August 25, 1870. ] 



JOURNAL OP HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



139 









WEEKLY 



CALENDAR. 















Day 



of 



Month 



Day 



of 



Week. 



-„„_ . „. 1B , n Average Tempera- 

 AUGUST 2o—31, 18 iO. tore near London. 



Rain in 



last 

 43 years. 



Sun 



Rises. 



Sun 

 Sets. 



Moon Moon 

 Rises. Sets. 



Moon's 

 Age. 



Clock 

 before 

 Sun. 



Day 



of 



Year. 



25 

 26 

 27 

 28 

 29 

 30 

 81 



Th 



F 



S 



SrjN 



M 



TU 



W 



Newcastle-under-Lyme Horticultural Show. 



11 Sunday attek Tkinitt. 



Banbury and DaventryHorticnltural Shows. 

 Glamorganshire Horticultural Show. 



Day. 

 74.1 

 72.5 

 73.3 

 72.7 

 71.2 

 74.5 

 71.5 



Night. 

 49.7 

 4S.4 

 49.1 

 49.7 

 47.6 

 48.2 

 47.4 



Mean. 

 61.9 

 60.1 

 61.2 

 61.2 

 59.4 

 61.3 

 59.4 



Days. 

 16 

 15 

 12 

 19 

 16 

 11 

 17 



m. h. 

 2af 5 

 3 5 

 5 5 



7 5 



8 5 

 1.1 5 

 12 5 



m. h. 

 1 af 7 

 59 6 

 57 B 

 55 6 

 63 6 

 51 6 

 49 6 



m. h. 



50 af 2 

 5 4 



24 5 



46 6 



7 8 



80 9 



51 10 



m. h. 

 41 af 6 

 12 7 

 39 7 

 3 8 

 25 8 

 49 8 

 IS 9 



Days. 

 28 

 • 

 1 

 2 

 3 

 4 

 5 



m. s. 

 1 57 

 1 40 

 1 23 

 1 6 

 49 

 31 

 12 



237 

 288 

 239 

 240 

 241 

 242 

 243 



From observations taken near London during the last forty-three years, the average day temperature of the week is 72. S 3 , and its night 

 temperature 48.6°. The greatest heat was 89 c , on the 25th, 1859; and the lowest cold 31°, on the 96th, 1861. The greatest fall of rain was 

 1.92 inch. 



AMONGST MR. LAXTON'S PEAS. 



l^PBirBOM London the Great Northern Railway 

 takes us to Stamford, or ought to have done so 

 if the great lord of Burghley had not willed 

 it otherwise. Now it leaves us at Essendine, 

 a few miles distant, and from thence we are 

 the passengers of the Most Noble the Marquis 

 of Exeter. Stamford was a busy place in 

 the old coaching days, and is now a very 

 interesting one, celebrated for its churches 

 and bells. Stamford might have been what 

 Peterborough now is — a brisk and busy centre of railway 

 communication, had not the lord of the soil prevented the 

 passing of the great railway near his portals. As it is, 

 Stamford stands still ; Stamford wants brushing up. It 

 was not, however, to see the town that I went there, but 

 the greatest man in Stamford, horticulturally speaking — 

 Mr. Laxton, well known as a great horticulturist, as a 

 successful introducer of new Peas — Peas, too, of a most 

 wonderful character. 



What an advance amongst our Peas during the last ten 

 or twelve years ! Our Pea lists, no doubt, are too long 

 already, and if we are to believe all that is said of them, 

 they possess all the requirements wanted, and are every 

 year becoming earlier and superior. The greater portion, 

 however, of these so-called new varieties are merely se- 

 lections — selections it may be — magnificent improvements 

 on the original, and consequently valuable. New Peas, 

 however — Peas raised by careful cross-breeding — come only 

 to us from the hands of a very select few. The first great 

 Pea cross-breeder was Thomas Andrew Knight, for a long 

 time President of the Horticultural Society, who raised 

 for us many fine sorts remarkable for their thin skins and 

 delicate flavour, not yet equalled ; I allude to Knight's 

 Tall and Dwarf White and Green Marrows, &c. Then 

 came the late Dr. McLean, of Colchester, who gave us 

 dwarf and early Marrows, such as Little Gem, Advancer, 

 Premier, &c, of wonderful value. Next, or now, we have 

 Mr. Laxton, who, although he has already done much, 

 will yet do more. He is at present almost our only Pea 

 cross-breeder. There are not many, it is true, who could 

 give the time ; there are but few who would have the 

 patience, or the knowledge either. There is no greater 

 enthusiast. And what an enthusiasm one must have for 

 this sort of labour ! 



No one who has not attempted it can have the least 

 conception of the time or labour that is involved in making 

 a single cross amongst Peas. It may seem most incredible, 

 it is nevertheless the fact, that from a single cross, the 

 crossing of a single flower, some four or five hundred 

 distinct varieties may be procured ere any one form is 

 fixed or fit for sending out, which takes up a period of 

 from five to seven years — that is, from the time of the 

 crossing of the flower. 



In the hybridised pod there may be eight peas ; each of 

 these when sown will produce from eight to ten pods con- 

 taining each eight or ten peas — a total of more than five 

 hundred peas the first season. These, according as the cross i 

 No. 491.— Vol. XIX., New Seejes. 



may have been, may be either very similar or dissimilar. 

 Mr. Laxton showed me some pods, the produce of a cross 

 between the old Maple Purple and a white Pea, in which 

 every pea was dissimilar — some round, smooth, white ; 

 some white, wrinkled ; others blue, grey, mottled, brown, 

 green, &c, not any two peas alike. All of these have to 

 be grown distinctly, gathered separately, and again sown, 

 or else discarded, if considered unworthy. These again 

 will sport the following season as before, and more or less 

 for some time. After a time, however, by great care in the 

 selection of the dried seed in winter and " rogueing " in 

 summer, they leave off these vagaries, and become what 

 is called "fixed," and fit to send out to the public. 



Some new Peas have been sent out too soon — such as 

 Laxton's Prolific Longpod, and this accounts for its mixed 

 character, one portion of the sample being green, and the 

 other white, the true variety, according to Mr. Laxton, 

 being the white one. The condition of this Pea before the 

 public is not due to Mr. Laxton, but to the vendors who 

 had it from Mr. Laxton as an unfixed variety. It will 

 thus be seen that the raising of new Peas and their intro- 

 duction to our gardens are a most laborious affair, requiring 

 the utmost patience, zeal, and perseverance, and. also a 

 considerable outlay, the recompense therefrom being little 

 commensurate with the actual cost, excepting in the grati- 

 fication of indirectly benefiting mankind. 



One of Mr. Laxton's greatest triumphs as yet before 

 the public is, no doubt, Laxton's Supreme. The pods of 

 this are very large and extremely handsome. It belongs, 

 however, to a class which is more remarkable for good 

 looks than fine quality. With Mr. Laxton this Pea was 

 not over-grand, whilst with Mr. Gilbert, at Burghley, it 

 was superb. There are other two varieties as large and 

 nearly as handsome as this yet to come out — viz., Laxton's 

 Quality, a wrinkled Marrow, and Laxton's Quantity, a 

 selection from it. Here we have a line of the green variety 

 of Laxton's Prolific Longpod, a very excellent Pea, and 

 side by side another — Carter's Hundredfold, said to be a 

 cross-bred kind. They are, however, identical, as Mr. 

 Gilbert, an experienced gardener, testifies. 



I must just remember Alpha, the first step towards 

 long- podded early wrinkled Marrows, and a very fine Pea. 

 This is now to be superseded by William the First as an 

 earlier still, more wrinkled, and better sort. This is one 

 of the most important introductions in the Pea line which 

 will be amongst us next season, and will completely drive 

 away such tasteless stuff as Ringleaders and First Crops. 



I am afraid to speak of the many varieties Mr. Lax- 

 ton has here, and of such high promise. One batch were 

 from crosses between Ne Plus Ultra and Veitch's Per- 

 fection. Most of these were about 3 feet in height, earlier 

 than Veitch's, with pods more nearly resembling Ne Plus 

 Ultra. Then another lot of dwarfs, over one hundred in 

 number, in little short lines, crosses from Little Gem, 

 &c. Here was Little Gem itself as a test sort. All the 

 seedlings were much of the same habit, many were earlier, 

 others larger in pod, &c, some white, wrinkled, some blue, 

 wrinkled. From these I expect something good. This 

 is the style of Pea for general use. Here is another lot 

 No. 1143— Vol. XLIV, Old Series. 



