July 19, 1883. ] 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
45 
so doing their plants are enabled to carry double the amount of 
crop without suffering from exhaustion. 
This subject is in some measure related to the important one 
Mr. Bardney writes on in the same number of the Journal—viz., 
“ Do flowers exhaust plants?” and while I cannot say that they 
do not bring a certain amount of exhaustion, yet there is ample 
proof that the act of fertilisation is that which exhausts the 
most. Plants of a given species which do not produce seed 
freely will go on flowering for a much longer time with impunity 
than those which are productive of seed, and in nothing is this 
more observable than in the ordinary bedding Pelargonium, the 
free seeders not being worth growing for bedding purposes. We 
must allow, I suppose, that there is a certain amount of ex¬ 
haustion with such flowers as Chrysanthemums, Roses, and 
Carnations, because we have proof every year that by disbudding 
freely we double the size and substance of our flowers. Azaleas, 
I think, being such free seeders are hardly to be taken into 
account as evidence when considering the question whether mere 
flowers are exhaustive. With Orchids, my experience has been 
so very small compared with that of Mr. Bardney, that I am 
not qualified to argue the point with him as regards this im¬ 
portant class of plants. But when we consider how very little 
besides water an Orchid has to live on, we may be tempted to 
think that the exhaustion is probably owing principally to a 
deficiency in the supplies; and I well remember how some Stan- 
hopeas I once had charge of throve, and what strong flowers 
they produced from being treated during the growing season to 
some rather strong doses of liquid manure. 
Plants of the great Amaryllis family show by the diminishing 
size of their bulbs that an abundance of blooms takes something 
out of them; but allow one of them to perfect seeds, and the 
bulb almost disappears for a time. This may, no doubt, be 
prevented to some extent by giving at that time an abundance 
of a particular kind of food, and points to a lesson with which 
we are not by any means perfect—viz., that the same plant at 
different stages of its growth requires the constituents of its 
food in different proportions. If there is abundance of all the 
elements in the soil at all times that may suffice, but as I have 
pointed out Orchids have very little besides water to depend on. 
I think these, as well as many other plants, might often be bene¬ 
fited and their flowering capabilities be increased by the judicious 
application of a little something else in solution. 
To return to the subject of Cucumber-growing, I must say 
what a pleasure it is to be able to go on without the disease. I 
have never seen a trace of it since the time it was stamped out 
as described in this Journal. While for three years I could 
barely maintain a supply of inferior fruit for pantry use from 
two houses, I can now with one small house produce more than 
an abundance both for that purpose and also to use as a second- 
course vegetable. And what a delicious vegetable it is when 
simply cut into lengths and cooked Yegetable Marrow fashion! 
Indeed, I do not know who would trouble about Yegetable 
Marrows when he can get plenty of good flavoured Cucumbers. 
But apart from the comparison, we can have Cucumbers all 
through the winter, and Yegetable Marrows are not easy to 
produce during that season.—War. Taylor. 
AMERICAN BLACKBERRIES. 
It was with regret that I read Mr. Muir’s sweeping condem¬ 
nation of American Blackberries on page 5, and I am quite sure 
that he will eventually find that his decision against “ having 
anything further to do with them,” was ill advised and hasty, 
for under good cultivation the Parsley-leaved variety has proved 
to be so excellent both in the size and abundance of its berries 
as to have a prominent position assigned it among our most 
useful fruits. 
The common Bramble grows so luxuriantly and in such 
abundance here that when I received some plants of the Parsley¬ 
leaved American Bramble from Brocklesby Park in Lincolnshire, 
where I am told it is so flourishing as to attract the notice and 
admiration of visitors, they were planted in ordinary soil 
under the erroneous supposition that no special care was neces¬ 
sary to induce them to grow freely and bear fine fruit. The 
puny growth of the first season proved that I was mistaken, and 
in the following autumn a trench 18 inches deep and 3 feet.wide 
was excavated and refilled with two-thirds of spent hotbed 
manure mixed with a third of garden soil, and the Brambles 
transplanted into it. Nothing could be more satisfactory than 
the result, for the growth that followed was so rampant that it 
was obvious an ordinary trellis would be useless, and a neat one 
6 feet high of diamond pattern was made of stout poles thrust 
into the ground and crossing each other diagonally. This was 
soon covered, and for some three or four years we have had an 
ample supply of fruit far surpassing anything ever seen on an 
English Bramble. No account has been kept of the actual 
quantity of fruit picked in a single season, but I know that from 
6 to 8 gallons has been picked at one time, and this may be 
done repeatedly for several weeks from a row GO feet long and 
7 feet high. This season the crop promises to be even more 
abundant, for the row is just now one mass of blossom from 
bottom to top, borne in huge clusters upon stout lateral growths 
about 2 feet long, so that the row is in reality a thick hedge quite 
4 feet through, and is probably at its best. Noi is there any 
fear of a cessation of vigour, for new main shoots have come 
freely from the bottom of the old ones, and are already from 
6 to 8 feet long, and nearly an inch in diameter. The fruit is 
used chiefly for making jelly, which is so highly prized by con¬ 
noisseurs that it must command a profitable and ready sale. 
Surely fruit-growers for market would do well to bestow some 
attention upon a fruit that is so hardy, so prolific, and so easily 
cultivated, and which, so far as my experience goes, is unaffected 
by blight or disease of any kind.—E. L. O. 
* BORONIA POLYGALIFOLIA. 
Comparatively little knowD, but one of the most useful of the 
genus, is that of which a spray is shown in the woodcut (fig. 11). In 
few gardens is it largely grown, but wherever it has been fairly tried 
the highest opinion is held of its merits as a greenhouse or con¬ 
servatory plant. Perhaps the best examples of its utility can be seen at 
Kew in the greenhouse, where during the spring and early summer 
months plants with quite masses of flowers are very noticeable upon 
the side shelves. These are borne on corymbose heads, are of a 
bright rosy-lilac hue, and last a considerable time either upon the 
plant or when cut. The growth being very free, the plant will endure 
hard cutting, a valuable quality in these days when flowers are so 
largely in demand ; and though the colour is not so brilliant or startling 
as that of some plants, it is a shade that can be readily associated 
with many others without producing any unpleasant discord. It 
requires similar treatment to other species of the genus. 
Roses—Mdlle. Eugenie Veedier. —Judging from the general tenor 
of the reports, everything considered, I think we have better Roses in 
Ireland this year than you seem to have in England. Going through the 
Rose garden attached to the residence of George Gough, Esq., llirdhill, 
'near this town, I had an opportunity of admiring some, glorious blooms, 
and select the above to draw your attention to. If it can be rowri 
generally, or even casually, as I saw it to day, the wonder is .t s t 
I every exhibition stand. It is light silvery peach-coloured, with a rich 
