256 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[ September 24, 1885. 
Under the system of resting detailed the Eucharis can be 
flowered three times during the year, but in order to accom¬ 
plish this no time must be lost. Some cultivators can bloom 
them four times, but this only leayes three months for the 
plants to make their growth, rest, and come into flower. 
For one year they may be flowered four times within the 
twelve months, but this cannot be accomplished the second 
and succeeding years. While growing the plants require 
abundance of water at their roots and over their foliage, and 
even while at rest no attempt should be made to thoroughly 
dry them, for they are evergreen. Weak stimulants will be 
required every time water is needed after the plants have 
exhausted the soil in which they are growing, but feeding only 
will be needed during the last growth when potted annually. 
Thrips and red spider will infest Eucharises, but this can 
be kept down by a free use of the syringe. Mealy bug is 
their worst enemy, which can be eradicated by sponging 
with a weak solution of any insecticide recommended for the 
destruction of bug. These plants do not bear a solution of 
petroleum and water, for the oil has a tendency to run down 
after it has been syringed upon the points of their leaves and 
finally turns them yellow.— Wm. Baedney. 
SOME THOUGHTS AND SUGGESTIONS ON 
FRUIT AND FRUIT-GROWING. 
[A Lecture delivered at Wrexham, Friday, September 11th, 1885, before the North 
Wales and Border Counties Pomological Society, by Mr. E. J. Baillie, F,L.S.] 
C Continued from page 845.) 
THE GOOSEBERRY. 
Then there is the Gooseberry crop. This is one of the staple 
products of fruit cultivation. I was in the south of England in 
the early days of June, and it was a wonderful sight to see the 
Gooseberry pickers. Truck after truck is filled at the wayside 
station, and tons of fruit leave the country centres every day for 
the London markets. The ripe fruit of the Gooseberry has never 
been quite so popular, but if well grown, carefully gathered, and 
packed as dessert fruits ought to be packed, there is no reason 
why the better varieties should not be brought into more pro¬ 
minent demand. Currants, too, may he grown under almost any 
conditions, and at very slight expense. As a rule, Gooseberries 
are planted between the rows of the larger trees, but latterly 
plantations have been made and acres covered with Gooseberries 
alone. In this case the bushes are planted, say, 6 feet apart and 
6 feet between the rows, requiring about 1200 or 1250 bushes to 
the acre. If the ground is too moist and heavy the trees have a 
tendency to carry moss, and in such a condition I have seen soot 
recommended as a good remedy. There is a fashion in Goose¬ 
berries as well as in other things, and, as a rule, a large dark- 
coloured fruit will have preference in the market. There are 
enemies in plenty to be taken into account, but we will not go 
into this aspect of the question. 
CURRANTS AND RASPBERRIES. 
Of the Currants the Black Currant is probably the safest 
investment. It is easily propagated, almost always a sure crop, 
commands a ready sale in the market, and is much safer from 
the ravages of birds than other kinds. The Raspberry is a fruit 
at once prolific and profitable, and ought really to find better 
favour even than it does at present. The rapidity with which it 
ripens, and the succulent pulpy character of the fruit, makes it 
difficult to deal with for distant markets, as it suffers considerably 
in transit. This is a serious drawback from a commercial point 
of view, but it is a fruit that ought to be abundantly grown for 
local demand. The plants may be planted in rows 2 feet apart, 
with from 12 to 18 inches between the plants. They flourish 
best on dry ground and in a somewhat sheltered situation. As 
the fruit is most abundantly borne on lateral branches produced 
near the top of the preceding year’s shoots, great care should be 
taken in regulating the pruning. The number of suckers or 
canes, as they rise in spring, should be calculated, the old canes 
being removed in the autumn, and the new canes be shortened 
and fastened to stakes, as they will be the fruitful plants of the 
next year, or to save stakes the new canes may be bent into 
arches and tied together, and this is a good method of training. 
THE BILBERRY AND THE BLACKBERRY. 
We must not leave the small fruits without naming at least 
two not generally recognised as cultivated fruits. I allude to the 
Bilberry and the Blackberry. The Bilberry is just creeping into 
cultivated ground, with what chance of success and profit it is 
perhaps premature to judge, but for clothing hitherto barren 
mounds and banks it ought to be recognised as worth attention. 
The Blackberry ought really to be one of the fruits of the future, 
especially if the illustration of the Wilson Junior Blackberry is 
at all reliable, and it is said to be taken from a photograph, I 
observe. In Herefordshire tons of Blackberries are gathered 
yearly, collectors get them together, and they are sent to the 
chief centres of population, mainly in the north. The Black¬ 
berry is not particular as to soil, but if it is particularly poor it 
should be well manured and well cleaned. In America the 
Blackberry is extensively grown, and in field culture the young 
canes are planted 3 feet apart in the rows, and 8 feet from row to 
row. The young canes are shortened back to within 5 or 6 feet 
of the ground. The best time for planting is the month of 
October. But the Blackberry presents another feature which 
should commend it. As a decorative plant for old walls or old 
fences it has few equals, and whilst pleading the eye for the 
greater part of the year, as it is always interesting and at¬ 
tractive, from its first early leafage in spring to its rich autumn 
foliage, which is not impaired by ordinary conditions more or 
less affecting other ornamental plants, and the leaves do not fall, 
as a rule, until quite late in the season. The varieties of this 
fruit best adapted for cultivation are the Wilson Junior, 
Dorchester, Lawton, and Parsley-leaved. 
THE APPLE. 
We must now give some attention to the most important 
of our British fruits, the Apple. It is true that the Apple has 
not even yet received the attention it deserves, and I think the 
main reason may be that its value as food is not rightly realised, 
Upon this aspect of the question we will have some few words, 
but just now we must consider the Apple as we find it. It is, as 
you know, the popular fruit in the farmer’s orchard, and with 
the enterprise of the times it is astonishing that such poor speci¬ 
mens, both as to condition of the trees and quality of the fruits, 
should be allowed to cumber the ground. Varieties that would be 
most interesting from an antiquarian point of view, the trees 
covered with moss and lichen, continue year after year to bring 
their poor return of worthless fruit, and it never seems to strike 
the owner that it is time to remove the venerable old cripples 
and have some more in keeping with the wants of the times. 
Well may America continue to send us her Pippins, seeing we 
have not yet learned to grow properly for ourselves. In 1882 
England paid £783,906 for Apples alone, and the demand is 
undoubtedly increasing. An interesting point suggests itself 
here, that of improving the quality of the British Apple. This 
subject of hybridisation need not be touched to-night, but there is 
ample room for profitable practical expeiiment in this direction. 
As to the kinds best suited for different localities, the report 
of the Committee of the National Apple Congress held in the 
Royal Horticultural Gardens, Chiswick, in October, 1883, gives 
valuable information. I find Wales was almost unrepresented, 
but Cheshire exhibited 336 kinds. A few extracts from that 
report as applied to the county exhibits may not be inappropriate 
here. Mr. Bancroft of Audlem exhibited a collection of fruits, 
reported to be somewhat small and deficient in colour, many 
being unknown, probably of local unnamed sorts. The exhi¬ 
bitor remarked that they had been grown on old standards 
grafted on stocks raised chiefly from Apple pips. Mr. Bancroft 
mentioned that to his personal knowledge ten distinct varieties 
were all called John Apples. There is work evidently for the 
Pomological Society there. The next exhibit noticed is that of 
Messrs. F. and A. Dickson & Sons, Chester, who sent an exhibit 
of 100 varieties. The observations read—“A remarkably fine 
collection, the examples large and well grown.” The exhibitors 
remarked that the specimens shown had been gathered from 
bush and pyramid trees, from three to six years old, grafted on 
the Paradise stock. The situation open, fully exposed to the 
bleak cutting winds blowing right across from the open plain 
extending to the Welsh coast. Messrs. James Dickson & Sons 
exhibitedan interesting collection half gathered from trees worked 
on the Crab, the other from those on the French Paradise. 
There were other exhibits from the county, including a splendid 
collection of sixty-seven varieties, exhibited by Mr. Selwood, gar¬ 
dener to His Grace the Duke of Westminster at Eaton. Mr. Sel¬ 
wood remarked that most of the dessert varieties were grown on 
espaliers, the others on bush trees seven years old. This is a 
good Apple, distinct, and a crop more or less can generally 
be depended upon. In the census I find the following varieties 
were recommended in the order given as dessert Apples best 
suited to the district—Irish Peach, Blenheim Pippin, Cox’s 
Orange Pippin, Ribston Pippin, Kerry Pippin, Adam’s Pear- 
main, whilst other kinds, including Mr. Gladstone, came in for 
, half the number of votes—this remark has of course no political 
