8 



THE 



GARDENERS 



MAGAZINE 



Tanuaky i, i8c8 



Dessert Apple James Grieve. 



Hardy Yuccas. 



Notwithstanding the large number of dessert apples in cultivation, Although the species of yucca that possess a sufficiently robust con- 



ftJj:i: ~ 12 ^ ' 1 ^ ~ r r 1 ' ' ^ ' " stitution to admit of their being successfully cultivated without protection 



additions to the list that have the promise of usefulness invariably give 

 rise to much interest, and when they prove, as in the case of the variety 

 of which an illustration is given herewith, to be well adapted for general 

 cultivation, they seldom fail to receive a warm welcome. We have a con- 

 siderable degree of pleasure in directing the attention of our readers to 

 this apple, for we have had it under observation, both in England and 

 Scotland, for several years past, and as the result of our observations we 

 have little doubt as to its proving ot much value both for home use and 

 market supplies, more especially in districts in which the famous Cox's 

 Orange Pippin does not give complete satisfaction. T 



in the United Kingdom are comparatively few in number, they are all so 

 distinct and handsome as to form a group of immense value for the 

 embellishment of the flower garden. More especially are the hardy 

 yuccas useful in enabling the planter to introduce widely divergent types 

 of vegetation into garden scenery, and for giving a sub-tropical aspect to 

 some part of the pleasure grounds. Their adaptability to positions of 

 the most diverse character gives them still further claims for considera- 

 tion, and with respect to this characteristic, it may be said that there is 

 hardly a position in which a well-developed specimen would appear out 

 raised in Messrs. Dickson and Co.'s Pilrig Nurseries, Edinburgh, and of place. They are equally effective on the level, closely-shaven lawn 



and is now engaged in business with his sons in the neighbourhood of 

 the Scottish capital. It is described as having originated as a seedling 



and the irregularly arranged rockwork, and arranged in bold groups on 

 sloping banks they present a highly attractive appearance, as so admirably 

 portrayed in the accompanying illustration of a portion of one of the 

 from Cox's Orange Pippin, and both the growth and fruit partake of the slopes surrounding the Bamboo Garden at Kew. The yuccas do not it 

 character of that variety. -The tree has a free branching habit, in the way must be admitted, undergo the several changes which constitute so great 

 of Cox's, but is decidedly more robust, and forms a vigorous and hand- 

 some natural pyramid. It is a heavy and sure cropper, trees on the 



paradise bearing freely when two years old, and in Messrs. G. Bunyard 

 and Co.'s Nurseries, at Maidstone, the trees carried a fine crop in the 

 summer of 1897, when the crop of the majority of the dessert apples was 

 very light. The original tree in the last-named nurseries has not 

 missed a crop during the five years that have elapsed since it was planted. 



a charm of deciduous trees and shrubs, and of the greater number of 

 herbaceous plants ; but they have attractions peculiar to themselves, and 

 when grouped amid surroundings that bring their distinctive features into 

 strong relief they seldom fail to attract attract attention or please the eye. 



The most handsome and desirable of the hardy yuccas is unquestion- 

 ably Yucca gloriosa, a species distinguished by a stately appearance both 

 when in bloom and out of flower, and well deserving the high degree of 



The size and shape of the fruit is well shown in the accompanying illustra- popularity it enjoys, although it should not, as is so frequently the case, 

 tion, which is a direct reproduction of a photograph that we had specially be grown to the exclusion of all the others. This yucca is too well 



wm 



7878 



Dessert Apple James Grieve. 



taken of two fruits, for which we have to thank Messrs. G. Bunyard and 

 Co., who regard tiie variety with much favour, 

 soil on the side 



exposed to the sun, and 

 red, on the shaded side ; the 



The skin is bright crim- 

 rich yellow, marked with 



not quite so rich as that 



flesh is pale yellow, juicy, and although 

 of Cox's, is very finely flavoured. The fruit 



commences to ripen in September, and the season extends to about the 

 middle of November, the exact period during which the fruit may be had 

 in perfection depending, as a matter of course, upon the locality in 

 which it is produced. Messrs. Bunyard submitted the variety to the 

 Fruit Committee of the Royal Horticultural Society on October 12, 1897, 

 when an award of merit was made in its favour. 



Lady Gardeners.— At the annual council meeting of the women's branch of 

 the Swan ley College, held at Sir E. Sieveking's residence the other afternoon, 

 Miss Goodrich Freer, the hon. secretary, presented a report of the work done 

 during 1897. From this it appeared that forty-one women students had passed 

 through the college during the year t and that no student had left the college 

 properly certificated who had not been ahle at once to obtain remunerative employ- 

 ment. Four students have obtained places at Kew Gardens, three at the Royal 

 Horticultural Gardens, Edinburgh, one is employed by Lady Henry Somerset at 

 her home for inebriates at Duckfhurst, and others are engaged by the Metropolitan 

 Gardening Associaticn and at convalescent homes and other public institutions. 

 Sir Edward Sieveking heartily endorsed the medical opinion which he gave in the 

 early days of the college six years ago that gardening was a most healthy and 

 admirable employment for women. A conversation took place, and funds were 

 asked for in order that a new road might be constructed close to the college, which, 

 it was stated, would be an immense advantage to the students, and for the balance 

 of the cost of a rose garden which is to be made under the direction of Dean 

 Hole. 



known to require a detailed description, but it may be of interest to 

 mention that it was the first species introduced to this country. The 

 year of introduction is not known, but it was in cultivation in 1596, for 

 Gerard includes it in the catalogue of plants grown in his garden which 

 was issued in that year. In the first edition of his " Herbal!," published 

 in 1597, he describes the species as "the root whereof the bread Casaua 

 or Cazaua is made," and says with reference to it, "This plant groweth 

 in all the tract of land from the Magellane Straights unto the Cape of 

 Florida, and in most of the Hands of the Canibals and others adjoining, 

 from whence I had that plant brought mee that doth growe in my 

 garden, by a servant of a learned and skilfull Apothacaire of Excester\ 

 Master Thomas Edwards." Johnson corrects Gerard in the amended 

 edition of the " Herball," and says, 44 Our author .... committed these 

 errours : First, in that hee saith it is the root whereof Cazaua bread was 

 made when Lobel in his description said he thought it to be Alia species a 

 Yucca Indica ex qua pannis communis fit. Secondly, in that he set downe 

 the place out of the Historia Lugd. (who took it out of Theuet\ endeavour- 

 ing by that means to confound it with that there mentioned wheras he 

 " ' " - - - - And thirdIy ( for w hich instead he 



was most blameworthy and wherein he most shewed his weaknesse) for 

 that he doth confound it with the manihot or true yucca . . . within so 

 few yeares after our author had set forth this worke it floured in his 

 garden." Yucca gloriosa is a native of the eastern seaboard of the 

 United States of America, and extends from Florida to North Carolina, 

 growing freely in the drifting sands of the coast. Under cultivation m 

 this country the plants attain to much larger dimensions than when 

 growing in the native habitat of the species. After several years' growth 

 plants occupying sunny positions usually bloom annually ; sometimes, it 

 must be confessed, too late in the autumn to admit of the perfect develop- 



had his from Mr. Edwards his man. 



