April 13, 1912.] 



THE GARDENERS' CHRONICLE. 



245 



distance by three miles. The result of this was 

 that the railway company put into operation a 

 rate of 9s. 9d. per ton from Cardiff to Llanybyther 

 for both grain and packed manure passing in 

 truck loads of five tons and upwards; or, stated 

 in another way, gave the complainant a reduction 

 of Is. 3d. per ton. 

 Mr. John Hogg, of Horton, in his complaint 



stated that the rate of l^d. charged for new milk 

 sent from Horton to Liverpool was unfair in 

 view of the corresponding rate of Id. per gallon 

 from Crosby Garret, a station situated further 

 away. In this case the railway company reduced 

 the rate to Id. per gallon as requested. 



Miscellaneous Applications. 

 Messrs. C. Barnett & Sons, of Henley, stated 

 in their complaint that the charge made for the 

 carriage of a bundle of sacks from London Docks 

 to Brentford was excessive, and upon investiga- 

 tion by the Board of Trade it was found that a 

 mistake had been made by the railway company, 

 who thereupon refunded the overcharge which 

 they had made. 



Messrs. A. M. Livingstone, of Lurgan, com- 

 plained that a bundle of fruit trees, despatched 

 from Maidstone to Lurgan on December 17, was 

 not delivered until the 23rd, and was carried via 

 Liverpool and Belfast instead of via Holyhead 

 and Greenore as directed. Upon investigation, 

 it was discovered that the consignment had been 

 incorrectly invoiced by the forwarding company, 

 and to settle the matter the carriage charge of 

 3s. lid. was refunded to the complainants. 



The Berks, and Adjoining Counties Dairy 

 Farmers' Association took up a case on behalf of 

 one of its members, and said that the rail- 

 way company declined to pay compensation 

 for the loss of milk caused through two churns 

 being upset at Westbourne Park station. The 

 company, after replying that the traffic was con- 

 signed under owners' risk conditions, and that 

 there were no grounds for entertaining the claim 

 for the value of milk (inasmuch as the loss re- 

 sulted from the accident), agreed in the circum- 

 stances to refund the amount which had been 

 paid for conveyance. 



Your Particular Case. 

 Now, take your own case. We will suppose 

 that your grievance is that you are charged an 



exorbitant rate for the carriage of your Cucum- 

 bers from Fareham to London. You submit your 

 application this way, as another trader actually 

 aid under the same circumstances : — 



The Assistant Secretary, Railway Dept., Board 



k 



ic 



" Dear Sir, 



Lond 



The Railway and Canal Traffic Act, 1888, sec- 



tion 31. 

 " I beg to seek your assistance in securing 

 equitable treatment at the hands of the ... . 

 Railway Co. 



At present the said company is charging me 

 at the rate of 2s. 10£d. per cwt. for the car- 

 nage of Cucumbers by passenger train from 

 Fareham to London, but I submit that the rate 

 should be Is. 10£d., which is the rate quoted 

 for fruit in Division 3 of the perishable scale. 



' I shall be glad if you will be good enough 

 to go into the matter with the railway com- 

 pany concerned, and favour me with your re- 

 port at your convenience. 



" Yours faithfully, 



" A Gardener/' 

 A copy of your complaint will be submitted to 

 the railway company or companies concerned by 

 the Board of Trade, a copy of their reply sent 

 you by the same intermediarv, and so on, until 

 the matter is finally disposed of. And your only 

 expense will be the postage of your letters, as the 

 services of the Board of Trade are, of course, free 

 « all cost to you as a railway trader. Georqe B. 

 ^issenden. J 



HOME CORRESPONDENCE. 



(The Editors do not hold themselves responsible for 

 the opinions expressed by correspondents.) 



Damage to Conifers at Dropmore. 



During a north-west gale on the night of the 

 8th inst., the fine specimen of Pinus rigida in 

 the pinetum here was blown down. In falling, a 

 tree of Tsuga Brunoniana was irreparably 

 damaged; this was a fine example of the 

 beautiful Hemlock Fir, and was planted in 

 1847. The tree of Pinus rigida had reached a 

 height of 83 feet and was in a perfect condition 

 of health. Chas. Page, Dropmore Gardens, 

 Maidenhead. 



Pot Strawberries (see pp. 208, 227) —I was 

 interested in Mr. West's note on the failure of 

 his forced Strawberries. I had a similar trouble 

 last year after a wet season, so that I do not 

 think it can be attributed to the crowns being 

 over-ripened. I had then what I considered a 

 fine batch of nearly 1,000 layers, but the plants 

 did not respond to forcing, and many plants 

 were discarded. Those that did fruit gave poor 

 results. I thought perhaps our stock had de- 

 teriorated, so this year we bought 800 runners 

 of Royal Sovereign, but unfortunately they were 

 very poor specimens, and to make matters worse 

 were delayed on the railway, owing to the strike. 

 The variety Royal Sovereign appears to be worn 

 out : I cannot attribute the failure to any other 

 cause. C. H. Branson, Blythewood Gardens, 

 Maidenhead. 



■We do not Prow surh a. ]^rcra num- 



ber of Strawberries as Mr. West, but most of my 

 experience in Strawberry forcing was obtained 

 in the South of England in market as well as pri- 

 vate gardens. Mr. West is probably correct in 

 assuming that the plants were over-ripened, and 

 the only way to prevent this another season 

 is by delaying the final potting until the middle 

 of August, or by potting into long 7-inch pots 

 instead of 6-inch pots, as is usually done. Did 

 the mature foliage show a reddish tinge on the 

 under-side and margins at the end of the season? 

 If so, the plants were affected with a fungus dis- 

 ease which prevails in dry weather and preys 

 upon the young foliage during the forcing sea- 

 son, causing stunted growth. The Bordeaux 

 mixture is the remedy for this disease. H. 

 Arnold, The Gardens, Carron Hall, Carron, 

 By Falkirk. 



Daphne indica.— This beautiful Daphne has 

 been in flower since the middle of February. 

 Over the greater portion of the British Isles 

 it is treated as a greenhouse plant, but it 

 is very generally grown in the open in 

 the south-west, where it bears its deliciously- 

 scented blossoms in mid-winter, often commenc- 

 ing to expand its blooms as early as December, 

 and frequently continuing to flower until April. 

 Specimens may often be met with growing in 

 bush form in front of warm walls, and many of 

 these have attained a large size, some being as 

 much as 6 feet in height and as much through. 

 There are three varieties : one, the commonest, 

 bearing purplish-red flowers, the second white 

 blossoms tinged with crimson on the reverse, and 

 the third pure white. Of these, the last is to be 

 preferred. The flowers of all are delightfully 

 fragrant, and a single cluster will scent a room. 

 It is no uncommon thing to cut 20 bloom-clusters 

 in a single day from a good-sized bush. There 

 is also a variegated form of this Daphne, which 

 is quite as hardy as the type. The plant is 

 evergreen and bears dark, shining, green leaves 

 about 4 inches in length and 1 inch in breadth. 

 Plants should, if possible, be secured growing 

 on their own roots, but, unfortunately, it is one 

 of the subjects that suffers from the grafting 

 craze, the stock generally used being the Spurge 

 Laurel (Daphne laureola) or D. Mezereum. D. 

 indica, however, strikes readily from cuttings and 

 layers are easily procured from well-established 

 bushes. It is fairly hardy, as a plant in this 

 garden has lately been subjected to 12° of 

 frost, which killed numbers of tender plants, 

 yet not a leaf was injured. This species is 

 sometimes held to be synonymous with D. odora, 

 but in Nicholson's Dictionary of Gardening the 

 two are given as distinct, and the dates of their 

 introduction are stated to be D. odora, 1771, and 

 D. indica, 1800. If they are one and the same 

 plant, D. indica is certainly the more general 

 appellation. Wyndham Fitzherbert. 



Magnolia salicifolia. — Having just seen 

 your note and figure of this plant (see p. 223) 

 it may be of interest to record the fact that the 

 same tree has flowered here this year for the 

 first time, although it is only quite a small plant. 

 It is growing against a wall. As you say all 

 Magnolias are flowering well and M. *con- 

 spicua has never borne so many blossoms before, 

 the same may be said of M. Soulangeana, 

 which is now just coming out. Robi rt Woodward, 

 Jun., Arley Castle, near Bewdley. 



Hybrid Tea Rose Mme. Hector Leuil- 

 liot. — In "Random Thoughts on Pruning" 

 (pp. 196 and 197), your correspondent White Hose 

 refers to Mme. Hector Leuifliot as an example 

 of a Rose that requires some experiment so far 

 as pruning is concerned before a correct method 

 is discovered, and, in concluding his article, he 

 states that this variety would seem to require 

 management after the fashion of the Noisettes. 

 I was glad to note such an observation from so 

 able an authority, because I had long formed 

 the opinion that this beautiful Rose was a deri- 

 vative in some way from Marechal Niel. Its 

 resemblance to Marechal Niel in the wood and 

 spines is strongly marked. It is possible that 

 Pradel's fine old Rose was one of the parents, 

 but only Mons. Pernet Ducher can make any 

 authoritative statement on the subject. George 

 M. Taylor, Mid-Lothian 



Observations and Experiments in Re- 

 ference to the Pollination of Hardy 

 Fruits. — Will any fruit-growers or botanists 

 help in making observations on the follow- 

 ing plants: — 1. Note the order of blossom- 

 ing of the best market varieties of Cherries, 

 including Early Rivers, Waterloo, Knight's 

 Early Blacky Black Eagle, Frogmore Early 

 Bigarreau, Bigarreau or Amber, Old Black 

 Heart, Kentish Biggarreau, Florence, Napoleon 

 and Turk. 2. Is the following approxi- 

 mately the order of flowering of the follow- 

 ing Plums?— Early— Grand Duke, Monarch, Old 

 Greengage, Black Diamond, Cox's Emperor, 

 Cheshire Damson ; mid flowering — Bradley's 

 King of Damons, Victoria, Coe's Golden Drop, 

 Jefferson, Prince Englebert; late flowering — 

 Rivers's Early Prolific, Sultan, Czar, Oullin's 

 Golden Gage, Pond's Seedling, Pershore. 3. Is 

 the following approximately the order of flower- 

 ing of Pears? — Early flowering — Beurre Clair- 

 geau, Duchesse d'Angouleme, Beurre Diel, Mar. 

 guerite Marrillat, Jargonelle, Williams's Bon 

 Chretien; mid flowering — Beurre Hardy, Doy- 

 enne Boussoch, Beurre Giffard, Catillac, Pitmas- 

 ton Duchess, Dr. Jules Guyot ; late flowering — 

 Clapp's Favourite, Triomphe de Vienne, Souve- 

 nir du Congres, Doyenne du Cornice, Marie 

 Louise d'Uccle, Durondeau. 4. Is the following 

 the approximate order of flowering of the com- 

 moner market Apples? — Early flowering — Bis- 

 marck, Golden Spire, Baumann's Red Winter 

 Reinette, Stirling Castle, Bramley's Seedling; 

 mid flowering — Duchess's Favourite, Gladstone, 

 Cox's Orange Pippin, Beauty of Bath, Worcester 

 Pearmain ; Lane's Prince Albert, King of the 

 Pippins; late flowering — Gascoyne's Scarlet, 

 Dumelow's Seedling, Blenheim Pippin, Royal 

 Jubilee. 5. What other varieties of Pear 

 are self-fertile beside Conference, Duron- 

 deau, Duchesse d'Angouleme, Colmar d'ete? 

 6. What other varieties of Apples are self- 

 fertile besides Stirling Castle, Lord Gros- 

 venor, Early Victoria, Gladstone, King of 

 the Pippins, Lord Derby, Irish Peach, White 

 Transparent, Newton Wonder, Ecklinville Seed- 

 ling, Summer Golden Pippin, Baumann's Red 

 Winter Reinette, Peasgood's Nonesuch and 

 Christmas Pearmain? 7. Note. — Professor W. 

 O. Backhouse finds the following Plums self- 

 fertile: — Victoria, Prince Englebert, Czar, Per- 

 shore, Yellow Magnum Bonum, Denniston's 

 Superb, Early Transparent, Reine Claude 

 Violette, but that Rivers's Early Prolific is nearly 

 self -fertile. 8. Are any Cherries self-fertile 

 beside the Morello? 9. Note any insects seen 

 visiting blossoms of Plum, Pear, Apple and 

 Cherry, so as to record roughly the proportion 

 of hive bees, bumble bees, other wild bees, 

 thrips, midges, beetles, ants, &c. ; also those 

 visiting Gooseberry, Red and Black Currants, 

 Strawberry, Raspberry and Loganberry. Kindly 

 send reports in June or July to " The Secretary, 

 National Fruit Growers' Federation, 2, Gray's 

 Inn Place, Gray's Inn, London. C . H. II. 



