December 36, 1897. ] 



JOURNAL OF HORTICnLTOBB AND COTTAGE GARDENEK. 



477 



vias in Northumberland, and that upwards of thirty years ago. 

 It had been introduced upon an old Apple tree growing in 

 rather a sheltered situation, and it had passed through two or 

 more winters without any very lieavy snows, and was, moreover, 

 held too sacred to bo meddled with at Christmas. I by no means 

 assert that larger specimens could not bo grown near London, 

 but the universal custom of seeking out all the large pieces 

 every December prevents the plants attaining the ei/.e alluded 

 to. Tlio heavy snows of the winter of 1837-38 damaged the 

 Northumberland specimen mucli ; its low growth and sheltered 

 position protected it from wind, which also makes havoc in 

 winter with much that escapes the Christmas depredators in 

 the south of England, by growing on the tops of Limes and 

 other slender boughs that may be too high for the ladder at 

 Land, and too weak to bear the climber. 



Of the many species of trees on which this plant introduces 

 itself I have never yet seen it on the Oak, and the number 

 of places where it is so grown is very small — one, I think, being 

 near Kastnor Castle, in Herefordshire. Its rarity on the 

 Oak certainly does not arise from any lack of specimens of all 

 ages scattered over the country, and I have in vain looked for 

 the Mistletoe on some Oak trees we have here beside a circle 

 of tall Limes, on which it is growing in abundance ; high winds 

 in winter lashing the tops, bring down the Mistletoe in quantity, 

 but no growth appears on the Oak. I'erhaps in the character 

 of a young healthy tree the Lime is more favourable to the 

 growth of Mistletoe than any other tree; but Mistletoe also 

 grows on the Mountain Ash while in a healthy state. It is less 

 plentiful on the Maple, and still more so on the common Ash ; 

 while the trees that produce the greatest quantity are the 

 Apple and White Thorn, but usually aged specimens of both, 

 and these trees, being most acce?3ible and leas affected by winds 

 than the Lime, furnish the greatest supply. 



I have but little to say on the Jlistletoe'a cultivation beyond 

 what has before appeared in these pages, but to those who like 

 to give it a trial 1 may say, that if the berries are bruised, and 

 rubbed into a crack of the bark cf an old Apple, Crab, or Thorn 

 tree branch, and some simple means taken to keep them there, 

 they will most likely vegetate. I have known a piece of thin 

 muslin tied over the place, and by the time that decayed germi- 

 nation had begun ; the growth, however, was slow for two or 

 three years, and i.s even so with natural specimens. I believe, 

 also, that inserting the seeds inside the bark, like budding, is 

 also attended with success ; but this latter appears to be a less 

 natural way than the former, for without positively asserting 

 my opinion of the way in which this plant is propagated 

 naturally to be correct, I have not seen reason to depart from 

 that which I put forth many years ago — that the birds which 

 are fond of the berries, or rather the juicy portion of these, 

 reject the seeds, which, clinging to the sides of their bills, they 

 rub them off against any branch they may be perching on. 

 That the birds do clean their bills in this manner is unques- 

 tionable, and that the seeds so deposited grow when favourably 

 placed is very likely. — J. Robsos. 



PEARS IN IIADDINGTONSHIllE. 



The past year has been a very singular one in a meteorolo- 

 gical point of view, and the absence of sun and heat in summer 

 and autumn has been exceptional. The consequent deteriora- 

 tion in quality of many kinds of fruits and vegetables has been 

 noteworthy, and the llavour of the former especially has been 

 much less racy. Amongst the kinds of fruit which have suf- 

 fered in this respect seem to be the finer varieties of Pears ; and 

 it has occurred to me that if your correspondents in different 

 localities were to record shortly in your columns the results of 

 their observations of the effects of the past season, it might 

 not only be interesting but useful to persons in those districts 

 leas favoured by climate, by enabling them to choose for culti- 

 vation those kinds less affected by unfavourable seasons. In 

 my own small garden I have had fruit this year on the follow- 

 ing kinds, and I give the result of u careful criticism of their 

 flavour, &c., by myself and friends. 



Beurro d'.Vmaulis. — Fruit of good size, well ripened, but 

 flavour flat. 



Urbaniste.— Smaller than usual, flavourless, and devoid of 

 the usual sprightly juice. 



Beurru de Capiaumont. — Small, and not np to the mark in 

 flavour, but better than the preceding. 



Eyewood. — Pretty good. 



Maiechol dela Cour.— Fruit large, and more like itseli in 



appearance and flavour than the others. A most excellent 

 Pear. 



Beurru Diel. — Small, cracked, and deficient in flavoitr. 



Crasanne. — Small, and poor in flavour. 



Duchesse d'Angonlime. — Ditto, ditto. 



Easter Beurrc. — Not yet ripe, but below the usual size. 



Peaches and Nectarines even in orchard bouse had less brisk- 

 ness of llavour than in ordinary seasons. The best of the 

 latter decidedly is Itivers's Queen Victoria, a most delicious 

 fruit. — John Fkrme, lluddinpton. 



CARTHOIIPE COTTAGERS' IMPROVEMENT 

 SOCIETY, AND ITS RESULTS. 



" What a fuss about striking Mrs. Pollock ! " was the quiet 

 observation made by a cottager to mo the other evening, in the 

 reading-room of the secluded agricultural village of Carthorpe, 

 near Bedale, in Yorkshire. " Why, really, I had a plant this 

 season from which I cut slips, and stuck them out in my 

 garden, without any protection or preparation, only giving 

 them a stamp by the side with my heel, and they all made fine 

 plants." " Just so, my friend, the methods of propagating 

 Mrs. Pollock are as easy and as numerous as to increase Tom 

 Thumb from single eyes to high branches, if you like ; but the 

 man who understands the nature of plants will always succeed 

 best, be the season of the year that ho attempts it when it 

 may." 



My object in writing ia not Mrs. Pollock Pelargonium alone, 

 but the circumstance called to my mind what has been done in 

 this village in a short time, and I wish to induce others to do 

 likewise. 



Here we have the privilege of reading your, and other 

 journols, besides volumes connected with gardening, chemistry, 

 botany, zoology, and the like, all through the liberality of G. J. 

 Sergeantson, Esq., CamphUl. Wo are supplied with a com- 

 fortable fire and light five nights in the week, from five till 

 nine. This is well deserving of imitation by those who wisk 

 to elevate the working man in our rural districts. 



One of the many benefits which have arisen, is the formation 

 of what we call our Cottagers' Mutual Improvement Society, 

 formed for the express purpose of encouraging that class in the 

 cultivation of their gardens. This Society has now been in ex- 

 istence six years, and each year has shown a marked improve- 

 ment in the produce, and so decidedly good is some of it, that 

 our cottagers are venturing abroad to a few of the leading shows. 

 One boasts that he has taken the first prize with Potatoes at 

 one exhibition, and with the same four first prizes at the great 

 north shows, and could discuss for an hour the merits of most 

 of the leading sorts, amongst which you might hear that Milky 

 White was a fine sort, if it was not so subject to disease, bnt, 

 he says, " Early Oxford and Fairy Queen, are the sorts for me 

 amongst rounds. The latter is particularly fine, eyes level." 



Another cottager as confidently asserts he can from Hands- 

 worth, with good cultivation, and Lapstone Kidney, show both 

 round and kidney-shaped tubers with a fair prospect of success, 

 and creates some mirth as to being able to " come over " the 

 judges in this matter ; judges who frequently, as he says, 

 write in the gardening papers, and who gave the first prize to his 

 spring-sown Onions for winter ones, at one of those " so-called 

 great exhibitions," as he styles them. The prizes being equal 

 he did not care ; but have they not lost caste in his eyes ? 

 Marvellously fine Onions, but fine as they were he intends to 

 have still larger ones, for with his own practice and that of 

 others communicated through the Journal, and having been 

 studying to discover what is food for them, ho finds potash to 

 be one of the principal ingredients. So I leave him among 

 the books, leaiuing what potash is, a sure way to get a step 

 higher in the estimation of his rivals, some of whom would 

 tell your readers they had been deceived wit h the Nune- 

 ham Park Onion, but that White Spanish, its prototype, and 

 Danvevs, " are the sorts for them. ' They especially prefer the 

 latter for August 10th, about the time of our show. 



The improvement perceptible is not confined to vegetables, 

 but fruit and flowers are also cared for in a manner scarcely 

 expected by the Society's promoters — a fact worth mentioning. 

 The Society gives a prize for border flowers. The word border 

 not being found definite enough, such phrases as herbaceoof , 

 annual, perennial, &c., are quite common, with smatterings of 

 botanical knowledge. Surely this must bo the right path, in- 

 stead of to the village alehouse. 



The Rose is made to bloom on what was desert or waste, and 



