240 



JOURNAL OF HOBTIOULTURE AND COTTAGE GAEDENEH. 



[ October 1, 1868. 



1959, and 1863, anci so they will again to anyone who may 

 choose to pin his faith to them, excepting, I think I may 

 affirm, the Grjffe Castle Seedling. I have ^et three more sorts 

 I grow in the above soils — viz., The old Flake, a spare, very 

 xigiy crop, speared with greenery ; Salmon Kidney, with some 

 tubers perfect, and others with " small fry ; " Paterson's Vic- 

 toria, good crop. I watched them narrowly, and dug them 

 when they were offering to " spear," otherwise they would 

 have thrown up a forest of green tops without forming any 

 Bupertnbers. These features were the same in all the differing 

 soils, and as regards the last sort in the garden included. 



I was lately inspecting several acres of Flukes and York 

 Regents, at Eedenham, near Andover. The tops were as green 

 as in spring, and in full blossom. As to the crop, three out of 

 four of the Regents might be said to have produced two or 

 three tubers, the remaiuder having some of them strong fibrous 

 roots, and others stout, tap-roots striking directly down into 

 the subsoil Hke young Oak trees, having no Potatoes attached. 

 The Flukes were slightly better, but a remarkably ugly sample, 

 throwing up green independent tops. It was painful to witness 

 the extent of ground that had to be forked over to gain a basket 

 of tubers, and when cooked I likened them to ohopped-up, 

 earthy-flavoured candles, wicks and all. In my garden I left 

 the Lapstone Kidney to take its own way, and wliat few tubers 

 it did produce formed supertubers, which threw up indepen- 

 dent haulm, and then caught the disease, which killed them 

 all. My beautiful crop of Taylor's Yorkshire Hero, and many 

 others of my garden sorts, would have followed suit in this last 

 respect, if I had not copied the " early bird." — Upwards akd 

 Onv/auds. 



THE IMPROVERS OF THE HOLLYHOCK. 



As my name has been mentioned by Mr. Abbey, as one of 

 the improvers of the Hollyhock, I may, perhaps, be allowed to 

 recall the part I have taken in this work. I have always 

 understood that the late Mr. Baron* was the first great im- 

 prover of this flower, and that to his efforts more than to those 

 of any other are we indebted for the beautiful varieties we now 

 possess. He broko the ice, cleared away the fragments, and 

 left a smooth and open sea for his successors to sail in. Mr. 

 Chater, Mr. Parsons, and Mr. Roake followed iiim, and each 

 of them accomplished great things. 



To speak of my labours, I must go back twenty-two years. At 

 that time my father, the late Mr. A. Paul, had a large good 

 aollection of which he was very proud. I thought them un- 

 equalled, until cue day I happened to call en Mr. Parsons, then 

 living at Ponder's End, and found several kinds superior to 

 ours, and of them he obligingly offered me seeds and cuttings 

 in_ exchange. I understood him that these varieties were 

 principaily Jifr. Baron's, but that some of them were his own 

 eeedliugs. I went to work crossing and raising seedlings, and 

 in 1853 had, I believe, the finest collection in Europe. In 

 that year I obtained thirteen first prizes for Hollyhocks, in 

 England and Scotland, principally with my own seedlings. 

 I think the following, which were raised by me, those who re- 

 member that period will say were the best of their colours 

 then known :— Beauty of Cheshunt, Lizzy, White Globe, Fire- 

 ball Superb, Argo, Darius, Romulus, and Shylock. Later I 

 ■was fortunate in obtaining Avalanche, Primrose Perfection, 

 Queen of the White?, Yillfitje Maid, Blushing Bride, Lord 

 Jooelyn, Celestial, El Dorado, Lailv Franklin, Lady Palmerston, 

 Ossian, Plutarcb, Qaeen of the Yellows, Sir Colin Campbell, 

 In Memoriam, General Havelock, and many others, all gems 

 of the period, one of the latest being Beauty of Waltham. 

 More alluring paths in horticulture (commercially considered, 

 as Roses, Fruits, Pelargoniums, &o.), have kept me from follow- 

 ing out the department of raising seedling Hollyhocks to the 

 extent then practised ; but after the above instances of suc- 

 ooss, which I have no doubt many living growers can attest, I 

 think it is rather hard of your correspondent, " A Hollyhock 

 Amateuk," to leave me out in the cold. — William Paul, PmiVi 

 Nurseries, Waltham Cross, N. 



Gesneea esoxiensis. — Messrs. Lnoombe, Pinee & Co., of 

 the Exeter KurReries, have sent us a coloured drawing by Mr. 

 Andrews, of their superb new plant, Gesnera exoniensis. Its 

 numerous scarlet flowers are very rich, and standing very erect 

 they are remarkably striking, and the more so on account of 



• Sea my " Hour with the Hollyhocli.'" SecoEd edition, jfiges 7 and S. 



tho dark green foliage. It is certainly one of the richest of the 

 Gesneras, and a valuable addition to our winter-flowering 



plants. 



MESSRS. RR-ERS' NURSERHSS, 

 SAWBRIDGEWORTH. 



(Concluded from page 170.) 



Grapes have long been a pet subject with Mr. Rivers, and 

 numerous are the varieties which have been introduced by him 

 to our notice, chiefly cuUings from the almost endless mass of 

 continental varieties of the Chasselas class, of which the Royal 

 Muscadine is a good type. Mr. Rivers has a very large and 

 fine collection ; these are excellently suited for orchard-house 

 cultivation, they ripen well and freely without any artificial 

 warmth further than is obtained by solar influence, and the 

 protection from cold blasts. It is really astonishing to see 

 what can be done with Grapes without the slightest assistance 

 from fire heat ; with the ground vineries, of which we have all 

 heard so much, and with few exceptions believed so little in 

 their favour, Mr. Rivers works wonders. This simple con- 

 trivance has been so often noticed and described in these pages, 

 that it will be unnecessary for me to do so. Mr. Rivers was about 

 the first to adopt this simple structure ; years ago its success 

 had been proved at Sanbridgeworth, and this year the results 

 were even more remarkable. One of the original Vines, a 

 Trentham Black, planted from five to six years ago, is now 

 50 feet in length, is in the most perfect health, and is bearing 

 about 130 bunches of fruit, good heavy bunches ; and this, be 

 it remembered, is a variety which is known to be somewhat 

 difiicult of cultivation. 'The berries were of fair size, and 

 colouring well — indeed, much better than one would expect in 

 our best heated vineries, looking at the enormous crop upon 

 the Vine. One-third would have been ample. Mr. Rivers, how- 

 ever, labours not in this instance for the production of a few 

 highly-finished bunches of Grapes, such as would gladden the 

 heart of a Meredith, but rather to demonstrate the practica- 

 bility of the system. That it is successful is abundantly mani' 

 fest. The next Vine, a Black Hamburgh, has twenty bunches, 

 the weight averaging nearly a pound each, and they were ripen- 

 ing and colouring off in splendid style, superior to many that I 

 have seen in fine and expensise houses this season. Who need 

 be — who would be, in fact, without his dish of Grapes, when 

 it is seen how easily and cheaply they can be obtained ? The 

 labourer and the mechanic can by the outlay of a few shillings 

 for the glass, with their rod of ground, produce as good a dish 

 of Grapes as a peer. 



In one small house about 20 feet long, Mr. Rivers has the 

 Vines planted out vineyard fashion — the same way, in fact, 

 as we have our Raspberries — i.e., in lines about 3 feet apart, 

 and trained to stakes about 4 feet in height. In Mr. Rivera's 

 house there are four lines, two on each side of the centre path. 

 This house is not heated, and many of the varieties tried have 

 not succeeded well. Some of them, however, are growing 

 splendidly, and bearing good crops, such as Foster's White 

 Seedling. Ingram's Hardy Prolific Muscat, &a. The idea of 

 growing Vines in houses in this way, is a very happy one ; I 

 like it exceedingly. The plants look extremely handsome, 

 and there is something very pleasing in being thus able to walk 

 round, in, and amongst a grove of Vines, and to be able to in- 

 spect every berry and every ".taf at ease, instead of being in 

 danger of breaking one's neck by climbing up a pair of rickety 

 steps, as in the ordinary way. It is questionable whether even 

 a greater amount of space is not obtained for the Vines in this 

 manner, than by any method of training over the roof. At all 

 events, for the sake of variety alone, in which there is much 

 enjoyment, it is worthy of adoption. In one of the span-roofed 

 orchard houses, in which the principal rafters are some 10 or 

 12 feet apart, some Black Hamburgh Vices are trained over 

 them very neatly, which when the Grapes are ripening gives 

 the house quite a jaunty and elegant appearance. 



Oranges are cultivated here very largely in pots. This 

 season's stock of plants exceeds three thousand, in number. 

 They are all of them in meet splendid health, and many of them 

 are loaded with fruit. They are principally of the dessert 

 or sweet kinds, such as the little Otaheite and Mandarin. I 

 have tasted some of the Oranges grown by Mr. Rivers, and 

 they were really splendid, quite as rich as any of our im- 

 ported fruits, and much more pleasing. It seems strange that 

 there is bo very little attention paid to the cultivation of the 

 Orange for the fruit in this country, seeing how very simple it 



