JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
June 9, 1881. ] 
the Potato disease. At first the results he obtained were en¬ 
couraging, and it was thought that a remedy had at last been 
obtained against the disease ; but these hopes were dispelled, and 
it was found that Potatoes raised in this way were as liable to the 
attacks as those raised after the ordinary method. Mr. Sangster 
died on the 27th of May in the eighty-fifth year of his age, at 
Romford in Essex, where he lived for many years. 
FRUIT PROSPECTS, 1881. 
In this neighbourhood (Brentwood) the fruit crop promises to 
be but partial. Gooseberries fair, Currants abundant, Raspberries 
fair, many canes dead; Strawberries looking well, but early 
blooms were killed by frost; Plums a light crop ; Damsons very 
scarce; Apples on bush trees thin, standards hardly out of 
bloom ; Pears very thin of bloom. Wall fruits : Apricots abun¬ 
dant, more especially on west aspects ; Peaches and Nectarines a 
fair crop ; Plums light, Cherries light, Pears also light ; Figs 
where unprotected nearly killed. Black aphides has already made 
its appearance on the Cherry trees, and also on the Peaches and 
Nectarines. Gooseberry trees very healthy—no caterpillars, the 
cuckoo keeping them down altogether. I think the fruit prospects 
better than they have been for years. 
Apropos of caterpillars, the crop of a young rook was opened a 
few days back, and 170 caterpillars were taken from it. Some¬ 
thing like three hundred young rooks were shot at one shooting 
bout. How much more harm was done by the destroyer than 
by the destroyed ! and when will agriculturists learn to value 
their best friends ?—J. Gadd. 
ANNUALS FOR BOUQUETS. 
In many gardens the bedding-out system is, or has been, 
carried out to such an extent that many things that were familiar 
enough to the gardeners of twenty years ago have been gradually 
but surely pressed out of cultivation. With this change in fashion 
we have now many young practitioners who are but very mode¬ 
rately acquainted with the beautiful and easily cultivated annual 
flowers that were once so common, and which many employers 
would be pleased to see again around them. I will not enter into 
the right or the wrong of the bedding-out fashion, there being 
room for all systems with us ; but to know only one style and to 
practise no other is certainly not wise. 
There are positively “good” gardens, as the phrase goes, where 
if you were to express a wish to have a bouquet containing no Pelar¬ 
goniums, Heliotrope, Calceolaria, and Verbena the “good gar¬ 
dener” would be puzzled as to how he should oblige you ! It is 
not my design to give any long list of names of annuals—these 
can be found in any trade circular, but merely to indicate the 
improvement that might easily be made in this matter. The 
gardener would not find any appreciable increase in his labours 
by the cultivation of annuals, and he would be frequently relieved 
from his embarrassment when many flowers are in request by the 
lady of the house, and he who has a good quantity of plants in 
variety all through the season need not be niggardly with these 
charming simple flowers. 
The Immortelles are a class of annuals useful in early autumn 
and onward till frost nips them. They are various in colour, 
being pure white—as in Ammobium alatum—straw-yellow, rose, 
and white in Helichrysums, rose and white in Rhodanthe Manglesii. 
If cut off before the blooms are fully expanded and dried in a box 
or a loft they are especially useful in “helping out” with a winter 
bouquet. Centaurea Cyanus is a useful bold blue flower, telling 
well in loosely made table bouquets. C. moschatus alba is also 
good. The varieties of Gaillardia, such as picta, Josephus, grandi- 
fiora albo-marginata, and Amblyodon, are conspicuous either in 
groups in the borders, and always useful for cutting. Phlox 
Haagiana and Drummondii are so good and constant in blooming 
that they are even useful for the “ground painting,” but as a 
bouquet flower not be despised either mounted or on the natural 
stalk. As a yellow and orange colour, and with an odour that is 
agreeable to some people, may be mentioned the small Marigolds 
—Tagetes signata, T. patula, and T. lucida. These plants are all 
very fine bloomers, continuing till the arrival of winter. The 
Scabiouses, such as grandiflora candidissima, S. grandiflora flore- 
pleno, S. nana striata, are all of them very attractive. The 
Statices — sinuata, Thouinii, both blue, and Bonduellii, light 
yellow—commend themselves on account of their light feathery 
masses of colour, and by their entire freedom of form—of con¬ 
trast with the stiff forms we meet with in gardens now-a-days, 
and of their usefulness in all descriptions of bouquet-making. 
They flower so abundantly and so long that everybody should 
465 
have a patch or two of them. Statice incana, eximea, latifolia, 
and coccinea are perennial species, equally as useful for the 
purpose indicated. 
Balsams may be grown as well or better out of doors than in 
pots, provided the ground be good and the situation open and 
warm. The blooms are of great service when mounted, do not 
wither very soon, and admit, owing to the delicacy and variety of 
their colours, of many combinations. The Dianthus is such an 
extensive class now-a-days that it may just be necessary to men¬ 
tion a few of the best for the purpose in question. D. imperialis, 
with magnificent double flowers in great variety of colour, and its 
variety albus plenus ; D. Heddewigii in many sorts, especially 
laciniatus and laciniatus striatus. D. diadematus is also very 
fine. With these and the well-known biennials, such as Stocks, 
Wallflowers in great variety, Sweet Peas, Clarkias, and a host 
of others, sweet-scented or not but always pretty, the ladies of the 
family “can cut and come again,” and need not fear that by so 
doing they are destroying the form, or robbing of its buds or wood 
any choice plant that may have cost the gardener great care to 
grow to its present state.— F. Mooke. 
THE USES OF FRAMES IN SUMMER. 
These being cleared of bedding plants can now be utilised 
for growing fruits and plants, and the following hints may pos¬ 
sibly be of service to some amateurs who are ever thirsting for 
information. 
By maintaining a suitable temperature—that is to say, by 
avoiding cold draughts of air, and by closing early with moisture, 
and by giving air more or less according to external temperature, 
Melons and Cucumbers may be grown to perfection in unheated 
structures, while Tomatoes will succeed in an ordinary greenhouse 
temperature. 
Melons and Cucumbers .—Seeds of these may still be sown 
singly in 4-inch pots and placed in a gentle hotbed. Keep the 
young seedlings as near the glass as possible, and before they 
become much rootbound shift into their fruiting quarters. It 
will be an advantage, however, if plants are provided or can be 
obtained ready for planting. They may be fruited in 15-inch or 
18-inch pots, tubs, or boxes of near the size of these pots, or on 
mounds of earth. A rich loamy soil is suitable for both, and in 
the case of the Melons this should be well rammed down about 
the roots. Both kinds to be trained on a trellis (easily con¬ 
structed of wire or strips of wood) about 10 inches or 12 inches 
from the glass of the roof. Support the plants and rub out side 
shoots till the trellis is reached in the case of Melons, after which 
continue to train the leading shoots and tie out the laterals, 
stopping the former when about a yard up the house and the 
laterals at the second joint, and these if not already showing 
fruit will invariably do so at the next break. The Cucumbers 
may be stopped near the commencement of the trellis, and a few 
of the top shoots laid in ; these will fruit and should be stopped 
at their second joints, and all succeeding growths to be so stopped 
and kept tied up where required. Neither kind should be allowed 
to become dry at the roots. Care must be taken not to give too 
much water when first planted, and always use water slightly 
warmer than the temperature of the house. Dell’s Hybrid, Vic¬ 
tory of Bath, Earl of Beaconsfield, green flesh ; and Read’s 
Hybrid, scarlet flesh, and Scarlet Gem, are good varieties of easy 
culture. 
Tomatoes— These may be fruited in various ways. A valuable 
crop may be taken from single plants in 11-inch pots, or two 
plants in larger pots. Supposing there are a number of plants 
already prepared for planting in the open, select some of the best 
of these, and pot them in rough soil consisting of two parts of 
loam to one of decomposed manure ; pot deeply so as to allow for 
a liberal top-dressing of soil later on ; place in the front of the 
frame, and train single stems near the glass ; rub out all side 
shoots as they form, and stop the leader beyond the third bunch 
of bloom. A slight increase of heat will much advance the crop. 
Various Plants .—By increasing the temperature for any of the 
foregoing the growth of many other flowering and fine-foliaged 
plants will be much quickened. Coleuses, Caladiums, d erns, 
Begonias, Celosias, Cockscombs, Gloxinias, Achimenes, lorenias, 
and other favourites will succeed admirably in frames, and will 
be useful for house decoration. Plants of any description when 
received by post should at first be immersed in tepid water, 
potting them off when thoroughly freshened. As many of the 
plants so received have but few roots and have been grown m 
rather a high temperature, place them in very small pots, and 
if possible in a warm frame, and shade carefully from bright 
sunshine. When established pinch out the points of those of a 
