JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
June 21, 1883. ] 
513 
beings, determines to a very great extent the success or otherwise 
attending their cultivation. For most vegetables and also bed¬ 
ding plants it will be found of immense service to give them a 
good start. Cabbages, Celery, Lettuces, Stocks, Asters, Petunias, 
Verbenas, Calceolarias, Coleuses, Alternantheras—indeed, nearly 
all such, if planted thinly in soil half loam, half flaky manure, 
some time before final planting on a hard bottom (in boxes or on 
the ground), will not only grow robustly, and at once, but will 
make mats of roots that need not be injured in removal. Still the 
removal causes some check. To cure this a soaking of liquid 
manure should be given after the roots have fairly travelled into 
the new soil. The energies of the plants are devoted to searching 
for food ; when they find it the energy is expended on the tops, 
and is enhanced by plentiful supplies of food. 
- We are informed that Messrs. Foster & Pearson, Horticul¬ 
tural Works, Beeston, Nottingham, have received the grand 
DIPLOMA of MERIT for hothouses at the Amsterdam Exhi¬ 
bition, an honour which has been withheld in many other 
departments. 
- We are informed that at the Royal Oxfordshire Hor¬ 
ticultural Society’s Commemoration Show, held last week, 
thirty-three prizes were awarded to specimens of vegetables grown 
from seed supplied by Messrs. Webb & Sons, the Queen’s Seeds¬ 
men, Wordsley, Stourbridge. 
- A very marked change has occurred in the weather 
IN and around London, the temperature being much lower. 
Hail fell last Saturday, in some localities very freely, doing 
damage to tender plants that had just been placed in the beds. 
No great quantity of rain has fallen, but it threatens ; and a 
good shower would be acceptable, with warm weather after¬ 
wards, as at present vegetation is moving very slowly. 
- The specimen of Cereus grandiflorus at Leigham 
Court, Streatham, which was recently noted in these pages, has, 
Mr. Butts informs us, borne about forty flowers, which expanded 
in batches of ten, eleven, nine, and eight on four nights. Other 
buds are showing, but it is doubtful if they will develope, as the 
plant is exhausted in a measure, as it has produced far more than 
in previous seasons. Occasional syringing has encouraged the 
growth considerably, and has no doubt contributed in some degree 
to its floriferousness this year. 
- We have received through Messrs. Carter & Co. very 
creditable examples of Tomatoes, which have been grown 
from their seed by Mr. J. Abbot Jarman, Mead House, Redhill. 
Dedham Favourite, crimson, is smooth and richly coloured, the 
cluster of three fruits weighing 1 lb.; three of Holborn Ruby, 
quite ruby in colour, weigh 16 ozs., Vick’s Criterion and Orange- 
field being smaller. The two first-named, especially, are very 
handsome, and are undoubtedly excellent varieties. 
- Mr. W. J. Clarke writes on fruit prospects in 
Worcestershire “ The prospect of a heavy fruit harvest 
which we anticipated in the spring has been somewhat disappoint¬ 
ing. Pears on walls are very good and promise over an average 
crop. Plums, Peaches, and Apricots are almost a blank. Sweet 
Cherries are poor, but we will have a full crop of Morellos. Apples 
will not be an average crop, and the same may be said of standard 
and pyramid Pears. Strawberries are splendid and ripening well. 
Small fruits are particularly good. At the Manor House, Bewdley, 
the wall trees are excellently fruited, particularly Pears, Peaches, 
and Nectarines. The Ribbesford Cherry orchard is not up to its 
usual average this year. Plums and Damsons will be very scarce 
everywhere in this neighbourhood.” 
- The Rhododendrons at Duneevan were referred to last 
week, but there are other features in Mr. McIntosh’s Garden 
worthy of a passing notice. The glass ranges erected five years 
ago are now completely furnished, and the well-covered roof of 
the chief range shows how much can be done in a short time 
by good cultivation. All the leading varieties of Grapes are 
grown, and the crop is as full and regular as could be wished. 
All the bunches are tapering, no angular shoulders being per¬ 
mitted. There is no loss of Grapes by their removal, as a 
greater number of bunches are retained, and there is a gain by 
their symmetrical appearance. There are few gardens in which 
Mrs. Pearson Grape is grown better than in this, and it is pre¬ 
ferred to Golden Queen, which it surpasses in size of bunch, 
quality, and good-keeping properties. Foster’s Seedling and 
Buckland Sweetwater are also excellent; so indeed are all the 
Grapes, black and white, except Waltham Seedling, which fails 
to set its fruit regularly. Peaches in the adjoining division 
have made similarly good progress. They have evidently been 
grown on the extension system, and it has answered well. 
- Those who have seen the Liliums at Dunelvan 
when in full beauty amongst the Rhododendrons will not soon 
forget them. They are promising well this year, and eventually 
will produce a grand display. L. giganteum is also producing 
its spikes, but they are not so massive as we have seen them in 
former years. Under glass L. szovitzianum is bearing nine 
flowers on a stem, and is very beautiful. L. Hansoni will shortly 
be in full beauty, and will be, as it always is, much admired 
by its numerous small flowers with massive segments and bright 
colours. The Oregon Lily, L. columbianum, was also flowering. 
It is considered by some to be a small variety of L. Humboldti, 
and is brighter and more clearly spotted than L. parviflorum ; 
and L. cordifolium is also producing spikes. Liliums will continue 
flowering throughout the season in this collection, and some new 
varieties are expected. 
- In another range of glass there is what may be described 
a museum of Melons, almost all the new and many of the 
older varieties being represented. It is too soon to attempt an 
estimate of their merits, but the trial will be interesting and also 
instructive if a record is kept of the experience that will be 
gained. The variety Masterpiece at the present time is one of 
the most promising, and is evidently a good and free bearer. 
- Mr. Taylor’s (Mr. McIntosh’s gardener) method of 
making sulphur water for destroying mildew on Vines 
and other plants may be usefully described in his own words :— 
“I put as much sulphur as will lie upon a shilling into the 
middle of my left hand, add a few drops of rain water, and mix 
very smooth with the finger of the right hand, then wash my 
hands in four gallons of tepid rain water. As soon as the sun is 
off the house, the Vines, &c., are syringed with this. I have 
tried a teaspoonful to four gallons of rain water after the Grapes 
were stoned, but found it too strong to continue daily.” Mildew 
is rather prevalent in the house in question, and the above is 
found the safest and best way of dealing with it. 
- “A. H.” writes on an effective if simple flower 
bed :—“ It is not always in fine gardens that one can best pick 
up useful hints. Not long since I saw the sweetest and perhaps 
simplest spring bed I have seen for some time. It was composed 
of a mixture of Dactylis glomerata and London Pride, and 
adorned the green slope at a railway station. The white Dactylis 
with the innumerable spikes of the airy light Saxifrage with its 
setting of emerald turf, made the best harmony in colour I have 
seen for some time, the green of the grass complementing the 
pink of the Saxifrage, and the white of the Dactylis harmonising 
with both.” 
- We have received the following note relative to the 
BLOSSOMING OF TREES IN SCOTLAND :—“ In Spite of the dull 
season of 1882 seldom have trees of all kinds, with the exception, 
perhaps, of Horse Chestnut, bloomed so profusely. All over 
