JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
{ August 1, 1878. 
in this country, and probably the cone referred: to contains 
fertile seeds. 
APROPOS of JUDGING AT EXHIBITIONS the Rey. C. C. 
Ellison has sent us a leaf from a book that was handed to him 
asa Judge at the Caythorpe Flower Show, and which is the 
invention of Mr. Palmer, the Secretary of that Show. Two- 
thirds of the leaf constitute a prize card that is torn from the 
counterfoil and placed on the exhibits when the prize is awarded. 
The judge holds the book and writes the winning number on 
the prize card and counterfoil, an assistant writing the name 
of the exhibitor on the space provided therefor on the card 
severed from the book. As observed by Mr. Ellison, mistake 
is impossible, as if the card were removed the counterfoil 
would show the winner. Where judging is done under num- 
ber, as is the case at many local shows, the Caythorpe plan is 
simple and expeditious. The card is, however, too small for 
large exhibitions, and space for the names and addresses of 
both owner and gardener is not provided. 
A vERY prolific and close-growing F1a may now be 
seen in Messrs. Osborn’s Fulham Nurseries. It is now being 
sent out under the name of OSBORN’S PROLIFIC, an appropriate 
name, for plants growing in small 32-sized pots and looking 
remarkably strong and healthy are bearing five and six fruit 
each, besides showing a dozen others as a succeeding crop. Vines 
in pots, too, are looking extremely well, and are ripening their 
strong canes rapidly. 
Mr. ADDISON says that he saw a quantity of the JAMES 
VEITCH variety of STRAWBERRY at the Show in Edinburgh 
on the 10th ult., sent from Mr. Dunn, Dalkeith Park, and they 
far surpassed in size any he had ever seen. Mr. Dunn writes 
that it is a first-class sort. He gathered some fruits 3 ozs. and 
33 ozs. in weight. 
A BRENCHLEY correspondent has sent us an example 
of ABNORMAL GROWTH IN THE PoTATO. The stem, which is 
stout, not only contains tubers at the axil of every leaf, but 
even the flower stalk is surmounted with a small aérial tuber 
from which a cluster of malformed flower buds issue. We 
have often seen tubers produced by the stem above ground 
instead of on that portion below the surface, but never in such 
a marked manner as in the example before us. It illustrates 
in a practical manner the fact that the tubers are really an 
integral part of the stem of the plant, but we cannot account 
for their formation in the air instead of intheearth. Probably 
the plant has received a check by some cause or other during 
its early stages of growth. “No tubers formed in the soil, 
but the whole crop is borne by the stem. Some of them are 
of good planting size and shall be planted. A portion of 
plant bearing aérial tubers has also been sent to us from 
Itchingfield Rectory, Horsham. ! 
—— Mk. Murray, the head gardener at Peniarth, and the 
under gardener. on Saturday last found a plant of the tropical 
Fern, PLATYCERIUM ALCICORNE, growing upon the Cader 
idris range of mountains in Wales. Some years since persons 
from the gardens of Penrhyn Castle discovered the same Fern 
at Llyn Idwal, and we understand that it was also found upon 
the estate of a nobleman in the north of England. The plant 
zecently discovered is a young one, and has been brought to 
Peniarth in good condition. 
THE NE PLuS MEURIS PEAR, writes a practical 
gardener, is very prolific this season. To have it in perfection 
the fruit ought to be freely thinned, for being produced in 
great clusters unless well thinned it is comparatively useless. 
All kinds of Pears are improved by judicious thinning, but 
mone more so than the Ne Plus Meuris, the core being so large 
that small fruit may be said to consist of little but core and 
skin, and in this state are certainly not fit for the table. A 
good dish of this variety in January and later is sometimes 
very useful. 
—— A CORRESPONDENT, “EH. H.,” desires to know where 
CHIPPED GRANITE or MARBLE can be obtained for forming 
garden paths. We shall be glad if any of our readers can 
supply the information. 
—— Dwarr Kipnry BEANS are again very prolific, one 
grower near Grays, Essex, haying already sent upwards of 
four hundred sieves to the London markets. ‘The Scarlet 
Runners, where liberal treatment was given in the first 
instance, are bearing freely, but the late extremely hot and 
dry weather has proved more prejudicial to them than to the 
dwarfs. The genial showers now falling will soon have the 
effect of stocking the markets, and it is to be hoped they will 
realise more remunerative prices than has lately been the case 
with Peas. With the latter the prices have been so low that 
many growers gave up picking, the prices obtained not paying 
ior the labour. The supply of vegetables at present appa- 
rently altogether exceeds the demand, and the growers are 
consequently having a bad time of it. 
— WE learn that the Show of the RoyAL HoRTICULTU- 
RAL SOCIETY OF ABERDEEN, held on the 25th ult., was both 
extensive andexcellent. Mr. Roberts, gardener to John Laing, 
Esq., Granton Lodge ; Mr. Forrest, gardener, Haddo House ; 
and Mr. Middleton, gardener, Balgownie Lodge, secured the 
prizes in the specimen plant classes with admirable examples 
of culture. Ferns were remarkably well staged by Mr. Hadden, 
gardener, Denmore; and Mr. Grigor, gardener, Sunny Bank, 
who were awarded the chief prizes, and other cultivators. 
Roses were good, the silver cup for twenty-four blooms being 
won by Messrs. Cocker & Sons. Fruit was well represented, 
the first prize for a collection being secured by Mr. Farquhar, 
gardener to Col. Gordon of Fyvie for superior produce. The 
chief prizes for Grapes were won by Mr. Ogg, gardener to Sir 
W. Forbes, Bart., Fintray House; Mr. Farquhar; and Mr. 
Proctor, gardener, Slains Castle, who all staged good and well- 
finished bunches. For the largest Strawberries, a dish of fifty, 
the first prize was awarded to G. J. R. Gordon, Esq., Hllon 
Castle (Mr. Wilson, gardener), for Eclipse, immense cocks- 
comb-shaped fruit. For four dishes the first prize was awarded 
to Mr. J. Mortimer, Rubislaw, for President, Myatt’s Seedling, 
Sir Joseph Paxton, and Oscar. Vegetables were of splendid 
quality and in great abundance, the first prize for a collection 
of ten kinds going to Mr. Ogg. The Show was well managed 
by Mr. Rennie, the Society’s able Secretary. 
RIPENING OF GRAPES AFTER REMOVAL FROM THE 
Vine.—In the Gazetta chimica Italiana some experiments 
by M. Pollacci are described, in which he finds that the 
process of ripening continues for a certain time after the 
Grape has been removed from the parent plant. The bunches 
of fruit removed were, as far as possible, equally divided, and 
the quantity of glucose and acid determined in the freshly 
gathered Grapes, as also in portions kept in the shade for 
some ten or twelve days. In all the portions which had been 
kept the glucose had increased, whilst the amount of acid had 
diminished, showing that a certain amount of ripening action 
had taken place ; this action, however, ceases after a time, the 
ripening never attaining full maturity. 
FRUIT IN THE UNITED STATES. 
THE last issue of “Scribner's Monthly” contains an inter- 
esting account of anew Americanindustry. The extraordinary 
fecundity of the United States in the matter of fruit is pro- 
verbial, but it may not be generally known that three million 
Peach trees bloom every spring on the sunny plains between 
the Delaware and Chesapeake Bays. The details of the 
American fruit crop almost savour of romance. The Apple 
crop of that country is past counting ; the surplus fruit, if 
properly saved, would keep all Europe in table luxuries. The 
birds on New Hampshire hills are feasted with Raspberries, 
the mountains of North Carolina and Tennessee are purple 
with Blackberries which go to waste, and the time has been 
when an extra good crop of Peaches in Delaware has meant a 
million baskets of fruit untouched upon the trees. For many 
years there was a great waste of fruit in the States, but by a 
process now adopted a large per-centage of the growth is saved 
and rendered useful. 
Several of the States now produce sliced dried Apples and 
Peaches, delicately coloured from light straw to pale flesh 
colour. In Tennessee, North Carolina, and Georgia are to be 
seen at the farmsteads rows of boards tilted up to the sun and 
covered with sliced fruits. The first improvement in drying 
fruit consisted of covering it with glass. The fruit was put 
beneath sashes, in which holes were cut to produce a current 
of air ; the fruit was spread on trays in the full sunlight, and 
the glass kept out the rain, birds, and insects. Stoves suc- 
ceeded to sashes, and then came drying closets. But best of 
all is a portable iron stove or drying machine, costing about 
$70, and serving to dry all kinds of fruit ina better manner 
than the wooden stoves. “A fire is kept up in the fire-box at 
the base, and above it are moveable shelves for Apples, Peaches, 
berries, corn, Grapes, or other fruits or vegetables. A constant 
stream of hot air passes through the apparatus, sweeping across 
the trays of fruit, and quickly extracting all their moisture.” 
In the level peninsula between Chesapeake Bay and the 
Delaware Peach trees stand in rows a mile long, luxuriating 
