548 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[ December SI, 1893. 
suitable colour. Smaller windows may be quickly done by placing 
a Palm or Dracaena in the centre, covering the foot, and the 
remainder of the window-ledge with a mound of moss, dotting this 
with berried Holly, Immortelles, or flowers. In doing this work 
to the best of our ability something is contributed towards the 
liappiness of others, which helps both worker and beholder to 
realise the hidden meaning of the time-honoured greeting—“ A 
Happy Christmas! ” 
Much more might be written on this subject, but I have 
■endeavoured to set the inventive faculties of Journal readers at 
work in such a way as to enable them to create novel and beautiful 
combinations for themselves.— Decoeatok. 
THE FRUIT-KEEPING QUESTION. 
Foe one reason do I again return to this question—namely, to 
point out to “ A. D.” (page 527) that ho has not shown his usual 
perspicacity in looking at the arguments of those with whom he 
•appears to differ, or exhibited that impartiality of judgment that 
.generally characterises his writings. He has been so anxious to 
demolish his neighbour’s theory that he has not made himself 
thoroughly conversant with it, or if so, he has not been 
generous enough to give his neighbour the benefit of that aquaint- 
ance. I leave the defence of the theory set up by your other 
■correspondents and myself in better hands than mine if they care 
■to go over the ground again, or to enlarge the question by other 
arguments. 
It will be sufficient for me to call “ A. D.’s ” attention to this 
fact that I did not “ jump to my conclusion as to the sap theory 
with a real rush,” but that I arrived at it by slow and painful 
■degrees; and for this reason, because it was those early Pears which 
swelled “ after the rains came,” and which, by their season, had 
to be gathered whether or not, that were the soonest decayed, 
and deficient in quality. Having, as he thinks, tripped me up 
about Pears, he attempts to do so as to Apples. I said Apples were 
-keeping well, and so they are, the late ones, and for that very reason 
I said we gave them as long a time to mature as we could, in 
order that the rush of sap into the fruits might be converted from 
the crude watery elements of its first stage into the ripened juices 
of the perfect stage. Is there anything wrong in that ? 
Fruit gathered with sap in it which had not been elaborated 
would mean an early corruption of it, just as fruit gathered after 
the elements had by time chemically changed that crude sap into 
conservative juices would keep, unless fungus or other decaying 
agencies were at work. That is how I look at it. It is perhaps a 
very simple way of doing so, and not quite that of these fin de siecle 
<iays. Nevertheless, as a gardener of the older school, and one that 
has been a reader of the Journal of Horticulture for forty years 
this very year, I am not ashamed of it, because I gathered it first 
from my early teachers in the old Cottage Gardener, and have seen 
no reason in all that time to alter it by a long fruit experience. 
I think if “A. D.” will read back he will see that his charge 
against me of hasty, illogical, and unpractical deductions of a 
theory is not a sound one, and if he will kindly re-read my notes, 
I think even he will agree that it is scarcely a generous one. As I 
said before, so say I again, “ A . D.” is usually so fair in his judg¬ 
ment that I am sure he will do me this justice. 
As the blessed time of “ Peace on earth ” is here—sentiment¬ 
ally, if we do not make it practically so—I wish him, and all 
readers of the Journal of Horticulture, but especially our chief and 
his most efficient assistants, and the old writers (not many left 
now!) and the young writers (more power to them !), a very 
Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year, when it comes. We of 
the generation which looks back along the years we have been 
together, and miss the old names in the pages of our Journal, do 
so with a deepening sadness at the remembrance of the loss of 
their steadfast lives and practical teachings ; but also with much 
satisfaction that their “ prophet’s mantle ” has fallen on to most 
worthy shoulders of the present day ; and so with calm cou age 
we settle down to doing the day’s duty as best we can in our 
coming days, be they many or few.—N. H. P. 
[We are sure that both old friends and new writers and readers 
will reciprocate the kindly sentiments so felicitously expressed, 
and hope that “ N. H. P.” has yet many happy new years to 
come ] 
My opinion for Apples not keeping well in some instances this 
year is the rain came just at the lime they were maturing, and, 
therefore, unable to assimilate the superabundant moisture con¬ 
tracted by absorption from the humid atmosphere as well as through 
the cellular tissue of the tree. Is there ai y remedy to prevent the 
early decaying of Apples ? or is it possible to build a fruit house 
that will be every year satisfactory ? I am afraid not. Potatoes, 
Turnips, and other roots sometimes decay to all appearance the 
same as Apples are doing. The cause, I believe, is some sort of 
ferment, which, owing to a certain amount of water being present, 
overcomes the antiseptic properties of sugar, converting it and the 
starch into carbonised matter much in the same way as sulphuric 
acid acts upon sugar. 
Shrivelled Apples are frequently more delicious to the palate 
than plump ones, and are in a better state of preservation if the 
shrivelling be moderate. Had these juicy Apples been thoroughly 
desiccated th- re would not have been premature decay, and in the 
other extreme, plunged into water, they would in all likelihood 
remained fresh for a longer period. I have known Apples and 
Pears to keep well when damaged slightly by a small piece being 
cut or chipped from them. 
Fruit to keep well should have a certain proportion of water 
to the amount of sugar present, and when in excess ought to be 
evaporated by being kept in a warm fruit house. To know the 
right proportion of water experiments should be made to learn 
that, and the weight of sugar to the bulk of Apples ascertained. 
—W. T. 
American Apples. 
Both Mr. Bunyard and Mr. Watkins (page 528) are somewhat 
down on American Apples, and they should be able now to 
estimate their true value. I grew Northein Spy for many years 
on stiff clay in a bed on the Crab stock, and never had a fruit; on 
the other hand, with Mr. Turton at Maiden Erlegh, on almost as 
stiff soil, but worked on the Paradise stock, and in bush form, it 
fruits freely, some of the fruits being exceptionally handsome, rich 
coloured, and good. Against that success we have to set the fact 
that it is a variety that displays far more of failures than successes, 
I had given me the other day, grown on the chalk at Titsey Park, 
Surrey, by Mr. J. Dean, a couple of much larger samples, and the 
fruits look as if they would keep firm till the end of January. 
Still the past season has been so exceptional, as all admit, that 
varieties that under ordinary conditions seldom fruit have borne 
good crops are fine samples. 
At tire Drill Hall last week Mr. J. Smith, of Mentmore 
Gardens, invited me, with others, to taste samples of the American 
Baldwin he had from trees grown at Mentmore. The samples 
were gcod, skin clear golden, not highly coloured, the flesh soft, 
and particularly sugary, but not specially flavoured. I wonder 
whether persons who praise this Apple so much sometimes mistake 
sugar for flavour. Whenever any doubt prevails as to whether a 
variety has flavour or not, it is wise to refresh the palate with a 
taste of Cox’s Orange Pippin, and a standard of excellence is 
found that admits of no disputation. It will be interesting to 
learn how the Baldwin does at Mentmore in ordinary seasons. 
Practically we have little room in this country for American 
Apples, and less need for them. Our wealth of varieties literally 
covers all our needs. Any advance, if it be possible, should not be 
found in adding so much to our present plethora of early dessert 
and huge cooking sorts, of which we have legion, but rather in 
improving our late-keeping or winter varieties, for these afford 
most scope for development.—A. D. 
HARDY FLOWER NOTES. 
Snowdrops. 
So long has the Snowdrop seemed to us the “early herald of the 
infant year ” that to many the introduction of the varieties which 
bloom in late autumn and eaily winter appears somewhat un¬ 
welcome. Our ordinary Galanthus nivalis has always been eagerly 
looked for as the harbinger of spring, betokening the coming of the 
host of flowers which that season delights to display to our admiring 
eyes. Yet to those who grow the autumn and winter Snowdrops 
it is wonderful how soon they entwine themselves into our 
affections, and equally wonderful how eagerly they are watched for 
as they peer through the soil, and gradually attain their flowering 
period. It was with the keenest pleasure that I recently lingered 
before a few of these chaste flowers, when a partial recovery from 
a severe attack of influenza enabled me once more to venture into 
the garden to see what was left to us in these gloomy days. 
Galanthus octobrensis (?) from Albania. 
One of these autumn Snowdrops which will, in all probability, 
prove one of the hardiest of its race is one introduced from Albania 
by Mr. Yan Tubergen of Haarlem. The flowers are not, perhaps, 
the largest, but the plant shows every sign of a good constitution ; 
my few bulbs, which were planted in the summer of 18S2, all 
showing offsets this season. The first flowers of this Snowdrop 
became fully expanded on October 22nd, and continued in beauty 
