August S, 1888 J 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
105 
9, To preserve by cold air it is but necessary to spread the fruit out 
on trays or shelves, and allow them to remain until required. 
10, By this means of preservation a small quantity can be at all 
times withdrawn, and regular supplies sent to market or otherwise dis¬ 
posed of at good prices, for a long time after the termination of the 
ordinary fruit season and when the bulk of fruits are disposed of. 
(To be continued.) 
CHEALS’ PATENT FLOWER SUPPORT. 
Messes. J. Cheal & Sons, Crawley, Sussex, have recently 
exhibited a simple method of supporting flowers in small vases or 
glasses, which will be found useful by some who have little time to give 
to work of this character. The supports are formed of wire, as shown 
in fig. 12, a series of small arms terminating in a ring springing at 
different levels from the same stem, either only on one side or radiating 
in all directions. When filled with single Dahlias, for which they are 
especially adapted, they appear as in fig. 13, but any other flowers can 
FIG. 13.-FLOWER SLTPORT, FILLED. 
be similarly employed, and some are made less formal than the Dahlias. 
The flower stalks are drawn through the rings and passed into the 
vessel of water at the base, using sufficient foliage to conceal the frame * 
and impart as much grace as possible. If not packed too closely and 
formally they have a rather pleasing effect. 
SAVING THE LIVES OF FRUIT TREES. 
In March last I had from a nursery a tree of a new Apple. It 
had been budded the previous year, had a good root, and one straight 
shoot. The soil had been shaken from the roots, the whole was 
wrapped in straw, and sent per parcel post, being four or five days, 
on the road. When it reached me the roots were quite dry, and 
the shoot which formed the top was shrivelled. I placed it in one 
of the basins of the fountains close by, where it remained four 
days. When I went to look for it it was swimming on the surface- 
of the water, but a very different tree from the withered and three- 
parts dead specimen I had cast in on its arrival. The wood, roots, 
and buds had become quite fresh and plump, and all parts were in 
capital condition for planting. It was carefully planted at once, 
and at the present time it is a luxuriant little tree, with many side 
shoots. Had it not been for its prolonged ducking I feel sure it 
would never have come into leaf, and I am of opinion that Roses 
and other plants which are sometimes received in a shrivelled con¬ 
dition would be greatly benefited by being subjected to hydropathic 
treatment for a few days before being planted.—J. M. 
ARTIFICIAL MANURES. 
It was rather interesting to observe how in a recent contribution 
Mr. Dunkin proceeds to demolish and explain away all “ erratic state¬ 
ments and impracticable theories,” as he terms them, when they take 
the form of opposition to his ideas. How far he has been successful 
I will leave your readers to judge, as it will serve no useful purpose 
to prolong this debate now that I have obtained definite answers to 
the three principal points in this controversy. But as your corre¬ 
spondent desires a ray of light to disperse the darkness ia reference- 
to the mode in which we carry out some of what to him appear im¬ 
practicable theories, I will endeavour to briefly explain our procedure.. 
In the first place the scene of our operation when potting a miscella¬ 
neous collection of plants does not present the spectacle Mr. Dunkin’s 
fervid imagination leads him to fancy. True we have various receptacles 
disposed around, containing alumina, humus, oxide of calcium, silica, 
carbon, phosphates, porasb, and ammonia, from which we derive the 
materials for our compost heaps. Now if I was the rabid scientific 
enthusiast my adversary implies he should employ these terms when 
giving directions to form a potting material, but on the other hand 
the common terms, loam, leaf mould, sand, lime, charcoal, and artificial 
manure suffice, and then when a particular plant requires attention 
we proceed to compound for its need, and by having all the elements- 
for a plant’s support as far as its roots are concerned at hand and our 
mind well stored with knowledge, whether gained by scientific research 
or experience and observation—it matters little so long as it guides our 
hands in measuring out “ a properly proportioned combination of the 
elements needed”— the work will be facilitated, and the results looked 
forward to with confidence. How Mr. Dunkin fancies that I do not 
take into consideration the various stages of a plant’s growth I am at a 
loss to understand, for how does he think it possible to arrive at any¬ 
thing like an accurate knowledge of the elements needed unless this 
point has careful consideration ? and in a previous article having this- 
in view I mentioned the desirability of having the different chemical 
constituents of the plant food separately, so that they could be com¬ 
bined by the scientific cultivator in such proportions and at such times 
as his judgment tells him is necessary. 
There is another point in Mr. Dunkin’s correspondence to which I 
would wish to draw attention. It is where he repeatedly uses the words 
“ minutely ” and “ nicely ” instead of “ properly ” in reference to the 
system be so strenuously opposes. These adjectives are merely creations 
of my adversary, and have never been used by myself in any stage of 
the controversy, and in the way used are, I presume set up by your 
correspondent, so that he can have the satisfaction of levelling his 
sarcasm at such delicate operations in the practice of compounding 
plant food, which he considers should be performed, in a more general 
method. Of course a properly proportioned combination would in a 
certain sense be a minutely and nicely proportioned one, but not iu the 
way that your correspondent endeavours to construe the fact. 
One place especially where I take exception to his remarks is when 
he says *' Experience teaches us that for practical purposes no better 
results are obtained by the use of these minutely proportioned mixtures 
so long as the principal constituents of plant food are present.” Now, 
if Mr. Dunkin seriously believes the truth of this statement, and intends 
to follow the “ rough and ready ” mode of cultivation given in this 
quotation, I should advise him to consign to the flames the works of 
Wagner, Barks, Ure, and other authorities he quotes from, if he does not 
wish his conviction on this point to undergo any change. All works on 
chemistry, whether practical or scientific, that I have as yet seen, point 
to minute precision as essential in the study and practice of chemical 
matters. In gardening, as in any other occupation, attention to trifles 
is undoubtedly the keynote to success, though I must admit that results 
are sometimes achieved that apparently do not seem to favour this view 
