Jane 6, 1865. ] 



JOURITAL OF HORTICULTTJRB AND COTTAGE GAEDENEE. 



43X 



Strawberries, through them ; the trees alone they spared. 

 The sod had been newly brokeu up, and the ground trenched 

 2 feet deep. Now I hardly ever see one, except in the newer 

 parts of my ground. If your correspondent has plenty of 

 children, he may have some useful revenge by plunging 

 Potato-slices stuck on a piece of stick, and drawing them 

 every morning. But, after all, the only cure is to harass 

 the villains heartily, and iu the third generation discomfit 

 them. — K. D. Blackmoee, Teddington. 



CUCUMBEE PLAINTS PEODUCIKG FEMALE 



BLOSSOMS ONLY. 

 I HAVE a Cucumber-frame heated by two flues passing 

 under the bed from the back of a kitchen iireplace, and I 

 have maintained a bottom heat at S inches below the sur- 

 face of 80° or 85° ; top heat at about 70°. I planted three 

 plants in the bed last year, and had excellent and robust- 

 looking vines, but no fruit ; all the flowers were females, and 

 consequently died and damped off. I have tried this year 

 again, and am getting into the same predicament. I have 

 strong healthy plants (Telegraph), but on all the three 

 plants the flowers are all females, not a single male flower 

 can be seen. I water every second or third day with tepid 

 soft water, and then give a good soaking. I have raised 

 excellent fruit in dung-frames, but I must say now that I 

 am puzzled. — C. W. W. 



[Tou had better have an open chamber, or a rough one of 

 clinkers, over your flues, with means of pouring water, not 

 on the flues, but on the clinkers between and round them. 

 However, your case rather surprises us. Try what thinning 

 out freely your great show of female flowers will do. Cu- 

 cumbers win swell freely enough that never were influenced 

 by the male flower, but of coui'se such fruit wiU have no 

 seed capable of germination. Thin the fruit, and secure 

 moisture at the bottom without passing the moisture through 

 the soil. A small drain-pipe set on end will enable you to 

 do that. Let us know the result.] 





MY PLANTS, 



AND HOW AND WHERE I FOUND THEM.— No. 3. 



" Theeb one can inhale pure breezes, a rural walk, and 

 ' Breast the keen air, and carol as he goes,' 

 should he have any propensity to indulge in sweet sounds. 

 No innovation on his purse — no mendicant to interrupt his 

 quiet meditations with vescatoi-y importunity. He may 

 pick Buttercups under any hedge, and no policeman order 

 him to ' move on ;' and in his solitary ramblings he has no- 

 thing to dread but a gipsy fortune-teller and a sticking cow." 



Thus writeth Dionysius O'Dogherty, Esq., of that spot in 

 our fair island denominated Highgate. Much more appli- 

 cable do I deem his rhapsody to the lovely walk adown 

 which (escorted in my mind's eye by my companionable 

 reader), I purpose travelling this summer evening. In a 

 dip in the valley we are sure to find the picturesque group 

 around the gipsy camp, for there a stream of water runs 

 near at hand, leaping bright and clear over the marble-like 

 pebbles common to this neighbourhood. There is the neces- 

 sary shade and feed for these dark-eyed wanderers, and, 

 above all, a good supply of game for the pot which is now 

 hanging over the fire, and which, if I mistake not, would 

 find it difficult to escape the quick eye and fleet feet of the 

 Inrcher who is keeping guard over the vans. We have Pine 

 woods to our right and left, a vast moorland before us, and 

 a long tortuous road to pursue, set on either side with 

 Ferns, Grasses, and Heather. The distant moor is purple 

 with the latter, richly lit up with the farewell rays of the 

 departing sun, which, lover-like, keeps his fondest and yet 

 saddened look for the moment of bidding his adieu. 



It was on an evening like this that my husband and 

 myself drove quietly along the road from Upper Tean to 

 Great Tate. Never can I forget the impression its wild 

 grandeur made upon me. It reminds one of times long, long 

 past, when the Eomans held sway in this sea-girt island of 

 ours. It might have been txntouohed from their time until 

 now, so dark are the Pine woods, so wild and uncultivated 

 the moorland — so bleak, so primitive,, so quiet does every- 



thing appear. A few farms are dotted here and there ; but 

 the attempt seems to have been almost ineffectual to reduce 

 the natural boldness and magnificence of God's first work to 

 the so-caUed refined ideas of this present generation. Over 

 the moorland still roams the black and grey rabbit; and 

 the grouse, moorcock, and partridge stiU hold their evening 

 confabulations. Here we come upon the Tiiodia decumbens, 

 which with its purple spikelets looks so completely a Grass 

 suited to the choice tastes of the birds which frequent these 

 waste lands. Around us are specimens of the Aira fiexuosa, 

 A. prEecox, Nardus stricta, several kinds of Pestuoa and 

 Bromns, also the Avena pubescens or Downy Oat Grass. 

 Beneath our feet is the Cowberry or red Whortleberry, of 

 which the flower is flesh-coloured, and the berries red, acid, 

 and rather bitter. Like the Cranberry and BUberry, it is 

 used in tarts, and made into preserves by the country people. 

 It is little inferior to the former when cooked. In dense 

 patches grows the BUberry, with its smooth dark green 

 leaves and bluish black fruit, which is much sought after by 

 the children of the poor, who gather the berries for sale, 

 making in an unfruitful season as much as lOcl. per quart. 

 Cranberries realise a larger sum, not because they are less 

 plentiful in many parts of Staffordshire, but because, the 

 gatherers say, they are so small and necessarily cost them 

 more time and labour. This fr-uit is little used amongst the 

 labouring classes, as being an extravagance with regard to 

 the quantity of sugar which it requires to make it palatable. 

 Whilst strolling amongst the Ling and Heath I may mention 

 that a white variety of the former is found at ProghaU, and 

 I have also gathered a few sprays upon a bank at Free Hay. 

 I have been told that the Arbutus uva-ursi, or Eed Bear- 

 berry, is to be met with upon some of these rocky heaths, 

 but I have unsuccessfully sought for it. 



Having collected the above information with regard to 

 the value of the relative berries which grew on the moor, 

 we continued our ride through Great l&te, or rather some- 

 times driving and sometimes alighting from our dogcart, 

 and trusting the animal thereto attached to his good sense 

 of propriety to follow us or await our pleasure, we well 

 scanned the banks and ditches around us. The Anthoxan- 

 thum odoratum had seen its best days, and was looking 

 " seedy " and de troiJ amongst its fresh and newly clad 

 neighbours, the Pestuca ovina, P. duriusoula, and P. pra- 

 tensis, the Arena pubescens, the Lolium perenne, Briza 

 media, and Aira flexuosa. Leaving the common and road- 

 side grass, we come to the ditches between it and the moor. 

 Here we have the Aspidium spinulosum with several varieties, 

 the Pilix-mas, Blechnum spicant, and last but not least the 

 Lady Fern in its many stages of growth and characters. 

 In some of the banks it is most luxuriant, particularly above 

 a wet ditch at the foot of the bank where they grew, and 

 where the fronds were of a great length. 



*' "Where the copsewood ia the greenest. 

 Where the fountain glistens sheenest. 

 Where the .norning dew lies longest. 

 There the Lady Fern grows strongest." 



Proceeding on our journey we reached the small church of 

 St. Giles, in the pleasant village of Croxden. With eager 

 eyes I scanned the bvdlding ; and there, above the battle- 

 ments, most comfortably ensconced, and apparently in its 

 luxuriance alike defying wind and weather, were several 

 sturdyplants of the Euta muraria. I took the reins, and 

 my driver gallantly and kindly ascended to the devoted 

 spot, and with his pocket-knife carefully detached two or 

 three splendid bunches. I transferred it subsequently to 

 my fernery in our little garden, but either owing to unsuit- 

 ableness of soU or situation it never flourished so well as it 

 did in its elevated home on the old church. 



At a short distance from the church is the fine ruin of 

 Croxden Abbey, where we were told the heart of King John 

 was buried. This, however, did not interest me so much as 

 the discovery of plants of the Geranium lucidum, or Shining 

 Cranesbill. The Parietaria oficinalis (Wall Pellitory), the 

 Sedum reflexum (Crooked Stonecrop), and S. telephium, or 

 Orpine, grow upon different spots of this home of the jolly 

 old friars. Just as we were exploring the building, one of 

 those smart and heavy summer showers which so refresh 

 the thirsty and panting earth at this time of the year came 

 on, and we took shelter in the dogcart imder the friendly 

 protection of the old abbey. We had time to think of the 



