6C8 



THE GARDENERS' CHRONICLE. 



[Oct. 5, 



next point is the mode of dressing pursued in the au- 

 tumn of the second year. 



I hold it of much more importance to feed the Aspara- 

 eus at the extremities of the roots in the alleys, than 

 over the crown ; good cultivators of it in brick-pits, do 

 not allow the allevs, after forcing, to remain empty all 

 the summer-, they* are filled with good rotten manures, 

 and *nv one who has witnessed the emptying of these 

 allevs in autumn, preparatory to forcing, must nave 

 been struck with the abundance of strong wtnte roots, 

 of which such alleys are full, and which are annually 

 fit may be) cut off. Such roots can scarcely be pro- 

 ducedVrom the crown ; and it occurred to me some years 

 ago, that the alley, above all, should be well attended 

 to with manure. 5 therefore in November of each year 

 as soon as the ground Ki cleared of dead stalks and 

 weed., cause all "the loosest of the soil to be drawn off 

 the beds with a rake ; the bed is then well dressed with 

 very rotten manure, and left for the winter. In Fe- 

 bruary the alleys are dressed about from six to nine inches 

 thick, with half-rotten manure and leaves, from partially 

 decayed linings, which is trenched down very deep, 

 and the bed is then soiled, over the manure, to the 

 depth of four inches, with fresh soil from the a leys. 

 This completes the whole course of my mode of culture. 

 Finding the plants much injured by winds, in the grow- 

 ing season, I have deemed it necessary to run lines of 

 pitchcord up my principal rows, to support the stems, 

 and this I find a great assistance. 



My mode of cutting is similar to the market gar- 

 deners', excepting that after cutting about twice in the 

 spring, I leave one stout shoot to each stool, with the 

 intention of promoting the fibrous action of the root. 

 As for the rest, I cut all that are of any size until about 

 the end of May, when I cease cutting a bed or beds of 

 my prime, which I now suffer to grow for the earliest 

 cut in the following spring, continuing to cut from the 

 rest until about the end of June. 



I have only used salt for one season to any extent. I 

 have much the same opinion of the mode of applying it 

 that I have of liquid manure— little and often is my 

 maxim. I quite agree with Mr. Bree, in a late Number 

 of the Chronicle, that it would be very injudicious to 

 apply it when the tender bud is arising. My plan has 

 been to apply it at intervals, when the shoots are a yard 

 high, giving a slight sprinkling in showery weather, three 



or four times in July and August. 



I would particularly direct attention to the alley dress- 

 ings of rather raw materials ; and, whatever may be the 

 merits of salt, of which I have a high opinion, Asparagus 

 will always require undance of manure in order to grow 

 it fine. Salt and other inorganic matters can do little 

 for the mechanical texture of the soil, which is a most 

 essential thing in the cultivation of all plants.— Robert 

 Erringlon. 



u yi ne g The true Raisin of the Sun bears a great long 



red Grape. The Rhenish Vine bears a white longish 

 Grape, very good, but must have a very warm wall." 



Home Correspondence. 



THE ANTIQUITIES OF GARDENING. 



No. IF.— Extracts from SirThomas Hanmer's Manuscript on 

 Gardening— 1660, 16*70. {Continued.) 

 M Prices of July Flower* received from George Ricketts, 



of Hogsden, London, 1667 s Crown of Bohemia, Bride of 



Holland, Duchess of York, King of Assyria, Virgin of 



Middlesex, House of Commons, Belle Infanta, Tamer- 



laine. Sec ; all these are at 13d. the root, one with another.*' 



M Fruite- trees had from Captaine Leonard Gurle, his 

 nurserv neere White Chappell Church. London, 1667. 

 Two Wynter Bon Chrestiens, 3s. ; two Wynter Bergamots, 

 whereof one was Bergamot de Burgi, Zs. Orleans, 

 Matchless, Damascus, and Prunello Plums, Is. apiece. 

 One White Nutmeg Peach, Ad. One Syon Peach, 5s. One 

 "Violet Muske Peach, 5s. Three other Peaches, 5s. each. 

 One Elrug or Gurle's Nectoran. 10s." 



u Vines : — DWrboys, Red Frontiniac, White ditto, 

 Orleans, '2s. to 2s. 6./. the plant. A mat to lap them up 

 in, l.v. 01. ; total, 3/. 6s. 6a. Many of these were much 

 galled in the carriage down ; but hee promised to abate 

 what I thought good, and to make good what died the 



first year." 



'* Gurle, — I sent up from Bettisfeild to Gurle, by Smyth 

 the carrier, or Johnson, 3/. to pay Gurle all due for the 

 trees I had from him in wynter, 1667, which was paid 

 him and I have his receipt. Hee was to send me this next 

 wynter 1GC9, one tree of Gurle's Nectoran, and one lusty 

 tree of Lord Mordant's Peach instead of these that^died, 



and nothing more." 



** Amowj the V'xnm received from John Rose, the 



King's gardener at St. James's Park, were the Lombardy, 



and another called the right Rhenish Grape by the King, 



and these two were much commended by him." 1G others 



plants of Vines are enumerated. " These IS rooted Vines 



are to cost \2d. the root one with the other. I paid after 



for them. The Lombardy Vine, as Rose the King's 



gardener calls it, bears a fair red Grape, which the King 



loves. The Rhenish Vine bears a white longish Grape, 



very good, but must have a warm wal'." 



Mention is made of a Morillion Cherry ; this was most 

 probably a Morello ; for the name occurs in the lists of 

 trees planted against walls, together with a distinguishing 

 property of the Morello. •• Against the east aspect wall 

 in the Great Garden is planted one Orleans Plum from 

 Sir Chas. Wolsley, then one Morilfton preserving Cherry ." 



" Plums. — Monsieur is the same as that called in Eng- 

 land the Orleans Plum, a fairs, red, round Plum, comes 

 clean from the stone, ripe betimes in August, a hardy 

 tree and a good bearer." [Monsieur is syn. to the 

 Orleans according to the Horticultural Society's list 



of fruits.] 



" Coeur de Pigeon, a small reddish round Plum, very 



like to the Queen Mother Plum, if not the same.'' [They 



were proved to be the same after the lapse of 160 years, 



in the garden of the Horticultural Society.] 



The Horticultural Society.— I am surprised to see 

 that some people are complaining about the value of the 

 prizes given by the Horticultural Society to fruit-growers. 

 I have looked at the schedule lately advertised, and I 

 must say a more unreasonable complaint could not be 

 made. It is quite true that the large gold medal is not 

 fered for fruit, although it is for flowers ; nor ought it 

 to be. To say nothing of the difference in the cost of 

 conveyance, which you have yourself alluded to, and 

 which I understand "is entirely defrayed for the fruit- 

 growers by the Society, (that is very true, Ed.) does 

 any gardener pretend to say that as much skill is required 

 to produce five kiuds of fruit, as forty kinds of stove and 

 greenhouse plants ? Why, if each sort of fruit requires 

 a separate amount of knowledge of gardening, in order 

 to be successful with it, so does each sort of flower ; and 

 therefore a collection of stove and greenhouse plants, 

 containing forty distinct plants, will require eight times 

 as much skill as five sorts of fruit. In this point of view 

 the medal for the latter should be only 21. 10s., when 

 that for forty plants is 20/. ; and yet the Society gives 

 10/., and is abused for it. It is very well for Mr. 

 Henderson to think that nothing is like leather, but the 

 public will not agree with him. In my opinion the 

 fruit-growers showed their good sense in not putting in 

 claims for higher rewards, as we learn from you was the 

 case ; the Society is as liberal in medals as it is proper 

 to be, and it is very ungracious in those who profit by 

 it to grumble, because it is not prodigal. Is there no 

 such thing as honour to be gained by successful exhibi- 

 tion? and does Mr. Henderson think it is the cash, and 

 the cash alone, that is worth striving for? I hope he 

 has higher and less sordid motives. — A-Looker-on. 

 [There seems no object in continuing this discussion ; 

 and therefore we here close it. The Society has made 

 its decision for next season; and if the fruit-growers 

 think they have anything to complain of, they should 

 address themselves" to the Vice-Secretary immediately 

 after the Exhibition of next year. They may be quite 

 certain that their suggestions will have full con- 

 sideration.]— An Exhibitor adds," In answer to Mr. Hen- 

 derson's letter in the last Chronicle, you speak of half-a 

 dozen van-loads of plants being brought to the Society's 

 Exhibition, but you do not inform us that the person 

 who sends them does not live two miles from the gar- 

 dens, and that they gain as many medals as will bring 

 I the value of them at one Exhibition to 40/., which an ex- 

 hibitor of fruit cannot gain at the three, if he was to win 

 the three first Prizes. Now, with regard to the fruit- 

 growers, many who exhibit have 100 miles to bring their 

 productions, and which they do at their own expense, 

 and which expense often amounts to more than the value 

 of their medals, if they are awarded any. I must beg to 

 inform you that if you do not place the fruit-growers 

 upon an equality with the plant-growers, you will soon 

 lose their support. — [We print this leter verbatim, as 

 a sample of the accuracy of persons like "An Ex- 

 hibitor." It is notorious that the Horticultural So- 

 ciety pays the carriage of all fruit sent for exhibition, 

 and returns it carriage-paid,] 



Mode of taking Hives. — The discussion in which se- 

 veral of your correspondents have lately engaged con- 

 cerning the best mode of destroying wasps' nests has led 

 to a geotleman making inquiry of me, whether spirits of 

 turpentine might not be used with effect in destroying 

 bees when hives are taken. He states his reason for 

 asking the question to have arisen from having re- 

 marked in several meetings of late for the encouragement 

 of labourers, that the hives of honey exhibited by them 

 had been much discoloured by their burning the bees. 

 I can have no doubt that spirits of turpentine will kill 

 bees as readily as waspi. If the hive were placed over- 

 night above a small quantity of the spirit, I presume all 

 the bees would be found dead or torpid before morning. 

 The objection which occurs to me is the possibility ol 

 the odour of the turpentine flavouring the honey, though 

 I think the effect would speedily disappear, and perhaps 

 not be disagreeable. Entomologists are well aware that 

 a bruised or chopped-up Laurel-leaf, when placed under 

 a wine-glass, emits a sufficient quantity of prussic acid 

 to destroy a wasp or liy in about two minutes. I re- 

 member the knowledge of this fact having been once ap-. 

 plied to the taking of a hive. A quantity of Laurel-leaves 

 were chopped up and placed in a washing-basin ; the 

 hive was then placed upon the basin over-night, and in 

 the morning all the bees were found to have dropped into 

 it, and were dead or stupified. A small quantity of 

 prussic acid would probably be quite as effectual as the 

 turpentine, and would produce no bad flavour. I have 

 no experience as a bee-fancier, but I believe the whole- 

 sale slaughtering of this valuable and interesting insect 

 has been shown to be unnecessary by the " Conservative 

 Bee-keeper," and other writers on the subject. I have 

 myself no fancies about not destroying bees for their 

 honey on the score of cruelty. I cannot see how this act 

 is more cruel than killing sheep for their mutton, or 

 crabs for their claws. It is still the appointment of the 

 present order of creation, M that the fear of us and the 

 dread of us shall be upon all that moveth upon the earth, 

 and into our hands they are delivered for meat unto us. 

 If, indeed, it can be shown that bees may be quite as eco- 

 nomically deprived of their sweets by not destroying 

 them, as they are by the more usual method, then I had 

 much rather "fee their lives spared. But if the conser- 

 vative system be not a strictly economical one to the 



thrifty cottager, its adoption had much better be rt 

 stricted to the more acute sensibilities of the bee-fancier 

 — J. S. Hen slow, II itch am. 



Potatoes. — The observations on the Potato, signed 

 " R." in last week's Paper, are excellent ; and 'it is to 

 be hoped that some of the many Potato-growers wr 



Ctr. 





read the Chronicle will recollect them in their practi 

 In securing heaps of Potatoes for winter and sprint me 

 in the field or garden, the custom of putting straw next 

 them is almost universal ; but it is not the less wrong oa 

 that account. I know by experience of some years how 

 much sweeter the tubers are when only coming in con- 

 tact with the earth. The straw is wasted, and the Pota- 

 toes are injured, yet the practice will continue fron 

 unthinking habit, as we see daily and hourly in many 

 other things. " R." says nothing on the greening of 

 seed Potatoes. The drying of those that are watery or 

 unripe, recommended in the latter part of M R.V paper, 

 will be new to most readers, but is well worth trying. 

 In the British islands we have so many varieties and 

 subdivisions of soil and climate, that all general rules 

 have to be modified in practice. Thus the conflict- 

 ing theories of Potato-growers might well puzzle the 

 writer in the Dublin Farmers Gazette, quoted at 

 p. 6G2 of the Chronicle for this year. The facts stated 

 seem to oppose each other ; but Nature is always con- 

 sistent — only man knows her means imperfectly, and must 

 always be a learner. At a meeting of farmers in Scot- 

 land, they gave clearly the results of their varied expe- 

 rience, and one fact all the speakers seemed to agree in, 

 which was, that seed Potatoes left in the earth where they 

 grew, always produced a healthy crop. Several corres- 

 pondents confirm this ; and on mentioning it to an indus- 

 trious neighbour of mine, he said that his father j rac- 

 tised the same plan forty years ago, with uniform success. 

 The Potatoes were always fresh and well tasted, and as 

 seed they never failed; here we come to the simplest of 

 all possible plans, for a very little extra earth will secure 

 them from any English frost. Any one may see how 

 certainly, after the most careful digging, many Potatoes 

 show themselves in vigorous growth in the following 

 summer. Regarding this important vegetable much is 

 yet to be known, and much to be done. The immense 

 crops considered possible by that great man, T. A. 

 Knight, have not yet been realised, but there is no reason 

 why they should not. One step towards this is the 

 raising new varieties from seed. The very small pro- 

 duce of most early kinds surely need not be always so. 

 Such difficulties have been overcome in gardening and 

 farming, that this may be overcome also ; and premiums 

 ought to be offered by Horticultural Societies for new 

 and valuable seedlings. Seeing some new kinds adver- 

 tised by xMr. M. Smith, at p. 521, I procured a supply 

 of the two last-mentioned sorts, which are. without ex 

 ception, the finest early Potatoes I ever *"*-*"* the 

 Lusor adds,-In the Leading Article of 1*« *" k £ * e 

 following observation :-» It has, however ^J»«* 

 that although Potatoes were taken up. and »«^^ 

 stored in the earth in moderate quantities ™ ih *\Z "• 

 so wet as to be dripping through the baskets yet the 

 Potatoes presented as dry an appearance *™"™£$ 

 in spring as others that were stored in a u ry cond itiou^ 

 This may have been the case, it the quantity ^ was v«r 

 small : but I would caution any Potato-grower iro 



Ting a large, or even a »^M-ffl^ 

 state. It is true that some of th^wh ^ one ^ ^ 

 Her sorts, may occasionally be stored in . 

 impunity ; but let no one atten »pt a trial Ji thj he 

 later kinds. I write from repeat ed experience, a g 

 than once had that part of ^e pi wh. ch wa. p ^ 

 ther during a heavy shower, sink down .in f 



in the coufse of a few days on open n £h.£ ^ 

 of the Potatoes stored in ^etwet st-te ^ 



blamed) may be in fault m ■»»•** tee ' e TllUS , >• t h« 

 ment ot his crop has favoured the fa or* ,, 



land is light, oa gravel ;" he *o«» » ot ' ^ , or «h> 

 stable dung was moist and decayed, 0. -i«*y * dec , )ffl . 

 ther put in, as most persons use i , >r i . ll|jrsiy 



posed state. The dejcr.pt.on o ^nd ^ used S 



it all times, would th.s y*« "^ would be ins" 

 libations ot liquid manure most probably ^ ^ ^ 



nutrition to the •*■». »n« »-^, Biet 

 . well known fact, that even under ^^ £-J 

 from an over manurmg turner ^ ^^.^ £ 

 luxuriant, no crop .s f xpectea n fa falCX * 



of nourishment to make them; all th.s .me 

 W ere receiving unusual support, and >uak.ng „ 



r te »d of fruit. Frequent waterings to dry „ 



nourUh those plants eff ect».l 1, . - b«* £ * - ^ M 

 surface or above ground, but ^en uberou - 



be benefited by water ng in a dry sea on the ^ 



be W ell saturated with water t.U «*™| kD0 , ««« 

 plant to be acted upon, and this a 1 gardener 

 le a large quantity to percolate rom •« to ^ 



the liquid manure may then follow, but i wgter 



Sng the root too, another copmussupp.^ ^ 

 must immediately be poured in. io 



