156 



JOUfiNAL OF HOBTICULIUEE AND COTTAGE GAEDENEB. 



[ March 4, 1869. 



manner the flavom- eqnala that of Peas, with the peculiar 

 aroma of all corn products in ailuitiou. Those who habitually 

 use them in this green etale (so unknown here), find them 

 mie&ing in norihern oountiies, and lung much for them. 



As a nutritive vegetable Maize has very few superiors ; many 

 of the preparations for invalids are composed of Maize. Hominy, 

 we all know, is the staple food of the negro, and of the South 

 American. Many of us have seen the ears of the yellow Corn 

 drying in the sun on the cottage walls of southern Europe. 

 The green tops are excelleut food for cattle, and the uses of 

 the dried husks manifold in tropical regions. America will 

 always supply us with the common yellow sort for horses and 

 poultry, but these entirely novel table varieties are for quite a 

 diSerent purpose. They have now heen tried during one 

 season, and found to succeed well here. The year being favour- 

 able, the seeds were sown in the open ground in April ; but it 

 would be safer to forward them in boxes under glass, and plant 

 out in May, according to season and locality. — T. C. Beehact. 



JOTTINGS ON THE AUCUBA. 



How much pleasure is felt by everyone having a garden and 

 delighting in its general welfare, especially if one tribe of 

 plants engage particular attention. Such is my own case, and 

 iny favourite at present is the Auouba. I am in some difficulty 

 about the management of the male flowers, so I am writing to 

 "our Journal" fur iostructiou. Having bought some small 

 jnale plants at Mr. Staudish's first sale, I soon had male blos- 

 soms, for the variety picta flowered the first year after plant- 

 ing in the open ground, tut its flowers were not then used, 

 there being no female blossoms ready for fertilisation. Two 

 years ago, on the beautiful dwarf green female sent out by 

 Messrs. Veitoh, blossoms opened in time to be fertilised by the 

 later blooms of the m.ile, and on a bush of C inches high I had 

 a dozen berries, which fully ripened. Mext to it is a bush of 

 Aucuba himalaica, upwards of 2 feet high and in full vigour, on 

 which I have never yet had a female blossom, nor do I see 

 much promise of any this year ; indeed, tlris vaiiety is of much 

 looser growth than the Japanese, and is not Bo effective. 



The male picta when growing freely soon loses its variega- 

 tion, and becomes much more beautiful, as the central white 

 patch is rarely healthy when in the open ground. As far as I 

 can judge the newer variety with the white margins sent out 

 by Yeitch promises to be more effeolive, and to retain its 

 variegation. From my limited knowledge I think this rule of 

 variegation will be found almost universal — that plants whose 

 leaves are variegated at the margin retain that character, while 

 the central blotches are speedily lost. This is well illustrated 

 in the golden-blotched. Euonymus; when it grows freely its 

 colour is lost, whereas the golden-margined variety retains its 

 variegation permanently, and will prove a truly handsome 

 shrub. 



M Last year, though I thought I had taken great pains to fer- 

 tilise my Aucuba viridis foemiua, not one berry has rewarded 

 me for my pains. I should say that rOy garden is seven 

 minutes' walk from my house, aud I can only steal minutes 

 to go to my pets at mid-day when the pollen is dry. Last 

 year the plan I adopted was to prop a cap glass on flower pots 

 over the male plant to keep o£f the rain, as a flower opened to 

 cut it oS with scissors, and let it drop into a bottle ; this was 

 loosely corked, and brought home. With these precautions, 

 with a camel-htiir pencil 1 fertilised many female blossoms 

 on bushes in boxes on the lead flats of my house. By this 

 means I have a dozen berries giving colour to the sombre 

 old variegated Aucuba; but I ought to Lave had many more 

 had my proceedings been properly managed. When I see 

 small bushes grown in pots with dozens of berries, I want 

 to know the secret of success. Of course men burdened 

 with other ocoupitiona cannot compete with those whose busi- 

 ness it is to succeed, but I want to succeed better than I have 

 done. Must the anthers be gathered before they have burst, 

 or only when the pollen is about to bo discharged ? I generally 

 have Contrived io leave a male flower in the female, or attached 

 to the pistil, there to distribute its pollen grains at its leisure; 

 for the pollen grains are so fiue you cannot be certain of their 

 transfer by a dry camel-hair pencil. How long will the pollen 

 retain its fertilitiog properties ? The male plant is now in 

 blossom, but there is no sign of female blooms. Can the male 

 blooms now be removed with arjy chance of future use? 



Does the fruit of tho Aucuba require bottom heat to germi- 

 nate? Two years ago Henderson sent me berries, every- 



one of which came up in the propagating house of a friend, 

 but were overlooked by the gardener during the summer, so 

 were lost. Last May, when my own berries were fully ripe and 

 beginning to shrivel, I put them into a pot, which was plunged 

 in a southern border, and covered with 2 inches of cocoa-nut 

 fibre refuse. In the autumn 1 moved the pot to a cold frame, 

 but I have not seen a sign of any young plants : must they be 

 given up as lost, or may I hope to see them spring up with the 

 coming spring? 



I do not hesitate to ask these questions, as your Journal is 

 open to minor matters at which old and practised hands will 

 smile. May I, therefore, ask for instruction how to use my 

 male blossoms with the greatest prospect of succbss ? and how 

 to raise seedlings from the berries without the aid of glass or 

 other artificial culture, if such is to be done.— J. S. B., Bath. 



GROWING FRUIT FOR MARKET, AT LITTLE 

 SUTTON, CHISWICK. 



MH. dancer's. 

 (Contiimcd from page 459, Vol, XV.) 



A PEETTiEii sight to the lover of fruits could scarcely be im- 

 agined than that presented last season by a plantation of a 

 hundred or more young Apple trees. Planted two j ears ago, 

 the trees, supplied by Messrs. Rivers, then young maiden 

 plants worked low on the English Paradise stock, have grown 

 well, being now from 3 to 4 feet high, sUghtly pyramidal in 

 form, and nicely branched. L%6t season every tree bore its 

 crop of from eighteen to twenty-four fine large fruit, and each 

 fruit a specimen in itself. These trees were pretty when in 

 flower, and when in fruit handsome, the clusters being so heavy 

 that the trees were scarcely able to bear the weight. One of 

 the varieties was Small's Admirable, a large, beautiful, clear- 

 skinned, and very excellent kitchen Apple lor October and No- 

 vember use, and a most abundant bearer, excelleut for market. 

 The other was Cox's Orange Pippin, well known as first-rate 

 for the dessert, and also a good cropper, tho tree forming na- 

 turally a handsome pyramid. 



Another plantation, consisting chiefly of Pears on the 

 Quince stock, grown in the same manner, and of a fine pyra- 

 midal form, was also interesting, although not bearing such a 

 splendid crop as the Apple trees. Some, however, were well 

 laden, and the fruit magnificent, being large and of fine quaUty. 

 Amongst others were the following — Doyennfe du Cornice, large 

 and most excellent, but only a moderate bearer ; Huyshe's 

 Victoria, very handsome, and some fruits very fine ; Baroime 

 de Mello, large and promising ; Mareehal de la Cour, of first- 

 rate quality, and a good bearer; Beurie d'Amanlis, which 

 grows so exceedingly strong that it does not bear fruit well in 

 a young state ; and Louise Bonne of Jersey and Marie Louise, 

 two well-known and mobt excellent market sorts, being great 

 bearejs, aud of fine quality. Besides these there are many 

 others on trial here. These trees are planted about 20 feet 

 apart each way, the ground being cropped with Cabbages, 

 Lettuces, &a., so that not a single foot is waMed. This is market 

 gardening made at once ornamental and profitable — fruit pro- 

 duced in the second year alter planting with trees three years 

 from the graft, and that abundantly, the trees themselves 

 being about the most beautiful objects in existence, bearing 

 fruit from the very ground upwards. What an advance this is 

 upon the old orchard practice, with the tall standards, and thin 

 naked stems, requiring stake supports for many years 1 What 

 a waste of time that was in comparison with our present mode ! 

 Time was when we planted for our children ; time is, for US to 

 plant for ourselves. In some respects we have gone a long way 

 a-head of our forefathers ; in others we may yet learn lessons 

 from them, and that, too, in fruit culture. 



As a profitable market variety there are few Pears to com- 

 pete with tho old Hessle, or Hiizel as it is sometimes called. 

 Mr. Dancer cultivates it extensively, sending some thousands 

 of bushels of the fruit to market, where it is well known, and 

 sells well, being just the size for the street vendors, who dis- 

 pose of it rapidly at " three a-pcnny," in August. It is often 

 dry and tasteless, yet sometimes pleasant. The tree attains a 

 large size. Williams's Bon Ghietien, or as the maiket folks 

 call it, "the Williams," is another first-rate fort much cul- 

 tivated, and very profitable, always bearing enormously. This 

 Pear is gathered very early by the market growers, and placed 

 in large masses in the fruit room, where it soon becomes melt- 

 i'ig, and fit for use long before the possessor of a single tree 



