Angast 19, 1869. ] 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTUBE AND COTTAGE GAKDENER. 



139 



and 300 feet above the level of the ses. If the true seed can be 

 Becured, I feel certain the plants will give satisfaction to the most 

 fastidioue. — M. Temple, Balhirnie Gardens, Markiuch, N.B. 



THE STEAWBERKY CROP OF IHGii. 



Anotheh Strawberry season is over, and a very trjing and 

 peculiar one. Where the plants had been taken care of, and 

 not allowed to suffer from the drought the previous season, 

 there was an abundance of bloom, but a continued succession 

 of cold east winds prevented the flowers from setting. Pre- 

 mier, President, and Sir J. Paston suffered the most, not be- 

 cause they flowered earliest, as Black Piince, which flowered 

 before them, had a good crop cf fine fruit. The remarkably 

 fine weather about the middle of April started the plants into 

 rapid growth, and also into flower earlier than usual, only to 

 be blackened by the frosts in the end of April and beginning of 

 May. Notwilhstandiog all drawbacks J picked good fruit out 

 of doors, especially of Dr. Hogg, British Queen, Sir Harry, and 

 La Constante ; the last-named variety was more acid than I 

 ever had it before ; it had the best crop of fruit, however. 



By far the best fruit was this year obtained from pot plants. 

 Premier, a beautiful Strawberry, but rather acid, was the first 

 to ripen in the orchard house about the last week in May ; this 

 variety is rather acid, but it is very hardy, also vigorous 

 and prolific. The next in succession were Sir J. Paxton and 

 President in the first week in June. La Constante was latest, 

 the first week in July ; at the same time I picked Premier and 

 President out of doors. 



The sorts I will now add to those I have already enumerated 

 in the Journal are Cockscomb, Souvenir de Kieff, and President 

 Wilder (De Jonghe), said to be a great improvement on La 

 Constante, both in respect to beauty and flavour. 



As regards the cultivation of Strawberries in pots, I am very 

 much in favour of putting them early into the fruitiug pots, 

 potting them firmly, and standing them in a position, if possi- 

 ble, fully exposed to the sun. By attention to these simple 

 directions, duticg the last two seasons 1 had not five plants in 

 five hundred which did not carry a good crop of fruit. It ia 

 very annoying, after growing the plants until they throw up 

 their trusses, to have 25 per cent, or more which have nothing 

 but leaves. 



The best materia! for potting the plants in is good loam and 

 rotted farmyard manure. I layer the runners in 3-inch pots, 

 and shift into C and 7-inch pots as soon as the plants are 

 established, and they ought to be all in their frniling pots by 

 the middle of August, whether for early or late forcing. — James 

 Douglas. 



CULTURE OF MARECHAL NIEL ROSE. 

 I QUITE agree with the Rev. W. F. Eadclyffe that the Mareehal 

 Niel Rose succeeds best against a south wall. I have a plant 

 here which has had from fifty to f ixly flowers on at one time, 

 and some of them very large. It is generally in flower by the 

 end of May or beginning of June, but the bushes in the open 

 ground do not flower till a much later period, and grow more 

 to wood. I find it is a Rose which likes to ramble, and to 

 have only a little stopping and thinning. No one need despair 

 of success with this beautiful Rose if he plant it against a south 

 wall, and do not use the pruning knife much. — J. H. S. 



ONION-GROWING ON LIGHT LAND DURING 

 A HOT SEASON. 

 DuRiMG the extreme heat of the summer of 1868, amongst 

 other things which sufl'ered with us were the Onion crops. Our 

 general crop came up well, and held on vrell for some time. 

 About the 10th of June we had a few very refreshing showers, 

 being, indeed, the only rain which fell for months. I took ad- 

 vantage of these showers to transplant as many of the Onions 

 as possible from the seed beds, leaving enough for a crop. This 

 is a common piastice of mice when I have any spare ground 

 suitable for them. A piece of ground being fresh dug and well 

 manured, I had it several times regularly and firmly trodden 

 aUover ; I then drew lines 2 or 3 inches deep with a hoe, and into 

 these I placed as many Onions as I could, at from 4 to 6 inches 

 apart. The dull weather which prevailed favoured this oper- 

 ation very much, and besides this, I quite filled these little 

 ruts wilh water directly after planting, and two or three times 

 a-week afterwards. The Onions grew well and became a good 



crop. Of course, the edges of the little ruts crumbled in, and 

 after the first hoeing became nearly level, consequently nearly 

 covering the Onions when full-grown ; but these, neverthelesB, 

 repaid all the care bestowed on them ; whereas, scarcely any 

 of those in the seed beds, although they had equally good 

 treatment, grew larger than those generally used in pickling. 

 I attributed the difference in the results principally to the fact, 

 that the transplanted Onions were placed deeper in the soil 

 than the others, so that their roots were not so much scorched 

 during the hot weather which followed. — G. Dawson. 



ORCHARD-HOUSE FAILURES. 



With regard to the minimum temperature observed in the 

 cast-iron orchard house at Sc ne Palace (see page 7.5), you 

 must have misunderstood me. What I wrote I cannot now say. 

 What I meant was 21° below the freezing-point, or 11° Fahr. 

 Twenty-one degrees is so common inside the house during the 

 flowering season, we think nothing of it. When speaking, of 

 freezing temperature we invariably say so many — so many 

 degrees of frost, or indications under 32' Fahrenheit, being under- 

 stood. 



It might havo been added that the said low temperature 

 having been followed by a clear hot day, the maximum heat 

 under the structure would range from 100° to 120°, from which 

 it would appear that if sudden alternations from low to high 

 temperatures, and vice versn, are injuiious, it will very much 

 depend on what sort of heat it ia. — H. 



AMONG THE SWISS LAKES.— No. £> ' 



One of the peculiarities of alpine districts is the inability oi 

 the human eye to appreciate the vastness of the elevations. 

 I was at the foot of the Jur^gfrau, which rises to the height of 

 12,832 feet, yet it certainly did not Feem to me so much higher 

 than Snowdon, which is onlv :>5G7 feet. One of the most 

 striking evidences of great elevation is noted by Mr. Macmillan, 

 who observes that on Mont St. Bernard, at an elevation of 

 8000 feet, " water boils at about 187° Fahr., or 25° sooner than 

 the normal point ; and in consequence of this it takes five 

 hours to cook a piece of meat which would have taken only 

 three hours to get ready down in the valleys." Though the 

 total of the elevation is so difiienlt to appreciate, the steepness 

 of their sides is not at all doublful, especially to pedestrians. 

 Tet on these slopes, which no Englishman could mow, hay iB 

 made ; but as no vehicle could rest upon them, the hay is 

 carried home in bundles, eiiclosed in nets on the backs of men 

 and women. It is stored under cover, for, in this land of uni- 

 versal pasturage, such winter fodder is more valuable than the 

 scanty grain crop. Pursuing any occupation under difficulties, 

 invariably leads to assistant inventions which would never .he 

 suggested were tho occupation untrammelled by obstacles. One 

 instance I observed where watering was needed on a hill slope, 

 and the crops were in drills. A narrow four-wheeled dray had 

 to be employed for conveying the water. One large vessel for 

 holding the water would have been unmanageable, so there 

 were in the waggon three casks connected by leather pipes, and 

 the water was delivered to the crop through a tap and hose 

 attached to the end head of the last cask. 



Wood is the universal fuel, and it is chiefly of the Beech, 

 which usually clothes the b.ise of each mountain, as the Abies 

 excelsa, or Norway Spruce Fir, exclusively occupies its higher 

 portions. 



The cottage gardens are small, but well stocked with the 

 vsgetables most common in England. The only crop unusual 

 with us, but almost universal in the Swiss gardens, is the 

 White Beet. It also is peculiar to see large patches of Dande- 

 lion enUirated in corners of fields. It is used for salading. 



Hcney is a perennial ooenpant of the breakfast table, and is 

 of excel'ent quality and flavour. Tho bee hives, all on the old 

 pit-and-brimstone system, are r.anged on a shelf against the 

 side of the house, about 6 feet from the ground. I saw none 

 otherwise placed. 



The employment of the dwarf Palms as room plant.5 hae 

 often been recommended in your pages. In Swilzerland and 

 other parts of continental Eui ope no such recommendation is 

 needed, for they are so employed very generally. Even on the 

 table d'liote of every respectable hotel they are common. The 

 Corypha auslralis is the species nsually employed. 



I have now turned over the last page of my note-book, and 

 its first line is inscribed " Lausanne ."Yevay." Indifferent 



