464 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER . 
[ November 29, 13f3. 
The following is a list of some of the best varieties grown here in 
pots :— 
Pears .—Beurre de 1’Assomption, Beurre Diel, Beurre Easter, Beurre 
Superfin, Doyennd du Comice, Durondeau, Duchesse d’Angouleme, Marie 
Louise, Louise Bonne of Jersey, Pitmaston Duchess, Souvenir du Congres, 
and Brockworth Park. 
Peaches. —Barrington, Conkling, Bellegarde, Hales’ Early, Grosse 
Mignonne, Noblesse, Boyal George, Waterloo, Alexandra Noblesse, 
Crimson Galande, Dagmar, Early Louise, Early York, Gladstone, 
Osprey, Lady Palmerston, Princess of Wales, Rivers’ Early York. 
Nectarines. —Downton, Elruge, Hardwick Seedling, Pitmaston Orange, 
Yiolette Hative, Albert Victor, Newton, Pine Apple, Rivers’ Orange. 
Plums .—Belgian Purple, Coe’s Golden Drop, Green Gage, Denniston’s 
Superb, Reine Claude de Bavay, Transparent Gage, Lawrence’s Gage, 
Prince Engelbert. 
Cherries .—Governor Wood, May Duke, and Bigarreau. 
Apricots .—Moor Park and Peach. 
Some other sorts are grown, but those I can rely on as sure croppers, 
and they are good-flavoured. —George Hawkins. 
STOUP LEADINGTON APPLE. 
One of the most curious-looking Apples shown at the National Apple 
Congress at Chiswick was the Stoup Leadington, a Scotch variety of 
ancient reputation, aind we have thought that an illustration of it would 
be acceptable to our readers. 
The fruit is medium-sized, about 2\ inches wide and 3 inches high ; 
tall and angular like the Catshead. It is distinctly five-sided, with five 
corresponding angles. Skin dark grass-green, becoming yellowish after 
being kept for some time. Eye with divergent segments, set in a deep 
angular and plaited basin. Stamens median ; tube conical, very wide 
and deep. Stalk short, inserted by the side of a large and prominent 
growth, which projects from the fruit in the form of the lip of a jug. 
Flesh greenish, juicy, very acid ; cells elliptical, abaxile. 
A kitchen Apple of good quality, in use from November till January. 
It receives its name from the likeness of the fruit to a stoup or pitcher 
for holding liquids, whirh it cerainly resembles when stood upon the eye, 
the stalk being upwards. 
ANEMONE JAPONICA ALBA IN POTS. 
“W. B.” (page 436) writes interestingly on this plant, but his 
remarks would have been more valuable had he named the time his 
early and late plants flowered. There is no word of this, and we cannot 
tell whether his early plants may bloom in October and November, 
and the late ones in December and January, or when his treatment 
results in this. Indeed, this is one of the most interesting facts we 
could have been told on the subject, and probably your correspondent 
may be induced to give us dates. Apart from this, however, I have to 
confirm his observations respecting the value of this plant. It is one of 
the best anyone can possess. I grow it both out of doors and under 
glass, and it does admirably in both positions. The open air plants are 
grown like Phloxes, but the heavy rains we frequently have in October 
spoil the flowers on these so much that it is mainly on this account 2 
was induced to plant it under glass, and the result is a great success. 
They are planted in a border in an old-fashioned cool conservatory. In- 
June the leaves are produced in profusion, and about the end of August 
the flowers begin to appear, and from then until now there is a constant 
succession. 
The advantages of having them under glass are very apparent, as- 
they bloom much more freely than in the open, and for a longer time,, 
and the blooms are vastly superior to any we can get outside. We never 
trouble very much about its propagation, as under glass the roots ex¬ 
tend like those of Mint, and when we wish to increase our stock these- 
are cut off and planted elsewhere.—M. M. 
ARTIFICIAL v. STABLE MANURES. 
M. YILLE’S THEORIES EXAMINED. 
I must suppose that you know M. J. Ville’s celebrated woi'kr 
on artificial manures. He professes that stable manure can; 
altogether be dispensed with and chemical agents be substituted.. 
Do you share this opinion ? or at least do you think that forthe- 
managing and manuring of a plantation of Red and Black 
Currants, Gooseberries, and Morellos, this would do ? 
1 am just now preparing some twenty-five acres of land for 
making a culture such as I mention. The question of manure- 
is all-important, and I try hard to get every possible information. 
If chemical manure would be available for such a purpose- 
another question arises, Which is for each of the trees planted 
the “ dominante ” (the principal required agent) ? Has this been 
studied already, or should experiments be made ? 
A gentleman near Antwerp has succeeded in using chemical 
manure to bring to a successful issue the rearing of Pine trees 
in the sands of the Campine, whilst all his neighbours failed. 
The use of chemical manure would be such an economy of trans¬ 
port and saving of trouble on ordinary manures, such as blood, 
liquid manure, cow and horse droppings, Ac., that it would be 
highly desirable. Only, can it well be done, has it been tried 
before, and are the formulas known?—C. Havenith, Antwerp. 
[The above letter, by request of the writer of it, was sent to 
our correspondent “ Single-handed,’"' who has sent the following 
reply:— 
Although M. Ville maintains that with artificial manure alone- 
equal, nay superior, results maybe obtained compared to what 
ordinary manure will yield, it should be remembered that he is 
only one, and by no means the greatest, of modern experi¬ 
menters, who maintain anything so extreme. All the evidence- 
goes to prove that the proper place for artificial manure is as a 
supplement when other manure is scarce. M. Ville has made a 
large book by reiterating his fallacy again and again; but though, 
his iterations are strong his evidence is weak, for he fails to- 
recognise some of the most potent factors that secured the 
results which he attributes wholly to the ingredients supplied. 
Decayed vegetable matter he considers valueless, hence his sneers- 
at common manure. Others, of a much higher authority than 
he, give it a high place, and that in countries where it disappears, 
much less rapidly from the soil than in France. If you have 
read what I have said on this subject there will be no need for 
me to repeat it here. 
As for a “ formula ” being wanted in any case, it really is all 
nonsense. If anything has been proved at all, it is that what is 
absolutely necessary in one spot may be altogether superfluous in 
another, M. Vill e, with all his exact and many multiplied ‘ ‘ formulas” 
to the opposite notwithstanding. It is impossible to prescribe for 
this, that, or the other crop without knowing something more- 
than the names of the plants. The state of the soil is of far 
more importance. You may trust M. Ville’s formulas—any one 
of them. He takes care that a very great deal more shall always 
be present than enough. But if your soil is like some here in 
England it would be sheer waste of money to give plaster of 
Paris (calcic sulphate). If like some soils we know of in this- 
country, it would be equally foolish to give potash. Even, 
supposing it were necessary, if you keep dairy stock (as we pi-e- 
sume you do, seeing you mention “ liquid manure ”), the liquid 
from the stables would supply a rich source which it would be a 
mistake to neglect in favour of artificials. The question thus is- 
not so simple as M. Ville would put it, and his formula for 
“ garden stuff ” is only a wild guess. 
Doubtless artificial manure, especially for the trees named, 
might almost wholly take the place of ordinary manure, espe¬ 
cially if every leaf, every bit of vegetation (and you might raise 
a crop on purpose by sowing Rape and digging it in) be used. 
You can hardly go wrong in giving a good dressing (such as 
Ville recommends, so far as quantity is concerned) of super- 
