506 



JOUENiL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



[ Peoember 9, 1875. 



sorts, bnt these are the ones which have sncceeded best. All 

 others we have tried do well np to the end of October ; bat the 

 bnds never open after that time, consequently they are worth- 

 leas for winter. 



With regard to the best means of preparing the plants to 

 flower now, were we to commence with a set of young plants 

 we should prefer autumn-struck cuttings, kept growing gently 

 during the winter in 3-inch pots, transferred in spring into 

 others not exceeding G inches in diameter, using a sandy loam 

 and potting very firmly. As soon as possible the plants 

 should be placed out of doors; and when under glass, so long 

 as they are kept moving, the hardier they are kept the better. 

 We had ours half-plunged in a south border this summer. 

 Beyond keeping supplied with water, the flower-trusses being 

 picked off, and any rank-growing shoots stopped, with a little 

 stimulant occasionally, nothing more is necessary. They 

 should be kept out as late as possible, so long as the flowers 

 are not destroyed by rain or frost ; the longer they can be kept 

 out the better. When they are staged in the conservatory the 

 one great point is to keep them free from the effects of damp. 

 We are quite as careful with them in this respect as we are 

 with late-keeping Grapes. If the weather is dull, cold, or 

 rainy a gentle heat should be kept up in the pipes or flue. 

 Just now we have a small fire burning constantly. So long as 

 other plants are not unduly excited it does such things as 

 Cyclamens and Chinese Primroses good, whilst a few Fuchsias 

 may be kept blooming well into winter. Indeed, when a supply 

 of flowers has to be kept continually in these structures it is 

 impossible to do so satisfactorily at this season without the 

 aid of artificial heat pretty constantly being called in. It does 

 not do to keep the plants too dry — they do not require so much 

 water in comparison as they do when growing — but when a 

 certain stage of dryness at root is passed and no water given 

 the plants suffer and the flowers wither. Summer-flowering 

 plants if well treated do quite well for winter flowering. Last 

 year we had them in flower in the conservatory up to the end 

 of August, when they were required there no longer, and had 

 the same plants full of bloom at the beginning of November. 

 Plants may be also transferred to mixed borders during the 

 summer, and lifted in autumn when there is a good set of 

 flower buds, potting into the smallest-sized pot possible. As 

 a rule, however, we like one-year-old plants in small pots. — 

 R. P. B. (in The Gardener). 



PEAB BESI VAET. 



I THINK it desirable to call especial attention to a Pear that 

 is a stranger to many fruit-growers, and also because some of 

 those who are acquainted with it have an erroneous impres- 

 sion that it will not ripen in this country. Ample proof of 

 how little it is known or valued is lying beside me as I write, 

 in the form of fifteen fruit catalogues received from as many 

 different nurserymen, and it is found in only two of them. 



A flourishing young tree of it, a pyramid on the Quince, 

 had some fine fruit this year which was gathered and stored 

 in the fruit room October 12th. Knowing that its fruit was 

 thought worthless, or at any rate only suitable for stewing, by 

 some of those who had given it a trial, I was induced to put 

 one or two upon a shelf near the office fire, and upon tasting 

 one on November 18th I found it to be perfectly delicious — • 

 sweet, juicy, and rich, with a slight yet most agreeable acidity, 

 somewhat resembling the Chaumontel, but decidedly superior 

 even to Jersey-grown fruit of that variety ; and I have no 

 hesitation in strongly recommending it as a dessert fruit of 

 the highest excellence. 



I need hardly add that as soon as I became aware of its 

 great value the whole of the fruit was taken into the same 

 genial temperature in which the first fruit was ripened, and 

 which is about equal to that of an ordinary dwelling-room. — 

 Edwabd Luckhubst. 



EOSE CLOTH OP GOLD. 



It may interest those of your readers who are Eose-growers 

 to know that there is a Cloth of Gold Rose at The Firs, Bud- 

 leigh Salterton, the seaside villa of Dr. Cromptou of Man- 

 chester, covering a south wall 65 feet in length and 12 feet 

 high. The girth of the wood where it is grafted is 7 inches. 

 Last spring more than four hundred flowers were counted on 

 it at one time. The ehoots run along a cob wall thatched so 

 as to prevent drip. The situation is sheltered, at the bottom 

 of a sloping garden. The soil is a black loam, the subsoil 



gravelly boulders. The plant has been manured with bullock's 

 blood. It was planted about twenty-seven years ago. — William 

 Paul, Paul's Nurseries, Waltham Cross. 



POTATOES AT THE BIRMINGHAM CATTLE 

 SHOW. 



Last year there were 153 dishes staged, and that was con- 

 sidered a very satisfactory show. This year there were 320 dishes, 

 which constituted a much more satisfactory show, for not only 

 is it numerically greater than previously, but the sorts exhibited 

 are better, and, as we shall show further on, they yield informa- 

 tion of greater value to planters. 



Class IG is a repetition with variations of a last year's prize. 

 Mr. George Wise, a member of the Council, who has always 

 shown a most lively interest in the welfare of the Society, and 

 in a variety of ways has done the utmost in bis power to 

 encourage a sensible cultivation of Potatoes, offered a silver cup 

 value j£5 5s. for twelve tubers of each of the following eight 

 varieties — viz., Ashleaf, Bresee's Peerless, Dalmahoy, Fluke, 

 Red Regent, Hundredfold Fluke, Paterson's Victoria, and Scotch 

 Blue. He stipulated that unless there were five competitors 

 the cup should not be awarded except on the special recommen- 

 dation of the Judges. There were only four entries, and one of 

 these was not staged, consequently only three competed. These 

 are all fairly good, and one— that of Messrs. G. & J. Perry, 

 Acton Pigott, Condover, Salop — was so good (with perhaps, the 

 exception of Scotch Blue, which the exhibitors call Lyall's 

 Scotch Blue — certainly not in any way resembling Scotch Blue 

 as shown by the donor of the prize or like any other specimen 

 of Scotch Blue in the Exhibition), that the Judges recommended 

 the cup should be awarded to those gentlemen. We have not 

 heard whether Mr. Wise has given his consent, and of course, 

 under the circumstances, it cannot be awarded without. 



In Class 17 a silver cup value £5 5s. was offered by Messrs. 

 Sutton & Sons, the Queen's seedsmen. Royal Berkshire Seed 

 Establishment, Reading, for the best six varieties, of which two 

 must be the New Hundredfold Fluke and the Red-skinned 

 Flourball — two excellent varieties introduced by that enter- 

 prising firm, and which from the prominence they justly take 

 in this show, if from no other reason, they may be justly proud, 

 for they are shown by many exhibitors not only in this class 

 but in others, and by nearly all satisfactorily. The Judges report 

 that the exhibits in this class were exceptionally good. There 

 were six exhibitors. The winner of the prize (a handsome cup) is 

 Mr. P. MoKinlay, Woodbine House, Beckingham, Kent, who, in 

 addition to the stipulated kinds, showed Early Dimmick, Non- 

 such, Snowflake, and Salmon Kidney— a very satisfactory and 

 weU-grown collection. In Cltss 18 Messrs. James Carter & Co., 

 the Queen's seedsmen, 237 & 238, High Holborn, London, offered 

 a silver cup value .i'5 5s. for the best collection of eight varieties, 

 four to be English and four American, one of the latter to be 

 the new American variety Breadfruit. The cup was awarded 

 to Mr. Peter McKinlay, who staged the following :— Yorkshire 

 Hero, Hundredfold Fluke, Main Crop, Excelsior Kidney (large, 

 flue, and handsome), Late Rose, Vermont Beauty, Snowflake, 

 and Carter's Breadfruit. In the same class Mr. James Betteridge 

 was so close to the winner of the cup that the Judges, having no 

 second prize to award, gave the unusual distinction of "very 

 highly commended." 



Class 19 commences the Society's prizes. It is for twelve 

 tubers of Ashleaf Kidneys, or any variety of that type of Potatoes. 

 To outsiders it may seem strange to so state a class, but those 

 who are familiar with Potato names know that there are majiy 

 so-called varieties known by all sorts of names which are nothing 

 but Ashleaf Kidneys. There were eight exhibitors in this class, 

 the following being the sorts exhibited :— Lee's Hammersmith 

 Kidney, Myatt's Prolific (two dishes), Harry (early), Ashleaf, 

 Gloucestershire Kidney, Captain White's Early, and Rivers' 

 Royal Ashleaf. His Grace the Duke of Portland, Clipstone 

 Park, Mansfield, Notts, wins the first prize; Mr. Thomas P. 

 Taylor, Lymm, Warrington, the second ; and Mr. James Bet- 

 teridge the third. 



Class 20 includes all Potatoes of the Lapstone Kidney type. 

 Here again the named sorts are many, but all resolvable to the 

 recognised type. Sir F. Smythe, Bart., Acton Burnell, near 

 Shrewsbury, was first with a fine sample of Lapstone pure and 

 simple ; Mr. William Finlay, The Gardens, Wroxton Abbey, 

 Banbury, second with a duplicate exhibit ; and Mr. James Bet- 

 teridge third. The other varieties exhibited in this class were 

 Flukes and King of Flukes. 



In the next class. No. 21, Rector of Woodstock, a new variety 

 of great excellence but of recent introduction, only one exhibit 

 was staged by Mr. Peter McKinlay, to whom the first prize was 

 awarded. 



Class 22, for Regents or Dalmahoys. Here the prizemen were 

 T. L. M. Cartwright, Esq., Melville House, Lady Bank, Fife, 

 first for White Regents ; and the Duke of Portland second for 

 Dunbar Regents, and third for Red Regents. 



