JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. t September si, isss 
spurs. It was just the Raspberry plan—cutting out a cane when 
it has done its duty, and having another of equal length and 
strength ready for taking its place. 
In all probability the Gros Maroc would produce more and finer 
fruit by this plan well carried out than any other ; at least, so 
young canes that have not been shortened much at Sawbridge- 
worth indicate. It is, according to the same rule, proving excel¬ 
lent for fruiting in pots, every eye showing a bunch, and the berries 
set freely. This is not the experience of Mr. Rivers alone, but 
Vines have been fruited satisfactorily in many places this year, for 
the variety has become widely distributed, and its further increase 
will only be limited by the supply of plants.—J. W. 
EARTH-CLOSET MANURE. 
When I see such implicit reliance placed on Dr. Voelcker’s 
analysis and estimate of the above where the earth has been passed 
only once through the closet, as has been done by vour corre¬ 
spondent “ Inquirer,” I think it well to state the following ex¬ 
perience of my own. I had such a closet constructed for my use, 
and it was kept exclusively for that. Fully as much earth was 
used each time as is said by Mr. Moule in his pamphlet to be suffi¬ 
cient ; if anything else, rather more. The vault being on a slope 
was perfectly dry, and, being of a good size, the contents were 
allowed to accumulate for a year, and then used immediately after 
being taken out as manure for the Cabbage tribe, the quantity 
being rather less than that of mixed farmyard manure used for 
other plants of the same kind in the same quarter of the garden. 
The difference in growth and colour was markedly in favour of 
those grown with the contents of the closet, so much so as to strike 
the eye at once on entering the garden. I should say that, bulk 
for bulk, the latter was worth double the amount of dung, and 
this, too, although it was necessarily of the poorest kind, as I am a 
vegetarian. 
Some unknown circumstance must have vitiated and rendered 
valueless Dr. A r oelcker’s experiments to elicit such an opinion 
on earth passed once through the closets as that quoted by 
“ Inquirer ”—viz., “ The earth of an earth-closet manure after it 
has been once used is not more valuable for manuring purposes 
than in its original dry and sifted condition.” This is obviously 
wrong upon the face of it, and suggests either that there was some¬ 
thing wrong with the analysis, or that a trick had been played on 
the doctor.— A. Boyle. 
A USEFUL PLANT FOR THE MANSION. 
To have a continual supply of flowering plants for the rooms 
and corridors of a large mansion requires a careful selection as 
well as a considerable amount of forethought, for there are many 
plants which are very beautiful, and would last a long time in a 
conservatory where the conditions are favourable, but would begin 
to lose some of their beauty immediately were they placed where 
there is comparatively little light. In this class are Fuchsias and 
Pelargoniums, especially the former, four days at most being as 
long as they can be expected to look really well. For this reason, 
although Fuchsias are extremely well fitted in appearance for the 
lofty corridors I have to furnish, my culture of these plants is 
confined to the outdoor garden, and the varieties consist mainly of 
the old Riccartoni and what is now known as F. gracilis. 
The plant above all other flowering plants for retaining its 
beauty in the mansion is Campanula pyramidalis. Mention was 
made in last week’s Journal of this plant for outdoor ornament, 
but no one who has ever seen it done well indoors will be quite 
content with its appearance as it grows outside. True, it will 
flower when grown in the mixed border as a biennial, and is 
prettier than many other things often found there ; but we do not 
see a tenth part of its beauty under such conditions, and when I 
add that I have repeatedly had it in full beauty in the corridors 
for six weeks at a time, and sometimes it has remained good 
enough for the purpose for fully two months, it will be readily con¬ 
ceded that it is well worth the little trouble required to grow it. 
Some twenty or thirty years ago this Campanula used to be grown 
well in many places, and I have seen noble specimens of it 9 or 
10 feet high with several stems clothed in beauty to within a foot 
or two of the ground ; but such plants, although they, look very 
grand in a lofty conservatory, are scarcely suited for my purpose, 
and those I grow are from 5 to 7 feet high, and have but one stem. 
Grown in this fashion they are not pyramidal, but are a simple 
cordon of flower nearly from base to summit. They are in 7 and 
8 -inch pots, and the flowers stand out to a little more than that 
width, completely hiding the stem and leaves. The prevailing 
colour I should say is lavender blue (I am writing from memory, 
and am not quite sure of the particular Bhade), but a few plan tg 
of the white variety are grown, and they form a pleasing contrast. 
They look best in groups of ten or a dozen together. I have two 
large oval-shaped vases which hold that number, and nothing that 
we can ever put in them has a nobler appearance. 
Their culture is very simple. A few seeds are sown in a pot in 
spring at the time of sowing half-hardy annuals. They are potted 
off into 4-inch pots after the bedding plants are turned out, and 
kept in a frame till they become established, when they need no 
further protection till winter arrives. About the beginning of 
August they are shifted into pots a size larger, and they remain 
in them till the flower stems commence to show in the following 
spring, when they sometimes have another slight shift; but they 
do not always get it, and it is surprising what a stem a plant 
will throw up, even when confined to a 6 or 7-inch pot, if a little 
stimulant is given occasionally. 
The only difference required in the treatment to grow the larger- 
sized plants I have spoken of is to give them more root room 
during the first summer; but when treated in this way they do 
not often flower before the third year, and I have seen many 
plants die during winter when they have been treated rather too 
liberally. They appear to be safest with a small root space and 
very plain fare till the flower stem appears, and then they require 
to be treated liberally. A little frost will not hurt them, a cold 
frame with a little litter thrown over it during the severest weather 
being ample protection. The time of flowering is August and 
September, just immediately preceding the Lilium speciosum when 
grown outdoors, and which I have to succeed them. Common 
garden soil, or such as ordinary bedding Pelargoniums are potted 
in, suits them very well. 
The common Canterbury Bell also well repays for indoor cul¬ 
ture. I saw some which Mr. Iggulden had lifted during autumn 
and potted, which were flowering rather early in spring, and the 
white variety especially was extremely pretty. The hose-in-hose 
varieties—C. calycanthema—would doubtless do the same should 
any of your readers prefer them to the simple-flowered varieties. 
—Wm. Taylor. 
LIFTING PEACH TREES. 
The notes that have recently appeared on this subject are 
sound and seasonable. The summer is certainly the best time for 
moving Peach trees, after the crops have been gathered and a 
good length of growth made. It is a good plan also to replant 
Peach trees frequently, as a great mass of fibres then form, and 
whatever food is given to the trees is quickly appropriated and 
turned to profitable account. 
Mr. Bardney grows Peaches rather extensively and certainly 
well at Norris Green, aloDg range being devoted to the trees. He 
thinks no more about digging up and replanting a Peach tree in 
July than of potting a Pelargonium. Trees are lifted every year 
—that is, if in his judgment they need it, and that his judgment 
is sound the trees testify. The fruit he obtains is of the first size, 
quality, and colour ; in fact, trees having such clean dark green 
foliage, medium-sized short-jointed wood, with bold buds, bushy 
roots, and a good border, could not fail to produce high-class 
fruit; but that the colour should be so good during a season that 
has been remarkable for its dull and wet days in the Liverpool 
district was scarcely to be expected, and it would seem to follow 
that, given really healthy trees, fruit will colour better without 
sun than it will with abundance of sunlight and an absence of 
health. If this were not so Grapes would scarcely finish so well 
as they admittedly do in some of the dullest and wettest districts 
in the north-west of England and in Scotland. 
A very able gardener, describing Mr. Bardney’s practice in a 
contemporary, refers to the Norris Green Peach trees as the largest 
he has ever seen moved. This shows that he has only inspected 
the small batallions ; but while the trees are not remarkable for 
their size they are not pigmies, and if they were as large again 
they could be moved with equal safety, as, to use a very familiar 
expression, they are “ used to it.” The roots are masses of fibres, 
and the surface of the borders a network of feeding roots. This 
is the secret of the hard short-jointed wood and fine fruit; this 
the secret, too, of the fine fruit that Mr. Coleman grows at 
Eastnor, and of that also grown by everybody else who produces 
heavy crops of heavy, well-coloured, and highly flavoured Peaches 
and Nectarines.—S. N. 
BRIGHTON AUTUMN SHOW. 
September 13th and 14th. 
An excellent Show was this, favoured by fine weather and thronged 
with visitors, who found many features of especial excellence. The 
Pavilion, with its suite of large lofty rooms with glass doors opening 
