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JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



[ September 22, 1870. 



Christine, and Yellow Christine, the first three are decidedly 

 the best, retaining their colour better than any of the others 

 this hot season. I feel fully convinced, had all your Geranium 

 correspondents had the opportunity of seeing the best varieties 

 side by side, that they would have endorsed my opinion.— J. F. 



POTATO CULTURE— ALPINE STRAWBERRIES. 



I have this season tried allowing only one shoot on each seed 

 Potato to grow, and as you solicit your readers to give the 

 results of their experiments the following is at your service. 



I planted a small piece of ground with Rivers's Ash-leaved 

 Kidney. Each row consisted oi an equal number of sets 9 inches 

 apart. One row I took under my own especial care, the re- 

 mainder were planted by my gardener. My sets were planted 

 in a box of pure leaf mould and placed in the greenhouse ; as 

 soon as they broke through the surface they were planted care- 

 frilly in the ridge allotted to them. 



The whole were planted in ridges, and each set was put in 

 9 inches deep ; in the hollows were subsequently planted rows 

 of Brussels Sprouts. 



The haulm of the general crop died down a full fortnight 

 before my single row showed any symptom of decay, so that 

 the latter commenced growth earlier and continued it longer 

 than those treated in the ordinary way. The result was that a 

 selected row of the latter yielded 7 A lbs. of Potatoes, whereas 

 my row, taken up three weeks afterwards, produced 12 lbs. of 

 very much finer tubers. It was a fair trial in every respect. 



Many of your correspondents have been lately writing upon 

 Strawberries, and at page ISO Mr. W. Hudson, of Chase Cliffe, 

 gave his useful experiences on the best sorts to grow on light 

 soils, but neither he nor any of your correspondents ever men- 

 tion the Alpine Strawberry. What can be the reason of this ? 

 It appears to me that it ought to be in every garden. Two 

 years ago I had a packet of seed in one of the collections sent 

 out by the Royal Horticultural Society. Plants came up by 

 hundreds, and were planted out 6 inches apart. They yielded 

 fruit in six months — say seven, I forget to a day. I had some 

 very good dishes in the spring, two months before the general 

 fruit came in. During the heat of summer the yield was 

 scarcely worth collecting, but on the 10th of this month a large 

 dish was picked, and they will go on until the end of October. 

 They are a small fruit, it is true, and they have not the flavour 

 of a British Queen, but broken up with sugar and a dash of 

 claret they are delicious, and then Strawberries in September 

 and October are not to be sneezed at. Again I ask why they 

 are not more cultivated. They will grow almost anywhere — 

 under hedges, under Gooseberry bushes, and our neighbours 

 the French scarcely have anything else — in fact, until the last 

 few weeks positively nothing else ; at least, if I am right in 

 believing them to be the same as they call " Tous les Mois." I 

 can detect no difference. They have a drawback — everything 

 has— they throw out an infinity of runners, which take root 

 easily, and without attention become matted together. Will 

 any of your clever and able growers explain why this class of 

 Strawberry is never spoken of or recommended? — H. Watson, 

 Old Charlton, Kent. 



DYMOND PEACH. 



' The history of this Peach is soon told. The late Mr. Yeitch, 

 of the Mount Radford Nurseries, Exeter (grandfather to the 

 present Messrs. Yeitch, of the Royal Exotic Nursery, Chelsea), 

 met with it in the garden of a gentleman named Dymond. 

 Mr. Veitch saw the good qualities which it possessed, propa- 

 gated it extensively, and called it the Dymond, and it is now 

 widely distributed over the western counties under that name. 

 I never heard Mr. Veitch mention it as a new variety ; but if 

 it was not new it was a sort he did not know, and from the 

 many good qualities it possessed he strongly recommended it 

 to all fruit-growers. It is very hardy, a great bearer, later than 

 the Royal George, and differs from all that section in having 

 large flowers. It resembles the Hemskerk by the very small, 

 round, and smooth stone. It usually ripens in Devon from the 

 middle to the end of September, but in late seasons will last 

 into October. The leaves are deeply and doubly serrated. — A. 

 McKelvie, Torrington. 



[Thanks for the buds. — Eds.] 



Damsons. — When Mr. Crittenden's crop of the present sea- 

 son is all gathered I shall have something further to say en 



this fruit, and especially on the variety that bears hi3 name. 

 — J. Robson. 



NOTES ON ROSES AND ROSE STOCKS. 



The Rose is my favourite, and I love her " oh, how well !" 

 I have now exactly four hundred plants, of which three hun- 

 dred are Perpetuals, and I have had the greatest of pleasure 

 from them this year. My soil is perfection for Roses — a good 

 rich stiff loam. The hedges bristle with the Dog Rose, but 

 yet, in spite of the Rev. S. Reynolds Hole, give me the Manetti. 

 I have many plants of the sam6 varieties on both stocks ; 

 during the last two summers the result has been a long way 

 in favour of the Manetti. Both for size, colour, and health 

 there has been no comparison ; even Manettis planted last 

 autumn have beaten long-established Briars, especially Alfred 

 Colomb, Charles Lefebvre, Fisher Holmes, Yictor Yerdier, and 

 Dr. Jarnin. They were failures on the Briars. Mildew set in 

 very early, but I soon subdued it on the Manetti ; I was 

 powerless on the Briar. May this not be one great cause — 

 the long stem of the Briar is so acted upon by the sun that 

 the nourishment cannot make its way to the head before it is 

 dried up by the sun ? In future I shall have nothing on the 

 Briar but strong-growing Tea Roses. 



I have a plant of Unique planted out last May; it has now 

 made a grand plant, and is flowering most abundantly. Marie 

 Sisley refuses to open out of doors, but has done well in a pot 

 in the conservatory. Let me recommend my brother amateurs 

 if they want always to have a Rose in their garden from which 

 to cut a lovely bloom, to invest in two or three plants of Archi- 

 mede ; with me it is beautiful. I see but little mention of 

 Charles Margottin in the various letters on Roses ; with me (in 

 Somerset) it is grand. — Stiff Soil. 



NOTES FROM BELFAST. 



In the well-known and excellent Botanic Gardens at Belfast 

 on the Sth and 9th inst., was held the first, we believe, of a 

 series of great horticultural exhibitions after the style of the 

 Regent's Park and Manchester Shows, which have never failed 

 to please. Horticultural exhibitions in Belfast are not new 

 things ; they have, however, never been particularly successful ; 

 the late Show was, therefore, a bold attempt on the part of the 

 Directors of the Botanic Gardens to resuscitate them, and to 

 introduce the Belfast people to new pleasures by adopting a 

 new style of arrangement in their exhibitions. The attempt, 

 we are happy to state, was so far successful, reflecting con- 

 siderable credit on the very energetic Curator, Mr. J. F. John- 

 ston, under whose management the whole was carried out. 



The grounds where the Show was held were exceedingly well 

 laid out for the purpose, about 80 yards in length and 30 yards 

 in breadth, the centre being somewhat hollowed and cut up 

 into irregularly-shaped beds and mounds of grass, on which 

 the plants were placed. This pieee of ground had been pre- 

 viously prepared, and was in good condition, gTeatly marred, 

 however, by the use for the walks of ugly coal ashes, which 

 contrasted badly with beautiful flowers. A huge canvas tent 

 was erected, supported by a great wooden framework and four 

 lines of exceedingly ugly rough Larch trees, which proved a 

 great eyesore. The arrangement of the Show itself was in 

 some respects faulty ; the centre, which ought to have been 

 the chief point, being particularly bare and destitute. 



Prizes to the amount of £200 were offered for competition, 

 and very spirited in some cases was the contest. The display 

 of Fuchsias was remarkably fine, far surpassing anything of 

 the kind seen about London for years, those from Professor 

 Yonghe and Mr. Hawkins being particularly fine. Zonal Pe- 

 largoniums were likewise well displayed, also exotic Ferns, for 

 which the Belfast people seem to have a particular regard. 

 Hardy Ferns were likewise shown in great numbers, and among 

 them were many remarkably fine varieties. The Dahlias from 

 Messrs. Dickson, of Newtownards, were about the largest and 

 best finished flowers we have ever seen. Roses, for the season, 

 were also well shown. There were, besides, some very good 

 examples of stove plants, Ixoras, Bambusa Fortunei, Yucca 

 vatiegata, Sanchezia nobilis variegata, Cyanophyllnm mag- 

 nificum and Bowmanii, a very fine Croton variegatum, and 

 Anthnrium rnagnificum. Yallota purpurea was particularly 

 well shown. We only observed one "wee" solitary Orchid, 

 which even Mr. Anderson almost overlooked. Bouquets were 

 well represented, showing better taste than is to be found in 

 maDy places. 



