28C 



JOURNAL OF HOBTICULTUBE AND COTTAGE GABDENEB. 



( October 7, 1889. 



former and better-keeping claisfies of the pale red and brown- 

 skinned Unions, there are Ddnvers' Yellow, St. Brienne, 

 Pale hed Niort, Pale Ilfld Flat Keeping, Common Pale Ked, 

 French Straaburp, Floch coloured Straebnrg, Slrasbarg, lied 

 Spanish, Yellow Flat Keeping, Very Large Yellow, Straw-colour. 

 These have a xtrung family resemblance : most of them are 

 mediam-pized Onions, but some of them may be cultivated to 

 a great eize. The best are St. Brienne, Bed Niort, and I>an- 

 Ters'. Of the liijhter-akinned flat Onions, Very Large Yellow, 

 Straw-coloiued, Large Jiutch Yellow, Sulphur, Sulphur Flat 

 Keeping, White Spanish, and Nuneham, all resemble each 

 other very much. The Nuneham Park is the thick-necked 

 Tttriety of the Spanish Onion, and is capable of being grown to 

 the largest size. The variety of Spanish Onion mostly grown 

 in Bedfordshire has a finer neck, and appears a finer-bred 

 Onion than the Nuneham Park, though it does not appear to 

 grow under superior treatment quite so large. Nos. 134 to Pit) 

 embrace the two classes of the White Spanish. Some seasons, 

 when the Onion crop is a f.iilure in this country, the Large 

 Datoh Yellow is imported in large quantities to supplement the 

 deficiency. 



Red Onionx. — These are varionsly sold as Blood Bed, Dark 

 Blood Bed, Very Dark Blood Red, and Very Deep Blood Bed. 

 No. 66 is the largest in this section, and No. 70 the darkest. These 

 Onions are reputed to bo very strong in flavour, but probably 

 the colour has supgesled the idea. 



Whiti' or Silver-skinnfd Onions. — These are sold under a great 

 manynames : — Ver.v Early Silver-skinned, Early Silver-skinned, 

 Very Early Paris Silver-skinned, Early Paris Silver-bkinned, 

 Large Eariy Paris Silver-skinned, Early Noi.era Silver-skinned, 

 Extra Early Nct-pra Silver-skinned, White Tripoli, White 

 Valentia, Silver Keeping, and White Lisbon. The variation in 

 the names teems greater than the variation of the bulbs. Some 

 sorts may probably keep better than others, and some probably 

 grow larger than others. The coarsest sort appears to be the 

 Lisbon, and the true imported White Italian Tripoli, No. Gl, the 

 finest. This variety appears, however, somewhat difiicult to 

 procure genuine. Two samples had from two wholesale London 

 honses, gave about a third of white, and these appear coarse. 

 All the white Onions are mild in flavour. They are amongst 

 the earliest to come into use, and for pickling are certainly very 

 desirable both on account of colour and quality. 



The Two-hhuled Onion is a pretty little variety, much prized 

 by many for pickling. 



The Potato Onh^n is a larce tnild-flavonred vsriefy. not nenally 

 produced from seed. No. \j'> was received from Mr. Gilbert, of 

 Burghley. No. 122 is the produce of seed. In Devonshire, 

 where this Onion is extensively cultivated, they are in the habit 

 of planting them on the shortest day, and lifting them on the 

 longest. 



The Tree, or Pulb hearing Onion, sometimes called the Rocam- 

 bole Onion, produces small bulbs on the stalk instead of flowers. 

 These are greatly prized for pickhng. It also forms roots under 

 gronnd. 



The Onions commencing at No. 48 to No. 131 are simply to 

 be considered as a collection. Nos. 1 to 47, and Nos. 1.S2 to 

 161 are more or less specimens of good cultivation, being con- 

 tribntions as already notified. 



POMOLOGICiVL GLEANINGS. 



The Atlas Nut (Corylus algeriensii-). — I enclose some leaves 

 of this Nut, they are remarkable for their size and rugose 

 nature. The sort was received from the south of France some 

 years ago, under its Latin appellation, and was said to be from 

 the Atlas. It is simply a good Nut, but from its enormous 

 clusters, often from eight to twelve nuts in each, and its dis- 

 tinct robust habit, it is worthy of notice. — T. B. 



[The leaves are immense and nearly quite round. — Eds.] 



The Summer BEnr.ne d'Aremberq Peak. — This most 



delicious Pear bears so profusely that it requires its clusters of 

 fruit to be thinned to obtain fair-sized fruit ; this should be 

 done in July.— T. B. 



A New Tkanspaeent Gaqe Plum. — A young seedling 



tree raised from this tine Plum, bore some fruit hero for the 

 first time this season. They were remarkable for their size and 

 beauty, and for being a fortnight or more earlier than the 

 original sort, which (September 25th), is not yet ripe. Colour 

 of skin yellowish green, nearly covered with crimson blotches ; 

 flesh parting from the stone like an Orleans, and juicy and 

 rich as its parent. No Plum can surpass it in this respect. 



The most cnrions featnre in the seBJling is, that instead of 

 having very vigorous, smooth, straggling shoots like its parent, 

 its shoots are downy, and the habit of the tree compact. It 

 will be some few years before this sort can be distributed, as 

 the tree is but three years old, and had but one or two young 

 shoots on it fit for propagation. I am induced to mention 

 this seedling Plum, as it may encourage others to raise seed- 

 lings from our choice fruits. It is, however, curious to observe, 

 that two other seedling Plums of the same ace and raised from 

 the same sort have produced email purple Plums of no value. 

 — T. E. 



The Bktanston Gage Plcm. — This sort has been in 



cultivation some thirty or forty years, yet it but little known. 

 It is now (the end of September), fully ripe, and very rich and 

 good it is. The habit of the tree much reseml'les that of Beine 

 Claude de Bavay, and its fruit greatly resembles it, but is not 

 quite so large. Its colour is a light greenish yellow, and its 

 skin is covered with a delicate white bloom ; its flesh is trans- 

 parent and remarkably juicy and refreshing. I presume that 

 this variety of the Gage race of Plums is of English origin, but 

 I forget its history.— T. B. 



L.VXTON'S SUPREME PEA. 



Having read the correspondence under the above heading, 1 

 think it right to state the result of my trial of Laxton's 

 Supreme Pea. I, like many others probably, was induced 

 from the wonderful drawing and descriptidu in the catalogue 

 sent out by Messrs. Carter & Co., to give it a trial, and the result 

 was, as regards its growth, quite the reverse of that described 

 by " C. C. E." With me the haulm did not exceed in height 

 IJ foot ; the pods were small and contained from three to four 

 peas of small size ; it was sown at the same time as and adjoining 

 a row of Lixtou's Prolific, which latter attained the height of 

 4J feet, and cropped abundantly, with large pods mostly con- 

 taining eight or nine peas, and this is, I consider, after three 

 years' trial a first-class Pea. 



As regards the price charged for Laxton's Supreme Pea, I 

 should not complain had it at all answered to the description 

 given, but I certainly feel it an imposition to be charged 'is. 6d. 

 per half pint for what has proved with me a very inferior 

 article, and the only ccncluaion I can come to is, that I have 

 been supplied with the wrong seed, although I obtained it from 

 the firm of Carter & Co., in a sealed packet. I shall certainly 

 in future disregard the glowing descriptions of novelties set 

 forth in catalogues. — A Constant Beaker. 



I CAN fully confirm the remarks made by '■ C. C. E.," re- 

 specting Laxton's Supreme Pes, and can also find several 

 others in this immediate neighbourhood who, like myself, pur- 

 chased it at 3s. Gd. per sealed packet, thinking that thereby we 

 should at least obtain a Pea of dwarfish habit ; but instead of 

 such we have been annoyed to find Peas rising to the height 

 of 7 and 8 feet, in positions not at all suited to such rampant 

 growths. — An Old Subscriber, Newarkon-Trent. 



If your correspondent " C. C. E." will be good enonsh to 

 turn to t'ne report of the Fruit Committee of the Boyal Horti- 

 cultural Society dated June 29, 1868, he will find that at that 

 comparatively early period Laxton's Supreme Pea had arrived 

 at maturity in the gardens, and is specially noticed as " a grand 

 Pea, with very long well-filled curved pods." Our own trials 

 had been even earlier. It was with this independent testimony, 

 in addition to our own observations, that we joined in the effort 

 to introduce the Supreme Pea to our friends and the public, 

 and the description we gave was in perfect good faith. The 

 Pea with ns and at Chiswick grew compact, under 4 feet, and 

 early ; and the only mistake made was, that the peculiar cha- 

 racter of the early summer of 1868 was not, perhaps, taken 

 into consideration as it should have been. The extremely hot 

 forcing weather tended, no doubt, to check the growth and 

 hasten the ripening of tlie crop. 



We confess that this summer we have seen the Pea much 

 taller on certain soils than we anticipated, and our own trials 

 did not yield Peas so early as did those of 1868 ; but we still 

 hold the Pea in the very highest admiration, and shall confi- 

 dently recommend it to all who deal with ns as one of the 

 handsomest and most valuable varieties for both quantity and 

 quality that has ever been sent out. We have seen it in many 

 places with branches quite as good as that depicted on the 

 plate. We trust your correspondent will see that 'we have 



