252 



JOUBNAL OF HOBTICULTUEB AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



[ March 30, 1876. 



November, and daring a very hard froat, gathering a fine crop 

 of this kind of Apple from leafless trees. It was more like 

 handling stones than Apples, the fruit rattling like pots when 

 touching one another. Liko the foregoing, this ia one of the 

 best keeping Apples we have. It ia deaeribed in the " Fruit 

 Manual," new edition, page 41, as Dntoh Mignonne, where the 

 author has much to say in its favour. — M. H., Camphill, 

 Bedale. 



EUPHORIA LITCHI. 



The Leeohee, Nephelinm Litchi, Dimooarpus Litchi, Seytalia 

 Litchi of Roxburgh, called also Euphoria Litchi by .Tussieu. 

 It ia a highly esteemed fruit, originally brought from China, 

 but long since fully natu- 

 rahsed in India, where it 

 grows and ripens to great 

 perfection, bearing the next 

 place to the Mango in gene- 

 ral estimation. The outaide 

 haa a stiff, rough, reddish 

 skin, and the pulp is rich, 

 sweet, and firm. 



Propagation is best per- 

 formed by layers, the plant 

 readily throwing out root- 

 fibres. 



Soil, dc. — A rich mould, 

 not too dry, ia the best 

 suited to the Leechee. 



Culture. — After theyonng 

 plant is put into the fruit 

 garden it must be carefully 

 watched for the purpose of 

 training the stem and re- 

 moving the lower shoots 

 and suckers, as this tree 

 when young grows very 

 rapidly, being also much 

 disposed to become crooked, 

 straggling, and ill-shaped. 

 In the sixth year it may be 

 allowed to bear a moderate, 

 but only a moderate portion 

 of fruit, but till it attain 

 that age the blossoms 

 should be entirely removed 

 as soon as they appear, and 

 even then at least three- 

 fourths should be taken oS 

 and not permitted to set. 

 When bearing the roots 

 should be occasionally 

 moderately watered, the 

 fruit ripening in March and 

 April. 



In 1816 John Knight, 

 Esq., of Lee Castle, near Kidderminster, sent to the Royal 

 Horticultural Society a quantity of the fruit of the Dimocarpus 

 Longan, ripened by him this aummer in a stove erected for 

 the purpose of growing tropical fruits. That was believed to 

 be the only instance of the fruit having been brought to 

 maturity in Europe, and persons who were well acquainted 

 with it in its native places of growth pronounced these speci- 

 mens quite as good as those grown within or near the tropics. 

 The Leechee fruits ore of a red colour when ripe, excepting 

 in one variety, in which the coat remains green. Their pulp 

 is surrounded with a tough, thin, leathery coat; it ia a colonr- 

 lesa semi-transparent aubstance, in the centre of which is a 

 dark brown seed of different sizes in the different varieties. 

 The flavour of the pulp is slightly sweet, anbacid, and 

 particularly pleasant to the taste in a warm climate. The 

 fruit dried either in the sun or by fire heat is frequently 

 brought to England by the ships from China. In this state 

 the pulp is shrivelled and reduced within the coat or shell to 

 half its usual size, and haa a rich and Eweet taste if it has 

 been well preserved.— (Speed.) 



purea and P. pulcherrima (Backhouse). They foUow imme- 

 diately after P. denticnlata, and both have still finer heads 

 and larger richer- coloured flowers. 



P. viscosa is now in beauty hero in a brick frame, also 

 P. marginata with its lovely large flowers and pretty leaves. 

 P. helvetica is just coming into flower, and will be followed by 

 P. oiliata with its rich very deep colour. — Geohoe F. Wilson 

 Heatherbank, 



Kig. 73.— EnPHOEIA LITCHI. 



PEIMULAS. 

 I WOULD recommend your correspondent " G. A." (page 230), 

 who grows Primula deutioulata, to add to his collection P. pur- 



BRIAK STOCKS FOR EOSES. 

 I SEE Mr. Camm decides distinctly against the Briar. Some 

 fifteen years' experience on a light and greedy loam does not 

 incline me to fall in with his opinion. Certainly his record of 



Briar ingratitude is some- 

 thing stupendous. On a 

 very much smaller scale I 

 have had simOar dis- 

 appointments, and especi- 

 ally of late, with the seed- 

 ling Briar. An enormous 

 per-centage of inserted buds 

 have died, apparently 

 smothered by the too-abun- 

 dant sap. Still I should 

 not say it was either the 

 Briar's or the seedling 

 Briar's fault. There is an 

 old proverb respecting the 

 man who is his own law- 

 yer, which I strongly sus- 

 pect applies to the man 

 who trusts to his own bud- 

 ding for exhibition blooms 

 from off Briars. A long 

 experience has shown me 

 that it is utterly impossible 

 to vie with the nurserymen, 

 and infinitely better to buy 

 established plants of them, 

 except for pleasure and 

 possible advantage in some 

 few instances. 



Had Mr. Camm ordered 

 that ten thousand from any 

 one of our great growers, I 

 will answer for it he could 

 have had very few succese- 

 ful rivals last year; and, 

 as for it being cheaper, at 

 the price Roses are now at 

 the close of the season I 

 should say, If yon intend 

 winning, it is infinitely 

 cheaper to buy than to 

 bud. Every pheasant, in 

 many a cover, costs its 

 owner by the time it is killed very probably four times what 

 he could have bought it for at the poulterer's ; and most home- 

 budded Briars from which an exhibition bloom is cut costs 

 their owner, I incline to think, very much in the same propor- 

 tion. But to return to the old controversy. I venture as an 

 amateur to give my opinion that ficer and deeper-coloured Roses 

 may be, and often are, cut from off the Briar than it is possible 

 in very many instances to cut from off the Manetti. — A. C. 



Mr. Camm says of standard Briars that " they do not live 

 half or a quarter of the time that dwarfs do." But I can testify 

 that, while fully acknowledging the superiority of the dwarf 

 Manetti stock, the standard Briar will, under favourable cir- 

 cumatances.livo and flourish for at leaat a quartflf of a century. 

 There are many such standards at River Hill near Sevenoaks, 

 trained in hemispherical form over hoops, and annually pre- 

 senting masses of bloom from 4 to 5 feet in diameter, with every 

 appearance of retaining their vitaUty for many years to come. 

 The soil is stiff approaching the weald clay. — A. R. 



DEEPDENE, 



THE SEAT OF ME3. HOPE. 

 The Deepdene derives its name from the Saxon Deop den, 

 a deep vale, which especially applies to the natural cou. 



