278 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND GOTIAGE GARDENER. 
[ September 25, 1884. 
of shades and colours which are not uncommonly mixed to¬ 
gether when cut. Red, white, and yellow Chrysanthemums 
are almost enough to employ for cut purposes, and they 
should, as a rule, be cut with long stems and arranged thinly 
in large vases, leaving foliage and buds to show. Single 
Anemones are grand for spring, but are very seldom met 
with. Many wayside or wild flowers are lovely. Forget- 
me-nots, Bugloss, Marsh Marigolds, Oxeye Daisies, Corn¬ 
flowers, Harebells, Grass of Parnassus, and Wild Roses, are 
names that occur at the moment. 
Just a line or two more to protest against the general 
employment of Maidenhair Fern to the exclusion of other 
foliage lhat is equally beautiful when appropriately employed. 
For many purposes the Maidenhair is of unique value, but 
for decorating vases in general it is much better to rely on 
foliage belonging to the flowers used. With even more force 
does this apply when decorators pass the leafage Nature has 
bestowed on plants and ransack the pinetum for material. 
In decorating dinner tables, I do not think anything is 
more suitable than rather small glasses to be filled with good 
flowers. At the same time I would not like to say anything 
against laying cut flowers on the cloth provided it is done 
without anything hinting of artificiality. I mean I would 
not make any arrangement as to shape other than just laying 
on the flowers as they are cut. If the flowers are poor in 
character some other means of using them should be em¬ 
ployed. —Sylvanus. 
THE TOMATO CROP AND ITS USES. 
So uncertain have been the Tomato crops in the open air of late 
years that many growers have nearly or entirely discontinued plant¬ 
ing out, preferring to fruit a greater number of plants under glass. 
The season of 1884 will perhaps again lead to a return to the 
did practices, or at any rate will encourage many to persevere with 
open air culture that have not the superior advantages afforded by a 
forcing house. On all sides we hear of wonderfully heavy crops 
being secured from plants trained to sunny walls, and which were by 
no means specially prepared for the purpose—that is to say, the plants 
were raised in frames, and by the end of May or early in June, and 
when planted were smaller and more backward than they ought to be. 
The plants grew well from the commencement. No disease has 
touched them, and the tropical weather experienced during August 
had the effect of swelling the fruit to a great size, and, what is still 
more satisfactory, induced an early and perfect ripening. As a rule 
house-grown fruits are considerably better in quality than an}!^ ripened 
in the open air, but this season there is but little to choose between 
them. Tomatoes, too, are the only fruits that are not greatly injured 
by wasps this season, and altogether those who have acquired a real 
liking for them have every opportunity of enjoying their own pro¬ 
ducts, or of purchasing at a comparatively cheap rate. 
It would be a difficult matter to decide which are the heaviest 
cropping varieties this season, but none that I have seen surpasses 
Orangefield, Old Red, Earley’s Defiance, Hathaway’s Excelsior, King 
Humbert, Hackwood Park, Phillip’s Perfection, and President Gar¬ 
field. King Humbert, a variety of continental origin, has been grown 
extensively on the open walls in Messrs. Robert Veitch & Co.’s 
Exeter Nurseries, the plants carrying very heavy crops of fruit from 
the ground up to 4 feet in height. The fruit are borne in large 
clusters, are of the shape and size of Victoria Plums, of good colour 
and quality. Unless 1 am much mistaken it will be found identical 
with the newly certificated Chiswick Red. Be that as it may, it is 
evidently a robust prolific sort and well worthy of a trial. Hackworth 
Park with me, both in pots and on open walls cropped heavily, the 
fruit being handsome and fairly good in quality, but why it should 
receive a certificate from the Royal Horticultural Society, and 
Phillip’s Perfection be passed over, is a mystery to me. I find Per¬ 
fection quite as heavy cropping, rather more handsome in shape, and 
decidedly superior in quality. The fruit of Hackwood Park is more 
thick-skinned, and does not always ripen and colour well up to the 
stalk, but Perfection never fails in this respect, and, as Mr. W. Taylor 
has more than once remarked, it is the only sort 1 grew that would 
favourably compare with Dwarf Orangefield as he grew it when at 
Longleat. Varieties of Tomatoes in common with Melons are fast 
becoming too plentiful, and size and appearance would appear to be 
principal objects aimed at by the raisers. 
Where the competition is good in the classes for Tomatoes, and 
it has been the case in several good shows I have visited this season, 
awarding the prizes has been a very difficult matter, and the awards, 
as might be expected, were anything but satisfactory to the non¬ 
winners In some cases the corrugated or ribbed sorts were preferred, 
in others smooth round sorts triumphed, while in one or two instances 
mere weight, regardless of appearance, carried the day. Of the 
three decisions the latter was by far the worst, as such monstrosities 
as President Garfield and Sims’ Mammoth are by no means desirable 
varieties in my estimation, though the former as grown at Wilton 
House by Mr. Challis is said to be the best flavoured sort he has yet 
tried. The time has arrived when something definite should be 
decided on as to the proper manner of judging Tomatoes, and in my 
humble opinion quality should be the principal essential. Melons 
have always been judged by flavour, land it is fast becoming the 
practice at shows to cut and taste Peaches, Nectarines, Figs, Apples, 
and Pears, and why not, therefore, judge Tomatoes on the same lines? 
To some judges the tasting would be a disagreeable duty, but not 
more so than tasting twenty Melons, of which not unfrequentlj^ 
about seventeen are unfit to eat. I do not suppose there are six men 
in the country that are competent to give an opinion on the merits 
of all the varieties of Tomatoes now grown unless by tasting, and 
as they are cultivated principally for use, this and not the fact of 
certain sorts being most ornamental should be borne in mind. Judged 
on these lines we should soon see a change effected, the best flavoured 
sorts being then eagerly sought after, to the manifest gain of those 
who cat the principal portion of the produce. 
It is now very well known that it is a good plan to cut all nearly 
fully grown, but still unripe Tomatoes, before they are injured by 
frost, and hang them in bunches either in a warm plant or forcing 
house to ripen. Failing these positions they may be hung up in the 
kitchen near the fireplace, where many of them will also ripen fairly 
well. It must not be expected that fruit thus ripened or coloured 
will equal those ripened on the plant, but they will be tit for cooking 
purposes. 
There are various ways of storing and otherwise utilising the ripe 
fruit when these are plentiful ; but there are, I believe, but few 
people who think of turning the small late-formed fruit which will 
not ripen, no matter how favourable the season may be, to good 
account. They can be made into most excellent pickle, which but 
few would think of declining. The best recipe I am acquainted with 
was found in an old cookery book under the title of “ Chou-chou 
Pickle,” and this differs slightly from that given, among various other 
recipes, by Dr. Hogg in the “Gardeners’ Year-Book” for 1880, and 
which he kindly allow'ed me to copy into my treatise on the Tomato. 
The recipe I allude to, and which I have proved to be most trust¬ 
worthy, is as follows :—“ Take 2 lbs. of green Tomatoes, bruise them, 
then add two or three medium-sized Onions, sliced according to size, 
and six Chilies ; scatter salt over it, letting it stand fifteen hours, 
then strain away the moisture, and cover the remainder with good 
vinegar. Bake this in an oven for one hour, and then press the pulp 
into jars. Now take a dessert spoon each of mustard, pepper, mixed 
spice, half teaspoon each of sugar and cloves, a little cinnamon, and 
four Chilies, adding sufficient vinegar to make this quite thin. Boil 
it and pour over contents of jars while boiling hot.” Another good 
recipe under the heading “Tomatoes for Pies” may also be acceptable 
to some of my readers who may have a quantity of green fruit too 
backward to ripen. “ Pick the Tomatoes green ; scald them and take 
off the skins. Put them into a preserving pan, and let them boil for 
half an hour. Cut them up, and put in 1 lb. of sugar to 3 lbs. of 
Tomatoes, and let them cook for half an hour longer. Season them 
with the juice and peel of Lemon, and put them away in jars. These 
make very good pies in the winter, and resemble Gooseberries.”— 
W. Iggulden. 
CHOICE ALPINE PLANTS. 
Gentiana Kueeoo. —Some five years ago this lovely species 
figui-ed among hardy plant novelties, and plants were eagerly 
purchased, though the pi’ice w’as an exorbitant one. It never 
came to us in any quantity, and it is highly probable that it is 
even rarer now than when first offered to the public. Such a 
state of things is to be regretted, for where we met with a dozen 
instances of its loveliness then, we can neither hear of nor see it 
to day. Why this should be so I know not, still it is an un¬ 
deniable fact. That it ranks among the best of its race there is 
no doubt, and is in all respects a gem of the first water. Many 
testified to its being one of the most distinct and beautiful 
among Indian Gentians, and which was readily and fully en¬ 
dorsed by all who had either flowei’ed it themselves or seen its 
lovely blossoms expanded in the morning’s sun. The charming 
species under consideration is a distinct plant in a variety of 
ways; primarily in its long linear radical leaves, which bear a 
strong resemblance to some of the narrower-leaved forms of our 
British Plantains, and not at all unlike Armeria plantaginea. 
Its flowering stems, which vary from 6 to 12 inches in length, 
are of decumbent habit, and are furnished at intervals with 
small oppositely placed leaves,[while the flowers are produced in 
