THE GARDENERS* CHRONICLE. 



832 



frequently imported to this country, but I have nere. j " The wa X therefore to have "the best perfected striped 

 rrequenuy ■ ; _ a _'.'... ...i. .....:....-.• „ party-coloured Tulips, and variety of such, is oy sowing 



[Dec. 14 



seen or leird of their bein; successfully cultivated. 

 They are all natives of the Southern States, and their 

 tim<- of flowering is October and November. Now, it 

 appears to me that if they were grown in pots on the 

 one-shift sys'era, with two or three bulbs in each pot, 

 and treated like hardy greenhouse plants, or like Chry- 

 santhemums, they would succeed well ; they would 

 come into flower at the same time as Chrysanthemums, 

 and form a fine contrast with them. It is of no use to 

 treat them as hardy plants (as I have seen done), as, 

 even after the long hot summers of the Southern States, 

 they do not flower till October ; the bulbs are in line 

 order for taking up just when the plant is in full flower, 

 so that autumn is the time to give orders for them ; and I 

 have no doubt, if well managed, they will make a valuable 



addition t> our winter flowers. 



AtclejAas tuberosa.— This beautiful plant is well worth 

 general cultivation ; it throws in dry sandy and rocky 

 soil, rooting deep into the ground ; it should be planted 

 in a warm sunny aspect, and should never be disturbed 

 afterwards. When I lived in Devonshire, I had a plant 

 of it growing in rr.ndy peat, which a few years after 

 planting produced annually from 40 to 50 flower stems, 

 terminating in heads of the most dazzling scarlet ; it 

 continued a long time in flower. 



Asdepias qwxijitolia. — This is the next best of the 

 genus that I met TMtli ; I found it invariably growing in 

 shady woods. The fisxem grow in heads about the size 

 of Hoya carnosa ; th«y tra of a delicate white colour, 

 and the plant is altogether of a most graceful habit, and 

 well <! serving a place in any collection. 



Lilium superbum, canadense, and philadelphicum, 

 are all very beautiful plants, and well worthy of a place 

 in every garden. L. superbum grows in moist meadow?, 

 where I found it of the height of six feet, with 50 or GO 

 fully expanded llowers on a single stem. L. canadense 

 delights in open, dry situations; it is more highly co- 

 lou 1 than the last ; it grows from 2 to 3 feet in height. 

 L. philadelphicum I invariably found growing in dry 

 shady woods, not in masses like the two former species, 

 but in solitary stems, thinly scattered here and there 

 through the woods ; it is the most brilliant in colour of 

 all the American Lilies, and grows from 1 to 3 feet high. 

 To cultivators of exotic Liliums the above are well de- 

 serving attention, and I make no doubt but that they 

 would succeed well in this country. I would recom- 

 mend them not to be disturbed for years after they are 

 planted, and I always found the bulbs from 12 to 18 

 inches deep in the ground. 



Houstonia c&rutea.—l met with nearly half an acre 

 of this in full flower on the banks of the Skuylkiil River, 

 growing on a poor sandy soil. The sight was so beau- 

 tiful that 1 shall never forget it ; I notice it here because 

 I am fully persuaded that it would make a most excel- 

 lent greenhouse annual ; it seems too delicate to be 

 treated as a perennial. Abundance of seed might easily 

 be procured. 



Convallaria racemosa. — This may be called the Ame- 

 rican Queen of tiie Meadows; it is very showy, and 

 grows in damp situations like Spiraea ulmari.i, but in 

 larger masses. I once noticed a large m; 1 II of it in the 

 middle of a Grass field ; it had a very fine appearance 

 contrasted with the dark-green Grass surrounding it. 



Cnicus odoratus. — This is a delightfully fragrant dwarf 

 Thistle, growir g about a foot high, with large purple 

 flowers ; it is well worth growing on account of its 

 sweetness, and I should think would be an excellent bee 

 flower; if I rightly remember it is a biennial. — 11. field. 

 Noble Thorp. 



the seed of Tulips ; but all seed will not produce good 

 ones ; no, not the seed of the best striped sorts themselves, 

 which many will not believe; but experience hath given 

 assurance of the contrary, and the reason is not altogether 

 hid from us. In the fine curious striped sorts nature hath 

 spent its stock and vigour to bring them to that delicacy, 

 and there is little virtue left to come to the seed of such, 

 and therefore such seed often produces plain yellowes and 

 reds ; and you shall see that your neat striped ones hive 

 either no seed or that which is but light and small. But 

 the good hopeful seed is that which is yielded by strong 

 vigourous Tulips, which are all of a colour ; yet, every 

 single coloured which affords strong seed will not produce 

 good Tulips, such as the ordinary red, yellow, or white ; 

 but the single coloured from which you choose your seed 

 must be either oranges, grisdelines, or other shadowed 

 colours, which wee cannot well tell what name to give to 



their colours, and their bottoms within must be either a 



fine celestial blew or sapphire coloured, either pale or ciety. Adinner being agreed upon, stewards are appointed, 



— _ a & ■ * v j m^ a _ m A ¥ — >- _■_ A* I M. A— . — M- ■ _ _ _ ■ Tfr A m » 



ber of 2000, and if only one-tenth of that numbered 

 responded to the call, the elections would have been in a 

 great measure in their own hands. Further, any « r . 

 dener who has subscribed for five years, upon prodi cm" 

 the necessary recommendations, becomes a pensioi er 

 without election; so that they have everything wholly in 

 their own power if they would only join the Sociey 

 Mr. W. P. Ayres points out another error in the manate- 

 ment, viz, the price of the dinner-tickets; but this has 

 in reality, nothing to do with the Society. The dinner 

 is a thing by itself, which may or may not take place, as 

 thought most desirable. I believe that several members 

 of the committee, if they only consulted their own in- 

 clination, would be averse to a dinner ; but there are 

 others who think differently, and who urge, that as other 

 Societies acquire funds from the contributions of those 

 who are gratified by being solicited to attend (and who 

 otherwise would not join the Society), the committee 

 would not be doing their duty did they not avail them- 

 selves of this source of increasing the funds of the So 



dee.pe, or greenish. Those with blacke bottoms, or faint 



yellow, or none at all, are worth nothing for this purpose. 



The seed of those colours now spoken of must be chosen 



ripe, weighty, dry, and full, in July or August, as it is 



ready ; the stalks full withered, and the seed case opening 



and rattling. Having gathered your seed when it is full 



ripe, and before it falls it blows away, sow it in very good 



sifted mold, in boxes or earthen pans, in September or 



October. In the spring they will come up like young 



Onyons. They must be taken out of the hot sun into some 



shady place as soon as these young leaves begin to wither, 



and then sift a very little fresh earth on them, and so let 



them stand abroad all winter. The next spring they will 



come up with small leaves, like such as they will ever 



after have. The second autumn take them up, sifting the 



earth, that you leave no root behind, and in September or 



October set them in fresh fine sifted earth again, and soe 



take them up yearly at the same time or thereabouts, and 



replant them again in October, in new fresh earth, and 



soe by this ordering they will bear flowers the fifth or sixth 



year. They never have more than one leaf till they bear 



flowers. When they bear, choose out the hopeful colours, 



and plant their roots by themselves. Having stood two 



or three years in a place, these single colours will become 



finely (panacheed, or) striped flowers. Those with blew 



bottoms will stripe white ; those with greene bottoms 



with yellow. Few stripe perfectly in each leaf the first 



year, but when they do there is none or very little of the 



blew bottom to be seen. Commonly, the saddest duskyest 



colours, when they stripe, turn of a lighter colour, and 



soe, on the contrary, the paler reds turn deeper crimsons 



or purples ; and the older the root is the more perfect the 



flower will be, if the soil and ordering be the best." 



THE ANTIQUITIES OF GARDENING. 



No. II.— Extracts from Sir Thomas Hanmer's Manu^ciipt on 

 Gardening— it60, 1670. (Continued.) 



44 Tulips. — I have found by experience that the best 

 Tulips do not prosper in a great spatious garden, where 

 cold winds have power on them, nor in borders among 

 bushes or other shading plants ; but thrive best by then - 

 selves, in some warm well-sheltered ground from the 

 spring easterly winds ; yet they delight in a sweet air, 

 and not to be too closely pent up. 



44 It is impossible to say which are absolutely the best 

 Tulips, there being such variety of most beautiful ones of 

 several colours, well sorted together ; some with great bold 

 panaches orstripings, others with weaker smaller marks ; 

 some of deep colours, others of paler only ; and some with 

 white, others without. Amongst the most knowing 

 florists, some fancy one sort, some another ; yet they ever 

 agree in these things, so necessary to make up a good 

 Tulip, — that the flower bee of a good form, that is, neither 

 too great and flapping, nor too small and starved ; that it 

 open well, and therefore the figure must not be very raised, 

 neither must the petals be too sharp-pointed ; that the 

 stamyns be large and of a purple colour, not greenish nor 

 yellow ; that the white be a clean pure white, from the first 

 opening of the flower, and not turn white from yellow at 

 the first, as many do that are esteemed reasonable good 

 flowers ; that the other colours be thick and rich, shewing 

 like an enamel, distinct from each other, and not con, 

 founded ; that the blew bottom bee spent away in all or 

 most of the petals ; and lastly, that the stalk be not weake- 

 which makes the flower to hang down the head, but strong 

 and of a competent length. These are the chief qualities 

 of Tulips which now come to my mind. 



11 Now, how to raise good Tulips of your own (which 

 is the great secret) I shall here disclose. If yon go to 

 buy them of others you will soon empty your purse, for a 

 good new Tulip will cost at least 'AQs. or 40s,, though the 

 world is full of them, and within thes« few years has been 

 worth 41. or 5/. in London, and 10/. or 20/. in Paris ; and 

 some have paid much more in France. 



Home Correspondence - 



' r The Rihslone Pippin. — In consequence of the statement 

 concerning the original Ribstone Pippin-tree (p. 812), I 

 wish to inform you that, at the particular request of the 

 late Mr. Sabine, I examined the tree, which had no ap- 

 pearance of having been grafted, and sent to the Horti- 

 cultural Society suckers from it ; from which suckers the 

 tree raised at the Chiswick Garden IS year3 was ob- 

 tained. No doubt was entertained by Mr. Sabine, after 

 the receipt of the suckers, of their identity with the fruit- 

 bearing portion of the tree. I also transmitted to him 

 the account given to me by Lady Goodriche of the 

 raising that tree from the seed of an Apple imported from 

 Normandy, together with a sister seedling of inferior 

 merit, which was then, and probably is still, on the Rib- 

 stone premises. The broken down stem was severed 

 from the stump, and carried away by a violent gale of 

 wind, after the head had rested a few years on the ground. 

 — IV. Herbert, Deanery, Manchester. 



Gardeners' Benevolent Institution. — Observing in the 

 two last Numbers of the Chronicle some strictures on the 

 management of this Institution, and feeling an interest 

 in that Society, believing it to be calculated to do much 

 good, I beg to submit to the writers of those strictures 

 the following remarks : — The fault that Mr. Whiting 

 finds is, that there are more pensioners elected from the 

 vicinity of London than from more distant parts of the 

 country. Bat a little consideration will show that this is 

 a necessary and unavoidable result ; for the majority of 

 the subscribers residing in or near London, it follows 

 that they must recommend and vote for those of whom 

 they know something, or whose personal appeals to their 

 benevolence render their destitution more apparent. 

 Again, London is the centre from whence gardeners go 

 to fill the different situations in the country, and to 

 which they return when out of place, or overtaken by 

 misfortunes or old age ; consequently the mass of desti- 

 tution amongst gardeners lies near the metropolis. Fur- 

 ther, those recommended from the more distant parts of 

 the country are so by only one or two individuals, and 

 those often non-subscribers — perhaps applying for a 

 pension for an old servant who has lived with them till 

 unfit for work ; thus throwing a burden off themselves 

 upon a Society to which they have never contributed. 

 The committee have only a limited number of pensions 

 to bestow, and whether they are bestowed upon indi- 

 viduals residing in Cornwall, Cumberland, or London, 

 can make little difference, provided the persons are 

 equally deserving and equally destitute : the same 

 amount of human misery is alleviated. Besides, the 

 committee have no control as to who shall or shall not 

 be elected — they have simply their own vote to give. If 

 there is any fault to be found it is with gardeners them- 

 selves, who do not join a Society established for their 

 ^ benefit ; they have been apulied to by letter to the num- 



and the arrangements are left in their hands. If Mr. A. 

 has dined at the London Tavern, he must have found 

 that an unlimited quantity of wine could not be allowed 

 for even 15s. ; each person will be allowed one bottle 

 only. It is the lighting, professionals, and et ceteras, 

 necessary to a public dinner, that becomes expensive • 

 and if gentlemen are invited, they must have some enjoy- 

 ment.* That these dinners are very absurd things I 

 allow; yet they seem necessary, for some persons, with- 

 out that stimulus to excite their benevolence, would not 

 ever join a charitable institution devoted to their class . 

 — A Subscriber. 



Manure for Spinach On one occasion I had some 



Spinach sown in autumn on a very poor spot, without 

 any manure having been applied. When ic should have 

 been fit for table in the spring, its leaves were all yellow, 

 except the young budding ones ; it was miserably poor, 

 and was condemned to be pulled up and thrown away. 

 It was, however, allowed to remain; the ground was well 

 forked up and broken. It was raked and hoed, and then 

 well watered ; the soil was raked over daily. I then had 

 a liquid compost prepared of several buckets of blood 

 from the slaughterhouse, salt well stirred in, some wood- 

 ashes and charcoal — filling the tub with water. This 

 stood till my Spinach was making healthy growth ; then, 

 stirring up the mixture, and straining the thin part, it 

 was poured to the roots — water was freely given before 

 and after the application ; the effect was wonderful. I 

 had plants pulled up daily for use ; the eradication effec- 

 tually stirred up the soil where the fork could not be 

 used. I tried by increasing degrees what forcing Spinach 

 would bear in this way ; morning, noon, and afternoon 

 this liquid was applied, first and last resorting to the 

 watering-pan ; and every time the rich mess had been 

 robbed, the butt was refilled with water and stirred, and 

 once a week a bucket of fresh blood was added. Such 

 was the growth of the Spinach, that numbers came to 

 see it and my Bath Cos Lettuces, which were similarly 

 nursed ; the Spinach-leaves were larger than any dinner- 

 plate. They were more like Rhubarb than Spinach, and 

 of a fine Myrtle-green. My Melons and Cucumbers 

 shared the same food, and with full success.—^. W. 



Cropping of Fruit-tree Borders.— Shallow planting 

 is now considered to be one of the most essential points 

 by which we can obtain successful cultivation ; but some 

 gardeners, after bestowing the greatest care to plant their 

 trees properly, have recourse to the injurious practice 01 

 cropping the ground over their roots ; thus at once set- 

 ting defiance to the effort made to keep them near tne 

 surface. I am aware that want of sufficient space ror 

 the culture of vegetables compels some gardeners to ao 

 this, but I imagine that the majority of them have it m 

 their power to keep up a sufficient supply of culinary 

 vegetables without having recourse to cropping tne do 

 ders on which, at least, Peach and Apricot- trees a 

 growing ; their roots are destroyed by the operation 01 

 digging to the depth of a spade, and cropping » 

 hausts the soil and forces them to descend still iuru , 

 in order to obtain a sufficient supply of food. It is m 

 more profitable to keep the ground over tne ro 

 mulched with rotten dung in winter and summer , 

 answers two purposes— it encourages the roots to app 

 the surface, and retains plenty of moisture during ^ 

 summer season. A good watering occasionally, 

 the trees are in active growth, is, however, of 6 rCB 

 vice, if the season is very dry. By this treatment rn j 

 of the evils to which fruit-trees are subjected w 

 overcome. I may mention that the best crop 01 xu ■ 

 Grapes I have seen for some years has been proa 

 by these same means. — J. IV. . .-1, 



Brewing.-** Farmer's Daughter" would m 

 oblige a constant reader of the Chronicle it ^ ( 

 state how many pounds of Hops she uses to t . o . n 

 Malt, and whether she puts into the boiler tiie aw. 

 of the Hops only, or Hops and all. t ^ 



Destruction of Small Birds.- Although 1 :**> 

 acknowledged that sparrows do much good by nes \j & 

 hosts of caterpillars, grubs, &c. f I think it rem 

 matter of considerable doubt whether the good tn ^ 

 ferred upon the gardener is not counterbalanced j ^ 

 injury they inflict upon the buds of Currant ana ^ 

 berry trees. Just now my trees are suffering rnuc ^ 

 these little busybodies, the buds being excavatea ^ 

 alarming extent. I have tried every method 1 ca ^^ 

 of, but cannot keep them away. If any ot you be 



pondents will suggest a plan by which ™* kpen . 

 effe cted, they will gready_oblig^^ 



* If the stewards could calculate upon twice the * u ™ ^bly 

 tending they could reduce the price 0/ the ticaei r 

 one-third. 



