September 24, 1891. ] 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
25& 
with clarified soot water. The latter has the great merit of im¬ 
parting vigour and colour to the leaves, and enables them to resist 
the attacks of insects. While in the open air the plants should be 
syringed daily during bright weather. Frequently the time when 
the plants suffer the most is just after they are housed ; frosty 
nights are followed by bright days, the ventilators being placed 
wide open creates a strong current of air and quickly produces 
atmospheric aridity. The plants must therefore be thoroughly 
well syringed during the middle of such days, and the floors and 
stages damped if they are constructed of absorbent materials. 
Plants of Salvia gesnerasflora, which have the pots filled with 
roots at this season, require another shift, as it is one of the latest 
to flower, and is difficult to keep in good condition till the flowering 
time arrives if the roots are much cramped. The finest plants I 
ever saw were placed into 14-inch pots at the end of September, 
the soil used being two parts good loam, one of thoroughly decayed 
hotbed manure, with a little soot and sand added. 
The planting out system answers well with Salvias, but when 
they are so treated the plants should be prepared for potting by 
cutting round the roots with a spade ten days before that opera¬ 
tion is performed. The best varieties that I am acquainted with 
are the following, all of which are good :— 
Salvia splendens Bruanti. —This is a great improvement on the 
old variety of splendens, being of dwarfer habit and the flowers 
more freely produced ; colour bright scarlet. 
S. Pitcheri. —An herbaceous variety, producing flowers in great 
profusion throughout the autumn months, and being of a bright 
blue colour i3 very desirable. 
S. rutilans. —This is charming and extremely useful plant, and 
ought to become widely known and cultivated. The habit of 
growth is neat and bushy, and the leaves emit a delicious Apple¬ 
like perfume, and its pretty magenta coloured flowers are produced 
at all times of the year, as after the central flower spike has faded 
flowering side shoots are produced in great profusion, especially in 
the case of old plants. For this reason a few old plants should 
always be kept for supplying cut flowers throughout the year, and 
other cuttings rooted at intervals from March to August, so as to 
produce plants suitable for decorative work during the autumn 
months, when after flowering the majority of them can be thrown 
away. 
S. Betheli. —Rose, shaded white. This produces flowers of a 
lovely colour during September and October. 
S. clulcis. —An extremely fine scarlet variety, producing flowers 
in December and January. 
S. gesnercejlora is one of the best known Salvias, producing its 
showy scarlet flowers in great abundance during March and April. 
The leaves of this variety are apt to turn rusty if subjected to dry 
atmospheric conditions. 
The best time to insert the principal cuttings of all varieties of 
Salvias is during April and May.— H. Dunkin. 
GATHERING, PACKING, AND STORING FRUIT. 
The gathering of the past, with its picturesque and time- 
honoured surroundings, will soon disappear wbh the advance of 
scientific practice, and the scaling ladder, the shaking process, and 
the pole to settle with survivors will soon be things of the past. 
In place of the ladder against the tree, a ladder with a wide base 
and a wide spreading back to make it self-supporting will save the 
bruising of the boughs. The hand-pick ng of all the fruit will 
save the trees and fruit buds from destruction, and the hand basket 
instead of the sack will save the fruit itself from irreparable 
damage. The modern plantation, with its low standards and bush 
trees, indeed brings the fruit much more within the reach of the 
operator, which is a great advantage in gathering, as well as in all 
other operations connected with the cultivation and treatment. 
Apples of the early varieties are gathered from the trees and 
sent direct to market, and it is important to gather them as early as 
possible. Many indeed may be gathered even before they are ripe, 
as allowance has to be made for the time that must elapse between 
the gathering and the consumption of the fruit, and many of the 
early varieties, such as Mr. Gladstone and Early Joaneting, ripen 
very quickly after gathering, and last but a few days in a fit 
condition for use. Even some of the later and midseason varieties 
may be gathered before they are ripe in cases where the crop is 
short and prices are high early in the season. It will then pay the 
cultivator to gather some varieties even before they have attained 
their full size. Warner’s King and Professor are two varieties 
that will often pay for gathering in this way. In gathering the 
bulk of the fruit, however, for home consumption of storing it is 
needful to allow them to remain on the trees until fully matured. 
A general fault perhaps is to gather them too early. The result of 
this is that the fruit shrinks, the rind shrivels, and the fruit has a 
soft leathery and unattractive appearance, besides which the quality’ 
is greatly deteriorated through not having been properly supplied 
with the juices and saccharine matter, which during the later 
stages of development produce the full flavour of the perfect fruit. 
Apples are mostly sent to market in sieves and half sieves, ami 
should be at once graded into the various sizes before being placed 
in the sieves. To sort the fruit provide a tray made for the pur¬ 
pose, lined with thick felt to prevent bruising. The fruit is 
emptied from the gathering baskets upon the trajs, and the sorter 
with the fruit in front draws it forward, and passes the various 
sizes to right and left into the different baskets, taking out alL’ 
diseased and inferior fruits. Make it an imperative rule never to 
place two varieties in the same basket. The ordinary style of 
gathering and sending to market Apples from farm orchards 
reminds one of the lines in the “Chronicles of a Clay Farm 15 ’ 
respecting the stirring of the clods :— 
“ Mingle, mingle, mingle, 
A'l ye who mingle may* 
Black spirits and white, 
Blue spirits and grey.” 
This is the best possible practice for the clods, but the worst for 
the Apples. The popularity of the foreign fruit sent to our 
markets has largely resulted from the care bestowed in this respect. 
A barrel of American Apples will be found of uniform size, and 
of one variety only. This is of the greatest importance to the 
housewife for cooking purposes. Some of the choicest specimens* 
of dessert Apples will well pay for a little extra labour in packing,., 
in order to present them to the customer in the most attractive 
form. Thus small boxes of neatly packed fruits of high quality 
will fetch a much higher price than if placed roughly in the ordi¬ 
nary basket, and we may also learn much from our French neigh¬ 
bours in this respect. 
The storing of Apples for midseason and late use is a subject' 
that should claim more attention than has hitherto been bestowed 
upon it ; much fruit being placed upon the market for immediate- 
consumption which is altogether unfit, and which would pay the 
grower well for storing until a later period. Many simple means 
may be found within reach of growers for this purpose.The irst 
condition is that such building should be inaccessible to frost- 
Secondly, the temperature should be maintained as equable a£> 
possible, and not exposed to any sudden rise or fall. Thirdly,, 
they should not be too dry, and some means of ventilation should 
be provided. A cave in a chalk bank, or a sandhill, makes an 
admirable Apple store, where all requirements are present with* 
the exception or fitting up the needful shelve*. Where this is 
impracticable it is sometimes the case that a barn or other farm 
building may be easily converted into a suitable store by the 
construction of an inside lining of match-boarding, the intermediate- 
space being filled up with sawdust, straw or hay. Where, however-, 
none of these means exist a simple store may he made by ex* 
cavating the soil, and throwing up a bank on either side, roofing it 
over with rafters, and covering with a thick coating of thatch. A 
large quantity of fruit may be safely stored in a simple structure- 
of this kind. 
But where numbers of varht'es have to be stored for private- 
use, consisting of a collection of dessert and culinary fruit, a more 
commodious building should be arranged, with plenty of room for 
examining and drawing from the fruit as required, as well as 
provision for plenty of light. Arrangements, however, should Be 
made to exclude the light completely when not required, as Apples 
keep better and retain their freshness more perfectly in the dark 
than in the light. But it will be necessary to provide double doors,. 
double walls, and double windows, and the position chosen should be- 
as sheltered as possible. Do not on any account introdu ce hot-water 
pipes into the Apple room, nor any means of artificial heat, but if 
properly constructed rely upon the double walls with the inter¬ 
vening air space to maintain the required temperature, and no 
anxiety need be felt if the temperature should fall several degrees- 
below freezing point during a continued frost, but in sunh cases 
when the thaw sets in keep the room close for some time after¬ 
wards, and allow the temperature to gradually rise. Any sudden 
change of temperature will affect the fruit more than anything 
else. The shelves in such a house may be tolerably close together 
—say 1 foot from each other—as the fruit should be placed thinly- 
upon them, not more than two layers one above the other. "Where 
many shelves are placed one above the other at a considerable 
height it is a convenient plan to make the upper ones to slide out 
in sections, like drawers, for the convenience of placing or removing 
the fruit as required. 
As to gathering, allow the late varieties to remain on the trees 
as long as possible, and they will not be damaged even by a few 
degrees of frost. Many people, alarmed by the falling of some of 
the fruit, gather their Apples much too early. If these f&ITfcm 
