46 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



[ January 20, 1863. 



— namely, its stout fruitstalk — so I made the cross and have 

 now cultivated the progeny for two or three years. The in- 

 sipidity of the Chilian parent is removed, and a considerable 

 share of the Pine flavour communicated. The fruit-stems, too, 

 are stronger than in the Pine. Plants are at Mr. Darwin's 

 Berviee if he wish for them. They are a good deal alike, yet there 

 is one of a peculiar habit, very dwarf, and throwing off few or 

 no runners, the fruit of which is globose, not angular, as is the 

 case with most others of the batch. 



It may not be uninteresting to Mr. Darwin and your general 

 readers, to mention a result in crossing which I have not heard 

 of being before detected. 



In the spring of last year I made several crosses among Rho- 

 dodendrons with the pollen of R. Nuttalli, the largest-flowered 

 and noblest of its race. Observing the unusual size of the seed- 

 pods of this crOBS, I took measurements to-day of their dimen- 

 sions, and beg now to note the respective measurements of these 

 pods as borne by R. Dalhousise. The largest pod I can find of 

 R. Dalhousise, not crossed, is 1J inch long by 1| in girth. 



Of three pods of R. Dalhousise crossed with R. Nuttalli, each 

 is If inch long by 2 inches in girth. 



One pod of R. Dalhousise crossed with R. longifolium (rather 

 a robust species, but not nearly so robust as R. Nuttalli), 

 measures 1| inch long by If in girth. 



The seeds of the above crossed with R. Nuttalli, one of the 

 g>ods of which, pulled some days ago and opened to-day, appear 

 to he as abundant as they are large, those of one pod nearly 

 half filling an ordinary-sized teaspoon. 



Has this result of enlarged fruit or seed-vessels ensuing from 

 crosses effected by larger species than the seed-bearer, been before 

 •observed ? With me it is too marked to be a matter of chaoce. 

 — Isaac Andebson-Heney, Say Lodge, Trinity, Edinburgh. 



[Mr. Anderson-Henry enclosed a leaf of the cross-bred Straw- 

 berry. It is very peculiar in form, the leaflets being compressedly- 

 oircular, or, as botanists term it, oblate-orbicular. — Eds. J. OE H.] 



CELEEY CULTURE. 



As I have been more successful than " HtjddeeseiEI/D," I 

 will detail my mode of growing Celery. 



I sow in pans about the middle of March, and place them in a 

 little heat, close to the glass. When ready for pricking-off, I 

 transfer the plants to a frame in which Asparagus has been forced, 

 and in which the heat is almost exhausted. When there for 

 three or four days, I give the bed a slight watering, if required, 

 and then prick-out the plants and water, keep them close for 

 two or three days, and shade if requisite. When they take hold 

 and commence growing I give plenty of air, hardening them by 

 degrees, and ultimately removing the sashes altogether. 



Watch for a favourable opportunity to plant out. If the sun 

 should break out shade with some spruce branches. I never 

 allow the plants to receive a check. That I consider is the most 

 essential point in Celery-growing. 



Eor my principal crop I grow from twelve to fourteen hundred, 

 and the man that takes them up for the kitchen tells me that he 

 has not met with half a dozen bolted plants up to this time, and 

 ■3;an answer for the Celery being as crisp and solid as any one 

 could wish for. It was not so large as it should have been, but 

 that I attribute to the maggot or blotch on the leaf, which was 

 very bad, and equally bad on the five sorts that I grew. I had 

 some quicklime and soot dusted on the leaves, but I was too 

 late in doing it, as the mischief had been done ; but it pre- 

 vented it from becoming any worse. 



I plant single rows in a trench, the after-treatment is similar 

 to that of " Htodebsheld's." 



The sorts that I have grown this year are — Cole's Superb 

 Red Solid, Cole's Crystal White, Seymour's Superb White Solid, 

 Bossam's Pink, and Incomparable Dwarf White. The last is, 

 indeed, incomparable, for none of the other sorts can com- 

 pare with it for crispness and solidness. It is Bmall, but we do 

 not want great clumsy stalks for a gentleman's table. Bossam's 

 Pink comes nest to it for quality. — A. S., Staffordshire. 



I notice in your Journal of this last season many complaints 

 anout a failure in the Celery crop. Now, I do not know how it 

 is, except that Ireland possesses a better climate, &c, for growing 

 that favourite vegetable ; but this I know, that I never had 

 a better crop, and my man makes no fuss about growing it. The 



way he does is a3 follows : — During the season all the droppings 

 of the cow-house which pass through the grating or gripe are 

 wheeled into the garden, and accumulated there ready to be put 

 in the trenches, when the Celery is about to be planted, in a 

 layer of about 6 inches thick, and mixed a little with the soil. 



The seed is sown on a slight hotbed amongst late Cauliflowers 

 about the 1st of March, and after the young plants are well up 

 the lights are taken off, and the plants allowed to spindle-up to 

 about 6 inches. I do not think pricking-out is of much service, 

 as the taller the plants are the sooner they may have their first 

 moulding ; and the earlier they are planted and moulded the 

 better Celery is obtained. I make about three mouldings or 

 earthings do. I do not dribble, dribble-up a little now and then, 

 but give a regular good moulding — say of 4 or 5 inches at once. 

 I pull the plants out of the seed-bed wiihout any ball, just 

 keeping what soil remains to the root*, and in this way the man 

 by a glance can see whether any grub or canker worm is on the 

 roots. 



I alwayB sow the old kinds, Cole's Crystal White, and Cole's 

 Superb Red, and have no cause to be dissatisfied with them. I 

 have 14 inches of good, clear, solid stalk, 2 inches in cir- 

 cumference, and entirely devoid of stringiness or soft heart. I 

 always choose the stiffest part of the garden for growing Celery 

 in. I do not use either liquid manure or soapsuds, as we here 

 have always plenty of Nature's liquid falling upon the plants. — 

 Hibeenicus. 



DISEASE IN CUCUMBEES. 



The Cucumbers were planted out in pits, heated by hot 

 water, last year, before I came here, and the trellises were nicely 

 covered, the plants looking healthy, moderately strong, and 

 showing abundance of fruit. My predecessor told me how they 

 would go, and well I know it. I could scarcely find one out of 

 fifty from which I could manage to take a piece out that was fit 

 to eat. I have tried a great many sortB, but they all go the same 

 here. They swell till they are about 5 inches long, then they 

 curl up like a ram's horn, and a sort of gum issues from all 

 parts of the fruit. If we let them hang long, they will drop a 

 bit at a time, and smell like a rotten egg. 'Ihe soil we have 

 used is good fibrous loam, a little decomposed dung, and leaf 

 mould, &c. I keep them neither too wet nor too dry at the 

 roots, and I use the syringe very sparingly overhead, but 

 sprinkle water over the floor and pipes when shutting-up, if 

 open. I generally have the house at 70" by fire heat in the day, 

 and from 60° to 65° by night. I find the Cucumbers just the 

 same in spring and summer on dung-bed9. If you know of any 

 preventive I should feel obliged. — A Constant Readee. 



[Tours is one of those inveterate cases of Cucumber disease 

 which seem to have hitherto baffled all attempts to effect a cure, 

 or suggest a preventive. We have, however, submitted the 

 matter to one of our regular correspondents, who writes us as 

 follows : — 



" I am sorry to hear of the Cucumber disease appearing in 

 your correspondent's winter fruit, and I only wish I could with 

 certainty suggest a cure. This, unfortunately, I cannot under- 

 take to do, as I have had no experience of the disease since 

 1850, when I had it amongst some winter fruit exactly as ' A 

 Constant Readee' complains of, and, subsequently, crop after 

 crop of frame fruit became likewise affected, and even those on 

 ridges were similarly attacked, though not so severely, perhaps, 

 as those under glass ; but the Cucumber crop of that year might 

 be safely pronounced a failure. 



" Of course, the season did not pass over without my trying 

 several experiments, with a view to arrest the evil, but they were 

 so far unsatisfactory that I believe no single plant produced 

 fruit entirely free from disease. Nevertheless, some were more 

 diseased than others, and I was led to the conclusion, that al- 

 though the disease iB a malappropriation of the juices of the 

 plant, which instead of producing fruit, furnished a disgusting- 

 looking glutinous tumour almost at every spine, yet I could 

 not but believe that the disease was also in many respects con- 

 tagious or infectious ; for although I tried plants on 6oils as 

 widely different from each other as sand from day, the disease 

 still existed, differing, however, in degree. This and other 

 reasons led me not to attempt Cucumbers in winter the ensuing 

 season, but to try growing them the following spring and 

 summer in a compost the same as that in which they seemed 

 least affected with disease the preceding season. Accordingly 



