth it resembles Negro, 

 is branching, and rather long- jointed — in fact, is a free-gromng 

 Kidney Bean. Compared with Sir Joseph Paxton, its growth 

 is half as strong again, and it is half as large again in fohage. 

 Canadian Wonder is 1 foot 9 inches high ; Sir Josejjh Paxton 

 15 to 17 inches above the rims of the pots. Sir Joseph Paxton 



comes in at the earliest ten days before Canadian Wonder, and 

 the latter had pods fit to gather at the close of the second 

 week in April, from the sowing made at the time above named. 

 The produce is about equal as regards the number of pods, or 

 one thousand from the twenty-four pots of each, but the pods 

 of Canadian Wonder have on an average twice the substance 

 of those of Su' Joseph Paxton. Five hundi-ed of the latter 

 will go in a box that will not hold 250 of the former. It is, 

 therefore, a superior sort as regards produce, whilst its quaUty 

 is excellent, the pod being very fleshy, with little heel or nose. 

 It is not, however, a round-podded kind like Newingtou 

 Wonder, but has a flat yet thick pod. In this respect only, I 

 am disappointed with it. I shall grow it along with Sir 

 Joseph Paxton, as I cannot dispense with the latter on account 

 of its earUness and certamty, but after the middle of Febi-uaiy 

 I shall chiefly grow Canadian Wonder. 



My mode of forcing Kidney Beans is old enough, never- 

 theless it is not yet superseded. I grow them planted out in 

 pits, also in pots, and the latter mode is by far the better. 

 For eaiiy production I prefer 10-inch pots, but after February 

 11-inch or even 12-iuch pots. The pots are not excessively 

 drained : three or fom- rough pieces of crocks are placed at the 

 bottom, and over these 2 or S inches of the rougher parts of 

 the compost, which consists of loam from rotted tiu'ves, with 

 the addition of a thii-d part of leaf soU, or a fourth part of 

 decayed manure. The pots are filled to within 4 inches of the 

 rim, and the top inch is of fine soil. Six beans are placed in 

 a 10-inch pot, five round the sides equidistant, and one in the 

 centre ; nme beans in an 11-inch pot, six round the sides and 

 three in the centre ; and they are thi'ust into the soil to the 

 first joint of the middle finger. The pots are placed in a house 

 with a temperatm-e from fire heat of 55' to CO' at night, and 

 G5' to 70' by day, with a rise of 20° from srm, air being given 

 at 75', and increased with the temperature. 



They should be placed in a light position from the first, and 

 cannot be too near the glass at any time, so long as they do 

 not touch it. I find when at full gi'owth that they thrive best 

 at 6 to U inches from the glass. 



When the seed leaves are well developed and level with 

 the rim of the pot, or a little higher, earth up to the lim 

 with the compost abovenamed chopped fine, giving a good 

 watering preiiously. The watering up to this time need not 

 be more than sufficient to keep the soil moist, and after the 

 earthing-up, until they come into flower, water need not be 

 given excessively, but only when the soil is diy. When they 

 come into flower, or even before this when they have a large 

 leaf-development, water will be needed daUy, or in very bright 

 weather twice a-day, and weak liquid manure may be given at 

 every alternate watering. One pEck of sheep or horse drop- 

 pings to thirty gallons of water, or 1 lb. of guano to a hie quan- 

 tity of water, will be sufficiently powerful, and if this be used 

 for sprinkling the house at the time of shutting-up, or in the 

 evening, no red spider will appear. I gi'ow my Kidney Beans 

 in any house having the reqiured temperature, and in SUght 

 and any position, and I have no dread of introducing red 

 .spider. I do not syringe them ; they have to take their 

 chance of sprinkling should they be in a house where it is 

 practised, but I do not wet them much whilst in flower. If 

 they grow stiff they will need no stakes, but if they are Ukely 

 to fall I put in three or four stakes at the sides of each pot, 

 and string round them with matting. 



The earUest time at which I have had pods fit to gather was 

 forty days from sowing, but from fifty to sixty daj's is the 

 average. Each sowing will continue in bearing from a fort- 

 night to three weeks, so that sowings should be made from 

 the beginning of January, the earliest time at which I find 

 sowing profitable, up to the middle of May. To insure a suc- 

 cession it is necessaiy to sow in pots twice after beginning sow- 

 ing in the ojjen ground. With me, out-doors, Kidney Beans 

 are never in untU the middle of July, therefore I must provide 

 for crops in-doors accordingly. — G. Aebei. 



PEOPAGATING THE MISTLETOE. 

 I H.«'E observed from time to time paragraphs on the diffi- 

 culty of propagating that interesting parasite, the Mistletoe ; 

 therefore I write to say that I have succeeded in estabUshing 

 it in my garden without the aid of missel thrushes, or using 

 anything unusual. I ripened the berries in my apron pocket, 

 and when shrivelled I inserted them in some shts cut in the 

 boughs of Lime trees, closing the bark on them. This was 

 done about the end of January. The seeds aU germinated. 



