494 



GA RDENERS* MA GA ZINE. 



July 



Woodwardia radicans, Platycerium alcicorne, Nephrolepis pectinata, N 

 exaltata Ptcris serrulata, Maidenhair ferns, tradescantias, and the hand- 

 some Rex begonias succeed, planted in large spaces in the rockery and 

 on the wall. The opposite end has the rockwork quite low, and made 

 in a semi-circle ; this is similarly planted, though woodwardias are not 

 grown here. Palms of many kinds are placed among the ferns, so that 

 their pots are hidden. Ficus repens clothes the walls ; Asparagus 

 plumosus climbs the rafters, and until recently a passiflora was trained 

 along the iron supports, but it has been removed. The front of the con- 

 servatory is occupied by chrysanthemums during autumn and early 

 winter, and thus at that season there are two houses of handsome and 

 bright'flowers to be seen without the inconvenience of going out of doors 



at all. 



in rows, on an ash bed, at the 



At present the chrysanthemums are i 

 lowest part of the garden ; they are looking first-rate, and will doubtless 

 give as good blooms as Mr. French has ever yet produced. There are 

 five hundred plants in two hundred varieties, the collection containing a 

 large number of the newest incurved and Japanese varieties. Last year Mr. 

 French grew about nine hundred plants in 32-sized pots, but this year 

 he has returned to the usual twenty-four or sixteen sizes, though a few are 

 grown in small pots for grouping and cutting from. There are many 

 visitors to Ambleside during November, and for the information of those 

 who purpose measuring their skill in chrysanthemum growing with that 

 of Mr. J. French, we may add that Mrs. Barclay's pretty garden is 

 only three minutes' walk from Southfields station, District Railway, or 

 half an hour from Putney. C. H. C. 



Cure for the Lily Disease. 



In common with many other amateur horticulturists, I have long been 

 troubled with that widely prevailing pest known as the lily disease, and 

 the yearly disappointment of seeing my lilies come up merely to blacken 

 and wither away before they reach the stage of bloom, has led me to 

 investigate the matter with a view to the eradication, or at least the 

 mitigation, of the evil 



Some few years since I took up the whole of my bulbs of Lilium 

 candidum to the extent of about two bushels ; for I thought that by a 

 judicious selection of the strongest among them, and by replanting in 

 the most favourable positions, I might be able to improve the then 

 gradually degenerating blossoms. In spite of this the disease made rapid 

 headway, so that of late I have had but a few poor sickly stems in the 

 whole of my garden. 



I consulted the County Council lecturers of this district, both of them 

 Fellows of the Royal Horticultural Society, only to receive the dis- 

 couraging information that this mysterious disease had defied all research 

 and all efforts for its cure, and I have read a recent article in the Standard 

 to the same effect. The several attempts made to procure a healthier 

 stock by the importation of fresh bulbs from Holland have not met with 

 the success they deserved, for the new arrivals have been quickly 

 reduced to the state of the old apparently worn-out bulbs by the ravages 

 of the same disease. Hence this strange visitation has practically been 

 stated to be an incurable disease. 



I have given the subject some thought for a considerable time past, 

 and, from what is exemplified at the present time in my own garden, I 

 believe I may state that I have discovered a cure for this persistent evil, 

 which is remarkable at once for its simplicity and its effectiveness. My 

 final experiment dates back to the autumn of 1896, and was confined to 

 three groups of the bulbs. Last season they showed a marked improve- 

 ment in the blossom heads, which appeared to be entirely free from the 

 disease, though still evidently somewhat weak from its effects in previous 

 years. This summer I have the pleasure of seeing them perfectly 

 healthy and well grown, with fine green stems and leaves, and the 

 promise of large heads of bloom. Other groups in my garden, which 

 have not been treated, have not a single blossom stem, and some of 

 them are so far diseased that they have almost disappeared. Disease 

 and health could not be more clearly exemplified than here, and I shall 

 be pleased for anyone to see and compare them. 



And now for the remedy, which anyone may try — I hope with the 

 same pleasing success which has attended my own efforts. In the 

 autumn of 1896 I removed the bulbs from the ground, and, after they 

 had dried somewhat, I put them into a large brown paper bag in which 

 was a supply of flowers of sulphur. They were then well shaken up, 

 until the sulphur had been worked thoroughly into the crevices. After 

 this, and while still well smothered with the powder, they were planted 

 straight away, with the result which I have described. 



* rom the nature of the disease I felt sure it must emanate from the 

 bulb, for the bulb leaves are the first to be attacked, and it then proceeds 

 upward through the stem to the flower, which is the last to be affected. 

 I his season I propose to treat more in the same way, and I shall be 

 p eased to hear that others whose plants are affected with the disease have 

 also tried this simple remedy with success 



The Grammar School, Midhurst, Sussex. 



HORACR BVATT, M.A. 



and C wellT, ber ; ; Vel i tC !i! S r Cha,,en Rer.-This is a model cucumber, handsome 



small ; the llavour is £££ t V t~ 56611 that tne seea SpaCe 1S exce eciingly 

 of its being a vigorous erower" ,„V • "commendations may be added that 

 is a first-rate sort m<1 I ■ ntlnuous cropper. For general purposes it 



as 1 v i Ust *Sn M p,CaSed with 5t the second year of growing it 



30, ity. 



Flower Culture in 



As the great advantage of the Scillonians consists in h* 

 flowers cheaply in the open air as early as they can be oht ' ^ \ 10 

 mainland generally, it is questionable whether there would bem y 0 ^ 0 * tfc 



in the extension of hot-houses, 

 houses, such as are common 



favourable positions 

 rents have risen in 



uses. I am disposed to think f °/ an * ***k 

 i in Guernsey, would be mor Unh «^ IE 

 tageous. As this question is to some extent connected with f^ 0 ™ 1 *! 1 )' *ni 

 which land is held in the islands, it will not be out ofnl !J ™^oru under 

 upon that subject. P ace t0 Wnte * few li^ 



The tenure under which the farms of the Scilly Isles are hel 1 ' 

 hereditary, and in some cases h< »ldings have been in the hands of the IZT^ 

 for two or three hundred years. Although the agreements are yearly Z '* 

 cases, I believe, verbal, evictions are almost unknown. Securitv for ' * *** 

 ments re^is mainly upon confidence in the permanence of the hereditary 1 ™** 0 *" 

 though Mr. Dorrien-Smith invites his tenants to make known their deVir^T^ 

 improvements, with a view to arrangements as to compensation. ADDareml^ 

 tenants are well contented with the friendly arrangements made rXe^tW 

 selves and their landlord. As a farm almost invariably descends to a relative^ 

 deceased or retired tenant, there is no competition as to rents, which ranee fm 

 2s. 6d. per acre for rough grazing land to £3 for land suitable for flowers and k 



Alihough, instead of falling, as in most parts of the coantir 



the bcilly Isles, they appear to be moderate under all the cu 

 cumstances, including heavy and continue >us expenditure on the part of the land- 

 lord for the advantage of the people.^ Rates are moderate, and there arc 10 

 licences in Scilly. In this connection it may mentioned that the general proi- 

 perity of the people is indicated by almost entire absence of pauperism. Each 

 island supports its own poor, and there are now only five paupers in St. Mai) 

 one in Tresco, one in St. Martin's, and none in St. Agnes or Bryher. 



The cultivation of the narcissus is comparatively simple, when once it has beta 

 ascertained whether any specified variety will flourish in a particular soil or clunite. 

 In Scilly the Luibs are usually planted in October, the small sorts about four incho 

 by two and a-half or three inches apart, and large bulbs about six inches by four 

 inches to six inches. In some cases the land is carefully weeded up to the line 

 of flowering, while in others it is left untouched during the growing season, so 

 that it becomes covered with weeds. The manure most extensively used is t 

 compost of seaweed, farmyard manure, earth, and road -scrapings, nitrate of h 

 or guano and bones being also used by some growers. Mr. Dorrien-Smith and 

 other careful growers manure heavily for the preceding crop — usually poUtos— 

 and then, as they do not allow their bulbs to stand 'more than two or three ycais 

 no direct manuring of the flowers is necessary as a rule, though artificial manuie 

 is applied if they seem to need it. This plan is considered preferable to the 

 direct manuring of the flower crop. But the majority of the growers allow at 

 least some varieties of their bulbs to stand six or seven y^ars, or even longer, and 

 in such cases the crops may require supplementary manuring, though they do not 

 always get it. The Scilly growers have been censured for allowing their bulbs to 

 stand so long, and there is no doubt that the crops become overcrowded under 

 such circumstances, with deterioration in the sizes of bulbs and tlowtn 

 alike as the result. But the saving of the expense of digging up tad 

 replanting is a great consideration, and the polyanthus varieties, which arc ' 

 left standing longest, are said to deteriorate less on that account than the darUHiiU 

 or some other varieties of the narcissus. Still the best growers maintain that 10 

 variety should be allowed to stand longer than three years, hecause, apart Iroo 

 the deterioration caused by the overcrowding of the increasing bulbs, ,a freqtlB 

 change of soil is needed for the narcissus as much as for other crops. The dittcrcm 

 varieties of flowers are picked, as already stated, from the beginning of )™""V 

 or occasionally a little earlier or later, until June, expanded m glasshouses, t i<a ■ 

 bunches of twelve, packed in boxes, and shipped to the great markets ot tng» 

 and Scotland. The leaves, when they have died off, are removed and wmgJJ 

 used as food for cattle. If the crop is to stand, the soil over the bulte,5 ^ f 1 ^ 



during the summer in order to kill the weeds. For transplanting or marxcm, 



the bulbs are taken up in Tune. . . « oc<; un*l hf 



Picking is mostly done by men, and bunching by women and girls, 



men in their overtime when work is in full swing % Men ^ w ^ e ^ e n i p 5 ^ in t fc 

 but " 



they earn a great deal extra by bunching and packing by the P ie <* ^ 

 overtime. Their regular hours are from eight a.m. to five p.m. in »c in 

 of the year, with an hour for dinner, and from six a.m. to six p.rn. 

 half, withtime for breakfast as well as for dinner. # h ^wef* 



The expense of growing narcissi is one of the questions aso *^ 

 are naturally reticent, and inquiries upon that point could not wry 

 though growers are occasionally invited to disclose even ^ote ati ,l £ wha 

 of their private afTairs-as, for example, in the case of a leading ; hem JJ^ ^ 

 recently received a letter from a lady, unknown to him, asking m ^ 

 income was. The expense of cultivation varies greatly with the time a u»_ u 



purchased at very big 



f .1 :«1 milt. tP> 



crops stand, and with the ccst of bulbs, some of which are P*J™TgJ 

 prices, whilst others are simply the increase of crops g rown , b a 



worth very little to sell, if they can be sold at all. If » st S^ ™«o 5> ^ 1-1 

 on the mainland may be accepted as accurate, to the enect vm .4 £ ~ 

 varieties of bulbs are required to plant an acre, or about halite in 7 bj 

 it may be readily imagined that the cost of planting even " onie ^ the f**+ 



no means small, and that it is very heavy when varieties oy » hv K r ids the* * 

 are purchased at «j to £10 per thousand. With command/Sj 

 of course, no question of planting by the acre, as tney uequ , Jo m 



£10 per bulb, and I hav/seen on/ for which fifty guineas wte ret 



past very high prices were paid by enterprising bcilly g™ Watkin- 



■• ■ r *— Empress, ana ou . _ : 



comparatively common, such as Emperor, ^iup.«.~, -~- for such variet*** 



grower informed me that he had paid ^5° to * 80 £f c j r * \Vatkin at £f> "5 

 few years ago, while another said that he had bootft ^J^J" I am not abk «• 

 than the neighbour who said he had paid /80. ^ This djscrepan cy^ tboUfa od Jjjj 



y a few roas 01 - •— . _ cu |ttati* 

 the area as the bulbs' increased. The expenses of manun ig, ^ ^ t 

 properly done, picking, raising and collecting bulbs, b 

 ing bring the cost of growing narcissi up to a large sum pe ^ p oe»f 



With respect to the returns, they vary enormously * ' r_ flowefifl g faiw 

 high authority informed me that a good crop of a particuuu y ^ 

 at is. 6d. per dozen bunches would give a gross tej 1 * q«*£ 

 probably choicer and less productive kinds, sold at ni*,n« H . lhey wcf c 



good returns. But prices fell alarmingly in 1897, a™' *' j^n extremely 

 better in the early portion of the oresent season, they have *e ^ up m 



l,wu Mvifcuuum wnusaiane naa pa«a *>^ w# r x0 per I 



clear up ; but when Scilly growers bought bulbs £ 

 to be presumed that they planted only a few rods of land wun 



better in the early portion of the 

 times since the end of March. 



presently in the evidence obtained from growers. . ErM ing g» 



Mr. Dorrien-Smith's home farm, apart from his extens. * 



oand »*1 



