538 JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
“ I am sorry to say the Potato disease has put in an appear¬ 
ance in this part of the country. It has shown itself in the first 
earlies, such as Yeitch’s Improved Ashleaf, also Myatt’s Prolific 
Ashleaf. I noticed it in the last-named a fortnight ago. The 
generality of Potatoes are looking exceedingly well.” 
- Probably the finest specimen of Vanda teres var. 
Andersoni in cultivation is now flowering in one of the Orchid 
houses at Wood Lawn, Didsbury, Manchester, the residence of 
J. Broome, Esq. This plant is of globular form, about 4 feet high 
and as much in diameter, and it has borne over 250 spikes, some 
of the spikes having »ix flowers each. Although a large number 
of these have been removed the plant still appears a mass of 
flowers, and has a grand effect on a stage at one end of the 
house. It is an imported plant, purchased about twelve months 
since, and said to be one of those obtained by the late Mr. 
Freeman. The growth has been surprisingly vigorous, and the 
remarkable number of flowers proves how floriferous this variety 
is when well treated. 
- Some very fine Strawberries were exhibited at the Walton 
Show by Mr. Thomas Sharpe from his Strawberry gardens 
at Knowle Hill, Chertsey. The fruit is there grown for 
sale, and a system of disposing of it is not generally practised 
—namely, the public are admitted to the beds (2 acres in extent) 
and allowed to gather and eat the fruit at each person. We 
may add that Knowle is a mile from the Virginia Water station 
on the London and South-Western Bail way. 
- The majestic beauty of Heracleum gigantettm is 
unrivalled by any of its numerous relatives, and when plants 
occupy suitable positions their effect is unique. Often we have 
admired this plant in the London parks and subtropical gardens, 
but we have never been so impressed by its appearance as 
when viewing a large clump from the old walls of Chester. Its 
grand Acanthus-like leaves and massive umbels of flowers could 
be then seen to the best advantage, and afforded convincing 
evidence of its utility in conspicuous positions. In the Grosvenor 
Park of the same city several good clumps are notable, but it is 
there known as H. ponticum, under which name Mr. Siddall 
informs us it was orginally received from the Liverpool Botanic 
Gardens. 
- The practice of cutting down Chrysanthemums at 
this period of the year, although not general, is practised by 
some of the best cultivators whose object is the production of 
the finest exhibition blooms on moderately dwarf plants. The 
plants, from 2 to 3 feet high and hitherto untopped, are cut 
down within from 6 inches to a foot, according to judgment, of 
the surface of the pots, and the growths that issue are allowed 
to produce blooms from crown buds. If the plants were not cut 
down the crown buds of some varieties would be too early, and, 
besides the plants being taller, several of the blooms would have 
to be taken from terminal buds, and thus be smaller if more 
compact. All the late varieties that it is intended to have dwarf 
should be cut down at once ; the earlier sorts in the course of a 
week. As soon as the plants break—and they break quickly— 
they are shifted into the pots in which they are intended to flower. 
Cultivators who have not adopted this practice may well try 
the experiment on a few plants. We have seen excellent results 
from it, and, if we mistake not, many if not most of the blooms 
with which Mr. Harding won the great trophy at the Kingston 
contest last year were from plants that had been cut down in 
the manner indicated. 
- A correspondent writes :—“ The fruit crops around 
Hawk hurst, Kent, are on the whole very promising. The 
one great failure there, as elsewhere, is Plums, the choicer varie¬ 
ties being almost without a fruit. Small fruits of all kinds are 
heavily laden, Strawberries in particular being very good. Of 
Pears the highly prized Marie Louise is scarce, neither is Wil¬ 
liams’ Bon Chretien and Glou Morceau so plentiful as one would 
wish. Strange to say, these three varieties are also lightly 
cropped in districts widely remote from Kent. Such varieties 
as Louise Bonne of Jersey, Fondante d’Automne, Duchesse 
d’Angouleme, the superior Pitmaston Duchess, Easter Beurre, 
BeunA Bance, Crassanne, BeunA d’Amanlis, BeunA Clairgeau, 
and Van Mons Leon le Clerc are all carrying good crops, and 
appear to be very popular.” 
- Peaches, in spite of several successive bad seasons, are 
still cultivated extensively on the open walls in Kent, and in 
some instances with good success. It is very rarely that the 
Peaches in the garden of the Bey. Canon Jeffreys 
fail to perfect valuable crops of fruit. Last season they were 
very good, and there is every prospect of an average crop being 
secured this season. Old half-dead trees are not relied on, but 
one or two young trees are planted every year, and these, in 
addition to being sufficiently vigorous, are rooted and encouraged 
by mulchings and a clear space. Under these conditions a 
healthy root-action is maintained, and without which the proper 
ripening of the wood cannot be reasonably anticipated. Peach 
houses or cases, although highly serviceable where there is a good 
water supply, are not absolutely necessary in Peach and Nec¬ 
tarine culture, and proprietors of gardens and gardeners should 
not too readily give up open air culture. No particular varieties 
of Peaches are considered indispensable. For instance, the pre¬ 
sumably delicate Noblesse perfects excellent crops, Barrington 
is usually very fine, and Princess of Wales proves profitable. 
Boyal George, although there, as everywhere else, is very liable 
to mildew, is grown, and ha3 been for many years, on account of 
its very superior quality; while for the earliest crops the small 
but highly coloured Early Alfred bears well, and is of excellent 
quality. 
- Mr. Siddall of Chester informs us that at Pendyffryn, 
about a mile and a half from Penmaenmawr station, is a fine 
old mansion, the residence of W. Smith, Esq. In the conserva¬ 
tory attached to this is a grand plant—one of the finest in the 
country—of Cereus grandiflorus, the Night-flowering Cactus, the 
flowers of which are about 6 inches in diameter. From sixty 
to eighty flowers open every night and fade in the morning. The 
plant, we understand, covers the entire wall of a large house, and 
the effect must be surprisingly fine. 
- Mr. Harding, Orton Longueville Gardens, writes to us: 
—“ I send you some flowers of Orchis maculata that I have 
taken out of a wood. You will see there are various shades 
of colour in this species. I intend planting it for supplying 
flowers for cutting, as it bears transplanting well. Although 
naturally it grows in the shade in woods in rather a heavy soil, 
some plants of it that I have planted on the open rockery in a 
lighter soil and in the full sun have come very much finer. 
The best time for transplanting is just as growth commences in 
the spring.” The flowers are varied and beautiful, and this plant 
is admirably worthy of cultivation in gardens. When grown as 
Mr. Harding grows it in the Marchioness of Huntly’s Garden, 
it astonishes by its vigour and is an object of interest and beauty. 
-At the annual meeting of the Scottish Pansy Society 
recently held at Edinburgh Mr. McComb and Mr. Miller of Leek, 
Staffordshire, brought up the question of exhibitors failing to 
attach the names of the individual blooms to stands of Pansies 
as a direct infringement of the rules. The question was warmly 
debated, but finally the question was left an open one. The 
practice of showing produce without names is very prevalent in 
Scotland, and without a doubt detracts very sensibly from the 
