66 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



[ July 26, 1877. 



cultural Society — having been one of the judges. That ex- 

 cellent Melon was purchased by Messrs. James Carter & Co., 

 and was named Blankney Hero. Another instance of a 

 Melon showing extreme variation in quality was afforded 

 by my own experience. I had a very fine and highly per- 

 fumed fruit of Bromham Hall which I intended to win first 

 honours at an exhibition. I was annoyed by an important 

 dinner party occurring the night previous to the show, and the 

 very best Melon was demanded on the table. Emphasis was 

 laid on the " very best," because the Melons, aB a rule, had 

 not quite given satisfaction that year. I felt compelled, there- 

 fore, to send in my fine exhibition fruit, and was more an- 

 noyed than ever to receive the verdict of " not good " with 

 more than half the Melon which was handed to me the next 

 morning. To the verdict I was obliged to agree, for certainly 

 the fruit was " not good." It occurred to me that it must 

 have been over-ripe — a day too old, and therefore I cut from 

 the same plant another fruit which I considered not fully 

 ripe, but which required one or two more days to perfect, and 

 took it to the show. It was awarded the first prize unani- 

 mously. Its perfume before being cut was not remarkable, 

 indeed scarcely noticeable, but its quality proved extremely 

 rich. I then felt satisfied that I had fallen into the habit that 

 year of keeping the Melons a day or two too long before I 

 considered them in the best condition. I changed my mode 

 of judging them, cutting them and sending them to table 

 earlier, even before the aroma appeared to be fully developed, 

 and not one fruit was afterwards found fault with during the 

 whole of the season. With many fruits all the care in oulture 

 had been rendered nugatory by an error of judgment as to the 

 time of sending it to table. I think it possible that similar 

 errors are made by others in exhibiting Melons ; they keep 

 them as they think until the fruit is just at its best, and in 

 doing so keep it a day too long. 



The subject may be worth mentioning now, and also the 

 practice, which has proved successful, of not "drying off" the 

 plants during the ripening period. Keeping the foliage clean, 

 fresh, and healthy until after the fruit was cut, and staging 

 it just before its full aroma appeared to be developed, resulted 

 in some of the best Melons being produced and the best prizes 

 won with them which have come under my notice during a 

 tolerably long period of practice. 



The best Melons which have been exhibited in the south 

 this year have been Victory of Bath and Excelsior by Mr. 

 Gilbert, Reid's Netted and Cox's Golden Gem by Mr. Miles at 

 the Royal Botanic ; and Bloxholm Hall by Mr. Crane, and 

 Eastnor Castle by Mr. Clifford at the Bickley (West Kent) 

 Shows.— J. W. 



SWEET-SCENTED CLIMBING PLANTS. 



It is early morning, the time 5.50. I have just opened a 

 window of my sitting-room, letting-in the fresh morning air 

 laden with a perfume so rich that in a few minutes it pervades 

 the whole of the houEe, and one sniffs it with a gusto which 

 must be something akin to that of the bees, already at work 

 busily sucking honey from the flowers whence it comes, and 

 which are so truly worthy of their old familiar title of Honey- 

 suckle. As I inhale the delicious perfume the thought arises, 

 Is not this worth telling the readers of the Journal about ? 

 But then it has already been done indirectly more than once ; 

 and yet how seldom does one meet with the plant in full per- 

 fection 1 so I beg of all who desire to have fragrant climbing 

 plants to read what I shall write and to do as I shall ask. 



I think it would not be incorrect were I to assert that my 

 Honeysuckle bears away the palm for sweetness, not only from 

 other sorts of its own speoies, but from all other plants. 

 " What !" you exclaim, " have you forgotten the Violets about 

 which Mr. Abbey wrote so pleasantly and usefully the other 

 day, the Mignonette, Lily of the Valley, Stephanotis, and Jas- 

 mine J" No, I have not forgotten them, I grow and like them 

 all; but not one of them is equal to my Honeysuckle, which 

 gives off waves of Bcent continuously— scent so rich and yet so 

 delicate withal that it never cloys the palate, never offends and 

 oppresses like a Lilium or Magnolia. 



The scientific appellation of my Honeysuckle is Lonioera 

 flexuosa. It has very long flexible growth thickly clothed with 

 foliage of the deepest shade of green, most of which it retains 

 throughout the winter ; and for a long time in summer its young 

 growth is laden with thousands of deep red, slender, tubular 

 flowers, giving forth the fragrance which now fills my house. 

 Its growth is wonderfully strong, stout, and free, running in a 



few seasons to the top of a high building, and at the same 

 time spreading-out so thickly and well laterally that it clothes 

 whatever surfaces it is trained upon perfectly in every part — a 

 property of no mean value, for many of our best climbers are 

 often bare of foliage for several feet from the ground. When 

 its flowers fade in summer it is my custom to prune it, cutting 

 off all the pendant breast shoots, which induces afresh growth 

 that in a mild autumn bursts freely into flower. 



It answers perfectly and grows with equal rapidity upon 

 every aspect, and once established in good soil its roots require 

 no further care — no annual dressings of manure or soakings of 

 sewage like the Rose. We have here, then, a plant of great 

 excellence, flourishing in all soils that are tolerably fertile, 

 upon all aspects, and in all situations; spreading its trailing 

 growth over masses of rock as freely as it mounts upward upon 

 the sides of a lofty building, clothed with foliage throughout 

 the year, and in summer bearing a profusion of flowers un- 

 rivalled for sweetness. It is so readily propagated and so 

 easily managed that you may procure a strong plant of it in a 

 pot from any nurseryman for Is. Its growth iB so flexible 

 and free, and bears pruning so well, that it may be allowed to 

 mingle with Tea Roses or other especial pets, and yet readily 

 be kept within bounds. 



In L. brachypoda my favourite flexuosa has no mean rival, 

 each bearing the closest resemblance to the other in habit and 

 freedom of growth, abundance of flowers, fragrance, and time 

 of flowering, both being now in full perfection ; but L. brachy- 

 poda is as distinct as possible from L. flexuosa in point of 

 colour, its flowers being white and pale yellow, and with foliage 

 and branches of a light green hue, in charming contrast to the 

 deep colours of L. flexuosa, so that they may be planted to- 

 gether with the happiest effect. It would not surprise me if 

 preference were most generally given to L. brachypoda, for 

 a large plant of it when in full bloom presents a singularly 

 elegant and striking appearance. 



L. grata, also very sweet-scented and now just paBt its best, 

 is altogether a bolder type of Honeysuckle. Its growth is 

 stouter, and the foliage and flower clusters proportionately 

 larger ; but it altogether lacks the graceful refinement of 

 L. flexuosa and L. brachypoda, for, apart from an air of coarse- 

 ness, its growth is rigid and erect — a real advantage when the 

 plant is well placed and suffered to ramble, for then it puts 

 forth wonderfully robust shoots, bearing huge clusters of 

 flowers which tell well upon a pillar or high-up on the wall of 

 a lofty building. 



L. fragrantissima, which comes into flower in early spring, 

 is so sweet that I must not omit to name it here. It is a most 

 distinct variety, with a stout, erect, shrub-like growth, and 

 handsome evergreen foliage. 



The perfume of a Honeysuckle prompted me to write this note. 

 To the Honeysuckles precedence has been given as due, but I 

 must not omit mention of such sweet-scented climbers as we 

 have in the Wistaria, Jasmines, Chimonanthus, and Clematis 

 flammula ; the last-named plant has rightly been described as 

 being as fragrant as a Hawthorn. — Edward Luckhubst. 



THE AIR-TIGHT VINERY. 



In answer to the request of " W. L. A." as to construction 

 of an air-tight vinery, I beg to inform him that the important 

 points are — that the building should run direct north and 

 south, and that the sides should be at such an angle as to 

 cause the rays of the sun to glance off during the scorching 

 hours of the day. The building may be of any length. As 

 it costs 10s. per foot run, £50 goes a long way, and if the soil 

 be well prepared half this sum may be obtained by selling the 

 Grapes yearly, as they come in early ; and even after they are 

 ripe they may be kept hanging some time to insure a good 

 market, as the building is air-tight, and quicklime placed in 

 small heaps absorbs all moisture. 



The roots also can be kept dry at this time by placing over 

 them brown paper steeped in the thin kind of oreosote (reams 

 of paper may be soaked at a time). The mode of placing this 

 waterproof covering on the border is in this way : — You must 

 have a net (also steeped in this creosote, which makes it last- 

 ing), which is to be stretched tightly over the border by means 

 of strong cord tied to the sides. By wooden stumps it can be 

 fixed in a slantiDg position to throw off rain. The paper is 

 placed evenly on this net, and another net is stretohed over it 

 to keep it in its place. This will last for several years. 



But to proceed with the building. The sides should be 

 8 feet in height, the ground floor 7 feet wide, the roof 3 feet 



