THE 



GARDENERS 



MAGAZINE. 



SATURDAY, APRIL 30, 1898. 



ALEXANDRA PALACE, WOOD GREEN, GRAND SUMMER 



A LtAAft FLOWER SHOW, 



May i8, 19, and 20, 1898. 



SAedU,eS R1S0 D ean, V.M.H., Superintendent, 42, Ranelagh Road, Ealing, W. 



/-xni'VTY OF GLOUCESTER AND CHELTENHAM ROYAL 



( UL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. , „ » 



roAVn EXHIBITIONS to be held on WHIT SATURDAY and MONDAV , May 28 

 ■d » S. and September 21, 1898, at Cheltenham. Schedules and entry forms sent on 



, " £ri0n "JSftovEV and R. Henry Smith, 53, Regent Street, Cheltenham. . 



Entries close May 21 and September 17, 18 98, respectively. 



T ECTl'RES IN HORTICULTURE-— Courses on Flower and Vegetable 



L Culture, Safe and the Physiology of Plants will be given during the Summer Months at 

 jfc Horticultural College, Swanley. Open to bath sexes. Fee, One Guinea the course, 

 poetical training in Bee and Poultry Keeping. 



For particulars apply to the Principal. 



PROSPECTS OF THE FRUIT CROP. 



The great plantations of cherries, pears, and plums in Kent, and 

 other of the fruit-growing counties, are now in the full flush of their floral 

 beauty, and the billowy masses of snow-white blossom that greet the eye 

 on all sides add immensely to the charms of the landscape, and give rise 

 to considerable speculation as to the ultimate results of this prodigality 

 of floral wealth. It is yet too early to forecast the fruit harvest of the 

 current year, for a severe frost or a comparatively short period of cold 

 weather is sufficient to destroy the embryo fruits, and reduce the crop 

 to within a measureable distance of the vanishing point. Already we 

 have received several complaints of the injury that has been done in 

 pear and plum orchards by night frosts, and in two or three instances 

 both pears and plums are said to have had their flowers completely 

 destroyed. These facts notwithstanding, we regard the prospects of the 

 crop of each of the three kinds mentioned as distinctly hopeful, and we 

 have little doubt that should the climatic conditions be favourable there 

 will be abundant supplies. Apple trees are just beginning to unfold their 

 rose-tinted buds, and in a short time hence will contribute materially to 

 the beauty of the country districts. In the more southern counties the 

 Owing to the continued increase in circulation, the " Gardeners' apple trees are already in bloom ; but unlike those of the pears, the plums, 



No advertisement can and the cherries, the flowers were not sufficiently developed to expose 

 guaranteed insertion, or altered, unless received before Four p.m. their organs of reproduction to the keen easterly winds and sharp 



frosts that did considerable damage in some districts to other fruits. 



There is not only a greater profusion of blossom this year of the whole 

 of our orchard fruits, but by reason of the thorough maturation of the 

 wood in the autumn, t he flowers are more perfectly developed than was 

 the case in the spring of 1897, and therefore are better able to withstand 

 the adverse influences to which fruits grown in the open in the United 



HORTICULTURAL SHOW ADVERTISEMENTS are inserted in thii 

 column at One Shilling per line, the minimum charge being Fi v« Sh illings. Advertise 

 ■at Office. 148 and 149, Aldersgate Street, London, E.C. 



NOTICE TO ADVERTISERS. 



Wedn 



that day. 



Notes of the Week. 



PLANT NAMES. 



v ' the adverse influences to which fruits grown in the open in the United 



™ true lover of flowers or plants of any sort is satisfied with vague Kingdom are exposed. This fact, taken in connection with the highly 

 eraiisations, and just as the lover of his fellow-men must needs start faV ouiable change that has taken place in climatic conditions during the 



-ttdship, or even an acquaintanceship, by learning the name, at 

 t, of a fresh introduction, so the real admirer of a new plant cannot 

 until its nair.e be known to him in like fashion. Unfortunately, as 



past few days, fully justifies the anticipation of heavy crops of our 

 commonly grown hardy fruits. 



MANURES FOR TOMATOS. 



attention. In the current issue of the Royal Horticultural Society's 

 journal, Mr. W. Neild gives in his paper on the cultivation of tomatos, 



• M,UH » l « huh in iiKe msnion. u ntortunately, as 



:ulture has developed, and almost every flower has yielded variety 



of menT^n ea ° h °" e demandin £ some special appellation, the faculty The question of the most suitable fertilisers for tomatos is of con- 

 emory has become so severely taxed that it is only the specialist siderable importance to a very large number of cultivators, and any 

 n retain them, and then even only in his own particular branch, information that will assist in its solution is well deserving of careful 

 ^ mm^h SPe ° ieS as . col ?P Ued at Kew . fiU several h °ge volumes, '" " * ' ^ - « ■ • - . „ ... 



■•J*. soTh 0 1 lla%e Varied in scores > and lt ma y be in hundreds, of journal, Mr. W. JNeild gives m ms paper on tne cultivation ot tomatos, 

 "Wter the eVen fi tUalIy the botanist proper washes his hands of the some particulars of the experiments he has conducted during the past 

 ■ifht fix area' 6 " descriptive name s upon which the memory two years with a view to determine the best manures for these much 



of me rOP J ' and the p,ants are ^"stened arbitrarily with the appreciated esculents. In carrying out the 1896 experiments, to which 

 **ion which sp women of no te or otherwise, or in any fantastic alone we shall now refer, the plants were at their final shift put singly 

 **rof ronstaT 3 . 1Stingulsh them from the crowd. It is also a into ten-inch pots, and the soil used was "a heavy and adhesive" loam 



people " °? m P nt that the same P lant is differently named by from a pasture. Nothing, we learn, was added to the soil excepting a 

 ' »cal folk 7. • ?!i ° C . CUrS by no means exclusively among non- small quantitv of lime rubble for the purpose of supplying the plants 



In with lime and keeping the compost open. On receiving their final 



shift the plants were divided into ten batches, the following manures 

 applied fortnightly, after the food constituents in the soil had been 

 exhausted, at the rate of one-eighth of an ounce to each plant, and when 

 more than one manure was used, the several kinds were mixed together 

 in equal proportions : (i) Nitrate of soda and muriate of potash ; 



aical folk r M J 11W mwrum exclusively among 



■» cular r „n „ ♦ • , »/i««jyiiJ3 win speeauy show. In 



*Kn*Hh2T' 10 V h 7 p - t0 - date botanist and would-be reformer 



1 SaddlCd WUh an inherita *ce of misnomers 

 **« simply ful r 1 -^ refemng t0 Certain P lants «»t 



* ^nisei specTfic "I, r T^T Eve " nameS which are b **d 

 CS5S SL^fS^ ^%*«*> «** shape and 



Uon of the sporehea 7 instance, as the shape and in equal proportions: (1) Nitrate ot soda and muriate ot potasn ; 



h Present other charaY" "'i applied t0 vari eties of species (2) superphosphate of lime, muriate of potash, and sulphate of iron ; (3) 



it* mountain s ster ^*™°Z ener > s ° that our common lady 

 *• Polypodia TZ ,h P0ly , P0d,Um al P estre ) are finally classed both 



and the spleenworts, two extremely distinct tribes 



I llPrc r\( »U 1 «. _ _ . 



*"U and if lneroDers °> neither, 



-I* »f Z op e ^ it a e ^ : r b " , !' inC,Ude ,? in ° M «-» of aspidium as 



• «» °f our beJTe ' ,°„ . '"""P™* » ^m, a result of which is 



r "Miuut, „ p e r : di b u r k :.°, n ™ •*> ">e same fern 



^ in r**l • *7. ^ uum > ana lastrea in 

 ha«l" l u tS referrin & to b ^h. 



to that 



<i«cide 



sulphate of ammonia and muriate of potash ; (4) muriate of potash, 

 sulphate of iron, and nitrate of soda; (5) sulphate of iron and muriate of 

 potash ; (6) muriate of potash ; (7) sulphate of iron ; (8) nitrate of soda ; 

 (9) sulphate of ammonia ; (10) superphosphate. The results obtained 

 were exactly what might have been expected. Nos. 2, 5, 6, 7, and 10 

 were failures, the fruit being undersized, and the foliage had a yellow, 

 sickly appearance. Nos. 3 a "d 4 produced a moderate crop, and the 

 ie text and the illustra- plants were fairly healthy ; Nos. 1, 8, and 9 made a vigorous growth, 

 This may undoubtedly and yielded an excellent crop, but hardly equal to that obtained from 

 iitting ; and we cannot plants that were supplied with liquid manure from the stables. No figures 

 es a bugbear, for " who are given with regard to the weight of the crop, but it will be seen that 



The d fficultv IT namCS WhCn COnfusion rei ^s at 

 to do very 0 1. I'" tW ° WayS the bot ™* £s his 

 «** SSI e el°" ^ Stren * th cf «ed specimens and 



the best results were 



obtained from nitrate of soda and sulphate of 



muriate 



nkT; grow ti 



feeder of 



5^ h ^ce 2i 



JSL^treof 



kno 



better point of view. 



sports 



and we are not surprised that this should have been so. Without an 

 analysis of the soil we are not in a position to speak positively with 

 reference to the percentage of potash, but as the soil is described as 

 heavy and adhesive, it is safe to assume that it contained sufficient 

 potash for the requirements of the plants, and that nitrogen alone was 

 required to enable them to make a vigorous growth. Mr. Neild, in his 

 comments on the results, observes : " Potassic manures have long been 

 considered the best for tomatos, and yet when muriate of potash 



applied by itself it proved to be a failure," an observation 

 showing that much has yet to be learnt with regard to the 

 food requirements of plants and the application of manures, 



was 



