Octoler 15, 1874. 1 



JOUENAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



339 



servatory from the north-west and north, and it is on it that 

 the fruit ia most plentiful, a great many sprays having from 

 four to nine berries on them. They are about tho size of a 

 pea, of a shining green colour, beautifully clear and trans- 

 parent. They are now beginning to turn to a dark olive, and 

 probably will turn darker as they ripen. 



Sir P. Grey has not found anyone who has before seen the 

 fruit, and if desired would forward a spray with the berries on 

 it. He is told that London mentions that a plant at Bayswater 

 seeded in 183G. 



ROSES ON THE BRIA.E STOCK. 



In common with other enthusiastic Rose-growers I greedily 

 devour every scrap of news which appears from time to time 

 in " our Journal " relative to our favourite flower. 



I was glad to see a letter from Mr. Dodds, of Kelso, upon 

 the method he adopts with the Briar, as I firmly believe he 

 has hit upon the right one, and one not generally known, or 

 at least adopted by Eose-growers, so far as I know. I have 

 never known it adopted in this country, although I have made 

 frequent inquiries both from amateurs and nurserymen, and 

 almost considered it to be a method confined to myself. I can 

 speak with a degree of confidence in the matter, for I have 

 treated my Briars in the way Mr. Dodds describes for the past 

 seven or eight years, although I never heard of its being 

 practised till it occurred to me to try it, and I now work all 

 my Roses on the Briar in this way, fully believing it to super- 

 sede all other stocks for the Rose. I may say I have fully 

 tested all other stocks and plans, but give a decided prefer- 

 eace to the Briar. 



When I first commenced to grow Roses in my own small 

 way I knew little about them, but being passionately fond of 

 them I experimented in every conceivable manner, and by buy- 

 ing, begging, and exchanging I have now a fair stock of as healthy 

 vigorous standards as one would see at any place. The great 

 secret in having good vigorous heads, is to have plenty of 

 roots ; this is the reason growers naturally go to Boses on the 

 Manetti or on their own roots ; it is not, I believe, any intrinsic 

 superiority iu the latter two. But give me a nice clean Briar 

 with plenty of fine fibrous roots, and I will show you as much 

 vigour and health, and far larger and better-developed flowers, 

 than can be produced on any other stock. 



The method I have adopted for some years is this (and I 

 would like our enthusiastic friend Mr. Camm to give me his 

 opinion, and if he has not tried it to begin at once) : — In 

 September and October I go through the fields, and select my 

 Briars — good, long, straight, stout shoots of this year's growth, 

 taking care that they are well ripened, and I either pull them 

 off the parent stock, as you would do a slip, or cut them with 

 some sharp instrument. The hard ring of wood at the bottom 

 of the slip, where it is attached to the stem, must be preserved 

 intact, for if this be torn or detached from the wood it wiU 

 not take root. Cut them aU of an equal length, whatever 

 height you want your standard. I make them all about "2 feet, 

 as I like a short standard. Have your ground deeply dug, and 

 plant them iu rows 1 foot apart and 6 inches deep. I then 

 put down a stout stake at each end of the row, and tie two 

 ropes to one stake, and twist these ropes in and out round 

 every stock, and make it firm to the other stake ; this keeps 

 them firm in the ground, and from being bent with the wind 

 or other causes. These will throw out side shoots next spring, 

 and be ready for budding on in .July or August. I generally 

 transplant them once before finally removing them to per- 

 manent beds, so as to get plenty of roots. Thus, instead of 

 having big, thick, ugly roots with a few sickly fibres, as is the 

 case where Briars are dug up by the roots in the first instance, 

 you have a nice straight stem, with a bunch of beautiful, fine, 

 fibrous roots, which will throw plenty of vigour into the heads. 

 I should say that I find in selecting Briars, those having red 

 bark and plenty of prickles are more vigorous than the pale 

 yellow, and I prefer those of medium thickness, about as thick 

 as the index finger. — John Tcktle, Peace/ield, Portadotcn. 



refuse about as moist as ordinary potting soil ; the whole well 

 pressed down as packed, and kept iu a cool wine cellar. I 

 have followed this plan successfully for several years, and have 

 found the flavour of the Nuts so preserved to be excellent. 

 When they are required for use all that is necessary is to take 

 out the quantity desired, and again press down closely the 

 remainder. The Nuts when taken out should be slightly dried 

 in the air, and the refuse will then shake out and leave tho 

 Nuts clean and equal to those fresh gathered. Walnuts should 

 be husked and dried for a somewhat longer period iu the sun 

 before being packed. Nuts without the cocoa refuse, but other- 

 wise similarly and concurrently treated as the sample sent 

 you, are now all bad. 



It is advisable not to have the refuse too moist, as on one 

 occasion from this cause I found a perfect forest of miniature 

 Filbert and Walnut trees in my cellar in the spring after the 

 Nuts were stored, the whole having vegetated at the growing 

 period. The method is cleanly, and the refuse does not im- 

 part an earthy taste, as in the case of Nuts kept in the ground. 

 — T. LiXTON, Stamford. 



[The Nuts received from Mr. Laxton were as fresh as if 

 they had been newly gathered. Speaking from the example 

 before us we can strongly recommend the practice adopted by 

 Mr. Laxton. — Ens.] 



STORING FILBERTS, WALNUTS, kc. 

 It is sometimes difficult to get good wine, if even a high 

 price ba paid, and the accompaniment of good-flavoured Nuts 

 is equally a matter of uncertainty. I have therefore sent you 

 a sample of Cob Nuts which were gathered dry last October, 

 epread-out in the sun for a few hours with the husks on, and 

 then packed in a box in layers with tolerably-rotted cocoa 



NOOKS OF SUSSEX.— No. 1. 



Nevek will you receive a sentence written by me at Brighton 

 or any other visitor-thronged town. If I hear that a friend is 

 gone to a nook such as I like to nestle in, that nook is barred 

 against me until he aud his belongings have thence departed. 

 When I escape for a change, it is for a change total — new faces, 

 new scenes, new topics, and new commissariat. I would as 

 soon remain in Tooley Street as be either in a section of Lon- 

 don by the seaside, or in a lane walking with a London ac- 

 quaintance talking of woollens, and dining upon an economical 

 leg of mutton. Scenes and pastures new for me, and the 

 more intensely contrasted with everyday life the more enjoy- 

 able. It is only iu out-of-the-way nooks that total novelties 

 are come at. I am in one such nook, aud its nearest town — 

 but a small one — maintains in life a weekly penny Times, and 

 where but in that could be read such a sensational advertise- 

 ment as in that now before me? The Public Health Com- 

 missioners should summon the nurseryman to aid them, for 

 he announces as an undoubted fact that he is selling " The 

 DiSEASE-DESTKOYiNG Tbee, SO woU known for preventing fevers 

 and other diseases." That is his voucher to the Eucalyptus 

 globulus. Again, where but in such nooks as I am straying in 

 could be seen in every lane broods of jolly chickens a month 

 old, and each from twelve to fourteen chicken strong ? Do 

 the management, the climate, and the breed combine to secure 

 these best of early poultry for the London market ? The 

 breed ia the Sussex, so commonly white, irregularly speckled 

 with black, and all Dorking in structure except in not having 

 five claws. There seems no cDddling management, aud the 

 climate is not so mild as further westward, where chickenhood 

 is much more precarious. Then who would have thought the 

 soil of these nooks was favourable to these youngsters? Why, 

 it is the clayiest of clay, even that known as " the London 

 clay." The past superlatively dry summer did not injure the 

 crops in and about these nooks. I have just trudged between 

 Chichester and Bognor, and make no exception when I say 

 that no finer crops of Turnips are to be found in Eagland. 



Bognor : Did any other reader of this Journal ever retire 

 thither? Let no one be affrighted by the name. It has no 

 more relationship to a bog than Hastings has to the Pea so 

 called. Bucgrenora was its most ancient name, and its three 

 mid-letters being omitted, the residue, Bucnora, was sloped 

 towards its present further corruption ; but it passed through 

 an intermediate stage, for in 1327 a fair was established, and 

 a chapel dedicated to St. Bartholemew at "Bogenore." If 

 asked what was meant by the original name, I can only point 

 out that Bus was the Beech, and ((rt'Hora intimated vigour. Pass- 

 ing from its etymology, let me observe that it is an improving 

 nook, and for improvement there was abundance of occjsion. 

 Its founder. Sir Richard Hotham, was a hatter, and I have 

 come to the conclusion that his vast expenditure on the place 

 originated the proverb, " As mad as a hatter." Wealth and 

 knighthood made him ambitious to create a town that would 

 immortalise his name. He found this nook, spent £160,000 

 on house-building, called the place " Hothamtou," became in- 

 volved in unsuccessful lawsuits, died broken in spirit, aud 



