December 21, 1888. ) 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
555 
the 4s. duty ceased, and also the average prices of English Apples 
at Covent Garden in each year.” 
Year. 
Duty. 
Quantity 
mported. 
Average 
price at 
Covent 
Garden. 
Year. 
Duty. 
Quantity 
imported. 
Average 
price at 
Covent 
Gardtn. 
s. 
d. 
Bu-hels. 
s. d. 
8. 
d. 
B s'lels 
8. d. 
1819 
4 
0 
92,212 
notknown 
If 29 
4 
0 
31,093 
3 0 
1820 
4 
0 
45,324 
notknown 
1830 
4 
0 
22 462 
5 6 
18-21 
4 
0 
89,887 
8 0 
18 '1 
4 
0 
52 615 
6 0 
1822 
4 
0 
45,830 
8 6 
1832 
4 
0 
16,537 
a 6 
1823 
4 
0 
31,123 
7 0 
1833 
4 
0 
27.087 
3 6 
1824 
4 
0 
08 758 
6 9 
1834 
4 
0 
18,447 
3 4 
1825 
4 
0 
08,304 
8 0 
1835 
4 
0 
11,574 
3 0 
1823 
4 
0 
40,805 
7 6 
1836 
4 
0 
14,859 
3 6 
1827 
4 
0 
28,070 
4 6 
1837 
4 
0 
20,502 
2 3 
1828 
4 
0 
48.202 
5 6 
It will be seen from the above table that there was on the 
whole a steady reduction in the importation, after the additional 
10J. a bushel duty was imposed. There are one or two exceptions, 
the consequence probably of the partial failure of continental 
crops ; but it will be further observed that though the importations 
•decreased so did the prices for English fruit. It is also noticeable 
that with only about two exceptions in nineteen years, the greater, 
Telatively, the importations of foreign Apples, the higher the 
prices in Covent Garden Market. The figures we are informed 
were taken from a Government Blue Book, prepared for the 
purpose of the Parliamentary inquiry, and may therefore be 
taken as accurate. This result will be not a little surprising to 
some of our readers, and each must solve the problem in the 
best way he can. We make no attempt to do so at present, but 
simply publish what appear the facts of the case as they are placed 
before us. The reduction of the 4s. duty to Gd. and its influence 
•on importations and prices will next be referred to. 
HARDY CYCLAMENS. 
Beautiful as are the improved varieties of the Persian or 
greenhouse Cyclamens, the hardy gems of the border and rockery 
should not be neglected, yet nowadays very little is written about 
them. 
The common Cyclamen grows wild on the hill sides of the south 
of Europe, and is so plentiful that the pigs feed upon the roots or 
bulbs—hence our English name, Sowbread. The C. Coum is found 
at a considerable elevation on the Alps, where it is protected from 
the severe frost by the snow. When the warm days of spring 
partially melt the snow this little plant may be seen with its beau¬ 
tiful deep pink blossom peeping through the white robe of the 
■earth. Thus hardy are the Cyclamens, and yet how many fail to 
grow and flower them well. 
All the species must be propagated by seed. The corms are 
solid—that is, they have no coats like the Onion or the Hyacinth, 
and they do not send forth any offsets like the Crocus or the 
Gladiolus. The seed is very perishable, and will not grow if kept 
long ; hence it must be sown as soon as it is ripe, which may be 
known by its changing colour and bursting the seed vessel. Sow it 
thinly in a wide shallow pot or pan, covering it about a quarter of 
an inch ; give a gentle watering, and place the pan in a cold frame. 
Keep the soil moderately moist by sprinkling it occasionally with 
water from a fine-rosed watering pot. By no means flood it, or 
pour the water on heavily, for if that is practised the seed will be 
washed bare and perish. Some of them may germinate, but the 
greater part will remain under the soil till the spring. In this 
position they should remain until all grow, and then increase the 
quantity of water, but only just sufficient to thoroughly moisten it, 
withholding it then until the soil is moderately dry again. 
The beautiful seed leaves wid increase in size during the growing 
season, and each will form a small bulb. Towards the end of June 
the leaves will begin to turn brown and decay, then they must be 
allowed to go to rest by giving no more water. Keep them in the 
pan, placing it in a cool place so contrived that no heavy rains can 
fall upon it. Towards the autumn they will begin to grow again, 
and as soon as that is observed stir the surface of the soil, clearing 
it of moss and lichens or weeds. Then put a thin coating of fresh 
sail on the surface, and water it to settle it close upon the small 
bulbs, which should not be covered too deep. I prefer keeping the 
young corms the second year in the same pan, because the first 
season they are so very small that there is danger of a considerable 
number being lost if the attempt is made to transplant them or 
take them up when a year old. Keep the soil, during the second 
season, properly moistened, and when the leaves decay allow them 
again to go to rest. When the season of growth arrives, then ke jp 
a watch upon them, and as soon as the least signs of growth are 
apparent provide a sufficient number of thumb pots, the smallest 
size made, drain them well, and fill them with the compost, then 
carefully, with a flat sharp stick, take up a bulb and place it in the 
middle of the pot, leaving the upper part of it just above the soil. 
If there are any living roots, preserve, if possible, every one of them. 
When all are potted give a good watering, and place the pots upon 
a thick bed of coal ashes in a cool frame. Protect them during 
the winter from frost, giving air on all favourable occasions. 
Towards spring they will have made three or four leaves, and the 
pots will be found full of roots. A shift into a larger sized pot 
will then be necessary, and will encourage the corms to increase in 
size very materially. I have shifted them twice in the season with 
the best effect. By this close attention to repotting, and a due 
supply of water, the plants will have increased to such a size that 
many of them will flower ; and, in such species a9 are apt to sport, 
will reward the cultivator very probably with some improved 
varieties. They can be either grown in pots subsequently or 
planted out.—T. A. B. 
CANKER IN FRUIT TREES. 
I am obliged to Mr. Kruse for the exceptions he lias taken to 
my reply to his letter, as they give me the opportunity of making 
more clear some points of the theory suggested by ms as to the 
cause of canker. If this theory is correct the disease is due, not 
to the presence of anything injurious in the soil, but to deficiency 
of one or more of the elements of plant food necessary for perfect 
growth. In the case of the Apple tree, as an unusual quantity of 
soda is contained in the fruit and of lime in the wood, it is reason¬ 
able to infer that a deficiency of one or both in certain soils may 
affect the nutrition of the tree and be the cause of canker. But 
however necessary soda and lime may be to the welfare of the 
Apple, there are other constituents, such as potash, magnesia, iroD, 
and phosphorus, which in certain proportions are equally neces¬ 
sary. The absence of any one of these may induce that condition 
of the tree which favours the development of canker. When a 
manure is to be applied with the object of restoring a cankered 
tree to health, I recommend that it should contain all the above- 
mentioned ingredients together with a source of nitrogen. It may 
be that from the composition of the soil one or more of these are 
unnecessary, but as there are no ready means of ascertaining what 
are actually required it is better to be on the safe side and apply 
all, more especially as the superabundance will not be injurious nor 
entail loss, but on the contrary prolong the fertility of the soil. 
Mr. Kruse complains that my statements are general while his 
were particular. It was not possible for me, with imperfect infor¬ 
mation of his case, to deal with it other than generally. He now 
supplements his information as to the iron contained in his soil by 
stating that Dr. Yoelcker’s analysis was of the top sod only, and 
that underneath this there is a thick layer of “ red pin.” This, I 
presume is a local name for a hard deposit of sand, gravel, or clay, 
heavily charged with iron oxide, sometimes called hard pan. This 
condition of soil and subsoil with the existence of canker in Apple 
trees is not inconsistent with my suggestion, that the disease is not 
caused by the iron in the soil. The soil over the “ hard pan may 
be deficient in one or more of the necessary constituents, and if it 
be shallow it would sooner become exhausted, and the trees, 
according to my theory, cankered quite independently of the action 
of the iron. 
The case as stated proves, not that the canker is in any way 
due to the presence of iron, but only that it is coincident with it 
It would be profitless to discuss the question further without 
fuller particulars as to the geological formation and the local cir¬ 
cumstances of the particular district. There may be very good 
reasons why the soil lying directly on the ragstone rock is more 
fertile than that lying on the “ hard pan,” which have_ no relation 
to the comparative quantity of iron present. Mr. Kruse’s state¬ 
ment that dung and such manures as furnish humus are better for 
trees, because “ they dissolve the iron in the soil,” is scarcely con- 
sis tent with his idea that the iron is the cause of the mischief, for 
iron, if injurious, must be so in direct proportion to its solubility, 
as it can only act on or be assimilated by the plant when in a 
soluble condition. „ ,, , 
My experience leads me to prefer for the growth of fruit and 
other trees, especially Roses, a pure loam, any deficiencies m which 
can readily be supplied by dressings of manures containing what 
the trees require, and I believe that no form for that purpose is 
so convenient and economical as what is commonly known as 
artificial manure. The composition of humus is uncertain, it is 
a black substance, the result of vegetable decomposition, of which 
bog earth is an example, and is insoluble in water. It is principally 
composed of carbon, combined with oxygen and hydrogen, it 
