December (i, 1888. ] 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
519 
No, 3 Pear, 14 feet high, 23 feet long, thirty-four vertical rods, ten 
varieties. No, 4—Marie Louise, 14 feet high, 23 feet long, thirty-one 
vertical rods. No. 5—12 feet high, 39 feet long, or 39 yards, and forty- 
seven vertical reds. I was convinced from what [ saw of the trees and 
fruit that Pears if well looked after, and suitable sorts planted, would 
do well in the north, I must not forget to mention the well cropped 
kitchen garden with abundant supplies for winter use. A capital 
collection of Orchids is being formed. The favourite tree at Bo ton 
Hall seems to be the Yew, for it is seen in all parts of the grounds. 
There are some fine Larch trees on the estate. From the shawl at 
Leyburn a magnificent view of the county is obtained. It is regarded 
; as one of the finest natural rock terraces in England.—A. J. Brown. 
GARDENERS’ ORPHAN FUND. 
Though the night was so inclement there was a large attendance at the 
Committee meeting held on Friday night last. The subject of collecting 
boxes was prominent. Some time ago a gross of these was purchased 
for £8 13s., and already the returns from them exceed £15, while a 
large number have not been opened. To meet further applications 
from friends of the Charity more of these boxes were ordered for distri¬ 
bution. It is found the excellent custom is growing of passing these 
boxes round at flower shows, and that much more is dropped into them 
in this way than by leaving them stationary, no matter how prominent 
the position?. There can be little doubt that when the general public, 
who are interested in flowers and gardening generally, become 
acquainted with this fund and the great need for its existence, that a 
substantial amount in the aggregate will be received in the form of a 
large number of small contributions by visitors to horticultural shows, 
and it is hoped there will not be wanting friends to act as helpers of the 
•Charity on those occasions. At the meeting under notice upwards of 
£ 12 was paid in, including £2 by Mr. W. Bates, collected at the Twicken¬ 
ham Show; £3 6s by Mr. G. Bishop (Teddington Show) ; £1 10s. 6d. 
from Mr. Scott (Bradford Show) ; £1 Is. from Mr. Wooderson (Bexley 
Show), and £1 Is. 3d. by Mr. G. Cummins, from visitors to The Grange 
Gardens, Hackbridge, and the Croydon Show. Grants were mentioned 
as probable from the Committees of the York Show and the Yorkshire 
Union of Horticultural Associations. A letter was read from Mr. Drum¬ 
mond of Stirling to the effect that he could get little or no support for 
the Fund in Scotland. This is the experience of the Committee, but 
they are not in possession of facts accounting for the circumstance. 
Scotland, however, supplies two excellent officials in Mr. A. F. Barron 
and Mr. J Walker. An offer, the first of the kind received, was made 
by a gentleman to take charge of one or two children, as his home was 
childless. The thanks of the Committee were accorded to all who had 
kindly assisted the Charity and made it and its objects known in the 
districts in which they reside. It is believed there are noblemen, ladies 
and gentlemen who would not be unwilling to open their gardens to 
the public for a day at a convenient time in the summer, subject to a 
small charge for admission, in support of the Charity, if its nature were 
brought before them. This has been done at Heckfield and a few other 
places with gratifying results. 
Floral Concert. —I have the pleasure to acknowledge the receipt 
of cheque, value £31, from Mr. 0. Thomas, Chatsworth, as the result 
of the floral concert held at Chesterfield on November 14th, in aid of 
this Fund. Very great credit is due to Mr. Thomas and his fellow gar¬ 
deners, members of the Committee—viz., Messrs. W. II. Horabin, W. R. 
Bloxham, H. Smale, W. E. Jenkinson, J. Fletcher, J. J. Nelson, G. 
I’arkes, S. Polkinghorne, W. Leighton, J. Turguy, and J. Hutton, who 
have worked so energetically with Mr. Thomas to achievesuch a splendid 
result.— A. F. Barron, lion. Secretary. 
A Good Example. —At the Birmingham Chrysanthemum Show, 
Mr. Hughes, the Secretary, and local Secretary of the Gardeners’ Orphan 
Fund, engaged a bright little till to walk about the Exhibition with an 
Orphan Fund box fastened to her breast for the reception of gifts from a 
penny upwards-but a penny was asked for—and with contributions 
from exhibitors a sum of £3 or so was collected for the Orphan Fund. 
If this could be done at all flower shows, even with much smaller amounts, 
w'hat a goodly sum would result. Flower shows as a rule should do 
something for the horticultural benefit societies, and a small subscrip¬ 
tion or donation would not be missed. In the Black Country there is a 
small place—Darlaston—which has its three year-old Floral Society, and 
the Committee have just voted the sum of 10 guineas to the Free Library 
fund there, from the profits of their Exhibitions.—W. D. 
FRUIT CULTURE ON SMALL FARMS OR 
ALLOTMENTS. 
Mr. S. Rawson labours in the right path, and his efforts to arouse 
greater attention to the important question of fruit culture should be 
well supported, and the cause not only of fruit culture but flower and 
vegetable culture also spread throughout the land. Is it not a mistake 
to send out of the country £25,000,000 for the common necessaries of 
life, and £8,000,000 annually for fruit 1 Surely it is not impossible to 
reserve a portion of the above vast amount without impairing the 
interests of other crafts. In these days, when every help is needed to 
guide and better the condition of the masses, if we cannot hold out the 
ti®pe of all being able to sit under their own Vine and Fig tree it is not 
unreasonable to give the masses an opportunity of being able to 
appreciate home produce in preference to foreign productions. 
It would be well if spade culture was more adopted, for without 
doubt it is the best implement for turning up the soilj and the greatest 
returns follow. Therefore it is most desirable to develope the resources 
of the soil chiefly by spade culture. The landlords might be invited to 
help the industrious by providing the raw material to work on, and the 
workers want good rule3 to guide them in their operations. Depend 
upon it there lies in the better cultivation of the land remedies for 
many of the evils which wound the feelings of civilisation.—X. 
DICENTRA CANADENSIS. 
Under the name of Dicentra are included several elegant hardy 
plants which have been variously named Diclytras or Dielytras and 
Corydalises. Some of these are familiar plants in North America, 
bearing special popular names like Dutchman's Breeches (Dicentra 
cucullaria) and Squirrel Corn (D. canadensis), the last named being 
Fig. 5".—DiCENTRA C tNADSNSIS. 
the subject of our illustration (fig. 57), and one of the most graceful of 
the family. In Canada and some of the Northern United States this 
Dicentra is frequently found in rocky woods, producing ils white and 
purple tinted fragrant flowers freely during May and June. The leaves 
are finely cut and slightly glaucous, forming a dense tuft from wh'ch 
partially drooping racemes arise bearing the neat pendulous flowers. 
Tbe plant is a perennial with numerous small yellow pea-like tubets; it 
is hardy, readily increased, and succeeds well on a rockery or in an 
ordinary border. 
PLUMS AND THEIR PRESERVATION. 
At a recent meeting of fruit-growers in Gloucester, Mr. M. . 
Coleliester-Wemyss read a paper on French Plums, and the methods 
of preservation adopted on the Continent, from which we extract the 
followup, of lagt year the i(1ea occured to Sir W. Wedderburn 
that it might be possible to make so-called French Plums in Gloucester- 
