February 12, 1858. 



GARDENERS' MAGAZINE. 



99 



Vegetables for Exhibition. 



Maize or Indian Corn. 



Maize (Zea Mays) is generally cultivated in this country as an orna- 

 mental plant, and a splendid show it makes during summer and early 

 autumn, when suitably used as a sub-tropical bedding plant. But it is 

 none the less valuable when cultivated in the kitchen garden as a vege- 

 table. It makes an agreeable change, and it is not nearly so extensively 

 grown in this way as it deserves to be. A sheltered sunny spot should 

 be chosen, which should be thoroughly manured and trenched during 

 winter, leaving the surface as rough as possible till the spring. The seed 

 should be sown about April 1 5, thinly, in boxes, in heat, and be made 

 quite secure against mice, or they will quickly disappear. The young 

 plants are very tender, so that care must be taken to properly harden 

 them off in cold frames before planting out; planting should be done 

 towards the end of May. The ground should be pricked over and made 

 fine, after which plant in rows three feet apart, and eighteen inches from 

 plant to plant. Abundance of water must be given at the roots during 

 dry weather, and frequent hoeing to promote quick growth. A sowing 

 may also be made the last week in April. The seed should be planted 

 with a dibber and buried three inches. It is advisable to plant just 

 about as thick again as it is intended to grow them, thinning out when 

 large enough to the proper distance. Some of this sowing may also be 

 transplanted if required, but the practice of sowing under glass is much 

 to be preferred. The cobs of corn should be gathered when fresh and 

 green, and when well grown it is surprising what a large quantity a small 

 piece of ground will produce. 



For exhibition in a decorative collection of vegetables maize forms 

 one of the most striking features, and is most interesting to the visitors, 

 while little preparation is required. The cobs of corn should be fully 

 grown but not ripened. The outside skin should be opened down with 

 a knife, and should be turned round to fully expose the corn, the beard, 

 of course, being left on. About three dozen cobs will make a good dish, 

 and they are best arranged on a layer of bright green moss and finished 

 off with parsley. There are now many excellent varieties of maize in 

 cultivation. The variegated kinds are most ornamental, but the variety 

 I prefer for productiveness is Sutton's Early Dwarf Sugar Corn. The 

 Japanese Striped is very ornamental, and where room can be afforded a 

 small quantity should be grown ; the variety Z. M. gracillimum 

 variegatum is also good, perhaps the most graceful and ornamental of all, 

 but very tender though less productive. 



The culture of mustard 



Mustard. 



acter, for, as a rule, mustard, with cress, forms one of the principal crops 

 in our children's gardens. Being so quick to germinate, it is an ideal 

 seed for children to sow, as they can almost see it grow after the first 

 twenty-four hours, and in a few days the crop is ready for the table. 

 One can well remember cultivating mustard as a child, and the joy ex- 

 perienced in cutting it for the tea-table. Mustard is much in request all 

 through the year, and it is surprising what quantities are cultivated for 

 our large markets, and the ready sale it obtains. Through the spring, 

 summer, and early autumn it is easily grown in the open when hand-lights 

 can be had, for here the growth will be quicker, and the quality conse- 

 quently better. In spring and autumn the seed should be sown in warm 

 sheltered positions once a week, but during the hot days of summer a 

 cool shady spot is best. The ground should be broken up finely, levelled 

 down, and the seed scattered moderately thick, but it should never be 

 covered with soil, as it then comes free from grit, but be pressed down 

 firmly with a piece of board. It should receive a good watering, and be 

 netted or protected in some way from the ravages of birds. During 

 the winter months it should be grown under glass in shallow boxes. In 

 the early stages it will stand a very strong heat, and it can even be 

 started on the hot-water pipes, but it must be finished in a cooler tem- 

 perature, or it will often damp off and be worthless. There are two kinds 

 in cultivation, the brown and white, but the latter is by far the best. 



For exhibition, in a collection of salad or a miscellaneous collection of 

 vegetables, mustard should always be included. For this purpose it 

 should be grown and staged in punnets, either round or square. It should 

 be fresh, of a good colour, and in length about one and a half inches, 

 and show no signs of the second leaf. Well soak the punnets before 

 staging, so as to prevent flagging. 



Aldenham House Gardens. E. Beckett. 



, u lmal Manures.— As Mr. Willis refers at page 52 to these manures, 

 though very briefly, I would like to ask of him some pronouncement of the 

 relative values of ordinary stable or straw manure, and moss litter manure. This 

 uestion is frequently asked, as also was the other day one as to the reason why 

 ioss-Jitter manure was esteemed useless for making of hot beds. Now the 

 easons I have given so far in reference to the two respective manures that an 

 uai quantity of moss-litter manure is most fertile, as first : that the litter is itself 

 an active vegetable nature which soon decomposes, and then can be early 

 rse vlP f °° d ; and second : that because as a rule it lies longer under the 

 cerJini removal, that it contains a greater proportion of droppings, and 



straw \ mU • ger P ro P° rtion of urine than the straw litter d °es. Of course, 

 furnkh U r? if lt particularly decomposed by semi-fermentation, such as is 

 B uibnea when manure is prepared for hot or mushroom beds, is much longer in 



verted into plant food than is so soft a material as moss litter. My 

 ession is that to have ordinary straw stable manure is the very best form 

 Iressing, it should be prepared just as it is the rule to prepare it for 

 keeping it from rains, allowing it to partially heat, but hardly to ferment. 

 Dremrf3 frec l u ently turned, and permitting no waste of ammonia. When so 

 in mat?' • g s . traw bein * removed and the droppings being furnished 



moss n? r0 ^ rtl ° n ' lt is as wel1 P reserved as can be and comes then much nearer 

 dch ic f ,t has ^fore, except that it does not contain so much of urine, 

 1S aUer a11 tfa e most valuable manurial element. — A. D. 



beds 



A 



Goodwood Pippi 



HANDSOME apples of high quality that can be had in perfection during 

 the first three months of the year are so extremely useful both for home 

 and market supplies that it is desirable varieties in which these qualities 

 are combined should be widely known ; hence, in the interest of our 

 readers, we give a characteristic illustration of the fine late apple to be 



Fruits of the variety were first 



henceforth known Goodwood Pippin. / M ^ 



exhibited before the Fruit Committee of the Royal Horticultural Society 

 on March 10, 1896, under the name of Lincolnshire Reinette. The 

 specimens attracted much attention on that occasion, and were so highly 

 appreciated by the committee that an award of merit for general good 

 qualities and as a late-keeping variety was unanimously made in its 

 favour. No trace having been found of an apple bearing the name of 

 Lincolnshire Reinette, and as it was quite distinct from other known 

 varieties, and the tree, now of great age, found at Goodwood, the ex- 

 hibitor, Mr. Richard Parker, decided to name it Goodwood Pippin. The 



Apple Goodwood Pippin. 



fruit is above medium size, roundish, inclining to conical, even and hand- 

 some in outline ; the skin golden-yellow, brilliant crimson on the side next 

 the sun, marked^with patches of deep crimson ; the flesh yellowish, rich, 

 juicy, and firm. *The variety is equally suitable for cooking and dessert, 

 the fruits, when Itastefully arranged, presenting an attractive appear- 

 ance on the table. The tree is evidently a heavy and sure bearer, for it 

 has borne an excellent crop in each of the four years Mr. Parker has 

 been in charge of the Goodwood gardens. 



Cyclamen Pests. — Thrips are one of the most troublesome of pests with 



which the grower has to deal. Ordinary fumigating will not affect them, and 

 whilst even the patent X L Fumigator will destroy aphis rapidly— indeed for that 

 purpose nothing can be better— thrips are untouched. That is the testimony of 

 that able market grower of cyclamen, Mr. May, of Twickenham. His practice, 

 so soon as thrips are in evidence, is to make up a dipping solution of half a pint 

 of fir-tree oil dissolved in two gallons of water, and then to gently immerse the 

 plants, pot, and leaves into the solution. Not only are the insect pests then de- 

 stroyed, but the plants seem to like the dip, as they brighten up and become 



There are many gardeners, perhaps, who may like to read 



—A. D. 



stronger for the bath, 

 of this method of getting rid of thrips 



In May 1897 



_ Hornet Clearwing Moth.- 



the "advice of the ^zoologist "of the Royal Agricultural Society was asked with 

 regard to young poplars, two of which had fallen, snapped off abruptly a few 

 inches above the ground-level. Inspection of the fallen trunks showed the wood 

 to be perfectly sound except in the region of the fracture, where some boring 

 insect had evidently been at work. The standing trees were then examined, and 

 every one was found to have the main roots and the bottom of the trunk exten- 

 sively bored and excavated. From the borings a large number of pupce and some 

 dead larvse were extracted, and identified as those of the Hornet Clearwing, 

 {Sesia apiformis) of the poplar. Most of the specimens were dead, and the 

 attack seemed practically at an end, but the trunks were so perforated at the base, 

 and so rotted by the admission of rain to the burrows, that they were quite 

 unfitted to withstand a moderate gale of wind, and the whole row would doubdess 

 have succumbed in a very short time. As many as possible of the insects were 

 removed, and an insecticide was injected into the borings by means of a syringe 

 with an indiarubber tube attached. A small mound of stiff clay was then formed 

 round the base of each tree to keep out the weather. The trees most severely 

 injured were supported by stays. None have since fallen, and it is hoped that in 

 time they will recover strength. The interest of the attack lies in the fact that 

 Sesia apiformis is a comparatively rare insect, and that the injury wrought by it is 

 generally trifling. There is no known record of its having caused the destruction 

 of poplar trees. 



