July 30, 1868. 1 



JOUBNAL OF HOBTIOOIiTOBE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



75 



Mr. Gardner's Premier is very snperior for early exhibiting. 

 The Emperor Napoleon, Paterson's Victoria, and Dawe'a Match- 

 less, with their coarse foliage, are fit only for light poor garden 

 soils, or lield culture. I fear I must say the same of Taylor's 

 Yorkshire Hyhrid. I shall have more to write about the origin 

 of this sort, but express my sorrow now for its present be- 

 haviour with me. I found it last year to be one of the very 

 best-flavoured Potatoes I ever tasted.— Upwards ani. Onwaiids.] 



BEWARE OF THE WONDERFUI-. 

 We received last week a letter informing us tl.iit " now " 

 something marvellous in the vegetable world is to be seen, not 

 the "gigantic Gooseberry," which annually is placed in the 

 columns of the daily newspapers, hut a new and veritable 

 wonder — namely, a Plum tree bearing Apples. Our first in- 

 formant is well known to us, as is the owner of the tree, both 

 respectable and intelligent, nor was the wonder vouched for 

 by them alone, for several gardeners had examined the trans- 

 formed fruit, and declared that " they would not have believed 

 it if they had not seen it." We came to the same conclusion, 

 so resolved to go and see it ; almost inclined to believe, as was 

 observed, that this was one of the " strange effects which will 

 be caused by this hot dry summer." We said we did not see 

 how heat and want of moisture were likely to turn Plums into 

 Apples ; but we were told in reply that it is not at all an im- 

 probable transformation. " They are both in tho natural 

 order Kosace.T. The Apple gradually approaches the Plum 

 through the intermediate forms of the Medlar and Sorb. The 

 flesh of their respective fruits contains malic acid, and their 

 seeds hydrocyanic acid. Moreover, Pliny says the Plum is 

 altered by being grafted on the Apple." " There's something 

 in all that," observed another ; " and be assured, 'There are 

 more things in heaven and earth than are dreamt of in your 

 philesopby.' " We could not gainsay this, so we resolved to 

 endure the tropical heat whilst we travelled over one hundred 

 and forty miles of railway, to see and return from seeing this 

 prodigy. But we would wait to hear the tidings the morrow 

 would briug. Fortunate procrastination ! and we thought at 

 the time we would in future act upon Sheridan's rule of action, 

 " Never do to-day what you can possibly defer until to-morrow." 

 Intelligence reached us the following morning that the Apples 

 were attached to the bough broken off from an adjacent Apple 

 tree, and so lodged in a cleft of the Plum tree branches as to 

 seem to issue from them. 



CYCAS REVOLUTA, OR THE SAGO VALU. 



A MOST noble specimen of this plant is now in fruit in the 

 gardens of John Hutton,Esq., of Sowher Hill, and as I believe 

 it is very rarely known to fruit in this country, I thought the 

 announcement might be of interest to your readers. 



The plant is about sixteen years old, and has been under my 

 care for the last ten years. On June 22nd the fruit first ap- 

 peared, and up to the present time it has daily increased in 

 size, and is now nearly 2 feet in height, and 12 inches in cir- 

 cumference at the lower extremity, gradually tapering to a 

 point. Its colour is a rich golden yellow, and altogether it very 

 much resembles a large Pine Apple. 



The stem of the Palm is 3(5 inches round, and bears seventy- 

 two large graceful fronds, which give it a most noble appear- 

 ance. 



I shall be very glad to hear of anyone else who has been 

 successful in fruiting this Palm, and I shall be well pleased 

 to show it to anyone who comes to see it. I am sure it will 

 well repay the trouble. — J. Nicholson, Gardener, Sowher Hill, 

 Northallertun. 



An Eden in Califoknia. — The vineyards and Orange and 

 Lemon orchards make Los Angelos the garden spot of Cali- 

 fornia. Just imagine a collection of gardens, six miles square, 

 and producing at all times of the year almost everything that 

 grows under the sun. One of the largest and most beautiful 

 places in the city is the Wolfskill vineyards, containing 2000 

 Orange trees, 1000 Lemon trees, .500 Walnut, 100 Fig and 

 100 Lime trees, and .5.5,000 Grape Vines. Near by is the vine- 

 yard of Mr. Childs, containing 500 Orange, the same number 

 each of Peach, Plum, Nectarine, Anricot, Olive, Walnut and 

 Chestnut trees, and 10,000 Vines. ISight in the heart of the 

 city is Don Mateo Keller's place, containing 100,000 Grape Vines, 



1000 Lemon, 500 Orange, 100 Lime, 100 Olive, 200 Walnnt, 

 and 100 Fig trees, and all of the other varieties of fruits known 

 in the south and in the semi-tropics. He also raised Hops, 

 Cotton, and Tobacco, Wheat, Barley, Corn, all kinds of veget- 

 ables and everything of the berry tribe. Last fall Mr. Keller 

 made 100,000 gallons of wine and nearly as much brandy. 

 A few miles from the city a Mr. Kose has a vineyard of 

 200,000 Grape Vines. Near him is the vineyard of Colone! 

 Kewen, containing 75,000 Vines, 800 Walnut, 500 Orange, and 

 300 each of Lemon and Olive trees. It must be recollected 

 that from a little elevation in the centre of this garden-city may 

 be seen the broad Pacific on the one hand, and upon the other 

 200 miles of mountains covered with snow. 



CUCUMBER TROUBLES. 



" I WONDER if amateurs ever succeed in growing Cucumbers," 

 said Mis. Scott to her friend, Mrs. Thornicroft, " my husband 

 never does. He has been trying ever since X knew him, and, 

 doubtless, years before. After every year of failure he tries 

 again on a new plan, or an old one slightly altered. He is 

 always near to success, but somehow it does not come. I wonder 

 he does not weary of such repeated failures." 



"Well, I can assure you gardeners do not always succeed to 

 their satisfaction," replied her friend. " We could eat twice 

 as many as our man brings us in, and he has every appliance." 



" Yes, but then Henry litters up our poor little gardea 

 through half the spring months, the loose straw blows about 

 here and there, and everywhere. It takes us all the summer to 

 clear it away, and I seldom dare venture to look over into our 

 neighbours' garden, for I am sure our long straws have gone 

 over the low wall, and are wrapping round their Eose bushes, 

 clinging to their annuals, and they cannot gather up the 

 rubbish without dragging up their seedlings. ' Oh, never 

 mind,' says Henry, ' we will send them in the first Cucumber 

 we cut, and I shall have lots this year, and that will make 

 amends.' But the straws come sure enough year after year, 

 and do their mischief ; but the Cucumbers do not grow, and I 

 am afraid our patient neighbours will never know the taste of 

 our home-grown Cucumbers. I do not know how it is my 

 husband fails, as most assuredly he does, though he will not 

 own it. He uses the best material, judging by the price he 

 pays for it. Two loads come every spring ; 5s.a-load, without 

 the cartage, which is not a little, for the material generally 

 comes a long distance, I suppose to enhance its value. Dear 

 me ! the cost of our pit would supply us with wholesome 

 vegetables for the summer. This material never seems to be 

 just in the right condition, it is always too hot or too cold, too 

 fresh, or not fresh enough ; come when it will, and as it will, it 

 is never in a proper state to be put into the pit and got out of 

 sight. And, then, Henry thinks so much about it, why only 

 the other week he rushed out of doors quite sure his fragrant 

 heap smoked too much, and the very next day it did not smoke 

 enough." 



" They are not very easy things to grow," replied Mrs. 

 Thornicroft, " last season our man destroyed two very good 

 plants by putting them in too soon. They were burnt up in 

 one night." 



" Henry will never burn his up, he guards against that evil to 

 the very extreme. He leaves his material for nearly a week an 

 unsightly nuisance in our back garden smoking and smelUng. 

 He calls it letting the bad gas escape— we get the benefit. I 

 should not wonder if we were all to have the fever annually, and 

 I think it might come ready for use. And during this time my 

 husband lives in torment lest it should rain, and spoil all. He 

 gets up in the night, times without number, to look out. If 

 he ever dreams— I do not think he does, he sleeps too soundly— 

 it would be about Cucumbers growing all over our garden. He 

 once thought of buying an advertised tent to cover up this 

 precious heap in case a wet time should set in ; but upon cal- 

 culation found it would cover up our neighbour's garden as 

 well as our own. After a time a man comes to turn it over, it 

 takes him a day to do this, at 4s. aday, and he is sure to spoU 

 the only tidy bit we may chance to have left. After a few 

 more days he comes again to fork it into the pit, along with 

 this forking he pours in a considerable quantity of water. ' A 

 hundred gallons of water if there's a drop in, sir," he says. 

 Then Henry is sure he has put in too much. They always do 

 put in too much or too little. They then spread a little soil 

 over this, put on the lights, and it is left to settle. I used to 

 think in my inexperienced days that the worst was over, no 



