JOURNAL OP HOKTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



[ January 11, 1877. 



From what I have seen there, and from what I grew of it last 

 BeasoD, I would say Plant a Vine of the Duke, as I am con- 

 fident it is one of the finest Grapes for invalids in cultivation. 

 Its large berries, few seeds, and delicate flavour makes it suit- 

 able for that purpoee. I may add that it kept plump with me 

 three months after being ripe, which is another recommend- 

 ation. — James Dickson. 



SELECT VEGETABLES FOR SMALL GAEDENS. 



"A Kitchen Gakdkner" has rendered a service to many 

 amateurs in publishing such an useful list of vegetables as that 

 on page S. It is a reliable list, for the vegetables named are 

 sorts of proved worth. Bat little room is left for criticism 

 with a view of making the list still more perfect, and what I 

 have to say will be directed solely with that objeot in view. 



In the list is one important omission, only two varieties 

 of Broccoli are named — namely. Snow's Winter White and 

 Walcheren, and the latter is more a Cauliflower than a Broccoli'; 

 in fact as a Broccoli it is of no service, but as a Cauliflower it 

 is valuable. The list, therefore, contains only one real Broc- 

 coli, which is generally in use during December and January, 

 sometimes lasting into February. Yet Brocoolis must be had 

 throughout March, April, and May. Three varieties which, if 

 obtained true, will produce heads throughout that period are 

 Adams' Early White, Wilcove Late White, and Cattell's 

 Eclipse, which follow in the order named. Other varieties will 

 also come into use during the same period. These I will not 

 name, but will give advice that may be more serviceable. 

 Every seedsman or firm of reputation pay special attention to 

 some few varieties of vegetables — pinning, as it were, their 

 faith on the excellence of such varieties. Consult, therefore, 

 the catalogue of your seedsman, and select for the seasons 

 required such Broocolis which are specially recommended for 

 those seasons. Probably you will obtain varieties, under what- 

 ever name, which have been selected from the three I have 

 named, or from others equally good, and you will be satisfied ; 

 but to order the veritable three you may not obtain the exact 

 varieties which I mean. Does anyone whisper " dishonesty ?" 

 He need not do so. Dishonest seedsmen cannot long flourish 

 now-a-days. The fact is Broccolia to preserve them pure 

 require special care, and it amounts to an impossibility that 

 anyone can give that care to every variety in cultivation : 

 hence each grower selects a few which he can emphatically 

 recommend, knowing that particular care has been exercised 

 in the selection of the stocks and the growth of the seed. But 

 to make doubly sure of a crop so important as Broccolis it is 

 advisable to procure small packets of seed of six sorts rather 

 than large packets of three sorts. There is such a confusion 

 in the nomenclature of Broccolis that it is far more diffioult to 

 advise a selection than in dealing with Peas and Beans. Per- 

 haps that is the reason wby " A Kitchen Gabdener" left late 

 Broccolis out of his list. 



I would say a word on Snow's Winter White Broccoli. It 

 is one of the most important and valuable of early vegetables, 

 and gives more satisfaction and causes more disappoiulment 

 than almost any other — satisfaction when it produces heads, 

 as it should do, in midwinter ; disappointment when it does 

 not " throw up " until spring. If there is one vegetable more 

 than another to which the warning may be applied " Beware 

 of cheap seed," it is to this Broccoli. If ever I see it offered 

 at less than 2.s-. an ounce I regard the price as a " danger 

 signal." The cheapest way is to give an additional price for 

 a guaranteed packet. It is one of the vegetables worth buying 

 true or not at all. 



I will now turn to Cauliflowers. " A Kitchen Gabdener " 

 recommends Early London as being the earliest. It is not so. 

 Early Erfurt, or selections from it sold as Dwarf Mammoth by 

 the principal EngUsh seedsmen, is in my experience the first 

 and the best of early Cauliflowers. I have bad feed direct 

 from Erfurt, alEO seed of Dwarf Mammoth and Early London 

 from English firms, and my verdict is as above given. By 

 sowing Dwarf Mammoth and Walcheren in September and 

 again as required in the spring, also one good Eowing cf Veitch's 

 Antnmn Giant in April, Canlillowers may be had over as long 

 a period as they are obtainable. Walcheren resists drought 

 better than does Early London, and better than either does 

 Autumn Giant. 



The next omission to refer to is the " Winter Greens," or 

 Kales. These are indispensable in every kitchen garden. I 

 do not hesitate to say that the best and most useful of all is 

 Cottager's Kale — the beet in quality, the most productive, and 



the most hardy. I have known all others killed by frost, also 

 all Cabbages, Savoys, and Brussels Sprouts, while Cottagers' 

 Kale was uninjured. That was in 1800, when the thermometer 

 was 6° below zero. I have ever since grown Cottagers' Kale, 

 and shall continue doing so as long as I am accountable for 

 the vegetable supply of a garden. The Dwarf, or Tall Curled 

 Scotch Kale, is also valuable, and Buda Kale is useful for its 

 lateness. For sowing at the same time as the above for winter 

 use Conve Tronchuda is a delicious vegetable. It is also as 

 hardy as Savoys, the best of which are Tom Thumb or Early 

 TJlm and Dwarf Green Curled. There is one other vegetable 

 which should be named with every seed order however email — 

 Kosette Colewort. Seed of this sown at the end of June or 

 early in July wUl produce plants for planting closely together 

 in vacant ground, and which will yield a supply of " Wintei 

 Greens " of the first quality. — An Old Hand. 



EXHIBITING EXOTIC FERNS. 



Having been sent for to this island (Isle of Man) for a six- 

 weeks supervision by my doctor, a source of rejoicing to me 

 is that my old favourite crotchet Ferns crops up ; and as I havB 

 not been writing about them for a considerable time, let me 

 hope that those notes may prove of utility to some young, or 

 perhaps inexperienced, exhibitor, and it so the pains bestowed 

 on their composition is at once more than repaid. 



But first I would atk. How is it that this, to my thinking, 

 exquisite tribe of plants ia so sparingly exhibited by amateurs ; 

 and when staged, why are the specimens, with comparatively 

 few exceptions, so very second-rate ? My own idea is that 

 societies do not encourage them enough in their schedules. I 

 have heard people say, "Anybody can grow Ferns; they are 

 as easy as A B C." My own experience leads me to a con- 

 trary conclufion altogether; and indeed if their cultivation ia 

 Eo fimple, how comes it that I rarely find my favourites at any 

 show displajiog the perfection of high cultivation, discrimina- 

 tion in selection, and last though not least, in point of staging 

 without a fault? 



I do not propose now to touch upon the cultivation of Feme, 

 but to treat them purely as exhibition plants. I could say a 

 word or two upon the queer way in which I see them judged here 

 and there, but not now. Most good judges cf stove and green- 

 house plants think, no doubt, that they are quite competent to 

 judge Ferns. I entirely disagree, however, with any such 

 notion. To enable any man to judge Ferns without the rea- 

 sonable danger of making mistakes he ought to be thoroughly 

 conversant with the not unlrequent intricacies in their culti- 

 vation, and also with their comparative rarity or otherwise in 

 this country. Judging them, as is often the case, merely by 

 their tout cnscnil/le ia entirely wrong. Every point (I mean con- 

 dition, which is high cultivation, quality, equality, and 80 on) 

 for and against each individual plant should be minutely con- 

 sidered and weighed, and then the sum total made up. 



One rarely sees now in the schedules of any society mor& 

 than one group provided for of six, eight, or nine plants at the 

 outside (stove and greenhouse plants and Orchids we often find 

 in tens, twelves, sixteens, and twenties). We need to have a 

 class for twelve at the Provincial Royal, and a silver medal was 

 awarded, together with the money, to the gainer of the first 

 prize ; but just now such things are numbered with the past, 

 not, I hope, for ever. 



In my opinion at every show claiming to hold a high posi- 

 tion one group of twelve or more Ferns should always be pro- 

 vided for, with, of course, others of say six or eight; and I 

 would preclude exhibitors from either entering for or com- 

 peting in more than one class, as by that prudent course you 

 give to others the chance of winning a first or second prize, 

 and I know there are many would-be exhibitors who calculate 

 beforehand that at this or that show " Mr. Smith and Mr. 

 Jones are always first and second ;" so others can only at the 

 best be third, or not even that, and so, quite difoonraged, 

 they leave the plants at home, not relishing what by them is 

 coneidcred a diecreditable position in the prize list. Now, I 

 would far rather be a good third at a fine show than a bad first 

 at a second-rate one with nothing below me worth defeating ; 

 for where is the honour in the last-mentioned case ? If, how- 

 ever, a further chance were provided in the Ehape of another 

 group of six or eight, and if (as I contend should always be 

 done) exhibitors were precluded from enteiing for or competing 

 iu both, probably several young, or it may be entirely fresh, 

 aspirants for fame eagerly enter the lists, and the result is a. 

 lively, keen, and much-to-be-desircd competition. 



