Febraary 11, 1875. J 



JOURNAL OF HOUTIOULTUHE AND COTTAGE GAKDENER. 



123 



inR was over I treated as above, and it lias this month (Jamiary) 

 thrown up four strong spikes with larger blooms than before. 

 Some growers recommend frequent potting, but I think this is 

 not required, as the bulbs in the present instance have not 

 been potted since 1873. I do not think it should bo dried-o£f 

 BO as to lose all its foliage, as it weakens the bulbs. Your 

 able correspondent, Mr. Douglas, wrote in a contemporary that 

 he bloomed it thrice a-year, but whether he meant the same 

 bulbs or a succession I cannot say. — G. P., jun'. 



GBAPES OF THE PAST. 



In the retrospect, Mr. Abbey says, all honour to Mr. Hunter; 

 so I, too, would say. Honour to whom honour is due, for the 

 unequalled success that has attended Mr. Hunter's labours in 

 the production of the world-renowned bunches of Grapes pro- 

 duced at Lambton Castle. It may be that Mr. Hunter has 

 been a surprise to himself. Did he really anticipate the result 

 that has fallen to his lot? Perhaps Mr. Hunter will, for the 

 benefit of our craft, enlighten us on the subject. Mr. Abbey 

 names the 19i-lb. bunch of Speechly at Welbeck, where many 

 years ago it was said that the Duke of Portland had more 

 than a hundred kinds of Grape Vines, and in 1781 the bunch 

 above named was presented to the Marquis of Kockingham. 

 The account says it was 4A feet in circumference and 20| inches 

 in length. It was conveyed to Wentworth House, a distance 

 of twenty miles, by four labourers, who in pairs in turns 

 c&rried it suspended on a staff. 



There can be no doubt but there are accounts of other large 

 bunches of Grapes on record if we could only ascertain their 

 whereabouts. I once saw a Vine at Kirkleatham, Eedcar, 

 Yorkshire, that had produced many years ago a bunch of 

 Grapes weighing nearly 20 lbs. I do not know whether the 

 gardener's name was Pringle or Proudlock who was there at 

 that time. I was told there was a drawing of the bunch in 

 the hall at Kirkleatham with the particulars. I had the 

 promise when I left that I should be furnished with par- 

 ticulars, but I am sorry to say my informant has failed to 

 fulfil his promise, and has since left the place. 



Whatever kind of Grape it may be, whether Syrian, Ham- 

 burgh, Barbarosaa, or what else, 21 lbs. 12 ozs. is a high 

 standard to aim at. There can be no doubt that Mr. Hunter 

 has arrived at the acme of perfection in the present generation 

 of Grape-growers. May he live long to enjoy the honour so 

 nobly won. I have no idea what the bunches of Grapes grown 

 at Eschol might weigh, but from the account in the good old 

 Book they must have weighed something extraordinary. — H. 



FLOWERS CHANGING COLOUE. 



When a lad I used to apply blood from a neighbouring 

 slaughter-house to Cowslips and Paigles, which after a season 

 changed the b'ossom to a reddish shade. In a neighbouring 

 village may be seen in a cottage garden an immense number 

 of Primroses the children have brought home from the hedge- 

 rows, changed by some action of the soil to a purplish tinge. — 

 St. Edmund. 



[We know of an instance of double purple Primroses being 

 brought to a garden at Dunse in Scotland. The nest season 

 they retained their colour, but the second season and ever 

 since the flowers have been double white. — Eds.] 



"WELLINGTONIA GIGANTEA. 

 Theee have been in the various gardening journals of the 

 past few years measurements given of the heights and sizes of 

 various Wellingtonias in this country. There is a fine speci- 

 men in the Priory pleasure grounds, Prittlewell, Essex, the 

 country residence of J. F. Leigh, Esq., M.P. It is nearly 

 40 feet in height, 8 feet 6 inches in circumference at the base 

 of the trunk, 20 feet in diameter through the branches from 

 tip to tip, and CO feet in circumference outside of branches. 

 From the information gained in the neighbourhood it has been 

 planted nearly, if not quite, twenty years ; and presuming 

 it to have been 5 feet in height when planted, it must have 

 grown on an average 20 inches a-year.— G. A. Brojifield, 

 Gardener, The Friory, Prittleicell, Essex. 



Blue Cornflower. — I think, but may be wrong, that what 

 a "Little Savage" calls Cornflower is the same as Blue- 

 bottle — Centaurea cyanus, blue. July. England. There are 



also Centaurea depressa, hardy annual or biennial, blue. June. 

 Caucasus, 1818. Centaurea pnlohra, beautiful hardy annual, 

 1 foot high. Flowers blue and crimson. June. Cashmere, 

 1838. If she likes blue flowers for bouquets I recommend her 

 to get blue Lobelias.— W. F. Eadclitfe. 



THE BLACKBEBEY. 



Many years ago we heard a gardener in Essex assert that he 

 had a hybrid seedling bearing fruit that had for its parents 

 the Easpberry and ISlackberry, but when we returned from 

 India the gardener was dead, and no one knew of his seedling. 

 Without any such hybridising our American relatives have 

 several varieties of Blackberry which they cultivate, such as 

 the Lawton, Dorchester, &c. The Lawton may be obtained at 

 some of our fruit nurseries. A Californian paper announces 

 another under the name of the Aughin- 

 baugh Blackberry, and publishes the 

 following drawing and description of it. 

 It is named after its raiser, Mr. G. 

 Aughinbaugh. 



" This berry ripens from four to 

 five weeks earlier than any other va- 

 riety of the Blackberry known in Cali- 

 fornia, as has been shown by the result 

 of its cultivation for the last two or 

 three seasons. It begins to ripen there 

 from the 1st to the loth of May, and 

 continues to produce berries until about 

 the middle of July — about the time other 

 varieties of this berry begin to appear. 

 By reference to the engraving it will be 

 observed that the fruit is very large, and 

 in form quite unlike to other varieties, 

 being more the Mulberry than the ordi- 

 nary Blackberry. 



" In addition to the advantage of large 

 size and early ripening, the fruit is of 

 excellent flavour, and does not contain so 

 large a proportion of seeds and cores as other varieties. The 

 plants grow up hardy, thrive well, and produce abundantly. 

 We can attest from personal knowledge to all we have said 

 above, and have no hesitation in commending this berry to 

 the attention of fruit-growers everywhere," 



Fig. 32. — Aughinbaugh 

 Biacliberiy. 



NOTES AND GLEANINGS. 



Boxwood, the wood of Buxus sempervieens, which is almost 

 exclusively used for the best kinds of wood-engraving, has 

 been for some years becoming more and more scarce. Wood 

 of the largest diameter is the produce of the forests of the 

 countries bordering on the Black Sea. Large quantities are 

 produced in the neighbourhood of Poti, from which port the 

 wood is shipped direct to England. The supply, however, 

 from this port is, we learn, becoming fast exhausted ; and it is 

 said, unless the forests of Abkhassia are opened to the trade 

 it must soon cease altogether. The quantity exported from 

 Poti during the year 1873 amounted to 2897 tons, of the value 

 of £20,621 ; besides this, from 5000 to 7000 tons of the finest 

 quality annually pass through Constantinople, being brought 

 from Southern Russia and from some of the Turkish ports of 

 the Black Sea for shipment, chiefly to Liverpool. An inferior 

 and smaller kind of wood supplied from the neighbourhood of 

 Samsoon is also shipped at Constantinople to the extent of 

 about 1500 tons annually. With regard to the boxwood forests 

 of Turkey, the British Consul at Constantinople reports that 

 they are nearly exhausted and that very little really good wood 

 can now be obtained from them. In Eussia, however, where 

 some little Government care has been bestowed upon forestry, 

 a considerable quantity of choice wood still exists ; but even 

 there it can only be obtained at an ever-increasing cost, as the 

 forests near the sea have been denuded of their best trees. 

 The trade is now entirely in English hands, although formerly 

 Greek merchants exclusively exported the wood. In the pro- 

 vince of Trebizonde the wood is generally of an inferior quality ; 

 nevertheless, from 25,000 to 30,000 cwts. are annually shipped, 

 chiefly to the United Kingdom. 



TnE distillation and manufacture of attar ofEoses is a 



large and important branch of industry in Adrianople. In the 

 northern parts of the country, we are told in an oflicial docu- 

 ment, the produce of 1873 exceeded by 35 per cent, that of the 



