Angnst 28, 1873 1 



JOURNAL OP HOBTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GABDENER. 



155 



them — oOs. iDcluding package, but to persons in trade like Mr. 

 Cannell sent extra plants gratis. These were the kinds so 

 splendidly shown by Mr. Brise and Mr. Catlin lately at Ken- 

 sington. Now, page 56 in Mr. Caunell's catalogue there is a 

 list of " Mr. Pearson's new varieties of 1872," which contains 

 eighteen kinds (one of these being a sort sent out the year 

 before) ; and on refeiTing to other parts of the list will be found 

 the following names — Corsair, page 33 ; Col. Holden, Rev. 

 C. P. Peach, Lawrence Heywood, page 34 ; Florence Durand, 

 Rose Bradwai-dine, Mrs. F. Burnaby, Amaranth, Amy Robsart, 

 Mrs. R. Hole, page 55 ; the cream of this collection of 1S72, 

 without one single word to indicate that they were raised by 

 me, or that they formed part of the collection of 1872 received 

 from me ! 



When Mr. Canuell and others showed at Kensington my 

 Tarieties for the prize offered by the Royal Horticultural So- 

 ciety for new bedding Geraniums, without any remark to in- 

 dicate they were not their own productions, I thought it bad 

 enough ; but to advertise the cream of my collection as though 

 he were the raiser, and put my name to what may be con- 

 sidered as the skimmed mUk, is rather more than one is called 

 Bpon, I think, to bear. 



Then, again, on page 58, there is another list headed, 

 -" Highly recommended, and sent out by Mr. Pearson," with- 

 out any date. Would any person doubt these were sorts just 

 sent out by me, instead of kinds put in commerce in 1870, 

 which is the fact ? Mr. Cannell will find this sort of thing will 

 not do ; a bear robbed of her young is a savage animal, so is a 

 laiser robbed of his honour. — J. R. Peaeson, Chilwell. 



SPUBIOUS CHEEKIES. 



I THINE many persons have reason to thank your correspon- 

 dent, who wrote at page 63 about spurious May Duke Cherries, 

 for drawing attention to the subject. I trust our gardeners 

 will be alive about it, and try to preserve some of the real 

 stock before it become extinct. I have been a victim to the 

 present state of things for years, and could fiU a foUo, I think, 

 with histories of my disappointments in May Duke esjiecially, 

 and I might add other Cherries also, but I will not inflict so 

 much on you ; suffice it to say that I gave up one of my best 

 positions on a good south-east wall to a young May Duke, 

 as I supposed, some ten years ago. This being a high situa- 

 tion, what with bad seasons and one thing or other, the fruit 

 that we picked from the tree was always small, poor, and 

 tasteless. This year it is, if possible, though abundant, worse 

 than nsnal, so that I concluded it must have been a delusion 

 of my youthful days (Uke Dickens's treacle tarts) that May 

 Duke Cherries were so delicious, and I had resolved to take up 

 the tree and dedicate its place to a Beurnj Bosc Pear. Your 

 correspondent's letter has, however, opened my eyes at last. 

 I wish he would add to our obligation to him by hinting where 

 a really good May Duke pould be obtained next planting season. 

 My May Dukes (so calledj this year might well have passed for 

 small, poor, early Morellos. — C. R. 



I saw a letter published last week, asking if it is true that a 

 Blackberry grafted on a Dewberry (what is a Dewberry ?) pro- 

 duces a splendid fruit, hke a bunch of Grapes. I cannot credit 

 this, can yon ? 



[The Dewberry, Bnbns ciesius, belongs to the same genus as 

 the Blackberry. It is a small trailing Bramble, common in 

 our hedges. There is no truth in the statement. — Eds.] 



EXPEBIIIENTS IN THE CULTURE OF FIGS 

 IN CALIFORNIA. 



E\onMOC3 quantities of fruit are now put up in tin cans in 

 this State ; and you will bo surprised, perhaps, as I was the 

 other day, to hear of an orchard of Peach and Apricot trees, 

 which bears this year its first full crop, and for one hundred 

 acres of which the owners have received ?IO,000 cash — gold, 

 selling the fruit on the trees, without risk of ri])ening or 

 trouble of picking. Yet Peaches and Apricots are not the 

 most profitable fruits in this State, for the Cherry— the most 

 delicious Cherries in the world grow here — is worth even more; 

 and I suspect that the few farmers who have orchards of 

 Plums, and carefully dry the fruit, make as much money as 

 the Cherry-owners. There has sprung up a very lively de- 

 mand for Californian dried Plums. They bring from twenty to 

 twenty-two cents per pound at wholesale in San Francisco, 

 and even as high as thirty cents for the best quality ; and I 



am told that last season a considerable quantity was shipped 

 eastward, and sold at a handsome profit in New Y'ork. The 

 Plum bears heavily and constantly north of Sacramento, and 

 does not suffer from the curculio ; and the dried fruit is de- 

 licious and wholesome. Some day the farmers, who are now 

 experimenting with Figs, will, I do not doubt, produce also a 

 marketable dried Fig. The tree flouiishes in almost all parts 

 of the State. Usually it bears two and often three crops 

 a-year ; and it grows into a noble and stately tree. So far, the 

 preparation of dried Figs has not been successful here. In 

 the fruit stores you see abundance of Figs, but they are 

 generally brown or black in colour, aud not tempting to the 

 sight, though palatable enough. I am told that when Smyrna 

 Figs sell for twenty to thirty cents per pound, Californian Figs 

 bring but from five to ten cents. The tree comes into fuU 

 bearing, where its location is favourable, in its third or fourth 

 year ; and ought to yield then about 60 lbs. of dried Figs, I 

 am told. I suspect the cost of labour will control the drying 

 of Figs, for they must be picked by hand. If they fall to the 

 ground they are easily bruised, and the bruised part turns 

 sour. They are dried in the shade, and on straw, which lets 

 the air get to every part. Irrigation is not good after the tree 

 bears, as the Figs do not dry so readily. Bii-ds and ants are 

 fond of the fruit ; aud in one place I was told the birds took 

 almost the whole of the first crop. There are many varieties 

 of the Fig grown in this State, but the White Smyrna is, I 

 believe, thought to be the best for market. There are no large 

 plantations of this tree in the State, but it is found on almost 

 every farm aud country place, and is a very wholesome fruit 

 when eaten green. 



When the farmers of the Sacramento Valley become tired of 

 sowing Wheat, and when the land comes into the hands of 

 small fai'mers, as it is now doing to some extent, it will be dis- 

 covered that fruit trees are surer and more profitable than 

 grain. This spring I hear a considerable emigration is coming 

 into California, and I advise everyone who goes there to farm 

 to lose no time before planting an orchard. Trees grow very 

 rapidly, and it will be many years before such fruits as the 

 Cherry, Plum, Apricot, or tlae raisin Grape are too abundant 

 to yield to their owners exceptionally large profits. — {New York 

 Tribune.) 



GARDENING IN THE WEST.— No. 7. 



TOHTWOETH COURT, THE SEAT OF THE EABL OF DUCIB. 



OvERLOOKiNB the picturesque vale of Berkeley, aud com- 

 manding views of hill, wood, and water, stands Tortworth 

 Court, the noble mansion of the Earl of Ducie, aud of which 

 the gardens aud pleasure grounds are of high renown, both for 

 their beauty and the skill with which they are managed by 

 Mr. Cramb, whose reputation as a gardener is so well esta- 

 blished, that it is almost superfluous to remark that what he 

 does is well done, and that many a useful lesson may be de- 

 rived from his practice. Tortworth is about three miles from 

 the Chartield station of the Midland Une from Birmingham to 

 Bristol, and is easily reached from either of these towns, as 

 well as from Bath ; but from London the route is more round- 

 about, aud it makes very little difference whether one travels 

 via Stonehouse, Bath, or Bristol. 



Tortworth is the Tortword of Domesday Book ; and passing 

 over the Alwold, Turstin, Kingston, Le Veel, Matthews, Throck- 

 morton, and Webb, who were successively lords of the manor, 

 we find it recorded that the last-named sold it in 1610 to Su- 

 Robert Ducie, Bart., of whose descendants it has continued in 

 possession. In 1661 Sir William Ducio had a license from the 

 Crown to enclose Tortworth Park. 



The mansion, of which we give a representation from & 

 photograph by Messrs. Dutton, of Henrietta Villas, Bath, is in 

 the Tudor-Gothic style, and was erected only a few years 

 ago, the old house, situated near the church aud the famous old 

 Chestnut, having been pulled down all but some of the walls, 

 which have been left as an Ivy-mantled ruin. The church, 

 too, has been rebuilt, its God's acre added to, cottages built, 

 with large gardens attached, which are let on the most liberal 

 terms, and a co-operative store established, which proves a 

 great boon to the cottagers, who are far from any good market. 



The principal entrance to the mansion faces the east, and it 

 will give an idea of the dimensions of the pile of buildings 

 when we state that the central tower, which forms a con- 

 spicuous object in our engraving, is 130 feet high. The chapel 

 on the right is now being pulled down ; aud although not 

 strictly a gardening matter, we may remark that in one of the 



