AngnBt 16, 1877. ] 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



133 



Reine, Jules Margottin, Madame Boll, Marechal Niel, and Gloire 

 de Dijon. 



No Roses are grown in pots ; those for forcing only are placed 

 in pots to be taken to the forcing houses, and after they have 

 done flowering they are planted in the open air. Every spriDg 

 a thick dressing of short dnng is placed between the Roses, 

 and in the autumn the ground is ploughed. Every three years 

 the trees are removed and planted in a trench 2 feet deep, with 

 horse and cow dung mixed and in quantity. The pruning is 

 done in March and April after the frosts are over. About one 

 half of the Roses are standards and the other half dwarfs, 

 some on Briars and some on their own roots. It has been 

 found that Roses on Briars bloom freely, while Roses on their 

 own roots give much better flowers. As climbing Roses they 

 have especially Marechal Niel and Gloire de Dijon. At the 

 end of December they began cutting Roses in the houses from 

 Le Roi, La Reine, and Jules Margottin ; that is about their 

 usual time. 



Paul Neron, which is not much liked in England, is put in 

 ■the first line at Ferrieres, and is considered the beBt for their 

 purpose. It grows well, has shoots of 2 or 3 feet long, gives 

 large blooms, and stands well ; but above all its first quality is 

 that while all other trees round it suffer from mildew, it is the 

 only one that is not so attacked. — Ernest Bebghan. 



YORKSHIRE FRUIT CROPS. 



Having: previously alluded to this subject, I will now com- 

 plete my observations upon the fruit crops of this year. 



Apricots on every aspect but a south one and well protected 

 are a complete failure. The crop agaiDSt a south wall is 

 moderate. The only kinds that carry a fair crop are Blen- 

 heim or Shipley, Royal, Kaisha, and Moorpark. 



Peaches and Nectarines against a south wall and well pro- 

 tected have totally failed. The trees were a pitiful sight from 

 the prevalence of " bliBter." The kinds that have suffered 

 most are Violette Hative and Barrington, the most healthful 

 being Malta, and next to it Noblesse. 



Plums must be recorded a failure. The only kinds that 

 have fruit against walls are Early Orleans, Pond's Seedling, 

 "Victoria, and Yellow Magnum Bonum, those having a moderate 

 crop, whilst there is just a sprinkling of Belgian Purple, Coe's 

 Golden Drop, Jefferson, and Green Gage. In the open ground 

 Orleans and Victoria carry a moderate crop, there being a 

 sprinkling of Early Prolific and Oullins Golden Gage. 



Cberries in the open have signally failed, the only one with 

 fruit being Imperatrice Eugenie, but buBh or pyramid Morellos 

 are loaded. The north aspect of the walls are occupied by 

 CherrieB. Morellos oarry a heavy crop, and so do May Duke, 

 Harrison's Heart, and Elton. 



Pears are for the most part fruitless. The only kinds carry- 

 ing a crop of fruit with the benefit of a wall are General 

 Todtleben, Hacon's Incomparable, Glou Morceau, Alexandre 

 Bivort, Napoleon, Beurre Diel, and Bergamotte Esperen, with 

 a fair crop of Doyenne d'Ete and Jargonelle, and just a sprink- 

 ling of Beurre d'Amanlis, Passe Colmar, Winter Nelis, and 

 Josephine de Malines. In the open Jargonelle, Williams' Bon 

 Chretien, Beurre Diel, Bergamotte Esperen, and Zephirin 

 Gregoire have fair crops. 



Apples may be said to be a fair crop, some kinds being 

 loaded, notably Warner's KiDg (but the foliage much cut and 

 the fruit "pitted"), Cox's Pomona, Dumelow's Seedling, 

 Bedfordshire Foundling, Holland Pippin, Northern Greening, 

 Cellini, Lord Suffield, Mere de Menage, Cox's Orange Pippin, 

 Margil, Court of Wick, Irish Peach, and Yorkshire Greening. 

 Keswick Codlin and Manx Codlin, with many others, are 

 almost destitute of fruit, but considering the great scarcity of 

 other fruits it is gratifying to Bee even a few Apples. 



Bush fruit, particularly black and red Currants, carry very 

 heavy crops ; but Gooseberries are variable, some kinds being 

 heavily cropped, such as Whitesmith, Antagonist, Crown Bob, 

 and most of the Lancashire kinds, but Red Warrington is very 

 thin. Raspberries a good crop, but late. 



Strawberries a good crop, that of President being enormous. 

 I do not grow many kinds, our wants being met by Keens' 

 Seedling, or that form of it often confounded with Sir Harry, 

 which is a great cropper and a first-rate forcer. La Grosse 

 Sucree is not a great though a certain cropper both out and 

 indoors, and one of the best for forcing. Sir Joseph Paxton is 

 producing heavily upon two-year-old plants, but last year's 

 runners are sparse of fruit. Due de Malakoff is neither so 

 heavy in crop nor the fruit so large as usual, whilst Sir Charles 



Napier is heavily cropped. Helene Gloede, a later and im- 

 proved Frogmore Late Pine, is good, and Luoas is one of the 

 finest Strawberries in cultivation. 



Fruit trees generally are making very vigorous growth, and 

 have for the most part clean healthy foliage. Aphis has been 

 very troublesome upon Plums, making the leaves curl, and the 

 Bhoots have a distorted appearance ; but as I keep the growths 

 closely Btopped most of the aphides disappear with the re- 

 moved sprays. I like as many leaves as possible around the 

 spurs, and not long sprays. There has been a great prevalence 

 of grubs and caterpillars that feed upon the foliage of fruit 

 trees, all of which have great enemies in birds. Sparrows 

 have looked after the Apricot grub so well as to need no help 

 from ns. The number of grubs sparrows destroy in feeding 

 their young must be enormous — not only in the nest, but for 

 a time after the young take wing. Sparrows only do harm 

 when in undue numbers, as they may be in a town garden. 



I write from north Yorkshire, over 500 feet above sea ; soil a 

 peaty loam with a variable subsoil, mostly sand, gravelly, or 

 rocky. In the orchard, which is not less than 100 feet lower 

 than the garden and sheltered on every side by woods, the 

 crops of fruit are more scant ; no Plums except Farleigh Dam- 

 son, no Pears, and not many Apples.— G. Abbey. 



FERTILISERS AND THEIR APPLICATION. 



As it is clear that I have been misapprehended by " J. B. K," 

 a few further explanatory remarks become necessary. I cer- 

 tainly do not give up the point of quantities, for the reason 

 that I never recommended any such extravagant applications 

 as those deduced by your correspondent. After I stated that 

 not a particle of guano was applied between the rows of Peas 

 (more than four-fifths of the ground), it was, I think, super- 

 fluous for " J. B. K." to assume that it was used there. As to 

 the same quantity of liquid manure having been applied to 

 a square foot of the surface of an Onion bed that was poured 

 into the hollow trench of a Pea row, anyone having sufficient 

 experience in watering such crops knows to be impossible in 

 the ordinary mode of watering : hence deductions founded on 

 theory alone are so often fallacious. 



I was requested to name what I considered a proper strength 

 of using guano water for garden crops, also how much water 

 to apply to those crops. I advised mixing guano at the rate 

 of something less than 1 J oz. to a gallon of water, and recom- 

 mended as much being applied as the ground would take. I 

 am unable to give more practical advice on watering than 

 that. If crops require watering they should be watered tho- 

 roughly, for much experience has satisfied me that half water- 

 ing does more harm than good. I also and particularly recom- 

 mended (bearing in mind the large quantities of water that 

 some ground will take) that if the crops are first watered with 

 clear water the ground will not take more than half the 

 quantity of liquid manure that would otherwise be required. 

 That I submit is the best — the most economical and effectual 

 — way of using liquid manure, applying fertilisers, and when 

 so applied the quantities named are not extravagant at all, but 

 are reasonable. I further, in order to prove that the strength 

 of the guano water named was not injurious (poisonous), de- 

 tailed my experience of using it in an extraordinary season, 

 and the crops when so treated showed conclusively how bene- 

 ficial the applications were, for such crops were full and luxu- 

 riant when all surrounding crops that had no such cultural 

 assistance were dead. I have great respect for the labours of 

 scientific men, but none for a practice that results in dying 

 crops. 



In an exceptional season like the one referred to — such a 

 season as I do not hope to see again, demanding such excep- 

 tional labour to preserve the crops — guano when applied in 

 farm or double farm quantities and left, as has been advised, 

 to be washed-in by the rains, is simply wasted. How can it 

 be otherwise when no rain falls for several weeks, and when 

 the crops are " dead failures ?" On the farm I alluded to I 

 know it is a fact that more than twenty times the guano was 

 used than was applied in the garden, and yet the farm (as the 

 owner well remembers) was a complete failure that year, 

 while the garden, as he readily admitted, and admits still, was 

 a great success. 



I will now go a step further, and submit proof that even in 

 the exceptional year named the large quantities of liquid 

 manure used were not superfluous. ' That the crops appro- 

 priated all the water I do not for a moment suggest. The 

 atmosphere may have absorbed half of it for aught I know to 



