246 



THE GABJDENEBS' CHRONICLE. 



[September 1, 18:48. 



time for the fruit to ripen before frost cats it off in 

 the autumn. Potatos show patches of disease here 

 and there, but the tops in a general way look well, 

 and it is to be hoped, now that we are having a dry 

 atmosphere and sun and warmth, the mould may be 

 stayed and the tubers escape [?]. The earth is full of 

 these at the roots of the plants, and they promise to 

 be unusually large, and, with favourable weather, 

 must be of fine quality, as there will be no secondary 

 swelling like we have when the soil is so heated and 

 dry. J. Sheppard. 



CABBAGES.— Whatever may have been the pro- 

 ducts of Mr. Wilkes' trial of Sutton's Early Gem and 

 Little Pixie in his limited way, it is certain that these 

 kinds differ appreciably in Messrs. Sutton & Son's 

 trial-ground, Little Gem being greener, earlier, and 

 dwarfer and more compact. The firm also catalogue 

 Little Pixie, and it is hardly probable they would 

 offer the same kinds under two diverse names in the 

 same list. That distinctions in Cabbages may be, 

 indeed are, almost infinitesimal there can be no 

 doubt, because improvements and diversities of a 

 desirable nature come slowly ; but it is the expert, 

 enterprising seedsman, who has large breadths of 

 many varieties under his notice year after year who 

 has the most favourable opportunities for detecting 

 diversities of character, selecting, and fixin'i them ; and 

 it is to this watchful care that we owe so largely that 

 remarkable improvement in garden products which 

 has marked thepast twenty years ; thus, possibly, Tom 

 Thumb developed from the old Early Dwarf, Little 

 Pixie from Tom Thumb, Little Gem from Little 

 Pixie, &c, at least such may be so, although I 

 have no reason for saying such is the case — Mr. 

 Wilkes does not say whether he purchased his seed 

 from the Messrs. "Sutton & Sons direct. With 

 respect to my visit to the Beading trial-grounds, it 

 may be as well to say that grounds of that kind are 

 kept by seedsmen specially for their own use and 

 experience, and not for that of the general public. 

 There is, however, an immense deal of information to 

 be gathered in them, and I wished a market garden- 

 ing neighbour who was with me at Reading recently 

 to have an opportunity to see what good things in 

 the way of vegetables might be found in a place 

 which is bolted against him and his class as a rule. 

 The fact that so good an expert in market growing 

 was specially warm on Little Gem and the other 

 things noted, led me to make mention of them in 

 these pages. A. £>. 



ALEXANDER AND HALE'S EARLY PEACHES — 



In reply to Mr. Shepherd's inquiry in your issue of 

 last week concerning the above, I can confidently 

 assure him that they are quite distinct. We have 

 them both growing in our early Peach-house, and I 

 had finished gathering Alexander fully a fortnight be- 

 fore Hale's was at all fit. I consider Alexander the 

 earliest variety in commerce and that it should be. 

 planted (one tree at least) in every collection, as it 

 prolongs the season when associated with Royal 

 George and other favourite sorts. W. Beswick, Bes- 

 boro-ugh Court, Cork. 



The Alexander Peach is quite distinct from 



Hales' Early, although very similar in appearance. 

 We have both varieties here in our large Peach- 

 house, and also on a south-east wail. The first fruit 

 of Alexander was ripe inside on July 6, the first 

 fruit of Hales' Early on July 16, and outside 

 Alexander was ready on July 30, and Hales' Early 

 on August 24. The first was raised by Mr. Rivers, 

 Sawbridgeworth ; the latter is of American origin, as 

 are Waterloo and Amsden June ; the two latter I 

 consider almost identical with Alexander in every 

 respect. [It is rather earlier. Ed.] Por very early 

 forcing I prefer Early Beatrice and Early Louise, 

 the above American varieties being not quite so 

 trustworthy. Early Beatrice requires to be on a 

 very stroDg growing stock, it will then give large 

 fruits ; but for a cold house, or one to which very 

 little fire-heat is applied, and for the earliest crop in 

 the open, there is no variety at present known that 

 is better than Alexander. W. H, Divers, Ketton Ball. 



WHAT IS AN HERBACEOUS PLANT?— I have 

 read the note by your correspondent, " A. D.," anent 

 the above, and am inclined to the belief that he 

 hardly realises the point I have endeavoured to 

 raise, his dogmatic clearing up of the matter not- 

 withstanding. Does " A. D." himself clearly under- 

 stand the term " herbaceous " when he says, '' When 

 the term herbaceous is employed all real perennials 

 should be excluded " ? I think not. Are not all 

 herbaceous plants true perennials ? If not, how can 

 they perform the function of " producing annual 



flowering stems from a perennial root " ? " A. D.'s " 

 apparent definition of a perennial is that it is ever- 

 green ; but this is not essential ; a plant may be 

 perennial if deciduous, provided that it endures 

 three or more years. No plant more decidedly per- 

 forms its duties as an herbaceous plant than Lilium 

 candidum ; it is not " practically evergreen," as 

 asserted by your correspondent, but as surely dies 

 down annually, leaf and stem, as does a Daffo- 

 dil or a Tulip ; the radical leaves, which vanish with 

 the uprising flower-stem, being renewed when flower- 

 ing is complete, or in very dry seasons they do not 

 appear till the early autumnal rains are experienced, 

 " A. D." will pardon me not attributing my " doubts 

 and difficulties " as he calls them to the same cause 

 as himself, viz., " because the term herbaceous is 

 still obstinately adhered to in schedules when all 

 sorts of hardy border plants are invited to be ex- 

 hibited." If your correspondent will turn to my 

 original note he will find I distinctly refer to two 

 great societies, that of the Royal Botanic and Royal 

 Horticultural. In either case these societies would 

 know what should be shown when they ask for a 

 "group of hardy herbaceous plants," in their respec- 

 tive schedules, and would therefore not expect " all 

 sorts of hardy border plants to be exhibited." What 

 a sad confusion would the lax rendering of anv 

 schedule cause to the judges and exhibitors alike if 

 the suggestion of " A. D. " were carried into effect, 

 for what have judges to guide them in arriving at 

 their decisions but the verbatim, rendering of the 

 schedules? Particularly is this the case when one ex- 

 hibitor stages his plants according to the require- 

 ments of the schedule, and another does not ; 

 for even supposing the former to be slightly in- 

 ferior to the latter, the judges most assuredly 

 would not give the premier position to the one 

 who had departed from the wording of the schedule. 

 There are plenty of really good herbaceous plants 

 to be had now, and therefore the admission of either 

 annuals or biennials should disqualify. Especially 

 would I enforce this at our great London exhibitions, 

 which should in reality be the school, as it were, for 

 local and provincial shows. In offering a prize for 

 hardy plants annually at our show in my district (of 

 which I am a joint secretary), I employ the words 

 " hardy perennials," to the exclusion of flowering 

 shrubs. This is now so clearly understood by the 

 exhibitors in this particular class, that we have no 

 ground for complaint, and, from experience, I am 

 of opinion that if framers of schedules for local 

 shows would strive a little more to instruct ex- 

 hibitors in such matters there would be an end of 

 mistakes in this way, and this would be far more 

 becoming to any horticultural society than an 

 attempt to establish and cultivate an error so false 

 as the admission of annuals and biennials among 

 hardy herbaceous perennials. E. Jenkins. 



THE DANIELS POTATO. — A few weeks ago you 

 kindly made mention of a Potato called Daniels, and 

 how well the variety looked when growing, giving 

 great promise. We had a small local exhibition here 

 the other week, and I was tempted to dig up my 

 Daniels. They exceeded my expectations. I staged 

 two dishes, and was awarded two prizes in a strong 

 competition with different varieties in both classes. 

 A friend of mine was present when I took up two 

 roots to be weighed,, on one of which we found 

 twenty-one Potatos, and twenty on the other. On 

 weighing the best root it was found to turn the scale 

 at 6 lb., all good sound tubers, clean and free from 

 scab. After exhibiting at Keighley, they were put 

 to the test of being cooked for the table, and were 

 found to be all that could be desired. F. <?., Epworth. 



" DROPPERS" IN TULIPA SYLVESTRIS. — I send 

 a box with a few specimens of " sinkers," as 

 we call them in Holland, in cultivated bulbs of 

 Tulipa sylvestris. This peculiarity has been known 

 here as long as I can remember, and it occurs 

 principally and regularly with cultivated T. sylves- 

 tris. Usually at the bottom of the old bulbs 

 there is found only one bulb, at the end of a long 

 thread, of 10 to 30 centim. in length (there may be 

 sometimes even longer ones) ; the fact that two bulbs 

 are coming from the old bulb, as in one of the speci- 

 mens sent, is an exception. There are some other 

 Tulips where the new bulbs, when the beds are taken 

 up, are found in the ground at a much lower level 

 than the old ones were planted. This phenomenon is 

 especially observed in some of the yellow and citron 

 early single bulbs, which are known as Dues (not 

 Due van Thol), such as Due Voorhelm, Due 

 d'Orange, &c. ; but up to the present the cords which 

 in T. silvestris are found between the old and the new 



bulbs have not been found here. It may be that they 

 have existed and have rotted at an early period, 

 but this fact has not been observed. J. H. Krelagr, 

 Haarlem. [The specimens sent were illustrations of 

 what English Tulip growers call droppers (fig. 30). 

 The structure was obvious on cutting one open. The 

 old bulb mostly decays, but one or more of its scales 

 or leaves remains with an axillary bud, which forms 

 the new bulb. Then the scale or leaf grows down- 

 wards into the soil, carrying the bulb with it, so that 

 at length there is a long tubular thread with the 

 bulb at the bottom. This may be a protection from 

 frost, or the inquisitiveness of birds and mice. Ed.] 



THE HEDGEHOG'S CRY.—" Hystrix" (p. 189) has 

 only just supplanted me on this subject. Unless the 

 hedgehog emits two distinct notes, I cannot at all 

 account for the loud whistling noise heard by your cor- 

 respondent, for here I have heard them giving a sound 

 resembling that of a calf when sucking. Several 

 evenings of late, when having a walk round the 

 grounds, I have come on the hedgehog unawares, 

 and have thus had an opportunity of noticing its 

 ways — not its cries, for it appears to cry but rarely, 

 and never (that I am aware of) when in danger. 

 Whoever heard the hedgehog complain when being 

 worried by a dog, or when trundled into the water ? 

 The noise is a sort of suppressed squeal mingled 

 with a sucking noise ; but this, be it remembered, is 

 from the young ones. It is a disputed point as to 

 what the cry really resembles. I think it varies 

 with the age of the animal. A. D. Webster. 



THE MISUSE OF THE POTATO HAULM.— 



Growers of Potatos should be more careful as to 

 what they do with blight-stricken haulms. The 

 plan I adopt is to wheel them away, and burn them at 

 once. It would seem that the mischief done by the 

 haulms lying about is not realised by many persons, 

 for I have seen farmers carting diseased haulm into 

 the fold-yard to be made into manure, as they will 

 tell you, and I have seen the same carried back to 

 the field, there to wait until planting time came 

 round, when it could still be picked out by the fork- 

 ful from among the rest of the manure. It is also a 

 common practice amongst those who keep pigs to 

 throw a few forkfuls of diseased haulm into the 

 piggery, where the leaves are soon trodden out of 

 sight, but the stalks are more enduring, and even- 

 tually get carted with the rest into the fields as 

 manure. F. G. [Now that the consequences of such 

 practice are known no words are strong enough to. 

 reprobate it. Ed.] 



Societies. 



ROYAL HORTICULTURAL. 



August 28. — The Drill Hall was made to look 

 very bright by the extensive display of cut spikes of 

 Gladioli from Messrs. Kelway & Son, and by the 

 charming group of Orchids arranged by Mr. B. S. 

 Williams. Hardy flowers from Mr.Ware, and Begonias 

 from Messrs. Cannell & Sons were also prominent ; 

 while from the Society's gardens at Chiswick there 

 was sent a fine collection of Asters and Stocks, the 

 floral display being of a lively and varied nature. 

 Metsrs. Veitch & Son had a collection of fruit which 

 formed the chief object in the fruit division. 



Floral Committee. 



Present: Rev. W. Wilks (Sec. R.H.S.), in the 

 chair; and Messrs. Shirley Hibberd, H. Herbst, J. 

 Eraser, J. Walker, W. Holmes, W. Goldring, R. 

 Dean, B. Wynne. II. Ballantine, J. Dominy, fl. M. 

 Pollett, M. T. Masters, J. O'Brien, and E. Hill. 



Orchids were not largely shown beyond the group 

 from Mr. B. S. Williams, Victoria and Paradise 

 Nurseries, Upper Holloway, London, N.. who had 

 some excellent plants neatly arranged and displayed 

 by Ferns and other foliage plants. Cypripediums 

 were conspicuous objects. C. tesselatum porphy- 

 reum, not often seen, was represented by one plant ; 

 it has peculiar mottled dull red-brown flowers, 

 not strikingly beautiful. C. cenanthum was one of 

 the brightest flowered shown, the rich madder-red of 

 the lip and petals contrasting with the pure white 

 margin of the dorsal sepal, which is green lined with 

 red-brown spots towards the base ; a variety of this, 

 named superbum, differed in being more deeply red- 

 coloured in the dorsal sepal, the margin being greatly 

 reduced. Others were C. Sanderianum, the dorsal 

 sepal of which is distinct and striking, being deep 



