574 



JOURNAL OF HOETICULTURE AND COTTAGE GABDEHER. 



t December 80, 1876. 



hero of Roman history, hut come back safe again from his 

 perilous enterprise. 



In that part of the Journal in which I am most interested 

 I think we can fairly say that although time has made changes, 

 and that one after another of those who ministertd to our 

 gratification and profit have passed away, yet their places 

 have been filled by no mean successors. We have missed for 

 years the admirable papers of Donald Beaton, E. Fish, W. 

 Keane, and others, but we have still amongst us those to 

 whote contributions we turn with interest, knowing that we 

 shall find sound practical teaching, and neither the fanciful 

 notions of theorists nor the windy pretensions of would-be philo- 

 sophers. Let not those who pursue one hobby grumble if the 

 paper is not full for them week by week ; such persons seem 

 to me for all the world like those passengers in a railway train, 

 who are always growling because it stops at so many small 

 stations, forgetting that the inhabitants of those places have 

 as much interest in the train stopping there as they have in 

 its stopping at the larger towns to which they belong. So let 

 not the Orchid- grower grumble because so much is taken up 

 by Roses, or the Rose-lover growl if other flowers beside the 

 queen come in for their share. No ; " share and share alike " 

 must be our motto. Nor is it without its use that the con- 

 tribntors record their failures as well as their successes. The 

 past year has not been an "annus mirabilis" with horticul- 

 turists. A more unpropitious one they have rarely had to 

 combat with, although it has been a fighting with the elements. 

 Many of our first-rate growers have recorded in our pages the 

 shifts to which they have been put and the difficulties they 

 have had to surmount ; and many an owner of a small garden 

 has been considerably cheered by finding, not that he had com- 

 panions in misfortune, but that which he had to contend with 

 had been experienced by those who had ample means at their 

 command, while their mode of overcoming difficulties sug- 

 gested to their humbler imitators how they might do the same. 

 And as it has been to the horticulturist so has the last year 

 been to the apiarian and poultry fancier ; the former has had 

 to mourn over the worst year he has, perhaps, ever known, 

 while the complaints as to losses in the poultry-yards have 

 neither been few nor faint. 



And now a word or two as to the future. There is no fear 

 of the interest in horticultural pursuits flagging. The circle 

 of its devotees seems ever widening, and the efforts of those 

 who introduce novelties from distant lands or produce them 

 in our own do not relax ; and if this be so we may rest assured 

 that the interest in our .Journal will not relax either. Week 

 after week thousands will eagerly welcome its arrival as a 

 messenger of good will. It will come fraught with no sensa- 

 tional tales, no deeds of horror and c-hame ; but full of wise 

 and careful instructions, of wisdom gleaned in the past and 

 encouragement for the future ; and while those who have 

 already so much contributed to onr enjoyment and its success 

 will still employ their pens on its behalf, I would that many 

 whom I could name, who are quite as capable, would give us 

 the results of their experience and tell us of their triumphs, 

 losses, and failures, for in horticulture, as in many things, " in 

 the multitude of counsellors is wisdom." Their contributions 

 wonld be readily welcomed by those who rule our destinies, 

 and we should all benefit by them. 



Such are a few of the things which have come to my mind 

 as I have thought over my reply to the question put to me 

 from Fleet Street. And now as a last word may I, as one of 

 the oldest contributors to the horticultural side of our .Journal, 

 wish to all cur friends a happy new year in the enjoyment of 

 their favourites ? and as I fhould never forget that I am some- 

 thing other and better than a writer on horticulture, may I 

 express a hope that they will not forget that everything here, 

 like the flowers they cherish, is but transitory, and that it 

 behoves us all to lock forward to the time when we shall have 

 to join those who have " gone before ?" And then may it be 

 ours thus to realise in that Paradise of God, of which Eden 

 with its flowers and fruits was but a faint type, that state of 

 blessed rest when we shall no longer sigh over the memories 

 of the post, or look forward with trembling to the unveiling of 

 the future. And so, my gentle readers all, may you enjoy in 

 its highest, noblest, truest sense, 



A Happy New Year. 

 — D., Deal. 



Fkciting of Double Peaches. — Mr. Meehan exhibited some 

 branches of Peach in which the young fruit were twos and 



threes from one flower. They were from the Chinese double- 

 flowering kind. He remarked that, as is well known, plants 

 with double flowers were rarely fertile. Either the stamens 

 were wholly changed to petals, or the less vital conditions 

 which always accompanied this floral state were unequal to 

 the task of producing perfect pistils. Vitality, however, was 

 more or less affected by external conditions independently of 

 the mere structure of organs, and this was well illustrated by 

 the remarkable fertility of the Peach this season. Usually 

 large numbers of fruit fell without " setting," as it is techni- 

 cally called by orchardists, not because there was any defect 

 in the organs of reproduction, but from lack of vital force to 

 accomplish so much. This season many more had continued 

 than had been known for many years, and the prospect was 

 for an immense crop of fruit. This abounding vitality had 

 evidently extended to the double Peaches, and had influenced 

 the development of the female organs to an unusual extent. — 

 (Proceedings of the Philadelphia Academy.) 



KEPOTTING AURICULAS. 



A coERESPONDENT (" Alfeed ") wishes to know what shall 

 be done in February with Auriculas that are now rooted up to 

 the top of the soil and through the bottom of the pots. Shall 

 they have a shift ? and if not, how shall top-dressing be managed 

 without disturbance of the fibres, and shall offsets be then 

 removed or left on till the May potting ? 



I remark that it is not stated in what sized pots the plants 

 already are. If they have thus filled 4J-inch or 5-inch pots 

 they are in fine order underground, and presumably above 

 also, and I should not meddle with them. A full-sized florist 

 Auricula has room enough in a 5-inch pot to bloom in per- 

 fection, and cannot bo too well established in that size. It is 

 worse to over-pot than under-pot these plants. What wonld 

 be the ruin of a Balsam is the delight of an Auricula. 



As the collection in question was repotted in May, with 

 compost probably containing ingredients such as old manure 

 and leaf mould that by this time are compressible into a some- 

 what less compass, it will be found that a firm and broad, but 

 it must not be a sudden pressure, upon the surface soil will 

 make room for the half-inch or so of top-dressing. The soil 

 must not be thus pressed down if wet or newly watered, and 

 care must be taken to see that the drainage is iu good working 

 order. 



If the plants are large and in pots manifestly small — say 

 about 3 inches — then those that are so rooted as described may 

 have a shift into 1 or 4J-inoh pots, and in that case the room 

 for top-dressing can easily be allowed for. 



As to removal of offsets, by all means let those be taken off 

 in February, whether rooted or not, that have any neck of 

 their own. Take them off when growth sets in, and disturb 

 the old plant as little as may be. Many rooted offsets can be 

 drawn out by a patient and judicious handling soon learnt, 

 and will soon re-establish themselves although one of their 

 fibres is sacrificed in preference to breaking the ball of earth 

 to find the end of it. 



The removal of offsets early in spring is advisable, not merely 

 because they are otherwise apt to draw upon the resources of 

 the old plant, but also because they may be overlaid and drawn 

 by the overlapping parental foliage, and in an insufficiency of 

 light and air become infested with green fly. — F. D. Hoeneb, 

 Kirkby Maheard, Ripon. 



COVERING VINE BOEDEES. 



I Aji not sorry that Mr. Eobson has again opened the 

 question of covering or not covering Vine borders. I think 

 gardeners will never be tired of reading and writing about 

 growing (and I ought to say keeping) Grapes. As Mr. Robson 

 observes, we want experience of failure as well as success; we 

 want practice more than theory. 



My opinion, which is gathered from experience, is to cover 

 the borders early and late. As to the material employed, it 

 ought to be something that will entirely keep off the rain. For 

 several years I covered with leaves from a foot to 18 inches 

 deep, and then thatched with straw as well and as carefully as 

 I would a corn stack ; but when I uncovered them I found the 

 borders very wet, particularly near the front, for owing to 

 the little incline of the thatch a large portion of the rain 

 went through the leaves. 



I found in January the temperature of the border at 1 foot 

 deep was only 0^ warmer than the open ground ; I also found 



