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JODBNAL OF HOETICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



[ November 33, 1867. 



There is one important matter in the case of those who have 

 only one small vinery, and that is that they should avoid 

 attempting early forcing. If they would allow their Vines to 

 break of their own accord, and then begin forcing, say in the 

 middle of April, but little tire heat would be necessary, Grapes 

 would ripen at a time when they could have a longer season of 

 them, and red spider wonld not be so common as when more 

 fire heat is used. If all the Grapes be cut in October, then 

 the vinery can be used for plants taken up from the flower 

 garden, and fire heat for three weeks then would both ripen 

 the Vines well and start the lifted plants. This would be much 

 better for the Vines than using fire heat to force early. — 

 D. Thomson, Archcrfield. 



BRONZE AND GOLD PELARGONIUMS. 



A PAINTER once resolved to accomplish a picture that should 

 please everybody. He therefore exposed his picture in the 

 market-place, with directions for the spectators to mark, with 

 a brush that lay near, every limb and feature which seemed 

 erroneous. The spectators came, and in general applauded ; 

 but each, willing to show his talent for criticism, marked what- 

 ever he thought proper. In the evening when the painter 

 came, he was mortified to find the whole picture one great blot. 

 Not satisfied, he resolved to try them in a different manner, 

 and exposing his picture as before, desired that the spectators 

 would mark only the beauties. The people complied, and the 

 artist returning found his picture replete with the marks of 

 beauty ; every stroke that had been yesterday condemned, now 

 received approbation. " Well," cried the painter, " I perceive 

 that the best way to please one-half of the world is not to 

 mind what the other half says," since what are esteemed faults 

 by some, are regarded as beauties by others. 



Now, these Pelargoniums have met similar treatment. Many 

 admire some varieties for certain good points or qualities, 

 while others condemn them for some other quality or pro- 

 perty in which they consider them deficient. Truly, we have 

 not as yet reached the standard of perfection in this beautiful 

 class of plants, but when we look back but a year or two, when 

 one of the best was Beauty of Oulton, which may be con- 

 sidered the type of the present race, aU must agree that rapid 

 strides have been made since then. 



Looking at the different varieties that have been exhibited 

 this season, it is truly wonderful what progress has been made 

 in the Bronze and Gold section, which will eventually be the 

 cream of the bedders, yet 1 am bound to admit a great same- 

 ness exists in very many of the varieties. 



For my own part I do not consider the plants brought to an 

 exhibition a fair guide to the purchaser, as, of course, they are 

 brought in the best style and colour which it is possible to do 

 by ingenuity and device, in order to show them off to the best 

 advantage, more especially with respect to high colouring. 

 Therefore, I prefer seeing tbem at the raiser's home to judge of 

 their merits. With this idea, having some business in the 

 neighbourhood of Manchester, I extended my journey to Hunt- 

 royde Park, to determine for myself the merits and demerits 

 of Mr. Wills's beautiful collection. 



Do not marvel readers, that Bennett and Wills have met, 

 shaken hands, and buried the Viola controversy, although I 

 claim as a right to offer some remarks at a future time, com- 

 plimentary to Mr. Wills and his Viola lines. 



I regret to say my stay at Huntroyde was very limited, as 

 the trains, like time and tide, wait for no man. But to the 

 object of my visit — the Bronze and Gold Pelargoniums. Al- 

 though I had not the pleasure of a former acquaintance with 

 Mr. Wills, he with the greatest kindness showed me, without 

 reserve, everything there was to be seen, and to those interested 

 in such matters there was ample to satisfy any one thirstiug 

 after novelties. Perhaps the gi-eatest of these is the success 

 Mr. Wills bas at last met with in crossing the Ivy-leaved with 

 the Zonal Pelargonium. Yes, there the successful result is to 

 be seen in unmistakeable character. This I look upon as one 

 of the greatest hits of the day in hybridising, and a boon to 

 us all. 



This collection of named and unnamed seedlings of the 

 Bronze and Gold section is extensive, and above the staudard 

 of merit that I expected to find ; and a dwarf variety, not of 

 this section, named Robert Fish, particularly attracted my at- 

 tention, it being very dwarf and a most abundant bloomer. To 

 this may be added one of the Gold section, called Little Golden 

 Christine, which appeared to be a little gem. 



Amongst the Bronze and Gold section, foremost was Her 

 Majesty, with the appearance of which I was charmed. The 

 others I do not pretend to class as to their respective merits 

 after leaving Her Majesty, for many of them are quite equal in 

 beauty, and taste alone could decide in their favour. As in 

 the case of the painter's picture, what some would cross out as 

 defects, others would cross for beauty. The following are the 

 new set not yet in commerce — viz.. Empress Eugenie, Mr. 

 Fetch, Admiration, Arthur H. Wills, The Sultan, Fascination, 

 and Attraction. Her Majesty, I believe Mr. Wills told me, 

 would be sent out this autumn. The above are certainly a 

 beautiful chaste set. I also noticed amongst those sent out by 

 Mr. Bull this season — Perilla, Compactum, Model, Beauty of 

 Calderdale, Firebrand, and Beauty of Eibbledale. Although 

 these are all good and truly handsome, they do not bear com- 

 parison with the new set in point of beauty. 



Thus far it will be seen I have confined my remarks to the 

 Gold and Bronze section, but at a future time I shall have 

 something to say about Vines, Vine-borders, and Peach trees at 

 Huntroyde. — Edwaed Benseii, Osberton Hall, Worksoj). 



STOCKS FOR APPLE TREES. 



There is, I think, nothing more interesting to the practical 

 horticulturist, and I may also add, to the theorist, than the in- 

 fluence of the stock on the graft, in plainer words, on the tree 

 grafted on to a stock, and the converse of the proposition, the 

 effect of the graft on the stock. The latter being of a far more 

 extensive nature than the former, yet, as it seems to me, not 

 much known or expatiated on by horticultural writers, I hope 

 one day to go into the subject, but at present I shall confine 

 myself to the title of this article. 



There is, as far as I have experienced, no fact so prominent 

 in fruit culture, as the effect of the Paradise or surface-rooting 

 stocks on the Apple tree. By the simple choice of a stock we 

 can make a giant into a pigmy ; and such varieties as Bess Pool, 

 of which I have seen trees rivalUng large Oaks in magnitude ; 

 the Bedfordshire FoundUng, the Tower of Glammis, the Blen- 

 heim Orange, and other vigorous-growing sorts, can be at once 

 reduced to small garden trees, rapidly arriving at a sort of 

 premature maturity, and bearing prolusely, which is brought 

 about by merely selecting the kind of stock likely to produce 

 such a result. The variety best known b7 the gardeners of the 

 last century is that which we now call the French Paradise, 

 " PommierdeParadis." This would seem to beef Eastern origin, 

 for some few years since the London Horticultural Society intrc- 

 duced the " Dwarf Apple of Armenia," which, as far as I could 

 judge, was identical with the Pommier de Paradis. This kind 

 of stock is noticed by Miller in his Dictionary, in the edition 

 about 17.50. I append an extract from it, which may interest 

 some of your readers, showing as it does that there is nothing 

 new in what has been said in your columns about Paradise 

 stocks. 



The peculiarity of the French Paradise is its remarkable 

 effect on the graft, dwarfing it to an extent scarcely credible. 

 The proportions of growth are something as follows : — A tree 

 two years old on it will be about '2 feet in height, and covered 

 with blossom-buds. A tree of the same age, and growing under 

 the same circumstances, grafted on the Doucin, will be from 

 3 to 4 feet in height, and well furnished with blossom-buds, but 

 not so abundantly as the tree on the French Paradise. A tree 

 on the English Paradise stock will attain the same height, and 

 be in the same condition as to bearing as that on the Doucin. 

 A tree grafted on the Crab or Apple stock will at the same age 

 be 7 feet high, and unless one of our free-bearing sorts, such as 

 the Keswick Codlin, Hawthornden, and some kinds of the like 

 habit, will be bare of blossom-buds. I give these results not 

 as being exact, but to convey an idea of the effect of the dif- 

 ferent stocks I have named. 



The Pommier de Paradis has been found too delicate for 

 some soils and sites in England. I have found it so here, and 

 Mr. Pearson, of Chilwell, has experienced the like in his deep 

 fertile loamy soil. Fearing that I might have made my two or 

 three essays on a soil too cold, I made a further trial, and in 

 the spring of l.SGG, I had five hundred planted in a fine deep 

 sandy lor.m, in the middle of a quarter, with five hundred 

 Doucins on one side, and five hundred Euglisb Paradise on the 

 oher. ThePommters de Paradis are nearly all dead from canker 

 — no frost seemed to do them any injury — uhiie ih^* two kinds of 

 stocks I have named here produced healthy trees free from any 

 disease. It seems, therefore, that in some soils and sites this 



