Jtuy 20, 1876. ] 



JOURNAL OF HOBTIOULTUBE AND COTTAGE GABDENEB. 



55 



of water? The good resulting of "the water applied to the 

 under side of the foliage " might be, and no doubt was, due to 

 the water moistening the soil for a distance around the plant 

 at least equal to the spread of the head. The water would 

 feed the roots, cool the heated tissues, and have a mechanical 

 action in freeing the foliage of dust and insects. 



There can be no objection to syringing plants overhead with 

 " pure clean water," but collected water is often anything but 

 that ; and I repeat that when moisture in sufficient quantity is 

 afforded the roots and atmosphere, the necessity for syringing 

 Vines and other subjects (which from their position can only 

 be done on the under Bide of the foliage), does not arise, and 

 is in all cases of sedimentary matter following, syringing is 

 more calculated to injure than benefit. I applaud the right 

 use of the syringe as much as I deplore its abuse, but I am 

 satisfied that there is much thoughtless and unreasonable 

 squirtings in vineries and other glass structures. — G. Abbey. 



THE WAT TO GROW HAUTBOIS STEAWBEBRIES. 



I dabesay some will say, " I knew all about growing Haut- 

 bois Strawberries before." If so, why did you not tell me? 

 for I have asked more than once for information on the subject 

 in this Journal, and scores of times verbally, in fact of every- 

 one I met who I thought likely to know anything about it. 

 True, I have not been short of advice of one sort and another. 

 One adviser said I had not the right kind, another that the 

 soil was wrong, a third that I gave too much manure, and a 

 fourth that I ought to give more. Others recommended cut- 

 ting off the tops, and others growing the plants from seed. 



I changed plants, soil, aspect, and treatment all to no pur- 

 pose. I had plenty of foliage, flowers, and fruit such as it 

 was, bnt the greater portion of it was undersized and perfectly 

 dry and hard. Perhaps three, or sometimes half a dozen, fruits 

 would swell off on a plant, and I could scarcely gather a dish 

 of fruit at a time from a large patch. When I did manage to 

 pick a tolerably good dish it was very highly commended, and 

 my employer expressed a wish for more. I have been obliged 

 to admit more than once that I did not know how to grow 

 them — rather humiliating this to one who has given his life to 

 this and kindred subjects. 



Speaking one day to a neighbouring gentleman about Straw- 

 berry growing, he informed me that he used to have Hautbois 

 Strawberries in abundance without any special cultivation; 

 that they, in fact, grew in an almoBt wild state on the site of an 

 old ditch, and I believe he added that since those plants were 

 removed his gardener had not been able to do much with this 

 kind of fruit. I at once attributed hiB former success to mois- 

 ture and shade, and secured both for my plants during the 

 following season, but the result was the same as before. Now 

 I am happy to say I have found out the secret. A portion of 

 my plants last summer were left without any trimming, the 

 runners being allowed to remain where they rooted naturally, 

 and the result is that on these runners there is one of the 

 greatest crops of Strawberries I ever saw, and all the fruit 

 swells off to a good size. There is hardly a fruit on the old 

 stools from which the runners proceed ; and the plants kept 

 clear of runners according to the orthodox method of Straw- 

 berry growing are, as they ever were, almoBt fruitless. 



Now I know what to do. Hautbois Strawberries in future 

 will be planted 3 feet from row to row, early runners will be 

 encouraged to root in the space between the rows, and the old 

 stools and surrounding soil dug clean out every season and 

 replaced with fresh rich soil for the encouragement of another 

 succession of runners. Heavy loam liberally treated is the 

 best soil for this and all other Strawberries, excepting President 

 and perhaps the Alpines. — William Tayloe. 



EXHIBITORS' WRONGS. 

 When I first wrote to you to denounce two-day Bose Bhows 

 I mentioned that exhibitors obtained no redress if their boxes, 

 &c, were injured or loBt on the return journey; but I was 

 not then aware that such a case as the following was possible. 

 On Wednesday and Thursday, July 5 th and 6th, I exhibited 

 at the Westminster Aquarium. One of the classes in which I 

 staged was the open class for twelve varieties. Boxes could 

 not be removed except between a late hour on Thursday 

 evening and 10 a.m. on Friday morning. A friend of mine 

 engaged to remove my boxes and arrived at 9.30 a.m. on 

 Friday. Not only was the cover of the box exhibited in the 

 open twelves gone, but more than half the tubes as well. For 



a week no notice was taken by the Manager either of my 

 letters or of four visits paid by my friend. I am now coolly 

 informed that the articles have been looked for and cannot be 

 found. That is to say, unless I go to the expense of legal 

 process there is no redress. Have any other exhibitors Buffered 

 similar losses ? — T. H. Gould, Mortimer. 



BOSE SHOWS-ROSE ELECTION. 



Thebe is an error in your otherwise (I am proud to think) 

 truthful report of the Maidstone Bose Show. It is with regard 

 to the class for thirty-six varieties, in which you say there was 

 no competition. There was keen competition, the prizes fall- 

 ing to the same exhibitors as those for forty-eight trebles, and 

 in the same order — viz., Messrs. Paul & Son, Mr. Cant, and 

 Mr. Turner. I should like to avail myself of this opportunity 

 to endorse (which our lately purchased experience I regret 

 enables me to do) all that your correspondent wrote a few 

 weeks ago about Bose shows financially. It is a fact that in 

 this town of nearly thirty thousand inhabitants (" D., Deal," 

 was too lenient in giving eighteen or twenty thousand as our 

 number) we only took £1 for every thousand. I think we 

 Bhall not spend our money in a vain endeavour to attract the 

 public next year. 



May I say one word about the forthcoming election ? It is 

 with regard to the " best stock for Boses." I venture to doubt 

 the utility of recording the opinions of Bose-growers upon the 

 question, seeing how entirely the ohoice of a stock depends 

 on the soil. Would not the experience of growers as to the 

 particular stock which suits each Bose be more useful ? and by 

 taking the aggregate of votes for each stock the idea of Mr. 

 Hinton would also be carried out. The letters b., s.b., m., or 

 o for Briar, Seedling Briar, Manetti or Own root, might be 

 annexed to each Bose according to itB partiality for one or the 

 other. Let those who would omit the " o " try Charles Le- 

 febvre, Camille Bernardin, and one or two others I could name, 

 taking strong plants and outting back very hard. — Hubebt 

 Bensted. 



PEACH BLISTEB. 



I am quite ready in the friendliest way possible to supply a 

 few " facts and not fancies " on this subject. For instance, 

 at the earliest stage of blister, and when the Peach leaf first 

 begins to show signs of discoloration and thickening, the spawn 

 of Ascomyces deformans exists and can be seen within the 

 leaf. This fact has been repeatedly observed and confirmed. 

 Again, the spawn within the leaf at this early period excites 

 the growth of the plant, destroys the chlorophyll, and greatly 

 and irregularly multiplies in number and enlarges in size the 

 constituent cells of the leaf : hence the enlargement and 

 thickening. It is a fact that the fungus spawn causes this, 

 and commonly causes similar phenomena ; but the statement 

 that the east wind can do these or similar things must be put 

 down as a mere fancy. When the leaf is enlarged, the interior 

 corroded and the blister formed, the disease still progresses, 

 and now bursting through the cuticle it lives on the outside 

 instead of the inside of the leaf. I maintain that it is only a 

 fancy to suppose from this observation (which oannot be denied) 

 that the fungus has only latterly established itself upon the 

 blister. The fact is, as I said before, that, though unseen, 

 the fungus primarily caused the blister when inside the leaf 

 by enlarging, increasing, and corroding the cells. This con- 

 dition of the leaf is illustrated by me in a drawing now exhi- 

 bited in the Kew Museum. It is a fact that the spores of the 

 fungus of the Peach blister will only grow on the Peach and 

 its immediate allies, and when the spores do germinate they 

 at once repeat the phenomena recorded above quite irrespective 

 of wind, whether north, east, south, or west. On the strength 

 of the above-recorded facts it is reasonable to believe that 

 Ascomyces deformans certainly can be, and is, the cause and 

 not the result of Peach blister. 



I have no desire to be mischievous in my endeavour to 

 record observations which I believe to be facts, and I know 

 well (as does everyone else), that cold searching winds will 

 throw plants out of health and injure their foliage, but it is a 

 mere fancy to suppose the east wind will or can cause the 

 known phenomena of Peach blister. The wind which carries 

 so many diseases may very possibly carry the spores of Asco- 

 myces. It must surely also be the record of a mere fancy, and 

 one, too, of the most transparent kind, of Mr. Luckhurst's 

 when he writes, " Mr. Smith evidently confounds blister with 



