September 26, 1867. ] 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



237 



withered, and in an ngly heap. A eeloct company was expected 

 to dine at the fliUI, and to send them to dessert to he criticised 

 in such a condition was out of the question. So, -jnlpinf; down 

 the mortitlcation and disappointment as best I could, I had 

 recourse tolhocoolc, to wliom 1 hinted tluit if anything was 

 wanted in tliat way I would be glad to oblige liiin ; but that 

 functionary, whose demands for such things seem generally 

 to fall between Christmas andEastor, did not "just wnut " any- 

 thing of the sort then, so I kept them on, and 1 sliould be sorry 



to say what became of them. Again, my friend A sent seven 



or eight of his best bunches, or something over 40 lbs. weight. 

 In the hope of picking up a " wrinkle," I asked him afterwards 

 how he disposed of them. Ho muttered something about a 

 "cricket ni-itcli," and about being " eaten up," but the subject 

 was evidently so annoying that I desisted. 



I mention these instances merely to show the peculiar cir- 

 sumstances in which an exhibitor may be, and often is placed, 

 not at all to his advantage, or that of his employer. Every 

 exhibitor knows that miiny of the samples he sees upon the 

 exhibition table may have been retarded for days, or even weeks 

 before the show, and are not likely to be of much use after 

 another week's exposure in such a place. 



I have felt surprised at times that some of the above oh- 

 jections liave never presented themselves to the minds of those 

 who object so londly to their Grapes being " mutilated and 

 pulled about by the judges," as they like- to put it. I have 

 seldom or never seen a buuch of Grapes so abused in that way 

 as to bo unpresentable afterwards, as, indeed, I should con- 

 sider the man unlit to act in the capacity of judge who could 

 suppose that two, or even half a dozen berries could not be 

 picked off a bunch of Grapes without injury to its appearance 

 afterwards. I am certain, at any rate, that the injury done in 

 this way is a mere trilie in comparison to that sustained by 

 fruit being exposed for a week in a marquee ; and I will observe, 

 in conclusion, that I think two days quite suflicient, for fruit at 

 least ; and if the prizes are expected lo be an inducement to ex- 

 hibitors, they ought to be in some proportion to the trouble 

 and expenses incurred. Were it not for obvious reasons, I could 

 give halt a score of instances which have come to my own 

 knowledge, where gardeners have been prevented partially or 

 altogether from exhibiting, solely from the reasons I have stated. 

 — An ExniiiiTOR. 



ROYAL irORTICULTURAI- SOCIETY. 



In the ropnrt made last week of the Zonal Ptlargouinms wp inail- 

 TPrtently omitted to iiotk'e a very fiue variety sent by Mr. J. Must, 

 Walthanistow, whirh reouivi'd a iirflt-class certiticate. It was named 

 <iaeen of Ro.ses. aud is dfcidi'dly the very best in its seetiou, liavini* a 

 j;ood truss, pp-eat depth of i nlour. and lirmnes-i of petal, far RnrpasRJnf^ 

 Keante do Suresues aud others of the same class. Shonid it be a free 

 iiloomer aud of pood habit, it will be a great aci]uisition. 



THE ELDER TREE. 



The common Elder iSambucus nigra), is so decidedly a house, 

 hold plant that any attempt to describe it would be useless- 

 Its name Sambucus is said to be derived from Sambuca, a 

 musical instrument made of it. I can well believe this ; for, 

 in my boyhood days, its hollow stems were the unconverted 

 timber out of whiith our whistles and pop-guns were made. 

 The wood of the Elder is very hard, and so like that of the Box 

 that foot-rules are made of it. In Scotland, it is called Bower 

 tree, pronounced " Eoortree," as in the old ballad : — 



" What care I for owlet's cry. 

 For IJourtree banks, or walls of Craigie ?'* 



but in the Scottish ballad of the courtship of that doughty wight 

 the " Laird of Cockpeu," we tind the name of Elder : — 



" Laily Jane ahe was mntiinf; the Elder flower wine.'' 

 I have tasted the hlder-Howcr wine, but can say very little in 

 its favonr ; bnt Elder-berry wine is certainly a very agreeable 

 beverage when warmed and spiced. The Elder is a rapid 

 grower at first, and survives for a long time as a stunted bush or 

 low tree, with a thick shady top ; and, being a free-flowering 

 plant, it is generally covered with blossom in summer, and 

 heavily laden with berries in autumn. It is a coarse feeder, 

 and thrives best where there is plenty of moisture ; indeed, 

 such a plant must have a good supply of raw materials at hand, 

 as it will rush into such a rapidity of growth as is scarcely 

 known among woody plants, frequently producing a crop of 

 strong shoots 6 feet long in a season, when once it gets estab- 



lished ; and it does not take a long time to get that ; only let it 

 bo planted in season-lime — November, December, or .Jiuuary, 

 not later — and no failure need be apprehended. When the 

 I'Uder begins to grow, if one did not know its character and his- 

 tory, it would easily he taken for an lierbaccous jilunt ; and its 

 stinking foliiige iiimI blackish green colour would father it upon 

 the worst form of Umbellifera-, and, if not poisonous, at least so 

 ill-favoured aud uninviting, that no one could think of eating 

 any part of such a plant, unless he had sound information 

 beforehand on the subject. I5ut although the Elder has the 

 lurid poisonous look and the hollow stem of tlie Hemlock-brood, 

 it is not an umbelliferous plant, but belongs to the Honeysuckle 

 tribe {(Japrifoliaeeie), and, although its stem be hollow, it is, 

 after all, both woody and perennial, forming one of those mar- 

 vellous links which we frequently lind in botany, uniting 

 opposite characters. Had the Elder been blest with foliage as 

 sweet as that of the Walnut tree, it would not have been half 

 so valuable to the farmer ; for it is very rarely indeed that yon 

 see the Elder tree touched by hares or rabbits. J'uring longand 

 severe frosts, with snow, I have seen sticks of all kinds bitten, 

 and branches that had been cnt oil where trees had been felled 

 would bo barked as clean as if the woodman had stripped them 

 for the tanner. But, as a rule, hares and rabbits do not bark 

 the Elder : aud as for the leaves, the smell is quite suflicient 

 to warn either cattle or coney from laying a tooth upon them. 



This style of plant is called by idanters a " nurse," and they 

 put in such by millions to shelter better trees. 



Since the system of bedding-out greenhouse plants for the 

 flower garden m summer became a common practice, everybody 

 has become aware that such plants as the Pelargonium and the 

 Verbena are increased by cuttings of the green wood with more 

 or less of the leaves attached. Now, alihough the Elder is to 

 be increased by cuttings, it being a deciduous tree it is not to 

 be treated in this manner, and it is not to bo propagated 

 in summer, or when growing, as is the case with Pelargoniums, 

 Ac. The Elder, the Willow, the Gooseberry, aud the Vine, 

 are mostly propagated by truncheons of the stem of the wood 

 of the current year, taken off the parent plant when the sap 

 is down, or when the leaves have fallen and the plant is in 

 a dormant state. The truncheons of the Elder may be 1 or 

 2 feet long, and ought to have one joint in the earth when 

 planted, aud one or more out; the truncheons should be cut 

 below a joint with aclcan cross-cut, not slanting ; the truncheons 

 to be planted at once where they are to remain, and should be 

 not less than 4( inches deep in the ground, firmly planted in 

 finely pulverised soil. It may not be desirable, for many 

 reasons, to purchase costly trees, and plant them at one's own 

 expense upon other people's land, and yet the use and shelter 

 of trees must be had ; for stone walls, even if these could be had, 

 are not to compare with trees in breaking the force of wind, for 

 the walls produce eddies and often whirl the wind with great 

 violence against particular points, but trees sift the wind and 

 never gather it. A farm-steading unsheltered by trees ought 

 to be a terror to an incoming tenant, as it ever will be to those 

 who have to do battle with the storm in such a place thns 

 miserably left to its mercy. When our ports and harbours 

 were swept by wind and tide, the breakers seriously interfered 

 with our shipping interests, and we had to erect costly break- 

 waters, behind which the stately craft could ride at anchor un- 

 molested by the storm. This was sterling wisdom and fore- 

 thought, well founded upon dearly-bought experience ; therefore 

 let no one tbiuk lightly of masses of cheaply got trees to adorn 

 the landscape aud shelter man and beast. But I have another 

 object in view with branches of trees on the farm, for faggot 

 wood is calculated to do a species of work that no other material 

 can do so well. In the kindling of fires, the heating of bread 

 ovens, and in various other ways, the faggot stack is essential 

 to the work ; but on a clay farm the faggot wood, in immense 

 bulk, is particularly wanted to burn the clay with — for there is 

 no other process at all to compare with burning to bring the 

 clay into good working order, for it is chemically changed as 

 well as mechanically when it has passed through the tire; and 

 for want of fuel of the right kind it never could be done. It is 

 only such materials as stubble and straw of all kinds, and 

 particularly Bean straw, and wood faggots, that farmers can use 

 in burning clay, for coal, however cheap, is no fuel for farmers 

 to burn ridges of wet clay with. 



There are only two ways in which Elder trees appear to me 

 to be in character, and these are circles and lines. No figure 

 equals the circle, for it has the same front on all sides, and 

 the generol appearance is that of one vast bush. It is no 

 waste of land to sacrifice so much for the sake of shelter. 



