April 0, le91. ]I 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
283 
tho hot-wa^er pipes aphides wdl maTse their appearance while every 
other portion of the tree? are p.rfectly free ; in such c ses it is a great 
waste to fumioa^e the wliole house, when a little tobacco water will in a 
few minutes set matters right. 
I will ask readers *o rio‘e that “ J. J. C.” objects to syringing Peach 
trees when in full bloom, le’ause it is a practice “that cannot be 
applief indiscriminately,” while at tire same time he advocates fumi¬ 
gating in every case just be'ore the fiowei's expand, and if nec'ssary 
when the trees are in active growth. Do not these operat'ons require 
discrimination ? I should consider it much more easy for an unthinking 
operator to niin the pro. pact of securing a good crop of fruit by fumi¬ 
gating too strongly than by syringing in wet or very dullwe.ther. Of 
course all tbe=e matters require due considerat'on. I did not advise 
trees in full bloam to be syringed in wet weather. During a succession 
of wet days I would substitute the rabbit’s tail for the syringe, and 
should such weather last during the whole time the trees are in flower 
green fly will not give much trouble. It is when frosty ii'gh's are 
f.dlowed by bright days that this pest spreads so rapid y when the trees 
are in bloom, and during such weather no doubt much may be done to 
ke p things right by damping the floors Pghtly and sett.ng with the 
brush; but acording to my expsr'ence to syringe the t e:s lightly 
during the middle of the day is a much belter plan ; it imures a perfect 
set, much time at a busy season is saved, as well as tobacco piper, and 
the trees are kept fresh ami healthy. 
I find it necessary to quote another portion of your corr spsndent’s 
letter in order to show the fallacy of his theory. It runs thus :—“ It 
matters little by what means the pollen is conveyed to the stigma ; the 
principal thing is to get it there, only it seems to me the best method of 
conveying the fine grains of pollen is by a genial, buoyant atmr sphere*, 
than by partly conve tmg the pollen into a pasty matter by wet ing it 
with a syringe.” Many times I have thought that matter over in years 
gone by, and the idea of setting flowers by wetting the pol'en then 
seemed strange to me ; but a httle practice with the syringe scoa con¬ 
vinced me how well it did its work. Syringing uodoubteJly dispersed 
the ripe pollen to the pistil, and this qu’ckly become? dry agiin (luring 
bright weather ; but it is by no means clear that fertdisation does not 
take place while the pollen is damp, but of Course it must become dry 
by the aid of a buoyant atmosphere before syringing is perfoimetl, 
otherwise that operation would not disper-e the pollen. 
The idea that large flowering varieties of Peaches and Nectarines 
will not answer under the syringing system is altogether wrong, as Sea 
Eag’e Peach, which has very lai-ge flowers, and Pine Apple and Lord 
Napier Nectarines, set quite as well as the small-flowering varieties —in 
fact, neaily every flower seems to set so as to allow plenty of fruits to 
select from on the upp.r s de of the shoots. 
And now for a short answer to my opponent,’s “ parting shot,” where 
he says, “ to syringe a house and leave ventilation on seems a s'ngular 
process, for it is like trying to defeat the object you wish to at'ain, for 
a very large portion of the moisture must escape.” Now, it is evident 
that “J, J. C.” either read my remarks very lightly, or altogether 
ignored the stage of growth the trees had reache I when this practice 
was advised. If he hal read carefully he would have clearly seen I 
advised this to be done while they were still in flower. Surely 
“ J. J. C.” is not such a novice in Peach cu ture that he w'ould close the 
house in the middle of the day, and excite the trees at such a cti ical 
stage of their growth, when a circulation of air is so important for their 
well-being ; that indeed would be a singular process.—H. Dunkin. 
Events of the Week. —The Royal Sce'ety meets to-day (Thurs¬ 
day) at 4 30 P.M., the Royal Botanic Society on Saturday at 4 p.m. The 
Royal Horticultural Society’s Committees meet at no n on Tuesday, and 
the Society of Arts at 8 p.m. on Wednesday. At the R.H.S. meeting the 
subject for the afternoon lecture is “ Lachenalias,” by Mr. F. W. Moore ; 
prizes are also offered to amateurs for collections of Daffodils. 
- The metropolitan weather still continues very unsettled, 
but somewhat more seasonable, frequent showers falPng on Saturday 
and Sunday. Monday was very bright and comparatively warm, but 
was followed by cold wunds and a leaden sky on Tuesday. 
-It is stated in the Illustration llortieole that the late Gustave 
Dippe, the continental seetlsman, has left a sum of money equivalent 
to about £15,000 for the benefit of the working gardeners and appren¬ 
tice? of Quedlinburg, with a similar amount for other artizans in that 
town. To the gardeners of Halterstadt £2400 has been left, and to the 
gardeners of Neundorf £2000, together with similar amounts to men of 
other trades in those towns. It is seldom an opportunity occurs of 
iccording such princely beneficence in the world of horticultu’^e. 
- Hirberd Memorial Fund.—T te Committee beg leave lo 
announce that this fund, instituted for the purpose of sscuringa por'nit 
of the late Mr. Hibberd, to be placed in the Lindley Library, and with 
the object of securing a fund for the benefit of Mr. llibberd’s orphan 
daughter, will be c’osed on April 30th, 1801, and they particularly 
request that all subscriptions may be paid to the Treasurer on or bo'ora 
that day. The amount received or promised up to this dale is about 
£240, a sum which it is hoped may be considerably augmentei b=fo'C 
the closure of the fund, especially by the receipt of numerous small 
sums from the many who hold Mr. Hibberd’s name in respect. Sub¬ 
scriptions should be sent to the Treasurer of the Fund, Dr. Masters, at 
the Royal Horticultural Society, 117, Victorii Street, Westminster. 
- The death is announced of Mr. George Child, at one time 
a well-known London seedsman of the firm Beck, Henderson, & Child. 
Mr. Child died at Balham on March 28th in his seventy-fourth year. 
The firm with which he was connected w'as some years ago combined 
with that of Messrs. Waite & Co. 
- Mr. j. Trotter, Hertford, sends us a double-spathed 
Richardia, which is the largest and finest we have seen. The larger 
of the two spathes is 9 inches long to the tip, and 6 inches broad ; the 
smaller, enclosed within the other, is nearly circular about 4 inches in 
diameter. 
- I send herewith three buttonholes of Comte Brazza’s White 
Neapolitan Violet, a beautiful variety which has the name in some 
places of being miffy, and is not nearly so much grown as it ought to be. 
With us it is the strongest growing Violet we have.— Joseph Oliver, 
Eslington Parli Gardens. [The flowers receive! were large, full, fine, 
and very sw'eet, the best we have yet seen of this variety.] 
- Dr. William Somerville, having been appoinlei to the 
Chair of Agriculture and Forestry recently founded in the Durham 
College of Science, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, will begin his duties eirly 
in the summer. The College has acquired fifteen acres of land at 
Gosforth for the purposes of an experimental station, and it is hoped 
that smaller stations will be established in other parts of the ebstrict. 
It is the desire of the College that the members of the staff of i s 
Agricultural Department should assist in the establishment of a fystem 
of agricultural education throughout the adjoining counties, partly by 
a system of “ extension lectures ” and partly by conducLing special classes 
for teache; s. 
- The schedule of the Brighton and Sussex Horticultural 
Association for the current year has just come to hand, and from it we 
learn that the Rose Show will take place on July 1st and 2nd, and the 
Autumn Show on September 9th and 10th, both being held in the Royal 
Pavilion. At the Rose Show the prize? range from £5 to 58. in the open 
and amateurs’ classes. At the Autumn Exhibition the chief class is for 
e’ght stove and greenhouse plants, with £10, £6, and £4 as the prizes ; 
but fairly liberal amounts are offered in most of the eighty classes 
enumerated. 
-Ware and District Horticultural Mutual Improve¬ 
ment Society. —A meeting of this Society was held on Tuesday 
evening, the 31st ult., when there was a good attendance, and eight new 
members were elected. The paper for the evening was an able essay on 
“ Vegetables ” by Mr. A. King. A discussion followed, in which several 
of the members took part. A capital collection of stove and greenhouse 
plants was shown by Mr. R. Smith, of Tresdales. The date of the next 
autumn Show was fixed for November the 12th and 13th. The Uiual 
votes of thanks brought a successful meeting to a close. 
- Apple Mere de Manage. —I quite agree with your corre¬ 
spondent “E. M.” (page 245) as to the merits of the above Apple. In 
this district it doe? remarkably well, never failing to carry heavy crops 
of handsome fruit, but of course not equal in colour to some of the fine 
specimens I have seen from Herefordshire and further south. Last 
autumn I was asked by an ama'eur residing near here it I wouhl pay 
him a visit, as he had some very fine Apples, and would like to 
know the name of them. I did so, and on entering his snug 
little garden I found two well trained trees of the above variety. They 
were laden with fine handsome fruit, much larger and belter coloured 
than any I had seen before in this neighbourhood. They had been 
planted nine years. The soil was a light sandy loam, and they were 
well supplied with liquid manure. Several other plans near here I could 
mention where it crops well. Dumelow’s Seedling is another variety 
that bears heavy crops in this district.—H. Forder, Castle Gardens, 
lluthin, North Wales. 
