April 2U, 1877. J 



JOUBNAl OB HOBTIOULTUBE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



315 



I hope after this quotation from bo aocnrate an observer we 

 shall have no one defending the bullfinch. Gardeners, imitate 

 Mr. Gadd ; make the bullfinch your game during winter. Chaf- 

 finches do little harm ; they draw-up our young Radishes as 

 soon a% they appear above the surface, but this done they 

 do no more mischief- Cover-up the beds and then enjoy the 

 Bong and beauty of the chaffinch. The tomtit should not be 

 destroyed ; it is an insectivorous bird. Sparrows, too, are 

 great consumers of insects, and by a wonderful arrangement 

 of Nature, during spring and early summer they live on insects, 

 and their constantly increasing families require an unceasing 

 supply of food, hence they do much good. The summer over, 

 they live on corn. In proper numbers sparrows are gardeners' 

 friends. — Wiltshiee Rectoe. 



SuEELY "A Master Gakdener" is joking when he writes 

 as regards the hedgehog " that they suck cows, and further 

 that they spoil them as well." He also writes, " this fact is 

 indisputable." In the first place I deny it is a fact, and next 

 I dispute it. Did he or any of the farmers he mentions ever 

 see one so doing .' It is not a new statement, but one that has 

 never been proven, and although naturalists have made every 

 inquiry there never has yet been one person that has said he 

 had seen the animal in the act. If "A Mastek Gardener " 

 were to examine a hedgehog's month he would at once see how 

 utterly impossible it would be for the animal to suck a cow. 

 Let him look when a calf is sucking and see how much of the 

 teat it is obliged to get into its mouth to gain the milk, and 

 he will see the fallacy of his statement. The hedgehog could 

 not do it if he were willing. As regards, then, the habit of the 

 animal being such, it is neither a fact nor indisputable. 



" A Master Gardener " says bullfinches never come into 

 gardens. Perhaps he can tell me how it happened that my 

 gardener has killed between thirty and forty in my own garden 

 this year. Before I had the bullfinches destroyed I did not 

 get a bushel of fruit from about fifty Plum trees, so numerous 

 were this variety of bud-eating bird. No doubt tho sparrows 

 and greenfinches do much harm, and yet my Gooseberry trees 

 are scarcely touched since I destroyed the bullfinches, though 

 I may state that there are hundreds of sparrows that come 

 every night to sleep among the evergreens in different parts 

 of the grounds. This year they and the greenfinches have 

 pecked the Primroses and Polyanthuses sadly, but on examin- 

 ing many of the flowers I found several which had been much 

 eaten by insects, therefore I have the idea that the birds were 

 after them. As regards the tomtits I never have any destroyed. 

 The buds they peck out mostly have insects in them, or eggs of 

 insects on them. If the crops of the tomtits are inspected 

 there will be no buds found in them, while I have found that 

 of the bullfinch full, and those mostly bloom buds. This latter 

 bird is the only one I wage war against ; all the others do more 

 good than harm. — Harbison Weir, iVeirlcigli,Brcnchlc>j, Kent. 



CUCUMBERS FOB THE MILLION. 



Knowing that Mr. Luckhnrst can grow Cucumbers by the 

 hundred, I have thought that he and others might be interested 

 in knowing that there is a man not far from here (Bramble- 

 tye) who, by putting theory into practice, can grow them by 

 the thousand. Some six months ago he became possessed of 

 some old greenhouse lights, and formed them into a lean-to 

 pit 60 feet by 8, with a back path and a flow-and-return hot- 

 water pipe ; half of this pit he used for propagating bedding 

 plants, the other half for growing Cucumbers for sale. 



Having purchased a quantity of good stable manure he 

 placed it in this pit in the usual way ; in the next part was 

 growing his Cucumber plants, thus acting on Mr. Luckhurst's 

 advice — that growing them at home is preferable to fetching 

 them from a distance. I saw the plants soon after they had 

 been planted in their place in good turfy loam from an old 

 pasture, and so planted that the roots can run down to the 

 bottom of the pit for food as they require it, the varieties 

 being RoUisson's Telegraph, Masters' Prohfic, and Tender and 

 True, all trained on horizontal wires. I called to see them on 

 Saturday, April 11th, when to my astonishment, in the brief 

 space of three weeks since I last saw them, there were Cucum- 

 bers by the thousand. I counted in the space of 1 foot twenty- 

 one fruits from 12 to 6 inches long, a sight scarcely to be 

 credited. I shall be glad to accompany Mr. Luckhnrst to see 

 this wonderful crop. 



The beat of the three varieties is RoUisson's Telegraph. I 

 counted from five to eight fruits on a joint, and dozens of 



joints with that number. I grow Cox's Volunteer, and find 

 it very good for both summer and winter, but I must confess 

 my faith gave way in presence of such a sight as the one 

 referred to. Masters' Prolific is " nowhere," and Tender and 

 True, except for the length and beauty of fruit, cannot be com- 

 pared with Telegraph. Bear in mind I am not condemning 

 these varieties generally, but only describing them as they 

 appear in this house. Mr. Wallis, the grower, is a market 

 gardener and florist at East Grinstead, and would be pleased 

 to show anyone his Cucumbers " for the million." — Samuel 

 Jenks, Bramhleti/e. 



OUR BORDER FLOWERS— FUMEWORTS. 



We have not a more graceful race of hardy herbaceous plants 

 for border decoration than the Fumeworts. They are beautiful 

 in every sense — in foliage, flowers, and habit. It was predicted 

 long ago that Dielytra spectabilis, like the China Rose, would 

 find its way into every cottage garden ; it has found its way 

 into many, but it will be a long time at the present rate of in- 

 crease before it finds its way into all. A plant possessed of 

 such intrinsic merit, and with such pleasing properties to re- 

 commend it, ought not only to be in every cottage garden but 

 in every cottage window and greenhouse. I can imagine what 

 a thrill of delight would run through the mind of the celebrated 

 Fortune when he first gazed on this charming plant in John 

 Chinaman's garden. When first introduced it was the admir- 

 ation of all, and was eagerly sought after, but in many places 

 it has had to give way to others ; yet it retains all its useful 

 properties for both in and out-door purposes, and for cut flowers, 

 where such are in demand, it is invaluable. 



Dielytra spectabilis delights in a rich, hght, well-drained 

 soil, and a sheltered sunny situation, and when established the 

 plants take care of themselves ; but the young growths require 

 protection from late spring frosts. It is a free-growiug plant 

 and bears cutting well, yielding a succession of flowers for a 

 long season. It may be readily increased by cuttings during 

 summer, also by division of the roots. We have a white 

 variety of the above ; at the best it is but a delicate plant, yet 

 when well grown it proves very desirable for indoor work. 



We have some other kinds of Dielytras which do us good ser- 

 vice in the spring and early summer. From North America 

 we have D. speciosa, a showy plant but seldom seen ; D. exiraia 

 is an interesting and graceful plant, having naked stalks and 

 drooping racemes of pinkish-coloured flowers ; D. formosa used 

 to be much more frequently met with than at the present. As 

 spring garden decorative plants they all require the same treat- 

 ment, and, common as they may be said to be, they are still 

 useful for in or out-door decoration. — Veritas. 



NEW BOOK. 



Tlic New Practical Wiinlotc Gardener. Bij J. E. Mollison. 



Groombridge & Son. 



A iBETTY little volume, giving correct information, but 



not " new." 



THE OLD MARKET GARDENS and NURSERIES 

 OF LONDON.— No. IG. 



Through the greater part of last century the name of 

 Chelsea called up to the London citizen recollections of a very 

 pleasant semi-rural locality. Hither would hie, on a chance or 

 stated holiday, folks of all ages from noisy London or busy 

 Westminster, and they would not forget in thei.- way along to 

 take a bun at the noted Chelsea establishment, or as thoy came 

 nearer the famed Chelsea meads they might refresh themselves 

 with custards. There were the attractions of the College and 

 its old pensioners, the glimpses to be had of the pleasant gar- 

 dens attached to the numerous villa residences, and there was 

 the Common with its sand hills affording fun to the youngsters ; 

 while some visitors would be»r back to their dingy city homes 

 choice plants from Chelsea nurseries, long to be cherished if 

 the smoke did not extinguish their lives. I could fancy the 

 King's Eoad as it was when the nurseries of Chelsea were at 

 their best had somewhat of the aspect of that part of the 

 Edgware Eoad that runs through Maida Vale and Kilbnrn, 

 though this now-a-days is fast undergoing an alteration which 

 is making it appear more town-like. 



It would seem, however, that it was not until the reign of 

 George III. was far advanced that the nurseries of Davey and 

 Colvill became famous, for although Chelsea had many gar- 



