2G0 



JOUENAL OF HOBTICULTUEE AND COTTAGE GAEDENEB. 



[ September 25, 1873. 



brewing, and a newspaper in his hand. It was a picture of 

 home contentment worthy of being placed on canvas. In ten 

 minutes more I could have walked into another equally prized 

 as a pleasant adjunct to the home, saying nothing about the 

 value of the canopy of purple clusters hanging from the roof. 

 There are sites innumerable suitable in soil and aspect in all 

 parts of the country where nice table or wine Grapes may be 

 produced almost without cost, excepting, of course, the trifling 

 outlay of neat glass coverings. The point is not to have them 

 too narrow, the aim should be to have all the roof space pos- 

 sible. The interior can be turned to account in many ways as 

 ornamental by the introduction of plants or for more useful 

 purposes. I am acquainted with one of these glass rooms or 

 home appendages, which is primarily used as a promenade 

 and exercising ground for the juveniles of the household, and 

 paterfamilias is fond of repeating that for this purpose alone, 

 and without any Grapes at all, that it is worth every penny it 

 cost. 



Grapes thus grown without any fire heat will be well remu- 

 nerative at Is. a-Ib., and there is no insuperable obstacle in 

 the way of their being produced at even half that price in 

 almost every village, but certainly in every market in the land. 

 This may appear at first sight as rather a bold statement, but 

 consider for a moment what a healthy Vine will do, and it 

 will not be found far off the mark of sober truth. It would be 

 a national advantage if something like this were accomplished. 

 There seems to be a great aggregate wage and money surplus 

 in towns which must be spent in luxury, and a luxury in 

 healthy fruit is iniinitely preferable to other indulgences which 

 might be named. A fruit-supply of this character would not 

 interfere with the superior produce of skilled cultivators, which 

 will always command a superior price to satisfy the demands 

 of " superior people," who would no more eat cheap Grapes than 

 drini cheap wine ; and who can blame them ? Not — J. Weight. 



CULTUEE OP BEDDING CALCEOLARIAS 

 TO AVOID DISEASE. 



I AM rather surprised to hear complaints of the Calceolaria 

 disease this season, considering how favourable the weather 

 has been for the growth of that moisture-loving plant ; I there- 

 fore send yoir a few notes, the result of my own experience 

 and observation. The bedding Calceolaria has with me always 

 been, and still is, a favourite, as it is, I think, with most gar- 

 deners, for the simple reason that it would be a diflicult matter 

 to find an equally effective substitute. 



My method of propagatiug and preparing the plants for 

 plautiug-out I described in vol. xxiii., page 487, and now that 

 the season is approaching I would advise those who wish to 

 have Calceolarias next summer to put in a supply of cuttings 

 in October in a cold frame at the back of a north wall or hedge, 

 and after the cuttings are inserted, give all a good watering 

 and put the lights on, which will be sufficient without any 

 other i^rotection during winter to secure you in the spring a 

 lot of beautiful plants, looking the picture of health. But 

 some will perhaps say. Why advocate cultivating a plant which 

 is so uncertain and so liable to die-off by disease, &o. ? In 

 answer I say that I have cultivated the Calceolaria both in 

 Scotland and the north and south of En;jland, and I have 

 never yet been visited with what I would call the Calceolaria 

 disease. It is true I have lost a few plants occasionally ; this 

 year my loss has been about eighteen out of between 6.50 and 

 600 bedded-out. One ribbon border contains 3.50 plants, and 

 I have not lost one plant out of it ; but I do not consider this 

 any great achievement, as the season has been so suitable to 

 the growth and well-being of the plants. 



It is when we have to contend with a hot dry summer that 

 our skill is tried, and the results show whether or not we have 

 been making any provision for the want of atmospheric mois- 

 ture by securing the conditions necessary for the health of the 

 plants at the roots, which I deem to be the most important 

 point of all. The neglect of this, and planting in an unfavour- 

 able poor soil in a dry season, will, I have no doubt, produce 

 what is termed the Calceolaria disease. In a poor, light, sandy 

 SOU the Calceolaria will only prove a disappointment ; have 

 the soU, therefore, removed to the depth of 2 feet, and replace 

 it with some well-rotted turf enriched with manure, and, if very 

 heavy, half ought to be removed and the other half mixed with 

 a compost the same as above. If the plants have been prepared 

 as I recommended in the article previously referred to, and 

 are lifted carefully with balls, planted firmly in the ground, 



afterwards well watered, and during the summer have the 

 blooms picked off as soon as these show signs of decay, suc- 

 cessful results may generally be relied on. The ripening of 

 seed exhausts the energies of the plants and stops their 

 growth, but if the decaying blooms are removed the plants 

 will commence a fresh growth, and a succession of flowers will 

 be kept up. 



Mr. Railton in a former number, page 174, attributes his 

 success this season to " dipping his plants in a solution of 

 Fowler's insecticide, heat 100' ;" but I hope he will excuse me 

 if I say that I have very little faith in anything that can be 

 done to the tops. I believe the secret of success to lie entirely 

 at the roots, and I likewise consider the past season has been 

 too favourable for the growth of the plants to test any appli- 

 cation properly or to justify speaking decidedly on its merits. — 

 J. Anderson, Hill Grove, Kidderminster. 



FKUIT TKEES AT MR. THOMPSON'S, ILFORD. 



On reading Mr. Abbey's article on pyramid and bush fruit 

 trees in the Journal of September 11th, I was rather surprised 

 at the result of his experience with these exceedingly useful 

 forms of fruit trees for small gardens. I say small gardens 

 advisedly, because in large gai'dens I would plant at least a 

 large proportion of both Apple and Pear trees on the Crab and 

 Pear stock respectively. 



The Cherry, Plum, Pear, and Apple trees at Loxford this 

 year have borne a splendid crop ; Cherries and Plums could be 

 gathered in handfuls, and Apples especially have been plenti- 

 ful. Now, as it happens we had Apples of the same variety 

 both on the Crab and Paradise stocks, and Pears on the Pear 

 and Quince stocks, planted at the same time, while none of the 

 trees had been removed for six years, anyone can see at a 

 glance the different effects of the stock. Cox's Orange Pippin 

 on the Crab has not half a crop, on the Paradise the trees are 

 bent down with the load of fruit. On the Crab the trees are 

 more inclined to grow to wood, the growths are stronger, and 

 the leaves twice as large as those on the other stock. Then, 

 again, take Louise Bonne or Beurre Hardy on the Quince and 

 compare them with those on the Pear stock ; they do not look 

 like the same variety of fruit, and this " apart from root- 

 pruning or biennial or triennial lifting." Then let us notice 

 the Blenheim Orange ; it can be seen at Ilford on the Paradise 

 stock on trees 7 feet high and 8 feet across actually loaded 

 with fruit. I also went up to Ilford and examined the orchard 

 of fine young trees belonging to Mr. W. Thompson, under the 

 care of Mi'. Green. Nearly all the trees are on the Quince 

 and Paradise, and for young frees (they have only been planted 

 six years, mnny of them only three and four years ago), the 

 crop of fruit they are bearing is extraordinary, and not on a 

 few trees only ; for of some of the most useful sorts Mr. Green 

 has planted from three hundred to four hundred trees. Con- 

 sidering the large number of trees to attend to, their well- 

 trained appearance reflects great credit on the management of 

 Mr. Green. 



Here is a row of Ribston Pippins, fine healthy trees, not a 

 spot of canker on the wood or a blemish on the fruit ; they 

 are carrymg a good crop. My experience with this variety is, 

 that on the Crab stock it cankers in the second year from 

 planting ; on the Paradise, planted six years on the same 

 ground, it shows no signs of canker. Next to the Eibstons 

 there is a row of Eymer ; this is a fine kitchen Apple. Dume- 

 low's Seedling, or Wellington as it is always called in the 

 London markets, is overloaded with fruit, and, as a conse- 

 quence, it is rather small. Sturmer Pippin should be grafted 

 on the Crab stock ; on the Paradise the fruit is very small. 

 Pomona is remarkably fine, the trees are studded with fine 

 handsome fruit ; this is free-bearing on any stock. Tower of 

 Glamis does not bear so freely, this being the first year the trees 

 have had anything like a crop, but large handsome fruit they 

 are, and it is a good keeper. In contrast to it here is the 

 Dutch Mignonne, the fruit on all the trees clustering together 

 like bees swarmed on a branch ; but most noticeable is the 

 Blenheim Orange. There are many trees of this good old sort 

 all on the Paradise, but on walking down the rows, here and 

 there a tree is seen with an unusually large crop, and on 

 examining the union of the stock with the scion it is plain 

 that there have been two sorts of Paradise stock used, the 

 union being the same on all the trees heavily loaded with fruit, 

 and different from that on the others. Probably Mr. Thomas 

 Elvers is the only one who can throw any light ou this matter. 



Here in one place are four hundred trees of Loiuse Bonne 



