182 



JOURNAL OF HOETICULTURE AND COTTAGE GAEDENEB. 



[ August 26, 1875. 



andria Monogynia. — Flowers purple. " Thia is by far the 

 most showy in its flowers of all the Alliums. It is a native 

 of the limestone mountains of the south-east of France and 

 north-west of Italy, and belongs to the large group of species 

 in which the annual bulbs arise from a creeping perennial 

 rootstock, which is covered by a dense coat of matted fibres." 

 —{Ibid., t. C182.) 



CoLDMELLiA OBLONGA. Wat. or(J., ColumelliaceBe. Linn., 1)1- 

 andria Monogynia. — Flowers yellow. " There are but two species 

 known of the genus, and both are natives of the Andes, where, 

 however, they have no wide range, being apparently confined 

 to the Andes of Peru and Equador. C. oblonga inhabits an 

 elevation of 9000 to 13,000 feet, and is very common in the 

 heights above Quito. It was raised from seeds sent by Dr. 

 Jameson to J. Anderson-Henry, Esq., who forwarded a young 

 plant to Eew in 1870, which flowered in the Temperate House 

 for the first time in January of the present year." — [Ibid., 

 t. 6183.) 



Peach. — Dr. Hogg. — " It is a very handsome high-coloured 

 fruit, likely to take a high place on the exhibition table, as 

 well as in the garden and forcing house. The following is the 

 description of this variety in the new edition of Hogg's " Fruit 

 Manual : " — 



" ' Fruit large and round, with a very distinct suture, which 

 is deeply cleft at the apex. Skin thin but tough, lemon- 

 coloured, dotted with crimson on the shaded side, and with a 

 faint crimson cheek next the sun. Flesh yellowish-white, 

 somewhat firm, but melting, with a rich, full, and sugary 

 flavour, which adheres to the palate notwithstanding its fine 

 briskness ; it is very deeply stained with red at the stone, from 

 which it separates freely. Flowers large. Leaves with kidney- 

 shaped glands. 



" ' This ripens about the 10th of August, and is a very large 

 early Peach. As an exhibition variety it wiU be in high repute 

 on account of its size and remarkably full flavour; and for 

 market purposes its earliness, size, and the ease with which 

 it bears carriage, will render it one of the most valuable 

 Peaches in cultivation. The tree is a very strong grower, 

 remarkably vigorous and healthy, and it bears immensely. 



" ' It was raised by Mr. Kivers from a French Peach he 

 received from Brittany under the name of Pi;che Deniaux ; and 

 first fruited in 1865."— (FZor. and Pom., 8 s., viii., 185.) 



KOSE ELECTION, 1876. 



No. 1.— PERFUME. 



Name the Eoses which you consider most agreeably scented, 

 underline the twelve most esteemed, and limit the list to 

 twenty-five names. 



After thinking the matter over some time, this seems to me 

 the most feasible plan. I am quite prepared for startling 

 results, because perfume after all is like the preference for 

 " Apples " or " Onions." I at one time thought of limiting 

 the Teas. This to some might seem arbitrary. I therefore 

 adopt the plan above, and ask all readers of our Journal in- 

 terested in the matter to give me their lists as soon as possible. 



No. 2. 



Name the best twenty-five Eoses introduced since 1869, 

 the Marquise de Castellane's year, including that year, and 

 underline the best twelve of these. 



I shall be glad to have replies to these two queries as soon 

 as possible, though it is not my intention to close the poll 

 untU, perhaps, the middle of September, but of this due notice 

 will be given. — Joseph Hinton, Warminster. 



STRAWBEEBT CULTURE. 

 In answer to " C. P. P.," I beg to state that I find La 

 Grosse Suor6e a first rate Strawberry, fully a week earlier than 

 Keens' Seedling, good quality, ripens its fruit well, bears a 

 good crop, and continues in bearing a long time. I have about 

 a quarter of an acre in Strawberries, and I shall have this 

 year upwards of forty sorts growing, and my experience so far 

 for the best ten or twelve sorts would be as follows : — Early 

 Croj)— La Grosse Sucr6e, Keens' Seedling, and Princess Alice. 

 Main Crop — The Amateur, Sir Joseph Paxton, and Ne Plus 

 Ultra; and for Late Croj)— British Queen, Elton Pine, and 

 Victoria. President, of course, I find to be a splendid Straw- 

 berry for main crop, also Filbert Pine for late crop; but one 

 drawback is that they do not fruit well the first year. My 

 practice is to plant-out rnnncrs in June and July in a bed of 



well-prepared soil, at the distance of 1 foot apart, and trans- 

 plant into their fruiting quarters during August and Septem- 

 ber, minding to choose suitable planting weather. By this 

 means I always succeed in obtaining a large crop of splendid 

 fruit on first-year plants. This year I gathered from sixty 

 plants of Sir Joseph Paxton and Ne Plus Ultra 67 lbs. of 

 beautiful fruit, such as would have made Is. to Is. Gd. per lb. 

 in Covent Garden Maiket, and which I sold at 8d. to Is. per lb. 

 These were first-year plants, and planted last September. I 

 am busy now preparing the laud for planting, and my plants 

 in the nursery bed cover the land. I shall have great pleasure 

 in sending Mr. P. a few plants of La Grosse Sucree if he 

 wishes to give it a trial. A dozen nice plants can be sent by 

 post for id. postage. — Willum Lovel, Weaverthorpe, Yorks. 



GARDEN EXPENSES IN THE SIXTEENTH 

 CENTURY. 



How little many of us know respecting the horticulture of 

 former days ! I wish that some enterprising spirit among ua 

 would furnish us with copies of old Gerarde's " Herbal." Much 

 am I interested by details of the olden time ; and knowing 

 others who are so, I have thought that the following extracts 

 might be interesting to others of the readers of our Journal. 

 They are extracted from the Hampton Court books. 



" 1529. Swete williams were purchased at iiiid. the bushel. 

 Gillavers slipps, Gillavers mynts, and other sweete flowers, at 

 the same price. Croseais at iiiid. the c. Payd to JohnHutton 

 of London, gardener, for bourder of rosemary of iii. yeres olde 

 to sett about the mount in the kynges new garden, iis. vi<f. 

 Payments to women weeding in the kynges new garden, every 

 of them iid. the day. Similar price is paid for watteryng. 

 Paid to Alea Brewer and Margaret Rodgers for gethering of 

 34 buehells of strawbery roots, primrose, and violetts, at iiid. 

 the bushell, viiis. vid. Item, to Matthew Garrett of Kyngston 

 for settyng of the said rots and floures by the space of xx. days, 

 at iiirf. the day, vs. Appul trees and payr trees for the new 

 garden, at vid. the piece, vi. c. Cherry trees at vid. the c. ii. c. 

 Young trees of oke and elme, five score to every hundred, at 

 xiis. vi. the hundred, to set in the kynges great orcharde, xxvs. 

 Gatheryng of v. quartters of aoornes to sow in the parks at 

 Hampton Court, at iiiis. the quartter ; also of iii. quarters and 

 i. boshell of hawes, slowes, and acornes at lyke pryse. Empciou 

 of quycksetts for the tryangell at the mownte, 40 great setts 

 of you, genaper, and holly, at iid. the pece. Woodebyne and 

 thorne at yd. the c. Quyksett of white thorne to sett abowght 

 the new parke next unto Hampton Tonne, at iiis. iiiid. the 

 thowsand. Amongst miscellaneous items we find — A garden 

 spade for the French priest to occupy at the mount, and for 

 2 showlls as iron shod to fill the wheelbarrows in the masons 

 lodge, price the pece vid. — Tempos Fugit. 



GRAPE GROWING. 



Thkouhout life we have found that the gardeners who pro- 

 duce good desserts are, generally speaking, held in high esteem 

 by their employers, and have no difficulty in finding good 

 situations for young men trained under their care. Some 

 thirty-six years ago Mr. Davis of Oak Hill (a small place). 

 East Barnet, was a noted grower of fruit under glass and an 

 exhibitor. Some noblemen of England coveted and engaged 

 his men. Mr. Meredith of Liverpool came to the front and 

 won a great name as a Grape-grower for many years. Younger 

 men have appeared at some of our great horticultural fetes of 

 late with Grapes surpassing in weight and appearance all 

 former productions — in reality perfect marvels of culture. All 

 honour to these younger men for their great success and ex- 

 ample. For exhibitions both large bunches and berries of 

 Grapes are necessary. For private and family uses moderate- 

 sized bunches with large berries are perhaps the most desirable. 

 The largest berries, I might say the best Grapes, I ever saw 

 were Muscats grown on old Vines at West Ella, near Hull. 

 The bunches were not large — I guess about 2 lbs. each — but 

 more tempting and covetable fruit never fell under my eye. 



Vineries may be erected as spans, half-spans, or lean-to's ; 

 and in any and all of such houses good Grapes may be grown. 

 The construction of houses for this work is of less importance 

 than the formation and composition of their borders ; but on 

 the score of cheapness and convenience I prefer span-roofed 

 houses running north and south, so that their east sides have 

 1 the morning sun and the west the afternoon rays. 



