JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
May 4, 1882. ] 
3G1 
perature, when much less is required. Fully matured blooms 
last well when cut and placed in water, but young sprays when 
cut are pretty certain to flag quickly.—W. Iggulden. 
BARREN CHERRY TREES. 
I send you some blooms of a barren Cherry tree which I have 
tried for several years in vain to render fertile, and have at last 
pronounced the case a hopeless one. If you look at the blooms 
through a magnifying glass I think you will agree with me that 
there is no pollen on them, and that they never have produced 
any. At one time there were several similar trees here, and I 
have no doubt they were propagated from the same stock. As 
we so often hear of barren Cherry trees, may not this state of 
things be more general than is suspected ? I send blooms (in 
paper) from other trees which are fertile for comparison, and 
although they have been subjected to heavy rain and strong wind 
to-day there is no difficulty in detecting pollen on them without 
the aid of a glass. The barren one and the Kentish are stan¬ 
dards, the others are from a north wall.— Wm. Taylor, Longleat. 
[The pistils of the barren flowers appear to be perfect, and 
though the anthers are devoid of pollen, that would not prevent 
fertilisation by pollen from neighbouring trees.] 
KITCHEN GARDEN NOTES. 
Peas are often sown in rows amongst other crops, and there is 
generally a vacant piece of ground on each side of the row 2, 3, 
or 4 feet in width. It is thought that the Peas shade the other 
crops too much, and that owing to this they would fail if planted 
nearer the row than the distance named, which is doubtless the 
case with some things, but not with all. There are some useful 
vegetables, such as Spinach, Turnips, Lettuce, &c., which succeed 
better in hot dry weather in the shade than in the sun, and it 
would generally be found a good plan to have a row of such 
a foot or so from the Peas. If any of the seeds named are sown 
immediately the former are staked the crops will be ready for use 
as soon as the Peas are fit to gather, and space will be greatly 
economised. The best and most tender Turnips we ever had in 
a very hot summer were grown in this way, and I think the Peas 
were benefited by them too, as their leaves shaded the soil and 
kept it cool and moist, and these are points of the utmost advan¬ 
tage to them in hot dry weather. 
In some gardens vegetable seed beds are the rule, in others 
they cannot be seen. At one time it was thought to indicate a 
neat and efficient workman if an Onion bed could be made up 
with edges as straight as an arrow and a surface as smooth as 
glass, but such work would be regarded by us as a waste of time 
and a loss of ground. Vegetable beds find no favour with us, 
and by degrees we have discontinued them. They took so long 
to make, and the paths between required so much ground, one 
row at least being generally given up to them in every four or 
five at least, while the crops were certainly in no way superior 
to those which can be had from the row-after-row system of 
cropping. This is the way we prefer above all others. 
The early Potatoes we had in at Easter were grown in cutting 
boxes, and they succeeded very well in them. This plan is worth 
mentioning and recommending, chiefly owing to the gain of 
space secured by it and its advantage over others in various 
ways. The boxes are 2 feet by 14 inches, and 4 inches deep. In 
each one six sets were placed, and after the growth had advanced 
all the shoots except two to each set were removed. This was 
the means of rendering the tubers much larger than they other¬ 
wise would have been under a crowd of stems and leaves. The 
quality was better, and they were more numerous than we have 
been able to secure from pots or in frames so early. The boxes 
can be conveniently shifted about, and being square they can be 
placed very close and compactly together in a small space. We 
intend extending their culture in this way, and can advise others 
to give it a trial. 
Kidney Beans are always welcome in the early spring months, 
and they are amongst the easiest grown of all choice vegetables. 
We have had many fairly good supplies, but never any to equal 
that of this spring and the present time. Osborn’s Forcing is 
the variety grown, and they are all fruited in 8-inch pots. The 
pods are thickly crowded, and some plants on the back shelves 
of a Pine house have been bent down with the weight of the 
crop. The pots are quite shaded from the sun, and this is much 
to their advantage, as when the soil about the roots becomes dry 
the plants are checked, insects soon infest them, and the supply 
may be stopped. Fresh green leaves are essential to the con¬ 
tinued success of the plants, and these we secure by potting the 
plants in rather light soil, and from the time they come into 
flower, or a little before, until the last pods are gathered, they 
have water from the manure tank every alternate day. 
Many new vegetables are introduced annually, but few appear 
to multiply so fast as Radishes. For two or three years past we 
have had several kinds sent as improvements, and this season we 
have more than ever ; but Wood’s Early Frame, the Red and 
White Turnip-rooted, and China Rose we still depend on for use 
in spring, summer, and winter. 
Outdoor Mushroom culture has lately been well discussed, but 
I fear the open air beds are yet few. Personally I have never 
been able to obtain a satisfactory crop of Mushrooms whenever 
I felt inclined in the open air. Sometimes we have gathered a 
few from outside beds, but this may have been months after they 
were made up and spawned. Further, I have visited many 
gardens in Scotland, England, and Wales, and I have never 
been able to see an open-air Mushroom bed bearing what I 
would consider half a crop, or anything like the quantity seen in 
the Mushroom house. I have been told frequently that Mush¬ 
rooms could easily be had in the open from January until Decem¬ 
ber, with the temperature at 90° in the shade or down at zero, 
but my informants had never a good bed, or in fact any bed at 
all, to convince me or substantiate their own assertions. Another 
advocate of open-air culture who writes a weekly calendar fre¬ 
quently gives elaborate instructions about the “ Mushroom house,” 
and yet holds open-air culture to be the only good way ! I am 
anxious to notice this matter, as I find many are inclined to think 
their gardeners are void of skill in growing Mushrooms in the 
open, when in reality they are blameless, and I am sure there is 
not one gardener in a thousand who would undertake to have a 
full crop of Mushrooms in six or eight weeks after making up a 
bed in the hottest or coldest part of the year. It may be ad¬ 
mitted this is sometimes accomplished, but “ one swallow does 
not make a summer,” and happening to get one or two good crops 
of Mushrooms in the open air occasionally does not prove, I 
think, that a constant supply may be secured. If the whole 
thing is so easy why is it not more adopted ? but in my opinion 
there are difficulties in the way which cannot always be over¬ 
come, and which makes their culture most uncertain. 
Many tender vegetables are now growing, and the snails, which 
are always too plentiful, cause much loss and injury. Searching 
for them early in the morning is the best plan. Hoeing and 
earthing-up are two paying operations. An open surface is 
always good for the plants, and earthing-up, especially in windy 
situations, keeps them firm and protects them from many checks. 
—J. Muir. 
COVERING WALLS AND BUILDINGS. 
There has always been, and I suppose always will be, a differ¬ 
ence of opinion concerning covering buildings with Ivy. Some 
maintain that Ivy causes buildings to become damp ; others are 
of the opinion that the best way to convert damp walls into dry 
ones is to plant Ivy against them. All will, I suppose, admit that 
some covering is necessary to improve the appearance of walls 
which are, generally speaking, devoid of ornament. In the garden 
walls are as a rule covered with fruit trees, but we cannot for 
many reasons plant fruit trees against every wall or house. Now 
to my mind nothing looks better on the dwelling house and out¬ 
buildings than a dense covering of Ivy. To secure this, it is 
necessary after the Ivy has become thoroughly established to cut 
it in as closely as possible every spring with a sharp pair of shears, 
taking care that all the old leaves are cut off, and clearing away 
any rubbish that may have accumulated there during the past 
season. The wall will look brown and bare for a short time, but 
we are amply rewarded by the bright, clean, glossy green appear¬ 
ance the young foliage presents afterwards. On buildings it is 
necessary to go over it again some time in the autumn, cutting 
the leaves away from the windows and clearing the gutters before 
the winter sets in. When this is properly done I believe the Ivy 
absorbs the moisture which would otherwise remain on and in the 
walls. The real cause of walls being damp when covered with 
Ivy is that it is not properly attended to. When allowed to grow 
unchecked Ivy quickly chokes up gutters and stack pipes, and 
what was intended for an ornament becomes a nuisance ; and in 
cases where, from a dislike to seeing the walls look dingy for a 
few weeks at this time of year, the Ivy is not cut in sufficiently 
close, but some shoots and foliage are left, it is often detached by 
its own weight from the wall ; then, while it prevents the walls 
from being dried by the sun and air, it is unable to absorb the 
moisture itself. 
There are many other plants suitable for covering walls, such 
as Ampelopsis, Clematis, Roses, Vines, &c. ; but all these,, with 
the exception of Ampelopsis Veitchii, require much attention to 
keep them in order. Clematises and Roses, where they do well, 
