162 



JOLBNAL OF HOBTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GABDENEB. 



[ September 1, 1870. 



its advantages, it will be what Messrs. Weeks assert it is, " the 

 best." but continued use can best decide that. 



BRADFORD ANNUAL GOOSEBERRY SHOW. 



This was held at the Junction Inn, Manningham, near Bradford 

 Yorkshire, on Angnst 29th. 



dwtB. ffT8 



Robert Pettey Twins Dan's Mistake 37 



John Firth do Leveller 41 13 



Joseph Backhouse . . do Plunder 34 4 



William Willans . . do Careless SO 1 



Jonathan Firth .... Premier prize. High Sheriff , . .- 25 15 



Robert Pettey Stewards' prize Boiling Hall 25 



John Firth do Leveller 22 18 



William Raistrick . . do London City 21 4 



Joseph Backhouse . . do Careless 20 15 



Isaac Normington . . do London 22 21 



Thomas Windie .... do Trumpeter 19 3 



William Willans . . do Stockwell 20 



BED. 



Jonathan Firth London 



John Firth England 



John Firth Companion 



Jonathan Firth Clavton 



Robert Pettey Talfourd 



Isaac Normington John Anderson .... 



Robert Pettey Duke of Sutherland 



William Willans Boiling Hall 



YELLOW. 



John Firth Leveller 



John Firth Ringer 



Joseph Backhouse Mount Pleasant , 



Jonathan Firth Kitley 



William Raistrick Drill 



Jonathan Firth High Sheriff . . , 



Thomas Windie Mr. Whitaker . . . 



William Raistrick Catherina .... 



24 13 



23 11 

 22 23 

 22 17 

 22 10 



20 13 



21 



20 10 



24 8 



21 15 

 20 20 

 20 9 

 20 7 

 19 11 

 19 10 

 19 9 



GREEN. 



Robert Pettey Stockwell 22 22 



John Firth Plunder 21 15 



William Raistrick Telegraph 20 19 



John Firth Hospool 20 12 



William Raistrick Surprise 19 15 



Jonathan Firth Rough Green 19 3 



Thomas Windie Express 18 18 



Thomas Windie Thumper 18 21 



WHITE. 



John Firth Postman 



Joseph Backhouse Careless 



Thomas Windie Elizabeth 



Jonathan Firth Antagonist . 



Joseph Backhouse Mitre 



William Willans Lady Stanley .... 



William Raistrick Freedom 



Jonathan Firth Peto 



... 24 12 



... 21 17 



... 20 22 



... 20 15 



... 20 3 



... 19 22 



... 19 



... 18 8 



Mr. John Emmott, Judge and Weigher. 



The above were all grown in the immediate neighbourhood of one 

 of the largest manufacturing towns in Yorkshire. 



JUDGES DISQUALIFYING PELARGONIUMS. 



Weee the Judges of a flower show right in disqualifying 

 anyone for exhibiting the blooms of Le Grand, Stella, Lord Pal- 

 merBton, and Cybister as single Zonals ?— H. A., Newicle. 



[Much will depend on the wording of the schedule. All the 

 varieties you name are Nosegays, and do not belong to the 

 Zonal section. We should therefore say any judge would 

 rightly disqualify in your case if the class was for Zonals only. 

 Most schedules in the present day give distinct classes for 

 Nosegays and Zonals. — W.] 



CHARRING REFUSE. 

 To make room for Mushroom beds out of doors I had to get 

 rid of a huge mass of woody rubbish, chiefly cuttings and prun- 

 ings that were small, averaging from one-eighth to one-quarter- 

 inch diameter, some beiDg with and some without leaves. I 

 could soon have burned the whole into a few barrowloads of 

 ashes, but I did not wish to waste it so ; and therefore I set 

 apart a day, and had all charred in the simple mode recently 

 described (vol. xviii., page 304), I have thus easily obtained 

 from two to three cartloads of charred refuse ; the half, or 

 rather more perhaps, will be fine rough charcoal dust, so useful 



for cuttings ; and the other will be small bits of charred wood 

 of the sizes above indicated, which we can again separate into 

 different sizes by means of a sieve. Now the quantity is en- 

 tirely owing to making heaps of the rubbish rather small, and 

 pulling it out as soon as charred. Even the dampish litter 

 placed on the top was well charred. In every department I shall 

 find this most useful. Had I attempted to ehar this heap of 

 rubbish in the nsual way the great bulk, in spite of every care, 

 would have gone to ashes, which would have been chiefly valu- 

 able for the alkalies they contained. Now the finest charred 

 dust will be very useful for cuttings, seed-eovering, &c, and the 

 larger for potting and drainage, making many a compost sweet 

 and porous that might have been the reverse. — B. Fish, 



[Of the two or three cartloads Mr. Fish has just made he has 

 sent us a sample, and though he tells us that there are larger 

 pieces in the heap and more dust in others, we can clearly per- 

 oeive how useful such small stuff is. — Eds.] 



OUR SALAD HERBS. 



Thbre is perhaps no country in the world so rich as England 

 in native materials for salad-making, and none in which 

 ignoranoe and prejudice have more restricted their employ- 

 ment. At every season of the year the peasant may cull from 

 the field and hedgerow wholesome herbs which would impart 

 a pleasant variety to his monotonous meal, and save his store 

 of Potatoes from premature exhaustion ; and there can be no 

 question that in hot seasons a judicious admixture of fresh 

 green food is as salutary at it is agreeable. Much Las been said 

 lately about the advantage which the labouring man would 

 derive from an accurate acquaintance with the various sorts of 

 Fungus, and he has been gravely told that the Fistulina hepa- 

 tica is an admirable substitute for beefsteak, and the Agaricus 

 gambosus for the equally unknown veal cutlet. But deep- 

 rooted suspicion is not easily eradicated, and there will always 

 be a certain amount of hazard in dealing with a class of pro- 

 ducts in which the distinctions between noxious and innocuous 

 are not very clearly marked. There is not this difficulty with 

 regard to salad herbs, and we conceive that the diffusion of a 

 little knowledge as to their properties and value would be an 

 unmixed benefit to our rural population. 



The first place must be astigned, on the soore of antiquity, 

 to the Sorrel plant (Rumex acetosa), which in some districts 

 still preserves the name of " green Bauce," assigned to it in 

 early times when it formed almost the only dinner vegetable. 

 Its acid is pleasant and wholesome, and more delicate in flavour 

 than that of the Wood Sorrel (Oxalis Acetosella) , which, however, 

 is used for table purposes in France and Germany. Chervil 

 (Anthiiscus Cerefolium) is often found in a wild state, and is 

 an admirable addition to the salad bowl ; and it is unnecessary 

 to enlarge upon the virtues of Celery (Apium graveolens) when 

 improved by cultivation. John Bay, writing in 1663, says that 

 " The Italians use several herbs for sallets which are not yet, 

 or have not been used lately, but in England — viz., Selleri, 

 which is nothing else but the Sweet Smallage ; the young 

 shoots whereof, with a little of the head of the root cut off, they 

 eat raw with oil and pepper ;" and to this we may add that 

 the Alisander (Smyrnium Olusatrum) is no bad substitute for 

 its better-known congener. The Dandelion, which in France 

 is blanched for the purpose, affords that amari aliquid which 

 the professed salad-maker finds in the leaves of the Endive, 

 and the same essential ingredient may be supplied by the 

 Avens (Geum urbanum), the Bladder Campion (Silene inflate), 

 and the tender shoots of the wild Hop. Most people are familiar 

 with the properties of the Water Cress (Nasturtium officinale), 

 and the Garlic Hedge Mustard (Erysimum Alliaria) ; but it 

 may not be generally known that the common Shepherd's 

 Purse (Capsella bursa-pastoris) and Lady's Smock (Cardamine 

 pratensis) are pleasant additions, whose merits have long been 

 recognued by our foreign neighbours. In fact, there is scarcely 

 a herb that grows which has not some culinary virtue in a 

 French peasant's eyes. Out of the blanched shoots of the 

 wild Chicory (Chicorium Intybue), he forms the well-known 

 harbe dc Capucin, and dignifies with the title of salade de 

 Chanoina. our own negleoted Corn Salad (Fedia olitoria). It 

 would be very easy to extend the dimensions of our list of 

 native salad herbs, for there are, perhaps, some palates to 

 which the strong flavours of the Chive (Allium Sohcenoprasum) 

 and Stoneorop (Sedum reflsxnm) may commend themselves, 

 but enough has been said to show that Nature has not dealt 

 niggardly with u», and that only knowledge is needful to matte 



