160 



JOURNAL OF HOBTiCULTUKE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



( February 19, 1874. 



Onions, -ffhich were once a source of anxiety to me as to 

 ordering the best, were only got over by my clever young 

 adTiser voting this and that indispensable, until we embraced 

 all in " large type," and now, like my old tutor, they have 

 gradually come down to two. With James's Keeping and 

 White Tripoli I never know what it is to be short of Onions 

 for above five minutes at a time. 



Just a word on Lettuce. Year by year odd sorts dropped 

 out of the order, and only two remain— viz., Hardy Green and 

 the old Black-seeded Bath Cos. Don't, young friends, cry 

 " ridiculous," because the last requires tying. It does, but then 

 there is no Lettuce like it for true, full flavour, solidity, and 

 crispness ; and if you have a Lettuce-connoisseur to supply, 

 you will find that nothing will satisfy so well as this old kind 

 if only put on the table in first-rate trim. It is not at aU un- 

 common, indeed it is frequent, for visitors at the table to 

 come into the garden the next morning, see the Lettuce grow- 

 ing that they found so good to eat, and take down its name. 

 No more need be said, except that whatever others are grown 

 this is the Lettuce to depend on for the main supply summer and 

 winter. If it ever fall to my lot to describe it in a catalogue 

 I shall say, " Still the hardiest and the best." 



Need I say anything on Beans ? Perhaps only to observe 

 that Carter's Champion is an improvement on the old Scarlet 

 Runner ; and as to dwarfs, Negro for strong land, and the old 

 Mohawk for light soils, may always be depended on to do theii- 

 duty well. Common Broad Beans hardly demand a word, but 

 in point of quality Beck's Dwarf Gem heads the Ust and should 

 never be omitted. As to the larger ones, the best or the worst 

 will neither make nor mar any man's reputation, and as there 

 is not much danger of a wrong choice I can, with a good con- 

 science, " leave them to chance." 



I pass on to Peas. Here anxiety and perplexity once cul- 

 minated. It is not so now. I have no misgivings as to what 

 to order to " follow one another," and have no lurking fear of 

 having to change " a word or two of a sort " with the heads of 

 the kitchen and parlour. Mind, I am not going to say a word 

 against the new varieties, as I know how good some of them 

 are, but I will say this fearlessly, that by growing too few or 

 too many sorts you spoO all. I have neither stolen nor begged 

 experience on the point, but bought it. Had I been content 

 to follow my safe old guide instead of putting my trust in the 

 young one, I should never have been driven to make explana- 

 tions and frame apologies in the all-important matter of Peas. 

 Once on a time, when I thought I knew most things — and the 

 few I had overlooked my precocious friend had duly appro- 

 priated — my seed order, of course, embraced about twenty 

 varieties. The " row of a sort to follow another " was to 

 gain its just triumph. Ancient prejudice was to be swept out 

 of the garden by modern practice. The past was to be lost in 

 the success of the present. The old system must die and the 

 new style reign supreme. How futile ! They were duly sown, I 

 the nicest possible calculations being made as to the time of 

 each coming in to " follow one another." But they did not I 

 keep correct time— and then, what ? Why, of course, we blamed ( 

 the seedsman for not sending them true to name. How often I 

 it is that ignorance begets injustice ! The sorts were good i 

 enough in themselves, but by having too many kinds and too 

 few of each, we spoiled all, and in this way we were often 

 driven to make-up a dish of two or more varieties. Young 

 men, that wo'n't do. Mix Laxton's Quality and Hundredfold, 

 for instance — two excellent Peas in themselves — but the mixing 

 spoils both; or two older ones. Champion of England and 

 Prizetaker, and then— be ashamed. If I were driven to put 

 a mixture like that on my employer's table now I should feel 

 as if I had committed a crime ; but I know better. I always 

 have an abundance of the best, and these are just my old 

 friend's number. Years have proved him right and my 

 youthful genius wrong again. And what are the three— the 

 chosen as the result of many years' actual practice ? First I 

 must say that my employers prefer to wait a week and dispense 

 with all the early rounds, and begin with Laxton's Alpha as 

 the first of the wrinkled Marrows. This, then, is my stand- 

 ard early, sown over and over again, followed by Champion of 

 England, ditto, ditto, ditto, as still the best for the general 

 crop ; and this again succeeded, in like maimer, by the fine well- 

 proved genuine late Pea, Ne Plus Ultra. With these three I 

 can do all that is recjuired. They give three certainties, each 

 indispensable- viz., certain as to quality, quantity, and time. 



I need not further enumerate. I have proved the soundness 

 of the advice of an old practical man, and can endorse it by a 

 no inconsiderable amount of experience as, if not absolutely 



the best, yet thoroughly reliable to meet everyday wants, and 

 as satisfying alike master and servant. Just as my seed-orders 

 have grown less in variety, just in the same proportion has 

 success become greater, until a complaint was never heard. 

 That is the great goal to aim at. Until it is reached gardening 

 is a hard and wearying race ; but when obtained, hard work 

 becomes easy and servitude pleasurable. I have pointed out 

 the rock on which I split and the way I righted. It is the one 

 and common track of danger — a fascinating track, on which 

 hundreds of young gardeners are allured. If they will read, 

 consider, and trust hard-bought experience they may save 

 themselves much trouble which undue enthusiasm may more 

 than possibly produce. If the young think the older brethren 

 of the craft require pushing on, certainly the old consider a 

 word of caution salutary in holding somewhat in check the 

 professional impetuosity of youthful friends, whom they desire 

 to see prosper and grow into better men than themselves. 



" But surely all this is very old-fashioned," some may say ; 

 " these old things must be out of date." No, they are not : 

 they are the very sheet-anchors of the vegetable garden, and 

 will serve it well in the future as they have done in the past. 

 But what about the new ones ? Buy them and try them. 

 They will give a vast amount of interest and pleasure. The 

 sldll, perseverance, and enterprise which produce them demand 

 acknowledgment. Of their comparative merits I cannot write 

 at present, feeling my letter already too long. — Old Feiesd. 



LONICEEA FRAGBANTISSIMA AND 

 L. STANDISHII. 



We have received from Mr. George Lee, of Clevedon, speci- 

 mens of Lonicera fragrantissima, with the following communi- 

 cation : — " I had it some years ago from Mr. Rivers, under the 

 name of Lonicera odoratissima. I had another some years 

 previous under the name of Lonicera fragrantissima, which I 

 have since had from Mr. Cranston, of Hereford, under the name 

 of L. Standishii. They are each hardy, as far as mature growth 

 goes, but the young growth of odoratissima is killed by the 

 frost. L. fragrantissima commences flowering in October, and 

 continues, except in very severe frost, till April. Odoratissima 

 does not begin till February or early in March as a rule ; but 

 the reason I have sent it is because I think it deserves to be 

 much better known as a wall plant, on account of its beautiful 

 evergreen foliage, as you will see from the two branches I have 

 sent, as well as on account of its delicious perfume. It wiU 

 grow as a shrub, but then it loses its leaves in winter if in ex- 

 posed situations, but against a wall it continues green. The 

 specimens sent are from a north wall." 



According to M. Carriere, in " Flore des Serres," L. fra- 

 grantissima and L. Standishii are distinct ; the former he 

 describes as spreading almost horizontally with a whitish 

 aspect, and never completely without leaves, the new ones 

 appearing at the same time as the flowers before the fall of the 

 old ones. L. Standishii, he says, is a close erect bush with 

 numerous short branches, and with a reddish-brown or russet 

 aspect. Its flowers are much more numerous, more con- 

 spicuous, slightly coloured, and at the time of their appearing 

 the plant is entirely without leaves. 



But M. Carritre says both bloom from January till March. 

 Both specimens sent us are clearly L. fragrantissima, and that 

 one must be a most desirable variety of this species, which, as 

 Mr. Lee says, begins to flower in October, and continues tiU 

 April. 



TSUGA TSUJA. 



A coKEESPONDENT, " CoNirER," inquiring for a description of 

 this Japanese Hemlock Spruce, justly complains of " its bar- 

 barous naming." He might also have complained of its 

 numerous renamings. Siebold, its discoverer, called it Pinus 

 Ai-aragi, and other botanists have written of it as Abies 

 Tsuja, Pinus Tsuga, and Tsuga Sieboldii. It is thus noticed 

 by Mr. Gordon : — " The Japanese names for this Fir are 

 Tsuga (Yew-leaved) and Araragi (Yew-hke). It is much used 

 for planting round their sacred temples on account of its 

 graceful appearance, and a variety of it, called Hime, or 

 Fime-Tsuga (dwarf Yew-leaved), is much cultivated in pots 

 by the Japanese in their town gardens, the plants never grow- 

 ing more than a yard high under such circumstances, and 

 with much smaller fohage. 



" It is said to be a large tree, attaining 100 feet in height, 

 at an elevation of 6,000 feet, on the sacred mountain Fusi- 



