April 12 ISSa. J 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
293 
■N>;ry entertaining programme of toasts and songs rendered the gathering 
•an extremely agreeable one to all present. After the usual loyal toasts 
Mr. Herbst proposed “ Success to the Ro 3 ^al Horticultural Society,” which 
was responded to by Mr. G. Deal, whose remarks were to the effect that 
the Society is being placed on a better basis, and that the scheme for its 
rpopularisation is being steadily developed, giving a prospect of future 
■success and even more good work than it has done in the past. Mr. 
Veitch proposed the health of the employes of the Society coupled with 
the names of Messrs, Barron and Dick, whom he highl.v complimented 
upon the efficient manner in which they had performed their respective 
.<luties during a long period of service. Mr. Barron in reply said, after 
thanking Mr. Veitch for his attendance, that he had always been 
favoured with a good staff of assistants, and none knew so well as him¬ 
self how much they had helped him in many arduous duties. 
The health of the Chairman was proposed by Mr. Shirley Hibberd in 
a felicitous speech, in which he referred to the gradual development of 
commercial horticulture of the present century and the important part 
Messrs. Veitch & Sons had taken in both practical and scientific depart¬ 
ments, and the large number of plants they had introduced. He thought 
it augured well for the Royal Horticultural Society that they had 
sccureil the aid of such an earnest horticulturist and thorough business 
«ncan as Mr. H. J. Veitch in the Society’s Council for the present year, 
4«i observation that received the hearty endorsement of all present. Mr. 
Veitch in the course of his reply briefly traced the history of his firm 
from the time his great grandfather was engaged as gardener in Devon- 
■shire until he himself assumed the direction of the present business. 
The gradual development of the Exeter business, the fortunate emj loy- 
•ment of the Brothers Lobb as plant collectors, the migration to Chelsea, 
the improvement of several families of plants by hybridising and cross- 
'breeding, such as the Orchids, the Tuberous Begonias, the Amaryllis, kc., 
■'vere all referred to. Mr. Veitch thought that collecting new plants i.s 
l)layed out, as, though there are many districts not fully explored, they 
.are generally in the interior of countries difficult of access, and the plants 
•obtained are subject to all kinds of dangers in transit. Recognising this 
■some time ago they had turned their iittention to hybridising plants 
already cultivated, and most of those present had had opportunities of 
judging the results attained. He concluded by adding that though, 
;as in all commercial undertakings, £ s. d. must have the first considera- 
'tion, this had not been the only moving power, but much had been 
accomplished by the deep personal interest taken in the work, both by 
■members of the firm and their able assistants. 
Shortly afterwards Mr. Veitch resigned the chair to Mr. S’airley 
Hibberd, who, being in excellent form, delighted the company with a 
comic song, and with several contributions from others an exceedinglj- 
successful entertainment was brought to a close. Messrs. R. Dean and 
W. Richards received the hearty thanks of all present, as the success 
.attained was mainly due to their efforts. 
FRUIT-GROWING IN TASMANIA. 
As we are sending you some of our fruits, perhaps you would 
Tike to know a little about our gardens, especially as a few years 
'hence you will hear a good deal more about us and see thousands of 
bushels of our fruit in your markets. Still your gardeners need 
not set their bristles up, as it will not affect them a bit, as our fruit 
will come in when theirs is all eaten. We are now only waiting for 
the ships to come with cool chambers and you shall see what fruit 
Ta-smania can produce. Hitherto, with a few exceptions, fruit¬ 
growing has been carried on by small men, the largest gardens 
being eight or ten acres. But capitalists are now waking up to the 
fact that there is money to be made at it, and much larger orchards 
are being laid. out. All English fruits, except Grapes, thrive 
splendidly. Our long sunny summers ripen and colour Apples and 
Pears to perfection, and moreover they keep well after gathering. 
The Apricot and Peach are grown in the open orchard as 
standards. A good Apricot tree will yield several bushels of fruit 
in a good season. Our best gardens are quite equal to any in 
England I have seen. The trees are planted as yearlings, from 
'1 1 to 15 feet apart, the land being simply ploughed deeply before 
planting, then we cultivate and crop between the trees until they 
are six or seven years old, by which time they come into bearing. 
3 have seen an average of a bushel per tree at six years old. We 
prune very hard at first, and keep our trees low, giving them a stem 
about a foot, then getting twelve or fourteen branches out of it, 
the favourite shape being the inverted umbrella with cordon 
branches from the stem. This form is adopted for Apples, Pears, 
Peaches, Apricots, Cherries, &c. We apply manure and cultivate 
'.ns the trees come into bearing, digging or ploughing between them 
•to preserve the moisture and keep the land from cracking. 
The fruit grown includes a very fair collection. In Apples the 
"Scarlet Nonpareil, Sturmer Pippin, French Crab, and Ribston 
Pippin have been perhaps most popular, but many others are grown. 
In Pears, Williams’ Bon Chretien, Winter Nelis, Vicar of Whnk- 
tield, Gansel’s Bergamot, Easter Beurre, Beurre Diel, Uvedale’s 
"St. Germain, Achan, and a few others predominate. Hitherto we 
"have grown only for the other colonies, and the growers Iiave 
obtainel about an average of Id. a lb., or 5s. a bushel, and have 
grown varieties which would keep and ship well. 
Some of our gardens in a good season present a very pretty 
appearance, being simply covered with fruit. Our average crop is 
about 200 bushels an acre, but good gardens yield much more. A 
garden in the Huon district of ten acres and twelve years old 
turned off last year 3600 bushels, the year preceding 4600 bushels, 
and the year before again 3600 bushels, and the grower often gets 
Ts. or 8s. a bushel. This year has been very bad for Cherries, still 
we have had very fine fruit. I weighed some a few days ago which 
scaled forty-four to the pound. Raspberries in the best districts 
are very prolific, growing so high and strong that they have to be 
tied down to reach the fruit. 
Our best fruit land is newly cleared bush land, the maiden soil 
and ashes made in burning off the timber giving the trees a splendid 
start. I have measured Plum or Apricot shoots 7 or 8 feet long. 
Three years ago I went into the bush and picked out a block of 
land. The Government sent a surveyor, who charged me £5 for 
surveying 100 acres. Then I had to pay about Is. 6d. an acre for 
fourteen years, when the land becomes my own, or I secure my title 
at any time by paying up the £1 an acre. But to turn it into a 
flourishing orchard there is something to be done, as now it is 
covered with huge trees and thick scrub. The trees are magnificent 
timber, as good as English Oak ; but no matter, I only hope it will 
burn well. One tree I measured 12 feet in diameter and about 
300 feet high. Tree Ferns, too, which would astonish your gar • 
deners ; but the axe flies round to the tune of £2 10s. an acre, 
and down everything goes into an immense layer of at least 
500 tons an acre. The hot summer sun now wilts and dries it, 
until, when ready, the fire stick is put in, and away goes the 
destroying, and to me, the clearing element. Now the land 
when turned up will grow anything—Potatoes as big as one’s 
boots—Turnips, Cabbages, &c. The small stumps and roots are 
grubbed out, but the big fellows shall have Grape Vines planted 
around them, and they will not affect the fruit trees between them. 
But it will cost me £15 to £20 an acre before I get my trees well 
planted. Still, if my Potatoes, &c., turn out right, a great part of 
this will be returned in the first two years. My neighbour has four 
acres of Apple trees six years old and just coming into bearing, and 
a few weeks ago he refused £1000 for the orchard, coolly asking 
£2000. Our chief want is more rain, frost hurts us but very little. 
Your grand hothouse plants grow out of doors better than in the 
house. Will try to send you some samples of our fruits in a few 
weeks.— Tomahaw'k. 
SUCCESSFUL BOUVARDIA CULTURE. 
Last autumn I had an opportunity of paying a short visit to 
Mr. Roberts at Gunnersbury Park, and Mr. Hudson at Gunners- 
bury House ; and at both of the well managed gardens connected 
witii these establishments a grand lot of Bouvardias were in full 
flower. On the whole they were the best lot of plants of this 
popular flower I have yet seen. Both the collections were totally 
dissimilar in character, Mr. Roberts’ being a good instance of what 
can be done in one season, while the greater portion of Mr. 
Hudson’s plants were large specimens two or more years old. 
Being a great admirer of Bouvardias, and well acquainted with their 
value in any place where superior cut flowers are required in 
quantity, I naturally asked for and obtained full particulars of the 
treatment given, and also permission to publish the same. 
We will take each separately, and commence with the young 
plants as grown at Gunnersbury Park. Cuttings of young growth 
are taken not later than March, and these are struck in a close 
frame with brisk bottom heat. When well rooted all are topped, 
and when breaking afresh are potted singly into 2i-inch pots, 
and before they are much root-bound are shifted into 5-inch pots 
and still kept growing in gentle heat. Before the young shoots are 
far advanced they are carefully pegged down, this causing the 
plants to push up strong sucker-like growths from the buried 
stems. A final shift into 7-inch and 8-inch pots was next given, 
and during the hottest part of the summer all were set out in full 
sunshine. The compost used consisted of equal parts of turfy 
loam, leaf soil, and Wood’s fertilising moss, and this evidently 
exactly suits the Bouvardia. Being housed before cold wet weather 
sets in they do not experience a check in any _way, and commence 
flowering immediately. It is the fine branching central growths, 
and which vary from 2 feet to 4 feet in height, that give such ex¬ 
cellent results. In addition to one grand terminal truss they pro¬ 
duce side flowering branches throughout their length, a long 
succession of bloom being obtained during the winter. Fully 300 
plants are thus freely grown, and these, arranged in a bank 33 feet 
by 8 feet, present an effect more easily imagined than described. 
They are given an intermediate temperature, and ought to be set 
not far from the g'ass. The very useful double white Alfred 
