368 



JODENAL OF HOKTICULTUEE AND COTTAGE GAKDENER. 



[ May 8, 1873. 



seoms to have set ; if no farther severe frost occur, these trees 

 will require very severely thinning. 



Pears on walls are full of bloom ; standarJs not yet opened 

 out ; indeed, some of my trees in the orchard had all the 

 blossom buds cut-off by the severe frosts of February. I may 

 specify Beurre Clairgeau, Seckle, and Beurrij d'Amanlis as 

 having their bloom buds entirely destroyed. 



Whilst on the subject of Pears, I may mention what seems 

 to me to be a subject of some interest as touching on seminal 

 varieties. Some fifteen years since I noticed a fruit on a tree 

 of the Seckle of three or four times the usual size, and I saved 

 the pips, and raised two trees, which have now been bearing 

 two or three years. The interesting point to which I wish to 

 call your attention is, that although both these trees were 

 raised from the same fruit, they are completely different from 

 each other in flavour and appearance. One is an enlarged 

 Seckle rather coarse in flesh, but improves every year over the 

 quality of the preceding one, and this year I hope to be able 

 to speak of its quality double-worked on the Quince, and 

 grown in the orchard house. Hitherto it has only been grown 

 as a standard in a locality where the original Seckle has never 

 been anything better or larger than a small Crab. The other 

 Pear is a medium-sized melting Pear of high flavour, ripe in 

 October, having no resemblance to the Seckle whatever. The 

 tree from which these two were raised grew in close proximity 

 to a Beurn' de Eauce ; but as other Pear trees were growing on 

 the same waU, the blossom from which the fruit came may 

 have been fertilised by the bees from some other tree. The 

 singular thing, as it seems to me, is that there must have 

 been two distinct fertilisations in the same blossom, as there 

 is no resemblance in the leaf, mode of growth, appearance and 

 quality of fruit, or in anything else between these two fruits 

 raised from the same Pear. 



Notwithstanding the excellence of its quality, I cannot re- 

 commend the propagation of the high-flavoured one, at least 

 in this neighbourhood, as it is not very hardy when in blos- 

 som, and does not hang very well in a wind; but, as even the 

 Beurrij de Capiaumont is little better here than a Crab if grown 

 as a standard, this might l^e well deserving of cultivation in a 

 more genial locality. 



The other Pear, the enlarged Seckle, is a prodigious bearer, 

 about four times the size of the old Seckle when grown in 

 the orchard, and I hope it may prove of value when double- 

 worked and grown in the orchard ; and as to its bearing under 

 glass, I have a small tree double-worked on the (Quince which 

 had nine bunches of bloom upon it, on which nine bunches 

 sixty-three Pears set. I hope, therefore, to learn what double- 

 working and glass will do in improving the quality. 



The small fruits (Gooseberries, and Red and Black Currants), 

 are so far promising, as the frosts of last week do not seem to 

 have done any damage to them. — T. G. 



SEEDING OF MYOSOTIS DISSITIFLOBA. 



Mr. Robsox, in his interesting and instructive notes on dwarf 

 hardy edging plants (see pagea.S3), remarks that he has failed 

 to discover this plant propagating itself naturally by seed. I 

 am happy to state that it seeded freely here last season, and 

 I have now a stock of strong self-sown plants, but as yet they 

 show no sign of flowering. I may add that the soil in which 

 the plants seeded has not been disturbed in any way since the 

 flowering period last year. — W.m. Gakdiner, Lower Eatiiujton 

 Park, Stmt ford-on- Avon. 



HOES AND HOEING. 



I SHOULD think it is well known that the hoe is one of the 

 most useful of garden implements, and I wish it were not 

 necessary to say that in many places it should be more fre- 

 quently made use of. To recommend that the hoe should be 

 frequently used among all garden crops is nothing new, and 

 I feel sure if this recommendation were fuUy carried out it 

 would be esteemed as sound advice as any handeil down to us 

 by our ancestors. To use the hoe only as a weed destroyer is 

 not to realise its full value, for, to quote Mr. Johnson's " Science 

 and Practice of Gardening," " hoeing facilitates the access of 

 air to the roots of plants by rendering the texture of the soil 

 easily permeable." The truth of this remark is easily proved by 

 the comparative progress of a crop that is frequently hoed and 

 one that is not. Some gardeners in practice rake the soil after 

 every hoeing ; this, I think, is not wise, for it reduces the valuo 

 of the hoeing by maldng the soU too fine, and it binds or 



cakes on the surface more readily, and air is excluded. If hoeing 

 be properly done the surface may be left even enough without 

 raking. The above are a few facts which the oldest practi- 

 tioners were acquainted with from the beginning of their 

 career, and which, 1 think, were regarded by them as of more 

 importance than the rising generation of gardeners appear in- 

 clined to assign to them. The ornamental department of 

 gardening attracts the young gardener, and he is too apt to 

 leave a knowledge of the cultivation of the soU to be picked- 

 up piecemeal and imperfectly. 



As regards hoeing and stirring the soU, I purpose giving 

 illustrations of some of the best and most useful implements 

 for the various conditions of the soil and the crops. I will 

 commence with the draw hoe. 



Draw Hoes {fip. 1). — Of these there are several varieties 

 and sizes. That illustrated, and which is known in Norfolk 

 as the Bloomfleld hoe, is fastened into the handle by a strong 

 spike having a long narrow neck, terminating in a broad head, 

 to which the steel blade 

 is attached by three rivets, 

 whUst the handle is kept 

 from splitting by a deep 

 ferule. Another form of 

 draw hoe has a socket for 

 the handle, which should 

 be about 4 feet long. It 

 has a crane neck, to which 

 is attached a plate of iron 

 and steel C inches long 

 and 3 broad. These crane- 

 necked draw hoes may 

 vary in size considerably 

 for different purposes, 

 and are most admissible 

 for hoeing between crops, 

 as the small neck allows the soil to pass freely over the plate, 

 as well as between the foliage of any crop without injury. A 

 cheaper sort of draw hoe, but with the iron socket or eye 

 closely attached to the blade or plate, is often used ; these are 

 liable to clog in wet weather, and take much of a man's time 

 in cleaning ; nevertheless, they are useful for drawing earth to 

 plants as well as for loosening the soil before the rake is ap- 

 plied. It is, however, best to have several sizes of these on 

 hand, as a large hoe is not at all times the handiest tool to 

 ajji^ly to the job. 



The Crajie-neclied Hoe (Jig. 2) is another form of draw hoe. 

 There should be several sizes, for they are very handy tools to 



1. — Draw Hoe. 



Fig. 2. — Crane-necked Hoe. 



use in seed beds or for thinning crops. The largest size is not 

 more than 18 inches long, with a short wooden handle of 

 about inches. The handle and neck are made of iron, and 

 the blade of iron and steel, about 3 inches wide. They are to 

 be used with one hand only. An active man will take one of 

 these tools in his right hand and roughly thin-out the bulk of 

 a row of Turnips or Carrots, and complete the thinning by 

 means of his left hand with remarkable speed. 



The Ailjustahte Hoe (Jig. 3) is a draw hoe and thrust hoe 



Fig. 3. — Adjustable Hoe. 



combined. The plate is deep and strong, very similar in shape 

 to what is made by local blacksmiths for use in heavy soils, but 

 this tool it possesses the great merit of a contrivance to set 

 the plate at an angle to go deep or shallow. It is very cou- 



