January 28, 1892. ] 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
71 
Mrs. Robinson King Chrysanthemum. 
Does Sir. Jones mean to say that it is a fact that Mr. Hotham is 
neither the raiser nor yet the holder of a tenth part of the true stock 
of this variety ? If such is the case how is it that the holders of the 
other nine parts have been so unfair as to name their stock the same as 
Mr. Hotham’s ? Why have they not named theirs something else ? 
Honestly speaking, if half is true what they themselves have asserted, 
they have not even the slightest right to the name of Mrs. Robinson 
King. 
Mr. Jones says he desires to “givehonour where honour is due so 
do I, and it has been abundantly proved that to Mr. W. H. Hotham 
and to no one else are we indebted for this new and grand variety. 
Can Mr. Junes give us a single instance of anyone (other than the person 
I named in my last letter) who has ever grown and exhibited, up to 
the present time, a single bloom of the true Mrs. R. King ? He dare not 
risk 5s,, much less £5, that he can prove this. I have no doubt that it 
will be well and extensively grown and exhibited in hundreds of places 
next November ; therefore, as he truly says, it is imperative “ that the 
public should know the correct facts,” and in my previous letter I have 
stated nothing but facts. 
I therefore trust that Mr. Jones will tell us where the other “ nine 
parts ” of the true stock have originated, also what guarantee he can 
give us that they are what he states—viz., “ As reliable and equal to 
those from Mr. Hotham.” Unless he can and will do this, confusion and 
annoyance will only result from carrying this controversy any further.— 
Chas. Lawton, Welton Gardens, East Yorkshire. 
After reading the notes on the above variety I have come to the 
conclusion that whoever offers it for sale should be able to guarantee 
their stock as the true variety. This is what concerns purchasers 
most, though doubtless it would be interesting to many to know where 
it originated, and who holds the greater part of the stock as mentioned 
in last week’s Journal by Mr. Jones. 
I saw the variety exhibited at the Hull Exhibition of 1890, and noted 
it at once as good. Mr. Hotham’s stand of blooms being generally good, 
I, in company with a friend, paid Mr. Hotham a visit, and before leaving 
him I was in possession of a few cuttings. Previous to this visit I had 
had other cuttings given me as being the same variety, but I saw the 
plant they were taken from, which, in my opinion, resembled Golden 
Queen of England, After receiving Mr. Hotham’s cuttings, the plant 
from which they were taken being in bloom, I at once, not to confuse 
the two varieties, threw the first named cuttings away. I am writing 
in the interest of Chrysanthemum growers, all the persons whose names 
have been mentioned in the Journal being unknown to me. The plants 
and what cuttings they have produced are in my possession.— Samuel 
Backhouse, Onsloio Gardens, Shrewshunj. 
OUTLINE OF THE HISTORY OF COMMERCIAL 
FERTILISERS. 
(^Concluded from page 29.') 
Oxygen. 
30, Occurrence of Oxygen in Nature.— Oxygen is the most 
abundant of all the elements. The compounds which contain no oxygen 
are few in number. Oxygen forms nearly one-half of the crust of the 
earth ; eight-ninths of water ; about one-fifth of air, and one-third of 
all animal and vegetable matter. 
Oxygen occurs in the air uncombined with other elements. Oxygen, 
combined with the elements carbon and hydrogen, or with carbon, 
hydrogen, and nitrogen, is found in substances which go to make up 
animals and vegetables. 
31, Description of Oxygen. —As might be inferred from knowing 
that oxygen in the uncombined state forms part of the air, oxygen has 
no colour, taste, or smell. 
Oxygen is a very active substance from a chemical point of view. 
It tends to unite with nearly all of the other elements. In all forms of 
burning the oxygen of the air is simply uniting with other elements. 
Thus, in a coal fire the oxygen unites with the carbon of the coal. The 
heat is produced by the union of the two. 
The Relations of Hydrogen and Oxygen to Fertilisers. 
32, As already stated, water is formed by the union of two gases, 
hydrogen and oxygen. These elements are supplied to plants in the 
form of water. Growing plants contain a larger amount of water than 
of any other constituent. The oxygen and hydrogen of the water are 
separated in the plant, and in this way plants secure the hydrogen and 
oxygen which they need to build up their tissues. In this manner water 
acts as a direct fertiliser. The water is supplied by rains to the soil ; 
from the soil it is taken into the plant through the roots. In regions 
adapted to agriculture, plants receive all the hydrogen and oxygen 
needed, and usually much more, from the rains; therefore these elements 
are not considered important parts of fertilisers, except, perhaps, that 
it is desirable to have in a commercial fertiliser as little water as 
possible. 
When water is supplied to plants by irrigation, it can very properly 
be called a fertiliser, and an extremely important one too. 
33, In addition to its action as a direct fertiliser, water has an 
important part to play as an indirect fertiliser. Thus, it dissolves the 
soluble food materials of the soil, the mineral matter and most of the 
nitrogen, and carries them into the plant. In addition to its action as 
an indirect fertiliser, water acts as a carrier within the plant in trans¬ 
ferring from one part of the plant to another, as needed, the various 
products contained in the plant, just as the blood in the animal body 
carries to every part the nutriment adapted to each organ and part. 
Nitrogen. 
31, Occurrence of Nitrogen. —Nitrogen occurs in nature in the 
following forms ;— 
(1) , As a constituent of air. 
(2) , In the form of ammonia. 
(3) , In the form of nitric acid and nitrates. 
(4) , In various other forms in plants and animals. 
35, Nitrogen in Air. —Nitrogen, uncombined with other elements, 
forms about four-fifths of the air. Since the nitrogen in the air is 
not combined, we can conceive its pr.>perties for ourselves, and our 
observations show us that it is a gas which has neither colour, taste, 
nor smell. 
3G, Nitrogen in Ammonia. —Nitrogen combined with the elemant 
hydrogen forms ammonia. Ammonia is present in the air in very small 
quantities. Ammonia is formed when vegetable and animal substances 
containing nitrogen decompose. 
Ammonia is a colourless gas, and it is this gas dissolved in water 
which is familiar to us as ammonia water, or “ spirits of hartshorn,” and 
which causes the peculiar odour of “ hartshorn.” 
Ammonia unites with different acids and forms salts, much as acids 
do ; these salts we call ammonium salts, compounds which do not 
generally have any odour like ammonia. Thus, ammonia combined 
with sulphuric acid forms ammonium sulphate, called by some sulphate 
of ammonia. Ammonia combined with hydrochloric acid forma 
ammonium chloride, sometimes called muriate of ammonia, also known 
as sal-ammoniac. 
37, Nitrogen in Nitrates.— Nitrogen, combined with hydrogen 
and oxygen, forms nitric acid or aqua fortis. If in nitric acid a metal, 
as sodium, for example, takes the place of hydrogen, we have a sodium 
salt of nitric acid, or a nitrate, formed, called sodium nitrate. 
When animal or vegetable substances decompose in rather warm, 
moist places, the nitrogen is changed into nitrates. This change of the 
nitrogen of organic matter into nitrates is caused by bacteria, which are 
very small living vegetable organisms, and which exist^ everywhere in 
enormous numbers. The process is known as “nitrification.” 
38, Nitrogen in Animals and Plants, or Organic Nitrogen. 
—Nitrogen, combined with the elements hydrogen, carban, and oxygen, 
occurs in plants and in animals. Such substances, for example, are the 
casein or curd of milk, the gluten or gummy portion ot wheat, the fibrin 
of blood, the white of egg, &c. When such compounds decompose, the 
nitrogen is first changed into ammonia, and then, under proper conditions, 
into nitric acid or nitrates. The nitrogen existing in animals and plants 
is generally spoken of as organic nitrogen.— (^Bulletin of the New York, 
Agrindtural Experiment Station.') 
(To be continued.) 
WOKK.foi(theWEEK.. 
FRUIT FORCING. 
Peaches and Nectarines. — Earliest House. —Nothing is gained, 
but often the crop is lost by hurrying the trees in the early stages of 
growth ; therefore, seek to maintain steady progressive developinent and 
sturdy growth by making the most of sun heat with early and judicious 
ventilation. Disbudding also must be done cautiously, more especially 
with early forced trees, as too early and “ all-at-onco ” removal of the 
surplus growth gives a check which may cause the fruit to fall, and the 
reaction that follows has its outcome in strong shoots. Commence, there¬ 
fore, by taking a few foreright shoots first, then proceed in a similar 
manner with those on the upper side of the shoots, and those on the 
weakest parts or lower side of the shoots last. Leave a shoot at the 
base of the present bearing shoot to supply its place next season, and 
another must be left on a level with or above the fruit to draw the sap 
to the fruit. The upper shoot should have its point pinched off at the 
third leaf unless it is necessary for the extension of the tree, when it 
should be trained in its full length. In the case of trees extending the 
shoots necessary for the formation of the trees must be trained 12 to 
15 inches apart. Instead of disbudding last year's extensions the shoots 
not required for laying in to form the bearing wood of next year may be 
pinched at the third leaf to form spurs, stopping subsequent growths at 
the first leaf. The bearing shoots on extensions should be 12 to 15 inches 
apart, and the extensions or branches a similar distance asunder, for it is 
of primary importance in producing fine Peaches and Nectarines that 
the growths be sturdy, and that is only the case when the shoots are 
trained so far apart as to admit of the foliage being fully exposed to 
light and air ; therefore, allow no more shoots to be produced than is 
necessary for the filling of vacant space or to furnish to bearing wood of 
next year. . ... 
When the fruits are set and swelling give an occasional syringing in 
the early part of fine afternoons. It will assist the fruits to cast off the 
remains of the flowers; but heavy syringings have a tendency to induce 
