Angast 13, IBfiS. ] 



JOOMNA.L OF HOUTICULTOfiE AND COTTAGE GARDENEK. 



Ill 



When the Mascat Hamburgh was ia bloom it was dusted 

 with a large camel-hair brush, iiud thu berries set like Black 

 Hambnrglis. 



When we know how to treat it, thif fine Grape is just as 

 easy to grow as the commonest variety, and is, I think, quite 

 the finest flavoured Grape in cultivation. 



It will ripen with less heat even than the Black Hamburgh. 

 In my larpe orchard house, where no heat ia employed, the 

 Muscat Hamburgh is colouring, whilst the Black Hamburgh ia 

 stiU green. — .1. 11. Pk.iiison, GJiilwell. 



ROSES AND OTHER THINGS MERITOJ;;OUS AT 

 OKEFORD FITZPAINE AND SALISBURY. 



I DO not put these two places together simply because I 

 visited them both in one day, but because 1 consider their 

 owners may be very fairly taken as types of the amateur and 

 public growei-, and that therefore 1 might expect to see how 

 they had fared during this terribly trying season. Mr. Ead- 

 clyffe ia well known for his scientific treatment of the Rose ; 

 and Mr. Keynes has left his mark in most of our public exhi- 

 bitions this year, as he has, indeed, always done of late years ; 

 while naturally one would expect to see a different state of 

 thijigs, inasmuch as the private grower can always give more 

 attention, time, and thought to his few hundreds than the 

 grower for sale to his tens of thousands. Yet there is one point 

 which I have conclusively settled in my own mind after seeing 

 them, and that is, that for general use the Briar U doomed. 

 Mr. Radclyffe has not one ; and in Mr. Keynes's quarters of 

 the stocks planted in autumn for budding this season, it was 

 melancholy to see how many gaps there were, owing to the 

 Briar's never having started at all, and yet I believe Mr. Keynes 

 has suffered far less than some have done. We all remember 

 what havoc the severe winters made with the Briars : and now, 

 as it will neither stand severe cold nor extreme drought, and the 

 Manetti will do both, it is time to think seriously of discarding 

 it. Exhibitors will not do so, I beUeve, for the maiden blooms 

 from a Briar are superior to those from Manetti ; but for the 

 general grower this will not be a matter for consideration, as 

 almost anything can be done with the Manetti stock. 



Mr. Radclyffe has been, we know, a strong and consistent 

 upholder of the Manetti against all opponents, and not unna- 

 turally appeals to his own experience in confirmation of the 

 soundness of his views. All Rose-growers know what a terrible 

 season for mildew this has been, and what incessant care it 

 has required. Now on all Mr. Radclyfie's Roses there is no 

 mildew, or very little to be seen. There is not an aphis, I 

 truly believe, in his garden ; end this is how he has managed : 

 — He has cut off and cut out every piece of affected growth as 

 soon as ever it appeared. He has washed his trees, has put a 

 large quantity of good well-rotted stable dung round each plant, 

 and has given each Rose tree a gallon of water every second 

 day. It is manifest that he must have had a fine growth to be 

 able to do all this ; and so he has — shoots 6 and 7 feet long, 

 foliage large and glossy, and heaps of young shoots all ready 

 for a start if they can get a good rain, so that in September 

 there will be such a bloom as few will be able to show. The 

 tirst bloom was magnificent, I hear on all sides, and I can readily 

 beheve it ; and with the care taken it would be indeed a sad 

 piece of ingratitude on the part of the Roses if they did not 

 make a good return. 



But as the Roses are well managed, so also are the Straw- 

 beiTies and fruit trees. Of the former Mr. Radclyffe has this 

 year taken up most of his large beds and made fresh planta- 

 tions. These were already made, and, notwithstanding the ex- 

 cessively dry weather, were doing well ; but then, such care as 

 they had — such preparation of the soil, manuring, &c. ! It 

 is useless with us in our climate to leave anything to Nature — 

 we cannot do it ; and skill and liberality in the use of means 

 must make up for those general chmatic influences which other 

 people possess. 



With regard to kinds. Dr. Hogg, Mr. Badclyffe, Ehza, Cocks- 

 comb, Lucas, and Royal Hautbois were, I think, the favourites, 

 and deservedly so. Dr. Hogg and Mr. Radclyffe approach one 

 another very closely, both of British Queen race, the former 

 iuchning to the heart shape, the latter to the cockscomb shape. 

 They are both delicious Strawberries, hardy, and good bearers, 

 and no Strawberry grower will consider his garden complete 

 without them. Rivers's Eliza ia an old but most useful sort, 

 a seedling apparently from Myatt's Ehza, but more hardy, and 

 a very abundant cropper, it hardly ever fails in the most 



untoward season. Lucas is another favourite of Mr. Eadolyfte. 



It is a seedling of M. De .fonghe'B, of Brussels ; the foliage is 

 large and handsome ; fruit fine, and of good flavour. Cocks- 

 comb is a large, and, as its name implies, flat-shaped fruit, 

 but rich in flavour. Some of those grown in Mr. Radcljffe's 

 garden measured 10 or 12 inches round. There are some 

 people who imagine that if a Strawberry be largo it must be 

 deficient in flavour. With some kinds this is the case, but, on the 

 other hand, some of our largest fruits are also some of onr 

 highest-flavoured ones. Of Perpetual Pine, of which much has 

 been said, neither Mr. Radclyffe, nor, I beUeve, Mr. Rivers, 

 has any very great opinion. Royal Hautbois is a rich and 

 highly flavoured fruit, prolific, and well worth cultivating. 

 These, with some Alpines, would form a good selection for any 

 garden, while from my own experience I would recommend for 

 the borders of kitchen gardens, and, indeed, for any place 

 where quantity is desired, Trollope'a Victoria. Nothing fills a 

 basket sooner ; and although too soft for market purposes, I do 

 not think its flavour at all bad. 



Since my last visit Mr. Radclyffe has added another wall to 

 his garden, and his fruit trees presented that appearance of 

 health and vigour which characterises all his produce. Here 

 again, manure, watering, and syringing, are brought into great 

 request ; while that without which fruit-growing in the open air 

 in England is, I am sure, a lottery — protection, is carefully 

 used. It was this that was one of the secrets of his great 

 success with the three famous trees at Rushton, and I doubt 

 not ere long he will have as tine a wall of fruit as can be any- 

 where seen. The value of protection is abundantly seen in 

 the case of two espalier Pear trees in the garden, both Marie 

 Louise. One was protected, the other not ; one had five Pears 

 on it, the other a hundred. The protection was of the simplest 

 kind : a sort of crate was made of rough wood, and over this a 

 sheet was thrown at night and taken off in the day. Surely, 

 where such a difference can be made by bo slight a method, we 

 may well wonder that it is not more generally adopted. Mjr. 

 Radclyfie's answer to a lady who said she could not grow Roses 

 in her soil, " Give them plenty to eat and drink, and they wUl 

 grow anywhere," is the clue to his success. He possesses no 

 advantages of soil or situation, but he feeds everything well 

 and works hard. I never saw until here in any perfection the 

 deciduous Cypress. There is a fine tree here, and what lovely 

 foliage it has ! Why is it not more grown ? 



I had intended tohave said something more of Mr. Keynes's 

 Roses, but reserve that for another time. — D., Deal. 



HOW TO DISPOSE OF FRUIT." 



Yon and your interesting correspondents often tell us how to 

 produce fruit, and it is to be hoped that many amateurs and 

 others profit largely by your good advice ; but I expect there 

 are many besides myself who more than supply their own 

 wants, and would be glad if they could make their gardens pay 

 for some of the labour expended upon them. Possibly like 

 myself they look at the prices of fruit given in your paper, 

 which somebody is supposed to pay at Covent Garden, but if 

 they fondly imagine that they can get any such prices for their 

 fruit, they are sorely mistaken. From about one-half to a 

 third of the price quoted is generally all I have been able to 

 obtain, and the worst of it is, there is the greatest uncertainty 

 about getting this within any reasonable time. Those who 

 live in the country, and at some distance from town, cannot 

 send up their fruit by private hand, or take it themselves to 

 market ; they are obliged, therefore, in most eases, to trust to a 

 salesman, and I should like to know how others are satisfied 

 with this process. I will just state how I have fared. I wag 



recommended to a Mr. , as a most respectable man, and to 



him, therefore, I have confided my forced Peaches and Nec- 

 tarines. 



To make sure of the fruit travelling safely, I went to the ex- 

 pense of some nice boxes with false bottoms, but these I cannot 

 get returned ; of course, all the packing material, silver paper, 

 &c., disappears ; and worst of all, I never can get an acknow- 

 ledgment that the boxes have been received, so that to thi« 

 day I do not know whether some thieves on the railway, oc 

 some bond fide purchasers have eaten my fruit. I have written 

 several times to remonstrate, but I get no answer, so I really 

 think it right to warn others of this way of doing business, and 

 I should be very thankful if you, or any of your correspondenta, 

 would tell me the best way to dispose of fruit. I have often 

 thought that instead of giving large profits to salesmen and 



