JOUENAL OF HOETICUIiTUEE AND COTTAGE GAKDENEE. 



[ January 31, 136J, 



1 



connected with it yet. Imagine four or five bulbs in a. pot, 

 with fifteen blooms ou each. 



I should like very much to know if there was anything 

 very remai-kable in the plant of Mi-s. Pollock for which a 

 first-class certificate was avvai-ded the other day at the Eoyal 

 Horticultural Society's meeting. A cutting struck in August 

 and kept in a cool greenhouse is no great wonder. Was it 

 as lai'ge as a Currant bush ? or wherein did the great merit 

 consist ? It does strike me that first-class certificates ought 

 to be very carefully awarded, aud the reading of the notice 

 does not give one the idea of anything superexcellent ; but 

 in this I may be T\-iong. — D., Deal. 



FEUIT AFFECTED BY SOIL AND CLIMATE- 

 POTATOES. 



A WF.iTEK in your' Xumber of January 17th, (page 4"), 

 who signs himself " Fruit-eatek," in speaking of the fruits 

 of America, says that country and this would probably find 

 first-rate prizes in the other's rejections, and he instances 

 some Apples and Pears which are here considered of the first 

 quality as being worthless there. I am not aware that he 

 brings forward any that are considered worthless here as 

 being found first-rate in the States. Nevertheless, v/ithout 

 going so far as the United States for proofs of the character 

 of fruits being changed, there is great truth in what he 

 says. Take the Beurro de Kance Pear as an example. Here 

 in our wet climate and heavy clay soil it is in average seasons 

 of first-rate quality when properly matured; whilst in the 

 rich alluvial soil of Wharfedale, five and thirty miles off, it 

 is utterly worthless however treated. It is even difi'erenfc 

 in the vicarage ;.'arden at Wlialey, only four miles hence, 

 having there more astringency than those grown here, 

 but stUl very good. TVilliams's Bon Chretien, which Dr. 

 Hogg in Ms "Fruit Manual"' says is one of the finest of 

 Pears, is here utterly worthless ; and the Glou Morceau, of 

 which he says "A first-rate Pear," although it becomes 

 melting, is always fiat and turnipy in its flavour here. It 

 is, however, hardy and bears well. 



We have a gi-eat deal to learn about the effects of soil and 

 climate on fruits. I quite agree with Mr. Rivers when he 

 says every fruit has its peculiar season, when its true flavour 

 is more fully developed than in ordinai-y seasons ; and that 

 this is not alwaj-s in the finest years was proved to me in 

 the wet and cold year of 18G0. The Louise Bonne and 

 Seckle Pears were finer in fiavour from my trees than they 

 have been either before or since. 



" Feuit-eatek " goes on to say, " In Gooseberries we are 

 unrivalled by the produce either of the continent or western 

 hemisphere, and therefore by a strange confusion of thought, 

 similarly exercised in relation to other things than fruit, 

 pass scornfully by what we should rear very delicately were 

 they not so thoroughly un-aristocratic as to grow quite deli- 

 cious without other help than our own dull atmo- 

 sphere. I have seen and heard a good deal of Clack Ham- 

 burgh Grapes, but have yet to feast my eyes and taste upon 

 any that shall half reach the excellence of the produce of 

 some very plebeian Gooseberry bushes within view from my 

 window." 



I concur in every word of this opinion, and think a finely 

 ripened Gooseberry from the old upright-growing Ked Cham- 

 pagne, which I remember gx-ew in my father's garden sixty 

 years ago, is superior to any Black Hamburgh Grape I ever 

 tasted ; and I also think that it the time and money whicli 

 have been spent in raising large Gooseberries had been 

 devoted to raising good ones, we should by this time have had 

 Gooseberries equal to any Grapes that ever were grown, for 

 I think that fifty years as sedulously devoted to flavour as 

 they have been to size would have produced something good 

 before now. If "Fuuit-eatkr" has any other sort which 

 is equal in quality to the Champagne I should bu glad to 

 receive cuttings from bim. For many years I attempted to 

 raise GoosebeiTica from seed, using the berries of the Cham- 

 pagne, but I never raised one equal to the original stock. 

 My great difficulty arose from cross-fertilisation. 1 had 

 araoDg my seedlings white, green, red, hairy an(i smooth, 

 all from one variety. This 1 attributed to the bees, and 

 therefore think, if attempts are again made, the parent tree 

 should be^far apart from all others. 



Many of your correspondents speak of the Lapstone Kidney 



as very good ; but in describing the quality, the sort of soU 

 in which it is grown should also be stated, or it wUl mis- 

 lead. Notwithstanding its excellence I have ceased to grow 

 it, for it is so liable to disease in heavy clays that I never 

 dug as many as I planted. On the other hand the Fluke, 

 which in the light, rich, alluvial soil of Wharfedale is a 

 heavy, waxy, worthless Potato, is in the wet clays ot this 

 district of great excellence ; and as a proof that it is so, it 

 commands the highest price of any store Potato in our 

 markets. 



The growers of first early kinds should keep their eyes 

 open if they wish to raise new kinds, as occasionally, although 

 very rarely, a first early Potato will have a bunch of apples 

 growing and ripening on the stem. If these be carefully 

 preserved, and the seeds cai-efuUy washed out and sown in 

 the spring, many early varieties may be raised, some of 

 which may be of great excellence. 



I concur with Jlr. Barnham in thinking the Beurre Clair- 

 geau a good Peai'. Here it is very superior to the Glou 

 Morceau — another instance of what I have elsewhere re- 

 mai'ked, that soil and climate make very great difference in 

 quality. — T. G., Clilheroe. 



PROTECTING TEEES FEOM HAEES AND 



EABBITS. 

 In reply to " K. F.," -in No. 198, 1 beg to state, that during 

 the progress of alterations at this place last spring, a great 

 number of rabbits and a few hares found their way into these 

 grounds, and notwithstanding trapping and other means 

 being resorted to to destroy them, they have remained in 

 possession (more or less), up to the present time. In the 

 meanwhile they have destroyed a q\iantity of Berberis Wal- 

 lichiana, variegated Hollies, variegated Savin, &c., as well as 

 commenced to gnaw the bai'k of some Conifers until we 

 dressed the stems with a mixture of night soil and soot, 

 which has proved so far not to theu' palate. Mahonia (Ber- 

 beris) aquifolium and fascioularis, and Berberis Darwinii 

 have not been touched, whilst the others in close proximity 

 have been eaten to the ground. — J. Pkodgeb, Gardener i» 

 E. E. Peel, Esq,, Jlrynypys, Ruabon, North Wales. 



COTTON SEEDS SOWINGS. 



In answer to my notice stating I had some Cotton seed 

 to give away, I have received more applications than I can 

 comply with for a few days, but after that time I shall be 

 able to supply each of the applicants in ample time. 



Several correspondents have requested me to write to 

 them, but I cannot do so, as it would entail more labour 

 upon mo than my engagements will permit. For the benefit 

 of all wishing to raise and ciUtivate Cotton-plants, I will 

 now state the little information I possess. 



The seed should be sown in good new sod, covering the 

 seed with it about half an inch. I cover mine with Sphagnum 

 palustre, or gi'ey Bog Moss, but mine are only sown for the 

 purpose of testing the quality. I sow fifty from each packet 

 sent to me, taking them without sorting, and then report 

 how many germinate from the seventh to the twelfth day 

 after they are sown. This enables the Cotton Supply Asso- 

 ciation to tell which seed offered to them is really worth 

 buying. I then throw the plants away. 



The seed readily germinates in a temperature of about 70°, 

 and if intended for growing up to blooming, the plants 

 shoidd be kept pretty close to the glass, and have plenty 

 of air without being subjected to cold draughts, and if they 

 arc kept steadily growing with nothing to overshadow them 

 they will bloom at the back of the house. 



1 have flowered them, but never induced them to produce 

 their cotton. I believe those ivho have plenty of room and 

 time can ripen their sued, and, of course, have their pods of 

 cotton. — John Haoue, 'M, Mount Street, Ashtoti-muler-Lync. 



Royal HobticulturaIj Society. — Saturday last being the 

 day appointed for the Early Tulip Show, we wont to South 

 Kensington, but Ibund none but a few from the Society's 



1 



