4S4 



JOUKSAL OF HOBTlCrLTrBB AND COTTAGE GARDEKES. 



[ lue S, 1976. 



does cot C'ft heated so quiikly as the »ir of the hoase ; then 

 gi^e air snficicntly to \ovei the temperature cf the house o' or 

 10= suiien.T, and yen will probably soon have scorohingr, rnst, 

 and maybe'rtd spider into the bargain. Tee prevention of 

 eourie is early ventilation, or in the tvent of the house getting 

 hoi'er than "desirable, rather let it remain hot, only giving 

 snfieient air to prevent it rising much higher. All this of 

 <oar:e is well kaoxn to Mr. Abbey and cttier praetiea! colti- 

 vitor?. and I only mention it here to show that scorching with 

 robust plants is caused by rapii €va|K^ation, and not often by 

 C3c6ned hea*. 



Sow the same cause which produces the dew on the Grapes 

 and i^ so icjarions to thtm when not properly managed is 

 turned to a useful acionnt in growing Cacnmbers, Melons, and 

 many other vigorous plsnts which do not require the same 

 amount of ventilation that Vines do. The houses are allowed 

 to cocl down to 60" or lower at night, and as day bresks and 

 the nataral outside temperature rises that inside the house 

 rises too, and the moisture condenses on the cold surfaces of 

 the leaves, causing by four o'clock a dew as perfee; inside the 

 hoase as it is ontsiJe. and quite doing away with the necessity 

 of syringing. "W^e leave a little air on cur vineries and keep a 

 little wirmth in the pipf s to prevent too great a condensation 

 of moisture, but on many other plants the more moisture the 

 better; the plants like it, and inserts do not. 



I not oiily do not syringe Vines at all, but I do not damp 

 the surface of my large vineiies more than twice a-week in the 

 brightest of weather. In small houses more damping is neces- 

 sarv, for the atmosphere should certainly never ba dry till the 

 fruit is ripe; but to sprinkle the surface when it is already 

 damp is folly, and tends to make the soil sour and impervious 

 to air. Peaches also are never syringed in the ordinary use of 

 the word; they are occisionally dewed over at closing time 

 on a hot day after the leaves have griw-n to their full size. 



It is a great fallacy to suppose that syringing Vines, i;., at 

 starting time will cause them to break rfgularly. If they are 

 well ripened, and they have not too much fire heat at first, 

 they w;ll break well enough ; but if not ripe, neither syring- 

 ing'nor anything else wiU cause them to break regularly in the 

 early part of the season. 



It" may be asked. How are insects to be kept down if the 

 syringe is not to be used more than this ? And in this I 

 thoroughly agree with Mr. Abbey, that there is mere value 

 placed on the syringe for this purpose than it deserves. If red 

 spider appears "on a Peach tree indoors or out it receives two 

 cr three drenchings of soft-soap water, 2 ozs. to the gaUon, on 

 <wo or three successive evenings after the sun is off. 



Indoors the soapy water has to be immediately syringed oS 

 the glass and paint, or it would irjare them. Vines when well 

 manfiged are not very liable to red spider, but a sharp look-out 

 should always be kept, and on the first appearance the infected 

 leaves and others close to them should be immediately sponged 

 with soapy water. I find nothing equal to soft soap for eradi- 

 cating insects, but it varies a great deal in quality, and the 

 commonest sort is of very little use. — VTm. Tatlob. 



pense and annoyance to exhibitors of a two-day show as he 

 does. Sor would he talk of re-making collecliooa for the 

 second day with ** a small hamper of fresh buds sent up by 

 night train to the man in charge !" I am nnfavcnrable to 

 the notion of eihititing Bo-es in three stages. At a first- 

 class show we want to ser' each variety in its greatest perfection. 

 This is attained by different varieties at diSerent stages of 

 expansion. Bat I would not give a straw to see a Rose 

 which would have bi«n a good one if it had been allowed to 

 remain two days longer on the tree. The true value of Bose 

 shows, besides the introduction and criticism of new candi- 

 dates for favcnr. lies in this — that we have all the glorious 

 varieties of the Bose produced in their full splendour, which 

 would never be done without the shows. No one who is not 

 an attendant at first-class shows, besides being himself a 

 grower, knows what is the perfection of any variety. 



There also appeared in the Journal of Juno 1st a letter from 

 " Phuasthes," which I think contains much sound doctrine. 

 If it be true, as he stites, and I am not in a position to dis- 

 pute it, that the entr.inee money paid by the "general public " 

 docs not compensate for the extra expense necessarily incurred 

 in procuring their attendance, I would vote with him for 

 limiting the entrance to subscribers and their friends. Before 

 condemning this plan as mean, stupid, or exclusive, let anyone 

 read the letter of " Phii-asihes." I hops that it would not 

 ba found necessary to give np the decorative-foliage plants for 

 background or the music, both of which accessories add greatly 

 to the general efiect of a show. The foliage plants check any 

 tendency to monotony in appearance, and the band has a par- 

 ticularly enlivening effect. 



I will conclude with one more remark — that it is impolitic, 

 by adding to the labour and expense of shows, to disc:)urage 

 numerous exhibitors who are either not rich or who have great 

 difficulty already in visiting a show owing to professional 

 employment, thus giving more advantage to men of wealth and 

 ease, whohaveindeed sufficient as it is. — T.H.Gooj),3/ortim^r. 



TWO-DAY ROSE SHOWS. 



As the writer of the original article in the Journal of Hor- 

 ticulture of April 20th I should like, if space allow, to gather 

 np the threads of the discussion. It is especially important 

 just at the present moment, because exhibitors and all other 

 rosarians will be meeting at the shows during the next three 

 weeks, and can lay their heads together with a view to a prac- 

 tical decision upon the point. 



The position which I took up against the extension of a 

 sh^w leyond the first day has since been supported by letters 

 from Mr. Eadclyffe, Mr.'Peach, Mr. Camm, Mr. Jowitt, and 

 anonymous correspondents. These are practical men whose 

 opinions most carry weight. The only letter which has taken 

 a line in contravention is one signed " H. C." in the Journal 

 of June 1st. He slates that " there are some good and fair 

 reasons, not merely finan<'ial, why Rose shows may sometimes 

 be held for two days." Possibly", but he does not state them 

 with the single exception that the public are disappointed if 

 the first and only day is wet. Let me reply to this, that a 

 show if held in a buildinp such as ufed at Hereford, Crystal 

 Pilflce, and Alexandra Park is perfectly independent of 

 weather, and that such buildings are infinitely superior to 

 tents. I write under corrfctiop, but I should hardly think 

 that " H. C." can be an exhibitor on a large scale and at great 

 distances from home, or he would not make light of the ex- 



THKEE KATIVE BEAUTIES. 

 The flowers are blooming everywhere, gems of nature cheer- 

 ing by their perfume and charnoiog by their simple loveliness. 

 The first of the trio I have to note Neottia (formerly Listera) 

 Nidus- avis, a beautiful plant. Of this I found a quantity 4 inchea 

 to nearly a foot in height, and such a sight I never saw before ; 

 and while admiring the natural bed I discovered close by 

 Pyrola rotundifoUa, a real gtm in its own home ; and near it 

 a dense mass of Asperula odorata as white as enow. I recently 

 found these plants " wildly growing," and could not but ad- 

 mire them. In some places the WoodrooS is laid in drawers 

 as a preventive against moths. — Obskbveb. 



ADTUMN CAULIFLOWERS. 



Whks Peas are over and Kidney Beans are destroyed by 

 frost, then is a supply of Cauliflowers especially valuable. At 

 that time — say in November and December, root crops and 

 green crops are too commonly all that are provided for the 

 culinary requirements of the household. In most gardens 

 Cauliflowers are plentiful in the autumn, but after autumn — 

 that is, in early winter, tbey are often unpleasantly scarce. 



Where the "winter supply is not provided for there is yet 

 time to do it, and it is quite easy to supplement the supply of 

 Veiteh's Autumn Giant, wl.ich will be produced by seed sown 

 in AprU, by sweet small white heads of Walcheren from seed 

 sown during the last week in Jane. The plants from this 

 sowing will not be large plants, and the heads which they wUl 

 perfect will not be large heads; but if they are small, plentiful, 

 and good, we may ignore the qnestiou of size as being of little 

 importance. Four email Caulillowers each 2 to 3 inches in 

 diameter are much more suitable for a gentleman's table than 

 one head a foot across; neither need the four small plants 

 take np more room than the cne large plant, as they will cer- 

 tainly not BO greatly exhaust the soil. 



Having had for a number of years a family of forty persona 

 to supply, I have found my large batch of em.iU Canliflowera 

 in' November and December to be cf the greatest value. I now 

 mention the matter as a seasonable reminder to others who 

 might forget or overlook the value of the crop or hesitate to 

 sow CaulifloJfers so late in the season. 



The variety which I rely on for the present sowing is Wal- 

 cheren, finding it somewhat hardier than some otherwise good 

 Tsrieties. The Bted is sown thinly in a cool place, and in 



