JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
84 
' - -it 
[ July 14, 1881, 
charming in the greenhouse a month ago, seven corms having 
been placed in a 6-inch pot at the time the Hyacinths were potted 
in October. Other corms were planted in clumps of a dozen in 
the borders, and produced a number of delightful spikes in June. 
No flowers in the garden were more prized than these by the 
young lady flower-gatherers whose duty and pleasure it is to 
render the drawing-room attractive, and the hundred corms 
planted last autumn have proved such a great success that I am 
urgently pressed to plant more, and shall certainly have great 
pleasure in doing so, for the wax-like flowers are most charming. 
—S. W. 
THE ROSE ELECTION. 
Our Journal begins to teem with notes of the various Rose 
contests now coming on “ fast and furious.” The elections of the 
past two years have been partial, and not restricted to exhibition 
qualities—to many the one essential. It would seem, then, not 
inappropriate that in the parliament of Queen Rosa we might at 
least have a “ general election ” every three years and pin our 
faith on “triennial parliaments !” As it is to be an election of 
exhibition varieties it is necessary that there should be qualifica¬ 
tion for voters. We see no reason to lower the franchise. We 
take it that “every voter must be a prizetaker at a ‘national ’ 
exhibition, or a frequent prizetaker at local Rose exhibitions.” 
Any person thus qualified is hereby asked to assist by answering 
the following questions :—Name the best forty-eight exhibition 
varieties of the Rose. Distinguish the best twelve and second 
best twelve by some mark. The list will be considered as named 
in order of merit unless the contrary is stated. It will be noted 
that all varieties of the Rose are to be included. Latest date for 
returning the voting papers tome, August 31st.— Joseph Hinton, 
Warminster. 
JTO’-GLEPNGS. It 
We are informed that the Strawberry Fete, which was held 
in the gardens of the Royal Horticultural Society at Chiswick on 
the 2nd inst., was a great success. The garden was crowded with 
a fashionable company, who evidently thoroughly enjoyed them¬ 
selves, the weather being all that could be desired. 
- Mr. Shirley Hibberd will deliver a lecture on the 
Carnation, in the conservatory at South Kensington, in connec¬ 
tion with the Exhibition of the National Carnation and Picotee 
Society, at 3 P.M. on Tuesday next. 
- A house-keeper writes to us as follows on preserving 
fruit —“ Some time ago I read in the Journal from one of your 
correspondents, that in preserve-making only a quarter of a pound 
of sugar to the pound of fruit should be used, the old-fashioned 
pound to pound being a mistake. Would some of your corre¬ 
spondents say if this is so, and if the fruit so preserved will keep ?” 
- We have received from Mr. G. Bunyard of Maidstone the 
haulm and pods of a new Pea which came under their notice 
last year, one plant of which produced 380 peas. It has this 
season maintained its fertility. Mr. Bunyard states that “although 
of the Ne Plus Pea race it is a sport from Best of All.” The 
pods are more curved than either of the varieties named, and are 
closely packed with dark green peas of excellent quality. Many 
pods contained ten peas, and the majority of them nine. The 
plant sent is very strong and short-jointed and about 4 feet high, 
the pods being produced in pairs. 
- We regret to learn, owing to some negligence of the 
railway authorities, that a skilled rosarian who had taken notes 
of the Hereford Rose Show with the object of furnishing us 
with a report is unable to do so, as that portion of hi 3 luggage 
containing his notes appears to have been lost in transit. We 
hear that Messrs. Cranston & Co. staged magnificently at the 
Show in question, and with Mr. Jowitt secured the premier prizes. 
We trust that our esteemed coadjutor will speedily recover his 
lost property, and that our readers will yet have the pleasure of 
reading his observations on the Show that he visited. 
- “ A Wiltshireman ” writing to a daily contemporary 
sends the following observations upon Asparagus —“ The waste¬ 
ful way in which this delicious vegetable is cut and consequently 
brought to table is a striking example of the loss the public suffers, 
and apparently without complaint, in conformity to custom. 
When I see in the London markets the handsome bundles of 
large “ grass,” about six-sevenths of which is white and uneat¬ 
able and only one-seventh eatable, and know that the same length 
might be sold for the same price all eatable, I cannot but regret 
the sad loss and waste of 600 per cent, on this article of food. 
The evil arises from cutting the Asparagus too soon and below 
the surface of the beds. I allow mine to grow 8 or 9 inches above 
the ground, and then cut an inch above the ground, and thus 
obtain 7 to 8 inches of green tops, the whole of which is eatable 
and of good flavour. Asparagus should be cooked standing in 
bundles in the pot with the tops just above the water to prevent 
their being overdone whilst the stems are being cooked suffi¬ 
ciently. If any of your readers who grow Asparagus will try 
this plan of cutting and cooking they will find they have saved 
the large per-centage I have mentioned, and better knowledge 
on the part of the public would soon bring green and eatable 
instead of white and uneatable Asparagus to market.” 
- The enterprise of Americans is proverbial, and they are 
noted for turning everything to account. Even the pig in the 
orchard has its uses, for a contemporary states—“ We have each 
year new remedies for protecting our Plums, believed by their 
inventors to be infallible, but most of them of no more utility 
for the purpose than moonshine. For the Plum-gouger, the 
pig in the orchard to eat all the early falling fruit, or the careful 
gathering of all such fruit and burning it; and for it and the 
Plum curculio the jarring of the insects from the trees at least 
once each day, in the cool of the morning or evening on sheets, 
and killing them, seems to be the only sure plan of getting a 
crop of Phnns in orchard culture.” 
-The wine trade of California appears to be develop¬ 
ing enormously. Mr. Consul Booker’s figures show, that although 
the phylloxera seriously menaces the prosperity of some districts, 
the vintage of 1880 was close upon 12,000,000 gals. : 2,487,353 gals, 
of wine and 189,098 gals, of brandy were exported. A vineyard 
can be planted and maintained in California till its first year of 
production for from 70 to 75 dollars per acre. It is impossible a3 
yet to make a classification of Californian wines. In the best 
districts varieties of Vines are still cultivated which deteriorate the 
quality of their characteristic products. In some places the culti¬ 
vation of the best varieties suited to climate and soil has scarcely 
begun. Few vineyards, therefore, are capable of turning out 
completely blended and perfect wines. The scarcity of choice 
cuttings has frequently compelled the vigneron to plant whatever 
could be found most conveniently ; but now that it has been 
proved to demonstration that it pays to grow the Vine in Cali¬ 
fornia, this lack of enterprise is not likely to last long. The 
capital already invested amounts to 30 million dollars, and pro¬ 
vided that the danger from the phylloxera does not increase, it is 
soon likely to be quadrupled. 
- The hot weather experienced in most parts of England, 
and especially noticeable in London, during the first three days 
of the week, has, says the Colonies and India, led to the drawing 
of comparisons with that met with in other parts of the world. 
We believe that 86° in the shade is the highest temperature fairly 
registered by meteorologists this summer, though doubtless the 
