January 1, 1885. ] 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
5 
To sum up in a few words the treatment required by the 
several sections. Cool house.—Much air-moisture at all times 
except in the dark damp days of winter, copious watering in 
summer weather, plenty of ventilation at all times. Shade 
heavily from summer suu so as to keep down the heat; use no 
fire heat at any time except to keep the temperature from fall¬ 
ing below 45°. Intermediate house.—Moderate air-moisture, 
more in summer than in winter. But little water to plants when 
resting, only enough to prevent overshrivelling of the bulbs ; all 
the air possible on warm days. Sufficient shading when the sun 
is strong to prevent burning of the leaves. Use fire heat 
sparingly, and none at all during the three hottest months. 
East India House.—Rather more heat, say 5°, than in the inter¬ 
mediate house. Plenty of moisture, and overhead syringing 
during the summer and early autumn. Less ventilation than in 
the other houses. 
[In the twelfth line from the bottom of page 566, last vol., the 
sentence, “ As in the case of the Cattleya each leaf has its own 
reservoir,” should read, “ Unlike the Cattleya each leaf has not 
its own reservoir.”] 
(To be continued.) 
A GOOD PEACH AND A POOR NECTARINE. 
Hale's Early Peach. —This I consider a good variety. The tree is a 
free grower ; the fruits form readily, swell up to a handsome size, colour 
attractively, and are first-rate in flavour. It is the earliest Peach I know. 
In a house here we have four Peach trees and two Nectarines. Hale’s 
Early is one of the Peaches, Prince of Wales, Royal George, and Barring¬ 
ton are the other three. The house is unheated, and they come on almost 
naturally ; but for two years Hale’s Early has supplied us with ripe fruit 
by the end of June, while none of the others were ready until the end of 
July, and we could not gather the Barrington until the second week in 
August, and they are not over until the middle of September, and I find 
it very convenient to be able to gather Peaches from four trees for about 
twelve weeks in succession, but we would not begin so early by four weeks 
were it not for Hale’s Early, which I regard as a first-rate variety, and it 
should be planted wherever very early and a long succession of Peaches 
are desired. 
Lord Napier Nectarine. —This has always been poor with us, and I 
consider it a poor Nectarine. In tree lists it is said to be large, and some 
have written well of it on this account ; but its size is the only good 
point it possesses, and this cannot be regarded as much in its favour. It 
produces very large flowers, which do not form fruit freely, and the fruits 
are apt to split when about half ripe. When fully ripe they have a good 
appearance and are rich-looking, but the flavour is worse than fourth- 
rate, and it is when this is tried that the fruit is invariably condemned. 
Happily we have only one tree, and I would advise those who think of 
planting it not to exceed this number until they prove it, as it may be, as 
in our case, disappointing.—J. Moir, Mar gam. 
HORSERADISH CULTURE. 
There is no culinary root more easily grown than Horseradish. It 
o nly requires to be put under the soil, and it will increase to such an ex- 
t; nt that it will be a difficult matter to get clear of it after a time. No 
d onbt this, as well as only being in demand occasionally during the week, 
which has caused it to be a neglected plant. Cultivated and uncultivated 
Horseradish are, however, widely different. In the former case the roots 
are from 15 inches to 20 inches in length and 6 inches or more in circum¬ 
ference, while the latter are often barely thicker than a penholder. The 
former is juicy and most acceptable in the kitchen, while the latter is dry 
and unsatisfactory. The thick roots may be grown in rows and be 
r : stricted to them, but the small roots run everywhere, and although it 
does not cost much for cultivation it is far from profitable, and certainly 
not satisfactory. We have read some very elaborate suggestions as 
to how to produce wonderful Horseradish of astonishing length and 
marvellous thickness, but we could never understand the advantage of 
this, as roots about 6 inches thick are good enough and most acceptable 
for all purposes, and these may be produced by what may be termed 
ordinary cultivation. 
Roots which have been in the same place for a number of years de¬ 
generate and become of poor quality, and when this happens every 
particle should be dug up and a fresh plantation formed. A quantity of 
good roots may be stored away for use until the new ones grow. Any 
part of the root will grow whether it has a crown or bud on the top or 
not, but we like to plant those pieces with crowns. They should be clean 
roots upwards of 1 foot in length and without any side growths. A few 
dozen or scores of these will make a good quarter, and the position to 
grow them in must be where the soil is 2 feet deep at least. It should be 
trenched to thi3 depth or more, adding a quantity of manure as the work 
proceeds if the soil is poor, and if it is of a clayey nature a quantity of 
finely sifted ashes should be added. These may be applied freely, as the 
roots penetrate them without forking, and ultimately turn out clean. As 
soon as the soil is ready planting may be done. The plants must be put 
in rows 2 feet apart and 12 inches from plant to plant. A dibble should 
be employed in planting, and a hole deep enough to allow the root to be 
put straight down without bending it mu3t be made. In filling this 
round the rootsHyer sand_may be used in preference to the soil. When 
the side growths are emitted the whole of them should not be allowed to 
grow, as this would produce the mass of young and small roots so ob¬ 
jectionable in its culture, but only a few of the side shoots must be allowed 
to remain. The superfluous ones may be cut off in hoeing, and when any 
are dug up for use alternate plants should be taken that the others may 
have more space to develope. We have cut the thick centre growths out 
and allowed the small surrounding ones to remain and improve, but this 
was only when the soil was good, and apart from this they are better 
lifted every three years and replanted.—M. M. 
[In mentioning that “ roots about 6 inches thick are good enough,” 
we may suppose that our correspondent intends to indicate the cir¬ 
cumference and not the diameter, as Horseradish roots 6 inches in 
diameter would be almost too good.] 
CANTUA BUXIFOLIA. 
A MOST beautiful greenhouse bush, very much branched, the branches 
downy. The leaves are variable in form, generally oblong-ovate, and 
either entire or sinuate-serrate, and are downy or glabrous. The very 
large drooping flowers form a leafy terminal corymb ; the thick tube of 
the corolla is 3 inches long, the limb spreading, 14 inch across, deep rose 
almost crimson, the tube reddish-yellow. It is an easily grown green 
house plant, requiring something the treatment of Fuchsias. 
The plant was i troduced in 1849 from the Peruvian Andes, and 
usually flowers in the spring months. It has many synonyms, amongst 
which the following may be mentioned— C. ovata, C. tomento 3 a, and 
C. uniflora. 
TRENCHING GROUND. 
It would save much labour if Mr. Iggulden could prove to us that 
trenching is not judicious. I for one find a great difficulty in getting 
trenching done, as our labour in winter is greatly reduced, the days are 
short, and, in addition, there is often some extra work, notwithstanding 
the reduction of men. We never miss a winter without having a part of 
our kitchen garden trenched ; thus the principal parts are trenched every 
four or five years. When the bottom spit is brought to the top it has 
the same appearance as the one placed at the bottom, so that we have two 
spits deep of equally good soil, and I think Mr. Iggulden will pardon me 
for still believing that this will be better than one spit deep of good soil 
existing on a poor sour unworkable subsoil, which it must be if left 
unworked for many years. In the latter case I should not think of 
bringing the bottom spit to the top, but should bastard trench it, at the 
same time working in a good dressing of manure, leaves or leaf mould, 
ashes, or anything I had at hand that I thought would enrich it and 
make it workable. After it had been served so a few times a part of it 
could be brought to the surface, and if done in autumn or early winter 
the frosts of winter and the showers in spring would, with a good working 
about with the fork and rake, make it sufficiently sweet for planting on, 
although I should not, if it could be avoided, sow small seeds on such a 
ground the first year. 
So far, I suppose, I have got too deep for Mr. Iggulden, as he believes 
that >ot-action should be encouraged near the surface—that is to say, in 
the p spit. Of course, he does not suppose that such vegetables ai 
