484 



JOURNAL OP HOBTIOULTURE AND COTTAGE GABDENBE. 



[ June 28, 1877. 



infullible any more than the thermometer. Plants, if we learn 

 to read their indioatione, are much more aeneitive than ordi- 

 nary scientific instruments. On the morning of the loth inst. 

 the tops of Tomatoes, which had been outdoors a fortnight, 

 were severely injured by frost, while a registering thermometer 

 which works fairly well with half a dozen others, and is not 

 200 yards from the Tomatoes, did not fall below 40'. It must 

 have been frost which injured the Tomatoes, because when I 

 first saw them they were only a little drooping and not much 

 discoloured, but as soon as the sun shone full on them they 

 turned black, just as Potatoes do when frozen. They are 

 about 2 feet high. I have frequently observed frozen leaves 

 in early summer while the thermometers were far above the 

 freezing point ; but it is but fair to add that here where the 

 ground is very undulated the temperature often varies con- 

 siderably in a few yards. 



Oar Apple crop, I am sorry to say, has gone the way of most 

 other fruit-tree crops, and we shall be worse oft for hardy fruits 

 this year than wo were last. — William Taylok. 



PSIDIUM PYEIFERUM. 



Of the several Guavas grown in the West Indies the White 

 Guava (Piidium pyriferum) is esteemed the best, and is the 



Fig. C7.— Psiaium pyriferum. 



most abundant. In its wild state it is more of shrub than a 

 tree, but when cultivated in pardens it attains the dimensions 

 of a tree, with a stem about (J inchfs in diameter and a head 

 of the tize of a mediumfiztd Apple tree. The wood is very 

 hard; the leaves ore from 2 to .'1 iuchos long, in pairs; the 

 flower is whilo; and the fruit, which in as large as a hen's egg, 

 is Eulphur yellow, vfiy snooth acd perfumed. The pulp is 

 flesh-coloured, arorualic, and grateful to the palate. This 

 Guava is upf d as a deesert fruit, and is also preserved with 

 sugar; and (luava jelly is fstetmed one of the finest couBetves 

 that corue from the West Indies. 

 The lied Unava (Psidium pcmiferum) is a much larger tree 



than the White. The fruit is shaped like a Pomegranate, and 

 when ripe has an agreeable odour. It is considered, however, 

 to be inferior to the White Guava, but is much improved by 

 cultivation. The Mountain Guava, which is found in the 

 woods of Jamaica, is of no value as a fruit tree, but the wood 

 is in request on account of its dark colour and the fine degree 

 to which it may be polished. 



But the Guava which is considered of the greatest value in 

 this country is Catley'a Guava (Psidium Cattleyanum). This 

 fruit was first described by Mr. Catley of Barnet in a paper 

 read before the Eoyal Horticultural Society, and it has since 

 been cultivated in many gardens in this country. The fruit is 

 about tho size of a small Walnut, is nearly round, of a deep 

 claret colour, and possesEes somewhat the flavour of the Straw- 

 berry. The ekin is of the oonsistenoe of that of the Fig, but 

 thinner. The plant is also ornamental. It is propagated 

 freely from cuttings. It is a native of China, and is more hardy 

 than the Indian species, and it ripens its fruit in greenhouses 

 in this country, frequently producing two crops in a year. 



PEACH BLISTEE. 

 In investigating a subject we are apt to confound cause with 

 effect. Take a case of Peach " blister." Fungus is found 

 upon the blistered leaves and spreads to the healthy foliage, 

 fungus is therefore regarded as being the cause of the blister; 

 but we may carefully remove every trace of the fungus, re- 

 move every blistered leaf and gouty nhoot, and yet find the 

 evil has not been removed. But if Nature smiles, affording 

 warmth in place of frost and cold, the real cause is removed 

 and we have healthy foliage; the fungus remains at a stand- 

 still, spreads not to the leaves or shoots formed during warmtr 

 weather, but prevails only in those formed during cold and 

 frost, the disorganised tissues of which present a nidus for 

 the luugus. We have no blistered Peach leaves under glass 

 because we remove the cause — oold ; but if we take a tree from 

 the warm house to the open air we may calculate upon having 

 blii-ter the spring following if the weathtr be cold and the pro- 

 tection ineufficient. If we introduce a blii-tertd tree from the 

 open air it will not communicate it to the other unblietered 

 trees, nor continue to produce the fungus itself. It is so with 

 trees ogniust walls. They blister only in a cold spring, pro- 

 duciug foliage free from blister when the weather becomes 

 warm. Warmth, then, is the remedy for Peach blister, the 

 opposite (cold) being its cause. We know that the black 

 fungus on the leaves of the Orange, Msrtle, &c., is an effect, 

 the cause being the scale which infests the trees, and that 

 mildew is the ttleot of drought upon Peas. It is not sufficieLt 

 to remove the black futifjus from the Orange leaves, nor to 

 destroy the mildew upon the Peas. Wo may remove the 

 fungus, destroy the mildew, but if the cause remain it is cer- 

 tain to produce its effect. Destroy the scale, apply water, and 

 keep moist, and there will bo no black funpus nor mildew. 

 " The ouree causcleEs will not come." — G. A. G. P. 



DRESSING CARNATIONS. 



I STATED in my " Notes from My Garden in 187G " that I 

 should not notice any criticisms made on my remarks on dress- 

 iug Carnations, but the courteous and kindly reply of Mr. 

 Rudd induces me to break silence; not that I intend to enter 

 into any controversy, but lest be should imagine that my 

 silence was disconrteons. He and I view thiugs differently, 

 and I fear we are not likely to come any eloper in agreement ; 

 and although I may not be in accord with him or many other 

 florists, yet I cannot but think that I have eome weight of 

 argument on my side. I fear I cannot hope to take a lesson on 

 dressing from Mr. Endd as I shall be away in Scotland, and for 

 the same reason shall he unable to see the show of the National 

 Society at the Aquarium, but I none the less thank him for 

 his good intentions to enlighten my ignorance. — D., Deal. 



SHOBDON COURT. 

 The name of Shobdon figures in Domesday as Soepedune 

 (Sceopdun -- Sheepdown), and its early ecclesiastical and 

 parochial bihtory connects it with the Mortimers ; whereas the 

 family of Wigmore were farmers of the manor, and their de- 

 scendants fold it to John Handford in 1«55, from whom it 

 paefod to Robert Chaplin, and by him in 1705 was fold to Sir 

 James Batcman, Knight and Lord Mayor of London, wtoee 

 ton William was raised in 1725 to the peerage of Ireland, and 



