Septombor VI, 1867. ] 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



103 



and has been enabled to wash 100 acres. The ground tobacco 

 is boiled along with soft Boap, and the decoction is then 

 strained. It is carried out to the Kroumls in a lar^o tub, and 

 the men, provided with tarpauUn|.;s ifor it ia a na>ty job), set 

 to work. Tlio enginea used aro Koad's doulilo-lioscd, with 

 tloxiblo imliiinriibber ho.^es. One man works the engine wliile 

 two preside at the hose. In some cases where they were very 

 bad they were syrinRod twice, and the result has been that an 

 excellent crop is tit for picking. Close by, at the corner of the 

 bailiff's R<»rJen, one hill was left for experiment, unwashed, 

 and this is as black as a coal, and without a siujilo Hop on it. 

 The cost of this washing is estimated at about JtH per acre — 

 a small item in Hop culture, and well worth expending on a 

 crop of which two thousand pockets were lately sold for £18 

 a-pocket. — D., /'.•<;/. 



MUSC.VT .\.ND n.VMP.URGH VINICS TOOI^TIIER. 



I H.VVE five young Muscit of Alexandria Vines which I am 

 desirous to plant in a house where tliore are already six lilack 

 Hamburghs. I force this house, and cut in May and June. I 

 shall cut these Vines to about 2 feet this autumn. Would it 

 be bettor to repot these young Vines into larger pots, and place 

 them in a cooler house till next autumn ? I should prefer 

 planting this if the forcing next year would not weaken them. 



Should you advise planting this year, how can I ]ilant these 

 between the other six, ao as to injure the roots the least :' The 

 border is an inside one. — Sdbsckibek. 



^We have planted Muscats alternately with Hamburghs, but 

 we do not consiilor it a good plan. They do best by themselves 

 or in one end of a house. If your Hamburghs are ripe in May 

 and June, we would plant the Muscats directly, and not cut 

 them down until winter. How to do so between the Hamburghs 

 without injuring the roots of these we cannot tell further than 

 saying great care will be necessary, getting out an opening with 

 bonds and forks, and adding as much fresh soil as possible.] 



SELECTION OF ROSES. 



The main object I had in view in giving my opinion of the 

 Rose Marochal Niel (page IKi), was to elicit from other culti- 

 vators their experience with that variety, and so fur as given, 

 I fail to discover wherein their success is greater than my own. 



Mr. tiant recommends a south wall. I presume his plant so 

 grown is not on the liriar. Mr. Rivers says, Gloiro de Dijon 

 is a most excellent stock for it. Messrs. Mereweather, who, by 

 the way, are somewhat poetic in their description of the Ma- 

 ri'chal, give their experience with it on the Manetti, planted 

 out in April in a south border. With good soil, proper cul- 

 tivation, and the plants kept clean and healthy, I do not see 

 how they could have better treatment. 



Nothing I have yet seen or heard has altered my opinion. 

 The llower is splendiil, but the plant is tender, and a very, 

 very, shy bloomei", and a bad opener. It requires cultivation 

 pecaliar to this class of Roses to do any good with it. 



As to the Roses recommended by me, they never were meant 

 as a very select list, in the manner your readers would infer 

 from " D., Z><'rt/'.i" criticisms (albeit, they contain the cream 

 of every colour grown), but simply a list from which might be 

 selected plants of any colour from pure white to almost black, 

 and dependanco upon good growth and abundance of bloom 

 not bo disappointed, which is more than can be said of many 

 much-vaunted varieties. No florist would recommend Nell 

 Owynn Tink as an exhibition flower, but few will deny its 

 ntility as a border plant. For the same reason I recommend 

 for general juUivatiou Roses that would not be tolerated on an 

 exhibition stand. 



Eugene .\.ppert is a hea'.thy strong grower of fine foliage, 

 and a beautifully coloured flower. It invariably gives satis- 

 faction to the purchaser— a great point in favour "of any flower. 

 I admit that Due de Wellington and Fisher Holmes are not 

 full, but in their peculiiu ly bright. coloured class one is compelled 

 to overljok this imperfection when the varieties under con- 

 sideration are not for show. Of the Roses mentioned by 

 " D., Di'iil," as superior, I'iorre Netting hardly opens well; 

 when it does it is good, but it burns badly, and so do all the 

 dark sorts mentioned by him. Of the rose-coloured sorts, 

 Anna de Deisbach is rather loose, but of first rate habit. Louis 

 Peronny is a very bad grower. La Reine de la I'ape is much 

 superior, Madame BjII is flat. The others are good, but I wotUd 

 not select William Grifliths. 



Of newer sorts, I prefer the Princess Mary of Cambridge to 

 Marguerite de St. Amand. Alfred Colomb is a good Rose, but 

 we have already as good varieties as Abel Grand, Josephine 

 Deauhaniais, and Miss M. Dombrain. Doctcur Andry is a good 

 Rose, but how about liability to mildew '; I would recommend 

 I'ranvois Goeschke for its splendid colour. Daronne de May- 

 nard as a white Noisette is good. 



Such is my experience. Soil, cultivation, and position alter 

 the character of flowers very materially, but of nono more than 

 the Rose. Yet there are several varieties which do invariably 

 well, and these I recommend to purchasers. 



In conclusion, although wo may diller as to tho merits of 

 certain Roses, I hope " D., Deal," will long continue to 

 " Strike out with muster hand, a copy f.»ir of liis ideas." 

 Whether the subject be new Roses. Pelargoniums, Gladiolus, 

 or any other flower, he may depend that I shall take note of 

 everthing connected therewith. — F. Fi.itton. 



AriilCOTS. 



Is reading Mr. Abbey's excellent and carefully written artiol* 



on the culture of Apricots as wall trees, I have been mnah 



struck with tho time consumed before a tree can give a good 



crop, and the constant summer and winter pruning and nailing 



[ which every season miist biiug on. This has led me to the 

 great contrast offered by orehard-liouso culture of this (when 

 properly riponoi) most excellent fruit. 



For many years I have with great success cultivated Apricots 

 in pots, and it is only a few years since that I was tempted to 

 plant out in one of my orchard-houses some trees with stems 

 from :! to 5 feet in height, called respectively half-standaids 

 and standards. They were in a bearing state, having been 

 grown in pots for two seasons, and were planted in a hard 

 undug border. This was done for an experiment, as I had 

 found solid earth so beneficial in pot ciilture. These trees 

 bore a good crop the first season after being planted, and have 

 continued to bear abundantly every season. The only trouble 

 I have had has been in thinning tho fruit, as almost every 

 blossom has set. Their culture has been most simple, and has 



' consisted in pinching in the young shoots during tho summer 

 so as to make their heads compact. They have been syringed 

 once in two or three weeks, merely to wash the dust from their 

 leaves ; and the blue aphis, to the attacks of which they are 

 subject, in some seasons has been destroyed by quassia water, 

 i ozs. to the gallon, boiled ten minutes. The soil has not 

 been stirred, but remains as solid as the path which passea 

 near them. .Vs some trees in pots are standing on the border 

 which have had water, none has been given to the trees ; but 

 as they increase in size their shade will prevent potted trees 

 being placed on tho border, and then they would require a. 



i drenching of water once a-fortnight during the summer and 

 till the end of September, being kept perfectly dry during th* 



I winter till March. This method of growing Apricots is so 

 simple and inartificial, and the fruit the frees produce so supe- 

 rior to that given by wall trees, that one feels surprised it is 

 not carried out to a large extent. Mr. Solly, the fruit-grower 



I at Bath, who grows Apricots planted out and in pots with great 

 success in his orchard-houses, speaks of the fruit as of the 

 highest quality. The fact is, that an Apricot dead ripe with 

 its skin slightly wrinkled is one of the finest fruits in the world. 

 I commenced to gather Apricots from trees in pots on the 

 ■2tth of June, and continued to do so daily till tho 24th of 

 .\ugust. The first full-sized Apricot thut ripened was OulUn's 

 Early Peach, and the last the Peach Apricot and one or two 

 late varieties raised from seed. 



Tho most interesting trees when loaded with fruit were some 

 large bush trees some fifteen years old, and some hundreds of 

 cordon trees — i. e., pyramids, their shoots closely pinched in. 

 One house, 100 feet long and 11 feet wide, filled with such 

 trees nearly all studded with their golden fruit, was the most 

 perfect specimen of successful fruit tree culture in pots ever 

 seen. The soil employed is a stiflf calcareous loam two-thirds^ 

 and one-third manure thoroughly decomposed. The soil is left 

 undisturbed till the fruit is the size of a horse bean. — T. R. 



The Snow of V.tniEo.vTEH axd other PEijiKfiOKinis, to be 

 held at the Royal Horticultural Gardens, on Tuesday next, 

 the 17ih inst. Other subscriptions having been received in 

 addition to the prizes announced the following will also be 

 given :— Class 'J, The two beet Golden Variegated Zonal Pelar- 



