May 17, 1877. ] 



JOURNAL OP HORTICDLTORE AND COTTAGE GABDENEK. 



371 



taking into conaideratiou his many virtues we can well afford 

 to be to hia faalta a little blind, and continue to regard him as 

 a really true garden friend. There are, I think, three species 

 or varieties of the tomtit, all of which occasionally frequent 

 gardens, and the foregoing remarks apply alike to all of them. 

 The small blue variety is, however, the most common. 



The common house sparrow is generally considered as a sad 

 rogue. Among many other ill-done deeds attributed to him 

 is that of picking the buds off fruit trees and Gooseberry 

 bushes. I do not, however, believe that he does so. I have 

 frequently seen him busy amongst them, and suspecting him 

 to be really doing this I have there and then shot him, but the 

 most careful post mortem examination has failed to discover the 

 least trace of buds in either his mouth or his crop ; and I am 

 inclined to think that if he remove bnda at all he only does 

 so when they interfere with hia search for insects, of which he 

 is a very large consumer during the spring and early summer 

 months. I have often seen him pull the blooms of Crocuses 

 to pieces in a very provoking manner. Why he does so I am 

 unable to say, unless it is in his search for insects. His 

 decided weakneaa for Green Peas cannot be disputed. Taken 

 altogether it may be truly said that sparrows do much good, 

 and if their number is allowed to unduly increase they will be 

 found to do much harm. I will allude to some other friends 

 and foes on a future occasion. — P. G. 



THE ROYAL NURSERIES, SLOUGH. 



When the Auriculas are iu flower and specimen Roses are in 

 bloom, and when stage and fancy Pelargoniums, Tulips, cSjc, are 

 showing, it is a treat of no ordinary kind to inspect these cele- 

 brated nurseries. Roses are now receiving considerable at- 

 tention at Slough, and how well they are grown there the high 

 honours they receive at the London and provincial shows can 

 testify. Mr. Tamer grows his Roses in light airy structures. 

 The glass is very nearly down as low as the floor line. Why 

 should glass houses be built on walls standing 3 or 4 feet above 

 the level of the ground, when upright sashes of glass and wood- 

 work can bo made at no more cost ? It is certain that for the 

 largest proportion of plants grown iu pots, the more light that 

 can be obtained above and around the plants the better. Then, 

 again, the plants at Slough have plenty of room allowed them ; 

 no overcrowding is to be seen anywhere. In the houses where 

 the largest specimens are there is no staging, the specimens as 

 a rule being placed upon inverted flower pots, and the man in 

 charge can gain easy access to any part of the plants without 

 disturbing them in any way. The largest specimens are mostly 

 well-known sorts which have been frequently mentioned. Very 

 noteworthy, too, is a large house fiUed with Roses in pots 8, 10, 

 and 12 inches in diameter, and for my part I would not grow 

 them in larger pots. The health and vigour of the plants were 

 excellent. Three new sorts sent out from this establishment 

 in 1875, and raised here, have proved to be well adapted for pot 

 culture. First must be placed Rev. J. B. M. Camm ; not that it 

 is a better Rose for exhibition than the others, but its flowers 

 are the sweetest of all, and iu other respects it is a fine and dis- 

 tinct Rose with globular rosy-pink flowers. Royal Standard 

 had still larger and more globular flowers of a bright rose 

 colour. Miss Hassard had no fully developed flowers, but iu 

 bud it is charming, and yields to no Rose in beauty of foliage 

 and vigorous yet compact growth ; the flowers are pale pink or 

 flesh-coloured. Mr. Turner thinks very highly of Duchesso 

 de Vallombrosa, it is one of the best of the new Roses of last 

 year ; and Princets Beatrice is another very good Rose raised at 

 Waltham Cross. 



We have heard on more than one occasion that the interest 

 in the stage Pelargoniums has slackened, and that there is no 

 demand for them. Mr. Turner does not say so, and on my 

 asking what he did with such great numbers of them I was told 

 that they never had enough to supply their customers. About 

 a dozen varieties were coming into bloom in the show house. 

 The plants were only medium-sized, but were in excellent 

 health and throwing fine large trusses on stout elastic flower 

 stalks. There is a surprising variety of colour in this class of 

 Pelargoniums now. I noted Claribel as being very pure white 

 with a carmine blotch on the upper petals ; Prince Bismarck, 

 crimson and maroon; Scottish Chieftain, crimson and upper 

 petals dark maroon — a fine flower ; and Ruth, lively cherry 

 marked with maroon on the upper petals. But at the time of 

 my visit the largest proportion of them were in bud only. A 

 few of the very best sorts are Eclipse, Edith, Marchioness, Prima 

 Donna, Revenge, Achievement, Admiration, Blue Boy, Conquest, 



Constance, Crown Prince, Diplomatist, Example, Lord Clyde, 

 Maid of Honour, Pompey, Prince Leopold, and Warrior. 



Fancy Pelargoniums are very attractive, a large collection of 

 choice varieties are still cultivated at Slough, and new soita 

 are being raised here annually. The fanci es are well worthy 

 of extended culture. They are rather more tender than stage 

 sorts; but if a lighter compost is used in pott ing, and the plants 

 have a little more heat than their more robust cousins, they will 

 not disappoint. Countess of Dudley, East Lynn, Fanny Gair, 

 Godfrey Turner, Duchess of Edinburgh, Priscess Teck, and 

 Ellen Beck are amongst the best. The soil at Slough seems 

 suitable to all sorts of plants, but skill and persistent attention 

 cannot be wanting to produce such fine flowers as are at present 

 to be seen. 



Azaleas are largely grown, but Mr. Turner has discarded the 

 large pyramids which he used to exhibit iu Lo ndon some years 

 ago, and now grows a different style of plant. They are trained 

 to single stems about the length of an umbrella handle, and the 

 heads are something like an umbrella when expanded. Plants 

 trained in this manner are very eflective, especially when placed 

 on tho ground. Some plants have been allowed to grow in a 

 natural manner, and it would be well if more were so grown. A 

 collection of umbrellas is not more natural-looking than a col- 

 lection of pyramids. A few of the very best varieties are Due 

 de Nassau and Duchesse de Nassau, which though old cannot 

 yet be discarded from the choicest collection ; Apollo, Comtesse 

 de Beaufort, Flambeau, James Veitch, Madame Ambroise Ver- 

 schaSelt, MdUe. Marie Van Houtte, Mrs. Turner, Charmer, and 

 Souvenir de Madame Rudolph Abel. 



Of Auriculas the demand for plants is now so great that the 

 stock of many fine sorts is well nigh exhausted. Some of the 

 seedling alpines are still in good trim, but the show varieties are 

 mostly over. Tulips I hope to see when they are in flower, and 

 shall probably have something to say about them at that time. 

 With the increasing interest in other florist flowers it is certain 

 that the gorgeous Tulip will not be forgotten, and the list of sub- 

 scribers and exhibitors to the National Tulip Society is now a 

 very large one. No garden should be without a bed of Tulips, 

 and yet I doubt if half a dozen collections could be found in the 

 metropolitan district.— J. Douglas. 



DOINGS OF THE LAST AND WORK FOR 

 THE PRESENT WEEK. 

 A GREAT change in the weather has occurred ; the frosty east 

 winds have gone, but the destruction caused by them still re- 

 mains. Potatoes were utterly destroyed, even where protected 

 from the force of the wind by a wall on the leeward side. Other 

 plants which were not destroyed show the effects of the cou- 

 tinusd cold in a stunted growth, from which they will not soon 

 recover. We have not yet been able to judge of the effects ol 

 the frost upon the fruit trees, but fancy those that were in full 

 blossom will not be overburdened with fruit. 



KITCHEN GABDEN. 



We have continued using the hoe amongst all crops, including 

 the permanent crops of herbs, &c., and all ground that is not 

 under croppiog is being rapidly filled. Peas have again been 

 sown for succession. We find that during the dry and hot 

 weather of July Peas are not only subject to mildew, but also to 

 the attacks of thrips ; we have therefore dug out shallow trenches 

 in the same way as Celery trenches, and in the bottom of these 

 the drills have been drawn for the Peas. No doubt that water 

 can be applied to the crops much better when grown in this way, 

 and evaporation from around the roots will not proceed so 

 rapidly, especially if a little manure is placed over the surface 

 of the ground. Cauliflower plants which were put out before 

 the frost winds set iu have grown but little, and a stray rabbit 

 found its way in and cut a number off at the surface of the 

 ground. Fortunately there were plenty of spare plants to make 

 the blank spaces good. It may seem a small matter to mention 

 the mischief done by a rabbit, but these creatures are a real 

 plague. At this season there are scores if not hundreds of young 

 rabbits about, and they force their bodies through very small 

 holes ; for instance, the Carnation frames were raised off the 

 ground about 2 inches to allow air to circulate underneath ; one 

 crept in there and ate off several choice sorts, so that it waa 

 necessary to surround the ground with galvanised netting. The 

 meshes must not be more than 1 { inch ; if larger than this, small- 

 sized rabbila get through. 



We have made a sowing of Dwarf Kidney Beans in the open 

 border, and have potted-off some that were raised in pots. It ia 

 Uttle use sowing either Beans or Scarlet Runners very early, as 

 they are sure to be cut down by frosts. These crops we hope, 

 however, will now be safe. Those that we have potted-off now 

 will supply pickings until pods can be gathered from the plants 



