November 9, 1876. J 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



403 



second season of growth, and I have given them next year to 

 ■fill the house, inoluding the 8 feet upright. This year the pro- 

 duce of all the trees have been great, and we are just now 

 gathering every other day several dozens of fruit from the 

 White Ischia, and the branches are still laden like ropes of 

 Onions. Although this variety is considered a dwarf-growing 

 tree in its planted state, here it has made a wider and stronger 

 growth than its companion. It is a very small fruit grown in 

 pots, but planted out it is nearly equal in size to White 

 Marseilles. I find it of very great value just now, when Plums 

 •and Peaches are nil. It is well depcribed in Hogg's " Fruit 

 Manual," and its late usefulness added here may induce it to 

 become useful also to a few others. — K. 



THE ROSE ELECTION. 



After all it is sufficient that our pets, the Roses themselves, 

 ■have thorns with which they will sometimes inflict wounds 

 on their admirers. It is not at all necessary that their ad- 

 mirers should have thorns for each other. In replying first 

 in thB heat of the moment, and with scant time for reflection 

 to my friend — for I believe that " differences of opinion should 

 not alter friendship," and therefore I still write my friend 

 "Wyld Savage" — I hope the bide I showed was not too thorny. 

 It was a terrible knock-down blow to have that heap of ad- 

 jeotives hurled at the" election, for the publisher evidently was 

 at a loss to select one more "jolly" than those "Wyld 

 Savage " had himself discovered ; and to feel thus after 

 having had Rose on the brain for weeks, after wading through 

 names of illustrious and unknown personages who have given 

 their names to the said Roses ; after a nightmare in whioh 

 each Rose has pressed its charms upon me for niches in the 

 temple of Fame (alias Rose lists), and striven to assure me 

 that each separate pleader should bead the list, as if the whole 

 matter rested with the returning officer instead of the voters ; 

 to have so redoubtable a champion as "Wild Savage" ride 

 into the lists, determined to "do or die" for Marie Tan 

 Houtte or La Belle Lyonnaise, was in truth appalling, and 

 like a bucket of cold water unexpectedly poured down your 

 back in the depth of winter. But as many of us know that to 

 the cold water there is a "jolly " reaction, so is there after 

 "Wyld Savage's" cold douche, for private letters and your 

 esteemed correspondents, including my friend " Wtld Savage," 

 have salved over av?y wound that the thorns had made. 



I Bhould, indeed, be ungrateful did I not acknowledge warmly 

 the kind expressions of thanks for what really has been a labour 

 of love, as "D., Deal," puis it. It is a labour, too, which 

 makes me feel that I know some of the correspondents of our 

 Journal as well as possible, even though I have never had 

 the great pleasure of grasping their hands, for tied as I am 

 professionally, spare moments do not come ' sufficiently to- 

 gether to enable me to visit exhibitions where I might see 

 ■them in the flesh. To all who have written to kindly my 

 hearty thanks are due, and if they are herein given but feebly, 

 I can assure them they are most warmly felt. 



If able and Bpared to undertake the 1877 election, it will be 

 in some respects more in accordance with "Savage" ideas. 

 It will be an " exhibition " and "garden" election, and the 

 only punishment I shall inflict on " Wtld Savage " will be 

 that he must himself induce " Hercules " to put pen to paper 

 for the former. 



I will in conclusion just remark, that the difference of a 

 vote more or Ibbs has a very m irked effect on the position of 

 a Rose at the close of the poll. Take for instanoe "Wyld 

 Savage's" Duke of Wellington, which he justly remarks is so 

 much higher in the supplementary list. D.duet from it one 

 first-class vote, and 27 immediately becomes 33 — a startling 

 difference. So shaking hands with " Wyld Savage," who is 

 neither so wyld or so savage as his first onslaught appears to 

 be, I again say to all helpers, Many thanks. — Joseph Hinton, 

 Warminster. 



BEDDING GERANIUMS. 

 " C. P. P." appears to have an nnlimited supply of Mr. 

 Pearson's varieties, but there are sorts of other good growers 

 which he never alludes to, let alone the good old varieties. 

 What a small list of RoseB there would be if all the old varieties 

 were discarded ! I was much struck by the following remark 

 of a lady on looking at a bed of Lucius Geranium: — "I 

 cannot bear those large heads, for they are always shabby in 

 the middle before they are out at the sides." And is not this 



what we all regret, and therefore should aim at kinds having 

 good trusses and all the flowers opening together ? If large 

 growers would send well-tested lists it would aid many who, 

 like myself, rejoice in a really good new variety, but who are 

 often disappointed at finding some that they have been re- 

 commended to buy not being so good as they expected. Mr. 

 Cannell's division of the colours into sections might suit, 

 putting z for Zonal, n for Nosegay, and w when the flower has 

 a white eye. — Age. 



EARLY APPLES. 



It is not a little humiliating to one, but I feel I must con- 

 fess that at the age of fourteen to sixteen years old I knew 

 more about early eating Apples than I do now. This is 

 simply because I have not Bince had the rich store of varieties 

 to practise upon. I then undoubtedly made good use of the 

 opportunity, and could tell where the best fruit were to be 

 found at any time. I knew each one's season of ripening, and 

 I was not to be deceived in the name of an Apple by eating it 

 in the dark. I knew, too, how to get a long pointed stick and 

 take the Apples through a certain hole in winter from the fruit- 

 room. I was particularly acquainted with most of the Apples 

 mentioned of late in this Journal, but none of them equalled 

 a favourite of mine, called " Vann's Pippin." I think it is a 

 local variety, for I have not met with it in any other place. 

 To me it seems that this Apple is to other varieties what a well- 

 ripened Green Gage Plum is to an OrleanB ; indeed, like the 

 Green Gage, the riper Vann's Pippin is it is the more delicious. 

 We find many Apples after beiDg ripe pass to a dry mealy state, 

 but not so this variety. It is at the same time the best early 

 cooking Apple I ever met with. The tree is a prodigious 

 bearer. I have known really good crop3 the second year when 

 grafts have been placed on large trees. 



I have not seen this Apple for more than twelve years, but 

 writing from memory I would describe the fruit of medium 

 size, in colour pale straw, conical ; eye close and small, and set 

 in a shallow basin, and stalk long and slender set in a rather 

 deep cavity. It is an Apple that I can strongly recommend to 

 any person; " Wiltshire Rector," I feel sure, would be pleased 

 with it. I know no nurseryman who sells it, still I have no 

 doubt that grafts or trees are obtainable.— John Taylor, Hard- 

 wicke Grange. 



HARDY FLOWERS IN KEW GARDENS. 



Saxifraga Fortonei is now the moBt ornamental of all the 

 herbaceous and alpine plants at Kew. A profusion of pure 

 white flowers are borne above a mass of very handsome dark 

 green leaves. This plant is on tho rockwork, where it is quite 

 hardy. Oxalis lobata is one of the gems of the genus, and is 

 perfect in its habit of growth. It forms a neat tuft of leaves 

 close to the ground, and on short stems above appear a multi- 

 tude of golden yellow flowers. Polygonum vacciniifolium is 

 another very elegant plant for rockwork; it has the most 

 delicate spikes of pink flowers imaginable, produced on wiry 

 stems with small leaves. 



Several autumnal Croci are now in flower, and it can but 

 be said that they are deserving of far more attention than 

 they receive in gardens. C. Boryi is one of the most beautiful 

 of all Crocuses ; its flowers are creamy white with orange-red 

 stigmas. C. cancellatus is another white kind, easily distin- 

 guished by the coarse thick coats of the corm, though it may 

 be said that all the species can be known by characters afforded 

 by the corm. C. longiflorus has fragrant lilac flowers with a 

 yellow throat. It is often called C. odorus. C. serotinus and 

 its variety Salzmannii.have also lilac flowers. Both are rare. 

 C. byzantinus, sometimes known as C. iridiflorue, is blue-purple 

 without variegation. It is remarkable for the small size of 

 the inner perianth segments. G. nudifiorus is one of the most 

 common, both wild and cultivated ; it increases freely, and is 

 naturalised about Nottingham and in two other districts. The 

 flowers are blue-purple. C. speciosus is one of the largest 

 and most effective; the feather-veining is beautifully apparent 

 from the darker colour of the veins. It might be largely used 

 for greenhouse decoration, and would be valuable, as flower- 

 ing naturally at the present time when flowers are scarce. 

 The trouble need reoeive no consideration, as the corms only 

 require to be potted from the open ground when the bnds are 

 visible. No more roots need be taken than can conveniently 

 be managed, though without doubt it would be best to accom- 

 modate as many as possible. In a dry room with fire^a corm 



