56 



JOURNAL OF HORTICDLTUBE AND COTTAGE GABDENER. 



1 July 16, 1874. 



half are " deai " ripe in order to secure a large bulk to " go in 

 at ouce." Quarters should be looked over twice a-week at 

 least. Care should be taken about all the fruit being thoroughly 

 ripe, otherwise the flavour cannot be there. Men and women 

 are often careless about this if not looked after, and good pre- 

 servers will not use the fruit, so that it is only gathered to be 

 thrown away. I need hardly remark that the fruit should be 

 gathered without being bruised ; the less they are handled the 

 better (I have seen some completely smash them in doing so), 

 nor should too many be placed in one lot. They should like- 

 wise bo taken to the house as soon as gathered, and, to keep 

 matters smooth, the all-important person should be informed 

 of their coming a day or two beforehand. Never gather when 

 wet, and the longer after rain the better. I do not care to 

 gather in the great heat of the day ; when dry weather seta in, 

 1 prefer evening, or from ten to twelve in the morning. 



I dislike the idea of " anything will do for preserving," send- 

 ing the best to the table, and then the small to come in for boil- 

 down. A quarter of the best, and that of a suitable variety, 

 should be grown expressly for the purpose. I do not believe 

 in mixing dififerent sorts together; one or two varieties are 

 ample, and they should be Myatt's Eliza, the best of preserv- 

 ing Strawberries, or the Elton Pine. Many others are good ; 

 indeed, if they possess the quaUties I have enumerated, do not 

 despair of good results if they are properly treated afterwards. 

 Too often they are spoiled before boiling-down. It has just 

 come to my knowledge that a large lot has been kept six days 

 before being so treated. — John Tatlok, Hardwickc Grange. 



FEUIT PROSPECTS— "WEST NOEFOLK. 



Some months ago I wrote to you stating that the prospects 

 of the coming season were not promising, and since then there 

 has not been much improvement, Apricots being almost the 

 only wall fruit that will be worth anything. Plums bloomed 

 and set most profusely, but at present are conspicuous by 

 their absence, having, as I believe, succumbed to the cold- 

 ness of the weather, and a succession of dry harsh winds ac- 

 companied by frequent frost. The wood has broken very badly, 

 and the prospect for another year does not at present look very 

 encouraging. Pears are middling. Apples very thin, and the 

 trees look cut very much, and not at all healthy. Bush fruits 

 are plentiful, particularly Gooseberries. 



Your correspondent, "G.," speaks of Gooseberries being 

 still called " Thebes " in Norfolk. I think Feabes is meant, 

 though more usually pronounced Fapes. Culpepper speaks of 

 the Gooseberry as the Feapberry, Gerarde calls it Feaberry 

 bush, Tusser speaks of it as being cultivated in the reign of 

 Henry VIII., and perhaps the gentleman who has favoured us 

 with the interesting articles on Tusser may bo able to tell us 

 what he calls it. 



We have had some very sharp frosts lately, the last being on 

 the night of the 20th of June, when bedding plants and Pota- 

 toes were much cut, the Potatoes in some instances being cut 

 nearly to the ground, and generally presenting a blackened ap- 

 pearance. A temperature of 2° below freezing was registered 

 at 5 feet from the ground, but I think on the ground the frost 

 must have been double that or more. On the 2nd of July the 

 theimotaeter rose to 88°, thus in about twelve days showing a 

 variation of something like 60". Such a frost is not remem- 

 bered here by the oft-quoted " oldest inhabitant." — John Platt, 

 Gardener, IIillini;ton. 



STRAWBERRY RUNNERS. 

 Generally speaking people are not very successful in pro- 

 ducing a good crop of fine fruit the first year after planting. 

 I have found the following plan a most satisfactory one. 

 Select the largest plant on each runner, cutting off all the 

 others. Under this plant take off from 2 to 3 inches of soil 

 with a fpade. On the same spot lay a thick piece of turf, 

 6 inches ly 6, with the grass side downwards; on the turf 

 place the soil in the spade, on this rest the young plant ; a 

 little good dung would assist the growth. At the proper time 

 remove the plant with the turf to the new bed. The turf will 

 be found to be full of vigorous fibrous roots, and the plant 

 double the usual size. — Obsebteb. 



ago, from which I have raised several plants, distributing them 

 among my friends ; and should your correspondent wish for 

 a plant I shall have great pleasure in giving him one, either a 

 plant or cutting (offshoot). They are by no means difficult to 

 strike. The plant is more curious than pretty. The blossom is 

 very poor, resembling the common Groundsel. — E. W. Russell, 

 The Cottaiie, Sprliujfield, Chelmsford. 



FLOWERS FOR OUR BORDERS.— No. 3G. 



PENTSTESION ^^ EIGHTH.— Dr. Wmuiit's Pentstemon. 

 The subjects previously selected for illustration from this 

 popular genus have been chosen from those bearing blue 

 flowers. Oar present selection, PentstemonWrightii, is taken 

 from those producing red flowers, and if not the most valuable 

 of its class, it is nevertheless one of the most interesting and 

 distinct of the species. 



The Candle Plant I have in one of my houses. It is the 

 plant referred to in your paper, and it is by no means a rare 

 plant in this district. A clergyman gave one to me some years 



rig. i:0.— P^ntstemou Wiighlii. 



It is a native of Texas, and requires a little protection in 

 winter, for most of the species from thence are somewhat 

 tender; but this will hardly prove an obstacle to its adoption 

 in an age when greenhouse plants are so largely employed for 

 open-air decoration. 



It is readily raised from seed, and if sown early, the young 

 plants would probably flower the first season. It is, however, 

 best treated as a biennial, the seed being sown in March or 

 April ; for although the plant is reputed to be of perennial 

 duration, and will often survive two or three years, so far as 

 we have seen, it never blooms effectively more than onoe, 

 especially when allowed to ripen seed. 



It may be conveniently grown in pots the first season 

 to allow of its protection in a frame during the winter 

 months, but should be planted out the following spring as 

 early as circumstances permit. It grows from 2J to 4 feet 

 high, and bears a very long branching panicle of flowers. The 

 lower leaves are spathulate, and lengthened at the base into a 

 narrow petiole; the upper ones are almost heart-shaped and 

 sessile; all of them are smooth, and with margins destitute of 

 serratures. The corolla is remarkable for its spreading limb, 

 and has been compared, not inaptly, to that of the Achimenes 

 rosea, which it also resembles in colour. The intense rosy 

 carmine of the flowers, which are borne in June and July, is 

 quite unrivalled in the genus, especially for a few days after 

 expansion ; subsequently this tint loses a little of its depth, 

 but this rather adds to than detracts from the general effect. 



It was first introduced to the Royal Gardens at Kew in 1850, 



