238 



JOUKNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



( March S7, 1666. 



years that it has made mach progress in England, owing to 

 that peculiar national dullness in all matters relating to the cul- 

 ture of the soil. We take a new mechanical invention readily 

 «nongh from our neighbours, but a now idea in gardening is 

 hummed at and haw'd at, till many years have passed and much 

 valuable time has been lost. As with Pear trees on Quince 

 stocks, I must be allowed to go into statistics. Twenty years 

 ago 1000 Apple trees on Paradise stocks supplied the usual de- 

 mand here ; this has gradually increased till 30,000 scarce 

 snffico to do it. The produce of Apples trees per acre on good 

 Paradise stocks woald bear about the same proportion to or- 

 chard trees on the crab, as pyramidal Pear trees on the Quince 

 do to the " majestic trees," and owing to the trees being culti- 

 vated — the ground kept clean, the trees pruned, and the fruit 

 thinned — it is far more valuable. I was offered this week a 

 guinea a-bushel for my Newtown Pippins, grown on dwarf trees 

 on the Paradise stock, by a Covent Garden fruiterer ; besides 

 this, the crop seldom faUs, owing to the fruit being thinned 

 and the trees not distressed by bearing too many — in short, 

 they may have careful culture, such as it is impossible to give 

 to orchard trees, which, in plentiful seasons, bear too many, 

 and in seasons the converse none. There is nothing " question- 

 able " abovit the early fertility given to Apple trees on the Para- 

 dise stock. They commence to bear the second year from the 

 graft. It is true that such sorts as Hawthomden, Keswick 

 Codlin, and some others do the same on the crab; bnt such 

 sorts will not supply our desserts or all our wants. No good 

 enltivator would plant a Pear tree on the Quince, unless it was 

 budded or grafted near the surface. It is true that the Quince 

 makes roots near the surface, consequently its stem may be 

 on an emergency buried more deeply than the stems of other 

 trees without injury. With respect to the bearing of Apple 

 trees on a good liind of Paradise stock, if life were not so un- 

 certain, I would wager that twenty trees on it woiJd bear double 

 the quantity of fruit than the same number on crab stocks. 

 Mr. Eobson acknowledges to having had no experience in this 

 matter, and yet he makes most confident assertions ; this is not 

 prudent in a writer. 



No one can admire more than I do a fine orchard of Apple trees, 

 such as one sometimes sees in Kent and in Nottinghamshire, 

 more particularly with Mr. Pearson, whose giandfather and 

 father planted the trees — they really are '• majestic," and owing 

 to the heavy demands in a large manufacturing town, where all 

 sorts of fruit are wanted, doubtless pay well ; but I confess I 

 fly at higher game, and wish to grow only the finest fruit, 

 such as will command a high price — something in the way of 

 my Newtown Pippins. 



At the end of his fourth paragraph Mr. Robson tells us that 

 " We see no instance in which she (Nature) buries the collar be- 

 low the surface." Nature sometimes tries her hand at grafting 

 in a Hawthorn hedge by uniting two branches, but I never re- 

 member her taking budding in hand, consequently she does 

 not, and never has known anything about buiying the " collar " 

 — i.e., the junction of the bud with the stock. — T. K. 



MR. WILLLUI PAUL'S SHOW OF SPRING 

 FLOWERS. 



On Wednesday last there was opened to the public one of 

 the most charming floral displays which have been seen for 

 some years, a display worthy of one who enjoys a high repu- 

 tation, not merely as an enterprising nurseryman, but as a 

 scientific horticulturist as well. Th^ exhibitor is Mr. W. Paul, 

 of the Waltham Cross Nurseries, the place of exhibition the 

 eastern conservatory arcade of the Royal Horticultural Society's 

 gardens at Kensington, and the subjects those which are em- 

 braced in the comprehensive term, spring flowers. 



This exhibition may be regarded in two points of view — 

 first, as an example of tasteful and effective arrangement as a 

 whole ; and, secondly, as showing the results of successful cul- 

 tivation in the merits of the individual flowers. Into the latter 

 it is not our intention here to enter, for a large proportion of 

 the subjects exhibited are the same as those with which Mr. W. 

 Paul has taken no less than twenty-nine first prizes at the 

 recent shows, a fact which is sufficient evidence of their ex- 

 cellence. Those majestic spikes of Hyacinths which carried 

 all before them, reinforced by others equally fine, those TuUps 

 so showy and rich in colour, those gentle Crocuses, and those 

 ^oriouB Rhododendrons, are here in all their beauty ; and to 

 these are added numerous miscellaneous greenhouse plants, 

 snch as Azaleas, Camellias, Eriostemons, Epacrises, Cinerarias, 



Geraniums, double-flowering Peaches, &c. Bat the Rose, that 

 flower of all ages, and for which Mr. W. Paul is so famed, most 

 not be forgotten ; two beautiful groups of it, placed one at each 

 end. serve as the points on which rest the right and left wings 

 of the whole arrangement. Among the varieties are several 

 new ones, such as Dr. Lindley, Elizabeth Vigneron, Glory of 

 Waltham. and Black Prince, several others of the best of the 

 Hybrid Perpetuals, and the delightfully fragrant Teas. The 

 next group, on passing from the conservatory eastwards, con- 

 sists of miscellaneous greenhouse plants interspersed with 

 flowering-bulbs, and flanked with double-flowering Peaches. 

 Then we have another group composed of Tulips, Hyacinths, 

 and Crocuses ; a fourth has masses of rich-coloured Rhodo- 

 dendrons on each side, with three lines of Tulips, and sii of 

 Hyacinths, stretching along the centre ; the fifth is a mixed 

 group of greenhouse plants, supported on each side by Lilacs, 

 Bichardia icthiopica, and tall Scarlet Geraniums ; and the sixth, 

 the terminal group of Roses. Opposite the pillars of the front 

 of the arcade a series of semicircular tables are variously filled 

 with Dielytra spectabilis. Cinerarias, Narcissi, Cyclamens, Lily 

 of the Valley, and Hyacinths of various colours, edged with 

 either white or red Chinese Primulas. 



The arrangement of the groups above briefly described may 

 appear simple, and it has that merit, but it is very effective as 

 a whole ; and on inspection it will be found that the details in 

 each group have teen carefully studied as regards the contrast 

 and bannony of the colours. The exhibition will continue tUl 

 the 3rd of April, and besides affording an example which may 

 be consulted with advantage in conservatory arrangement, will 

 afford, it is to be hoped, gratification to thousands during the 

 Easter holidays. To the lovers of fine flowers it cannot fail 

 to do so. 



PROPOSED HORTICULTURAL DINNER. 



A MEETING was held at Anderton's Hotel, Fleet Street, on the 

 aftei-noon of Thursday last, to consider the propriety of holding 

 a dinner at some date during the continuance of the Inter- 

 national Horticultural Exhibition. Upwards of twenty gentle- 

 men were present ; and Mr. William Paul, of Waltham Cross, 

 being called to the chair, the following resolutions were unani- 

 mously adopted. 



1st. That a public dinner be held during the week of the 

 International Horticultural Exhibition, and that a Committee 

 of Management be appointed to carry out the same. 



•2nd. That the dinner take placeon Thm-sday, the 21th of 

 May next. 



3rd. That an advertisement be inserted in the gardening 

 publications announcing the dinner, and requesting that those 

 intending to dine send in their names at once to the Secretary ; 

 and that the price of the tickets for the dinner be fixed at 

 lOs. Gd. each. 



4th. That the following persons be a Suh-Committce to carry 

 out the arrangements with respect to the dinner : — Messrs. C. 

 Lee (Chairman), C. Edmonds, B. S. Williams, T. F. Wilding, 

 J. F. Meston, Mr. E. Dean (Secretary). 



Several letters were received from leading horticulturists re- 

 gretting their inability to attend, but cordially approving of 

 the proposal. 



DESTROYING THE BROWN WEEVIL. 



From your description given to " Wat.sonian " in the .Journal 

 of February 20th, I am inclined to think that it is the same 

 weevil with which we are troubled. It first begins its depre- 

 dations in the autumn and spring months by eating away the 

 bark of our young Hollies, Yews, &c., a little below the surface 

 of the gromid. It formerly committed sad havoc among our 

 two and three-year-old seedling Rhododendrons ; but by an- 

 nual and biennial transplanting we have almost banished it 

 from our "bog ground." Our mode of proceeding is about 

 the month of May to take up the plants, and give each s slight 

 shake or two, when out rolls from the neck of the plwit a white 

 crescent-shaped red-headed grub, about half an inch in length. 

 In June it changes into the beetle or weevil state, which at 

 first is of a white, soft, pulpy matter, gradually becoming 

 brown and hard, when it commences its ravages above ground, 

 in the summer and autumn eating the foliage, and in the 

 spring the buds and bark of our fruit trees, Pears and Plums 

 especially. 



If " J. B." will try the following, he may at least save the buds 



