January i, 1898. 



THE GARDENERS' MAGAZINE. 



15 



P^ches and nectarines need so little attention from October to * ebruary that 

 T need, not refer to these trees at length, but I pay more attention to retarding the 

 Growths at this season than to giving much shelter when in bloom in a southern 

 Sitv for the hardier the trees are grown the better the crop. It is an easy 

 natter at this season to take away from the wall the new growths or small shoots, 



nd so harden the buds that they break much later. Do not, however, unloosen 

 "the main shoots or branches as the trees would become broken by winds. Not 



nlv does the unnailing harden the wood but it cleanses also, this being equally 

 important Any priming of these trees may also be done, but it is the best policy 

 in exposed places to defer pruning till a later period, but the peach and nectarine, 

 with ample attention during the summer, should not need much pruning, especially 

 if the old fruiting wood is removed as soon as the crop is cleared. I would 

 strongly advise any planting of these fruits, also apricots, to be attended to. I 

 nrefer planting the fruits named early in the autumn, and though there is 

 a danger of the bark shrivelling, the trees left too late suffer in hot dry seasons. 

 Up to this date there has been no frost to damage newly planted trees, bu; it is 

 well to cover the soil around them with strong litter. I do not advise decayed 

 matter as if left late in the spring it prevents the sun warming the sod and retards 

 root action. When fruit trees are being pruned it is a good plan in the case of 

 cherries or plums to cleanse also, as though the trees may be clean the walls are 

 not and there are numerous insects lurking in crevices and these can be reached 

 more readily when the trees are away from the wall. We use quassia extract 

 with sulphur, and it saves us much labour in summer. — G. Wythes, Syon Gardens. 



St. Clare Castle, Ryde, Isle of Wight. 



This is the marine residence of A. G. Vernon-Harcourt, Esq., which is beautifully 

 situated in well-wooded grounds, and within a mile of the town of Ryde on the 

 east side. The castle itself is a very ancient structure — which has received several 

 additions from time to time — on a slight eminence with a commanding view of 

 Spithead and the mainland, which is greatly enhanced from the castle tower. The 

 interior of the castle is well fitted up to meet all modern requirement s of a noble- 

 man's residence. The gardens, which are under the capable management of Mr. 

 Charles Meehan (who is a brother to Mr. Thomas Meehan, of German stown 

 Nurseries, so well known in the botanical and horticultural world), contain many 

 things worthy of note. A fine batch of cinerarias which are timed to be in perfection 

 at Easter are very healthy, with large leathery leaves free from green-fly and the leaf- 

 mining maggot. A large number of Calla cethiopica are just pushing up their 

 spathes. The principal varieties of grapes grown are Gros Maroc, Trebbiano, 

 and Black Hamburgh, which have made some good new wood, that is thoroughly 

 ripened. In the stoves I noticed some fine plants of Pancratium fragrans, Hibiscus 

 Cooperi, Pentas, Eulalia, Cyperus, and Angiopteris evecta. The peach trees 

 under glass have made remarkably fine wood which is well ripened and thoroughly 

 clean, and promise well for another year. 



The walled-in garden, v/hich is some two acres in extent, contains some well- 

 trained apricots, pears, and plums, and also some fine healthy bush trees of apples. 

 In the park there are avenues of thorns and rhododendrons (R. ponticum), and 

 several fine trees of Cedrus deodora, Photinia serrulata, Paulownia imperialis, 

 Magnolia grand iflora and American plants of Thuja " George Peabody," and a 

 potentilla. The place is unquestionably worthy of a visit from all lovers of 

 gardens, parks, and woods. Mr. Meehan is not only a keen observer, but an 

 experimentalist, and has this year grown cannas as aquatics ; but they have scarcely 

 realised his expectations, and he thinks they will do better not totally sub- 

 merged in water, but simply with the base just touching the water. My visit and 

 interview was most instructive, for we discussed the questions of canker, gumming, 



S. 1 1 EATON. 



Plucki 



L 



G 



It will be a surprise to a great many people who gratified their appetites with 



the savoury Christmas goose to learn that the practice of plucking geese alive 



still obtains in some part of the country, especially in Lincolnshire. Divers 



opinions are entertained with regard to the process. Some persons hold it to be 



cruel, while others think otherwise. The task is invariably allotted to a man who 



is known as a goose puller. His mode of procedure is, to say the least, effective. 



Having caught his goose, he tucks the head of the captured bird under his left arm, 



and forthwith proceeds to the laying on of hands. The plucking is performed in 



an expeditious manner, and in a very short time the bird is set free, shorn of 



eatners on breast, sides, back and top of the wings. The effect is not pleasing to 



the eye, and detracts from the beauty and symmetry of the bird. Its advantage, 



nowever, is said to be that by the time it is ready for the poulterers it has increased 

 2lb in weight. r 



th 7!u c< ? nt f? tionsofthose who hold the practice to be a reprehensible one are 

 W * p ! uck , ,n S ^ses a good deal of suffering, that considerable pressure has to 

 lfwT r V° P the bird in P osition while the operation is in progress, and the 

 EV\° H ™ e Jf. x 5°. 3Ure t0 the weather after the plucking, to say nothing of the 

 On thi° IS 6 I i n t. eing caught and sub jected to this treatment constitute cruelty. 

 anH Vh« j ose who have plucking geese for years by the hundreds 



Thev Z ^ main ] ain that if the feathers were not plucked they would drop off. 

 a aolZ ti % Jl u u Say 11 is an advanta ge to the bird rather than otherwise, that 

 nrorP« a • • P lucked thrive s better than one that has not undergone the 



saire r,,nn gain ' J 1 WOuld not fetch so much mone y> the flesh would not be of the 

 TherP y ' * f S a . maf ketable commodity, it would not be so valuable. 



minute? At>° CrUe ? ty ' l ? ey argue ' The whole P roce ss only took about five 

 the bodv «3 ?i* P . en t nCed puller reckons that he mere ly draws his fingers alone 

 back ro^^ff 1 When hc does that thc wboIe of ths Others on the breast and 



heard bv C the SI^m P '!i ion haS recentl > 7 bsen put to the test. A case has been 

 Norfolk and the ^stance of the 



cont«tioW Z S ° C - iety for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. The 

 barbarous anH ^ prosecut . lon was that to pluck geese alive was '« unquestionably a 

 OW, rr nhe lSSJF?^ and could on,y be sanctioned and carried out by 

 duel tE? h W *"2 The defence, of course, was that it was not 



the flesh of hr>hi P ,f rtormed ) vilh reasonable care and skill, and that, in the result, 

 this view and «lUm- WaS i r £ ndered more fit for human food. The magistrates took 



' " nd Jl;mi «ed the case.— ZW/y Mail, 



in St. Frequ^nt'i^ . does *}**ys bring pleasure or profit to thoss concerned 



a*W far b*r^—„ J ~\ . norse no one thinks much about wins, nnrl *>^c~ ^ .u: „ 



r disappoint tbrV ' u°\ said with ref < 

 m toKJte* 0 **** faith in their 



^ P t? c *' The 

 *»d tiut whatever rk * 



_ are few 



nr t_ t ' for they 



merits. With reference to the Ointment medical 



NSWERS T 



CORRESPONDENTS 



Editorial communications should be addressed to the Editor of the Gardeners 

 Magazine, 148 and 149, Aldersgate Street, E.C. 



The Editor will be glad to receive photographs of gardens, plants, flowers, trees, 

 fruits, &c, for reproduction in the Gardeners 5 Magazine. He will also be 



greatly obliged by correspondents sending early intimation of interesting local 

 events relating to horticulture. In sending newspapers containing matter to 

 which they wish to draw attention, correspondents are requested to distinctly 

 mark the paragraph. 



Secretaries of horticultural societies are invited to send early notification of forth 



coming exhibitions and meetings, and are requested to advise us concerning 

 change of dates 



Address.— II. N., Deal: The address you need is W. H orne, Perry Hill, 

 ClifTe, Rochester. 



Rcses under Glass.— J. M. S., Bognor : Three good varieties to suit your 

 requirements would be La France, Beauty of Waltham, and Duke of Edinburgh. 



A Garden Suisance.— P., St. Ives: So far as we can judge from your 

 letter, you have good cause for complaint and sufficient ground for bringing an 

 action against your neighbour to obtain an injunction restraining him from con- 

 tinuing the nuisance. Whether you sue also for damages is a point you will be 

 best able to decide. Sorry we could not answer you in the previous issue. 



Hollow Celery.— W. E. W., Leeds : No doubt the failure was due to ex- 

 cessive liquid feeding following a period of drought or during such a period. You 

 can scarcely make the ground too rich for celery, and moisture is absolutely neces- 

 sary ; liquid manure must, however be given with care, or pithy instead of crisp 

 succulent stems will result. The vines may be lifted and potted at once, taking 

 c*re that subsequently the roots are kept nicely moist ; place the vines in a cool 

 house. ~ , ,: ' v f 



Preserving Fungi.— C. G., Hay ward's Heath : Fungi may easily be bottled 

 in spirit and thus preserved for reference, but the colour will not be retained by 

 this means. A good mixture for the preservation of colour as well as form consists 

 of eight pints of water mixed with two pints of sulphuric acid ; when well mixed, 

 add a pint of creosote, then bottle the specimen in this, and cork as tightly as 

 possible. 



The Lindenia. 



J. M. S., Bognor: The Lindeni* is a work devoted 



almost exclusively to the illustration and description of orchids. The illustrations 

 are coloured, and the text is in the French language. There are six parts to each 

 volume ; each part contains, usually, four plates, and one part per month is the 

 rate of issue, though the publication is not very regular. The annual subscription 

 is sixty francs (£2 10s.), and the work is published by M. Lucien Linden, 117, 

 Rue Belliard, Brussels, Belgium. 



Bressia Lawrenceana.— F. F., Canterbury: This is a handsome and 

 elegant orchid producing long racemes of spidery flowers, large in size, blight in 

 colour, and sweetly fragrant. It was introduced from Brazil in 1839, and flowered 

 first in Mrs. Lawrence's collection at Ealing Park. The sepals are deep yellow 

 blotched with brown and green; the lip is yellow, with a double keeled white 

 crest dotted with yellow. The species is figured in the Gardeners' Magazine 

 of May 5, 1894. The variety longissima is a magnificent one, having much longer 

 segments than the type, the sepals in well-grown specimens measuring seven inches 

 in length. The colour is orange-yellow blotched with reddish-purple. The 

 Botanical Magazine, t. 5,748, contains a coloured plate of this remarkable form, 

 and a reference to it will speedily dispel any doubts as to the beauty of brassias. 



Carpet Bedding.— H. N., Bolton: There is no work in the English 

 language entirely devoted to carpet bedding, but you will find many plans given 

 and plants quoted for designs in Mcintosh's 11 Book of the Garden,'* 3 published in 

 1853 by W. Blackwood and Sons. This work you may gain access to in a good 

 public library. A recent work, freely illustrated, and devoted entirely to the 

 subject, has been published in German by Ludwig Moller, Erfurt, Germany. The 

 work is by Karl Gotze, and entitled " Album fur Teppichgiirtnerei und Grup- 

 penbepflanzung." The names of plants are, of course, as usual, and there is, at 

 the commencement of the book, the English rendering of descriptive German 

 words and sentences, so that most of the text can be understood by those not 

 acquainted with Deutsch. You should apply to the publisher for price. The 

 book is quarto size, and contains 252 pages. 



Pruning Filberts. — T. H. T., South Hants : The scarcity of filberts often 

 occurs through an insufficiency of catkins, or male flowers ; consequently the 

 pruning necessary should be deferred until it is seen whether there will be sufficient 

 male catkins to furnish pollen after using the knife. If there is any doubt as to 

 quantity, do not prune until after the male catkins have faded. In the case of 

 trees with unlimited head room, the only pruning necessary will be such as will 

 ensure all parts of the tree an abundance of light and air. Where space is limited 

 a severer method may be adopted. Excessive vigour in filberts must be checked, 

 or the trees will be gross and unfruitful. This cannot be dene by stem-pruning, 

 fcr this but aggravates the evil ; the remedy is tc be found in lifting and root- 

 pruning, large specimen? being rcot-pruned on one side one season and the other 



teen the next. 



health. 



cause 



Protecting Fruit Trees from Babbits— Rex, Ely: There are several 



methods by which attacks by rabbits and hares upon the bark of young lruit trees 

 may be discounted. In our issue for Dumber 18 last, Mr. J. C. Tallack, who 

 ha-> had considerable experience in this direction, points out that an excellent 

 safeguard, and quite an inexpensive one, either from cost of material or its appli- 

 cation, is to cut up old fish netting which has become too rotten for further use in 

 protecting fruits, into strips, and wind these around the stems from the ground 

 upwards to a height out of reach of the vermin. No other protection is needed, 

 as they will not tackle the netting, however rotten it may be. Stockholm tar 

 mixed with cow manure, the latter being of the same consistency as the tar, makes 

 a suitable dressing for parts of tree stems that have been gnawed by these pests. 

 Assafoetida, at the rate of a teaspoonful of the tincture to a pailful of cl vy worked 

 to the consistency of paint, may be painted on to the tree stems two or three times 

 during the winter ; this mixture is so distasteful to hares and rabbits that the trees 

 are Dreserved from harm. 



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