November 16, 1876. ] 



JOURNAL OP HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



429 



been in all cases utility. It was chiefly to questions which 

 he thought likely to lead to important practical results that 

 his attention was directed, and the numerous papers commu- 

 nicated by him to the Transactions of the Horticultural So- 

 ciety, in the chair of which he suoceeded his friend Sir Joseph 

 Banks, have all this distinguishing feature. No one who has 

 traoed the progress of horticultural skill for the last twenty 

 or thirty years can be ignorant that it is mainly due to the 

 writings and practioe of Mr. Kuight ; he was probably the best 

 practical gardener of his day. It is, however, not a little 

 remarkable that with so very extensive a knowledge of the 

 facts of vegetable physiology, he should have been so unfortu- 

 nate, as he certainly was, in many of his explanations of them. 

 This arose no doubt from his unaequaintance with vegetable 

 anatomy, and consequently with the minute means by which 

 Nature brings about her results ia organised matter. Mr. 

 Knight's experiments were not confined to vegetable physiology. 

 He was a close observer of the habits of animals, and one of 

 his la3t communications to the Royal Society was on the 

 subject of animal instinct. At a late period of his life he also 

 made some attempts to improve the breed of draught horses, 

 by crossing the largo London dray horse with the strong and 

 compact Norwegian mare, the result of which was not ascer- 

 tained at the time of his death, but was expected, from the 

 appearance of the colts, to be attended with success. He 

 died in London on the 11th of May, 1838, in the eightieth 

 year of his age. 



APPLES. 



I live in an Apple-growing county, Devonshire, and can 

 truly say if you go to a grower he often gives his trees some 

 high-sounding name, while what you buy turns out worthless. 

 As a man cannot expect to plant often during a lifetime, this 

 oarelessness about names and kinds is much to be regretted. 



Some Apples in our older orchards excel the new kinds 

 which are much cried up. Among them are the Priory, the 

 Buffcoat, the Onion Apple, and others. Truth in names and 

 kinds seems to be a desideratum. It seems to me the Apple, 

 as being among the beBt-flavoured as well as nutritious of 

 fruits, is well - deserving notice ; and as the food question gains 

 ground I should not be surprised to see this fruit take an im- 

 portant position. — T. 



BOSES ON A NORTH BORDER— CUTTINGS. 



I should certainly advise " St. Edmund " to transplant his 

 " own-root Roses " from the north border where they at present 

 are to a more genial soil with a sheltered aspect, say south or 

 east ; if he has not a wall some sort of fence or shelter should 

 be made to proteot them. This is by far the best time for 

 transplanting, as the Rose trees become half established before 

 severe weather sets in. I should plant them in rows about 

 15 inches apart. 



Certainly no other kind of plant should ever be suffered to 

 grow near dwarf Roses. I Bhould not recommend him to take 

 his two Tea Roses indoors for the winter. I do not at all ap- 

 prove of moving Teas more than is absolutely necessary. Per- 

 haps his soil is too heavy for Teas. If so he had better lift 

 them and plaoe a compost of turfy loam and old hotbed ma- 

 nure on the bed that he means to fill with Teas, prune the 

 roots, and plant with care. If these two Teas are on the Briar 

 he must be careful not to plant them too deep. Souvenir d'un 

 Ami is a capital grower here, but I know nothing of Madame 

 Falcot, exoept that her eye3 are exceedingly large and that 

 she is perfectly worthless as an exhibition Rose, but her buds 

 are most valuable for bouquets or button-hole flowers. 



In reply to "Iris" about "putting in Manetti" cuttings 

 now, taken " from standards budded in August," I never heard 

 of a Manetti cutting from a standard Rose, and so cannot 

 possibly advise. A standard Manetti is like a Cornish chough, 

 a thing I have never seen. With regard to cutting-back late- 

 budded Roses close to the bud I think " Ieis" is wrong. He 

 should leave about 3 inches above the bud until the spring. 

 If he does not do this the frost will possibly injure the bud. 

 — Wyld Savage. 



AMERICAN BLACKBERRIES. 



Having; brought theBe to the notice of our readers, and 



having some inquiries relative to their culture, we extract the 



following from " The Amerioan Horticulturist:" — The loDger 



Blackberry canes are unpruned the shorter will be the laterals 



and the smaller the fruit. To obtain the largest-size berries, 

 and the largest quantity too, cut back the leading canes to 

 not exceeding 4 feet in length, and shorten-in also the lateral 

 branches. In July the young wood, which by that time has 

 grown over the tops of the old bearing canes, should be dipped , 

 especially the lateral branches. This will have a very good 

 effect on the following year's crop. 



DIOSPYROS KAKI. 



The generic name affirms that it is a fruit fit for the gods, 

 which is more than the usual exaggeration, for althougb.its 

 bright yellow colour is showy, it is not so good in flavour as a 

 moderate Plum. 



The tree is of middling size, and a native of Japan. Mr. 

 G. F. Wilson has obliged us by writing as follows : — 



" We bought a few plants of Diospyros Kaki at a sale. Two 

 have thriven ; one bore fruit this year for the first time. A 

 visitor who had lived long in Japan told me that the fruit was 

 esteemed there, and that if the plant was allowed to carry too 

 much the fruit would almost all fall before ripening. It seems 



■ , ■'"• WStff, 



Fig. C5.— Diospji'os Kaki. 



a prolific bearer ; after considerable thinning our small tree 

 in a pot in the orchard house bore eleven fruit. As to the 

 edible qualities of our particular species grown in this country 

 I do not think anyone would wish to taBte twice ; without 

 being bitter the fruit is intensely astringent. I have seen a 

 number of friends at table twisting their mouths as if they 

 had swallowed a lump of tannin. I should not be surprised 

 if the fruit is found to contain a new valuable astringent 

 principle. A friend to whom I mentioned this, and who has 

 lived long in Australia, said they obtained there an extract from 

 the Gum Tree used as a specific in diarrhoaa." 



ROMNEYA COULTERI. 



We have been gratified this week by seeing at Glasnevin 

 the first flowers expand of the singular Oalifornian Papaver- 

 aceous plant, Romneya Coulteri. This is, for several reasons, 

 a very remarkable plant ; and for none more so than for its 

 departure from the typical characters of plants belonging to 

 the order Papaveracese, a near approach to those of Nym- 

 phsacese on the one hand, and Sarraceniacero on the other, 

 thus, as it were, forming a sort of intermediate or connecting 

 link between those three natural orders. 



Romneya Coulteri is a strong-growing, much-blanching 

 plant, with pinnatifidly lobed glaucous foliage. The flowers are 

 large, nearly equalling in size those of the white Water Lily ; 

 colour pure white. Each flower is composed of three sepals 

 and six petals, the latter alternating with each other. The 

 stamens are very numerous; anthers golden yellow. The 

 ovary, whioh is nearly sessile, is dark-coloured at the base, and 

 internally is divided into several distinct compartments, the 

 ovules, or young seeds, being spread over the entire surface of 



