26 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[ Jannary 12,188?. 
fully prepared prior to planting and those that have been knocked 
about and had the first growths rubbed off. The former come 
through the ground and show a marked difference in strength ; the 
latter may have more shoots, but they are weaker.—N. G. 
GOOD VEGETABLES. 
Gardeners making up their seed lists would do well to give a 
trial to Veitch’s Paragon, and also to their Exhibition Brussels 
Sprouts. The former was the best of several kinds we had last 
year, and this season I have grown only the above two sorts, and 
never have had such a supply. Exhibition is rather the earlier of 
the two. Paragon has a habit of growth which completely shelters 
the sprouts from the weather, the foliage rising in successive tiers, 
and each tier lapped over the other, so that a most complete roof 
is formed. We plant 3 feet apart each way, and find it pays to 
do so. 
I have never yet had a better Turnip than Snowball. It is good 
all through the summer, and does not run to seed quickly, while it 
is one of the very best for winter. I have now grown it for the 
past four years to supply young Turnips in winter, and it is 
excellent. 
Another good old vegetable is to be found in Lettuce Hicks’ 
Hardy. I have known it for the past twenty years, and have not 
yet found a more generally good sort. As a rule we get out of it 
for a few weeks in lite spring, but the rest of the year, in summer, 
autumn, and winter, it keeps us going. In spring or early summer 
Tom Thumb is very useful, and much better than any new kind we 
have yet tried. A pinch of seed sown just now under glas^, and in a 
growing temperature, and the plants either placed in boxes or 
frames, come on very rapidly, some planted in a warm position 
out of doors keeping up the succession until those raised outdoors 
come in. 
Of Cauliflowers, of which we have now so many good sorts, I 
doubt if there is a more generally useful summer and early autumn 
variety than the Dwarf Erfurt. Sown in the same way as recom¬ 
mended for Lettuces it comes in very early, and none stands the 
drought of summer better than it does. 
Perhaps the best paying Tomato is Hackwood Park Prolific. 
When well grown it is an enormous cropper, grows to a large size, 
the flavour good, though not the best in that respect, and the 
colour is very taking.—B. 
SEAKALE—GROWING AND FORCING. 
The present season seems to be a suitable time to offer a few remarks 
upon the cultivation of this useful vegetable. The weather of last week 
may be taken as a warning of a severe winter, which naturally reminds 
us of the past two winters, in which nearly all the Broccoli was killed 
by frost. The question then arises, How are we to keep the table sup¬ 
plied with vegetables if such is the case again? With me the only 
Broccoli that stood the two winters referred to was Sutton’s Late Queen. 
This is a capital variety, but does not come in till the end of April. 
The difficulty is easily overcome where Seakale is considered equal 
to other vegetables, and in some places it is more of a dainty dish than 
Cauliflower or Broccoli. I have more than once heard the remark from 
the lady herself, “ I am never tired of Seakale.” The plan I practise is 
to plant a good piece of ground every spring. I do not force it the old- 
fashioned way on the ground it grows with pots and leaves, which I 
consider is a waste of labour as well as being unsightly in a well kept 
garden. I have a dark chamber partitioned off in one part of the stoke¬ 
hole, and a brick pit 18 inches deep and 2 feet wide running round 
against the wall. In a temi erature of 05° to 70° both Seakale and 
Rhubarb forces admirably, and such a place might easily be made in 
almost any stokehole. Fresh crowns are obtained every four or five d ays 
enough to produce three or four dishes. The long roots are cut off, and 
the crowns are planted thickly in the pit in leaf mould or cocoa-nut 
fibre, and watered as oft* * n as required. The roots are cut up into pieces 
2 or 3 inches long and placed in boxes on their ends with some soil, and 
put into a cool vinery or cold frames until spring, when they have again 
formed crowns. A piece of ground havins been prepared for them they 
are then planted out a foot apart each way, or if there is plenty of 
ground 18 inches between the rows and a foot in the row would be 
better. When they have begun growing freely a dressing of salt and 
some liquid manure two or three times during the summer will greatly 
assist them. These lines are not intended for the old and experienced, 
but for those who are just starting in the gardening world, with but a 
tender knowledge of some of the things they will be expected to do.— 
E. M. 
CHRISTMAS ROSES. 
An interesting letter on these appeared recently. I do not think 
they are so much grown in private gardens as they deserve to be. For 
cut flowers they are first-rate at this season of the year, coming in just 
as the Chrysanthemums are going off, and if grown under glass they 
throw their flowers up beautiful and white. Here we grow them in a 
frame from which frost is excluded by hot-water pipes. They are 
planted out in good soil and remain undisturbed all the summer, as we 
think they do best when left alone, taking care to mulch them well and 
see that they never suffer by want of water. In this way we have them 
in bloom the week before Christmas, and they continue throwing abund¬ 
ance of flowers for some time. When they become too crowded they 
will be all lifted and replanted in fresh soil further apart, making a. 
larger plantation. The plan recommended by “ B.”—viz., dividing them- 
after flowering, is no doubt a good one, but we think they do bettev 
planted out than in pots and taken up and replanted when they get too 
close together.— G. Hilton. 
Events of the Week. —During the current week the chreff 
events of horticultural interest are the continuation of the Mid-Winter 
Chrysanthemum Show at the Westminster Aquarium to-day (Thursday), 
and the annual general meeting of the Members of the Gardeners” 
Royal Benevolent Institution, at 3 P.M., at Simpson’s, 101, Strand, to be: 
followed by a dinner in the evening. 
- At a general meeting of the Royal Horticultural Society: 
on January 10th, James Bateman, Esq., F.R.S., in the chair, the follow¬ 
ing candidates were duly elected Fellows of the Society :—viz., Alfred 
G. Beebe, Richard Bradshaw, R. Giles Bradshaw, Henry Brown, Alex¬ 
ander Cheal, Miss R. Debenham, William S. Dent, T. G. H. Eley, JosepK 
Harris, H. Herbst, John H. Tite, John Mackerell, Frank E. Parker,. 
Charles H. Smith. 
.—- A general meeting of the Royal Horticultural Society" 
was held in the crush room of the Royal Albert Hall on Tuesday the 
10th inst., at twelve noon. Dr. Robert Hogg presided, and the business: 
was confined to reading the minutes of the last special meeting and sub¬ 
mitting for confirmation the resolutions passed on that occasion. These- 
were carried unanimously, the only modification being that clause 7 off 
the circular was adopted with clauses G and 8. The appointment of t’ne 
Committee was also duly confirmed, and a meeting was held sub¬ 
sequently. 
•-- Mr. R. Westcott writes as folio ws respecting Facts about 
Grapes:— “Mr. Iggulden, in his Review, page I, refers to Golden 
Queen as thus far being disappointing in point of colour. He will find 
if he gives it, as he intends doing, a longer season, he can get it to colour 
quite equal to Mrs. Pearson, but, unfortunately, both of them, like Gros; 
Maroc, are more pleasing to the eye than the palate.” 
- “ Dum Spiro Spero,” in answer to “ Nil Desperandum,”" 
states :—“ The artificial manure referred to on page 539, last vol., is- 
suitable for any plants that require w'atering either in pots or planted! 
out.” 
- The sudden death is announced of Dr. Alex. Dickson,. 
Regius Professor of Bot.any in the University of Edinburgh, at the age 
of fifty-one. Dr. Dickson was staying at his residence in Peebleshire,. 
and while engaged in the game of curling was seized with illness on the- 
ice, and died on the 30th December last. Before his appointment to- 
the Edinburgh Chair he had successively filled the Chairs of Botany at 
Dublin and Glasgow, and on the death of Professor Balfour he was- 
appointed his successor in 1870. 
-- “ G.” writes—“ For several seasons I have grown Reading- 
Russet Potato very satisfactorily, and in 1886 it was especially good 
in the past season, however, the tubers cracked very much, and this has- 
practically spoiled the crop, though the quality is all that could be- 
desired. My land is rather heavy, but I have not noticed this peculiarity- 
in such a marked degree in any other variety this season.” 
- Mr. James Dickson sends us the following Weather 
Records from Castlemilk Gardens, Lockerbie, N.B. In 1887 the mean 
temperature taken from protected and exposed thermometers was 42-6°,. 
the rainfall 30-9G inches, which fell on IGO days. June was the driest 
month, 0-G8 inch falling in five days; July the wettest, 6-34 inchea 
being registered on eighteen days. The sunshine averaged 120-3 hours 
