Jaly 20, 1871. ] 



JOURNAL 



OP 



HOETICDLTURE AND COTTAGE GAKDENEB. 







41 



WEEKLY CALENDAR, 



Month 



^7 



Week. 











Average Tempera- i Rain in 



Snn 











Clock 



Day 











tore near London. :43 yeai-s. 



Bises. 



Sets. 



Rises. 



tiets. 



Age. 



Sun. 



Year. 















Day. 



Nieht. 



Mean. 



Days. 



m. h. 



m. b. 



m. h. 



m. h. 



Days. 



m. s. 





20 



Th 











78 2 



50.2 



61.7 



2.S 7 8f 4 



4af8 



43 at 6 



50 af 9 



S 



6 2 



201 



21 



F 











74.0 



60.8 



62.4 



19 9 4 



3 8 



66 7 



H 10 



4 



8 6 



202 



22 



S 











73.2 



61.4 



61.8 



24 



10 4 



2 S 



9 9 



30 10 



6 



C 9 



203 



23 



Sun 



7 Sdhdai 



AFTER Trinity, 







74.0 



51.4 



62.7 



21 



11 4 



8 



24 10 



4^ 10 



6 



6 11 



2(14 



24 



M 











72 6 



51.7 



62.1 



14 



12 4 



58 7 



41 11 



7 11 



7 



6 18 



205 



25 



Tn 



BnokiDgh 



am Horticultural Show. 





73.9 



49.4 



61.9 



13 



14 4 



56 7 



after. 



26 11 



5 



6 14 



206 



26 



W 











73.7 



50.3 



62.0 



22 



15 4 



54 7 



22 2 



52 11 



9 



6 14 



207 



From observatfons 



taken near London during fortv-three years, the average day temperature of the week is 73 4 



°, and its night tem- 



peratnre 50 7°. The 



greatest heat was 93^, 



on 



the 23rd and 24tta, 1868 ; and the lowest cold 32°, on the 23rd, 1863. 



The greatest faU of 



rain was 1.48 inch. 













1 



EARLY PROLIFIC AND JAMES YEITCH 

 STRAWBERRIES. 



HE spring of 1871, as regards England and 

 Belgium, may be set down as unfavourable 

 to the production and ripening of Strawber- 

 ries in the open ground. Several days in 

 which -the temperature was unusually high 

 for March hastened the flowering of the 

 plants, which began in the last fortnight of 

 April, was continued throughout May, and 

 even now (.June 10th) is still going on. De- 

 spite the bitter northerly winds, especially at 

 night, the first blossoms set. On the nights of Mav ITtb 

 — 18th, and May 19th — 20th, there were frosts of 3° 0. 

 (5-| Fahr.) which destroyed a large number of the flowers 

 and embryo fruit of the least hardy varieties, whilst in 

 others the flowers, and the fruit which had been set, were 

 perfectly uninjured. 



Two varieties deserve special mention, not only on 

 account of their marked hardiness but other valuable 

 properties, and I will now endeavour to point out their 

 principal features as observed by myself during three 

 consecutive seasons. Early Prolific, one of Dr. Roden's 

 seedlings, is a masterpiece. It is early, and free bearing, 

 even when propagated from the latest runners of the j 

 previous year, no matter what part of the runner is taken, j 

 The plant increases at its base or collar by aggregation, | 

 and produces a superabundance of runners. Indeed, its | 

 tendency to increase itself too early and too rapidly will 

 be considered a fault by those who for thirty years have 

 fixed the points of excellence in the Strawberry. This, 

 however, is not a fault in the opinion of many growers, 

 and is to a great extent compensated for by good proper- 

 ties These are as follows : — Early ripening ; at the pre- 

 sent time (June 10th), though it is a late season, out of 

 twenty-eight plants in a bed some 40 feet long by 7 wide 

 I count twenty-three large fruit ripe and ripening, whilst j 

 on May 25, 1870, there were several fruit ripe. I have i 

 -never met with any variety which sets fruit so freely, or 

 ripens it so quickly, as this. Its great productiveness may 

 be judged from the fact that on two three-year-old stock 

 plants there are respectively five and seven trusses of 

 flowers, and one hundred and seven berries set in the one 

 case and ninety-two in the other, neither flowers nor ber- 

 ries having been injured by the late spring frosts. Its 

 hardiness is sufficiently proved by what is stated above. 



I am doubtful whether a full description has been pub- 

 lished, and therefore give one. The roots are fleshy ,'and 

 then somewhat woody, stouter than in most other varie- 

 ties; the crown is narrow, pointed; the leaf-stalk, 5, 6, or 

 7 inches long, is not so strong as the flower-stalk. The 

 flowers are produced lower than the foliage. The flower- 

 stalk is clothed with horizontal hairs, and those on the 

 pedicels, as well as on the lower lobes of the leaves, are 

 ascending. The leaves are pale green, shining on the upper 

 side, longish heartshaped, narrow and convex rather than 

 broad and flat, the blade deeply cut. The flower has a 

 small corolla like all the varieties of La Constante race. 



Ho. 688.— YOL. XXL, New Series. 



The fruit is large, long-conical. Seeds light brown, not 

 deeply embedded. Colour cerise carmine, shining. Flesh 

 cream-coloured, firm, juicy, with a fine, vinous, and high 

 flavour. 



.James Veitch Strawberry is a seedling raised by Mr. 

 Ferdinand Gloede, and by a happy thought dedicated to 

 the late Mr. James Veitch, of Chelsea. All who were 

 acquainted with him know his ability as a cultivator, and 

 his devotion to the cause of horticultural progress in all its 

 branches. It is much to be regretted that he was so soon 

 snatched from the exercise of his favourite art, and from 

 afl'ectionate intercourse with his family and numerous 

 friends. If Mr. James Veitch had been alive last summer 

 he would have been the first to admit that the Strawberry 

 which bears liis name is a picture of beauty when a two- 

 year-old plant, whether gi'own in a pot or in the open 

 ground, is loaded with its numerous, large, and fine fruits. 

 The growth of tliis variety is somewhat too luxuriant, and 

 it increases too rapidly. These are the faults that will be 

 found With it, but when the grower shall have convinced 

 himself of the good qualities of the plant bearing such an 

 abundance of large and handsome fruit that it forms qmte a 

 picture, he will be glad to grow it, and will retain it longer 

 in cultivation than any other variety I know, although I 

 cultivate fifty of the best kinds sent out during the last ten 

 .years. This is my opinion, and 1 hope that in less than 

 two years it will be that of all amateur growers of the 

 Strawberry. 



I will now add a few words descriptive of the peculiari- 

 ties of the plant and its fruit. 



As already stated, the plant is very vigorous and hardy,, 

 whatever the season, and whatever the soil, provided this 

 be well dug. Further, it is hardy in its reproductive cha- 

 racters, withstanding alike the severities of the winter and 

 the late frosts of spring. All the flowers set from the 

 first to the last. The roots are strong and stout, the crown 

 large, doubling or tripling itself in a growing season. The 

 leaf-stalk is from 5 to 6 inches long, and clothed with 

 horizontal hairs. Those on the partial foot- stalks of the 

 flowers are inclined upwards. The leaves are long heart- 

 shaped, not shining much on the upper side, nearly flat, 

 not of a deep green, and are widely and deeply cut. The 

 flowers are middle-sized, borne beneath the foliage. The 

 flower scape rises 2 inches above the crown of the plant,, 

 and forms two or three divisions, each producing five or 

 six berries, according to the age of the plant. I have 

 counted on a three-year-old plant five crowns having nine 

 flower scapes bearing 117 fruit, of which the earliest 

 produced were of very large size, and the successional 

 fruit not so large, but all of a tolerably regular conical 

 shape. In 1869 the first fruits were ripe on the 6th of 

 June, in 1870 on the 2nd of June, and in the present year 

 on the 12th of June. From this date to the 28th we have 

 gathered from three beds of this variety (consisting of 

 about three hundred one-year-old plants, fifty two-year-old 

 plants, and six three-year-old plants) from 2J to 4;|- lbs. 

 of fine berries every day. The berries are generally of a 

 regular conical shape, and in colour of a somewhat glossy 

 dark red. The flesh is white, tinged with rose in the 

 So, 1190.— Vob XLYU Out Sebi». 



