September 15, 1879. J 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



211 



of which will come in before the earliest Coleworta, and as 

 they will be liable to the attacks of depredators, we shall use 

 them up before the cold weather sets in. 



The dry weather, as in the case of early Potatoes, which 

 never were finer, has made little impression on Carrots, 

 Parsnips, and Beet, which we have rarely had finer. Later- 

 sown Carrots have not done so well. We planted out lots of 

 Lettuces and Endive to stand the winter, and sowed at the foot 

 of walls to give them a chance. Hoed between the autumn- 

 sown Spinach and Onions, and lest the autumn should be fine, 

 and the Spinach become rather tender, we shall sow a few rows 

 more, which will be useful in spring if the frost prove very 

 severe. 



Rubbish-heap. — Mentioning it above reminds us that in 

 damp days we have had ours made up afresh, mixing a little 

 littery dung, and a sprinkling of rough salt with earth from 

 pots, weeds, Cabbage stalks, &c, and covering it all over with 

 earth, bo that what escapes from the heating may be retained. 

 We are often surprised from whence such a huge heap of scores 

 of cartloads comes. If we had rich waters to spare, we would 

 have added them, and also some loads of lime if to be had. 

 Built up in layers, and cut down from top to bottom, the rubbish- 

 heap thus formed and heated will be an excellent dressing to 

 wheel on in the winter months. Cottagers would greatly add 

 to their supply of manure if they never allowed weeds, Cabbage 

 or Cauliflower stems, Sea., to decay without being covered with 

 earth. 



FKUIT DEPAKT3IEXT. 



The wind has thrown down even from our dwarf trees many 

 fruit far from being ripe, and, therefore, they will be more 

 liable to shrivel before being used. Apples and Pears should 

 in general be gathered before they are fully ripe, just when the 

 pips are about half coloured. They will thus be more juicy 

 and have a richer flavour. Before this appears in type we 

 shall have been using for three weeks in first-rate condition 

 that fine autumn Pear, Williams's Bon Chieiien, and that from 

 one espalier tree bearing very fine fruit for the season. Such 

 a Pear if allowed to hang until even nearly ripe, would not last 

 many days. We have gathered the most forward, if not every 

 day, at least every other day, and kept them two or three days 

 before using them, just when full of their aromatic rich juice 

 The first we had we sweated a little in a little extra heat, 

 covering them up to prevent the juice of the Pear escaping. 

 Even when we give no extra heat, we prefer covering this rich 

 Pear when gathered. We had a sample of small fruit of this 

 Pear from a standard orchard tree, the possessor saying he 

 had two or three bushels of it, and they all came in together. 

 They could be of no use except for children, or those who liked 

 a half-rotten Pear. They were as mealy as Potatoes, marked 

 on the skin, and quite unfit to send to table. In some seasons, 

 by careful picking, we have had this Pear in use for six weeks. 

 If we had left it to itself it would not have been in use for more 

 than six days. We mention this Pear merely as an example 

 of what our amateurs might accomplish with favourite Pears 

 and Apples — the Eerry Pippin Apple, for instance, and they 

 can do far more than gardeners in general can find time and 

 means to attend to. We have great faith in many improve- 

 ments in gardening coming from and through enthusiastic 

 amateurs. Even Peaches and Nectarines against walls were 

 thrown off by the gale of the 9 th and 10 th. Perhaps what 

 vexed us most was the number of fine fruit of the Reine Claude 

 de Bavay Plum thrown from a bush tree, and these so green 

 as not to be fit even for cooking. We expected them to be 

 fine by the end of the month. 



We alluded to orchard houses last week. 

 _ In late vineries we are using a little fire heat to perfect the 

 ripening, and keep a drier atmosphere. Ere long we shall, as 

 the best we can do, throw some litter over the borders of the 

 late house, especially to keep the heat in and the wet partially 

 out, as the late rains have given pretty well enough of moisture. 



ORNAMENTAL DEPAET3IEXT. 



Taking plants under protection must now be thought about. 

 The lawns are now beantifully green, and the flower beds stood 

 the rains well until after the gale of the 9th. But for our bush- 

 staking, our beds would have been nowhere. Large heads of 

 scarlet Geraniums were nipped off and carried away scores or 

 hundreds of yards. After all, a sunny day or two will make 

 the beds very presentable again, though we hsrdly expect them 

 to be eo massive and rich as before the gale. That they suffered 

 comparatively so little we attribute chiefly to two causes — first, 

 the fastening the plants with small branchy twigs ; and se- 



condly, having picked the beds over, so as to remove the faded 

 blooms before the gale and the heaviest rains came. Even as 

 it was, the rains dashed and discoloured many trusses of bloom, 

 which will want picking or removing. Picking over a Geranium 

 bed involves care and discrimination. Some pickers, if not 

 looked over, if there are a few faded flowers in a Geranium 

 truss, will forthwith cut it over and put it in their waste-basket, 

 instead of neatly taking out the decayed flowers with the point 

 of a sharp knife. The other day in such baskets we found 

 trusses of Geraniums with from tweDty to thirty small flowers 

 only seeking room and time to expand and show their beauties. 

 To cut off such where massive colouting is required is worse 

 than carelessness. 



All plants to flower in winter can now hardly have too much 

 sunlight. Such fine plants as Euphorbia jaequinireflora and 

 Poinsettia pulcherrima, if full grown, should have less water 

 and all the sun possible to set the flower buds. Sowed some 

 hardy annuals to stand the winter, and a few, along with Mig- 

 nonette, in pots to bloom early in spring. Proceeded with 

 potting and cutting-making as previously detailed, propagating 

 most of what will be wanted for the flower garden, except 

 Calceolarias. Pricked off herbaceous Calceolarias for spring- 

 blooming. — R. F. 



TRADE CATALOGUES RECEIVED. 



James Yeitch & Sons, Royal Exotic Nursery, King's Road. Chelsea, 

 London, S.W. — Catalogue of Hyacinths and other Bulbous Boots. 



William Panl, Walthani Cross, London, N. — Rose Catalogue, 

 1S70-71. 



E. G. Henderson & Son, "Wellington Road, St. John's Wood, 

 London, N.W. — Autumn Catalogue of Bulbs and Flower Boots. 



J. House, Eastgate Nursery, Peterborough. — Select List of Hya- 

 cinths, Tulips, Crocuses, jYarcissus, Gladiolus, and other Flower 

 Boots. 



T. Bnnyard & Sons, Maidstone.— Select List of Dutch Flower 

 Boots. 



Butler, McCulloch, & Co. — Catalogue of Dutch Bidbs, Flower, 

 Vegetable, and Agricultural Seeds. 



TO CORRESPONDENTS. 



*** We request that no one will write privately to any of the 

 correspondents of the " Journal of Horticulture, Cottage 

 Gardener, and Country Gentleman." By doing so they 

 are subjected to unjustifiable trouble and expense. All 

 communications should therefore he addressed solely to 

 The Editors of the Journal of Horticultuie, d>c, 171, Fleet 

 Street, London, B.C. 



We also request that correspondents will not mix up on the 

 same sheet questions relating to Gardening and those on 

 Poultry and Bee subjects, if they expect to get them an- 

 swered promptly and conveniently, but write them on 

 separate communications. Also never to send more than 

 two or three questions at once. 



K.B. — Many questions must remain unanswered until next 

 week. 



Cuttings of Red-beeeted Elder {North).— We do not know where 

 you can obtain them. 



Ripe Geapes Shbtvelling (West Cumberland).— The berries you en- 

 closed are dead ripe, and if the inside border is dry and the house heated 

 the berries are likely to approach the raisin state. Watering and mulch- 

 ing the roots and a moist atmosphere we think would stop the shrivelling. 

 Muscat of Alexandeia Geapes SuBrvELLTNG (Jonah).— We think 

 that the reply we have given to " West Cumberland" is applicable to your 

 case. If you mulch the border and water it in dry weather— iu your case 

 it is outside— and keep the air of the house moist, the Grapes will not 

 shrivel, and those of the Lady Downe's be larger. 



Stephanotis floexbunda Feuiting (F. L.).— It is not unusual for it 

 to ripen its fruit in this country. We have remarked more fully on the 

 subject on page 397 of our last volume. 



Desmodiuh bacemosuh. — J. V. wishes to know if anyone has seen this 

 shrub in bloom, or whether it is marvellously good anywhere except in a 

 trade catalogue. It is not a newly-discovered plant, for it is described 

 by Thunberg among other Japanese plants. 



DraoND Peach. — "This Peach is in the catalogue of Mrs. Pontey, of 

 Plymouth, who, in answer to my inquiries, tells me the tree was raised 

 from seed by Mr. Sharland, who waB gardener at Werrington Park, near 

 Launceston, about twenty years ago. The variety is well worthy of a 

 notice in the ' Fruit Manual.'— V. W. Popham, Poi-treath." 



Spot on Melons (Somerset). — We are uuable to account for the spot 

 on the Melon, but as the fruit arrived at maturity the spot could not have 

 been of matRi-ial consequence. The leaves going off after the fruit is 

 ripe is only natural, though sometimes by cutting back the shoots which 

 have produced, fresh shoots will start and bear a second crop of fruit ; 

 but for this to be the case, the first crop of fruit must be ripe and cut 

 early in Julv, so that the fresh shoots may be formed aud fruit showing 

 early in August. We think the plants are exhausted, hence their dying 



