266 



JOtTENAl OP HOETICULTTTRE AOT> COTTAGE GAEDENEE. 



[ OctoTier 6, 1863. 



"Che Styiian is not so much grown as it deserves to Tie. It ', 

 is one of oiu' best Pears for a standard in this part. Strange ', 

 to say, there is not one gardener in twenty that knows it. 

 I feel curious to know what you think of it, as it is a Pear 

 not generally met with. "We have BeiuTc' Eance and Easter 

 Beun'e grafted on the Aston Toim. These "both come in 

 much earlier and are better-flavoiu'od when worked on the 

 Pear stock. They run smaller, and are always lietter coloured 

 and of better flavour'. I have no doubt that many of our 

 Pears would be improved in flavour by beiug gi'afted on the 

 eai-ly kinds on a south wall. The same remai-k applies to 

 Grapes. I find the Frankenthal makes the best ^teck for 

 grafting, and the Barbarossa the worst." 



We should in conclusion remark that the lai'gest Pear 

 sent was 9.1 inches in cu'cumference round the bulge, and 

 4^ inches long ; and we would advise all fruit-gi'owers north 

 of the Trent who are possessed of a Citron des Carmes Pear, 

 to cut it down and graft it with the Styiian. 



EESULTS OF POTATO-CULTUEE BY THE 

 BEOMBOEOUGH POOL WOEKS 



HOETICtTLTUKAL SOCIETY. 



OuK little Society has now passed its ninth season with 

 apparently undiminished vigour, and with equal interest on 

 the part of individual members. The table below exhibits 

 its progressive growth year by year. As it is purely a 

 village Society, the members being almost exclusivgly of 

 the working classes, it may be interesting to show side by 

 side with the number of articles exhibited the value of the 

 prizes disti-ibuted : — 



The dry spring caused a great dimination of exhibitions at our first Show 

 this year. 



Owing to oui- favourable position under Price's Patent 

 Candle Company, the expenses of the Society are undoubt- 

 edly less than they wordd be if we had to jiay tradesmen 

 for aU services that we could not provide within our own 

 body. But it should be understood that ours is a practical 

 working Society, the Company not supporting it solely by 

 their money, but very judiciously giving yearly a sub- 

 scription equal to the amount raised by the members them- 

 selves. 



The Society has Ijeen, undoubtedly, a means of much 

 gratification, and of no little good in our village. It was, 

 therefore, with much pleasure that we saw a similar Society 

 commence operations in a village near us (Higher Bebing- 

 ton), under the auspices of the worthy minister, the Eev. 

 G. Troughton, and the leading parishioners ; and we hope to 

 hail another Society still nearer to us before another season 

 shall have passed. The Higher Bebington Society has just 

 completed its third season with every prospect of future 

 success and of increasing usefulness. 



Peeling as we do that the encouragement of horticulture 

 has done so much for us, it is natural that we should ear- 

 nestly desire to see similar societies established in every 

 village in the kingdom. It is certain that the genti-y of our 

 counti-y parishes have it in then- power to eflect much good 

 by giving their patronage and a moderate amount of money 

 aid to such societies, and by laying a foundation for ope- 

 rations, where cottage gardens do not exist, by the appro- 

 priation of ground for village allotments. 



But we believe that the work of such local societies might 

 be made still more useftd by a system of communication 

 between them — that is, by the ai-rangement of prizes to be 

 competed for by the members of several societies. While 

 the Eev. Professor Henslow, of Hitchin, was living we had 

 the advantage of entei-ing the lists annually with his allot- 

 ment-holders, for " the largest and best prodiice from sur- 

 faces of gi'oimd of 36 square feet each, in Potatoes, Onions, 

 and Carrots." We miist confess that the experience of his 

 allottees enabled them generally to beat us, but the spirit 

 of emulation and generous rivalry which this yearly contest 

 excited, has done very much to raise om- horticrdtiu-al work 

 and to promote its success. 



It Tvas from the results of the examination of pieces of 

 ground entered for such prizes, that the tables published in 

 The Cottage Gardener, No. 629 j and The Jouenai, op 

 HoETictTLTTXRE, No. 32, Were compiled. We are vei-y anxious 

 to renew for our own Society some such competition ; and 

 should the perusal of this article bring us into communi- 

 cation with some other Society like our own, we shall feel 

 that we are indebted in no small degree to the good offices 

 of the Editors. 



We ought to premise that the regulations as to the pieces 

 of ground to be entered, in order to render the results as 

 far as possible representative of fail' practical cultivation, 

 are as foUows : — " Por this prize the Potatoes must be dug 

 fi'om the ordinai-y plots. Potatoes planted in six-feet-square 

 beds will not be admissible. The sui-face will be measured, 

 in the case of Potatoes planted in rows, by taking such a 

 length of one, two, or more rows as will with the distajice 

 from row to row make up 36 square feet. In the case of 

 Potatoes planted in ' butts,' the -width of the alley on one 

 side will be added to the -width of the ' butt ' in calculating 

 the space occupied by the plants." 



Oui' Potato-results were this year most satisfactory, 

 not only as to "total produce," but also as regards the 

 proportion of good tubers, as the following table mQ 

 show : — 



AYKBAaE RESULTS CALCULATED FROM ALL THE PIECES TRIED. 



The next table exhibits the results of our ti'ials of the 

 various kinds of Potato here, yeai' by yeai-, averages being 

 taken from all the yields of each kind, except only when a 

 solitary sample of any vai'iety was entered. Any such 

 solitary results have been generally omitted, or else 

 have been classed together under the head of " All other 

 kinds." 



