444 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[ November 24, 1887. 
tion, and your correspondent will thus see how Archie Grant, Merchiston 
Castle, and Mrs. Easter are examples in then.' respective classes of 
bedding Pansies, while Pilrig Park, Skylark, and Sejour with their 
pencilled and rayed flowers arc represented as Violas. Mr. Jenkins 
adds, “ Our florists, past and present, have lifted the Pansy to its present 
standard of perfection, and very naturally laid down hard-and-fast 
rules for their guidance.” Now, thisiis exactly the point I am aiming 
at, and if it is necessary to lay down such hard-and-fast rules regarding 
the Pansy, is it not equally necessary to have some such rules laid down 
regarding the Viola ? for I see no useiin dividing them into families if 
we have no distinguishing character to know the one from the other. 
“ Calyx with unequal sepals ” is merely a botanical term equally 
applied to the Pansy and Viola, and has nothing to do with form or 
symmetry whatever, hence my reason for asking your correspondent to 
explain his quotation. —G. Steel. 
NOTTINGHAMSHIRE APPLES. 
In sending a few Pears for your inspection, I take the liberty of 
asking for the origin of Ringer Apple. I do so because in housing 
Ringers and Dominos this autumn 1 was struck with their family like¬ 
ness. Indeed, I mixed both kinds together in the barrow as we emptied 
them out of the baskets from the tree, and it would have puzzled an 
editor to have picked out rightfully the Ringers and the Dominos re¬ 
spectively and entirely. Domino, I suppose, we shall never now find out 
the origin of. I have been trying for years to get at it, and have ran¬ 
sacked all the books I could come at, and written numerous letters to 
various fruit growers, but can get at nothing definite. 
Whilst I am writing, I would like to call attention to a circumstance 
which may, in our locality, cause some confusion in future years as to 
Bramley’s Seedling Apple. About thirteen or fourteen years ago Messrs. 
Hutchinson & Armitage, seedsmen of Nottingham, sold, from their shop 
in Victoria Street, young Apple trees under the name of “ Best of All.” 
I bought one, as also did a neighbour of mine, and of course many others, 
and now we find that our Best of All is really Bramley’s Seedling. This 
autumn I have been trying to get at the reason why this Apple was sent 
out by Messrs. Hutchinson & Armitage under the name of Best of All, 
but I find they have no reliable record as to the reason. It may be that 
as they showed specimens of fruits to induce purchasers of trees, that 
the name may have been thus commercially given as a sort of pushing 
advertisement notion, Best of All being more sounding and definite than 
plain Bramley’s Seedling. I throw this out as a solving of the difficulty. 
There is no question, however, about the matter. Best of All Apple, 
whoever may have it about Nottingham, is really Bramley’s Seedling. 
Mr. Merry weather of Southwell will perhaps confirm this and explain it. 
—N. H. POWNALL. 
[The Apples Domino and Ringer are distinct, the former being more 
conical than the latter and in use in September, usually decaying in 
October, Ringer keeping firm till February.] 
HOLLYHOCKS. 
I WAS much interested in the notes of your various correspondents 
in recent issues, and I should have been more pleased had Mr. Boston 
been able to describe more fully the interest in Hollyhock culture in 
the neighbourhood of Edinburgh twenty years ago and over. Being 
located on the south side of the border, his knowledge of that part must 
necessarily, be only partial. I could not but admire an exhibit of 
Mr. Boston’s (Dahlias) which gained a first prize for this year. Looking 
at them in an ordinary way they seemed to me to be the finest I ever 
saw exhibited, but I fear success in growing Hollyhocks now seems 
more a matter of chance or uncertainty. I used to know something of 
Hollyhock culture in the neighbourhood of Edinburgh twenty-five 
years ago, but for a number of years, till recently, I had given their 
culture up. About four years ago I tried a fresh collection to see how 
they would succeed. The first year they did fairly well, though cer¬ 
tainly they showed signs of the “ disease,” even from the time they 
came from the vendor. After planting them out in spring, when they 
began to grow, they were watered every evening with the rose on the 
can. This they seemed to like, as they made large green leaves, and 
when flowering time came they did very well. Next winter, however, 
we lost several of the varieties, and although I had a fine young stock, 
they were very badly affected with the disease also, so that for the next 
year 1 had to fall back on late propagated plants from the old stools. 
After planting out again, we found by watering them as before helped 
well to bring the plants on, of course giving water at the root also when 
required, but in certain weather the disease flourished accordingly. 
V hen the weather was hot and dry, I noticed that the leaves were quite 
covered with the warty specks, and they 'were altogether of a yellow 
hue. I cannot help thinking that growing Hollyhocks is now a very 
risky business, and I feel sure if a number of your readers try it they 
will give their experience as such. 
It will be found that some varieties do better than others —that is, 
as a rule, they seem to keep freer from the disease —the same as some 
varieties of Potatoes from the Potato disease. Two of the finest kinds 
in this respect that I have grown are Cygnet and Rev. D. Paul. I may 
just mention that recently, about this time of year, I had fine j r oung 
plants in a cold frame, but before spring only a very few existed owing 
to the disease. The cold frame might have been too close and damp. 
Ibis year, out of about a dozen strong seedlings planted last spring, two 
proved to be very good—one a white, quite equal to, if not better than 
Cygnet. All these seedlings had scarcely any disease on them. So if 
select seed was sown in summer, and good strong plants obtained before 
winter, it might be a very good way to get some good spikes of Holly* 
hocks. A neighbour of ours, who has a fine heavy soil; though he has 
poorer varieties, the plants make a vigorous growth, with scarcely a 
trace of disease, so that much apparently depends upon the soil. In our 
case, with every attention, success seems a matter of uncertainty, with 
little or no prospect of getting up to the pitch of twenty years ago 
; bove referred to.— R. M. 
THE SOIL. 
[A paper read before the Paxton Society, Waiefield, October S9th, by Mr 
D. Gslmour, jun.] 
(Continued from page 427.) 
There is no doubt that the first step in the improvement of soils is 
to get rid of the superiuous water and to let in the air. The only way 
to do this is by means of draining. Many people think that the only 
advantage of draining is in the removal of the water ; but there is a 
great deal more in it than that, for it will be readily understood that 
when the water is drawn away from below the air must follow and take 
its place. Put some stones in a bucket of water, and while the water 
remains the air cannot get access to the stones ; but knock a hole in the 
bottom of the bucket, and the result is that as the water runs away it 
will be replaced by air. The same process is going on continually in a 
well-drained soil. 
On undrained land the rains that fall run away over the surface 
without benefiting it in any way. This was brought very prominently 
to my notice this summer. A tennis ground, the surface of which had 
become hard and baked likea brick, adjoins a piece of garden ground which 
had been well drained and hoed to keep a fine tilth and prevent eva¬ 
poration. A few hours’ heavy rain came, and while the water ran off 
the tennis ground in streams, doing little or no good—for it was as dry 
and hard as ever after the sun had shone on it for a fevv hours—the 
garden ground took up and absorbed every drop of the rain that fell 1 
upon it, and a subsequent examination proved that the water had pene¬ 
trated some depth into it. 
J f we place a kettle of water on the fire, and allow the water to boil 
away in steam, we can see that a great amount of heat is required to do 
ib Before the sun can warm a soil the excess of water has to be con¬ 
verted into vapour and dried out of it, and the h°at of the sun is thus, 
wasted on undrained land. A well drained dry soil will absorb the heat 
of the sun to a much greater extent than could be imagined. Sir John 
Herschel observed that at the Cape of Good Hope the soil attained a 
temperature of 150° Fahr., when that of the air was only 120°, and no 
doubt this applies equally to our more temperate climate. 
The removal of water by draining changes the character of a soil ; a 
wet heavy clay, naturally cold, close, and adhesive, when dried by this 
means becoming open and mellow, and thus more easily and cheaply 
workfd. The wonderful chemistry of the soil, which results in the 
changing of manure and organic matter into plant food, can only go on 
in a very slow and imperfect manner in the presence of standing or 
stagnant water on undrained land ; therefore manure is, to a great ex¬ 
tent, wasted. The rain which falls on the soil is rich in ammonia 
(valued at £100 a ton), which it brings down, together with oxygen and 
carbonic acid, from the clouds. This rain, if allowed to run away from 
the surface of undrained land, as I said before, does not benefit it. On 
the other hand, falling on well drained land, it sinks where it falls, 
imparting its fertilising properties to the land, and as it sinks down 
drawing after it fresh supplies of air from the atmosphere, which are of' 
so much benefit. 
There are other reasons in favour of draining, hut I think I may pass 
on to another way in which we improve the soil. This is by digging and 
forking it, and the chief advantage of so doing is that we open it up and 
allow the water and air to pass through and penetrate into the interior 
of it. We also present a fresh surface to the action of the atmosphere. 
If we examine a sample of soil with a microscope we shall find it to a 
great extent composed of small pieces of stone. The oxygen of the at¬ 
mosphere acts upon the surfaces of these small stones just as it does in 
the case of the, large rocks and stones in buildings. When we dig our 
soil deeply and throw it up in ridges for the winter weather to act upon 
it, the benefit we derive from the practice is due to the fact that by this 
means the tiny fragments of rock are made to give up the mineral 
matter they contain for the use of the following crop. 
Now we come to the consideration of those things that we can add to 
the soil to improve it. If our soil is light and sandy the very best appli¬ 
cation we can make to it is clay, and the more we put on the better ; but 
it is of very little use to bury it in the ground in great lumps, the better 
plan is to strew it on the surface, where the frosts of winter can break 
it up, or the heat of summer dry it, when it may be easily broken up 
into | owder ; then dig it in. If the soil is heavy, cold, and binding we 
should procure road scrapings, sand, small gravel, wood ashes, straw, and 
decaying vegetable matter of any kind, all of which will help to make it 
lighter and more open. I do not think ashes are good to add to the soil. 
I once saw a Rose tree dug up with the larger roots nearly eaten through 
by them, and as they are known pierce gas and water pipes I think 
we are better without them. 
There is one very important element which I think is very much 
neglected in gardens, and that is lime. Now, so long as manure is used 
freely, so long as land is kept in good heart, there is no danger of lime 
doing any harm. On the contrary, there is, as far as I know, no such 
