502 



JOtJBNAL OF EOETICfLTUBE AND COTTAGE GAEDENEB. 



( Jtme 29, lt76. 



chopped down and a peck of bone dnst is mixed to each barrow- 

 load of the Boil. But the best of Boil cannot compensate for 

 defective potting, incorrect watering, and negligence generally. 

 The pots must be clean and the drainage perfect— that is, the 

 crocks must be placed so that the water can pass out of the 

 pots and yet so that worms cannot pass in. I find that so 

 long as the soil is prevented mixing with the drainage that 

 the first crock cannot lay too closely over the bottom of the 

 pot, and over this there should be carefully arranged other 

 crocks, which must be protected from the soil by moss or clean 

 flakes of manure. Simple as the practice may appear, there is 

 art even in crocking a pot, and that work should always be 

 done carefully and thoughtfully, it not only being hterally at 

 the root of the matter but a prime element of success in the 

 cultivation of all potted plants. Crocking cannot be taught 

 on paper; it can only be mentioned as important, and the 

 intelligence of the cultivator wUl do the rest. 



Special care must be taken that the plants are not dry at 

 the time of potting; the soil must not, of course, be soddened 

 with wet, but to pot a plant when the ball is dry betrays either 

 great ignorance or discreditable carelessness. The plant must 

 not be placed too high in the pot. Filling the pots too full of 

 soil has always been, and so it continues to be, one of the 

 commonest errors made in gardening. To see the soil piled 

 round the stem of a plant and almost or quite level with the 

 top of the pot is only pardonable when done by the good old 

 dame living in the thatched cottage. The soil in Strawberry 

 pots should never be nearer than half an inch of the rim, and 

 should be perfectly level, very firm, and the crown of the plant 

 quite clear from the soil. Neither must the soil be firm and 

 smooth on the surface and light beneath, but it must be firm 

 from the bottom. There must be no hurrying and slovenli- 

 ness in potting Strawberries, but the work must be thorough 

 and workmanlike. The soil must also be in good potting con- 

 dition. If used either too dry or too wet it la tantamount to 

 depriving it of its greatest virtues. These are apparently small 

 matters to dwell on, but they are really great in their import, 

 and to ignore them is to invite failure ; they therefore cannot 

 be too strongly enforced and urged as worthy of attention, 

 especially by the young and inexperienced who, if they are 

 worthy of the craft, are seeking to honour it by the excellence 

 of their work. 



After potting the plants will require watering, but not for a 

 day or two if the soil has been right and rightly used, and the 

 entire work has been well done. Watering, however, must be 

 left to individual judgment, with the remark that, to use a 

 plain term, there is "no sense" in watering a plant immediately 

 on its being potted. A little remains to be said on the after- 

 management of the plants, but it is not necessary to say it 

 now, and space at present will be more seasonably occupied 

 by enumerating the sorts that I have found best for pot cul- 

 ture. For the earliest forcing my choice falls on Black Prince 

 and La Grosse Sucrfie; for early forcing a large batch of 

 Vicomtesee Hericart de Thury and Garibaldi (are these dis- 

 tinct varieties?), then President and Keens' Seedling, complet- 

 ing with British Qaeen. These sorts with good culture will 

 produce ripe fruit over a period of four months. For early 

 work 48's or o-inch pots are quite large enough, but for the 

 Utest forced crops, .32'e or 6-inoh pots may be employed with 



-A NOBTHEBN GaEDENER. 



MODERN. SHOWING. 



" Eadical Conseevative " has brought forward a subject 

 which needs to be discussed. "Big" shows, "big" prizes, 

 and " big " plants are all very well in their way ; but, as 

 " F. H. S." says, neither should be encouraged at the expense 

 of the original object for which shows were established. 

 Judges, by giving the preference to big plants, have been the 

 means of making many exhibitors grow their plants as big 

 again aa they have bloom to cover them, for they too often 

 grow them one-sided. Last year I visited for the first time a 

 ( show of soma note for specimen stove and greenhouse plants 

 in the north, and was very much disappointed to find most 

 of the plants (in fact all on which it could be practised) were 

 disfigured in this manner. The whole of the bloom is pulled 

 on to one side, leaving the other completely destitute. Anyone 

 after having a peep " behind the scene" will turn away a little 

 disappointed on finding the plants were only half as big as 

 they seemed to be. I examined one of those monsters — an 

 Allamanda — and I am bound to say had the bloom been tied 

 equally over the plant there would not have been a truss to 



every square foot of surface. Now had that plant been half aa 

 large with the same quantity of bloom tied all rotmd it I think 

 it would have been a much nobler object and of much more 

 credit to its cultivator. 



Large money prizes are also a great temptation to the pro- 

 fessed exhibitors, of whom I am sorry to find there are too 

 many. This temptation would not be so strong were cupa 

 and medals more need than they are at present, and they 

 would not be the less sought after or less esteemed by the bond 

 fide lovers of horticulture. I quite agree with " F. H. S." in 

 saying that shows are too numerous. In this locality (North 

 Durham) nearly every village has its show — a fact which may 

 be considered to say much for the taste and energy of the 

 inhabitants, but what is the result ? They all want to be 

 " big," they all want to be biggest; they clash with each other 

 in fixing their days, causing in many instances bitter feelings 

 between societies and individuals, sadly at variance with the 

 original objects for which flower shows were established. 

 — E. Inglis. 



PACKING GRAPES. 



Various methods are adopted in the packing of Grapea in 

 order that they may ariive at their destination in ae nearly as 

 possible the same condition as when they were severed from 

 the Vine. I have had Grapes to send from the north-midland 

 counties to both London and Scotland for many years, and 

 have tried difierent modes of packing, having had careful note 

 taken of the state of the Grapes on arrival. There is not 

 so much difference between one kind of packing and another, 

 provided the same care in moving and travelling is exercised 

 — that is, I find that more depends on the care of the Grapes 

 after they leave the packer's hands than on his mode of pack- 

 ing them. The best of packing cannot prevent injury arising 

 by rough handling of those not having a direct interest in the 

 packages in their charge. 



I have packed in boxG?, bafkets, and hampers with bran, 

 with paper thick and thin, with paper shavings, and with 

 nothing — I mean with nothicg, or next to nothing, in the way 

 of padding, and I have come to the conclusion that the simplest 

 mode is the best. I have found, too, that it is of importance 

 to send by the same train each day, placing the Grapes under 

 the same guard, giving him to understand that he is con- 

 sidered as spteiHlly tiustworthy, and it he has any pride in 

 the service in which he is engaged — as most men have from 

 guards to gardeners — he will be jealous of his reputation when 

 he feels that his tervices are appreciated. If there are any 

 men who ore particularly indebted to the care of others they 

 are the packers and consigners of fruit. 



Yet while the advisability of securing the co-operation of 

 others is urged, it i3 none the less strongly urged that such aid 

 should not be considered as indispensable, but that the packer 

 should feel himself independent of it by his skill and care in 

 packing his Grapes. A box on which is printed in large cha- 

 racters, " Grapes : this side up," is not always sufficient pro- 

 tection against the box being roughly handled in the hurry 

 and confusion of railway life and practice. Guards and porters 

 do not mean to do harm, but they cannot always prevent some 

 injury being done to goods so fragile and easily injured as 

 Grapes. The best plan, therefore, is first to secure the in- 

 terest of the man in charge of the package, and then as far as 

 possible to render oneself independent of that interest. If the 

 Grapes arrive in good order do not fail to let the man know 

 it, and if there should be a bunch unfit for table if it is given 

 to him as a reward it will be no fault of his if the next and 

 subsequent consignments do not arrive in the same good state 

 as did the first. Thus much on what may be termed the 

 diplomacy of the subject, and now to the work itself. 



I have, as I have said, tried various modes of packing, and 

 will now describe two of the best of them. In sending large 

 quantities of Grapes I have wrapped each bunch in very emooth 

 and very stout paper, like so many small sugar cones. Theae 

 I have placed dog's-tooth fashion, point to base, and resting 

 on paper shavings. After placing in the box a layer of Grapea 

 more shavings have been placed over them, and another floor 

 made resting on ledges on the sides of the box, and not on the 

 Grapes, and on this floor has been packed another layer of 

 bunches, finishing with more shavings and the Ud of the box. 

 Grapes thus packed have travelled well. The secret of success 

 lies in the paper being both stout and smooth. Stout paper 

 does not wrap so closely round the fruit as thin paper, and 

 smooth paper does not rub off the bloom nearly eo much aa 



