JOUENAL OP HORTICULTUBE AND COTTAGE GABDENEE. 



i Jannary 1, 1867. 



bitors, and doubtless there are such, who wish to aWend both 

 gatherings. 



It is a pleasing thing to see these Societies profiting by the 

 example set by the International Horticultural Exhibition of 

 18CC, and determining to keep their fetes open for nearly a 

 week ; thus, by varying the price of admission on various 

 days, affording an opportunity to the millions to pay plea- 

 sant court to Flora and Pomona. It is now a recognised fact 

 that if shows are to pay and societies to exist, the basis of 

 their constitution must be widened in the matter of admission, 

 so that the general public can have an opportunity of seeing 

 the gorgeous flowers and fruits brought together on such occa- 

 sions ; and I think that this, the first great attempt of " Cot- 

 tonopolis," with its toiling thousands, should have as little 

 opposition as possible. — D. Thomson. 



P.S. — In the advertisement of the five-days Show of the 

 Eoyal Horticultural Society, which appeared in the last Num- 

 ber, you have printed July for June. 



[The dates given were those sent to us. A corrected adver- 

 tisement appears this week.] 



ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



Weekly Ssovf, necembei- 22mr.—-Mr. Wm. Bartlett, Sliaftesbni-y 

 Eoad. Hammersmith, was awarded a first prize for a coUectiou of 

 Pi-imiilas, &c. Mr. B. Brown, gardener to E. H. Wyatt, Escj,, 

 Wandsworth Lodge, Upper Tooting, had also a first prize for a col- 

 lection of flowering plants. A collection of plants consisting of 

 Camellias, Hyacinths, Primnlas, Tulips, and Heaths, was exhibited 

 from the Society's Garden, Chiswick. Mr. B. Brown, gardener to 

 E. H. Wyatt, Esq., obtained a first prize for a collection of fruit ; 

 and Mr. T. Neale, gardener to R. A. Cartwright, Esq., Edgeott House, 

 Banhuiy, was awarded an extra prize for a Smooth-leaved Cayenne 

 Pine Apple. 



Thrctifbcr 2^tJ(. — On this occasion an extra prize was awarded to 

 Mr. W. Bartlett, Shaftesbuiy Eoad, Hammersmith, for a collection of 

 flowering plants ; and a coUection of Cinerarias, Heaths, Mignonette, 

 &c., from the Society's garden, Chiswick, completed the exhibition. 



MARKET STRAWBERRIES. 



One word more, and I have done with this subject. I do 

 not recede from my original list. The varieties I named are 

 all sure and gr-eat croppers. It is pleasing to me to find that 

 " EciLA " adopts these sorts named by me in my two last com- 

 munications : Empress Eugenie, Frogmore Late Pine, Mar- 

 guerite, Sir J. Paxton, and Wonderful. Patrick's SeedUng is 

 a good cropper, and a good Strawberry. With regard to the 

 others, British Queen is not to be depended on. Amateurs, 

 even, are hereabouts giving it up. Cornucopia was raised by 

 the late Mr. Nicholson. I do not know it. Comte de Zans, 

 Alice Nicholson, and another Strawberry, were kindly sent to 

 me by Mrs. Nicholson this spring in an envelope ; but they 

 were so much dried, that, though carefully potted, they died. 

 La Constante is a wonderfully good Strawberry, handsome, 

 level, beautifully formed, of distinct and delicious flavour, 

 suited to strong land and a northern aspect. It is a great 

 cropper, and would be an admirable market sort were it not 

 apt to burn in hot seasons in some lands, and slow to reproduce 

 its^ plants. It is of. the same tufted formation as Kivers's 

 Eliza. Mr. AT. Prince, of Flushing, says, " it burns consider- 

 ably, and is a poor cropper ! " I agree to the former, not to 

 the latter. Myatt's Eleanor is a noble wedge-coned Strawberry, 

 but a fitful cropper. It is entirely superseded (also Elton Pine, 

 a very good market sort), by the four late Strawberries, Won- 

 derful, Cockscomb, Dr. Hogg, and Frogmore Late Pine. They 

 are hardy, sure setters, great croppers, mostly large fruit, and 

 more or less Queen-flavom-ed. 



As Wonderful and Frogmore Late Pine seem to be agreed 

 upon, let me induce market gardeners to try Dr. Hogg and 

 Cockscomb. These four will distance British Queen and Caro- 

 lina Superba. If flavour is not a matter of great consecjuence, 

 Cremone's Perpetual, Hooper's Seedling, and Ananas Lecoq 

 would do. 



I agree with " Ecila " that it is desirable that market gar- 

 deners and gentlemen's gardeners should relate their experi- 

 ence. 1 shall in due time be found to be right. I am no 

 puffer, and will be no party to appraising commodities, no 

 matter by whom they are raised or sent to me, to the deception 



of the British public. I haTe always been guided by the nature, 



and not by the names of persons or things. I have " The Lady," 

 strong plants, on trial. It will gratify me much if I be able to 

 speak favourably of her. Mr. Turner says Dr. Hogg is first- 

 rate. — W. F. Eadclitfe, Okeford Fitzpaine. 



PLANTING PEAR TREES. 



My principal motive for writing is to state my objections to 

 the practice which Mr. Abbey recommends. " Holes 9 feet 

 square (see second column, page 4()0), should be dug, and of 

 such a depth that the stem will not only be as deep in the soil 

 as it was before, but so that the union of the stock and scion 

 will be covered to the depth of 3 inches." 



No hole in any cultivated garden need be more than from 

 .3 to 4 feet in diameter and 20 inches deep, and the covering of 

 the junction of the bud or graft 'with the stock, as fully pointed 

 out in your columns last spring, pages 180, 193, leads to injurious 

 consequences, for besides placing the tree by far too deeply in 

 the soil, it induces the putting forth of roots from the graft, 

 by which the effect of the Quince stock in giving fertUity is 

 destroyed. Here, where there are more Pear trees old and 

 young on Quince stocks than in any other garden in Europe, 

 great care is taken every spring when the ground has been 

 slightly dug to bury the weeds, which in seasons like this we 

 are reluctantly compelled to do, for digging among bearing trees 

 should be avoided. Great care is taken to withdraw all loose 

 earth from the base of the tree, so as to leave a space of about 

 an inch between the swollen junction of the graft with the 

 stock and the surface of the ground. This mode of culture has 

 been followed here with Pear trees on Quince stocks twenty to 

 twenty-five years old, and is the only sound method of 

 culture. 



In planting, I may add a word of advice. Before the tree is 

 placed in the hole throw in some loose earth in the form of a 

 mound in the centre of it, tread it gently, and on this place 

 the tree ; no sinking will then take place, so as in wet soils to 

 have the roots in a basin of water. — T. E. 



CATALOGUES. 



With regard to the subject entered upon by your correspon- 

 dent, " MoNTicoLA," I may observe, that terrible as is the 

 cattle plague, the catalogue plague is in some respects worse. 

 Though the symptoms are different in the two, they are equally 

 contagious and destructive, the former of bulls and cows, the 

 latter of truth and confidence. Queen, Lords, Commons, the 

 farmer, the justice, and the peasant, have with one will agreed 

 to stamp out the cattle plague ; but the catalogue murrain stUl 

 rides rampant. 



The progress of this terrible complaint was arrested for a 

 time a while ago, by a few indignant spirits, and the name 

 your humble servant gave to the " fat " catalogues will cling to 

 them for ever. An abatement of symptoms, temporary, alas ! 

 and illusive, ensued, only to be succeeded by an outburst more 

 violent and destructive than ever. Fatty degeneracy of the 

 worst form has set in ; who shall arrest the downward course ? 

 Let the young, bold, muscular horticulturists of the day, and 

 there are plenty, who are the consumers of these wares, set their 

 faces at, turn up their noses at, shake their heads at, drive 

 their quills at, and withdraw their support from, the great im- 

 posture. 



Let me recommend to a certain large class of your readers, 

 a good commercial speculation — to wit, a catalogue which shall 



" tell truth and shame the ." It would pay, sir — it would 



pay.— ***. 



EARLY PEAS. 

 Seeing a remark about Peas in The Journal of Horticul- 

 ture, I am induced to say a word in favour of Dickson's First 

 and Best. I have grown for the last ten years several of the 

 new Peas as they came out. As regards Dickson's First and 

 Best, I can most unhesitatingly affirm that it is the very best 

 early Pea I ever grew as regards earliness, productiveness, and 

 quality. It may be that there is a difference betwixt "Theta's " 

 soil and mine, as it is a well-known fact that what will do well 

 in one place will not answer satisfactorily in another ; but if 

 the Pea in question does not suit "Theta's" soil, that is no 



