418 
JO URN iL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[ November 13,1S90. 
Mr. R. Ballantine as Chairman, and Mr. E. C. Jukes as Vice-Chair¬ 
man of committees. 
The programme for 1889 included three metropolitan Shows 
and a provincial Show at Hull in conjunction with the Hull and 
East Riding Society. This proved a great success ; one of the 
finest Exhibitions of Chrysanthemums ever seen in the north was 
provided, and there was a large attendance of visitors, resulting 
in a satisfactory financial balance. In the present year the Com¬ 
mittee decided to concentrate their efforts upon the Centenary 
Festival, the result of which is recorded in another page. The 
programme for Tuesday was as follows : - The opening ceremonial 
commenced at one o’clock, Lady Brooke and several friends 
being met at the entrance by the Reception Committee and the 
invited guests, and conducted round the Exhibition. An address 
was presented to Lady Brooke, and the Exhibition formally 
declared open to the public. At G r.M. a Conference meeting was 
held in the iron room under the presidency of Sir Edwin 
Saunders, F.R.C.S., and papers were read by Mr. Shirley Hibberd, 
F.R.H.S., “ On the Origin of the Florist’s Chrysanthemum by 
Mrs. Marian Thrower, representative of the Northern Tasmanian 
Horticultural Society, “ On Chrysanthemums in Tasmania ; ” and 
by Mr. Gf. T. Haite, F.L S., “ The Chrysanthemum in Art.” 
Fortunately we can find space for Mrs. Thrower’s paper this 
week, the others are reluctantly reserved for the present. 
To-day, Thursday, November 13th, a Conference will be held 
in the iron room at 2.30 p.m., Sir Guyer Hunter, M P., Vice- 
President, in the chair, when papers will be read by Mr. Briscoe- 
Ironside “ On Experiments in Chrysanthemum Culture,” and by 
Mr. C. Gibson “ On Chrysanthemums for Exhibition.” At 6 p.m. 
prompt a grand banquet will take place in St. Stephen’s Hall, Lord 
Brooke, M.P., President, in the chair, supported by representa¬ 
tives from foreign and colonial affiliated societies and others. 
Private entrance from Broad Sanctuary. On Friday, November 
14th, St. Stephen's Hall will be arranged as a lounge, so as to afford 
opportunity for conversation. At 4 p.m. an informal meeting will 
be held with the object of affording opportunity for suggestions as 
to the future operations of the Society. 
Elsewhere in the present issue we give seven portraits of the 
ladies and gentlemen who have been specially concerned with the 
Centenary proceedings — namely, Lady Brooke, Lord Brooke, 
President ; Sir W. Guyer Hunter, M.P., K.C.M.G., and Sir 
Edwin Saunders, F.R.C.S., Vice-Presidents ; with Mr. R. Ballan¬ 
tine, Chairman ; and Mr. E. C. Juke3, Vice-Chairman, as repre¬ 
senting the officers of the Society. Besides these we are enabled 
to give a portrait of Mrs. Marian Thrower, who attended the Show 
and Conference as a representative of the Tasmanian Society, 
which is affiliated to the National Society. 
GROWING AND SELLING FRUIT. 
( Conclude:l from page 351.') 
Gathering, Marketing, and Storing Wall Fruits. 
Apricots should be gathered as soon as they are well coloured 
and before they get soft, and are best disposed of near home if 
possible, as the French fruit, although not nearly so good, makes 
prices low in the markets. There is generally a good demand at 
the houses of the neighbouring gentry for this fruit in country 
places, at from 2s. to 4s. per dozen, according to size and scarcity of 
the crop. In some seasons cottagers have been known to make 
enough money to pay the rent from one Apricot tree on their house. 
If this fruit is sent to market, it must be carefully packed in 
small shallow boxes, just deep enough to hold one layer of fruit, 
with plenty of pink or blue tissue paper placed between them, so 
as to leave the upper part of the fruit bare when the box is 
unpacked without disturbing the fruit. Some more paper should 
be placed over the top and the lid lightly tacked on. Apricots 
will not keep after the fruit is soft more than four or five days. 
Peaches. —These must be gathered carefully as soon as they 
begin to feel soft at the base, and then sent to market as quickly as 
possible. They require very great care in handling, or they show 
every finger mark in a short time, and only realise very low prices ; 
but if carefully gathered and packed, good Peaches will bring from 
4s. to 10s., or even 12 j . per dozen if extra fine and the crop is scarce. 
Moderate crops only should be grown, one fruit to each square foot 
being plenty ; that is, each fruit when ripe should be almost a foot 
away from any others, as near as can be judged. At this rate a tree 
20 feet wide and 12 feet high would give twenty dozen, worth from 
£4 to £8. To have large fruits that will realise these prices they 
should be thinned when as large as peas to 6 inches apart, and again' 
when as large as small walnuts to 13 inches apart. For marketing the 
fruit the salesmen generally 7 supply boxes about 3 inches deep that 
will hold about two dozen in one layer. Each fruit should have a 
strip of white tissue paper wrapped round the sides, so as to cover 
the lower half of the fruit. A twist at the bottom after wrapping 
it round will help to keep it on. Strips of cotton wool about If inch 
wide are then cut across the piece and opened out from each end, 
so as to form a thin strip of waddingabout 2^ feet long and If inch 
wide. This is carefully rolled round the fruit as many times as it 
will go over the tissue paper. The boxes should be lined with 
cotton wool inside, and the Peaches placed in them close together 
as they are wrapped. When the box will hold no more, small 
pieces of wadding may be gently pushed in the corners of the 
boxes and wherever there is room, so as to make all secure and 
prevent any movement of the fruit. If they are packed in the 
way I have described, they should now be firmly in the boxes with 
nothing around the upper half of the fruit, so that everyone can see 
their size and colour when offered for sale. A sheet of tissue paper 
must next be laid over them, and then one or two pieces of 
wadding, the same size as the box, so as to fill all up and prevent 
any movement when travelling. Packing Peaches requires great 
care, but pays for all the attention bestowed upon it. I have for 
several years past packed from 4000 to G000 annually in the above 
manner, and have no complaints from anyone about damage, 
although some of it travels 400 to 500 miles. There is no system 
equal to it, although moss, dried grass, and other things are some¬ 
times recommended. The table on which the packing is done should 
always have a strip of wool on it to lay the fruit on. Peaches will 
keep several days if laid on some dry and soft material in a cool and 
dry room. 
Morello .Cherries. —These must be gathered when perfectly 
dry, and when they have assumed a dark red colour ; they are 
best packed in 1 lb. punnets, as recommended for Strawberries, 
and are worth from Gs. to 12s. per dozen lbs., according to size 
and crop. They should be cut off the trees with scissors to avoid 
stripping the bark off the tree. 
Pears. —The largest fruits must be packed closely together in 
boxes or shallow baskets as soon as they commence changing their 
colour. They should not be put more than two layers deep. The 
smaller fruit can be packed in half sieves as recommended for 
Apples They must always be got to the market before they get 
soft, or will not fetch good prices. Those packed in boxes should 
have some paper shavings put at bottom and top and all round them 
to prevent bruising of the skin. 
Plums. — Directions for packing these have been given pre¬ 
viously. 
Enemies of Wall Fruits. 
Peaches and Plums. — Green fly or aphis, which comes 
underneath the young leaves and at the points of the shoots, and 
sucks out the juices of the plant, is the worst pest, and must 
have early attention. London tobacco juice, to be obtained at any 
chemists, is the best remedy. Hale a pint should be mixed m 
3 gallons of water, and the trees syringed with the mixture after 
the sun is off them. If this is done before the flowers open, and 
again soon after the fruit becomes visible, there will not be much 
fly afterwards. Red spider is troublesome sometimes in hot dry 
seasons, and as a preventive it is well on the evening of the first 
warm day to syringe the trees with water containing 1 oz. of 
Gishurst compound to each gallon, and to repeat this syiinging 
before the fruit gets the size of walnuts. The insect is not a 
spider, and is very seldom red, but is very destructive when it is 
once established. It is smaller than the cheese mite, of a similar 
colour, and increases very fast if dry and warm, eventually causing 
all the leaves to drop off if left undisturbed. Earwigs will eat 
small holes in Peaches and Apricots when nearly ripe, and the fruit 
soon decays after. They should be trapped by placing pieces of 
dry Broad Bean or Onion stalks about 1 foot long in the trees. 
They will get in these during the night, and should be blown out 
into a can of water in the morning. A tablespoonful of petroleum 
allowed to swim on the top of the water will kill them as soon as 
they get in it. Woodlice are often troublesome by eating the fruit, 
and should be caught by turning some small flower pots upside 
down near their haunts, with a little dry hay or moss inside, and 
examining them every morning as for earwigs. Blister sometimes 
attacks the leaves of Peaches, causing them to grow extra thick, 
and of a pale colour. This is caused by cold winds rupturing the 
sap vessels when the leaves are young and tender. The worst 
