August 23, 1864. ] 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



145 



short prayer and call Ms wife up to my house, where he died 

 (having received every attention), when " Lo ! he was gone." 



This leads me back to answer the question, " What shall 

 I turn my hand to?" I said to Lias (in 1854), "Could you 

 not give me up that bit of ground, as we have had no Straw- 

 berries for two years, and let me try my hand?" "Oh, 

 that's no use. I have been here twenty-eight years and 

 could never grow them ; the soil don't suit 'em. It 's im- 

 possible ! But there, master can please himself." " Im- 

 possible," said I, "is not English, and I will have a ' go.' " 



Though the soil is mixed with chalk, and rests on chalk, 

 I have never found any " impossibility " whatever. I have 

 had immense crops this season. The Progmore Pines were 

 as big as Myatt's Surprise. 



So far as regards Strawberries. The following relates to 

 Peach trees, and is somewhat amusing. I could never beat 

 into Lias's head that without protection by sheets in such 

 a situation it would be impossible to grow Peaches. Before, 

 however, I come to protection I have painful operations to 

 describe. 



_ " Lias," said I one day to him (he had a comic face, and 

 his eyes nearly came out of his head), this is St. Thomas's 

 Hospital. These patients must undergo amputation. Get 

 the saw and hatchet, and the spade and pickaxe. I am 

 going to cut these old naked trees down, and cut off all 

 their perpendicular roots and make new trees of them. It 

 will be a bloody job ; hemorrhage may set in. Let 's have 

 a pint of beer each, for it's nervous work." The beer being 

 disposed of I said, " Now don't be unbelieving. Job says, 

 ' There is hope of a tree if it is cut down that it will sprout 

 again.'" " Sprout again ! " said he ; " if ever they sprouts 

 again I'm a Dutchman!" "Phoo!" said I, "prepare for 



operations. I am Sir B , you are Stiggins the operator." 



"Oh, well," said he, resignedly, "what must be must be !" 

 " Now," said I, " don't be nervous ; give a decisive blow 

 right through the 'crurum tenus,' avoiding the 'femoral 

 artery.' " He gave tremendous chops, bordering on the 

 spiteful : and, after the limbs toppled down he burst into a 

 loud fit of laughter and exclaimed, ". I'm blest if that aint 

 the c-ruel tenus; and the female artery," he added, "with a 

 vengeance." "Well," said I, " Stiggins, you shall have 

 half-a-crown." — (N.B., no oil is so effective as palm oil.) I 

 got him after this to cut the other two trees down, and also 

 to cut off all their strong perpendicular roots, some of which 

 were as thick as my wrist, and also to cut off the superficial 

 roots in a radius of 30 inches round the stump. The ground 

 was then renewed ; and when the trees reached the top of 

 the nine-feet wall and touched each other, I gathered, the 

 first year of sheet-covering, over a thousand Peaches. I 

 never before had as much from the whole wall as would fill 

 my hat. From that time to this (eight years, including 

 this), I shall, after taking its present fine crop of 560 

 Peaches, have gathered over 4000 Peaches, or an annual 

 average of 500 Peaches for eight consecutive years ! The 

 trees are beautiful for strength, for new wood, foliage, and 

 crops. The 560 Peaches now on the trees (I believe Royal 

 Georges), are swelling fast and reddening. Since I have 

 been writing this article two visitors, hearing of them, have 

 called to see them, and expressed wonder and admiration. 

 I have forgotten the year they were cut down. The old 

 man died, I believe, in the March preceding the landing of 

 over 1000. This was an unwise crop, as in the next year the 

 trees only bore 197 from being overcropped. I am feeding 

 the present heavy crop with strong beer grounds over the 

 whole surface of the ground, which I never move, washed 

 in with great inundations of water. They are copiously 

 syringed every day at eleven o'clock_ to cool the wall, to 

 refresh the wood and clean the leaves, and to keep down 

 pests. Suffer a few words in conclusion. 



1. Peach trees must be fed. What you take out must be 

 put back. Every third year renew the surface with fresh 

 maiden mould. The Peach trees of England die from too 

 much disbudding, starvation, and neglect of the general 

 health of the tree in winter and summer. 



2. The leaves, when first breaking, are as tender as the 

 blossoms. They must be protected by sheets or glass. Cold 

 piercing winds injure the leaves, and ill health sets in. I 

 had only twelve blistered leaves last year — only four this 

 year. 



3. The Peaches should be thinned as soon as you can feel 



the little Peach in its sheath. They should be thinned at 

 three times. 1823 were first taken off this year from the 

 three trees, and 847 left on. There are now 560. These 

 will come to perfection. 



4. Peaches drop their fruit from immaturity of wood, pre- 

 vious over-cropping, want of water, especially at stoning 

 time, over-cropping, over-heating of the walls, and from 

 starvation. 



5. You must, till frosts are over, keep the leaves and 

 blossoms dry. 



6. Keep the wood as close at home as you can, and beware 

 of letting the trees become bare at the base and centre. Spur 

 the fore-wood, and keep the rest of the tree like a shrubby 

 Calceolaria. Winter may be severe : therefore keep on 

 plenty of wood to select from. I will be answerable next 

 year to put a Peach wherever the reader will make a chalk 

 mark. — W. F. Radclyffe, Tarrent Rushton. 



FLOWER SHOWS. 



If the old saying that " too many cooks spoil the broth " be 

 correct, then has the stew of the Royal Horticultural Society 

 a very fair prospect of being spoiled — no, that would not 

 be correct considering the condition in which things are at 

 South Kensington, but of being made utterly useless ; but 

 the state of affairs there has opened up a wider subject; 

 and the whole question of flower shows, their present con- 

 dition, and their future improvement, have come upon the 

 carpet. Having had some little experience in this matter, 

 I venture, even although Sir Joseph Paxton and others have 

 written upon it, to suggest a few things, not so much by 

 way of alteration, but to check, if it may be, any tendency 

 towards an ultra-democratic movement in the matter, and 

 to throw a little conservative element into the question. I 

 do not pretend to speak with authority ; but it is open to 

 every one who takes the trouble of observing to give the 

 result of his observations, even though they may be those 

 that have passed through the minds of many besides him- 

 self, and may not, therefore, have the appearance even of 

 novelty. 



The first question that meets us is, What is the object of 

 a flower show ? Is it to afford an agreeable promenade for 

 the upper classes of society ? Is it to replenish the coffers 

 of a treasury exhausted by other outgoings ? Is it to put 

 money into the pockets of a few large growers who are sure 

 to exhibit wherever they can ? I have no objection to any 

 or all of these views of a flower show. I delight to see the 

 array of beauty and fashion that one is always sure to see 

 at a metropolitan show. I have no objection to a society 

 making money by flower shows, if it can be done, and I think 

 our great growers deserving of all encouragement, although 

 I do not for a moment believe that they are great gainers 

 by their prizes ; nay, I feel confident were they to put toge- 

 ther the expense and trouble of growing the plants, and 

 the expense of sending them to the Show, that they are at 

 a loss. But I contend that none of these are the primary 

 objects of a horticultural exhibition. It is to encourage gar- 

 dening and gardeners, to show what skill, and energy, and 

 perseverance can do, and to enable those who succeed in the 

 various branches of the science to show the results of their 

 labours , and I believe that where a society keeps this pro- 

 minently before itself it is best fulfilling the objects for 

 which it professes to work. 



I know that it is objected to this that the very magnitude 

 of the results obtained renders people hopeless of ever 

 attaining a like degree of perfection. A gentleman sees, 

 for example, some of Mr. Henderson's or Mr. Meredith's 

 wonderful Grapes, and he contrasts them with his own 

 miserable bunches, and he wants to know why he cannot 

 have as good. Well, perhaps Robinson or Jones has not 

 seen the said Grapes, but he hears of their size and beauty ; 

 and if he be a wise man he will tell his employer, " I think, 

 sir, you would hardly like to incur the expense that has been 

 entailed to procure this fruit ; but if you do I am quite ready 

 to try my best." Well, he does not reach the standard set ; 

 but he inquires the method of culture, gets Thomson on the 

 Vine or some such book, and his vinery bears a totally 

 different appearance. The same holds good with regard to 

 flowers. Take Mr. Bailey's Pelargoniums. It would never 



