34S 



JOUENAL OF HOBTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GABDENEB. 



[ October 19, 1870. 



with the disease direct and without any necessary intervention 

 of the Potato as a nurse-plant. 



Monkeys in their native haunts suffer from attacks of the 

 same fevers as men; they suffer from consumption, catarrh, 

 and from other diseases frequent in the human family, but it 

 does not follow that monkeys must catch these diseases from 

 men. The explanation is that both fall under the attacks of 

 the same noxious infections matter, whatever that matter may 

 be. The noxious matter is carried in or by the air, by water, 

 or the earth.— W. G. Smith. 



In answer to your correspondent Mr. J.W. Moorman, I have 

 two rows of Tomatoes distant from each other against south 

 walls and full of fine fruit destroyed this season after each 

 row had ripened about one-half of its crop. The earliest lot, 

 in the dampest situation of the two, was attacked first and 

 ruined in about two days after showing signs of infection. 

 The second lot on the more open and drier situation has not 

 gone so fast, but is quite as surely affected. There are no 

 Potatoes within a quarter of a mile of my garden, and very 

 few, if any, within a greater distance. 



In my opinion the wet autumn and not the proximity of Pota- 

 toes has caused the disease in this Solanum. — South Devon. 



JUDGING VEGETABLES. 



This is a subject which, like our worthy friend Mr. Taylor, 

 I for one would like to see ventilated in the pages of the 

 Journal. Mr. Taylor, writing on the subject on page 231, says 

 that " Good judges of vegetables are extremely few, whilst 

 those who may be called good judges hold very different views, 

 and there is anything but consistency in their awards." I quite 

 agree with Mr. Taylor in this and with his paper in general. I 

 desire to see some agreement come to as to the way vegetables 

 should be judged. 



In my opinion Potatoes, Peas, and Cauliflowers ought to 

 stand in the order of merit named in a collection of any 

 number of varieties ; and yet I have seen Tomatoes, Vegetable 

 Marrows, and Cucumbers, and these of no merit, placed before 

 superior examples of the other three. At a local show I aBked 

 one of the Judges how they could possibly arrive at Buch a 

 conclusion as they did on the collections — throwing out a col- 

 lection containing superior examples of Potatoes, Peas, and 

 Cauliflowers (which collection, by the way, obtained "highly 

 commended "), placing before it a collection in which Tomatoes, 

 Vegetable Marrows, and Cucumbers were prominent. The 

 reply was that the Potatoes, Peas, &c, were so easy to grow 

 and so common, and that the others were high-class vegetables. 

 My reply was, " These are also easily grown," and questioned 

 if any one of them was of more value and importance on a 

 gentleman's table than Potatoes. " No," was the reply, " but 

 they are so common." Now, will anyone say that there is 

 much reason in this line of argument ? Beoause Potatoes 

 are common and of the utmoBt importance and value to all, 

 are they to be thrown overboard in collections along with two 

 other of our best kinds of vegetables, and Tomatoes, Vegetable 

 Marrows, and Cucumbers placed before them ? I cannot con- 

 sider that to be sound judgment. Will anyone look around 

 at the present day and say if there is any one vegetable that 

 is receiving the same amount of care and attention as the 

 Potato ? Does the International Potato Show, Alexandra 

 Palace, not furnish a reply ? I would ask the Tomato cham- 

 pions if there has been any such show held anywhere and such 

 prizes offered for Tomatoes, Vegetable Marrows, and Cucum- 

 bers individually ? I desire to see vegetables which are good 

 and useful adjudged their proper value, but I fear the present 

 fashion of judging vegetables has a tendency to defeat the 

 purposes for which shows are held. 



I should like to hear more on this subject from Mr. Taylor 

 and others who are able to discuss it. — Jas. Faikweathee, 

 Halston. 



ACACIA LONGIFOLIA. 



Acacias are amongst the easiest grown and brightest of 

 hardwooded spring and summer-flowering plants. They are 

 well adapted for cultivation in pots, where the plants flower 

 profusely when in a small state, and they are equally suitable 

 for planting-out in conservatories where they form large bushes 

 or trees, which in early summer are laden with golden flowers, 

 rendering them both elegant and bright. 



The genus comprises an immense number of species, all of 



which are more or less desirable stove and greenhouse deco- 

 rative plants. The greenhouse species are the most generally 

 useful and the most commonly cultivated, as the plants in 

 pots can be grown out of doors in the summer months, where 

 they require a minimum amount of care to preserve them in 

 health, and when removed under glass they expand their 

 thousands of flowers freely. For affording cut flowers Acacias 

 are extremely useful as, especially when planted out, the plants 

 may be cut to almost any extent, and, in fact, are benefited by 

 the operation. A plant of the above-named species planted 

 in the bed of a conservatory has yielded me armfuls of golden 

 sprays, which have been valued for their slender elegance and 

 cheerful colour. It is by no means the most handsome of the 

 genus, yet of its usefulness I have had many proofs. Others 

 of the most attractive of this large family which are especially 

 worthy of culture are armata, which flowers freely even when 

 only a few inches high, and may be forced into flower in mid- 

 winter ; floribunda, grandis, dealbata, spectabilis, verticillata, 

 Hugelii, falcata, and longissima. 



Fig. 50. — Acacia lODgifolia. 



Plants are easily raised from cuttings, which mode is prefer- 

 able if dwarf flowering plants are required, but seedlings grow 

 more rapidly, and also flower freely if the Bhoots are well 

 matured by exposure to the summer's sun. The plants grow 

 freely in a mixture of loam and peat, and are seldom injured 

 by insects. — J. W. B. 



THE KOSE ELECTION. 



It was with the greatest astonishment and indignation that, 

 I read the result of the poll, and I cannot help thinking many 

 other exhibitors will feel the same. Until, however, we learn 

 who the electors are we cannot form any true judgment as to 

 the result, but from the names mentioned by Mr. Hinton I 

 should say there was a very little wheat and a tremendous per- 

 centage of chaff. Now, this is not what we want in a Kose 

 election which treats of exhibition Borts. What Mr. Hinton 

 should aim at should be getting the opinion of the leading 

 nurserymen and those amateurs alone who have distinguished 

 themselves at the London or large provincial shows — not the 

 opinions of anyone who may choose to send in a list. A more 

 misleading list than that published as the result of the poll it 

 has never been my lot to read. , 



Here, for example, we have Gloire de Dijon placed 23rd, and 

 Marie Van Houtte 44th, and Souvenir d'EliBe 38th. Shades of 

 my ancestors, what a result ! What a miserable, misleading, un- 

 righteous, abominable (please Mr. Publisher chooBe a jolly bad 



