Oftober 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
871 
autumnal tints. They look well when arranged as arcs of a circle 
joining a continuous line around the table, or at the base of the dessert 
dishes, candlesticks, or the epergne, if one is used. A little practice 
will soon enable a person of taste to work out various combinations 
o-f form and colour far better than I can describe in writing. I will 
enumerate a few kinds of leaves that are very useful for the purpose : 
Coleus, Fittonia, Berberis aquifolia, Cissus discolor, Ampelopsis, 
Abutilon, Ivy, and Gannas. I have attempted to Avrite these few 
remarks with the hope that many will be induced to state their 
experience of this subject, of increasing importance, in the study of 
which many an evening hour may be pleasantly and profitably spent. 
—H. Duxkin. 
JUSSTiEA GRANDIFLORA. 
We are indebted to Carolina for the plant our figure represents. It 
is said to have been introduced in 1872, but appears to have found little 
favour amongst cultivators. Loudon pays a poor compliment to this 
family of plants, regarding them as unworthy of the name of Jussieu. 
Aussifea grandiflora is an aquatic plant. A greenhouse is suitable for its 
cultivation. Though possessing no great beauty it might be included in 
4he collections of those desirous of growing plants of this nature. It 
may be increased by seed sown as soon as ripe, in pots drained and filled 
with a composf of loam and sandy peat and placed in water ; also by 
•division. Where there is no aquarium large basins or bowls may be 
substituted. I have sometimes beaten clay firmly in the bottom of 
crdinary garden pots for some of my aquatic pets, and they have succeeded 
beyond my expectation. It is to be regretted that there is not more 
interest taken in the various species of water-loving plants, which when 
once established require but little attention.—N. 
TOMATO PLANTS FROM AUTUMN CUTTINGS. 
There is no better way of obtaining healthy fruitful Tomato plants 
early in spring than by taking cuttings now, rooting them, and after¬ 
wards keeping them in an intermediate temperature until January, or 
into spring if necessary, before fruiting them. Propagation by cuttings 
has many advantages. In trying a batch of seedings, if one or two turn 
out extra good, probably they may have been fertilised by some of the 
inferior ones when in bloom, and if seed is saved from a fruit of this 
kind, the progeny may be grievously disappointing ; but if cuttings are 
taken of the best varieties, kept throughout the winter, and fruited by 
themselves next season, there will be no danger of deterioration. From 
a batch of many I have this year selected one as being the most robust 
grower, freest fruiter, largest and most handsome I have seen, but few 
seeds will be saved of it this season, as we have a large number of young 
plants which were recently inserted as cuttings. All Tomato plants have 
many young growths on them at this time. Some of the most robust of 
these should be taken at once, made into a cutting in the usual way, 
placed singly into the smallest sized pots, plunged in a gentle heat, and 
iu ten days they will be rooted and ready for placing on some light airy 
shelf for the winter. As they show an inclination to grow the point may 
be constantly kept pinched out of the leading shoot, as there is no reason 
in having them tall until they are shifted into larger pots and started 
into growth for fruiting ; and about Christmas or after the new year will 
be early enough to begin operations of this kind, and it is then the great 
advantage of having cutting plants to deal with will be felt, as they will 
fruit much earlier and be more prolific than any plants which could be 
raised from seed sown now or in spring.—A Kitchen Gardener. 
THE OLD NURSERIES, MAIDSTONE. 
Though the establishment of which Mr. George Bunyard is the 
active and practical head is entitled to the prefix “ old,” as the business 
was established in the last century, the term only applies strictly to the 
comparatively small home surroundings, the chief nurseries, one two miles 
west, and the other the same distance east of the town being young, the 
oldest just rising into manhood, for neither of them has attained its 
majority, and both have as healthy an appearance as the most critical 
observer could desire to see. 
Kent in August is beautiful, the forests of Hops which clothe the 
sides of the hills and spread down the tortuous valleys then approaching 
their prime, while the far-stretching orchards sparkle with red and golden 
fruit. In October the outlook is somewhat dingy, for the Hops are picked, 
the bine lying in black heaps on the land, and the poles piled in cones 
like a lot of huge dark-fluted extinguishers that are not exactly orna¬ 
mental ; the fruit, too, is gathered, or most of it, only a little now 
remaining, the crops of early Apples especially, having been better, 
perhaps, than is supposed by far-away dwellers from the “ garden of 
England.” But if we cannot see the fruit we can see the trees—old 
trees in fields, not a few of them scraggy and approaching the end, with 
young trees in the nurseries to take their places, and enough to spare for 
other districts. To see these young trees in various forms, immense 
numbers, and of superior quality, we find our way to the Allington 
Nursery. 
This, as before observed, is about two miles westward of Maidstone, 
and it is scarcely possible to conceive a site better adapted for the growth 
of fruit trees. The soil is of the best—a medium sandy fertile loam, 
thoroughly drained, and the position fully exposed—conditions for pro¬ 
ducing free and healthy growth and its satisfactory maturation. Not 
many years ago the great extent of ground occupied with fruit trees was 
a wild wood. This has been cleared away, the roots “grubbed,” the 
land trenched, tons of ragstone excavated, and the whole is now clean as 
a garden. Work of this kind extending over forty or fifty acres so well 
accomplished, and the ground cropped as it is now, is no light achieve¬ 
ment. The ground is boldly undulated, and gentle slopes are to be found 
to almost every point of the compass. This is of advantage in the dis¬ 
position of the trees and Roses, and experience teaches the positions in 
which the different kinds succeed the best. The configuration of the 
ground also renders the nursery picturesque, and a tour of the grass 
paths which intersect the groves of trees is both agreeable and instruc¬ 
tive. 
The fruit farmers of Kent are somewhat exacting in their requirements, 
and it is of no use telling them the stocks are good. They must see and 
examine for themselves, and the grower who has not something to show 
that will bear critical examination is not likely to have many visitors. 
They require trees that are clean—that is, the wood free from canker or 
blemish of any kind, also essentially fruitful without being stunted in 
growth. Such trees they have been in the habitof finding at Allington since 
the nursery was established, and they can find them now. The proprietor 
having found that he could satisfy what may be termed his county elient.o, 
was justified in making his resources widely known, and the result of his 
enterprise has led to the expansion of his business in a remarkable 
manner. What was once a small but respectable local nursery has 
developed into an establishment that ranks with the best of its kind, 
having a “ nation of customers.” 
And there is room for all. A glance at the decrepit character of 
orchards all over the country and the acres of ground that are occupied 
with inferior varieties of the most useful fruit, with a knowledge of the 
fact that young orchards of great extent are being established in 
countries which, though distant, are brought near enough by fast 
steamers to exert a powerful influence on our markets, must lead to 
extensive planting “ at home ” if British growers are to compete suc¬ 
cessfully in the production of useful, wholesome, marketable fruit. 
There is no valid reason that they should not do so. The climatal 
impediments that exist here are not absent over the water ; and if bad 
fruit years have to be admitted so have bad cereal harvests from time 
immemorial; yet farmers have continued, and will continue growing 
grain, and fruit-growers have continued and will continue planting trees ; 
in fact, they must continue, or they will lag behind, and only be famed 
for second-rate produce that cannot be profitably grown. The fruit of 
the future must be of the best, and this can only be secured either on a 
large scale for supplying the markets, or in smaller quantities for home 
consumption by regularly and periodically planting healthy young 
trees of the foremost varieties. 
In nurseries such as this, where trees do not remain long in stock, we 
do not expect to find any great quantity of fruit, yet some of the two 
and three-year-old bush and pyramid trees are usually found bearing. 
In October the early Apples were gathered, such as the Lord Suffields 
and others ; but some fruit was seen on later sorts good in size and of 
remarkable colour. Such richly coloured Cellini Apples are rarely seen 
—dark reddish crimson. Is there “ something in the soil ” to account 
