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JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



[ December 14, 1876. 



great tournament of my favourite flower is to be held in London, 

 and I wish it every success. — D., Deal. 



AN ELECTION OF APPLES. 



This is a very good notion, and I hope will be canght np by 

 orchardists who grow fruit for sale, and by amateurs with 

 whom the Apple is a favourite, and who, perhaps, grow the trees 

 principally as espaliers or pyramids. As this is such an age 

 for exhibitions I would say that classes best suited for this 

 purpose for all seasons be added to Mr. Robson's otherwise 

 admirable arrangement. The two terms, " beauty and utility," 

 seem to point out the requisites for exhibiting, save perhaps in 

 some very marvellous-sized fruit, like the huge Pears at a 

 London dessert which are only to look at. I can scarcely 

 understand that any really bad-tasting and useless Apples 

 should, even with good looks, be cultivated. The Apple is the 

 poor man's fruit as well as the fruit of the middle classes, and 

 its importance as an addition to food can scarcely be over- 

 estimated. 



"A Midland Counties Fruit-Grower," whom I thank for 

 his valuable article of November 16th, somewhat mistook my 

 meaning as to midseason Apples. 1 want to know the best 

 among them as for other seasons, but usually there are so 

 many in gardens that people would hesitate to cut them 

 down to make room for others. While the very early and the 

 very late being so few, these could be added to existing stocks 

 of trees. 



I must add in conclusion that it gives me unfeigned pleasure 

 to see papers again with the good old signature of J. Robson 

 at their end. Right glad am 1 that the instructive-writing 

 veteran of so many past years is again well enough to give us 

 the fruits of his great experience ; and Mr. Robson is and 

 always has been such a thoroughly sensible writer, that he may 

 long be spared to us is the sincere wish of — Wiltehire Eectoe. 



THE HORTICULTURAL CLUB. 

 The annual Meeting of the Club was held on Wednesday 

 last at the Club house, 4, Adelphi Terrace, and it is in a con- 

 dition so flourishing thai it was determined to invest a con- 

 siderable sum in the three per cents. Several new members 

 were proposed, and the arrangements for the comfort of the 

 members were considered excellent. After the meting the 

 members dined together under the presidency of the Hon. and 

 Rev. J. T. Boscawen. The following is the list, of the Com- 

 mittee for the ensuiog year: — Herbert Adams, Eatieid Chape; 

 J. T. Bartlett, Peveril Park, Avlesbury ; Henry Bennett, M.D., 

 The Ferns, Weybridge ; Wm. Bull, King's Road, Chelsea, S.W. ; 

 Hon. and Bev. J. Townshend Boscawen, Lamorran, Truro; 

 Albert Christy, Backhurst Lodge, Wefterham; Philip Crowley, 

 Waddon House, Croydon ; JameB CutbuBh, Higbgate, N. ; 

 George Deal, 11, Carlyle Square, Chelsea, S.W. ; John Denny, 

 M.D., Stoke Newington, N. ; Robert Hogg, LL.D., 99, St. 

 George's Road, Pimlico, S.W. ; Rev. S. Reynolds Hole, Caunton 

 Manor, Newark; Andrew Henderson, Pine Apple Place, N.W. ; 

 John Lee, Royal Vineyard, Hammersmith, W. ; W. A. Lindsay, 

 16, Cromwell Road; Horace K. Mayor, Winchmore Hill, N.; 

 Thomas Moore, Botanio Gardens, Chelsea, S.W. ; Maxwell T. 

 Masters, M.D., Wellington Street, Strand, W.C. ; Charles 

 Noble, Bagshot; Charles Turner, Slough; Harry J. Veitch, 

 King's Road, Chelsea, S.W. ; George F. WileoD, Heatherbank, 

 Weybridge ; B. S. Williams, Holloway, N. ; Maurice Young, 

 Godalming. Secretary, Rev. H. Honywood Dombrain, WeBtwell 

 Yicarage, Athford, Kent. 



POTATO CULTURE. 

 I quite agree with "A Young Amateur" (see page 463) on 

 the culture of this useful vegetable. Last year I planted some 

 Potatoes in November, some in January, and the main crop the 

 first week in March ; others I planted as late as the last week in 

 April. The result was, those that were planted in March appeared 

 first above ground, and were cut off by frost but soon recovered, 

 and by the middle of September the tubers were quite ripe, 

 yielding on an average two bushels and a half to the perch. 

 Those which were planted in April grew at an extraordinary rate 

 for a short time, and then drooped, being almost burnt up by 

 the excessive heat. At the end of the summer when they 

 ought to have been ripe they were making the second growth. 

 On lifting them the first crop was spoilt, the Beoond or sub- 

 tubers being totally unfit for use, and the whole crop went to 



ruin. November planting is too early on our soil on account 

 of snails eating the sets, but on sandy soil I believe this to 

 be the best time for planting, as the growth becomes well 

 established before the heat of the summer sets in. 



I intend next seaBon to have my main crop in by the middle 

 of January if the weather permits. I think it the best time 

 for planting in this district. By planting thus early better 

 tubers are not only produced, but they are more likely to keep 

 after they are grown. I also think we should go back to seed 

 more than we do. I believe if this plan was followed up we 

 should not be troubled so much with disease as we have been 

 of late years. — E. Brook, Westbere, Canterbury. 



NOVELTIES IN THE ROYAL GARDENS, KEW. 



Parrotia persica is one of the most ornamental and interest- 

 ing of the plants trained on the walls. It is one of the rarest 

 trees in cultivation, and the leaves in autumn assume the most 

 brilliant tints of orange, yellow, and scarlet. This year, how- 

 ever, the leaves have varied from the rule, and are nearly all 

 of the purest yellow. They are still attached to the tree, and 

 likely to be so for some time. It is only when against a wall 

 that the tree retains its beauty for so long, and though quite 

 hardy it is worth having in this position on that account. Id. 

 form and venation the leaves are something like those of the 

 Beech, but much larger, being 3 or 4 inches long. Good plants 

 are soon obtained by layering the lower branches, and this has 

 hitherto been the method of propagation. Cuttings placed in 

 heat a few weeks ago are likely to succeed. It belongs to the 

 Hamamelidea?, and there u only one other species, P. Jacque- 

 montiana, a native of the Kashmir Himalaya. The wood is 

 very hard and durable, and in Persia it is known as the 

 "Iron Tree." This species was figured in the "Botanical 

 Magazine" of 1870. 



In the Succulent house Senecio macroglossus, a very hand, 

 some new climber, is coming into bloom. All the year round 

 its glossy Ivy-like leaves are highly ornamental, and during 

 winter the golden-yellow flower heads, nearly 3 inches hi 

 diameter, are an additional attraction. It is one of the largest- 

 flowered of a genus numbering nearly one thousand species. 

 No plants are more suitable for room cultivation than succu- 

 lents, and aa this is the best of the extremely few climbers of 

 that class it should find a special sphere of usefulness. It 

 is so remarkably like Ivy as to have been mistaken for it. In 

 the animal kingdom, as a rule, the object of mimicry is easily 

 Been, as for instance when insects resemble leaves, or when 

 butterflies that would otherwise be the prey of birds are so 

 like those of objectionable flavour as to be safe from destruc- 

 tion ; but among plants the mimicry, unless it be accidental- 

 is not so easily accounted for. In the same house Agave 

 Noackii is in flower. It has a distinct stem and branches at 

 the time of flowering, so as to be quite unlike the most 

 familiar of the genus. This plant has rather a Blender main 

 stem, which divides into two others at about a foot from the 

 ground, and these, about 1J foot long, support heavy Aloe-like 

 heads, which are again branching, so that by-and-by a sort of 

 shrub will be formed. 



Drimiopsis Kirkii is a handsome evergreen bulb, introduced 

 from Zanzibar by the Royal Gardens three or four years ago- 

 and was until then quite unknown. It is cultivated in the 

 stove, where it forms an attraction to every lover of plants 

 from its Lachenalia-like leaves with dark green spots. Some 

 bulbs, as Laohenalia, are said to produce bulbils on the leaves 

 where severed from the plant ; but certainly none so freely as 

 this : every piece thrown down produces several. The flowers 

 are pale blue, small, and inconspicuous. Near this is the 

 graceful Aralia Yeitchii var. gracillima, the leaflets of which 

 are surprisingly narrow, having at the same time the wavy 

 margin of the original. This is an extremely elegant plant, 

 and so also is A. elegantisBima, which is very distinct frorc 

 its saw-toothed margins. The Aralias are a most ornamental 

 olass, having great variety of appearance, and several show in 

 a striking manner the great differences that often may be* 

 fouDd between young and old plants of the same kind. Some, 

 indeed, might have different parts of the Bame plant made into 

 distinot species. A. leptophylla is a case in point ; young 

 specimens may have the leaflets no more than the fourth of an 

 inch wide, and of very tall plants they may be quite 4 inches, 

 changing in colour from nearly black to green. 



Among the Orchids Liparis pendula first takes our attention, 

 not on account of colour, but from the numerous and graceful 

 spikes of small green flowers, reminding one forcibly of Den- 



