422 



JOURNAIi OF HORTICULTUEE AND COTTAGE GABDENEE. 



[ June 11, ! 



Frnit was good, bat leas in quantity than might have been 

 expected in a locality where it is so well grown as in Lancashire, 

 besides which, the liberal prizes offered might have tempted 

 exhibitors from a distance as well. The prize Pine was from 

 Hertfordshire, and it well deserved the distinction it received. 

 A Qaeen of Gibs, in May is not a frait often to be met with ; 

 but it may be as well to remark here, that the Pine chiefly 

 grown in this part of England is the Jamaica, just as the 

 Cayenne is in Scotland, and the Queen around London. Black 

 Grapes were good, but the white ones were, perhaps, hardly 

 ripe, and the collection of four kinds was far from being good. 

 Strawberries were not remarkable, it being too early for the 

 out-door fruit, and perhaps those grown under glass were be- 

 coming scarce. 



Of other subjects exhibited, there were numerous examples 

 of boilers, one or more with a quantity of piping being at work. 

 Some of the boilers were not intended to be encased in brick- 

 work, but to stand open. Economy in fuel was also one of the 

 features aimed at. The friends of the tabular boiler are cer- 

 tainly fewer than they were some years ago, but I expect 

 farther improvement in the saddle boiler, some of those exhi- 

 jbited being of a sort intermediate between that and the conical. 

 Amongst the boilers exhibited some were very useful, and 

 it is certainly important that such should bo made known 

 at exhibitions. Although not connected with horticultural 

 heating, I noticed some ingeniously-contrived chimney tops 

 to care smoky chimneys. One with a revolving top %vas so 

 contrived that its spindle turned a sort of winged screw, not 

 unlike in construction the wings of the screw propeller of a 

 steamboat ; to appearance this must pump up, as it were, the 

 air in the chimney, and so long as it keeps in motion one 

 might expect exemption from smoke. There were also some 

 modifications of this screw, some of the wings being nearly of a 

 cup form. I was not surprised at the attention paid to this 

 contrivance, evidently by those who were sufferers from smoky 

 chimneys. 



Garden seats were exhibited in great variety, also mowing 

 machines of all sizes, syringes, tools, and implements of all 

 kinds ; but one of the most common of all was here, as it gene- 

 rally is on all similar occasions, conspicuous by its absence ; 

 for, notwithstanding the improvements every article has been 

 subjected to, we never see nor hear of a wheelbarrow at such 

 exhibitions, and nothing in everyday use is more in need of 

 improvement. A neat handy barrow for garden use is one of 

 the rarities one meets with only once or twice in a lifetime, 

 and I am not sure that I have ever done so yet. 



The arrangement of the whole Exhibition was admirable, 

 and I hope was duly appreciated by the manufacturing public, 

 ot which Manchester is the centre ; for the Show was to con- 

 tinue open about a week, the latter days at such a price as to 

 admit the million on the most important holiday week they 

 have in the year — namely, Whitsun week. 



A notice of this kind would not be complete without men- 

 tioning that the flower beds in the panel garden immediately 

 in front of the Exhibition house were all planted with their 

 summer occupants, consisting of Pelargoniums, Lobelias, Cal- 

 ceolarias, and similar plants ; while in a reserve ground behind 

 I noticed a quantity ot plants that had evidently been removed 

 thither only a few days, being the " spring gardening " bulbs 

 and plants. The system of having two crops of flowers on the 

 same ground is trying alike to the energy of the cultivator and 

 the qnaUties of the soil. The latter I expect will be enriched 

 by manure, either liquid or solid, and there is no doubt as 

 the summer advances the display will be good, as the plants 

 were certainly planted thickly enough. Of course a favourable 

 season or otherwise influences everything ; but in the moist 

 climate of Lancashire one of the elements of success — rain, will 

 probably not be wanting, as it has been in some districts. All 

 parts of the ground were in good keeping, and the walks being 

 mostly composed of gas tar and crushed Derbyshire spar, or a 

 hard white stone resembling that substance, looked well, and 

 many of the public walks in the district were made in this 

 way, with now and then a dash of crushed brick as well. The 

 mottled appearance such walks present contrasts strongly with 

 the dull brown gravel used elsewhere, and I need hardly add 

 that such walks are always clean. A visit to the great metro- 

 polis of the cotton district will reveal much that is useful in 

 this way ; but if the traveller be from a favoured rural district 

 in one of the southern counties, he will feel reconciled to its 

 not having the advantages which a manufacturing district pos- 

 sesses, on observing how dwarf, dingy, and unhealthy every 

 shrub or tree appears ; while the care, skill, and energy dis- 



played in the culture of plants under glass, and the success 

 achieved with them, will convince him that all the skill and 

 dexterity of the dweUers in these districts are not absorbed in 

 mechanical pursuits, for those following the more ancient 

 calling of the gardener are as a body second to none of their 

 brethren in other parts of the kingdom. — J. Eoeson. 



FERTILISING SHY-SETTING GRAPES. 



Much has been written upon the setting of Muscat and other 

 shy-setting Grapes ; and in The Jouenai, of Horticulture of 

 .January 30th I read the following paragraph written by Mr. 

 Budd, gardener, Cobham Hall : — " To set the Muscat of Alex- 

 andria like the Black Hamburgh, keep the day temperature at 

 75° by fire heat, and 85° with sun heat. Keep the night tem- 

 perature at 70°. Damp the paths at 7.30 a.m. and at 4 p.m. 

 Keep the whole of the atmosphere of the house in perpetual 

 motion night and day. When the blossoms are fully expanded 

 give each bunch a shght shake once a-day. This is all that is 

 necessary to ensure well-formed bunches." 



My experience from having set and fruited our new Grape, 

 Mrs. Pince's Black Muscat, on many occasions in pots, with 

 smaller canes growing for sale, where the atmosphere must as 

 a rule be kept very moist, led me to believe in and adopt Mr. 

 Badd's plan to the very letter. The whole of the vines here 

 have set better this year than I ever saw them. The small 

 house in which Mrs. Pince's Black Muscat is growing is truly 

 a sight worth seeing. The bunches really touch each other ; 

 and as I shall have to take off more than half, I send you apart 

 of a bunch, that you may see that every berry has set. I shall 

 be glad to know if others have tried Mr. Budd's plan. — Samuel 

 Randall, Manager to Lucombe, Pmce, <t Co., Exeter. 



[Nearly every berry was set in the portion of the bunch sent. 

 —Eds.] 



CKOSS-BREEDING THE POLYANTHUS. 



New varieties of the Polyanthus, indeed of all florists" 

 flowers, are raised from seed, and in fertilising them the experi- 

 mentalist may vary his operations according to his taste, 

 judgment, or requirements. If size be wanted, take Buck's 

 George IV. for the seed-bearing parent, if refinement, Saunder'E 

 Cheshire Favourite, and impregnate them with the pollen from 

 a flower containing such properties in colour or marking as yon 

 wish to impart. The modus operandi is as follows : Take a 

 strong truss of the variety selected for the purpose : remove 

 the small pips, leaving five or six to be operated upon; take 

 out the anthers with a pair of small forceps or tweezers as each 

 pip opens ; when fully expanded collect the pollen from the 

 best pips of the variety selected for that purpose, with a camel- 

 hair pencil that will not scatter it ; introduce it into the tube, 

 and forcibly turn it round upon the stumps of the removed 

 anthers ; repeat this process several times ; cover the truss 

 with the piece of glass mentioned before [see page 375], to 

 keep wet or insects from injuring the fertilised pips, and Nature 

 will work her own way. 



When the seed-pods are turned brown, and just about to 

 open, gather them ; store them in a dry place until you sow 

 them : the best time for this is probably in February. Fill 

 some boxes, pans, or shallow pots to within 1 inch of the top 

 with rich garden mould, then sift or rub half an inch of very 

 fine soil, and sow the seed ; only just cover it with fine-sifted 

 soil, water with a small-rose pot, and take care never to let the 

 seeds get dry after they begin to germinate. When the seedlings 

 are large enough to handle, transplant them in a shady border, 

 free from drip, about 3 inches apart ; attend to watering and 

 top-dressing, and in due time this labour will be rewarded by 

 the appearance of some " gems of purest ray serene." 



I will just mention a method I have adopted as a temporary 

 shade, and I find it well adapted for a sunshade during the 

 summer months. On the back of the short stake in which I 

 fix the piece of glass for protection to the bloom, I hang with a 

 single tack a piece of perforated zinc, about 5 inches by 7 ; 

 this admits a free circulation of air, and prevents the rays of 

 the sun striking directly upon the plants.— Deba (in The Qm- 

 dcncr). 



Ckystal r\LACE Rose Show Breakfast. —The refreshment 

 contractors promise to provide breakfast at 10 a.m. if they are 

 informed how many are likely to require it at that time. Last 



