444 



JOUENAL OP HOBTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GAKDENER. 



[ December 12, 18C7. 



hearts of Cos Lettuces, so crisp and delicate owing to the warm 

 climate in wljich they have been growing ever since the early 

 part of September, that they are alike easy of mastication and 

 digestion. The usual small herbs are, of course, used with 

 my salads. My Lettuces and Endive were sown in July and 

 August, and transplanted to a rich border in the orchard- 

 bouse early in September. They are now making firm hearts, 

 and will be in fine order by Christmas, and if the Paris Lettuces 

 sent over to Covent Garden next February and March are no 

 better than these — I have given 6d. each for these — mine are 

 worth Is. In severe weather my salad plants are covered with 

 mats, with light dry hay placed on them. 



With regard to the superiority of low-roofed houses to those 

 cliunsy barbarous green bell-glasses, it is as Mont Blanc to 

 Chamouni. I find that a space of ground of 1000 square feet in 

 round numbers, a house 00 by 11 feet, with a narrow path in 

 the centre, will produce two thousand and upwards of tine 

 Lettuces in winter, always comeatable. How immeasurably 

 more convenient than those clumsy glasses always to be 

 moved, and which, like the iron wires recommended by " The 

 ■WniTER OF THE ARTICLE," are things of a past age ! I entertain, 

 however, a kind respect for " The Writer," which I trust will 

 he increased when he becomes a "second Loudon." — T. B. 



[Here this controversy must terminate, and we wish that it 

 had been conducted with less acrimony. A gentleman writing 

 to us from Norwich, says—" It is full time that your corre- 

 spondents should understand, that an aptitude for sharp and 

 clever writing ought not to be used to wound the teehngsof men 

 ■who have deserved well of society, and added materially to the 

 pleasures of their fellows. Legitimate controversy should not 

 be trammelled by too much respect for authority, but hard 

 words and personalities cannot subserve the interests of truth 

 and science." In this we most fully concur, and many times 

 are we surprised to find men of intelligence writing, not as if 

 they desired '• truth above all things," but as if they wished 

 to blister the feelings of those who had dared to criticise them. 

 —Eds.] 



GROAVING THE GLADIOLUS IN A HEAATT 

 SOIL, 



I AM not a large Gladiolus grower, having about thirty varie- 

 ties. Three years ago I lost several bulbs from the disease 

 " D., Deal." speaks of on page 370, and it led me to fear that 

 growing the Gladiolus in heavy clayey soils is almost im- 

 possible. 



Taking courage in the spring, instead of potting the bulbs 

 and forwarding them under glass as I used to do, I retarded 

 them as much as possible. Early in April they generally show 

 symptoms of growing, when I take them to the bed. The soil 

 of this being very heavy is thrown out 18 inches deep, and 

 plenty of decayed dung and leaf mould, with a little soot, are 

 added and well mixed. About 'J inches of this mixture having 

 heen thrown in, the bulbs are placed 10 inches apart in the 

 TOW, and the rest of the soil is very carefully put in. Every 

 bulb soon throws up leaves and blooms well. 



As soon as the blooming season is over, and not waiting 

 imtjl the foliage is quite yellow, I take the bulbs up, as M. 

 Souchet, the great French grower, recommends. 



I have this autumn taken up, while in full bloom, many 

 bulbs which were late in flowering, finding them quite firm, 

 and exposing them to a warm and dry atmosphere. I have 

 Been no disease since I adopted the plan of taking them up 

 early. I do not cut the leaves off as soon as the bulbs are 

 taken up, as M. Souchet recommends, but leave them to come 

 off of themselves. 



I think much may yet be done with this favourite flower in 

 respect to bedding it out. Gladioluses are not effective in beds 

 by themselves, except when each variety is planted separately, 

 as they flower, when mixed, at different times. They look 

 noble, however, in low so-called American beds and herbaceous 

 borders. 



I hope some of the experienced growers will publish in this 

 Journal a list of the varieties which flower at the same time. — 

 H. CoMLiiY, Hcndrc Gardens, iloniiwuth. 



PEACHES IN FRANCE. 

 Will yon kindly allow me a small space to inform " G. S." 

 (see page 423), that I visited Paris for the first time in August 

 last, and that, perhaps, nothing more surprised me than the 



abundance and good quality of the French fruit accessible, as 

 it was, to the poorest labourer ? I purchased dcliciously ripe 

 Peaches for one halfpenny each, fine ones for one penny, and 

 for twopence-halfpenny such as 1 may fairly term super- 

 excellent. 



I was delighted to see the care which the French bestowed 

 on the fruit trees in their gardens, and I came away with the 

 impression that, although we beat them completely in flori- 

 culture, especially as to arrangement, yet they beat us as sig- 

 nally in the culture of fruit. 



The last purchase I made in Paris was a handful of Peaches 

 in the Kue d'Amsterdam, for which I paid one halfpenny each, 

 and very refreshing they were to me when exhausted with the 

 intense heat which was experienced during the journey to 

 Dieppe.— C. W. M. 



GRAPE JUDGING. 



Though this subject has now been so discussed as to be al- 

 most exhausted, I am tempted to send you an anecdote I heard 

 from that veteran Grape-grower, the late Mr. Crawshay, oj 

 Ottershaw. 



I had asked his opinion about shanking. He confessed 

 absolute ignorance on the subject, and said that one year 

 he had a Red Frontignan, which ripened off every berry, 

 though the treatment was exactly the same as usual, and he 

 knew no reason whatever for its temporary immunity from 

 shanking. 



Ajiropus of this, he added, that he had once offered a prize 

 for the best dish of Grapes. On the day of trial he disagreed 

 with the other judges, but at last persuaded them to award the 

 prize to a plate containing a bunch of each of the three colours 

 of Frontignan, in preference to some magnificent specimens 

 of Hambnrghs, on the ground that these latter were easy to 

 grow, while three bunches of Frontignan, from three different 

 plants, without a single imperfect or shanked berry, were some- 

 thing most unusual. It was a clergyman who gained the prize, 

 and Mr. Crawshay was anxious to learn from him the secret of 

 success. He repUed that he knew very little of Grape growing ; 

 but having put a few Vines in a greenhouse, and finding Iheix 

 fruit very nice, he thought he would send a plate to the show. 

 Mr. Crawshay said, " If such be the «as6, I request you will 

 send me next year just such a plate as this, and upon your 

 doing so I will erect for you, at my own expense, a vinery, 

 60 feet long, heated with hot water." The clergyman stared 

 in blank amazement. Mr. Crawshay said, "I am really in 

 earnest ; but do not for a moment expect that you will succeed 

 again. At any rate, promise to write me a note as to whether 

 your Grapes shank next year." 



The following autumn the note came, but no Grapes. — G. S. 



TREES AND SHRUBS INJURED AND 

 UNINJURED BY GAME. 



At a time when the preservation of game is a subject of such, 

 importance to those interested in rural affairs, some remarks 

 on the plants which game will and will not iLJure, may not be 

 unacceptable to many of the readers of this Journal, especially 

 as from a want of this knowledge labour and materials are 

 often thrown away in planting covert. Under the term game I 

 shall include rabbits, which form by far the most numerous 

 and destructive enemies to new and even old plantation?. Per- 

 haps some of your correspondents will favour us with their ex- 

 perience in the matter, not confining their remarks to orna- 

 mental trees and shrubs only, but mentioning the most common 

 wild plants or shrubs that escape the devouring propensities of 

 this rapidly multiplying animal. Having had some experience 

 of its ravages, I will mention a few plants often found in its 

 haunts, and the manner in which they are treated. The hst,, 

 however, is a meagre one, and is only meant as a contribution. 

 on a subject which others who have had more experience may 

 enlarge upon. 



Furze, Gorse, or Whin, is destroyed wholesale when in the 

 young growth. Plants of any age cut down in winter, and 

 sending up their young growth in early summer, seem to 

 furnish rabbits with their choicest food. The same may be 

 said of young seedlings. Old prickly wood escapes, but thet 

 new growth from such is nipped off as produced. 



Holly and Broom both suffer, being barked in winter ; even 

 trees as largo as a man's leg are nibbled all round. 



Quickset hedge* are also destroyed in winter from the cansea 



