458 



JOUBNAL OF HORTICULTOBE AND COTTAGE GARDENEB. 



[ June 21, 1877. 



deserving of notice. The said bunch is one of seven that was 

 at first left on a Vine plant»-d 12th of March, 187G. Before 

 flowering I further reduced them to four, and now to two. 

 The Vine was simply turned out with a ball and planted in the 

 centre of the inside border for fruiting last year, but then, I 

 suppose not having fire heat, it did not set any fruit. If 

 there be any secret worth knowing, it is plenty of water, plenty 

 of liquor, plenty of fnlmsp, ond an occasional rub-down with 

 a camel-hair brush. — Joseph Witherspoon. 



[We never saw a buuch of Grapes more perfectly set than 

 the one referred to by our correspondent, nor a finer and more 

 healthy leaf of Mrs. Pince's Muscat than the one accompany- 

 ing it. — Eds ] 



SEAKALB. 



No donbt your correspondent " B. G." (who detailed his 

 practice on page H73) has had much experience in the cultiva- 

 tion of this useful vegetable, but perhaps laud in his district 

 may not be quite so valuable as it is in the suburbs of London. 

 " B. G." may depend on growers for the London markets making 

 the very best of tht-ir land. I have lately had some conver- 

 sation with one of the most successful growers of Ssakale near 

 London — namely, Mr. Bagley, Munster Frtrm, Fulham, who is 

 a grower of from ten to twelve acres of Kale annually, which 

 is mostly cleared o£f once a-year. Sometimes they leave an 

 acre or two for more than one year, but this does not occur fre- 

 quently. They never force old pKnts or crowns in the market 

 grounds. The Kile is earthed or " landed," as I previously 

 mentioned for late spring use. As to the time involved in 

 washing the Kale, I can say that I have seen some of the 

 finest produce that has ever been sent into the kitchen taken from 

 the beds without a scratch on it, and bleached with nothing 

 but the soil in which it was grown. I think if your correspon- 

 dent saw a load of this Kale he would say that it was a noble 

 sight to grace the market. 



I may mention that the London market growers avoid 

 taking sets from old plants. They always secure the quantity 

 they require from the one-year-old roots. I have seen them 

 planting seta not much thicker than the stem of a tobacco 

 pipe, which often produce the best crowns. I have just been 

 through a fine piece of Seakale about four acres in extent, which 

 had been " sprouted " and looked remarkably well. What I 

 mean by sprouting is removing the weaktst breaks or shoots 

 and leaving the strongest one to form the future crown. This 

 is a very important point in Seakale culture to be attended to i 

 at the present time. In conclusion I must certainly adhere to 

 the annual cleai'ance system of growing Seakale. — J. P. M. 



the south. Again, some flowers grow diii'erently in different 

 localities, according as the season may be. The year before 

 last I grew Mars, s E. ; had I gone by that season's growth I 

 should have discarded it, as it had no white with me at all. 

 Last season, however, it was beautiful, and I think it will take 

 the lead in its class. 



I am afraid that "D., Deal," has not had sufficient experi- 

 ence of the Carnation to constitute him a teacher. Does he 

 not dress other flowers ? Then why not dress a Carnation ? 



The process of dressing is very simple, and in my opinion not 

 at all opposed to any principle in horticulture. Let "T>.,Dial," 

 procure a set of dressing instruments from my friend Ben 

 Simonite, and let the merest tyro try his hand at dressing a 

 flower, and if his hand is a steady one he will make some im- 

 provement in the flower. There is first the camel-hair brush 

 for brushing off the dust, &c. Is this opposed to any principle? 

 Then there are the ste*l tweezers for turning back the points 

 of the calyx, which in some varieties are very long and stiff. 

 Lastly, there are the finely-tempered ivory tweezers for arrang- 

 ing the petals, which are easily displaced by strong winds, or 

 may come with the colours not evenly distributed — that is, 

 with more flake or bizarre on one side than on the other. 

 From my situation, if not allowed to dress the flowers, I should 

 never be able to exhibit, as in the flrst place I have always in 

 dry weather a cloud of smoke and dust falling on my plants, 

 and if a wind blows the flowers are frequently blown off and 

 the petals always disarranged. 



If " D., Deal," will pay a visit to Yorkshire in our blooming 

 time I shall be most happy (he being judge and jury) to dress 

 a flower or flowers in his presence, and I have not the least 

 doubt that he will go away convinced that dressing is not only 

 proper, but that he will go and do Hkewise. — Geokqe Eudd, 

 UndercUffe , Bradford. 



DRESSING CABNATIONS. 



I HAVE seen " D., Deal's," note on dressing Carnations, par- 

 ticularly the one where he refers to its taking days to dress 

 a stand of twenty-four Carnations and Picotees. Does he 

 mean dressing or making ? Upon looking back and taking a 

 bird's-eye view of my experience I find that the average time 

 occupied by myself and other growers superior to me is ten 

 minutes per flower, including carding, setting-up, &c. Of 

 course there are individual flowers which take a longer time ; 

 but, again, there are those whioh take less. 



Aa to the quantity of petals a flower should contain, I myself 

 am not particular as to the number provided they are good. 

 In my opinion it matters little whether a flower is shown with 

 three, four, or five tiers of petals, as there is always room for 

 a large full flower in a back row, even if it lacks a little refine- 

 ment, for being placed further from the eye faults are not so 

 easily discernible. There are, however, now very few, if any, 

 flowers, which if well grown lack refinement, although they 

 may make a large flower. Jenny Lind, c.b. (Puxley), is a 

 type of the large full flowers. It being late prevents it from 

 being exhibited as often as it otherwise would be ; but when 

 caught the exclamation is, "How fine!" What premiers it has 

 won ! but now, alas ! in some seasons the ground colour is 

 hardly so pare as it should be. My friend Mr. B. Simonite 

 has let US have one in similar style, only earlier, and I am 

 greatly mistaken if we do not have a really good variety and 

 one that will take a lead in its class for years to come. Its 

 name is John Simonite. 



My object in writing this is to prove that we northern growers 

 do not object to large full flowers provided that the individual 

 parts are good ; and it invariably happens now that any flower 

 we may complain of in the north is equally complained of in 



FEETILISEES. 

 We all know how advantageous it is to have the use of some 

 artificial manures, as they are somewhat improperly called, to 

 push forward and strengtben our garden crops, and moat of 

 US know that they ought to be applied only during wet weather, 

 and that they are really thrown away and wasted if put on 

 the ground during dry and droughty weather. Many of us 

 could tell how often we have lost the benefit our gardens would 

 have derived by a sudden change of weather. Often have I 

 sprinkled guano, nitrate of soda, etc., when there was every ap- 

 pearance of rain, only to be disappointed by the weather clear- 

 ing up. I therefore beg to suggest that your able correspon- 

 dent who wrote last week on this very important subject, 

 " Top-dressing — Fertilisers," will favour us with the informa- 

 tion of the proper proportions of guano, superphosphate of lime, 

 nitrate of soda, soot, and salt, Ac, to be mixed or dissolved 

 in water ; say how many pounds or ounces should be mixed 

 in ten gallons of water, how many square yards of ground that 

 quantity should be applied to, and what crops will beneficially 

 absorb the ten gallons of mixture. I intentionally aek lor the 

 quantities in pounds and ounces per ten gallons of water 

 because measures vary very much in different parts of the 

 country, and strong manures require to be most carefully ad- 

 ministered, for they are powerful for good or evil as rightly 

 or wrongly used ; and I therefore think that instead of trusting 

 them to the chancea of a light or heavy fall of rain, the best 

 and most advantageous way of using them will be dissolved or 

 mixed in proper proportions with water. — G. 0. S. 



THE RAMBLING NOISETTE ROSE. 



The Rambling Noisette is not much known. It was found 

 in a bed of seedlings made in 1825 by Marie Noisette, a nursery- 

 man at Brie-Comte-Robert, and flowered for the first time in 

 1829. It is a variety with long shoots, attaining 10 to 12 feet 

 long, rambling on the surface of the ground like the shoots 

 of a Bramble. Its flowers are double, of a clear milk white, of 

 medium size, and exhaling an odour suggestive of that of the 

 Musk Rose, and produced in a corymb of five to twenty, issuing 

 from the wood of the preceding year. 



" I had grafted some on Briars 12 feet high," says Marie 

 Noisette; " their drooping branches supported by a hoop pre- 

 sented an agreeable aspect. In fact, where those branches 

 were covered with thousands of Roses they were splendid, an 

 idea of the beauty of the flowers being suggested by recalling 

 those of Aimee Vibert, the pearl of white Roses." 



No rambling Rose is more beautiful than this. It is valuable 



