Febraary 18, 1875. ] 



JOUKNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



137 



No authority since Speechley seems to have known Black i 

 Muscat. Thompson (" Gardener's Assistant ") describes it in I 

 1859. Mackintosh (" Practical Gardener ") does not name it 

 in 1853. Masters in his catalogue (" Hortus Daroverni ") has 

 " Black Muscat of Alexandria, syn. Red Muscat of Alexandria. 

 Colour, red-purple ; shape of berry, long ; bunch, long ; flavour, 

 rich musky ; place, hothouse ; time, late." 



The wood of Muscat Hamburgh is very deep in colour, being 

 very dark brown when well ripened, having no equal in this 

 respect except by the Strawberry Grape, Mrs. Pince's, and 

 Barbarossa. 



The Vines of Muscat Hamburgh are upon their own roots, 

 and planted in an inside border with liberty for the roots to 

 pass outside. I have no idea of its setting better when grafted 

 upon Black Hamburgh, neither of its colouring better or aiding 

 its constitution, which is a good one. Artificial impregnation 

 does not aid the setting of the berries except by distributing 

 the pollen, when perfect flowers may be fertilised, which with- 

 out the artificial impregnation might escape fecundation. 

 Stoneless berries are simply such because they have no ovaries, 

 or imperfect ones. The defect is in the flower, and may not 

 he altered at the time of flowering ; though well ripening of 

 the wood, its exposure to abundance of light in formation, 

 and development, and perfecting of the parts from which is to 

 issue the fruit, will do so in the highest possible degree ; and 

 notwithstanding this, there are and will he flowers deriving no 

 aid from impregnation natural or artificial. — G. Akbey. 



NOTES FROM MY GARDEN IN 1874. 



No. 3.— FKUIT. 



It is not because our gardens are small and our cultures in- 

 significant, that therefore we can have no interest in matters 

 ■which are to be seen in other places in tenfold or fiftyfold 

 greater quantities. Our few rows of Peas, our small Cucum- 

 ber frames, our plot of Gooseberries, are of quite as much 

 moment to us as when Peas are grown by the quarter-acre, 

 and Cucumbers fill houses specially devoted to their culture, 

 or fruits are produced by the hundredweight or ton. We have 

 our little experiences, our successes, and our failures to describe, 

 and we would fain hope that there are some other minnows 

 who will like to desport themselves in our little streams, al- 

 though the great tritons cannot find enough to cover them. 

 We delight sometimes to see the bewildered looks of my lord's 

 gardener when he condescends to come into our " diggings." 

 His amazement at our presumption in asking htm to see such 

 a miserable little place, mingled with a desire not to appear 

 rude, compels us to help him out of his trouble by deprecating 

 his wrath, and assuring him we have really nothing to show 

 him, and only wanted a little advice. I make no apology to 

 readers of our Journal, for I know there are many possessors 

 of small gardens amongst them, and they, it may be, will take 

 an interest in these jottings. 



In our neighbourhood fruit was tolerably abundant, and in 

 my own garden 1 do not think I have had during my six years 

 of tenancy a better crop altogether than in 1874. 



Strawberries. — As a general rule this was not a very abun- 

 dant crop last summer, the dry weather interfering with the 

 swelling of the berries ; hut mine gave a very fair supply. 

 The sorts which I grew were Dr. Hogg, Sir .Joseph Paxton, 

 Victoria, Marguerite, Viscomtesse Hericart de Thury, La Cou- 

 stante, and Lucas. I commenced with somein my greenhouse, 

 and had a few very fair dishes of Dr. Hogg from the shelf which, 

 as I have deecribtd, is above the pathway of the house; and 

 then I had a couple of rows under Looker's Acme frames, 

 which came in a little before those from the open ground, so 

 that by this means the season was considerably prolonged. 

 For general purposes I find nothing better than Dr. Hogg, for 

 yon have size combined with flavour and productiveness. 

 Victoria (Trollope's) is a most useful Strawberry, but lacks 

 flavour ; stUl its great productiveness, its suitability to all soils, 

 and the length of time the plants last, all tend to make it a 

 desirable fruit. Lucas is a very good hardy fruit and produc- 

 tive. The Viscomtesse did not do very well. Sir Joseph 

 Paxton is a most excellent sort, very hardy, a strong grower 

 and productive ; the flavour not equal to the British Queen 

 section, but still good. La Constante is one of the most deli- 

 cious and aromatic of Strawberries, but I have not found it 

 hardy. As to cultivation, I adopt the usual plan of letting 

 the beds remain for three years ; but I saw at my friend Mr. 

 Peach's, Appleton-le-Street, most prolific beds which had been 

 undisturbed for a much longer time — I think six years. I 



rather quake for my prospects this year, for I never knew so 

 bad a season for making Strawberry beds. The continued 

 drought made the beds so dry, that although I watered freely, 

 and although I had the plants all ready rooted close at hand, 

 yet I had to renew them again and again, and even now they 

 look very irregular, or, as they say here, " very spotty." 



liaspherriea. — Of these I had an immense crop ; in fact I do 

 not think I ever saw canes fuller of fruit. They are planted in 

 rows, and tied to a stout piece of galvanised wire stretched 

 along the row. They are never dug, but only slightly forked 

 over. Last year I gave them a good dose from the deposit in 

 the cesspool in the garden into which the sewage of the house 

 flows ; and to this and the cool bottom in which they grow I 

 attribute a great deal of the immense crop. The kmd I do 

 not know, but it is undoubtedly a good one. 



I'eiirs. — I had a great calamity in my miniature fruit garden, 

 for I moved all in the autumn of 1873, and owing to the light 

 character of the soil and the excessive drought I lost many : all 

 the Cherries died, and the Pears and Apples look very puny. 

 I ought to have watered, but really one cannot water every- 

 thing, and so these perished. With regard to sorts, I very 

 seldom see recommended an October Pear of great merit — ■ 

 Comte de Lamy, and if I may judgefrom my own experience a 

 most constant bearer. I have one small tree of it which has 

 never failed, and this year I gathered nearly three bushels 

 from it, and had to prop up the branches, or otherwise they 

 would have been broken by the weight of the fruit. In last 

 week's Journal I see Knight's Monarch recommended, and I 

 know it is a good Pear, but strange to say I never can get any 

 ripe fruit of it. It bore well this year. I did not gather the 

 fruit too soon, as they dropped off in my hand when gathering, 

 and yet they would not ripen. They were laid out singly in an 

 attic, but one and all either shrivelled-up or else rotted. It has 

 been the same every year. Can any of your correspondents 

 explain this or tell me where I am wrong? Two other large 

 trees in my garden, Bon Chrutien and Beurro de Capiaumont, 

 bore three" or four bushels each ; so that, although my small 

 tree failed me, the larger ones gave me a good supply. 



Figs. — I think that the most extraordinary crop I have had 

 this year was from two standard Fig trees in front of my draw- 

 ing-room window. Some of my northern friends will envy me 

 no doubt ; say, " Lucky feUow to live where Figs will ripen as 

 standards ! " These two trees are each about 12 feet m length, 

 about 8 through, and 10 high. They are the old Brown 

 Turkey, and from them I gathered last year more than one 

 hundred dozen of fine large fruit ; those that I sold fetched 

 more than £4, and besides I had a large quantity for our own 

 use, and also to give to my friends. It strikes me that this is 

 a rather unusual crop, and so perhaps worthy of notice. 



Other fruits hardly call for any notice. I have added this 

 year British Queen, Amateur, Frogmore Late Pine to my 

 Strawberries ; but, as I have already said, my prospects of this 

 fruit are rather indifferent. I have also Lee's Black Currant, 

 and on my wall have placed the following : — Apricot : Moor- 

 park. Peaches : Barrington, Royal George, Alexandra Noblesse, 

 and Walburton Admirable. Nectarines : Elruge and Violette 

 Hative. Pears : Easter Beurre, Beurre d'Aremberg. Plums : 

 Coe's Golden Drop, Green Gage, and Jefferson's. But of course 

 I cannot expect any from them this year ; and as in all our 

 neighbourhood disease has attacked the Peach, I very much 

 fear I shall have to substitute other fruits for them.— D., Deal. 



PACKING FLOWERS. 



I HAVE seen flowers packed in many different ways and in 

 all kinds of boxes, and have heard many complamts that they 

 are of little good when taken out of the box — that is, when 

 they are packed in the ordinary way. I have been told it is 

 useless laying flowers loose in the box, especially when they 

 have a long way to go. In my case they are in the box about 

 twenty-four hours. 



I have packed them in both tin and wooden boxes with the 

 same result. The boxes I now use are made of wood, 15 inches 

 by 12, and .!> inches deep, with a false bottom, which has holes 

 bored through, 1 inch asunder each way, with a good-sized 

 gimlet. In the bottom of the box I place about an inch of 

 clay mixed into a rather stiff mortar. This is rammed evenly 

 over the bottom of the box, and then the false bottom is placed 

 over it with just a tack on each side to keep it in its place. 

 The stems of the flowers are now introduced through the holes 

 into the clay, which will hold them quite firmly and upright. 



Flowers packed in this way will bo as fresh when taken out 



