Ancrnst 21 , 1890. ] 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
159 
rich store of pleasure in this garden. There are Carnations and 
Picotees all round, and if in looking over it such a prosaic thing as a 
few rows of Celery are discovered, it is felt that they have crept in 
surreptitiously, and that with the next batch of seedlings they will have 
to depart. 
- In 1883 the Californian output of dried Peaches was 000,000 lbs. 
In 1889 it was 3,200,000 lbs. During the same period Apricots increased 
in yield from 150,000 lbs. to 2,000,000 lbs., and Prunes from 500,000 lbs. 
to about 25,000,000 lbs. 
-Gardening Appointment. —We are requested to state that 
Mr. W. Guy, late foreman at Eysham Hall, Witney, has entered on his 
duties as head gardener to F. Townshend, Esq., M.P., Ilonington Hall, 
Shipston-on-Stour. 
- IIelenium ruMiLUM. —This is a useful, hardy herbaceous 
perennial, with yellow composite flowers, and grows about 18 inches 
high. The flowers are about 2 inches across, freely produced, and arc 
useful for cutting. II. autumnale is a taller grower, and blooms in Sep¬ 
tember. They may be raised from seed.—E. D. S. 
- Sharpe’s Queen Pea.—A llow me to say that I consider thi=? 
one of the best Peas I have grown or seen. It has long well-shaped 
pods filled with from ten to twelve large Ne Plus Ultra-flavoured peas. 
I regard it as being equally good for the gentleman’s table and the 
market gardener’s basket. I have this year seen it at many shows, 
and always in the front rank. It is of medium height, a heavy 
cropper, and of unquestionably good quality.—D. Lumsden, Bloxholm 
Gardens. 
- According to Le Jardin it would not do to take English 
DECORATIONS for models, but, it adds, “ Our neighbours make very 
graceful crowns by employing Arum asthiopicum, Lilium Harrisi, and 
Stephanotis floribunda, plants which are not cultivated at Paris for 
cut flowers.” While acknowledging the compliment, we may add 
that it would be as unwise for us to follow the nomenclature of our 
neighbours as it would be for them to copy our methods of decoration. 
What is meant by Arum mthiopicum ? Probably the so-called Arum 
Lily, but that is Calla, or Richardia, sethiopica. 
- Annual Chrysanthemums have been, and still arc, in great 
demand in Covent Garden Market. While calling at Mr. E. F. Such’s 
extensive hardy plant nursery at Maidenhead last week a Journal re¬ 
presentative observed a bevy of women at work among a large square of 
these gay flowers, cutting and bunching them for market. Thousands 
of bunches have been cut during the past two months, and the demand 
still continues. There is a bright and cheerful appearance about a bed 
of these flowers which should render them acceptable in many gardens 
where they now have no place. The colours vary considerably, some 
being yellow with a dark central ring, others rich velvety crimson or 
brown. Treated similarly to other hardy annuals—that is, sown where 
they are to flower out of doors as early in April as the weather permits, 
they soon come into profuse and continued bloom. 
- Cuckfield Cottagers’ Horticultural Society.—T his 
year the twenty-ninth annual Show was held by kind invitation of 
T. W. Erie, Esq., in his grounds at Mill Hall, on Wednesday, the 13th 
inst. The cottagers’ exhibits were of the usual fine quality, and the 
neighbouring gentry sent liberal supplies of plants, as did also some 
half dozen men in the trade, altogether making a good display. 
Amongst the few special prizes for gardeners most interest was evinced 
in the keen contest for Messrs. Sutton’s prizes for a tray of vegetables. 
It was decided in favour of Mr. George Stringer, gardener to R. A. 
Bevan, Esq. (President of the Society), Mr. Manton being a very close 
second. As if to makeup for last year’s wet day, the weather was all 
that could be desired. Mr. and Mrs. Erie entertained the elite of the 
neighbourhood to an “At Home,” which was well responded to. In the 
evening the whole of the garden was thrown open to visitors. 
-New Recreation Ground for Bedford.—A t the request 
of the Bedford Corporation plans have been prepared by Messrs. 
W. Barron & Son, landscape gardeners, of Barrowasb, Derby, for laying 
out their Mill Meadows Estate as a public recreation ground. The 
Estate consists of a long and rather narrow strip of land between the 
upper and lower streams of the River Ouse, about thirty acres in extent, 
the whole of which is now subject to floods, with the exception of a 
few acres at the upper end which have been raised. The scheme which 
has now been submitted will obviate these floods for the future. Both 
the upper and lower stream will be widened, and a weir constructed 
100 feet wide, spanned by a rustic bridge. The plans also provide for 
an ornamental lake about three and a half acres in extent, connected 
with the upper etream. There is already a public park in Bedford 
nearly seventy acres in extent, which was laid out and planted by 
Messrs. Barron in 1884. 
- Death of Mr. Henry Bennett.—R osarians will learn with 
deep regret of the death of Mr. Henry Bennett of Shepperton, the 
famous raiser of seedling Roses, and the announcement will come 
somewhat as a surprise, for he was a man of apparently robust 
physique, and by no means.advanced in years. Mr. Bennett was at 
one time a farmer near Salisbury, but subsequently took up Rose 
growing, with results that must be familiar to the great majority 
of lovers of the Queen of flowers. As a raiser of Pedigree 
Roses he had done valuable service to the horticultural community. 
The great H.P. Her Majesty almost caused a sensation in 1882, and 
Mrs. John Laing, shown in 1886, is proving of sterling merit. In th e 
following year came his charming Tea Piincess Beatrice, and last year 
his new Tea Cleopatra was offered for the first time. The Polyantha 
Roses Golden Fairy and Little Dot, also raised by Mr. Bennett, 
were greatly admired on many occasions when exhibited by him. 
These are only a few out of many of his seedlings. Mr. 
Bennett was for some time on the Floral Committee of the Royal 
Horticultural Society, and a few years ago he journeyed across 
the Atlantic for a tour amongst American Rose growers, by whom he 
was very heartily received. He was a man of quiet and unassuming 
manner, but has left behind him results of patient and persevering 
work that will not be forgotten for generations. 
- Does Fruit Growing Pay? —Fruit growing as a whole, 
says an American writer, is, without doubt, a profitable occupation ; 
yet the majority of farmers who engage in it are probably disappointed 
because their expectations have been placed so high that the result must 
necessarily fall below their hopes. Estimates for future profits are 
often based upon prices received in the homo market for fruits brought 
from a distance. Especially is this true regarding small fruits. The 
grower naturally reasons that his home-grown fruit will go into the 
market in so much better condition than that which is shipped from a 
distance that it will bring quite as good a price, even if somewhat later 
in season. But by the time his trees are grown and his fruit is ready 
for market the conditions may have changed. Some other grower, not 
so very far awpy, may have found the excellent opening offered by the 
same market, and is there as a competitor. Ilis neighbours have been 
inspired by the same idea at about the same time, and are hardly a 
season behind him with their products. Or his first crops, owing to 
imperfect methods of cultivation and handling, knowledge of which can 
only be obtained by experience, have failed to come up to the high 
standard of his hopes. 
- The writer goes on to say :—These drawbacks may lead 
him to the conclusion, if he is a man easily discouraged, that fruit¬ 
growing is not profitable. Yet, with all these discouragements, it 
is strongly probable that his trial acre of Strawberries, or Currants, or 
Blackberries has paid a bettor net profit than any possible acre of Wheat, 
or corn, or meadow. If the acre of fruit has not made a fortune, it has 
at least indicated the road to a better income. If the crop was Straw¬ 
berries, the experience gained will enable one to duplicate it to better 
advantage, with a better knowledge of the most desirable varieties for 
his locality. Then another acre may be putin Raspberries and Black¬ 
berries, which will follow the Strawberries in the season of harvesting 
and marketing. One each may be put in Currants and Gooseberries, 
which among small fruits best bear shipping, and will enable the culti¬ 
vator to test the value of other markets after the home trade has been 
supplied. Hums, Cherries, Peaches, &c., will follow in their natural order, 
until the fruit farm, large or small, becomes an accomplished fact, and 
then, if it is managed as a systematic business, it will be strange indeed 
if it does not yield a handsome return for the capital and labour 
invested. 
-- The writer concludes Fruit is every year becoming more 
plentiful in our markets, and the increased consumption keeps pace 
with the supply. If this condition forbids great profits to the individual 
specialist in fruit culture, it improves the chances for the many, and is 
for the best interest of agriculture at large. It is better that many 
should be able to acquire a competence than that one should make a 
fortune, and it is one of the benign influences of our progressive agri- 
