140 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



[ Fcbrnary 18, 1875. 



by any other mode of culture known. I have no opinion of 

 digging-in a superabundance of manure for Broccolis, having 

 a notion that a bucculent, and consequently a tender growth, is 

 thereby fostered. I prefer growing them on firm folid ground 

 in summer for spring use, giving each plant plenty of room. 

 If the plants do not get rank and robnst they will have some 

 woody fibre in their stems, which will stand them in good 

 stead when winter comes, and the heavy surface-dressing of 

 manure wiU bring out the heads. As a rule there is a fearful 

 waste in growing Broccolis for a gentleman's table by apply- 

 ing manure to the ground at the wrong time. By planting 

 in rich ground large plants are produced when smaller ones 

 would be better. If they survive the winter the heads are 

 twice too large for table purposes, while the gross foliage goes 

 to the rot-heap. A dwarfer, sturdier, steadier, and harder 

 growth in summer is a point worth aiming at, and then give the 

 manure on the surface at the approach of winter. This will 

 protect the stems and give a lift to the plants at the right time, 

 when they will push up their heads small, free, clean, and sweet. 

 When a garden boy I well remember the remark of the cook on 

 receiving such nice small stuff ; it was, " Them's the sort, lad !" 

 but the bigger the Broccoli the bigger the scowl. It was so 

 when I was a boy, it is so yet. — Old Friend. 



PEARS. 



Some very important additions have of late been made to 

 our dessert Pears, such as Bezi Mai, Commissaire Delmotte, 

 Madame Millet, A'c, all of which are said to come into use 

 from February to May. 



When we i-ead the advice given at page 121 by your gifted 

 and careful correspondent Mr. J. En=t, some may be inclined 

 to say, " This is a retrograde step. Why plant such old 

 varieties as Knight's Monarch when we have such superior 

 new sorts which will ripen late and supply us with dessert 

 Pears nearly until summer Pears come into use again?" 



There is something to be said for and against this. It is a 

 very important matter to know which varieties suit certain 

 soils and localities. This requires many years of patient cul- 

 ture. Thoie new varieties which have of late been introduced 

 to our notice ore generally described " as really good, melt- 

 ing, buttery, arom.ntic, sugary, &e." (very tempting to young 

 gardeners and amateurs), and may after j'ears of patient cul- 

 tivation turn out very good stewing Pears, but may also come 

 far short of the high character with which they were brought 

 before the public. 



Mr. Rust would have done well if he had added a few more 

 well-known useful hardy sorts of late dessert Pears, good 

 bearers, such as Ne Plus Meuris, often taken for Knight's 

 Monarch, being nearly alike in size, shape, and period of 

 use; Easter Beurre, Bergamotte d'Esperen, Passe Colmar, 

 Crasanne, &e. 



_ No doubt Dumelow's Seedling Apple is the same as Wel- 

 lington, and requires much sugar. Another good late kitchen 

 Apple is Norfolk Beefing; also the Russet varieties are good 

 for late dessert as well as kitchen use. — D. Cunningham, 

 Moor Park. 



THE ROYAL ASHLEAF POTATO. 



Mr. Eivei'.s wishes me to correct an error as regards this 

 valuable Potato. It was brought out by him, but %vas raised 

 by his friend, Mr. James Ashwen of Evesham, in 1858. He 

 adds, the Koyal Horticultural Society makes it a synonym of 

 Hyatt's. TheRoyalAshleaf is not Myatt's, but is likeit. The 

 same may be said of the Lapstone and its race. Hero, Taylor's 

 Hybrid, and Pebble White. Taylor's Hybrid has blue flowers, 

 and the other three Potatoes have white flowers. 



Years ago Mr. Rivers wished the mistake about the Royal 

 Ashleaf to be corrected. I ought to have complied at once. 

 The following, as well as I can remember, is what he told me. 

 He said, " I was staying with my friend Ashwen at Evesham, 

 and he gave me and Mr. John Spencer, then head gardener at 

 Bowood (now steward) three seedlings. A, B, and C, to try. 

 We bolh flied on the one now called the Royal Ashleaf. As I 

 brought it out the salesmen for their purposes attributed its 

 origin to me. This I coaected at the time; but it has ever 

 since gone by the name of 'Eivers's Royal Ashleaf.' " — W. F. 

 Raoclvffe, Ukeford Fitzpainc. 



Gardeners' Royal Benevolent Institution. — Robert 

 Broadwater, Esq, Master of the Worshipful Company of 



Fruiterers, will preside at the thirty-second anniversary festi- 

 val of this Insititution, to be held at the Loudon Tavern on 

 the 2nd of July next. 



NARCISSUS POETICUS. 

 The Narcissus is one of the oldest, hardiest, sweetest, and 

 most beautiful of bulbous-rooted garden plants. Poets have 

 sung its praises, and artists have endeavoured to delineate its 

 graceful forms ; authors have written on its beauties, and it 

 has received honour and attention from florists and plant- 

 lovers in almost all lands. That was in the somewhat remote 

 past, when intrinsic and individual beauty was more fully ap- 

 preciated than was the case in the massing period which suc- 

 ceeded. But fashion, with all its exacting sternness, could 

 never annihilate the plants which our forefathers admired, 

 and which are now rising again from the neglect to which for 

 a few years they have been relegated. 



Fir. 3S. — Narcissus poeticus. 



The genus Narcissus belongs to the natural order Amarylli- 

 dacete, and is divided into a variety of distinct types or sub- 

 genera, but which, however, while being popularly admitted, 

 are by no means authoritatively defined. The thorough dis- 

 tinctness of these groups, however, is unquestionable, and 

 they serve special purposes of decoration, and cover a lonely 

 period by their season of flowering in the spring time of the 

 year. The particular form above figured is a fair typical re- 

 presentation of the genus, and is in itself a most useful and 

 attractive species. The normal form of poeticus is single, 

 pure white, with red corona. It grows to a height of about 

 1 foot, and flowers in May. It is a beautiful border plant, and 

 has a fine, free, wavy effect used in lines in the shrubbery. 

 The sub- varieties vary but little from the original in colour, 

 but some have larger flowers, as N. poeticus majalis, while 

 others, as grandiflorus, are earlier in coming into bloom. 



