Janaajy 21, 1875 ] 



JOURNAL OF HOBTIGULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



49 



Bible for me to grow a row of each kind, and less than that 

 hardly gives a fair trial. Moreover, let it be borne in mind 

 that a great deal in all varieties of vegetables and fruits depends 

 on soil and situation, and I by no means would imply that 

 others, who give other varieties as the best, are not right in 

 their conclusions as far as their situation is concerned. 



In Peas I commenced last year with Sutton's Emerald Gem, 

 Sutton's Ringleader, and Carter's First Crop, and also with a 

 small quantity of Sutton's Bijou, a dwarf wrinkled Pea which 

 is being sent out this spring. All these suffered more or less 

 from the spring frosts, and the crops were not nearly so good 

 as usual. The latter (Bijou) I look upon as a decided acqui- 

 sition of the Little Gem type, a little taller (18 inches), but 

 not so much so as to require stakes, the pods being in pairs, 

 and I have counted from eight to ten good peas in many of 

 them. From its greater productiveness, and from the fact 

 that it is very difficult to procure a good strain of Little Gem, 

 this Pea will be a valuable one, its flavour being excellent. 

 Of later Peas I had the following :— Maclean's Best of All, of 

 which I can only say that it well deserves its name ; the crop 

 was abundant, and the flavour, like all Dr. Maclean's Peas, 

 excellent. Improved Princess Royal is another capital Pea for 

 general purposes. Of later Peas I had samples of two new 

 Peas sent to me by the Messrs. Sutton for trial — Giant Emerald 

 Marrow and Duchess of Edinburgh. Of the former I have a 

 very high opinion. Of its distinctness there can be no doubt : 

 it has the same peculiar foliage of Emerald Gem — a rich glau- 

 cous green, unlike other Peas ; but instead of being a dwarf 

 round Pea, it is a tall (about 5 feet) wrinkled Marrow. The 

 flavour is excellent, and the habit robust. I had an oppor- 

 tunity, besides seeing it in my own garden, of seeing it grow- 

 ing at Reading ; and no Pea in the whole trial-ground was 

 more robust. I question if any were so much so. Duchess of 

 Edinburgh is a good wrinkled Marrow of the Ne Plus Ultra 

 type ; and if it be, as it promises to be, an improvement on 

 that variety, it will surely be a favourite. For the later crops 

 I had G. F. Wilson, an excellent Pea of the Veitch's Perfection 

 type, and Berkshire Challenge, the latter a very vigorous and 

 prolific Pea, requiring tall sticks. 



The only vegetable that in any way takes the place of the 

 Pea is the French Bean, and there is one which I think is 

 destined to take the place of all others when it is more gene- 

 rally known — I mean Canadian Wonder. I have never seen 

 anything to equal it for productiveness. I had three short 

 rows of it, and the amount I gathered from them was positively 

 wonderful. The pods were from 8 to 12 inches in length, and 

 the flavour is excellent — no stringiness, and boiling green and 

 teaser. My opinion of it is such that I am not going to grow 

 any other variety this season ; and I find that the opinion of 

 such men as Mr. Tillery of Welbeck and Mr. G. Abbey is 

 equally favourable as regards its forcing qualities. Among the 

 taller-growiug Beans I had Champion Runner, a very prolific 

 sort, but did not try the Butter Beans, about which so much 

 has been said pro and con. I know that my neighbour Mr. 

 Woodford did, but did not think a great deal of them. 



It was a very trying season for Lettuces, and the most ap- 

 proved kinds were difficult to keep from running away. The 

 value of such kinds as Tom Thumh, All the Year Round, and 

 Commodore Nutt was never more apparent, although I myself 

 greatly prefer the Cos Lettuce ; but then they will in such dry 

 hot summers so soon run away. I may here mention that I 

 had some seed sent to me by Mr. Wright, gardener to the 

 Hon. A. Leslie MelvUle, of Branston, Lincoln, which is much 

 thought of by them. It seems to be a selected strain of the 

 Bath Cos, dark in colour, and not liable to run so quickly as 

 some sorts. I found that the only plan to secure Lettuces at 

 all was to sow in succession a very small piece, thinning-out. 

 and letting them stand where sown. Transplanting is fatal. 

 And I have found nothing nothing better in Cos Lettuces than 

 Sutton's Superb White or the well-known Paris White. 



As I have something to say on the subject of Potatoes, I 

 shall reserve them and other vegetables lor another time. — 

 D., Deal. 



EXHIBITING KOSES NOT GROWN BY THE 



EXHIBITOR. 



Could not some sort of society be started by amateur Eose- 

 growers to prevent noidisant "gentlemen" exhibiting Roses 

 at shows, such Roses not being their own growing ? No doubt 

 many of our great nurserymen could tell of numerous appli- 

 cations to them for particular Roses by a certain day for the 



express purpose of staging them by the purchasers as their 

 own at some local show. I only hope they, one and all, got a 

 good showing-up themselves instead of the Koses. 



A few years since a case in point occurred at a show held 

 not many miles from this neighbourhood. I did not exhibit, 

 but was anxious to know the winner of the first prize for 

 Roses. After congratulating him upon his success, &c., I 

 intimated a wish to see his Roses, if. possible to ascertain 

 wherein his marvellous success lay. I called at his rosery ! 

 What did I see ? A piece of ground about the size of a good 

 large room ! No standards, he didn't " beheve in them," a 

 few miserable dwarfs barely existing. The secret of his suc- 

 cess was patent at once : he obtained his blooms from a nur- 

 sery — an after-confession too, and for two or three seasons he 

 had with the greatest effrontery shown and taken prizes for 

 them as his own growing ; but the season following my visit 

 he was disquahfled, and, if I remember rightly, is now not 

 allowed to enter his box. Does not the same thing happen at 

 other shows ? What is it but gambling in flowers too, and 

 above all in Roses ? I earnestly hope that some of your corre- 

 spondents with abler pens than mine will take-up the cause, 

 and, if possible, prevent such nefarious schemes. — Geo. W. 

 Jessop, An Amateur, Bexleij. 



MINIATURE STANDARDS FOR HOUSE 

 DECORATION. 

 The taste which takes pleasure in standards— Roses, Bays, 

 Oranges, &c.— is often questioned by the hyper-artistic who 

 call them by all sorts of stiff ungainly names, and say they are 

 like nothing in nature, and seldom equalled in pure unmean- 

 ing ugliness by anything out of it ; yet, despite bad name, 

 ugliness and aU, standards of many things are favourites with 

 most of plain gardening people, and that not only in the 

 flower garden, but with plants on a smaller scale for indoor 

 and table decoration where a greater degree of artificiality is 

 not only admissible but highly congruous. For this purpose 

 it is best that the plants chosen should be naturally of a some- 

 what close bushy habit, and the foliage ornamental and not 

 too large ; and with these qualities in view some of the best 

 things for the purpose will be found among our commoner 

 plants, which almost everybody grows. The Golden Varie- 

 gated Thyme, for the perfect symmetry of all its parts when 

 grown as a natty little standard of b or C inches in height, 

 would delight the heart of any dwarf-loving Chinaman. The 

 easiest way to get them up is to select some year-old plants 

 from a border where they have been pegged down, lifting them 

 in autumn, and potting them in 3-iuch pots. After they are 

 somewhat established the stem should be pruned up to what- 

 ever height is thought most suitable for the purpose they are 

 required for, and a httle judicious stopping and tying soon 

 secures nice semi-globular heads. The best place to grow 

 them in is a cold frame fully exposed to the sun, plunging the 

 pots overhead in charcoal, or, if that be not forthcoming, in 

 coal ashes. 



Another very nice plant, but requiring more care and patience, 

 is the Ivy-leaved Geranium L'Elegante. For it a neat wire 

 umbrella treUis is requked, which should be painted green, 

 and which, when the standard is perfectly grown, will be en- 

 turely hid except the stalk. When the head is fuUy formed a 

 charming roseate hue can be given to the leaves of both this 

 and the Golden Thyme by puncturing the stems, or by cutting 

 them half through and exposing them fully to the sun. 



A very nice and rather curious little standard can be formed 

 by grafting Iresine Lindeni upon the golden-veined variety, 

 I. Verschaffelti. Let the latter be grown until it be 7 or 8 

 inches high, and then stopped above a joint. After the side 

 shoots have grown away a httle remove them all, except the 

 second pair from the top, trim off the top of the stem to where 

 the uppermost pair of laterals were removed, and there wedge- 

 graft a shoot of Lindeni upon it. So easily do they unite 

 that, unless for custom's sake, no wax or clay need be used, all 

 that is necessary being to tie well with soft bast, and round 

 that to bind a little sphagnum. Of course they requke shad- 

 ing for some time, and to be placed in a mild moist heat. It 

 is also requisite that the stock and graft should be in about 

 the same condition as to age and hardness of wood. As soon 

 as the graft has taken and begun to grow, the top must be 

 pinched off, and at the same time the two laterals that were 

 left on the stock wOl need to be stopped either at the first or 

 second joint, and the result will be four shoots, which will 



