JOtJRNAIi OF HOETICOLTUKB AND COTTAGE GAEDENEB. 



[ January 7, 1869. 



lion during the Bummer. Supply the plants well with liqnid 

 manure and pure water while growing, and endeavour to have 

 them matured as early in the summer as possible, and ready to 

 he removed to the place where they are to be forced, whether 

 it be a Mushroom house, pit, cellar, or other structure. The 

 plants may be either kept in the pots, or planted out in some 

 lich compost, according to the operator's practice. Crowns 

 from stools treated in the same way answer equally well. 

 With the above treatment I have been enabled to obtain good 

 Bhubarb in November and December, and throughout the 

 winter. 



When plants are taken from the open ground I choose the 

 strongest crowns, and when they are exhausted consign them 

 to the dunghill, yet with all my care I have at times failed. 

 Perhaps some of the other readers of our Journal will detail 

 their practice iu this matter. — M. H., Acklam Hall. 



PACKING FRUIT, FLOWERS, AND VEGETABLES 

 FOR SENDING BY RAILWAY. 



On the whole wo agree with a correspondent, " J. J. A.," 

 that boxes are better than baskets, though there are circum- 

 Btances iu which each may be more eligible than the other. 

 When the material sent is of great bulk, and vegetables form 

 a considerable portion, we have found large, square, stout, 

 iaskets very useful, and even strong common hampers answer 

 the purpose. In such oases the vegetables were placed at the 

 Jjottom and sides — very likely Spinach and other leaves on the 

 top, and the fruit and flowers were packed in boxes and placed 

 in the centre. Where the basket or box is entirely dependant 

 on the porters of the railway, who tumble packages out without 

 having time to look at and read the directions about " care," 

 &c., then the baskets so packed suffer less as respects the fine 

 produce in the centre, from the concussion of a careless tumble 

 out, than they would do in a box, if means were not taken to 

 prevent injury from this cause. 



The best means for obviating the effects of rough handling 

 IB to have an outside box, to be packed with other smaller ones 

 inside, and the smaller one so much less than the outside one 

 SB to admit of plugs between them. 



We have frequently used two boxes for the finer kinds of 

 produce, the inside box an inch less oil round than the outside 

 one, and in the open space we would insert firmly, by means 

 of moss tied up in paper, four large pellets, one at each end, 

 and one at each side, so that when there was a jar given to the 

 outside box, the moss pellet would take and give. This inside 

 J)ox we have sometimes filled with so many boxes packed 

 separately. At other times we have made this box into three 

 or four divisions by having so many false moveable bottoms, 

 ihese bottoms being kept in their places by ledges fastened at 

 the ends and sides, so that the moveable bottom would rest and 

 lemain there. In general as many thin boxes of wood, tin, or 

 Bine as will fill the box will be the best, as every box will have 

 its own lid ; and for most purposes it is better to have the 

 ioxes shallow than deep. Thus, for Peaches, the box should 

 Jbe from 3} to i inches deep, and if divided into squares so 

 that each fruit will have a square box to itself all the better. 

 If the Peaches are wrapped in silk paper or cotton wadding, 

 laid on a little dry sweet bran, and covered all over with the 

 fcraD, shaken a little so that no crevice maybe left, and a sheet 

 of paper put on before the light lid is secured, the fruit will 

 go hundreds of miles and never show a speck ; but all such 

 Iruit when sent long distances should, though ripe, be not 

 over-ripe. We have used cotton wadding alone and the fruit 

 turned out well, and it is more cleanly than the bran. When 

 fcran is used, the tissue paper should be twisted or tied so that 

 the bran shall never touch the fruit. We have used fine moss 

 and short grass, well dried and sweet, instead of wadding, but 

 wadding is the best, though rather dear. It may be applied to 

 the Iruit at once, if the papery side be placed next the fruit. 



Grapes we have often sent in two ways. First, by filling a 

 box full so that the bunches could not move in the least ; and 

 secondly, when bloom and freshness were great considerations, 

 placing merely one layer of Grapes along the bottom of the 

 iox, the branches resting on a double thickness of soft white 

 paper or cotton wadding, and then the bunches kept firmly in 

 their places by fine cord taken over the bunches in two or 

 three places by means of small holes in the bottom and the 

 sides of the box. To prevent dust a sheet of clean paper may 

 go over the sides and ends of the box before the lid is fastened, 

 the paper, however, being an inch or two at least above the 



Grapes, bo as not to touch them. Very fine Strawberries do 

 best in shallow boxes with room only for one Strawberry in 

 depth, and each Strawberry placed in a soft leaf in its separate 

 little square box. We have sent fine fruit very well, merely 

 packing them in one layer thus : a sheet of paper, then small 

 Vine or Strawberry leaves, each row of Strawberries having a 

 green leaf below, behind, and in front ; in fact, each fine fruit 

 having a leaf to itself, but the rows kept tight and close, and 

 when finished a sheet of paper, or if none, cotton wadding was 

 placed over so as to fit closely when the lid was put on. 



In packing flowers, all kinds do best when there is only one 

 layer in the box, and if the blooms stand upright all the better. 

 Packing them too tightly does not answer ; using any damp 

 material does not answer, if the flowers have to go far ; rather 

 light packing is hotter than very tight packing, but the packing 

 must not be so loose that the flowers will injure each other by 

 tumbling about. We have found nothing better than setting 

 the flowers about upright, and not too firm as respects the 

 blooms, but making the stalks of the flowers rather firm by 

 using well-dried moss for the purpose. The drier the moss is 

 the better will the flowers journey. The damper it is the more 

 will they be injured and shed, and that in proportion to the 

 length of the journey. We frequently damp a sheet of paper 

 and put it on the bottom of the box, and that with the dry moss 

 does no injury, but when we used moss, i-c, at all damp for 

 packing, we rarely found the flowers turn out as we expected 

 them to do. In placing these boxes in the inside box, it is well 

 to have a pellet of moss or wadding at the fom' corners be- 

 twixt each box. 



When carrying fine fruit and flowers by rail is a constant 

 affair, it would always be good policy to have the boxes and 

 hampers placed under the particular care of the station superin- 

 tendent and the guard of the train. The reason will bo obvious 

 to every one who has seen the dispatch with which packages 

 are thrown out at the stations. 



MANLEY HALL, STRETFORD, MANCHESTER. 



THE RESIDENCE OF SAM MENDEL, ESQ. 



{Conlimied from page 458.) 



A SERPENTINE Walk through some pretty undulating rookery 

 leads to the Kose house, which stands on an elevated piece of 

 ground, surrounded by a pretty alpine garden, filled with all the 

 choicest gems in this most interesting section of plants. The 

 house is 37 feet by 22 feet, has three span-roofs, and is filled 

 with all the choicest Eoses that can be procured, amongst 

 which are some very large specimens. It furnishes largo quan- 

 tities of out Ptoses at all seasons. As we go from the Rose 

 house to the east side of the grounds, we pass a fine plantation 

 of Oak trees on our right hand, on the south side of the serpen- 

 tine walk, and on the left or north side, a paddock of about 

 three acres, exactly opposite the south front of the mansion. 

 The conversion of this into a handsome pannel garden, and 

 the erection of a good range of vineries in the kitchen garden, 

 are the only two things necessary to be done in order to make 

 Manley Hall the most complete place, in a horticultural sense, 

 anywhere to be found. The paddock, in my opinion, should 

 be dug out to a depth of 4 feet below its present level, and the 

 soil excavated employed to form fine banks on the west and 

 east sides of the grounds. If these banks were skilfully planted 

 they would completely hide the large block of plant houses on 

 the west side, and the large Azalea, Camellia, and Fern honses 

 on the cast side. On the south front the natural scenery could 

 be brought in to great advantage. 



At the south-west corner of this paddock the walk divides, 

 one branch leading in an easterly direction to the kitchen 

 garden and fruit houses, the other, towards the north and east, 

 to the large Azalea and Camellia house, which is filled with 

 very large specimens of these popular flowers, together with 

 several New Holland plants, such as Boronias, &c. This house 

 is about 170 feet long by 20 feet 8 inches wide, with a division 

 in the centre. In the south division, on the right of the door, 

 were some very healthy specimens of Boronia serrulata, a hand- 

 some plant which is much neglected ; fine plants of several of 

 the best kinds of Aphelexis, as A. humilis, A. macrantha pur- 

 purea, A. rupestris grandiflora, also many Epacrisea of large size, 

 and two large plants of Erica Cavendishii 6 feet high and 

 4 feet 6 inches in diameter, as well as another pair of specimens 

 of the same plant 4 feet G inches high and 4 feet through, all 

 in perfect health. Epaoris Eclipse and E. miniata measured 

 i feet 6 inches by 5 feet ; Eriostemon intermedium and£. bnxi- 



