AugQst 20, 1874. ] 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



IGl 



tubers numerous and large — much larger tban I anticipated, 

 and the quality all that could be wished. Other kinds are 

 also good, the whole of them being literally without disease of 

 any kind. — Edwabd Ldckhukst. 



BEDDING GEEANIUMS. 



The discussion of bedding Geraniums in your paper is 

 acceptable to many. The Roses have had their benefit, and 

 it is time their companions in the flower beds had a turn. 

 Mr. Peach has kindly sent a paper for the last two or three 

 seasons, and other correspondents a few notes only. Will 

 they now contribute something fuUer? A warm vinery for 

 the young stock in winter, and rich soil for them in summer, 

 are not attainable by most gardeners. Colder treatment and 

 poorer soU must be matched with stronger kinds than most of 

 Mr. I'earson's. Arthur Pearson is fine anywhere, and Douglas 

 Pearson in most places ; but when I saw Amaranth, Mrs. 

 Musters, and others lately at Battersea Park, the colours were 

 lovely ; but where was the mass of colour attainable by 

 Lucius, Bonfire, and pre-eminently Waltham Seedling ? Where 

 was the effect ? A mass of green leaves, and peeping tints ! 

 The same thing struck the observer at Kew Gardens in rela- 

 tion to a good many other kinds of new Geraniums. The 

 strong and free kinds are a necessity to most gardens, and this 

 is why further communications will be very welcome. 



Bronzes ought to be discussed. The greenish kinds, Kentish 

 Hero and Beauty of Calderdale, extensively grown for their 

 vigour, want to be replaced by equally vigorous kinds with 

 golden leaf-ground. Bedding whites and blush whites are a 

 matter of uncertainty. 



What relations of Madame Vaucher and Fram^ois Desbois 

 will stand wet weather and bloom well out of doors ? Mr. 

 Cannell studies dwarf-growing Geraniums particularly. WiU 

 someone write for exposed situations and light soils, where the 

 dwarf kinds are mere pigmies? Violet Hill, Charley Casbon, 

 (fee, are failures in such a situation ; so I fear Mrs. Upton 

 must prove, though far better than the seed-spikes of the old 

 Christine. Pink May Queen, recommended by Mr. Peach, is 

 unsightly where the wind can reach it, and bears very few 

 trusses anywhere. Vesuvius is scantier yet of flowers upon its 

 manifold trusses when the breeze touches it, and I mean to 

 grow it no more, for it never has trusses fit to gather, and only 

 makes up by quantity for palpable want of quality. A dark 

 scarlet called Chief Justice, of Mr. Paul, is fine here ; it is derived 

 from St. George. The double pink Marie Lemoine has been 

 lovely for two months, always dwarf but covered with flowers ; 

 old plants doing best, inasmuch as young doubles do not make 

 flowers till July. 



Lastly, I should rejoice to see undeserving but much-puffed 

 kinds of Geraniums exploded and puffed out ; not from un- 

 charitable feelings, but for the same reason that I find plea- 

 sure in seeing a detected bad halfcrown nailed to the counter, 

 that it may go on its road of roguery no further. — C. S. B. 



FKUIT TEEE MANAGEMENT. 



As your correspondent Mr. Pewtress wants a few hints as to 

 the management of his fruit trees, I will endeavour to give him 

 a little assistance. I cannot understand how he can find fault 

 with the situation of his garden. I should think " a warm south 

 aspect on the slope of a hill " is the situation to be desired above 

 all others ; and the fact of vegetables coming earlier than else- 

 where is a great recommendation, and would tend to show 

 that the soU is a dry one and suitable for fruit trees. I should 

 think the reason of the failure is that the sorts selected are 

 too delicate for standards. Has he tried the Victoria, Orleans, 

 Gisborne's, and Magnum Bonum Plums ; the Beurre Diel, 

 Emile d'Heyst, and Bergamotte d'Esperen Pears (as pyra- 

 mids) ; the Keswick Codlin, Hawthomden, and Lord Suffield 

 cooking Apples; and Pearson's Plate and Nonpareil Apples 

 for dessert '? If not, I should recommend him to try them and 

 other hardy sorts. 



Now as to faOures. I had a fine standard Easter Beurre 

 Pear, the fruit of which was good for nothing. I have had it 

 Cut back and grafted with Beurrf Diel. What was the cause 

 of the failure ? your correspondent may ask. The answer is 

 that it is a useless Pear here, except as a pyramid on the Quince. 

 X have two Plum trees which are failures as standards, the 

 Cherry Plum and Washington, which I intend to have cut 

 back and grafted with some good cropping Plum. The reason 

 the Cherry Plum does not succeed is that it blossoms so early 



(sometimes in February) that the bloom is always cut off by 

 the spring frosts, and Washington I find not satisfactory in 

 that respect. It is a good plan to plant a row of pyramid Pear 

 trees within 7 or 8 feet of a wall, so as to secure a little shelter 

 without being so near as to injure the trees trained against 

 the wall. — Amaieoe, Cirencester. 



IN AND OUT OF ABERYSTWITH.— No. 4. 



What cottage gardeners can effect is fully illustrated here. 

 The town is well supplied with vegetables entirely from the 

 gardens of the cottagers in the vicinity. Their wives and 

 daughters come into the town bearing one or two baskets con- 

 taming small parcels — and only small parcels — of whatever 

 their gardens are producing. Two baskets which I saw this 

 morning borne by different women contained samples of our 

 daily suppUes. One had in it three Vegetable Marrows, two 

 leaves full of Ividuey Beans, and a few Potatoes. The other 

 basket held Apples, Bed Magnum Bonum Plums, three 

 Cabbages, and some Potatoes. Both baskets in one of their 

 comers had some small bouquets. Mushrooms are also a speci- 

 alty just now, and dozens of baskets of them are offered every 

 morning, being the produce of the vast pastures around. 

 Having small parcels and a variety, suits both the buyers and 

 the sellers ; the buyers have their vegetables fresh every morn- 

 ing, and the sellers have rarely a surplus to carry home unsold. 

 Chickens, ducklings, and eggs are brought to our door by 

 other cottagers' wives in the same way. All seem to have 

 regular customers, and if one vendor has exhausted her basket 

 of its contents and meets a neighbour who has been less suc- 

 cessful, I see she takes some of the latter's commodities, and 

 going in a different direction evidently tries to aid in vending 

 them. There are stalls in the Market House where vegetables 

 and fruits are sold, but they are chiefly supplied from the 

 cottagers' gardens. I say, " chiefly," because there are packages 

 about them containing West India Pine Apples, Spanish and 

 even hothouse Grapes brought by the railroad. 



The cottage gardens have the advantageous peculiarity that, 

 slate and shale composing the surrounding mountains, they 

 are enclosed by thick walls composed of those SUurian forma- 

 tions, and the cottages are constructed of the same materials. 

 These when uuwhitewashed, which they very rarely are, have a 

 chequered appearance, each dark block being encompassed by 

 a white line of mortar. Against the walls and houses the 

 Plum trees are trained which supply the baskets of the market 

 women. Manure from the pigstye and collected from the 

 roads are the fertilisers. 



I have often replied vaguely to queries about flowers that 

 will thrive close to the sea, but I can now say that the com- 

 mon Nasturtium (Tropjeolum), and Slignouette flourish most 

 luxuriantly and flower abundantly here, within 5 yards of 

 high-water mark, and they are wetted frequently by the sea 

 spray. 



This is a vicinity where a Cottagers' Garden Society might 

 be established advantageously, for, as I have stated, the cot- 

 tagers exert themselves— and their exertions are successful — to 

 supply the town with vegetables and fruits ; but the varieties 

 are tlae oldest mentioned in our gardening books — Charlton 

 Peas, Sugar-loaf Cabbages, inferior Cherries, Plums, Apples, 

 and Pears — of these last there are only a very small green 

 variety, a very small yellow and red variety, and the Windsor. 

 A local society could promote the introduction of superior and 

 more remunerative varieties, and be the means of preventing 

 the intrusion of some large establishment, which would im- 

 poverish many a cottage fireside. 



Within a few miles of Aberystwith the lead-mine region is 

 reached, and there gardening is at its lowest. I may be mis- 

 taken, but my beUef is that in that region there is not a really 

 good cottage garden. This is not wonderful, perhaps, for the 

 bread-winners are delving underground and have no surplus 

 time or energy to delve its surface. Let me not be understood 

 as depreciating the miners ; they are a race that aid largely to 

 maintain our country among the heads of nations. Never was 

 I more gratified as well as surprised, for it has been to me an 

 unknown region, to find in the parlour of a little inn far-up 

 among the mountains, shelves of books hundreds in number, 

 including scientific works, Shakespeare, Moore, Scott, dic- 

 tionaries, novels, EngUsh and Welsh bibles. The landlady 

 explained that the room was the evening resort of the miners. 

 All honour to them, and let Londoners especially regard this 

 vicinity, for to it they are indebted for their supply of New 

 River water. This is no paradox. Sir Hugh Middleton made 



