October 4, 1SS3. ] 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
293 
the ripening. We have for many years protected out-of-door Peaches 
with thin muslin. It should be of a thinner kind than window curtains. 
We used to cut up old tarlatan ball dresses for the purpose.—F. R. 
NEW PEAS. 
Anything that Mr. Muir writes, especially regarding Peas, must be 
Tend with great attention by all, and bis opinion of Culverwell’s Paragon 
and Giant Marrow coincides so well with what I wrote a few weeks back, 
that “ Peas in 1383 ” was extra good reading to me. The fault that Mr. 
Muir finds with Day's Suniise is one which will prevent this Pea from 
becoming a favourite with growers for market. I found the pods fill 
«rery slowly, and they had to be picked over several times, but it is a 
good cropping Pea. I quite agree in it being really cheaper in the long 
run to purchase new and good varieties when they first come out. For 
instance, I purchased a 3.?. Gil. packet (a quarter pint) of Culverwell’s 
Paragon. I sowed them very thinly, and the Peas grew G feet high and 
very branching, with a profusion of pods. A few only were picked for 
trial, and the other day I gathered the sere pods and shelled out the seed, 
which measured up three-quarters of a peck—a gratifying result. This 
Pea will probably be very little cheaper next year, when 1 shall be able 
to plant a good many rows and also part with a portion of my stock. 
Surely this is better than waiting until next year to purchase a packet 
at perhaps a shilling less cost than this year. The results from my 
sowing of Culverwell’s Giant Marrow, although very satisfactory, are 
hardly so good as with Paragon, and I consider the latter one of the best 
and most prolific Peas grown, being satisfactory in size, appearance, and 
to the palate. 
May I ask Mr. Muir whether the Canadian Pea is procurable in 
England, for I should much like to try it? 
Early Market Peas.— May I inquire from your readers what Pea 
they consider best to grow for an early field crop for market ? What is 
required is a hardy very early Pea, of medium height, with fairly large 
pods, of good colour, well filled with peas of good table quality. If the 
pods fill all together so much the better. I have tried several kinds, but 
all have proved unsatisfactory in one way or other. Kentish Invicta, pods 
a^e too small ; Early Champion, ditto ; Ringleader, ditto, and in addition 
too long in podding ; Sunrise, too long in filling, and then not many at 
the same time ; William I. is rather tender with me. The kind called 
Sickleback hereabouts (otherwise White Scimitar) is the favourite with 
most of my neighbours, but although satisfactory in other respects the 
peas are small and of poor quality.—H. S. E., Great Totham. 
To-day (Thursday) an interesting sale of Hybrid Sarracenias 
will take place at Mr. Stevens’ Rooms, Covent Garden. These 
are from the collection of 0. 0. Wrigley, Esq., of Bury, who has 
become famed for his success with these plants, both in a cultural 
point of view, and in raising distinct and beautiful hybrids. The 
entire stock was, it appears, purchased by Mr. G. Toll, and by him they 
are now about to be dispersed. They comprise the results of crosses 
Between variolaris and purpurea, purpurea and flava, Drummondii 
alba and flava, variolaris and psittacina, flava picta and Stevensoni, 
and many others. The principal named hybrids are Svvaniana, Atkin- 
.soniana, Tolliana, Wilsoniana, Maddisoniana, and Mitchelliana. 
- A correspondent, “ T. S.,” asks, “What will prevent sheep 
"Gnawing the Roots in Ash, Oak, and some other trees in winter, also 
occasionally in summer ? Since the hard winters of 1879, 1880, and 1881 
every nauseous dressing that can be thought of lias been tried without 
■effect.” We shall be glad if those of our readers wdio may have pre¬ 
vented animals breaking fruit or other trees will state what pigment they 
.used successfully. 
- “ J. B. H.” writes—“Would your correspondent ‘A Scotsman,’ 
who has so severely criticised the Edinburgh Gardens, kindly inform 
me how the fifteen lines of plants filled in the ribbon border style should 
be placed so as to produce the best contrast, and also the most pleasing 
harmony ? Of course red or white cannot in every case be the first line. 
What should then occupy that place 1 ” 
- We have received from Messrs. J. Laing & Co., Stanstead Park 
INurseries, Forest Hill, a box of Tuberous Begonia flowers remaikable 
(for their substance and diversified colours, but especially noteworthy as 
having been cut from plants growing in the open air after the cold night 
of Monday last. This would suggest that these plants are as hardy as 
Dahlias, and such brilliant, chaste, and pure clusters as those before us 
must be an ornament to any garden in which they are growr. The 
adaptability of these Begonias for culture in the open air with a 
method of preparing and growing them successfully will be found in 
another column. 
- “ C. S. R.,” Redhills, Cavan, writes, by way of answer to 
“ Saxoring,” page 259, concem ng wasps devouring unripe Pears 
“ I would say that when in Derbyshire in 1879 I was plagued in the same 
way. This year we have suffered similarly in Cavan, as the Plums and 
early Pears are gathered the wasps have taken up their abode on the 
late trees.” 
- In the intermediate compartment of the new range at Kew an 
interesting and pretty plant is now flowering. Ic has been provisionally 
named Begonia picta, but there is a little uncertainty about it at pre¬ 
sent. One peculiarity is that there are two very distinct forms, one with 
light green rough heart-shaped leaves, the other with very much darker 
leaves of similar shape, but heavily blotched with a deep shade of green 
approaching black. The flowers on both are alike—a soft clear pink, the 
petals broad, and the outline neat. They are also dwarf and compact 
in habit. 
- The Cape house, which adjoins that above mentioned, now 
contains several pretty plants in flower, and amongst them very notable 
is Coburghia incarnata, which was well figured in Sweet’s “ Flower 
Garden ” some years ago, and is not, therefore, a novelty, though rarely 
seen. It is similar in habit to other Coburghias with broad strap-shaped 
leaves, and bears heads of three or four flowers. The corolla tube is 
G inches long, narrowly funnel-shape, very bright scarlet, lighter at the 
base, and the outer surface of the lobes is blotched with dark green. 
Like others of the genus it succeeds well in a cool temperature and an 
ordinary compost of loam, sand, and leaf soil. 
- We receive many curiously addressed letters during the 
year, and often wonder how many of them reach their destination. The 
Post-office officials deserve credit for delivering letters addressed as 
follows :—“ Lexton’s Fillbasset Beis, Hieh Hollborn, W.C., F.G., Cuens 
Sessman, Cartress, London, England.” Which being interpreted means 
Messrs. Carters, Queen’s Seedsmen, High Holborn, London, and was sent, 
presumably, in answer to an advertisement of Laxton’s Fillbasket Peas. 
- “ B.” writes as follows in reference to exhibits before the 
Floral Committee of the Royal Horticultural Society.— “ It is 
regretable that some exhibitors of flowers take such little trouble to send 
or stage them in a suitable manner. It is by no means uncommon to see 
sprays of plants with no names attached, either carelessly placed on the 
tables half hidden by other exhibits, or in some obscure corner. Occa¬ 
sionally, too, exhibits brought by members of the Committee are shown 
at the table and removed when their duties are concluded ; while some 
liberal exhibitors give any choice flowers away hours before the stated 
time of removing them, so that visitors who arrive late have no oppor¬ 
tunity of seeing them.” 
- It appears that high prices for rare Orchids are still 
obtainable, for we are informed that recently at a sale at Mr. Stevens’ 
Rooms, Covent Garden, a plant of a new Aerides, offered by Messrs. 
Sanders Sc Son, was purchased by Sir Trevor Lawrence, M.P., after a 
spirited competition at £246 15$. This is an extraordinary price, and 
appears to have attracted the attention of a daily contemporary, which 
compared the present demand for Orchids to the Tulip mania, and re¬ 
commends speculators to turn their attention to the matter. 
- M. E. Andre, in “ Le Tour du Monde,” writes as follows on 
GATHERING CAOUTCHOUC IN EQUATORIAL AMERICA. —“ The tapping 
of the trees they had discovered was being actively carried on. The 
a Iventurers, clad in ragged pantaloons, the body naked, were behaving 
like demons under the supervision of their chief round the gigantic Fig3 
(Ficus), whose bark they were tearing off by slashing it with their 
hatchets. The operation reminded me of the process of gathering resin 
in the Landes of Gascony. But here, instead of zinc cups to receive 
the resinous juice, the caucheros placed Heliconia leaves, on which the 
precious latex flowed white as milk. The liquid was collected and 
poured into calabashes (totumas), where it soon coagulated and formed 
caoutchouc, ready to be packed and exported.” 
- Mr. G. Hawkins, Ewenny Priory Gardens. Bridgend, sends 
us the following note on Cucumbers :—“ I have grown Wheeler’s 
