27« 



JOURNAL OF HOBTICUIiTURB AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



( October 10, 1867. 



practised eye, ns surely reveal the health of the tree, anrl will 

 in some, if not in most instances, point to the cause of the 

 disease. 



This spring one of my Pear trees, apparently in vigorous 

 health, had a considerable number of its leaves affected with a 

 sort of blister or fungus. Thk Journal of Horticulture, like 

 a skilful physician, recommended the application of repeated 

 doses of sulphur. This remedy was to a certain extent success- 

 ful. I have seen large Pear trees with every leaf and fruit 

 horribly disfigured year after year by this disease. This leads 

 me to suppose that doses of sulphur act only as a palliative, 

 and that a more radical remedy must be tried. I fancy the 

 tree has been sucking up some unwholesome juices which have 

 disagreed with it. and so spoilt its complexion. It must be 

 carefully forked out of the ground about the 21st of this month, 

 have its roots e-xamined and somewhat shortened, and much of 

 the old soil removed ; and it will ho planted again in a mixture 

 of fresh earth roasted and unroasted, and some old hotbed ma- 

 nure. I shall be much disappointed if this treatment do not 

 effect a complete cure. 



I have auother Pear tree which, though all right last year, has 

 now a small crop of distorted fruit with hard knots in "the skin, 

 which is also stained with daik blotches. As this is the best 

 the tree can do this year, a cure for this disease must be found. 

 The tree is in a state of semi-starvation. Some of its roots 

 have penetrated into the subsoil — pure gravel — and find there 

 nothing digestible ; the rest have probably exhausted much of 

 the food within their reach. This tree must also be forked out 

 of the ground, root-pruned, all tap roots cut off, and planted 

 again in fresh and enriched soil. It is seventeen years old, 

 and has had a similar illness once before, so I know both the 

 cause of it, and the proper treatment. 



I cannot conclude this essay better than by quoting from 

 Dixon's "America" the very suggestive words of the Elder 

 Trederick of the Shaker Union. Speaking of fruit trees, he 

 says, " A tree has its wants and wishes, and a man should 

 study them as a teacher watches a child, to see wb.at he can do. 

 If you love the plant, and take heed of what it likes, you will 

 be well repaid by it. I don't know whether a tree ever comes 

 to know you, I think it may ; but I am sure it feels when you 

 care for it and tend it, as a child does, as a woman does." — 

 C. I. M. 



WHAT QUALITIES SHOULD A BEDDING 

 PELARGONIUM POSSESS '.' 



At the Pelargonium Show held on the 17th of September, 

 there were to be seen Variegated Pelargoniums of almost every 

 conceivable shade of variegation. There were also numerous 

 varieties comparatively worthless as bedding plants. Many of 

 them are certainly very beautiful to look at, but the question 

 that first is suggested to the mind of the experienced, or those 

 who from long practice are qualified to give an outline of the 

 desirable qualities a good and iisefiJ bedding Pelargonium 

 should possess, is, Will they stand the inclemency of the 

 weather and exposure to our constantly varying climate ? Many 

 of them are hke butterflies that bask in the bright sunshine, 

 but disappear in the cold and wet weather. To this class belong 

 varieties such as Miss Watson and Northern Star. The latter 

 is a variety of my own raising, and is most beautiful as a pot 

 plant when nursed in pits or frames, giving it the benefit of 

 full exposure to the open air in favourable weather, when there 

 is not a succession of wet days or bright sunshine, or keeping 

 it shaded from the direct rays of the sun, and fully exposing it 

 in the open air as soon as the sun has ceased bestowing its 

 vertical rays upon the plant. The reason of this is, that there 

 is not sufficient green in the leaf to enable it to bear tho light. 

 Miss Watson and Northern Star are types of many other va- 

 rieties that stood high in the estimation of the judges who were 

 selected to perform a duty requiring no small amount of dis- 

 cernment and knowledge of the qualities mentioned at the com- 

 mencement of this paper. That they did their duty conscien- 

 tiously there can be no doubt. 



Messrs. Smith showed Jetty Lacy, a fine variety, and likely 

 to stand well in the open air; but'Sunray and Sylph are only 

 fit for growing in pots under the conditions named above. Mrs. 

 Dunnett and Lady Sheffield, shown in the same class, are also 

 too delicate to be useful for bedding purposes. According to my 

 judgment the only varieties exhibited in Classes 5 and 8 were 

 Countess of Craven (this appears to have a good constitution), 

 Jetty Lacy, Mrs. Dix, Beautv of Culford, and Queen Victoria 

 (Perkins). ■ ^ 



I now come to what to me was the most interesting part of 

 the Exhibition — namely, the Bronze and Gold Zonal Pelargo- 

 niums, not because I was a successful exhibitor of them, but 

 because they are, at last, deemed worthy to form an attractive 

 feature of an exhibition ; and it is the class on which 1 feel most 

 qualified to give an opinion, having originated this strain of 

 Bronze and Gold, of which Beauty of Oulton is the type. In 

 Class () for the best Gold and Bronze variety, what I should 

 have considered the best for bedding purposes, had the plant 

 belonged to any one else — namely. Empress Eugenie, was 

 passed by, because the leaves were not perfectly fiat, and the 

 outline of the leaf round. The premier prize was given to a 

 plant having nothing to recommend it but its flat leaf, and 

 which will be perfectly useless as a bedding plant for the 

 reason given above — namely, want of constitution, and not 

 having sufficient chlorophyll in the leaf to enable it to bear the 

 light. The plant was shown in a seedling state, and will be 

 very different when seen again next spring after it has been 

 propagated. Tho round, smooth leaf in the Pelargonium is 

 indicative of a want of constitution, but leaves like those pro- 

 duced by Empress Eugenie will stand any amount of both sun- 

 shine and rain, without the slightest defect. They are also 

 very effective at a long distance off. After another season when 

 Beauty of Calderdale, Empress Eugenie, Her Majesty, Beauty 

 of Ribblesdale, Peiilla, &c., become more generally grown, they 

 will be the recognised type of what constitutes a good bedding 

 Pelargonium. 



The varieties such as Egyptian Queen, Cleopatra, and Mrs. 

 Frampton are descendants from Luna. It is well known 

 that two or three hot days will completely spoil the appear- 

 ance of Luna, giving it that rusty appearance which mars its 

 beauty completely, and makes it useless as a bedding plant. 

 Mrs. Frampton I did not consider so good as well grown. I 

 have some hundreds quite equal to any of the above three 

 varieties, and many of them superior, that I shall not again 

 propagate, because I feel sure they will never make bedding 

 plants by reason of their delicate constitution. Countess of 

 Kellie appeared to possess a freer and more robust habit of 

 growth, and as the examples shown were well-established propa- 

 gated plants, there is every reason to think it will prove a 

 good bedding plant. 



The three varieties, Sybil, Brilliant, and Combatant, shown 

 in Class 4, will never make any way as bedding plants. Sybil 

 has very small crumpled leaves, and has no character to recom- 

 mend it as a bedding plant. It is very much inferior to Model. 

 Bnlli.ant is not so good as Luna, and Combatant is so much 

 like Brilliant, that very little dift'erence could be seen in them. 

 If the stock of each were propagated and mixed, I think it would 

 be impossible to tell one from the other, unless the plants were 

 in flower, and there was a difference in the colour of the flower. 

 The only property they had to recommend them was, they were 

 nicely coloured, and this I considered artificial, being caused by 

 starvation. The plants appeared to have been kept in the same 

 pots all through the season ; there was not a leaf on them much 

 larger than a half-crown piece. 



1 was much pleased to see the Bronze and Gold Pelar- 

 goniums so well represented on the 17tb, and considered the 

 Exhibition, on the whole, very satisfactory. I shall have very 

 great pleasure in entering the lists again with the three principal 

 exhibitors of Bronze and Gold Pelargoniums — namely, Messrs. 

 Carter ic Co., Messrs. Downie, Laird, & Laiug, and Messrs. F. 

 and A. Smith, and propose a sweepstakes to come off at the 

 Manchester National Show, to be held next Whitsuntide, each 

 exhibitor to show three plants of each kind, and to put down a 

 sum of .t'lO 10.>'., six, four, or three distinct kinds being ex- 

 hibited, and the owner of the best collection winning the £42. 

 The judges to be appointed by mutual arrangement, two judges 

 of known ability to be chosen, and their expenses to be paid by 

 the losing parties in equal proportions. I hope the gentlemen 

 I have named will at once respond. — J. Wills. 



CUCUMBER, PRODUCED BY A MALE FLOWER. 



A FRiEXD of mine, Mr. Aymas Hunt, re3iding at Denby, has 

 a small house which he uses for Cucumber-growing ; in it he 

 has a plant of a variety called Snowdon, and there is on it a 

 fruit produced from a male blossom. 



Theiilossom at first appeared the same as anyone of the 

 other male blossoms on the } lant, and afterwards a fruit com- 

 menced growing through the flower, and has continued s» grow- 

 ing up to the present time. 1 saw it a day or two ago, and 



