Jannaiy 8, 1874. ] 



JOURNAL OF HOKTIODLTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



■worthy Editors aotiially asked last summer if I had been 

 troubloil with mildew, the pollen that had fallen on some 

 leaves of Lady Uowne's loolcing in the distance exactly lilve 

 sulphur. 



Although I recommend the same temperature for Muscats 

 as for Hamburghs, I do not advise them to be grown in the 

 same house when it can be avoided, because they flower and 

 ripen at a later season.— W. Tatloe. 



JUDGING ROSES. 



In answer to the appeal made in the Journal on the question 

 of the presence of Tea Roses in a stand, will you permit me as 

 one who has now for a great many years had the privilege of 

 acting as a judge of Roses to give my view of the question ? 

 I have never considered the presence of Tea Roses in a stand 

 added anything to its value, aud for these reasons — 



1. I am set to judge the twenty-four (let us say) best Roses, 

 and my object is to ascertain which are the best Roses of the 

 kind exhibited ; whether, taking two stands, there are more 

 really good Roses in the one than in the other. I do not think 

 that I am called upon to consider whether I like a pink Rose 

 better than a crimson, or a yellow than a rose colour, or a Tea 

 than a Hybrid Perpetual, but whether, knowing the sorts, 

 those exhibited in one stand are finer, fresher, and more perfect 

 than in the other. I have frequently seen one stand where 

 great faults were committed in matters of taste — putting too 

 many of one colour near to one another, or placing a small 

 flower where a large one ought to be. But I have ever held 

 that even taste in putting-up is subordinate to quality of bloom. 

 lu the same way I have seen a box where the moss was per- 

 fection aud the blooms at first sight caught one's attention, 

 and another where it was indifferent ; but again, to the perhaps 

 intense disgust of the owner of the first box, I have stuck to 

 my rule — quality of flower, and not the accessories. 



2. The alleged difficulty of getting good Tea Roses is one 

 more dependant on climate aud situation than on anything 

 else. Our friends in South Devon would not have the same 

 difficulty of growing them as those in the midland and northern 

 counties. An amateur who has a walled garden can grow them 

 better than one whose garden is open ; and therefore I do not 

 think a man who is thus favoured has to get an extra mark 

 because he has a favourable locality in which to grow his Teas. 

 And were we to enter into such questions we should want to 

 know who had a good Rose soil or who had not ; whether an 

 amateur lived on the top of a breezy hill or in a sheltered 

 nook ; and therefore I think the best and safest rule is to take 

 the Roses as they are, aud let the finest aud best win. 



The difficulty which some of your correspondents have felt 

 about their breakfast on the morning of the Rose Show at the 

 Crystal Palace is one which can easily be met. If they will 

 go out of the main entrance and cross over to the high-level 

 station of the London, Chatham, and Dover Railway they can 

 get anything they like. As to Kensington, that inhos2}ita terra, 

 the nearest port of refuge is the Museum. The only drawback 

 there is, that as the shows are always held on Wednesdays, it 

 is one of the days on which you cannot get iu without paying. 

 — D., Deal. 



TO YOUNG GARDENEBS ON RENOVATING OLD 

 FRUIT TREES AND OTHER SUBJECTS. 

 I THINK there can be nothing of greater importance to a 

 gardener at any time, but especially when taking to a garden 

 which has been neglected, than having a well-grounded know- 

 ledge of what is required and what can be done with old and 

 somewhat exhausted fruit trees. Many a young gardener has 

 regretted the folly of making a hasty condemnation and clean 

 sweep of all trees of any considerable size existing in his newly 

 acquired situation. What is the result ? The supply for some 

 years cannot meet the demand. Should the employer be a con- 

 senting party to the wholesale destruction — in some instances 

 he is really the instigator — yet in a little while when there is 

 no fruit, or but little, he forgets about that, and the gardener 

 alone is held accountable. The stream of discontent once set 

 running, it is sure to swell with other grievances whether real 

 or imaginary. It is best at all times to avoid this if possible. 

 It is apt to be said, " We used to have such and such fruit." 

 (N.B., Cooks can do this nicely — quahty is nothing to them if 

 the quantity is little). It is enough for a young gardener to 

 feel disgusted at the malformed trees and the cracked disfigured 

 little fruit, after being accustomed to fruit of large size and 



perfect shape, not to speak of well-trained trees. I can quite 

 understand the ambitious feelings that will at once spring up 

 under such cucumstances in a young gardener who wishes to 

 excel ; but it is best to be on the safe side, and rather than 

 make a sweeping clearance I would strongly advise the 

 adoption of a more gradual course — to feel, as it were, the way. 

 To make a grand sweep of good, bad, aud indiflereut before 

 consulting the requirements of the house, or knowing whether 

 it is possible to replace the trees with better varieties suitable 

 to the locality, is a matter of the greatest importance. To 

 replace an indifferent fruit tree with a really bad one, or worse, 

 to have no fruit whatever, will bring down from all quarters 

 the most disagreeable consequences. Can there be a greater 

 pleasure or a more noble and interesting pursuit, to say nothing 

 of its practical bearing, than to bring back a deformed and 

 somewhat exhausted tree to youthful vigour and fertility ? I 

 maintain that this in all respects is more creditable and of 

 greater utility than replanting, where there are trees of a proved 

 variety which is known to suit the situation. 



On producing a crop, should the sample of fruit be indifferent 

 as to size and appearance, and the trees vigorous and healthy, 

 in displacing them for fruit of a nobler character, I repeat we 

 may replace proved sorts unknowingly with worse. To grub-up 

 a tree and plant a nursery tree instead, as is too often done 

 now-a-days, is a mistake. I have often seen grand trees wan- 

 tonly cast away in order to make room for a young tree that 

 must take years before it produces the crop which the old ono 

 would do with a little judicious treatment. We are apt to 

 look at a tree which has got to the top of the wall, for instance, 

 unless it is a model of training, with an eye of contempt — as 

 an eyesore which must be destroyed at any cost. We ignore 

 the fact, that when iu a bearing condition there will be as 

 many basketfuls on it as there will be single fruit on the young 

 tree in the same period. When we have a large tree with a 

 good constitution we can at once place half a dozen young trees 

 on its head, and iu the second or third year have the whole 

 well furnished with fruit. I do not think I am without the 

 bounds of truth when I state that iu many instances there is a 

 long and vexatious scarcity of fruit, owing to the erroneous idea 

 that it can only be obtained by replacing the old trees with 

 others subjected to more modern treatment. It is undoubtedly 

 in many instances a greftt mistake not to attempt renovating 

 neglected trees, in others they must undoubtedly make room 

 for young subjects ; but which course should be adopted in 

 each particular case must be a matter of judgment, which can 

 only be decided upon by one on the spot. 



I will now rather deal with the best means of treating 

 a tree that it is deemed necessary to renovate ; and in laving 

 my ideas before your young readers I can assure them that 

 what I shall state is the result of long study and close 

 observation, by oue whose natural taste is for gardcuing, 

 and whose experiences commenced with infancy, under an 

 enthusiastic fruit-growing parent. "Ah!" some will say, 

 " he is evidently one of the old school." Not esa_etly, 

 nor of the new, but I have great faith in the natural. 1 am 

 not an admirer of the careless grow-as-they-like system. 

 Nothing seems more out of place in a gentleman's garden. 

 Lately I visited two large establishments in which all fruit 

 trees, except those on the walls, were left to grow at will, and 

 certainly they produced immense crops. Iu an outside spot, 

 as an orchard, no one would complain of them, but whore 

 everything is kept with mathematical exactness we look also 

 for the gardener's skill being brought to bear on the trees. 

 I happened to call again at one of these gardens, and a young 

 man had taken charge. These trees were all cast away, and 

 young ones took their place, but the sequel was he had to go 

 himself. Apples could be carted away like Swedes from the 

 field — and then to have none ! It was out of the question. 

 No one can deny that it is a great advantage to have these big 

 trees, either in a quarter of the garden, or, better, in an orchard. 

 AVithout them the basketful after basketful of fruit needed in 

 many establishments would seldom be forthcoming ; but if 

 planted indiscriminately they are out of place in a well-kept 

 garden. The tendency of to-day is towards the opposite ex- 

 treme. A deformed pigmy fruit tree, of a foot or two high, 

 loaded with eight or ten fruit, is pretty enough in its way, 

 but how many such will it take to supply the house a week ? 

 There is in their case no pick-and-oome-agaiu. I he legions 

 of whimsical geometrical-trained fruit trees is only equalled 

 by that of the numberless patent forms of miniature glass 

 buildings. They are well enough after there is sufficient of 

 the more substantial necessaries. Their place is simply to 



