88 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[ July 30, 1885. 
- Respecting Earthing up Celery, “An Old Grower” re- 
Gommends that unless it is required very early in the autumn, earthing up 
should be deferred until it is almost full grown. It is then cleaner and 
firmer than when earth is put to it from the first and at different times 
throughout its growth. From three to four weeks is sufficient to blanch 
it, and his December Celery is not earthed up until early in November. 
Worms are not plentiful then, and they rarely injure it, while loss from 
damp is trifling, as the stems are so hardy before the soil is put against 
them. 
- “A Kitchen Gardener” says that his best Summer Cabbage 
Lettuces this season are Yeitch’s Perfect Gem and Webbs’ Summerhill. 
The former is close-growing, very compact, dark green, and good in 
flavour ; the latter, the largest of all, remarkably tender and deliciously 
crisp. Those who grow these two fine Lettuces from April until October 
will never be without material for first-rate salads. 
- Watering Winter-flowering Plants. —Owing to the incessant 
demand for water at the [roots of rows of Peas, Beans, Califlowers, Let¬ 
tuce, and Celery plants, pot Strawberries, &c., consequent upon the long 
spell of tropical heat, winter-flowering plants which had been planted out 
in a suitable situation and soil early in June are likely to get overlooked 
in the matter of applying water to their roots. Where this has been the 
ease no time should be lost in giving them all a good soaking. Plants of 
the Calla (Richardia aathiopica), which is a particularly moisture-loving 
plant, are more likely to suffer from an insufficiency of water at the roots 
than are any of the other plants which are subject to the same treatment 
as they are. Therefore, in the absence of rain the plants should have 
frequent and liberal supplies of water to encourage growth, which is 
unusually backward in these plants this year. 
- An American Hailstorm.—A despatch from Poughkeepsie, New 
York, dated 6th inst., says :—At Chatham, Columbia County, hailstones 
fell last night measuring from 1 to 4 inches in diameter. People were 
knocked down and severely wounded ; horses ran away in fright; dogs 
went yelping up the street bleeding from cuts; tin roofs were perforated ; 
corn was cut away entirely, leaving only the stalks standing, and robins, 
sparrows, and ether birds were found either dead at the foot of trees or 
with broken wings or legs. The storm was apparently about four miles in 
width, and did not last over ten minutes. Hardly any wind accompanied 
it, aid but little thunder and lightning. 
- Stephanotis flortbunda.— Two plants of this popular stove 
climber, popular by reason of the chastity and sweetness of its pure 
white flowers, which are growing in 14-inch pots, resting on two hot 
water pipes, as they have for years past, in the central pit of a small 
stove not far from where we write, yield annually a profusion of large 
trusses of finely developed flowers. The shoots, which at the present 
time are showing trusses of flowers from the axil of every leaf to the tips 
of the young growths, are trained to a trellis fixed underneath the roof, 
and over the sides of which well-flowered shoots depend gracefully and 
effectively when contrasted with a variety of other flowering plants_ 
Ferns and Palms, with which they intermix. These plants were some¬ 
what reduced at the roots last spring prior to potting them in well- 
drained pots in a mixture of two parts peat and one of loam, with suffi¬ 
cient sharp sand added to keep the whole open, and after the roots had 
pushed well into the new soil they bad a surface dressing of Beeson’s 
manure once or twice a week, the virtues of which repeated waterings 
wash down to the roots with considerable advantage to the plants. 
- In the same house is a well-flowered plant of AllAmAnda 
Hendebsoni growing in a 10-inch pot, the shoots being trained up to a 
trellis underneath a portion of the back part of the roof. The large hand¬ 
some trumpet-shaped flowers, of a beautiful soft yellow in colour, of this 
easily managed and very showy stove climber, command nearly, if not 
quite, as much admiration from lady visitors as the more chaste and 
sweetly scented Stephanotis does. The treatment accorded to the latter, 
as regards potting and watering, is found equally suitable for the Alla- 
manda, as well as for a similarly grown plant of Clerodendron Balfouri- 
anum at the other end of the house. 
-National Pear Conference, 1885.—The crop of Pears this 
present season being generally abundant and good, an extremely favour¬ 
able opportunity is presented for the examination of the numerous 
varieties cultivated throughout the country. The Council of the Royal 
Horticultural Society has therefore decided to hold a conference on Pears 
(of a similar character to that so successfully adopted in regard to Apples 
in 1883), in the great conservatory at Chiswick, commencing on the 21st 
October next. This conference will not assume the form of an ordinary 
exhibition—there will be no competition and no prizes—the objects being 
the dissemination of useful knowledge on the varieties most suitable for 
cultivation, to compare their merits and to correct their nomenclature, 
and generally to render the meetiug instructive to fruit-growers. The 
collection of Pears grown in the Gardens, which contains many typical 
varieties, will be available for comparison. Growers of fruit will have in 
this Exhibition an opportunity of correcting or verifying the nomencla¬ 
ture of their own fruits, by bringing specimens with them and making a 
personal examination. Every possible assistance will be given by 
members of the Committee to such inquirers. All fruit-growers are 
invited to contribute, and the more widely the collections are procured 
the greater will be the interest created. No limit will be placed on the 
number of varieties anyone may see fit to send, and it is not necessary that 
they should be the products of his own grounds. The Council desires 
that an effort be made to procure representatives of all the varieties that 
are grown in the various districts, and that all should be distinctly labelled 
with the name or names under which they may be grown in their respec¬ 
tive localities. It is very desirable that every collection should be 
accompanied with as much information as caube furnished with regard to 
soil, stocks, exposure, and physical conditions of the districts from which 
they are gathered, &c., to aid the Committee, if necessary, in drawing up 
their report. Cards and forms for this purpose will be supplied by the 
Secretary to all exhibitors on application. The specimens being strictly 
for examination, they must necessarily be at the disposal of the Commit¬ 
tee where required. As the early varieties of Pears will be over before 
the time fixed for the conference, it is desirable that specimens of these be 
sent to any of the meetings of the Fruit Committee preceding the confer¬ 
ence. These should be addressed to the Secretary, Fruit Committee, 
Royal Horticultural Society, South Kensington. Exhibitors are requested 
to send not les3 than two or more than six fruits of a kind for the 
purposes of comparison. Notice of intention to exhibit must be given to 
the Secretary, Mr. Barron, not later than Wednesday, the 14th October, 
stating the number of varieties to be exhibited and the amount of space 
that will be required. Consignments of fruit—to be staged by the Com¬ 
mittee—should be addressed to the Secretary for delivery on or before 
Monday, the 19th October. The carriage will be paid by the Society. 
Heavy packages to be sent per goods train. Exhibitors staging their own 
fruit may do so on Tuesday, the 20th, or on the morning of the 21st, so as 
to be ready for the inspection of the Committee at 1 P.M., when the 
Exhibition will be opened. All exhibitors will be admitted to the Gardens 
free, and will receive tickets in proportion to the extent of their exhibits 
for the admission of friends. 
GRAPES CRACKING. 
It appears by “ A Thinker's ” last letter that he is highly pleased with 
the progress he has made in converting bis opponents in this discussion to 
his own view of the manner in which he thinks endosmosic action takes 
place in Grapes, causing some varieties to crack. He makes it appear that 
in my first letters on this subject I totally denied the existence of the 
principle of endosmose. He is entirely mistaken. Wbat I have all along 
said, and still maintain, is that vapour does not pass through the skin3 of 
Grapes and in this way cause them to crack. 
“ A Thinker” argued that because the Grapes shown at Manchester by 
Mr. Mclndoe cracked in the tent there, being separate from the Vine, the 
excessive moisture which caused them to burst must necessarily have 
found its way into the berries through the skins, as it could not be supplied 
by the Vine then so many miles away. To illustrate that vapour might 
find another channel to get into the berries, I pointed out that cut flowers 
and vegetables after separation from the roots drew their supply of 
moisture through the cut stem, but I did not for a moment think that this 
could be construed to imply a denial of the action of endosmose through 
the leaves and petals of flowers and vegetables. 
I believe also in endosmosic action in all kinds of fruits, but in quite 
a different way from that upheld by “ A Thinker.” It acts through the 
roots and stems, and even when the former are absent it takes place 
through the stem alone for a time when circumstances are favourable. 
But to excite this action to a strength sufficient to burst the berries of 
thin-skinned varieties of Grapes or Cherries either, the temperature must 
be high, accompanied with sufficient moisture. 
To my mind, if the skins of Grapes were porous and favourable to the 
actions of endosmose and exosmose, Mr. Mclndoe’s Grapes at Manchester 
would have cracked on the second or third day of the Show, as it rained 
on these days, and, consequently, the atmosphere would be loaded with 
moisture ; but, instead of that, it apparently took place on the fourth and 
sunny day. Would vegetables and flowers which freely admitted the action 
of endosmose direct through their leaves and petals not have been most 
charged with moisture on the wet and sunless days, while on the hot day 
