JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
February 24, 1881. ] 
147 
mildew with the softsoap mixture that has been detailed from 
time to time in the Journal. 
Two or three of the Marshal Niels will be planted out in May- 
in an outside border—when the spring flowers are taken off—and 
the growths brought through to cover the roof inside. I have 
now a good plant in a pot on one of “ Oxonian’s ” favourite 
stocks, which will be planted out at once inside ; its roots will 
have the entire run of a Peach border 60 feet long, and top growth 
will be trained in an adjoining house. I may refer to these Roses 
again at some future day. 
There is a magnificent plant of Mar4chal Niel on its own roots 
at Hooton Hall, Cheshire, under Mr. Hanagan’s care, with a 
beautiful clean stem many feet in length, as straight as a gun 
barrel and as thick as a man’s wrist, from which, if I remember 
rightly, four hundred blooms were cut last year. This fine tree 
is several years old, and I do not know of one to equal it on any 
stock.—W. Bakdney. 
THE “ RECTOR" AND HIS CRITICS. 
When either “Wiltshire Rector” or anyone else can write 
such a new year’s address as the one in the opening pages of this 
year's Journal, and which startled out of their “retired ” mode of 
living such writers as Mr. Wills, brought the great thinking 
powers of Mr. Iggulden into operation, and set a host of other 
writers of more or less note to work, it is evident there is “ some¬ 
thing in it,” and that the vegetable supply is a question of wide 
and general importance. The “Rector” lays it down as a 
cardinal point in his address “that gardening” (I am quoting 
from memory, not having the Journal for Gth January by me) 
“ should be extended into the domains of agriculture,” and seems 
to desire to convey the idea that our notions of gardening as well 
as our gardens are too confined. 
Most of the “ Rector’s ” critics have only looked at the matter 
from a mercantile point of view, and wish to point out that there 
are already too many extensive gardens devoted to the growth of 
vegetables for market, and seem to discredit the remark about the 
town population not being able to obtain a supply of vegetables. 
Viewing the matter even in this business light I have no doubt 
that the “ Rector ” is quite right, and that in many towns people 
do not and cannot get a sufficient supply of vegetable food. A 
case in point : Last summer Tomatoes could not be bought in 
Sunderland or Newcastle under 6d. per pound, yet a friend of 
mine who had a very large quantity of first-rate quality could not 
get as much for them at the shops in either of the towns named 
as paid for their carriage! Another: A market grower near 
Sunderland supplied a shop with Rhubarb at Is. per bundle of 
thirty-six bunches ; price at shop 1 d. per bunch, “and nothing 
less 1 ” In the latter months of last year Celery was selling in 
Sunderland at 3 d. per head ; at the same time thousands of heads 
were despatched to Manchester at about Id. per head ! All other 
vegetables are much in the same ratio. So far as this neighbour¬ 
hood is concerned the “ Rector’s” remarks certainly apply, as I 
have no doubt they do in other towns. There does not appear to 
me to be such a dearth of vegetables, but there is evidently some¬ 
thing entirely wrong in the manner and means of their distribu¬ 
tion, which remark appears to be borne out by the fact of so 
many of your correspondents giving direct and conclusive evidence 
that so much of their produce does not pay them to take to market. 
I do not attempt to suggest a remedy. Someone much more 
conversant with the subject will have to take it up, if it is worth 
while. As I see it, the vegetable supply is one of the most 
important matters of our domestic economy at the present time. 
The “ Rector ” makes a laudable effort to induce the poorer 
people to partake of more vegetable, and consequently cheaper 
food ; but practically in many places this is impossible, for many 
reasons. In the town near which I live it would be difficult for 
the ordinary working man to obtain many vegetables, owing to 
their high prices ; and moreover, very few of the wives or daughters 
of our labouring classes, and even the artisan class, are able to cook 
a dish of vegetables ; nay, they do not even know what many of 
them are. Beyond Potatoes and Cabbage, always plain boiled, or 
a few leaves of Lettuce soaked in bad vinegar, very few of the 
“ women of the people ” have any very distinct ideas about 
vegetarianism. 
Then there are all the stupid prejudices inherent in the race to 
remove. Few Englishmen will forego their steak or chop, evenif 
they are certain that they will be as much benefited by a savoury 
stew of Onions and bread, or a dish of Apples and rice, which do 
not cost quarter as much. When the excessive extravagance in 
the use of so much animal food can be fully impressed upon the 
masses, the proper uses and values of fruit and vegetables as 
articles of food thoroughly understood and appreciated, and 
above all the supply of them so regulated as to be as readily 
purchased and at as uniform a rate as a pound of flesh or a three¬ 
penny loaf, then, and not till then, will the worthy “ Rector’s” 
ideal “ future of gardening ” be attained. To attain this much- 
wished-for end we must have more of such writing and learning 
as that alluded to, not only in the Cottage Gardener , but in all 
papers that are read by the masses. Two years ago, after a care¬ 
ful trial of vegetable diet, I endeavoured to set forth its merits in 
a discussion then being carried on in a local contemporary. My 
experience in the matter was not at the time at all pleasant, but I 
have the satisfaction of knowing that since then some of my most 
earnest opponents are now confirmed vegetarians and teetotallers. 
Eagerness to assist the “ Rector ” in his good cause has impelled 
me to take part in the present discussion.— Peter Ferguson, 
Mere Knolls, Monkwearmouth. 
HOYA BELLA. 
One of the most charming little plants for the stove is Hoya 
bella, an umbel and spray of which are shown in the annexed 
woodcut. It is a diminutive and delicate counterpart of the 
near the glass in the stove, as they are both dwarf and compact 
in habit with small umbels of flowers. These two species have 
long been great favourites with me, and I find they are, when 
well grown, invariably admired. Similar treatment suits them 
both—namely, a compost of peat, sand, and finely broken char¬ 
coal, the pots being thoroughly drained. A warm position in the 
stove is required where the plants can be fully exposed to the 
light, or otherwise they are liable to become sickly and un¬ 
satisfactory. 
H. bella was discovered by Mr. T. Lobb in the Taung Kola 
Mountain, Moulmein. From him Messrs. Yeitch & Sons obtained 
it, and at their Exeter nurseries it first flowered in the summer of 
1848. It has thus been in cultivation more than thirty years, 
and might be expected to be in almost every collection of plants ; 
but such is by no means the case, for I know many gardens of 
