814 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[ October 20, 1892. 
course, in the end the cheapest and always the best, is to purchase 
from growers of high and acknowledged reputation in the fruit 
tree-raising centres of the United Kingdom. 
JOTTINGS ABOUT FLOWER BEDS. 
As each bedding season draws to a close it is well to take note 
of the behaviour of the various subjects used, to see how far the 
climatic conditions peculiar to each summer influence the growth 
and effectiveness of them ; also to record any arrangements found 
to be specially attractive. The past season has on the whole been 
a fairly good one for the inmates of the flower garden, notwith¬ 
standing the fact that we experienced several slight frosts in June 
after the greater part of bedding out was completed. By the 
middle of July the beds were well filled, and in many instances in 
full beauty. This was especially noticeable when close planting 
had been adopted. There can, I think, be no doubt about the 
wisdom of this practice, considering how short and uncertain our 
summers are. Take the past season as an example. Those who 
were unable through lack of plants to plant closely have had to be 
content with beds which were in full beauty for only a very brief 
period, for although the autumn frosts have not, at the time of 
writing, yet played havoc among them, the weather has been so dull 
and sunless, with occasional heavy rains, that flowering plants of 
many descriptions have striven in vain to show their charms. 
Our beds of Zonal Pelargoniums were this season, for special 
reasons, planted unusually thick, and we have many times since 
been glad of it. They not only produced a mass of flower early 
in the season while the weather was favourable, but the plan also 
enabled us to obtain good cuttings without spoiling the appearance 
of the beds. I am strongly in favour of using numbers of old 
plants. They are easily wintered, flower earlier and more profusely 
than young ones ; and if pegged down at planting time quickly 
form an even regular bed. John Gibbons and Vesuvius are, I 
believe, the best scarlet bedders grown, and I know of no crimson 
one to equal Henry Jacoby. The trio are so good that no one 
should be disappointed if they depend entirely upon them to supply 
the two colours named. I have this year discarded Mr. Atkinson 
on account of its being a very strong grower. 
Among Ivy-leaved Pelargoniums, Madame Crousse and Souvenir 
de Charles Turner have again proved great favourites with all who 
have seen them. Those who have not yet tried these fine plants as 
summer bedders should make a point of doing so next year, for I 
feel sure they will be delighted with them. The last-named does 
not flower quite so freely as Madame Crousse, but this is amply 
compensated for by the fine bold trusses and very large pips pro¬ 
duced. Another great recommendation for Ivy-leaved Pelargoniums 
is that young plants can be easily preserved during the winter, as it 
is very rare indeed that they suffer from damp. Almost every 
cutting inserted may be depended upon to grow, while long leggy 
plants which have become useless for pot culture may be turned to 
a good account by planting them in beds, and pegging the shoots 
in any direction required. Marguerites associate effectively with 
these plants if dotted at intervals of 4 or 5 feet along the centre of 
oblong beds, filling in the groundwork with Ivy-leaved Pelargo¬ 
niums, and providing a suitable edging. Mrs. Perry Pelargonium 
or Pyrethrum Golden Feather each answer the purpose admirably. 
Although at times the weather experienced during the past 
summer has been dry and hot, yet Calceolarias have throughout 
done remarkably well. This convinces me that the so-called disease 
which causes Calceolarias to die off may be easily combated if the 
young plants are grown sturdily throughout the winter and planted 
out early in rich well prepared soil. 
Tuberous Begonias are useful bedding plants, which we cannot 
well dispense with. To grow them well, however, they must have 
plenty of water in hot weather or the flowers drop very quickly. 
When carpeted with Sedums the effect is particularly good, and 
the flowers are kept clean, but I find the Begonias thrive much 
better when a bed is entirely devoted to them, and for that reason 
cannot recommend the Sedums to be planted among them. 
Viola Countess of Hopetown is I consider the finest white flower¬ 
ing plant grown,either for spring or summer bedding. Four beds of 
this variety in the flower garden here were planted in November 
last, and to-day (Sept. 24th) the plants are still flowering freely. 
The growth made is much shorter-jointed than is the case with 
most other varieties, consequently they flower for a longer period 
before requiring to be cut down. The majority of other Violas 
seemed to have grown and flowered to the extremity of their shoots 
by the middle of August; when they have arrived at this stage 
only a few straggling flowers will afterwards be produced on the 
old shoots. They should therefore be cut down, which will have 
the effect of causing the young shoots springing from the centre of 
the plants to grow quickly. These will in due time flower freely, 
though only in exceptionally mild seasons this will not take place 
till the spring months. 
The beds they occupy may, however, be quickly made gay 
again with the aid of Asters if a sufficient stock has been pre¬ 
pared for the purpose. A few beds I have this season treated in 
the following way have throughout September been very attractive. 
A good batch of Asters were pricked out in June 6 inches apart, 
and as soon as the Violas were cut down they were lifted, divided, 
and planted in the reserve garden. The beds were then deeply 
dug and the Asters lifted with a good ball of earth and planted iu 
the prepared beds ; a thorough watering was then given, and an 
occasional one when necessary afterwards. These beds have 
proved quite an attraction. Asters are very accommodating 
plants and bear transplanting wonderfully well ; in fact, they may 
be safely lifted when the flower buds are beginning to burst, and 
if the work is carefully done the check experienced will be scarcely 
perceptible.—H. Dunkin, Castle Gardens, Warwick. 
DISCUSSION ON APPLES. 
Apple Beauty of Hants. 
As “ E. M.” has referred to this variety I should like to state 
what I know of its origin. Some years since, when in the gardens 
of Glen Eyre, Southampton, Mr. Stewart, the gardener, drew my 
attention to a tree heavily laden with fine fruits of what seemed to 
be a superior and much more conical form of Blenheim Pippin. 
Trees of the latter growing close by gave very diverse products in 
growth and fruit. The tree was regarded as a Blenheim seedling 
raised in a nursery near Southampton, and from whence it was 
obtained. The Apples were so fine, rich coloured, and distinctly 
conical—quite as much so as King of the Pippins—that I asked Mr. 
Steward to send a sample to the Fruit Committee of the R.H.S., 
which he did, and we gave it the appellation of Beauty of Hants. 
The fruits received, I believe, a first-class certificate, and the 
variety was put into commerce from Heatherwell, Bagshot. It 
may be, perhaps, that everyone has not got the real thing, or that 
under ordinary culture after working it has been found to be but a 
variety of the Blenheim.—A. D. 
Waltham Abbey Seedling. 
When I went to reside at the seed grounds, Bedfont, Middlesex, 
I found there several trees of Apples, each perhaps some twenty 
years planted, of the Ribston Pippin, Alfriston, Wellington, Cockle’s 
Pippin, and Waltham Abbey Seedling. The soil is a very stiff 
clay. Alfriston soon died, as the points of the shoots refused to 
ripen. So also have those of Ribston Pippin, although the tree 
still fruits moderately. Cockle’s Pippin has always been a stunted 
tree, and Wellington, for the past ten years, has done badly, and 
rarely borne a respectable crop. But the Waltham Abbey Seedling 
has never changed, except to grow somewhat larger. There never 
has been a year since 1871, when it first came under my notice, that 
the tree has not produced fruit more or less in quantity. It has 
never shown any evidence of canker or decay. The head of a 
broad, yet compact, drooping character, and none too high. I 
regard this Apple as one of the very best to recommend for 
cottagers as a regular cropping kitchen variety, for the fruit always 
cooks admirably, and keeps well till March.—A. D. 
Varieties for Clay Soils. 
Keswick Codlin is an abundant bearer every other season 
with me, does not make much growth, and generally forms 
plenty of fruit buds. Lord Suffield is similar to the above as to 
growth and bearing qualities, but cankers badly. Scarlet Admirable, 
Alexander, Hoary Morning, and Nonesuch are sure bearers here 
every year if they escape injury from frosts. Blenheim Orange, 
Warner’s King, and Yorkshire Greening rarely fail to produce a 
heavy crop of fine handsome fruit. The last-named grows very 
straggly, but the fruit will keep in good condition till the follow¬ 
ing May. Warner’s King is a particularly clean grower, and the 
fruit always very large. 
Regarding dessert varieties, King of the Pippins, Cox’s Orange 
Pippin, Cockle’s Pippin, Nonpareil, and Quarrenden are sure bearers, 
especially the two first named varieties. The trees are young, and 
make clean, healthy growth. The fruit had to be severely thinned 
early in the season, and the branches supported later to prevent 
breakage through the weight of fruit which they carried. Quar¬ 
renden has a very heavy crop in alternate years. The trees, which 
are all standards and bushes, are never pruned hard back, but 
where the boughs appear to be at all crowded some of them are 
sawn out close to the main branches, and the wounds finished with 
a sharp knife ; a few of the longest shoots left have the ends cut 
off. The fruit buds form on nearly the full length of the branches, 
which are invariably laden with fruit like “ropes of Onions.” 
Nearly all the varieties of Apples grown here have a very rich 
