Oclobor 17, 1887. ] 



JOURNAL OP HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



293 



ten days, the cutting will then aasamo an upright habit and 

 file loaves will begin to stiffen. The ehading should then be 

 removed, allowing the sun to shine full upon tliem. I'lants 

 struck in this way are much stronger, have betlerconatitutions, 

 and grow much more freely than thoae from cuttings struck 

 under glass. Treat any plants of new Tricolor varieties 

 which you may possess, as recommendod above. It you place 

 them in heat now, and excite them into growth before their 

 proper growing season arrives, you will weaken the constitution 

 of your plants, and, perhaps, lose them altogether. Paring 

 the months of October, November, and December the plants 

 should be at rest. They are then ripening their wood, which 

 is thereby naturally prepared for a greater amount of forcing 

 and excitement during the spring following. Of course, the 

 plants must not be allowed to suffer from want of moisture 

 during their season of rest. A little water given once a-weok, 

 just to keep their roots from shrivelling, will be all that will be 

 required, unless the weather be very severe, and strong fires 

 have to be kept up to exclude frost. Then they will want 

 water perhaps twice or more every week ; but this, of course, 

 must he left to tha judgment of the person who has the 

 management of them. He ought to have intelligence enough 

 to know if any plant is suffering from want of water. 



The Bronze and Clold Zonal Pelargoniums require dif- 

 ferent management through the winter months. As they 

 are of a much more vigorous habit of growth than the Tri- 

 color sorts, they maj' be kept growing all through tho winter 

 months. This gives them a great advantage over the Tricolor 

 varieties, for where a large stock of them is required they may 

 be propagated throughout the winter. They will grow very 

 freely in a temperature of 7")°, and as the spring advances they 

 will bear a temperature of 8.")" without showing any ill effocts, 

 and cuttings taken from them when they are growing in a 

 high temperature strike in a very short time with little trouble — 

 merely putting them in single thumb-pots and standing them 

 on shelves or curbs. As an instance of this, I may state that 

 since I exhibited Beauty of Calderdale and Beauty of Kibbles- 

 dale at the Royal Botauic Society's Show, on the 3rd of July 

 last, I have propagated from each plant upwards of five 

 hundred. The plants were placed in the Pine-stove early in 

 July, and have produced a crop of cuttings every week since. 

 They are now as strong and vigorous as ever. They are watered 

 about once a-week with guano water. The young plants pro- 

 pagated from them are models of he.ilth and beauty. I predict 

 for these a brilliant future, and have no doubt that more plants 

 of them will be propagated within the next five years than of 

 any varieties of Pelargoniums previously sent out. — /. Wills. 



(JRCII.VKD-HOUSE M.WAGE.MKXT. 



Being called upon by Jlr. Rivers to say what I meant by my 

 deviation from his directions as to orchard-house manage- 

 ment, I would in the (irst place express my regret that I did 

 not before state that I had seen only the eleventh edition of his 

 "Orchard-House," printed in ISQ, and my deviation lias 

 been from the rules laid down there. Very possibly the rules 

 now laid down are modified so as to resemble those by which 

 I have myself this year been guided. 



1st, Each year I have taken less soil out of the pot at the 

 autumn top-dressing. 



■2nd, I entirely discontinue morning syringing, and in dull 

 weather I avoid syringing at all. 



;ird, I ventilate far less freely than I did at first— at least, 

 imtil the fruit is far advanced. 



■1th, I allow the shoots to grow much longer before I stop 

 them, and I find them much stronger in consequence. 



.'.!li. I never raise my trees from the borders during the 

 summer ; they root into the borders as they please. 



tUh, I give far less water than I understood to be recom- 

 mended by Mr. Rivers. I never water till the trees begin to 

 flag. 



7th. I have found the lime and sulphur, as directed to be 

 used in the " Orchard-House," quite useless. I now use either 

 "hot sewage " or the boiled lime and sulphur (I lb. of each to 

 one gallon of water), a quarter of a pint to four gallons of hot 

 water, and find I can keep down red spider. 



These are, I think, my main deviations, and I feel that they 

 justify the expression I used—" that I cultivate my trees with 

 considerably less trouble than the rules adrise, and that 

 each year I have departed from those rules with manifest ad- 

 yantage." 1 would renew my expression of sincere respect to 



Mr. Rivers as the founder of the whole delightful system o£ 

 orcliard-housn culture. 



Purliaps some of your readers may like to hear tho actual 

 result of my small house this year. Twenty-one Peach trees, 

 of which two were blank, both Karly Victoria, gave me 270 

 Peaches. Ten Nectarine trees gave "JiO Nectarines. Nineteen 

 Plums gave Wl fruit. Total, fifty trees, 901 fruit. I have 

 counted none but really good fruits. The size and flavour 

 were all I could wish, and my many visitors agreed that they 

 had neither seen nor tasted better anywhere this season. — C. P. 



ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



OCTODER loin. 



KmuT CoiraiTTEE. — G. F. Wilson, Esq., F.R.S.,in the chair. On 

 this occasion Mr. Ward. s*^rdeuer to T. V. MiUcr, Esq., Bishop's 

 Stortford, sent three finf. liundftomu Smooth Cayenno PiDes, weighing 

 severally lOJ, 10. au'.l 'Ji lbs. They were awarded a special certificate. 

 Mr. Whiting, of Th'i Deepdeuc. Dorking. exhihiteU fruit of Croft 

 Castle Pear, liritish Qneeu, excelleut, iiud with that fine, sprightly fia- 

 vonr peculiar to the Windsor, and Beurre Hardy, excellent in llavoar, 

 confirming the high character of this variety. Henry Webb, Esq., 

 Redstone Manor. Redhill. exhibited specimens of several varieties of 

 Pear.s to show the effect of the past season on tho ripening of the 

 frait, some of which were cankered, and others mucli cracked. Marie 

 Louise seemed to have suffered from tho frost and cold nights so pre- 

 valent last summer ; Beurn- Diel was very mnch cracked, and Doyenne 

 Bliinc had bt_eu much cracked, but recovered after the tree bad re- 

 ceived a liberal supply of water, confirming the statements made in 

 the interesting article by " C. I. M.*' in last week's number. Mr. 

 Cox. of Redleaf, remarked that frait shadowed bv the leaves never 

 cracked, while all the exposed fi-iiit were so. Mr. Wells, of Southend, 

 Essex, sent a basket of very fine bunches of Black Hambur^jh Grapes, 

 grown in the ground vineries, and which were equal in size and colour to 

 what are usually grown in vineries. He also sent bunches of Muscat 

 of Alexandria, perfectly ripe and well-coloured, grown in the same 

 structure^. The Committee awarded the Grapes a special certificate, 

 and a hi'.;h commendation of the principle of the ground vineries, by 

 which Grapes may be grown in ordinary gardens at a small cost. 



Mr. Bye, gardener to U. Arkwright, Esq., Hampton Court, Leo- 

 minster, sent a seedling Nut. which was no improvement on existing 

 varieties. Messrs. Downie. Laird. A' Laiug, of Staustead Park, sent 

 a seedling kitchen Apple, raised at Luchie. East Lothian. Mr. Aldred, 

 *22, Bridge Street, Kilbnrn, sent a seedling Apple, called Aldred's 

 Seedling, which was so much of the character of Wnltham Abbey 

 Seedling and Golden Noble, that it was not considered to be sufficiently 

 distinct. 



Mr. Penfold. gardener to J. Cockle, Esq., M.D., The Lodge, West 

 Moulsey, sent fruit of a white-spine Cucumber, which was not con- 

 sidered to possess any merit. Mr. A. Colbourn, gardener to J. Bljth, 

 Esq., Woolhampton, sent a dish of Salway Peaches, larijo and hand- 

 some, and of pretty good flavour ; they were from a tree planted inside 

 a bouse '2t> feet long by 1(J feet wide, and this year it has homo aboat 

 '271) fruit, and most of them of very large size. ilr. Rivers, of Saw- 

 hridgeworth, sent frnit of a seedling Peach, raised from tho Heath 

 Cliujjstoue, with the following connuunication : — 



'■ For the cnrious in such matters. I send two Pavies. the sort a 

 seedling, raised from that favourite late Peach (with the Americans), 

 the Heath Clingstone, which it 'rusemblcs. Downing calls the Heath 

 ' the most superb and delicious of all the Clingstones.' In 1865 the 

 sort now sent was a mass of syrup. This season has not been warm 

 enough ; still, the flavour is rcniarkublc from the perfect absence of 

 the prussic acid smack. These white Pavies may be kept the greater 

 part of November on the trees and in tho fruit-room, and are very 

 ornamental for the dessert." 



The Committee was of opinion that tho frnit is not calculated to 

 npeu salficicntly in this climate ; but if grown in heat we have no doabt 

 but it would be excellent, it having all the elements of a good fruit. 



The Rev. George Kemp, of Sevenoaks, brought a dish of Dnnmore 

 Plums, which had hung on the tree till they shrivelled, and tho flavoor 

 was sweet and excellent. This is a most excellent Plum, and at this 

 season will keep three weeks after being gathered. Mr. Kemp stated 

 he had tho fruit in the dessert in December. From the garden of the 

 Society a collection of Tomatoes, fniit of the Pear-shaped Service, 

 and Gros Colmau Grape were exhibited. Miss Fothergdl. Somerset 

 Honse, Old Shirley, Southampton, sent a drawing of several varieties 

 of Apples, which showed an indication of talent in the delineation of 

 frnits, which if prosecuted will donbtlcss lead to success. Mr. William 

 Paul, of Waltham Cross, exhibited an interesting collection of very 

 correctly named .\pples and Pears. 



Mr. Bye. gardener to R. Arkwright. Esq., sent some fine specimens 

 of White Spanish Onion, and Mr. Lidgard, of Hammersmith, received 

 a special certificate for a very meritorions exhibition of Celen,", which 

 form a great attraction to the visitors. It consisted of Dewar's North- 

 umberland Champion, Cole's Superb Red, Wall's Invincible, and 

 Manchester Solid Red. Mr. Lidgard also received a special certificate 

 for fine examples of Onions, consisting of Danvers, New Venetian 

 Giant Tripoli, and that called the Nuneham Park. 



