SOS 



JOUBNAL OP HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



( April 20, 1876. 



deep gold, with rich pnrple blotch. It was shown in very 

 email pots, and flowering freely. 



Miss Kimherhj ought also to be noticed as being a very fine 

 white, with distinct blotch. 



Mr. Hooper cultivates the Pansy very well, and has been 

 suecessful in raising a large number of very fine flowers. — 



J. DoDQLAS. 



THE BLACKBERRY, 



" FmsT choose thy objects from 

 thy native soil, 

 "Where, daily seen, they own 



thee for their lord. 

 And, bom with thee, shall 

 greater joy afford." 



So wrote the poet, but the 

 gardener has not heeded his 

 advice; the rare and the 

 foreign are most in request, 

 and we once knew a spray 

 of Lily of the Valley re- 

 jected because, where the 

 rejector lived, " it is so 

 Gommon." 



Among the fruits that 

 we do not " first choose " 

 from our " native soil" is 

 the Blackberry, but our 

 American relatives are 

 wiser. We have on onr 

 table Messrs. Ellwanger 

 and Barry's catalogue of 

 the fruits grown in their 

 Mount Hope Nurseries, 

 Rochester, New York, and 

 in the catalogue are enu- 

 merated five varieties of 

 the Blackberry : — The Im- 

 proved High Bush or Dor- 

 chester, New RocheUe or 

 Lawton, Newman's Thorn- 

 less, Wilson's Early, and 

 the Kittatiimy. We copy 

 this last-named from the 

 catalogue : — 



« " The Kittatixst. — Very 

 hardy and vigorous, not 

 qnite so large as the Law- 

 ton, but of better quality, 

 probably the best-flavoured 

 variety in cultivation.";* -" 



Why do not our fruit- 

 growers try them ? But it 

 must not be concluded that 

 these large-frnited kinds 

 are descended from our 

 common Bramble ; they are 

 varieties of an American 

 species, Rubus occidentalie, 

 popularly called the West- 

 ern or Virginian Raspberry, 



ochre of commerce is often much adulterated with substances 

 which are only to be detected by a chemical test. 



Vv'hat do the market gardeners say to this ? Would not a 

 batch of rich blue-flowered Hydrangeas be regarded as a 

 startling and most welcome novelty among the thousands of 

 pink trusses which are annually sent to Covent Garden ? and 

 would not the production of them prove a most profitable 

 investment? — Edwaed Luckhubst. 



Fig. 91.— The KiTTArnrar, 



HYDRANGEAS WITH BLUE FLOWERS. 



Ieon rust ia an excellent agent for changing the pink flowers 

 of the Hydrangea to a deep blue. In a valley here there is 

 a vast ochreons deposit arising from the action of the air upon 

 mineral springs. Some thousands of cartloads of the soil 

 through which this water has percolated for a long course of 

 years has been used for fruit stations and flower borders. All 

 the Hydrangeas (about fifty in number) that have been planted 

 in it have grown freely, and are annually laden with a profusion 

 of flowers of a deep rich blue colour. This fact is as important 

 as it is interesting, affording a hint of such value as to place 

 blue-flowered Hydrangeas within the means of everyone. 



Here is my explanation. Ochre in its pure state is simply a 

 combination of iron rust and water, technically termed a 

 hydrated peroxide of iion or ferric acid. If, therefore, com- 

 mon ochre be mixed with the boU in which Hydrangeas are 

 planted the flowers will come blue, and the depth of colour will 

 be pretty much in proportion to the quantity of ochre used as 

 well as its condition. It is well to remember this, because the 



In a late nnmber of " otir Journal" a desire was expressed 



by the Editors for inform- 

 ation about the change 

 of colour in Hydrangeas. 

 Knowing that a most sno- 

 cessf ul experiment had been 

 made on a fine plant at 

 Chai-mouth Court, I wrote 

 to a friend for particulars. 



The lady who owns the 

 plant has a chalybeate 

 spring in the neighbour- 

 hood, and she tried the ex- 

 periment of placing a com- 

 post of earth taken from 

 under the spring around 

 the plant. But this did not 

 produce the desired effect. 

 After this her man pro- 

 cured a lot of rusty iron 

 nails and put them round 

 the base of the shrub, and 

 the rain, and watering in 

 dry weather, washed the 

 rust into the roots and so 

 turned the flowers blue. 

 This treatment is continued 

 annually. My informant 

 adds, " I have seen it in 

 magnificent flower, quite a 

 bright blue all over." — 

 John B. M. Caiih, Monkton 

 Wyld. 



THE WEATHER. 



We registered 0.S7 of rain 

 on the morning of the 13th, 

 and this was followed by 

 the thermometer falling to 

 21°, or 11° of frost. Snow 

 fell for twelve hours on the 

 13th to a depth of from 14 

 to 16 inches, and heavy 

 falls recommenced early on 

 the 14th, making an ad- 

 ditional fall of S inches. 

 The gardens and the whole 

 country presented one face 

 of deep snow. The drifts 

 were 3 feet on the roads. In 

 all my experience I never 

 saw such weather in the month of April. At the moment I 

 write rain hag succeeded snow. — W. Ingkam, [Belvoir Castle, 



Grantham. 



I THINK the gardeners in the north need not envy their 

 brothers in the south and western districts at this most un- 

 favourable season of the year, as we are having severe frosts 

 for the month of April. On the morning of the 12th the 

 ground here (Dorchester) was a sheet of snow from 3 to 4 inches 

 thick, with a very cold wind blowing from the north-west, with 

 heavy snowstorms at intervals throughout the day, followed 

 with snowstorms on the 13th. The enow is etiU to be seen on 

 the sides of the hills now, the 14th. There is no doubt but 

 some of the wall fruit will suffer to some extent, but I am very 

 pleased to see some of the Peaches are set. — W. G. 



E.\RLY WRITERS ON ENGLISH GARDENING. 



Ncia. 



REV. WILLIAM HANBUET. 

 We have known many and have read of more enthusiasts, 

 but never of one more persistent than the clergyman to a 



