180 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



[ August 30, 18G4. 



Fuchsia "Flower-buds Falling (A Lincoln Lady). — We think the 

 buds fall owing to the dryness of the atmosphere and defective roet- 

 action. Perhaps you have the pots standing in saucers, and the plants are 

 thus deluged with water, causing the young fibres to rot, and it being these 

 that feed the buds, the latter fall for lack of nourishment Placing the plants 

 out of doors at night will conduce I o their healthy growth ; but we think that 

 alternate changes of cold and heat are not proper for a plant in a flowering 

 state. The extreme dryness of the room, and the sudden change to the 

 open air, are a probable cause of the falling of the buds. The plants 

 cannot be too near the glass, but with the hot weather we have had recently 

 it is likely that the evaporation .from the leaves would be more than the 

 supply from the r^ots, and the buds would then fall. The falling m;iy have 

 been caused by a dry state of soil, even if but for a few hours, or by the 

 want of fresh air. The remedy wih be the opposite course of treatment. 

 (A Perplexed Subscriber).— From your description of the treatment there 

 is nothing, so far as we can discover, that could affect their blooming, 

 except it be an insufficiency of water at the root. Water every two days is 

 too little. Ours have required watering at least once a-day, and even that 

 has been scarcely sufficient to keep them from flagging. Too much or too 

 little water are equally injurious, and not less so is a dry atmosphere 

 accompanied by a high temperature, 3nd insufficient ventilation. You m.iy 

 enjoy the luxury of eating Grapes of your own growing by planting a 

 couple of Vines if the tree on the south-west does Dot overshadow the house 

 too much. You will rot have room for more than two, and these we would 

 have Black Hamburgh ; but if you wish for a White Grape, a Buckland 

 Sweetwater may be substituted for one of the Hamburghs. In addition to 

 the Vines, yon may have a few plants, as Fuchsias, Geraniums, Frimulas, 

 Cinerarias, bulbs, and other greenhouse plants which may be placed out- 

 doors in summer, and the house kept gay with Balsams, Celosias, Amaran- 

 thus, and a few Achimenes and Gloxinias. 



Commencing a Market Garden (L. J2.].-We fear we cannot conscien- 

 tiously advise you to embark extensively in market gardening without 

 more experience than you probably possess. If, therefore, your field be a 

 meadow let it remain so until you can see more. Yon will easily find a tenant 

 for it ; and if you were to spend a year amongst the market gardens around 

 London, you would obtain more knowledge of the subject than you 

 could from a whole Number of nnr periodical, that is if you kept a sharp 

 look out and noted everything that was going on around you. If you were 

 determined to start at once, we would say, Begin with part of your land, 

 eay one acre, which is sufficient if you crop it with a variety of vege- 

 tables, and do all the work yourself. If you determine on this commence 

 at once, and trench a part of it to plant with Cabbage for early Bpring use. 

 The plants you must buy from some one having a good early sort, as the 

 Enfield Market, Fulham. or Downhara. During the autumn and winter 

 you might keep on trenching, and ear ; yin spring various crops might be 

 put in, as to which we will give you advice in future Numbers. You must 

 bear in mind that you will have nothing to sell until the end of April or May, 

 when your Cabbages will be ready for market. During the autumn many 

 crops may be got in, as patches of herbs, if they be (ranted; Current, 

 Gooseberry, and other fruit trees may be planted, and in the spring Aspa- 

 ragus, as also Sea-kale and Globe Artichokes, if you intend to cultivate 

 them. We would strongly advise you to find out the waDts of the district 

 you live in, and only plant what is likely to sell ; of course, when you can se? 

 a prospect of a demand for another article then by all means produce it, and 

 be sure and grow everything well, so as to acquire a good name at first, and 

 then we have no doubt you will succeed. 



Evergreens on Chalk Soil (.4 Co?istajit Reader).— Besides the Yew 

 afid Box which you mention, we have planted, and found to flourish, on a 

 similar soil near Winchester— Laurustinus, all the evergreen Berberries, 

 Portugal Laurel, Evergreen Oak, and Taxodium sempervirens. The common 

 Laurel and Rhododendrons will not succeed. 



Ked Spider on Fuchsias {J. S.).— Take the plants out of the house or 

 the insects will proceed to the other plants. Syringe them with Gishurst 

 compound according to the directions given on the packet and repeat the 

 application until the insects cease to appear. Keep the air in the green- 

 house more moist by watering the path. 



Names op Plants (L. B.).— We cannot undertake to name plants from 

 single leaves. Your tree may be any one of some half-dozen or more with 

 similar leaves that we know. {Conway). — Linaria vulgaris. (A Subscriber, 

 Herts..— 1, Bromns macrnstachyus ; 2, unnameahle; 3, Briza maxima; 

 4, Hordeum jubatum; 5, Pennisetum villosum. (_D., Budleigh Salterton). 

 —Your plant is rightly named. It flowers in winter, when the branches 

 are naked, and is a very acceptable addition to cur few indigenous winter 

 flowers. {E. F.).— Cephalandra quinqueloba. {Constant Reader).— Gaul- 

 theria Shallon. 



POULTRY, BEE, and HOUSEHOLD CHRONICLE. 



THE AGRICULTURAL HALL POULTRY SHOW 

 AND THE POULTRY CLUB. 



Me. Tut/han in reply to my last communication declined 

 to answer publicly any queries put to him, but promised all 

 the information he could give to parties communicating 

 directly with him. Mr. Manning states that he " wrote to 

 Mr. Tudman, asking him for the rules and regulations of 

 the Poultry Club, with the view of becoming a member," 

 and that the answer he received was " to the effect that the 

 rules and regulations were available to members only." 

 The answers to his other inquiries appear also to have been 

 as little satisfactory, as he seems to have relinquished all 

 ideas of membership. 



A similar incident occurred to me some time since. The 

 Club had advertised their rules to non-members at 5s. per 

 copy, and I ordered a copy, enclosing a money order for the 

 amount. The rules were, however, notwithstanding refused, 



and the money order returned. Mr. Hughes naively sug- 

 gests that parties desiring to have information may obtain 

 it by paving their half guinea and becoming members, 

 which will also put them in possession of the rules ; but this 

 savours so much of the showman, that it is difficult to believe 

 the suggestion to have been seriously made, especially, too, 

 as another correspondent, who wrote to Mr. Tudman, states 

 that from his reply it appeared to him doubtful if they de- 

 sired any more members. 



This, however, is not all. Another correspondent, "A 

 Poultry Fancier," gravely assures your readers that the 

 rules have not yet been fully compiled, and that they are 

 nevertheless undergoing revision. This would indicate the 

 whole affair to be a new version of the " mountain in labour," 

 in that, after all the pangs of parturition, it has not even 

 given birth to the "ridiculus mus'." 



But, seriously, who can have confidence in a club under 

 such management ? Here is a code of rules promised which 

 were to reduce poultry judging to the precision of a mathe- 

 matical problem — next they are advertised for sale, but 

 refused to persons applying for them — then the public are 

 informed that they are to be obtained only by those who 

 become members ; and lastly, that they are not yet wholly 

 compiled, and are nevertheless undergoing revision ! And, 

 to render the state of things more anomalous, with some 

 rules and regulations which appeared in another Journal, 

 Rule 10 states " that the code of rules for the guidance of 

 judges, when made, to be published ; " whilst Pule 13 re- 

 quires "the judges to judge according to the rules drawn 

 up for their guidance." So we are on the eve of a show to 

 be held under the auspices of the Club, where the prizes are 

 to be awarded according to rules not yet compiled. I am 

 aware that this has been virtually denied, and that it has 

 been asserted that the " members of the Poultry Club are 

 not responsible for the prize lists or the getting up of 

 shows." If this is the case the wider it is known the better, 

 that exhibitors may not be misled by the attractive heading 

 of the forthcoming Islington Show — " Under the patronage 

 and management of the Poultry Club." 



It is also generally understood that the Islington Com- 

 mittee, when applied to, declined to undertake the respon- 

 sibility of the Show, having lost i-iOO by a previous one, and 

 that a few of the Stewards of the Club entered into a 

 guarantee to secure the Committee from loss. 



It is time, too, that the public should know who are to be 

 the judges; but this is another of those vexed questions, 

 which appear to have made the confusion of affairs worse 

 confounded. First we are informed that Mr. Hewitt is 

 appointed; but this is now denied, notwithstanding the admis- 

 sion of Mr. Tudman in his letter which appeared in your 

 impression of the 12th of July, in which he says, " Wishing 

 to secure the services of such an upright Judge as Mr. Hewitt, 

 I was anxious to make any sacrifice to meet his views, and 

 the offer to waive the rules was merely a tribute to the great 

 ability and acknowledged experience of the greatest poultry 

 Judge in the world." In his letter to Mr. Hewitt, he says, "All 

 I now simply ask is, Will you act as Judge for us ? A large 

 show is about to take place under the management of the 

 Poultry Club, and we trust you will give us the benefit of 

 your acknowledged ability." H this does not amount to an 

 admission of Mr. Hewitt having been engaged it is difficult 

 to find terms more express. But here is the rub — the rules, 

 which form the backbone of the scheme, had to be relin- 

 quished ere the services of this distinguished Judge could be 

 secured ; and if Mr. Hewitt is not still under engagement, 

 it is through the publicity of this correspondence. JSTor are 

 there any judges yet engaged, notwithstanding the contrary 

 has been stated. Messrs. Challoner and Teebay may have 

 been selected, but they are not yet engaged. 



"Under all those conflicting circumstances the prospects of 

 the impending show (and indeed of any future show under 

 the patronage of the Club), are anything but satisfactory; 

 and what security can exhibitors feel under an Association 

 which, under such circumstances, holds itself irresponsible ? 

 With all the seeresy and mystery surrounding its doings, 

 what guarantee have exhibitors that there may not be " ear- 

 wigging " going on within its circle ? That there may be 

 " earwigging " elsewhere, as Mr. Tudman complains, is not 

 to be wondered at under the circumstances. Mr. Tudman 

 may have in his own estimation chosen the better part of 



