118 



JOUENAIi OF HOETICULTUEE AND COTTAGE GAEDENEB. 



[ February 11, 1875. 



green externally, having a good close white heart. Grand 

 Admiral coming in early, and having a good large white heart. 

 The Spotted Cos is, as before stated, very pretty, and thatis all. 

 Paris White, Alexandra, and Suttons' Superb were fine, the two 

 last fine stocks of the first ; Hicks's Hardy White is a fine kind 

 for late summer and spring use, also first sowings in spring, it 

 being hardier than Paris White, but very similar to that kind. 

 Brown Bath Cos is hardier than Hicks's, and'is good in early 

 summer, and continues along time before running to seed. Its 

 colour, no matter how well blanched, is objected to ; and the 

 Bath Sugarloaf, although having narrow tapering leaves, forms 

 fine conical hearts and needs no tying. It is not so hardy as 

 Hicks's or Brown Bath (black seed). The best Cos, Paris White 

 for summer ; and winter, Hicks's Hardy White. The best 

 Cabbage, Neapolitan for summer ; for winter, Stanstead Park. 

 I have given up transplanting Lettuces, only it has sometimes 

 to be resorted to, as the ground for them is not always clear at 

 sowing time. Good rich well-manured soil is wanted well dug, 

 and then made firm as for Onions. The seed is put-in in drills 

 afoot apart, the seed lightly covered, and the plants thinned 

 to 9 inches distance apart, and in cutting every other plant 

 taken out. They grow less flabby in firm than light soil, 

 have firmer closer hearts, and stand drought better, and escape 

 frost in winter when those in loose soil perish. In frames they 

 are sown in drills about inches apart ; every other row is a 

 Cabbage kind, and the other Cos. The lights are not used 

 until frost. The Cos kinds are Hicks's Hardy White and Bath 

 Sugarloaf, and the Cabbage between the rows Commodore 

 Nutt, All the Year Bound, and Stanstead Park. They are 

 thinned to 6 inches distance apart, but Commodore Nutt to 

 4 inches. This kind comes in first, and All the Year Bound 

 and Stanstead Park succeed, leaving the Cos plenty of room, 

 and every other plant of Cos is cut, leaving the others, which 

 are of course largest and best, and the salads keep on improv- 

 ing with the season. Two lots are sown in frames, narrow 

 ones 4 feet wide, and CO feet long each, one in early August, 

 and the other at the end or early September. The frames are 

 removed from the last so soon in March or after as the weather 

 determines. Lettuces must have hearts and white before they 

 are used, but Commodore might be cut now (January 20th), but 

 will not be until March. The first were cut March 23rd, the 

 last November ICth. 



CuELED Mallow is noted because its leaves are so fine for 

 garnishing, infinitely superior to Vine leaves. Those worried 

 for Vine leaves, and not having any without injuring the Vines, 

 may use Sycamore leaves ; they are very similar!; but don't 

 say what they are if it can be helped. Cooks and housekeepers 

 know no substitutes, but have many fancies, which it is not 

 always wise to ignore. 



MnsHEooM. — In the fields this esteemed vegetable was toler- 

 ably plentiful in August, but very scarce after that month. 

 Our plan is to depend upon those in the Mushroom house from 

 October to July, and in summer upon the fields for a supply, 

 which usually yield abundantly. 



Onion. — This crop suffered from the drought, and the bulbs 

 were smaller than usual, but have kept well. Beading is a 

 capital kind for early winter use, and for the same purpose 

 Danver's Y'ellow, and White Spanish or Portugal, Deptford or 

 Strasburg, Bedfordshire Champion, and Brown Globe are good 

 keeping Onions. The best for keeping is James's Keeping, ex- 

 cepting Blood Bed, which is the longest keeper of all ; James's 

 Keeping is a very desirable kind. The autumn-sown mil- 

 dewed, and were not good. Queen I think nothing of ; the 

 old Silver-skinned is superior to it. Small Onions meet with 

 no favour from cooks, and for pickling Two-bladed is the best. 

 Giant Eocea, if the seed be not better than I had, means 

 failure, and Giant Madeira is simply a Globe Tripoli. The 

 Flat Italian and Globe Tripoli with White Lisbon are as good 

 as any for autumn sowing. Improved Beading (Buttons') was 

 the best of the white summer kinds. 



Paeslet. — To have this is no easy matter in winter. The 

 best plan is to sow largely and in April, cutting over in July 

 what is wanted for winter use, and it will be fine by autumn. 

 Two rows about ICO yards long are sufficient for the demand 

 apon ns. Veitch's Curled is the finest I know. 



Parsnip is not much used in most cases, but must be had. 

 Hollow-crowned Improved is unquestionably superior. It does 

 best in rich, deep, light, moist soil, and is a very useful and 

 profitable variety. 



Peas. — These were, as regards the earliest and latest crops, 

 good, but those coming-in in August were much infested with 

 mildew. The sorts grown were Bingleader, the earliest, but 



n®t last year. Blue Peter, a dwarf blue kind, having the pro- 

 tection or shelter of a south wall, being gathered before Bing- 

 leader. Emerald Gem was in at the same time as Bingleader, 

 and before First and Best, but this Pea is the best cropping 

 early Pea known. Alpha (Laxton's) succeeds First and Best, 

 which is a blue Pea with large well-filled pods. Advancer, 

 green-wrinkled, follows Alpha, and is a good cropper and good 

 flavour. Hundredfold ia a green Marrow of the Prizetaker 

 class, and follows Advancer, as does Best of All, one of the 

 best-cropping and finest-flavoured of Peas. The same raiser's 

 Dwarf Prolific (Prince of Wales) and Wonderful, both white- 

 wrinkled, being good croppers and fine-flavoured. Jersey 

 Hero is also a fine Pea of the Veitch's Perfection type, a little 

 earlier, as is also Best of All, but both are earlier than Veitch's 

 Perfection, both very good croppers, and has unquestionably 

 the finest flavour of any Pea in cultivation. All the Peas of 

 medium height with the most delicious flavour are of the 

 Veitch's Perfection class, and they do not surpass it in that 

 or any respect, only some are a little forwarder and others a 

 little later in coming into use than that variety. Premier 

 (McLean's) is a green-wrinkled Marrow, and a grand one for 

 late crops. G. F. Wilson was very free-cropping, long-con- 

 tinued, and most excellent in quality. It is a wrinkled Pea of 

 high excellence. None of the preceding are large growers, not 

 exceeding 5 feet in height ; and of this class is Champion of 

 England, a Pea I have thought highly of hitherto, but last 

 year it was, though very productive, poor in quality. Those 

 do not require tall stakes, but we had others that do, as Em- 

 peror of the Marrows, Berkshire Challenge, andNe Plus Ultra. 

 The two first are larger in pod and pea than Ne Plus Ultra, 

 and of excellent quality, but Ne Plus Ultra is later — in fact, 

 the best late Pea I know. I am mindful of what Mr. Wright 

 told us respecting another late kind, but I have not seen or 

 grown it. These tall Peas I do not like ; they want tree-hke 

 stakes, and are so liable to be blown about and broken by wind 

 and rain, which in hilly districts do great harm in late sum- 

 mer and autumn. There is, however, one advantage they 

 have over the dwarf kinds in the pods being produced at a 

 greater height from the ground ; they are more out of the reach 

 of pheasants, which are very frequent visitors of our late Pea 

 quarters. 



Of the recently-introduced Peas I have not grown many. 

 Superlative has an immense pod, but is not a great cropper, 

 nor has any merit in flavour. Fillbasket (Laxton) is a wonder 

 of fertility — the pods long, curved, closely filled, and the peas 

 of good flavour; as a general-crop Pea and for market pur- 

 poses it will be in great demand. The greatest novelty I ever 

 saw or heard of is Buttons' Giant Emerald Marrow. It is of 

 strong robust habit ; and whilst .Jersey Hero, Fillbasket, G. F. 

 Wilson, Hundredfold, Best of All, Superlative, Champion of 

 England, Berkshire Challenge, and two edible-podded kinds upon 

 the same plot of ground were attacked by mildew, this kind 

 was not infested. It is of the brightest green in its foliage as 

 Emerald Gem, without glaucescence, and has the leaves white- 

 splashed or spotted. The pods are large, produced in pairs, 

 containing eight to ten large peas, green when cooked, and ex- 

 quisite in flavour. In our rich soil it attained to a height of 

 7 feet. Good as this was, it yields in my opinion in quality 

 to Duchess of Edinburgh (the' Eoyal Dukes and Duchesses are 

 greatly, almost exclusively, patronised), which in flavour sur- 

 passed all others, being very tender and sweet. It attained a 

 height of G feet, was very prolific, the pods being large and 

 well filled, generally eight or nine peas in a pod, straight or 

 nearly so, and is very similar to Ne Plus Ultra. It, however, 

 is distinct from that variety ; the pods are better filled, and is 

 not so tall nor so late, and it withstands drought well, the 

 peas not being so soon hard as many varieties, and is on that 

 account a good kind for hot light soils. We had also McLean's 

 Little Gem, which will not be grown again, and three other 

 kinds which did not do well. The first dish outdoors was had 

 June 22nd ; last, November 14th. In 1873 the first July 7th ; 

 and last, November 7th. — G. Abbey. 



(To be corttinaetl.} 



MR. THOMAS BRAGG. 

 Those, who like myself can look back on thirty or forty 

 years of horticultural Icr?, can remember when the name of 

 the aged veteran (who, like so many others, has succumbed 

 to the vicissitudes of this trying winter) was a household word. 

 It we take the years 1810 to 1850, such flowers as Beauty 



