284 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



[ October 15, 1866. 



down among the pipes, and the vaponr rising will prevent the 

 material next the pipes becoming dry, and thus the heat will 

 be conducted through the mass. Heat will rise through a fair 

 thickness even of cocoa-nut fibre, if the fibre is moist. It will 

 not rise through any bulk of it if it is dry, and the same fact 

 will hold good as respects dry tan, dry leaves, dry dung, or even 

 very dry soil. We do not at present know of any better modes 

 for removing a disappointment that is not seldom felt. 



Heat often fails in common hotbeds of fermenting material 

 long before the material is exhausted, not so much, as in the 

 above cases, from obstacles being presented to the free con- 

 duction of heat, as from the material heating itself dry, or be- 

 coming so solid that air cannot penetrate to keep up a slow 

 decomposition. The giving of water through tubes, &a., and 

 air along with the water, will cause a fresh fermentation in the 

 one case, and merely forking over a bed when it has become 

 solid from the mere air thus given and covered in, will insure 

 a gentle heat for a month or two, when none would have been 

 obtained from a bed in its soUd settled-down condition. The 

 materials for yielding heat were there, but air as the great 

 decomposer could not reach them, to act as flame to the fuel. 

 Much skill is required to make up a common hotbed so as to 

 give the most lasting and continuous heat. If built too loosely 

 the air will dry it, and thus arrest decomposition and the heat 

 it produces. If too close, air is kept out, and thus decompo- 

 sition is arrested. The turning-over lets the air in, and then 

 it acts like a bellows to a sluggish fire, giving out more heat, of 

 course, at the expense of the fuel — the decomposition of the 

 fermenting material. — E. F. 



NOTES AND GLEANINGS. 



At the meeting of the Fruit Committee of the Royal Horti- 

 cultural Society on Tuesday next, there will be an interesting 

 Exhibition or Grapes, the following prizes being offered— 

 viz. :— A. For the best dish of Grapes, consisting of six bunches 

 of any variety, grown in the open air against a wall, without 

 any protection whatever, £2 ; £1. These prizes are offered by 

 the Eev. George Kemp. B. For the best collection of any de- 

 scription of Grapes, except Muscats, one bunch of each, £3 ; 

 £2. C. Ditto White IMuscat Grapes, one bunch of each sort, 

 £3 ; £2. It is not imperative that the Grapes shown in this 

 class should be grown by the exhibitor, the object of the Com- 

 mittee being to obtain specimens of all the varieties of White 

 Muscat Grapes that are grown in different parts of the country, 

 for comparison. D. For the best dish of Muscat Hamburgh 

 Grapes, £1 ; lOs. In a season like the present, the out-of-door 

 Grapes are, no doubt, unusually fine. It is, therefore, a happy 

 thought of Mr. Kemp to have offered the prizes on this 

 occasion. 



• Mk. David Thomson, so favourably known to all horti- 

 culturists as Lady Mary C. Nesbit Hamilton's gardener at 

 Archerfield, will soon leave that place to occupy a similar 

 position at the still more extensive establishment of the Duke 

 of Bucclench, at Drumlanrig Castle, in Dumfriesshire. 



POMOLOGICAIi GLEANINGS. 



D'Agen Fio. — This is the latest variety of Fig with which 

 we are acquainted. It comes into use after all the others are 

 past, and is very valuable on that account. In the large and 

 fine collection of Figs in the Royal Horticultural Society's 

 garden, Chiswick, we have to-day observed in pots two hand- 

 some plants of this variety quite laden with beautiful green 

 healthy fruit, which has just commenced to ripen. The plants 

 being placed in a sufficient heat, the fruit will continue to 

 ripen successionally from this time up to Christmas. There 

 are many varieties from which occasionally there may be a few 

 straggling late fruits gathered (the fag-end of the crop), but 

 they are not to be depended upon, and they are generally of but 

 indifferent quality. This variety, then, which only commences 

 tearing at the present season, is a decided acquisition. The 

 fruit is above medium size, roundish turbinate, very regularly 

 formed, and very handsome. Skin deep green, covered with 

 a fine bloom, cracking when ripe in shallow white lines. Eye 

 small, generally closed. Flesh deep red, solid, firm, and rich. 

 Should be in every collection. 



Deux Sceurs Peak. — When ripe and mixed with Marie 



Louise, this variety may easUy be mistaken for the latter. It 

 is a very handsome frnit, the colour o{ the skin pale yellow, ! 



with a little russet exactly like Marie Louise. It is, however, 

 rather more uneven under the skin, and fuller towards the 

 stalk, and the stalk itself is thick and fleshy, instead of slender 

 like Marie Louise. The flesh is slightly granular at times, but 

 buttery and melting, with an exceedingly sweet and almost 

 honied taste. The tree is a good bearer, and forms a neat 

 pyramid on the Quince. 



The name Deux Soeurs (Two Sisters), it is said, was given 

 to this through the fruit generaUy growing on the trees in pairs, 

 which it certainly does — a veiy marked characteristic. 



The Rev. C. P. Peach, ef AppIeton-le-Street, writes : — 



" I wish you could see some Apples and Pears I had from bush 

 trees this year — 1300 Seckles from a two-year-old bush, and 

 the most wonderfully fine Easter Beurrc, Beurn' Diel, and Van 

 Mons Lijon le Clerc. I had a tree, too, of Pike's Pearmain Apple 

 planted twelve years ago, which is now about 9 feet high and 

 8 feet through, which bore from sixteen to eighteen pecks. I 

 do not think there was any 3 inches on the tree down to the 

 very ground without a fruit on it." 



EivERs's Early Nonpareil. — Along with some speci- 

 mens of the old Golden Pippin Mr. Rivers has sent ns a few 

 examples of what he calls " our Early Nonpareil." He thus 

 designates it by way of distinction from the Early Nonpareil, 

 or Hicks's Fancy, as some call it. It is a perfectly different 

 Apple, and is supposed by Mr. Rivers to be the old Haute Bontfi 

 of the French, which MUler in his Dictionary says is often sold 



in the streets for the Nonpareil. It is quite distinct from that 

 variety, and is one of unusual excellence. The shape is not 

 unlike that of the Nonpareil, and the colour, in the highly 

 coloured specimens, is of a bright aurora glow. It is a larger 

 and a handsomer Apple than the old Nonpareil. 



We have received some Red Currants grown by Mr. 



Twells, a mechanic at Letchurch, Derbyshire. They are fully 

 ripe, and quite of an average size and excellence. Their pecu- 

 liarity is that they are part of the second crop produced by the 

 same bushes this year. A dish was gathered on the 11th inst. 



BEDDING-OUT AT CLIVEDEN. 



One of the prettiest examples of what may be done in the 

 way of bedding with succulent plants alone, such as Sedums, 

 Echeverias, i-c, that we ever recollect having seen, is a small 

 bed planted by Mr. Fleming at Cliveden this season, represent- 

 ing the monogram of Harriet Duchess of Sutherland. We 

 have tried by the aid of the accompanying engraving to give 

 some idea of how this has been carried out. It is, however, 

 one of those things that require to be seen to be understood 

 and thoroughly appreciated. It is impossible to show in a 

 sketch of a bed of this sort the different forms of the various 

 plants, their different hues, iSrc, which are so neatly and happily 

 blended in this little gem. It is planted thus : — 



The H is formed with small plants of Arabia Incida variegata ; 

 the two S's and the largest circles with Echeveria secnsda 



