512 JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. [ December s, issi 
if it comes severe many may be destroyed, and still there will 
be enough. 
At one time we were only anxious to have the ground cleared 
and turned up in autumn to be benefited by the frost in winter ; 
but although this no doubt does much good to heavy soil, a 
kitchen garden properly worked soon becomes friable enough, 
and does not need to be turned up to the frost continually. 
As to frost killing grubs and vermin, I think this must be a 
mistake, as all have been more plentiful this last two or three 
seasons than we ever saw them before ; and this is not in 
gardens alone, but in fields as well, where farmers have been 
troubled much by wireworm, Turnip fly, &c. 
As ground becomes vacant now it may be turned up roughly, 
but no crop should be destroyed simply to make room for 
digging. Lime should be dug in now and at any time through¬ 
out the winter, but not just before cropping. Gas lime is an 
excellent insecticide if it is dug into the ground some months 
before the crop is put in. Carrot ground is kept thoroughly 
clean by it, and Onion grubs or flies are seldom troublesome 
where it has been used. One small spadeful to each two square 
yards is sufficient. Except for Potatoes, Carrots, Parsnips, 
and similar roots, manure is never dug into the soil until the 
crop is about to be planted. To dig the manure in the soil 
now for Onions, which will not be sown until March, is to our 
mind wasting the best part of it; but if it is only forked into 
the surface of the soil a day or two before the seed is sown the 
crop will have the full benefit of it at the time they want it 
most. The same remark applies to many green crops. 
Any seeds saved this season should be examined frequently, 
as some which may not be thoroughly dry or matured may 
cause the others to decay. Many early Potatoes are sprouting 
fast in the coolest place we can find for them, but they will 
not be allowed to grow very far and waste their energies before 
they are turned over and every growth rubbed off. This is the 
only way to keep Potatoes in good condition.—A Kitchen 
Gardener. 
PLANTS FOR INDOOR DECORATION. 
As it has become a common practice in both large and small 
establishments to decorate the house with exotic plants, and 
gardeners are often puzzled to keep up a supply which shall be 
creditable to themselves and appreciated by their employers, it 
would be advantageous if we could induce some of those who 
have had large practice in such work to give us the result of their 
experience ; for it is of the greatest importance, especially where 
the space is limited, that we should know what is best to grow 
for the purpose. 
As decorative plants I think the Dracaenas surpass any others. 
Their forms and colours are so varied, some having broad upright 
leaves of stout texture while others are light and graceful, and 
varying in colour from the most delicate green and white to the 
deepest crimson and almost black. I will take them first, and 
enumerate, so far as my experience goes, those varieties that best 
endure the dry atmosphere of a heated gas-lit room. D. terminalis 
has always been a great favourite with me ; for although not quite 
so graceful in habit as D. Cooperi, it is quite as bright in colour, 
and where the latter will stand one night the former will stand a 
dozen. D. Guilfoylei, like the former, is also fine for rooms, and 
having fight green and white striped foliage it is a good com¬ 
panion for it. During last winter’s frost I had a specimen in a 
cold passage opposite a window ; it was frozen until the soil was 
hard. Of course I thought the plant was killed, but it is still 
alive and thriving, which proves it to be quite hardy. The old 
D. ferrea is also very useful and quite distinct, being almost black. 
Of the dark green-leaved forms D. nigra is most useful. D. 
grandis and D. Baptisti soon become spotted and lose their lower 
leaves, so I cannot recommend them. The same may be said of 
D. Hendersonii and D. amabilis. The old D. gracilis stands w T ell, 
but D. gracilis marginata, although such a handsome table plant, 
will not endure gas. I had a plant of it which lost thirteen 
leaves in two nights. Dracama australis and its varieties are 
good. D. regina does not stand well, and as it is reported to be 
the parent of so many of the new varieties it remains to be seen 
how they will behave. I have also found the following to be 
useful plants for indoor decoration :—Curculigo recurvata should 
be largely grown ; it stands well, and is one of the best of table 
plants. Pandanus Veitchii is another of which we cannot have 
too many specimens. Young plants of Ananassa sativa variegata 
are handsome for the table. Panicum plication and P. plicatum 
variegatum raised from seed and grown quickly are ornamental 
and useful. 
Crotons are also good, but, like Dracaenas, some are better than 
others. We use the old C. angustifolius and C. variegatus in 
quantity. The one which I have found to stand best of all is 
C. irregularis. It will remain in good condition twice as long as 
any other Croton that I have tried. There are other good and 
handsome plants, such as the choice Aralias and Palms, but as they 
cannot be propagated in such numbers as the foregoing, they are 
used more sparingly. 
Let me advise those who have much indoor decoration to do, to 
employ Selaginella to cover the surface of the soil in the pots, and 
to hide the rim of the pot. It is a notable fact that at the late 
International Exhibition at Manchester, of the twenty collections 
of table plants staged for competition, the first and second only 
had the soil covered with Selaginella. I should be glad if some 
abler writer than myself would take up this subject, and I am 
sure the readers of the Journal would be greatly profited by it. 
—Wm. Plant. 
FRUIT NOTES. 
Before the interesting scraps about fruit close, I should like to 
say a word respecting an Apple that is much grown in this neigh¬ 
bourhood (Ashrood Bank, Worcestershire), called the “ Woodsill.” 
No such name appears in any catalogue or fruit fist that I have 
seen, therefore presume it must be a “ local ” sort. No Apple, it 
appears, is so much grown except Blenheim Pippin as a standard 
for orchards in this district. The trees are not so liable to canker 
as most sorts. Ribston Pippin is, perhaps, the worst; many trees 
here were so disappointing that they were headed-down and 
grafted with Woodsills, which are now bearing good crops 
annually. The habit is good, forming abundance of fruit-bearing 
spurs ; fruit good for culinary or dessert, with plenty of colour ; in 
season from September to December ; is highly scented. Their 
presence can always be detected in a room. 
I have also a favourite Pear which cannot be found in any list, 
known as “ Green Beurre.” This is a sure bearer, of good habit, 
useful for dessert or baking, very juicy and sweet, and with a 
little management may be had in use from October to April. 
Many kinds of Pears have been tried here and found wanting as 
croppers, and have had to succumb to the grafting-knife to make 
room for Green Beurre. If any reader can oblige with the 
correct names (if they are known), with any remarks, I shalFfeel 
obliged. 
The uncertainty of the fruit crop in this district was very 
singular this season. Iu some cases, and I am pleased to say 
mine for one, there has not been so good a crop for many years, 
while only short distances away it has been almost a failure. In 
one case a person who rents about twenty acres of orcharding, 
and who expects to grow several hundreds of pots, told me he 
had not a pot of fruit in all his orchards. In another case a 
neighbour who has not probably half as much orcharding, put up, 
it was estimated, about 150 pots alone of Blenheim Pippin Apples, 
exclusive of windfalls, which he sold for Is. 6d. per pot; that he 
considers half a crop, having previously stored three hundred pots 
in one season, or about 450 bushels. He plants no other sorts 
now, and the fruit, I hear, is worth 12.?. per pot (72 lbs. nett), and 
cider at the same place is being sold at Is. per gallon. I mention 
this in comparison with the statement of “ A Surrey Phy¬ 
sician,” on page 466. 
I am pleased to see the subject of planting more fruit trees 
in fields advocated, both in hedgerows and also in the open 
ground. I have often wondered that land-proprietors do not 
plant more extensively, which would in a few years certainly 
enhance the value of their properties ; and, apart from the value 
of the fruit, what looks prettier than an Apple orchard in full 
bloom, with the various tints of the different sorts ? One such 
sight I have in my mind when visiting Canada a few years ago. 
It was in the beginning of June, when everything looked lovely 
from the top of the Montreal mountain ; and looking down almost 
any way, except into the centre of the city, or into the broad St. 
Lawrence, Apple bloom met the eye, intermingled with the 
various delicate tints of green. No fancy carpet bedding ever 
pleased me like the straight lines of Apple bloom in the well- 
stocked orchards below, some of the fruit from which was probably 
destined to compete in our own country with local growers, after 
being brought thousands of miles ; whereas in some favoured 
localities Apple trees thrive so well that they ought to be planted 
by the thousand at little outlay, and Nature would certainly do 
her part to provide a crop to compete with American fruit under 
such disadvantages as freight and various other expenses. 
A cheap and simple protection to young trees from cattle I 
ventured to send, and which appeared in the Journal some two 
