December 11, 1881 , ] 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
525 
find act accordingly ; but I am very firmly of opinion that many, if not 
the majority, of borders for Peach trees are needlessly large. 
Me. Abbey, in his note on 502, on the application of liquid manure, 
raises objections to certain methods, and answers them as he goes on ; 
and he utters one or two truisms, such as making wet soil wetter by 
giving it more water, and that some of the liquid manure applied in 
winter drains away. On the question of applying liquid manure to 
trees outdoors when in a dormant state, Mr. Abbey fails to see any benefit 
in the practice beyond enriching the soil, “ and in that way it is of great 
benefit, provided the soil is not already saturated.” I have only to say, 
in reply, that when soil is “saturated,” liquid manure can no more be 
poured into it than it can be into a tub that is already full. 
Whenever liquid manure will pass freely into the ground in winter 
it may be given safely and with great effect to large fruit trees in orchards 
and bush fruit trees in gardens, Roses, &c., which do not grow with the 
freedom that is necessary for the production of good crops of fine fruit 
and flowers, because of the poverty of the soil. It is deplorable to see 
the waste of manorial drainings in winter in various places in the country 
under the presumption that that is the “ wrong time ” for applying them 
to the land. Then, as has been previously suggested, many cesspools 
•can be more conveniently emptied in winter than in summer, and the 
contents may with “great benefit” be poured into ground at once that 
needs enriching. More than twenty years have elapsed since I commenced 
the practice experimentally, and the systematic and extensive adoption of 
it since have enabled me to regard with equanimity the adverse views of 
persons who consider the method theoretically unsound. I hardly like to 
tell them so, but I always have a suspicion that there is a fault somewhere 
in the reasoning of my friends when they endeavour to demonstrate that 
any method that is proved right in practice is wrong in theory ; but 
whether I tell them so or not, that is nevertheless the opinion of— 
A Thinker. 
LA.TE GRAPES. 
Like others, 1 should be glad to learn how late in the season 
Gros Colman has been kept, and what condition it was in at the 
latest period in which it has been preserved. I have kept it in 
plump and fresh condition well into February, and the fruit 
appeared as if it would have kept much longer. Now that its 
culture is becoming generally understood the value of this Grape 
s increasing. A large berry is always an important item in the 
character of any Grape, and when the Gros Colman has proper- 
treatment its flavour is sugary, skin very thin and tender. 
Having during a number of years tried experiments with keeping 
Grapes, I have in evei-y case found that those which were to be 
kept late did by far the best when ripened with plenty of heat 
and air, giving them a long season after they were coloured to 
become matured and well charged with sugar, and none which I 
have found takes such a, long time to come to the standard of 
perfection as Gros Colman, and Lady Downe’s next. When they 
have justice they do not deteriorate in flavour by bottling. I 
never care about using either of these varieties before the end of 
the year, and like the latter best w-hen it has hung to March and 
onwards. Alicante, Gros Maroc, and Gros Guillaume are ripe 
and fit for use about six weeks before the others are at their best, 
though all are grown in the same structure. West’s St. Peter’s, 
for flavour, thin skin, fine bloom, and other good qualities is not 
easily surpassed during the winter months, and about twenty-five 
years, and longer, since it was one of the leading late Grapes; 
but growers then did not try to keep Grapes in large quantities 
later than February. The finest of West’s St. Peter’s 1 have 
ever seen w-ere grown in vineries not far from where Mr. Iggulden 
sends his interesting remarks. Alnwick Seedling appears at 
present to be a Grape which would keep late and be a compeer 
with Alicante and Lady Downe’s in April. The appearance of 
this kind is much in its favour. Large berries densely covered 
with bloom, strong footstalks, and a total absence up to this 
period of anything like shrivelling and decay is in its favour. 
A nevr kind we have for trial, named John Downie, sent to us by 
its namesake, is in every way more like Alnwick Seedling than 
any other kind we know; fruit, wood, foliage, and general habit 
with us seems identical. Some have said that John Downie is 
much like Gros Colman; with us no two black Grapes are less 
like each othei’. 
To keep Grapes for consumption till May I feel sure that few 
will care to dispense with Lady Downe’s and Alicante. We have 
tasted these at the end of April, kept by experienced growers 
their colour and general appearance being all that could be 
desired, but the flavour (if ever they had any) had changed to 
something like vinegar and water. This is not a solitary 
instance. We hold that Grapes early matured and well tended 
in the autumn, bottled after the leaves fall from the Yines, say 
about Christmas, and, all other things being equal, they should 
retain their sugary flavour till April. It is a misfortune that we 
have no late shows to exhibit well-kept Grapes, or even to show 
the proportions of those which have been under high cultivation. 
Grapes exhibited in September which are not fit to be eaten till 
December or January is a bui-lesque, many being exhibited at a 
time which would receive no favour by the most ordinary tutored 
palates.—M. Temple, Carronhouse. 
GUAVAS. 
Op the several Guavas grown in the West Indies the White Guava 
(Psidium pyriferum) is esteemed the best, and is the most abundant. In 
its wild state it is more of shrub than a tree, but when cultivated in 
gardens it attains the dimensions of a tree, with a stem about 6 inches in 
diameter and a head of the size ot a medium-sized Apple tree. The wood 
is very hard ; the leaves are from 2 to 3 inches long, in pairs ; the flower 
is white ; and the fruit, which is as large as a hen’s egg, is sulphur yellow, 
very smooth and perfumed. The pulp is flesh-coloured, aromatic, and 
grateful to the palate. This Guava is used as a dessert fruit, and is also 
preserved with sugar ; and Guava jelly is esteemed one of the finest con¬ 
serves that come from the West Indies. 
The Red Guava (Psidium pomiferum) is a much larger tree than the 
White. The fruit is shaped like a Pomegranate, and when ripe has an 
Fig. 88.—Psidium pyriferum. 
agreeable odour. It is, considered, however, to be inferior to the White 
Guava, but is much improved by cultivation. The Mountain Guava, 
which is found in the woods of Jamaica, is of no value as a fruit tree, but 
the wood is in request on account of its dark colour and the fine degree to 
which it may he polished. 
But the Guava which is considered of the greatest value in this country 
is Catley’s Guava (Psidium Cattleyanum). This fruit w-as first described 
by Mr. Catley of Barnet in a paper read before the Royal Horticultural 
Society, and it has since been cultivated in many gardens in this country. 
The fruit is about the size of a small walnut, is nearly round, of a deep 
claret colour, and possesses somewhat the flavour of the Strawberry. The 
skin is ot the consistence of that of the Fig, but thinner. The plant is 
also ornamental. It is propagated freely from cuttings. It is a native of 
China, is more hardy than the Indian species, and it ripens its fruit in warm 
greenhouses in this country, frequently producing two crops in a year. 
