August 1, 1S72. ] 



JOUBNAL OF HOBTICULTUEE AND COTTAGE GABDENEB. 



31 



forming a splendid mass. I can but say to those about to 

 commence the cultivation of cool Orchids, Obtain this Oncidium, 

 for without it no good collection can be considered complete. 

 — C. J. White. 



THE STRAWBERRY CROP. 



The Strawberry season here (Lincolnshire) has been excep- 

 tionally short. The blooms, except in low-lying localities, 

 mostly escaped the frost of the 19 th and 20th of May. After 

 this, ten consecutive days of unclouded sun ending June 1st, 

 rapidly accelerated ripening, but both colour and flavour were 

 wanting owing to the daily heavy rains of June 2nd to 11th 

 inclusive. Then came a roasting week, for four days, the 

 thermometer in the shads being above 80°, and one day reach- 

 ing 90°. This frizzled the early berries, and they were finished 

 off by heavy thunderstorms and continued rains up to the end of 

 the month. July opened with five bright days, which gave the 

 ripening touch to the main crop. Only a small proportion of 

 this, however, was secured, the terrific thunderstorm of the 6th, 

 and the deluges of rain beating them and knocking off much 

 unripe 'fruit. Bain continued to fall heavily for a week, and 

 the Strawberry season was over. 



Of the abundance of fruit which the plants showed, only a 

 comparatively small quantity was secured in good condition. 

 Erom June 1st to July 15th the rainfall amounted to 7 J inches. 

 In many places upwards of 2 inches fell in twenty-four hours 

 on the 6th, and by one gauge at Lincoln 2.60 inches of rain 

 were registered. This same gauge during the whole of last 

 year only gave a total of 19.12 inches, so that the relative pro- 

 portion for the short period above mentioned is strikingly ex- 

 cessive. 



But putting aside weather contingencies, the Strawberry sea- 

 son is too short. To lengthen it is an important desideratum. 

 The assistance of cultivators is requested, and they can do good 

 service by naming good free-bearing kinds specially early and 

 specially late. The best early one I have is Vicomtesse HSricart 

 de Thury. What is there earlier and better ? As to a reliable 

 late kind I have not a really good one worth naming. I — and 

 I have no doubt many more — will be glad of practical informa- 

 tion on this matter. On the 22nd ult. the thermometer in the 

 shade, i feet from the ground, registered 91°. — J. W. 



Mr. Douglas's article on the Strawberry has no doubt been 

 perused with much interest by your readers, and I have that 

 faith in what he says about their general culture as to advise 

 all those who need information to follow his advice to the 

 letter. The list of sorts he gives is a first-rate one, for it 

 embraces most of those with high flavour and general cropping 

 merits. There is one sort that Mr. Douglas does not men- 

 tion which I should like him to add to his already extensive 

 list, and I will give him the opportunity of doing so by send- 

 ing him a few runners of it, if he does not already possess the 

 variety, in exchange for some of La Constante, which I should 

 much like to grow. The variety to which I refer is called 

 Late Prince of Wales ; it is very different fro'm Ingram's 

 Prince of Wales in foliage, fruit, and time of ripening. The 

 former I am gathering from now that all others are gone. It 

 is a most wonderful cropper, the fruit medium-sized, rather 

 long in shape, but not objectionably so, and of the colour and 

 style of Princess Alice Maude. I am told that it found its way 

 to Hatfield from the late Mr. Cuthill, of Camberwell. I have 

 not seen it mentioned in any nurserymen's or other lists that 

 have come under my notice. It does not equal some of the 

 sorts named by Mr. Douglas in point of flavour, but its 

 principal recommendations are its lateness, and being a great 

 cropper of very good flavour. I do not hesitate to recommend 

 it. It possesses a hardy and very vigorous constitution. — 

 Thomas Becord. 



A New Missionary Work. — A few days ago some of the 

 most sentimental brokers doing business upon the Stock Ex- 

 change made up a pool of a small amount, by subscribing 

 25 cents each, for the purchase of a handsome terra-cotta vase, 

 which was placed upon the large table in the Exchange, to be 

 filled with fresh cut flowers every morning by Mr. Alexander 

 Stewart. The entire arrangement, in fact, was made at the 

 instigation of Mr. Stewart, who has adopted this method of 

 humanising the Board. It is stated that the brokers readily 

 handed in their quarters, particularly the young ones, many of 

 whom remarked that the flowers would remind them of the 

 green fields of their youth, and of the days when they were 



young and innocent. If the flowers upon the table are the 

 means of giving a pleasing sentiment to a single broker, surely 

 their mission is not in vain. — (New York Daily.) 



THE ROSE SEASON— ROSE NOTES. 



I send you my experience of Boses this season. I must 

 premise that, as a rule, the " cut-back " Boses have been very 

 indifferent ; those I now name havo been from last summer's 

 budding. Of the more recently-introduced Boses, Edouard 

 Morren, Louis Van Houtte, Dupuy-Jamin, Marquise de Cas- 

 tellane, and Marquise de Mortemart, Mdlle. Eugenie Verdier, 

 La Motte Sanguine, and Ferdinand de Lesseps, have been all 

 that could be wished — abundant in flower, free from blight of 

 any kind, and I think, without exception, have proved them- 

 selves first-class Boses. Countess of Oxford, Paul Neron, Emilia 

 Hausburg, and Louisa Wood have not come up to what they 

 promised last year, but I shall work them again largely, as I 

 think that this very peculiar season has not given them a fair 

 chance. 



Among the old favourites, Baroness de Bothschild, La 

 France, Marie Baumann (to my mind the best Boses in culti- 

 vation), Charles Lefebvre, Camille Bernardin, Monsieur and 

 Madame Noman, have been perfectly splendid — an abundance 

 of bloom of large size and perfect shape. That splendid 

 Bose Alfred Colomb has been quite out of " form ;" so havo 

 the no less first-class varieties Madame Yictor Verdier, 

 Duchesse de Caylus, Marcchal Vaillant, Xavier Olibo, and 

 Duke of Edinburgh, though I have seen the latter shown well 

 in this neighbourhood. The Bev. C. P. Peach has mentioned 

 two Boses, Perfection de Lyon and Princess Christian, and I 

 shall be anxious to see the reply of growers to his queries. 

 As for my own experience, I consider the first to he most use- 

 ful for this reason : though never a very first-class Bose, I 

 have over and over again turned to it when in want of a truss 

 of that colour to make up a stand, and have never found it 

 wanting ; it is always in bloom, and never bad if a little care 

 has been taken in preserving the colour. I should never like 

 to be without a dozen young plants. As to Princess Christian, 

 " D., Deal," in answer to a query of mine in your paper sums 

 time back, said, " Woe to him who trusts to them in a show 

 stand," and I agree with him when it i* grown in the open air, 

 but as a pot Bose I know none better. I flowered it this 

 spring in my Bose house, and there its size was equal to 

 Baroness Bothschild grown under similar circumstances. It 

 is in my experience the best pot Bose we have. 



Of Tea-scented Boses, the best as yet have been Marcchal 

 Niel (splendid this year) , Bubens, Souvenir d'un Ami, President, 

 Pauline Labonte, Catherine Mermet, Climbing Devoniensis, 

 Souvenir d'Elise (the best pure Tea Bose), Madame WiUermoz, 

 Niphetos, and Madame Bravy. 



We have had an election of Boses, I should be delighted to 

 see a poll of the Teas published in your Journal. I am con- 

 vinced that it is a class of Bose which only requires to be moro 

 known to be thoroughly appreciated. La Belle Lyonnaise is 

 very beautiful, but how tender ! I have lost more of it than 

 any Tea Bose I have, and that includes nearly every one in 

 cultivation. 



Ere I conclude, one word on Cucumbers. I see praises of 

 Marquise of Lome, Blue Gown, and many other giants ; but 

 are we to grow for size or quality ? Do any one of the new 

 kinds come in for use equal to the smaller and older varieties 

 — for instance, the matchless Bollisson's Telegraph or the 

 old Lord Kenyon's Favourite ? I think not. — Stiff Soil, 

 Somerset. 



The practical remarks of the Bev. C. P. Peach tempt me to 

 offer, one or two additional notes to my brother amateurs. 



In selecting Boses, one should never choose solely from cut 

 flowers, but, if possible, from growing plants, which, if 

 weakly in habit, should be at once rejected, as disappointment 

 will ensue, however beautiful in other respects they may be. 

 Trade catalogues are not always, in respect of growth, a true 

 guide. Many Boses grow and bloom well from the bud, and 

 never afterwards, and so it comes to pass that the term 

 "robust" is used, when "stunted" would be the better de- 

 scription. Do not run after (new varieties until you have 

 thoroughly tried and well grown the older sorts. I lately saw 

 on the wall of a village school-house a plant of Baronne Pre- 

 vost, some 15 feet high by as many broad, with one hundred 

 blooms on it, each 4 to 5 inches in diameter — a grand floricul- 

 tural sight, and yet with many this Bose has been already 



