JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
228 
[ March 24, 1881, 
nothing would have been said about their promise of flower, but 
as they might be compared to 3-inch flower pots turned upside 
down little knowledge was wanted to predict their flowering 
capabilities. When an experienced Pine Apple grower sees a 
batch of fruitless plants with short thick stems and broad sturdy 
leaves he can say with safety that they promise well for fruit.* 
This rule applies to many plants, amongst others to Calanthes. 
—Paragon. 
PEAS. 
Without wishing to enter into any controversy as to the 
hardiness of e.vrly Peas, Mr. Iggulden will find in my notes at 
page 126 that I stated “ Early Peas I have found will not succeed 
well if sown on heavy land, the wet in my opinion being more 
prejudicial than the cold.” The writer I name also asserts at page 
186 “that late autumn sowing on cold heavy soil is often a waste 
of labour and seed,” so I conclude we are both of one mind as 
regards that part of the question. My remarks in a former paper 
applied to sowing on a south border, and as a general rule the 
soil in that part of a garden is lighter and more friable than the 
open quarters. Mr.Iggulden also asks, “What if the early winter 
be mild, followed, say, towards the end of January by severe 
frosts?” The weather may be mild—it was last jear up to 
Christmas ; and if it should be so throughout the greater part of 
January, the sun has so little power in warming the soil that the 
Peas would make no more growth in January than they would 
in a week or ten days in November. Peas endure cold better 
than is generally supposed. Several rows 2 inches in height on 
a south border, and a few rows in open quarters, withstood 12° of 
frost a fortnight ago, and with the wind in the north-east, with¬ 
out looking any the worse, although a sunny day followed. But 
it is, as your correspondent says, the cold and w T et heavy soil that 
make root-action defective. The soil in November perhaps is not 
so dry as could be wished for sowing seed, but by having it dug 
on a fine day when turned over and exposed for four or five 
hours, it will not be so wet but that the seed may be sown. It 
will not require treading-in to make it firm, as may be the case 
in May or June. Certainly a large quantity of Wheat and Beans 
are sown on farms at that time of year whatever may be the 
condition of the soil, and that is not usually in such a pulverised 
condition as that of a kitchen garden under spade culture. 
Mr. Iggulden asks what difference there is between Yorkshire 
Hero and Veitch’s Perfection. Possibly there may not be much ; 
there is not between many other vegetables, and flowers also. 
Six or seven years ago I sowed both varieties the same day on 
light gravelly land. The only difference I found was this—the 
first-named produced pods fit to pick a week earlier than the 
other, averaged 6 inches taller in growth, with a little difference 
in the shape of the pod. Both are of excellent quality. Bunting- 
donian is undoubtedly a first-rate Pea ; it has finer pods than 
Champion of England, and is equal to it in cooking qualities. I 
doubt if it surpasses it, but that may be a question of taste. I 
have grown it three years in succession, but find I can pick more 
pecks of Peas from a given quantity of seed or a given number of 
rows of Champion than I can from Huntingdonian. Both these 
should be sown in rows at least 5 feet apart. 
I desire to thank your correspondents for the useful information 
they have given me as to the best method of preparing paraffin 
tubs for plants.—A. Harding. 
Mr. Iggulden is no doubt a good cultivator of vegetables, and 
is well acquainted with modem varieties. His writings, however, 
imply that he has not had to combat fhe inclemencies of a 
northern temperature, and that he is not old enough to remember 
the varieties of Peas that were grown say thirty years ago. Had 
he practised his calling in Yorkshire instead of in the south of 
England he would not advocate sowing Peas early in November, 
nor would he labour under the delusion that Peas are so tender 
as he suggests, and that autumn sowing is of little use. I have 
sown Peas in the autumn for thirty years, and during the whole 
of that time I have certainly not had five failures, and the rows 
have often been as productive as those sown in early spring, and 
always a week earlier. Peas that are sown so that they only just 
appear fairly above ground before winter are as hardy as Cabbage 
plants, and yet I presume your correspondent plants these in the 
autumn. 
Mr. Iggulden evidently does not know the true Yorkshire Hero 
Pea. It is a little taller than Yeitch’s Perfection, rather smaller in 
the foliage and more slender in the stems, produces a greater num¬ 
ber of tendrils, and perhaps of pods, but the latter are not quite so 
large as those of the other variety. The Yorkshire variety is also 
earlier than Yeitch’s. I suspect, however, it is somewhat the 
custom in seed houses to supply both varieties from the same bag. 
Can Mr. Iggulden inform me who was the raiser of Huntingdonian 
and its parentage ? This information will perhaps show that it is 
not the true old Champion. Those who will save seed from the 
large instead of the small pods of the Champion will, I fancy, 
soon have a “ Huntingdonian.” The Champion of England Pea, 
as ordinarily sold, is not so fine as it was a quarter of a century 
ago. I could name other Peas that have generally degenerated, 
and selected stocks of them have sprung up under new names.— 
A Yorkshire Gardener. 
A FEW REMARKS ABOUT ROSES. 
I AM glad to notice the tide of feeling against cultivating so 
many standard Roses becoming stronger and more pronounced. 
The last three winters must have taught all who grow them in 
quantity how expensive the “keeping of them up” is. They are 
much more expensive to purchase, take much more labour, are 
much more likely to suffer from gales of wind, and in my ex¬ 
perience six standards are injured by frost for one dwarf, 
whether the latter are on their own roots, or on the Manetti or 
Briar. All winter and early spring few objects are more un¬ 
sightly than a standard Rose. A great number of dwarfs and 
standards are grown here, and the havoc by last winter’s frost 
among the latter has been terrible, while dwarfs have escaped 
wonderfully. In one bed alone of between three and four 
hundred standards fully one-half have perished, while the others 
are very much crippled. In more exposed beds the standards 
have been nearly annihilated. 
Is it not matter for regret that so many comparatively tender 
sorts of Roses are cultivated to the all but exclusion in many 
instances of the fine old hardy Moss and Cabbage Roses ? What 
can be more beautiful than beds of Moss Roses? and the sweetness 
of the Cabbage Rose is peculiar to itself. Then there are the 
good old hardy and almost perpetual Chinas or Monthly Roses. 
Do these have the patronage they deserve ? The two former flower 
only once a year it is true, but to how many lovely flowers cannot 
the same objection be applied ? We seldom meet with the deli¬ 
cious Cabbage Rose properly prepared for forcing into bloom in 
early spring, yet what is more lovely or deliciously scented ? 
We question if even the Teas can excel it in this point. 
Would it not be much more satisfactory to grow fewer at least 
of standard Roses, and devote the extra labour and expense they 
entail to these two fine old Roses 1 I have long thought that 
Rose-growers have far too many varieties. The names are nume¬ 
rous, but for all practical purposes a few varieties of the best of 
each colour grown in quantity is more satisfactory than such an 
endless array of names that often cause more confusion than 
pleasure. For instance, a small grower with, say, about two 
hundred plants might find it much more satisfactory to grow 
twenty-five instead of fifty varieties.—D. Thomson. 
FRUIT-TREE PLANTING IN CORNWALL. 
I quite agree with “ R. I. L. ” (page 191) that farmers in Devon 
and Cornwall do not seem to think their orchards of much conse¬ 
quence. This is to be deplored ; but the fact is, the farmers often 
have a short lease, so that it is scarcely to be supposed that they 
will uproot an old tree and plant a new one in its place. When 
there is an abundant crop the overplus is either given to the pigs 
or left on the ground to decay. In the event of the orchard 
ground being laid down with grass the cattle are allowed to roam 
everywhere, not the slightest protection being offered the fruit 
trees. The market gardeners here, however, pay more attention 
to their fruit trees, and with good results. Between the rows of 
Apple trees Gooseberries are planted, and it is strange if one crop 
does not prove satisfactory. The Keswick Codlin and Lord 
Suffield are the principal varieties grown for general cropping. 
Trial on a small scale has been made with both Newtown Pippin 
and Baldwin, but at present I do not know with what success. 
Many acres are taken in for fruit cultivation in Cornwall, and 
are planted with Raspberries, Strawberries, Apple trees, &c., and 
more will, I think, be planted next year, and not underneath 
trees but in the open.—W. Roberts, Penzance. 
The Gloxinia. —These can be grown by anyone who has a 
Cucumber frame to start them in, and a greenhouse to grow them 
in afterwards. If there are Vines in the same house so much the 
better, as Gloxinias require shade when in bloom. We shake the 
plants out of the pots and place them closely in boxes or pans, and 
slightly cover with light soil or cocoa-nut fibre refuse, and place 
in the frame, where they will soon start and be ready to pot off 
