August 16, 1877. ] 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



129 



the fresh shoots ate an inch or two long remove most of the 

 old soil and return to the same or a slightly increased size of 

 pot. Shade for a few days and afterwards expose fully. Stop 

 the shoots as they advance in growth, but not after February, 

 when the final potting may be given. 



Plants are easily obtained by seed, and they make more 

 vigorous plants than from cuttings. If sown as soon as the 

 seed is ripe good plants ate had for next year's bloom. Seed- 

 lings, however, flower rather later than plants from cuttings. 



Three parts loam with a fourth of leaf soil or well-decayed 

 manure will grow the plants well, good drainage being provided. 

 Free watering is necessary, and a light airy situation. In 

 summer the plants may be placed outdoors, housing them 

 before frost. — G. Abbey. 



PACKING.— No. 3. 



Peach boxes are 4 inches deep inside. Each fruit is wrapped 

 in tissue or other very soft paper, and afterwards in wadding. 

 All are then laid in the box so closely that they cannot possibly 

 move, corners and all interstices being stuffed with wadding 

 or waste paper, and the box altogether made just a little more 

 than full, remembering that it is even better to crush the fruit 

 a little in packing than to allow the possibility of its moving 

 about during transit. However, there is no difficulty in pack- 

 ing the fruit in such a manner that unless it meets with ex- 

 tremely rough usage it will arrive at its destination uninjured. 

 The best wadding is the cheapest, it being the most elastic, 

 and can be used many times over. There is more fruit injured 

 by being packed too loosely than there is in the opposite 

 direction. People are afraid to give it a little pressure, and 

 then when it passes through the rough hands of the car- 

 riers and turned upside down, endways, sideways, and thrown 

 about any way except the right one, some of the fruits shift 

 closer together, leaving a little space perhaps at one end, and 

 then all is over, for every movement afterwards will make 

 matters worse. We must always bear in mind that a package 

 is liable to be thrown from the top of a railway carriage on to 

 the platform, and we must pack accordingly. If it does not 

 happen to receive this sort of treatment all is well, and if it 

 does all is well too so long as the necessary precautions have 

 been taken to have plenty of elasticity combined with firm 

 packing. 



Every fruit has to be perfectly ripe and ready for immediate 

 use when packed for a gentleman's table, because we cannot 

 expect those whose hands it afterwards passes through to have 

 the requisite knowledge of judging when it is fit for use; this 

 takes a considerable amount of experience, which even those 

 who profess to have it are often short of. In packing for a 

 London fruiterer the case would be entirely different, as the 

 consignee would probably know more about the peculiarities 

 of the fruit than the sender. Something, too, depends on the 

 manner of gathering the fruit. Once every day at least all 

 ripening fruit on the trees should be tried, grasping it in the 

 hand in a similar way as one would a cricket ball, dividing 

 the pressure as nearly as possible equally all round and giving 

 a gentle pull. If the fruit is ready the stalk will either oome 

 out of it easily, or the fruit will be felt to be slightly elastic 

 and may then be pulled off, laying it on wadding in a basket 

 or box at hand for the purpose. A practised hand never 

 bruises a fruit in gripping it in the way I have tried to de- 

 scribe ; it is only the unskilled who bruise by pressing too 

 much in one place, and perhaps with the finger and thumb 

 only instead of with the whole hand. The fruit is not gene- 

 rally fit for table for a week or ten days after it is gathered. 

 It should be kept lying on wadding in the fruit room or other 

 suitable place, and be examined and placed on fresh dry wad- 

 ding every second or third day, as the wadding sometimes 

 gets damp underneath the fruit. 



Figs are packed in a similar way to Peaches, and are rather 

 more difficult to manage, as a Fig is of no use at all unless 

 it is fit to be put in the mouth immediately it is taken from 

 the tree. This is especially the case with White Marseilles, 

 which is perhaps the beet and the worst sort in cultivation, 

 according to the time and manner of gathering it. It must be 

 allowed time to attain to its delicate yellowish-green colour, 

 be quite soft at the eye, and the skin just commence to crackle. 

 It is good only under these conditions, and of course wants 

 exceedingly good packing. The sort named above and the 

 Brown Turkey are the best I know for both indoors and out. 

 Instead of UBing tissue paper I generally wrap Figs in a soft 

 Vine leaf (Hamburgh preferred) and afterwards in wadding. 



Where very soft, clean, elastic moss can be had I have no 

 doubt it would do as well, or nearly as well, as wadding; but 

 nothing should be used for the purpose which would be likely 

 to partially wither, and consequently leave a vacant space in 

 the box. 



Strawberry boxes are 10 by 8 inches outside and 2 inches 

 deep inside. A layer of wadding is placed at the bottom, and 

 then each fruit is laid on a separate leaf, so that no two 

 fruits can touch. The manner of proceeding is something like 

 the following : The fruit is gathered carefully by the stalk and 

 placed in Bingle layers in cane-bottomed sieves ; if wet, as it 

 frequently is, it is left in a dry airy position for a time pre- 

 vious to paoking. The operator when commencing to pack 

 places the sieve to the right of his box and plenty of dry 

 Strawberry leaves, with the stems picked-off olosely, in front of 

 him. The wadding being placed in the bottom of the box, he 

 commences by placing a leaf at the corner nearest his left hand 

 in such a way that the fruit when laid on it will neither touch 

 the side of the box nor the wadding at the bottom ; he then 

 takes a fruit by the stalk in his right hand and places it side- 

 ways with the stalk outwards and depressed a little to the 

 bottom of the box, so as not to be in the way of other fruits to 

 follow. He holds the ftuit in position by the stalk with his 

 right hand, while with his left he takes another leaf and places 

 it so as to protect the second fruit from the first one as well 

 as from the wadding ; he now holds the leaf, gently pressing 

 against the fruit with his left hand, and the right is free to 

 take up another fruit. He works in a line away from himself, 

 and then, after making the first line perfectly secure, he follows 

 with a second one, packing all so olosely together that a fruit 

 cannot poBsibly move, and yet without bruising one. When 

 the layer is completed it is covered with a single layer of Vine 

 or Strawberry leaves, then a layer of wadding over all, and the 

 lid is fastened. If the fruit is small, the depth of box I have 

 given will require an extra layer of wadding or more leaves ; 

 but 2 inches is none too deep for good fruit of President or 

 Dr. Hogg. From four to Bix boxes are tied together, except 

 when they are enclosed in other packages. 



Grapes are packed in stiff cardboard, rolled up to a point at 

 one end as the shop boys do sugar papers, turning the ends 

 carefully down, and wrapping afterwards in brown paper so as 

 to keep all right without tying. A good size for boxes is 2 feet 

 by 1 foot, and 7 inohes deep inside. The interstices are filled 

 with chopped straw. — William Tailor. 



ROSE GOSSIP. 



Although it may need some apology on the part of an ob- 

 scure Rose-grower for presuming to record his humble opinion 

 respecting Roses and Rose-exhibiting in a Journal so replete 

 with information from the highest authorities, yet perhaps it 

 may be as well to have the subject ventilated occasionally by 

 growers in a small way, and on such an understanding I will 

 proceed. Respecting the new varieties I can say but little, for 

 although I possess strong plants of most of the new French 

 kinds, the bloom has not yet been sufficiently general to enable 

 me to judge. I may mention in passing that from observation 

 and information we may find some of the beBt among the 

 following: — Madame Devert (Pernet), Madame la Baronne de 

 Medeni (E. Verdier), Madame Sophie Fropot (Levet), Marie 

 Louise Pernet (Pernet), Marquise A. de Murinais (Schwartz) ;. 

 but of these I hope we may soon have fuller information from 

 some of the leading growers. I have bloomed the new Tea 

 Triomphe de Milan, and have every confidence that it will 

 prove an acquisition. Respecting last year's lot, English and 

 foreign, I am disposed to think favourably of Abel Carriere, 

 Duke of Connaught, Duchesse de Vallombrosa (very good), 

 Dae de Montpensier, Jean Liabaud, Madame Prosper Langier, 

 Magna Charta, Marguerite Brassac (superb), Mrs. Baker, and 

 Oxonian, but I cannot at present endorse the good opinion ex- 

 pressed regarding Avocat Duvivier, Empress of India, Madame 

 Ferdinand Jamin, Mdlle. Emilie Verdier, Queen Eleanor, 

 Triomphe de France (a good bedder), and others, of which the 

 names I fancy will speedily drop out of our lists. Among recent 

 acquisitions I think we may class Casimer Perrier, Uomtesse de 

 Serenji, Hippolyte Jamain, La Rosiere, Mons. E. Y. Teas, 

 Rev. J. B. M. Camm, Royal Standard, Sir G. Wolseley, and 

 Star of Waltham. All these I think are well worthy of culti- 

 vation for exhibition purposes. 



One word respecting garden Roses, and especially summer 

 Roses, for I cannot banish them altogether ; surely every 

 rosarian ought to find a place for such old favourites as 



