Jane 10, 1875. ] 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



457 



mnx, and Aijlaia. 3, 5, and 6, W. Whittaber, Sister to Rachel, Nancy Gibson, 

 anl Laij Wiltoa. 8, H. Houeeley, Mrs. Lea. 9, J. Hepworth, Miss Callius. 

 10, B. Barber. Cbaraier. Flamed Roses.— I, H. Housley, Aglaia. 2, 3, 6, 7. 

 a'ld 10, T. Melior, Mabel. Laily Catherine Guidon, Ada, Mrs. Talfourd, and 

 Mad^irae St. Arnaad. 4, W. Lea, La'ly Olivia Sparrow. 5. W. Lf-a, Jan., Mrs. 

 Asbtitn. 8, J. Hepworth, Improved Tiiumph Bojal. i), Whittaker, Queeu o( 



rremier— The best feathered Tulip in the whole Exbibitinn.— W. Whit- 

 talior. with HepTForth'B Be^iaie. Premier.— The beat flamed Tulip in the whole 

 Exhibition.— H. Houseley, with Millifon's Sir Joseph Paxton. 



BREEDERS. 



C)a'»8 10.— For four stamls of six ditsimilar Tulips, ivio of each claas.— 1, T. 

 Melior, with Lady Grosvenor, Alice Grey, Annie M (ireqor, 8ir Joseph Ptis- 

 too, and Norval. 2, \V. Wbittaker. with Ariosto, Talisman, Richard Yates, 

 and Annie M'Qiegor. 3, W. Lea, with Seedling Queen of Enuland, Ducheaa 

 of Sutherland, Seedling, Dr. Hardy, and Paston. 4, Rev. F. D. Hurner, with 

 Talisman, Seeiling, Hepworth Seedling, Lady Grosvenor, Richard Yates, and 

 Hardy's Seedlint;. 



Class v.— Six stands of three Tulips, onQ of e&ch class.-l, T. Melior, with 

 Annie M'Gre^jor, Ariosto, aud Nerval. 2, W. Lea, jun , with Ducbesa of 

 Sutherland, Juliet, and Dr. Hardy. 3. D. Woolley, with Mabel. Delicata, and 

 Ariosto. 4, W. Lea, with Seedling, Queen of Euglaud, aud Ricliard Yates. 

 5, W. Wbittaker, with Queeu of Eugland, DanntleBS and Dr. Hardy. 6, Rev 

 F. D. Horner, with Hardy's Seedling, Dr. Dalton, and Unknown. 



Class 12.—Bi^arrf Brrtd-rs.—l and 6, T. Melior, with Atlantic and Pul- 

 phur, 2, 4, aod 5, \V. Wnittaker, wi:h Paxton, Dr. Hardy, and William Wil- 

 ton. 3. W. Lea. with Richard Yates. Rose Breeder.— 1, 3, 6, T. Melior, with 

 Annie MGregor, Queen of Eaglaud, and Mabel. 2, W. Wbittaker, with 

 Juliet. 4, S. Barl-jw, with Hepworth Seedling. 5, W. Lea, with seedling. 

 Byblamen Breedcr.—1,3,5,Q,T. Melior, with Northern Light, Bridesmaid, 

 Coancellor, aud Wm.Eentley. 2, S. Barlow, with Seedling. 4, T. Richardson, 

 ■with Unknown. 



Class 13. — For the best breeder Tulip in the whole Exhibition, in addition 

 to any other prizes it may have won. — T. Melior, with Paxton. 



STBAWBERRY PROTECTION. 



An nnnsual show of blossom and an unwonted immnnity 

 from spring frosts lead us to hope for heavy crops of fruit 

 this season. Than Strawberries few crops of the garden are 

 anticipated with greater pleasure, and also, it must be added, 

 with greater anxiety. The cool, refreshing, delicious fruit is 

 ever welcome on the dessert and breakfast table, and the ripen- 

 ing of the outdoor crops is always longed for ; but with this 

 longing is mixed the fear lest dirt should injure, and slugs 

 and birds eat, the best-flavoured and most handsome speci- 

 mens. To best preserve the fruit and carry it to perfection is 

 now one of the duties pertaining to all who are responsible 

 for the full and satisfactory supply of this important crop, 

 and a notice of the means usually employed at this period of 

 the year to preserve and protect the fruit will not be in- 

 opportune. 



As to preserving the fruit from dirt and grit various means 

 are adopted, and it is not so much a question as to which 

 mode is the best, as which is the most convenient for the 

 adoption of each particular individual and the most suitable 

 to his circumstances. Generally fpeaking the practice of sur- 

 facing the ground with manure in the autumn not only 

 answers the purpose of protection from frost, and by the 

 washings of the rains conveys nourishment to the soil ; but 

 this washing and bleaching also leaves a close, clean, strawy 

 surface in the spring for the fruit to rest on, and from which 

 it can be gathered in a clean sweet state. Than that plan few 

 are simpler and better when carried out properly and under 

 circumstances to which it is suited ; but the plan is not always 

 suitable. In wet soils the manure is liable to cause a decay of 

 the crowns, and in gardens where slugs are unusually nume- 

 rous the winter's surfacing affords them harbour, and they 

 emerge from their haunts in the spring and destroy the fruit. 

 However, where the practice hag been adopted but little more 

 is now needed on the matter of cleanliness, but where it has 

 not been adopted measures must be taken forthwith, or a 

 thunder shower of half an hour's duration may spoil the 

 work of a season's preparation. 



Whatever means are adopted for keeping the fruit clean, it 

 is important that the material be applied at once. To defer 

 the surfacing of the ground until the fruit is approaching 

 ripeness is an error which is too often committed. 'The heavy 

 fruit cannot be lifted to have straw put under without injur- 

 ing the stems, the result of which is a check to the swelling 

 of the fruit. The rough handling of the trusses is a prime 

 source of small fruit, as the stems are as susceptible of injury 

 as is the haulm of Peas. Protection should be given when 

 the stems are erect, and before they are flattened to the 

 ground by the weight of the fruit. 



Mr. Douglas uses twiggy sprays to sustain the fruit above 

 the foliage. The plan is a good one, but all have not the 

 twigs, and a capital substitute is to stick three or four sticks 

 round each plant, and run a strand of twine round each root, 



or if the roots are close, a strand along each side of the rows 

 will suffice. That plan is simple and effectual. Bricks, tiles, 

 or slates under the plants are also good for the purpose of 

 cleanliness. Some havo wire supports, which is simply a half- 

 circle of wire on three legs. These are stuck in the ground — 

 two half-circles to each plant— and form a capital supporting 

 cradle. These are easily made, and will last for years. Short 

 grass is used, but it fills the ground with weeds, and is dashed 

 into the fruit by rains, and cannot be recommended. Tan is 

 permissible, but better is fine shavings or trimmings from the 

 basketmakers. Spent hops answer very well, and are suc- 

 cessfully used in brewers' gardens. 



We now come to straw, which is always effectual. The best 

 way to use it, however, is in a cut state. If out in inch lengths 

 it is easily put round the plants from baskets ; half the straw 

 will do, and it is more quickly applied than when in an uncut 

 state. It is, moreover, the best preservative of the fruit from 

 slugs. The round loose particles are to them no sure founda- 

 tion, and they cannot travel freely on the ever- moving surface. 

 This useful plan was, I think, first suggested by Mr. Peach. 

 Mr. Wright has also proved its worth, and stated its merits 

 some time ago in the Journal. I can sustain both those culti- 

 vators in recommending it, having tested it against almost all 

 other modes, and for quick and easy application, keeping the 

 fruit clean, and bal'fling the slugs, I think it the best of all 

 applications. The plants in the north are just going out of 

 bloom, which is the very best time to surface the ground ; but 

 by all means let it be done before the fruit is half swelled off. 

 Any of the above means will keep the fruit clean, aud each can 

 select the material which is most convenient to his own par- 

 ticular case. 



And now as to protecting it from birds. Guys and scare- 

 crows are of very little use, as the birds will in a few days 

 make perches of them. The gun is the best deterrent^when 

 it is there, but the birds are quick in detecting its absence. A 

 quaint old cultivator procures cat's skins and stuffs them, and 

 these dummies skulked about in the beds, changing their 

 positions every day, is about as old-fashioned plan as any, and, 

 although it may provoke a smile, it is one of the very best to 

 keep the birds at a distance. A tethered hawk is also a capital 

 Strawberry guardian. 



But the general plan is to net out the birds. Herring net is 

 cheap, and should be freely supplied to all fruit gardens, 

 especially where ground is limited and every pound weight of 

 fruit is an object. The common plan is to lay the nets over 

 the plants, and remove them when the fruit is gathered ; that 

 plan will answer, but it is clumsy in comparison with spread- 

 ing the nets over the beds at 5 feet from the ground. Stakes 

 driven in at convenient distances, and roof laths tacked from 

 stake to stake, is a framework which is quickly made, and over 

 which the nests can be spread and pegged to the ground all 

 round the bed. It is only to draw aside the net to giin ad- 

 mittance, and the fruit can be gathered in comfort. There is 

 time saved in covering and uncovering, and the net is much 

 less liable to rot than if laid on the plants. The framework 

 plan of netting is, in the end, economical, and it is also com- 

 fortable and effectual. Gooseberry aud Raspberry quarters 

 can also be netted-in in the same way, aud fruit, trouble, aud 

 labour will be saved, but for Strawberries especially it is the 

 neatest, cheapest, and the best of all modes of fruit protection; 

 at least, so far as is known to — A Northekn Gakdeneb. 



CUT-BACK ROSES. 



The question which Mr. Camm has raised as to whether the 

 best blooms come from the maiden plants or those which have 

 been cut back, is one which I am sure will greatly interest all 

 Rose-growers, and will, I expect, provoke some amount of dis- 

 cussion and elicit many different opinions. 



Having grown scarcely anything but cut-back Rose bushes 

 for many years, during which as an exhibitor I think I may 

 lay claim to a fair amount of success, I certainly must say that 

 in my opinion the blooms from them both in form and quality 

 far surpass maiden blooms, as there is an entire absence of 

 that coarseness so often found in the latter, but at the same 

 time there are some weighty arguments on the other side. 



Cat-back bushes are much more liable to injury from late 

 spring frosts, and they also require more care and trouble in 

 their cultivation than maiden plants ; the latter, if the ground 

 is properly prepared before the stocks are planted, require very 

 little attention except as regards keeping them free from fly, 

 and of course the usual tying and disbudding ; but if you want 



