January 3,1896. 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
13 
are much too careless in this respect. Some of them simply write the 
names of all the blooms in one class on a slip, it may be half a sheet of 
notepaper, and lay it on the stand, to be swept off by the first crowd of 
Tisitors that pass by, I trust all those who practise this slovenly 
method of naming their blooms will take a lesson from others who 
improve their stands by a simple wire and card arrangement, not 
forgetting neatness in writing and accuracy in spelling. The way in 
which many names are rendered is deplorable.—E. Molyneux, 
QUESTIONS FROM INDIA. 
Would you please reply to the following queries in your valuable 
paper, and oblige ?—I find that after Chrysanthemums have finished 
flowering that I am out of flowers for November and December—rain¬ 
less, cloudless months, with a temperature ranging anywhere from 
30° to 70° Fahrenheit in the twenty-four hours. Snow covers the 
ground all January and February, melting in March, when Snowdrops, 
Hyacinths, Crocuses, Narcissus, Primulas, and other flowers immediately 
appear. No greenhouses or flower pots available. What bulbs (or seeds) 
should I get that will afford plants to flower in November and 
December 1 
How are Figs and Filberts propagated ? I should be glad of rather 
full, easy, and plain directions as to how to increase the number of my 
Figs and Filberts, also Japanese Khakhi, a sort of Persimmon (Diospyros 
Kaki) ? 
Though all English and French fruits do well here. Apples especially, 
I cannot get Plums to grow up into big healthy trees, though they 
produce plentifully fruit of good size, flavour, and colour. They always 
look sickly and dwarfed. The soil to the best of my belief is composed 
of sand and humus. Clay spreading does not appear of much effect, 
nor ashes, farmyard manure, or fowls’ dung. What agricultural 
chemical manure would you advise my giving the Plums to produce large 
healthy trees, like my Apple, Pear, Peach, Apricot, and Cherry trees ? 
Ten years ago I put down one Raspberry and one Blackberry, now they 
are worse than the rabbit in Australia. I cannot again eradicate them 
dig as I may. 
The extreme annual temperatures here are (in the year) from 20° to 
85° Fahrenheit in the shade ; elevation 6500 feet above sea level; sun¬ 
light eleven hours on the longest day, seven hours on the shortest day ; 
latitude 32° N.; longitude 77° E. of Greenwich. January, February, 
and March rainy months (snow or rain) ; April, May, and June dry 
months ; July, August, and September rainy months; October, 
November, and December dry months.. Wheat and Barley sown in 
September and October, reaped in June. 
With respect to the Apple from India, E. C. Lee (page 369, October 
23rd, 1890), I sent you, I have since discovered it was a Blenheim 
Orange. I have Warner’s King. They grow a large size here, from 1 lb. 
to 2 lbs. in weight, left to themselves, without any care or attention; but 
it is a worthless Apple, as it will not keep. 
The natives of India will not buy Apples, because they say they are 
not sweet enough. Which is the sweetest Apple grown in England ? Is 
it Sugar and Brandy 1 I have all the sweet Apples you mentioned for 
me some years back.—A. Bakon, Kulu, Punjauh. 
[Chrysanthemums keep up a supply of bloom in this country till 
Christmas and after under glass. The late varieties would probably 
answer your purpose to a certain extent, but as you want variety it is 
likely the following would flower at the time you name :—Cyclamen 
hederaefolium, C. h. album, and C. coum; Helleborus atro-rubens, 
H. orientalis, H. niger and var. angustifolius, and altifolius; and 
Schizostylis coccinea. Wallflowers from early sown seed would probably 
flower during the late autumn, and as a wall plant Jasminum nudi- 
florum. Freesia refracta and var. alba bulbs planted in July might 
also afford serviceable flowers, but it is always difficult to get any 
flowers (except under glass) at the “ fag ” end of the season. Perhaps 
some of our correspondents can add to or improve the list. 
Figs are easily increased by cuttings, layers, or suckers. Choose for 
cuttings the most short-jointed parts of the previous year’s growth of 
any handy length, say 6 to 9 inches, with an ineh or two of the old (two 
years) wood attached, removing the buds from the part to be buried in 
the soil, which should be two-thirds the length of the cutting. If 
inserted outdoors in October, or as soon as the leaves fall, in sandy soil, 
and some litter is thrown on the top in severe weather, uncovering when 
the frost and snow are gone, the cuttings will start into growth with the 
early summer and be fit to transplant by the autumn. All that is 
needed in layering is to bring a branch down to the ground and lay 
about 6 inches of the two-year-old wood in the soil, securing it with a 
peg, and the young wood to a stake in as upright position as possible 
without breaking. After a summer’s growth the layer will be sufficiently 
rooted for detaching from the parent and planting where required. Fig 
trees generally throw up young shoots from the base below ground ; 
these, if carefully removed with a portion of root-stem (its own) and 
roots attached in the autumn or early spring, often make useful plants. 
Filberts are propagated by suckers and layers. The suckers are 
usually produced abundantly by Filbert trees, and against these 
the cultivators wage war, as the more suckers, as a rule, the fewer nuts. 
When, however, stoek is required, the most promising suckers are let 
grow—those most distant from the stems. These, in one year, form 
nice plants, if left two years are strong and fit to set in the permanent 
quarters. They are detached in autumn with as much root as possible, 
and planted where desired, Layering is seldom practised; for that 
purpose it is necessary that the tree or trees be cut off close to the ground, 
so as to cause the production of a number of shoots, which are layered 
when one or two years old, each shoot being bent down to the ground, 
cutting it about half through behind a bud upwards, splitting the shoot 
about an inch and inserting that part 3 or 4 inches fc the soil, securing 
there, and with the cut part open with a peg, making tde soil firm. After a 
year’s growth the layer will be well rooted, and ma^'be detached and 
planted in its permanent quarters. ^ 
Diospyros Kaki is readily increased from seed, or pMicnlar varieties 
may be propagated from cuttings of half-ripened wood,^serted in sandy 
soil, kept moist and shaded, or ripened shoots (with a heel) will generally 
strike if inserted in the autumn. 
As a chemical manure for the Plum tree use bonemeal, five parts 
(lbs. or cwts.), kainit, three parts, mixed, applying 2 ozs. per square yard 
(or a little more), 4 lbs. per rod, 6f cwt. per acre. This is best given in 
the early winter, and pointed in very lightly. When the buds com¬ 
mence swelling in the spring supply nitrate of soda (powdered) at the 
rate of 2J lbs. per rod, but it is best to apply the quantity at two 
dressings, half at the time named and the remainder as soon as the fruit 
is set. 
Golden Harvey is one of the richest of British Apples, being “ one 
of the best for cider ; and from the great strength of its juice, the 
specific gravity of which is 1085, it has been called the Brandy Apple ”— 
(Dr. Hogg’s Fruit Manual). Sugar and Brandy, however, excels it for 
“taste ”—sweetness ; it is considered by some persons to be so sweet as to 
be sickly. It is esteemed in Lancashire as the sweetest of summer Apples, 
but it is not so good everywhere as it is there.] 
National Rose Society. 
I AM not about to gratify Mr. Grahame by attempting to answer his 
attack, which he pleasantly describes to some of us as driving a big nail 
into the coffin of the N.R.S. I suppose it is big enough to go through 
me first and then to finish off the Society. I do not feel any the worse 
for it, and expect the Society will survive it. I, however, have two 
observations to make ; the first is that I am very much surprised that 
Mr. Grahame should think it worth his while to notice its proceedings 
either at the annual meeting or at the Committee, the former of which 
he describes in his correspondence as a teapot meeting, and the latter 
as a screaming farce ; the second is that in both of the cases in which I 
had to act in opposition it would have been far more in accordance with 
my personal feelings to have taken a different course. Of course my 
judgment may have been wrong, but my motives were simply what I 
thought best for the Society.—D., Peal. 
N.R.S. Southern Provincial Meeting, 1896. 
May I say a word or two on this subject in reply to Mr. Jeans^ 
letter ? If priority of claim has anything to do with the selection of a 
locality Reading surely may expect to be considered. I believe, as a 
matter of fact, that it was the first town with which negotiations were 
carried on with reference to the 1894 show, but Windsor put in such a 
strong claim that Reading for the moment lost its chance. The Reading 
Rose growers (I only wish there were more of them 1) were naturally 
disappointed, but took comfort in the belief that at the first chance 
their town would have the coveted honour of welcoming the N.R.S. 
Immediately after the November Committee meeting I had an inti¬ 
mation that if Reading now renewed the invitation for 1896 it would 
probably be favourably considered. An invitation was sent accordingly, 
and Mr. D’Ombrain attended a Committee meeting of the Reading 
Horticultural Society the day before the N.R.S. general meeting, with 
the result that he was able to say at the meeting that the matter was 
taken up con amove. Not only was there no dissentient voice heard, 
but everyone I spoke to expressed themselves strongly in favour of the 
proposal. 
The fact of the meeting, according to Mr. Grahame, being only a 
“ glorified Committee meeting ’’ seems to me rather to add weight to 
its decisions.—J. T. Strange, Local Secretary, Aldermaston, Reading. 
Rule 13. 
Mr. Grahame in his letter of last week’s issue respecting rule 13 
kindly takes up the cudgels for the trade. I think that in these days of 
progress the men who come to the front as big men are large-minded 
enough not to ask for protection from the small amateur, well knowing 
that the wider the love of flowers and flower growing spreads the better 
for them, and that no little petty rule is needed to defend the strong 
from their weaker brethren. I think if Mr. Grahame were to ask the 
big men “ What protection they wanted,” the answer would be, Protect 
me from my friends, who look on our silent strength as a proof of 
weakness. 
In answer to the personal reference (a great mistake I venture to 
think on Mr. Grahame’s part), I have never exhibited under false 
colours, nor do I intend to do so ; but knowing that rule 13 is widely set 
