490 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[ December 3, 1885. 
with those from other trees. One-third of long litter from the stables 
should he mixed with the leaves ; but this should be welt shaken out and 
thoroughly mixed with them, and the whole thrown into a heap in an 
open shed. If allowed to remain in this condition for two or three days 
fermentation will have commenced, when the whole should be turned 
daily to throw outrank steam. It is necessary to be careful in the pre¬ 
paration ot this material before placing it in the house, for if not properly 
prepared before the bed is made up the ammonia thrown off will discolour 
the paint of the house, and will give a strong violent heat for a short time 
only ; in fact, the material quickly decomposes if the bed when made up 
contains an excess of moisture. The time required for preparation will 
depend entirely upon the condition of the material as to moisture when the 
leaves and litter are first thrown into a heap. If well and judiciously 
prepared, and too much litter is not used, the bed inside the house will 
throw off a gentle moist heat, and continue to do so for a long time. 
This is what is needed, and the heat directly it displays any tendency to 
decline can soon be restored again by the introduction of a few barrowfuls 
of fresh material intermixed as the bed is turned over. When due care 
has been taken in the preparation of the material a few days only need 
elapse before the house can be filled with plants. 
At first such plants as Ghent, Mollis and Indian Azaleas, Lilacs, 
Deutzias, Spiraeas, Lily of the Valley, Tea Roses, Tulips, Hyacinths, and 
many other plants that it is necessary to bring forward, may be stood on 
the surface of the material for a few days or a week, and afterwards 
pluDged. The varieties of Azalea indica are best stood upon the surface 
and not plunged. The bed of fermenting material will at first supply 
plenty of heat without the aid of that derived from the hot-water pipes. 
Nothing is gained by starting these plants in a high temperature, for they 
may fail to move if a hard uphill system of forcing is adopted. If the 
plants have been previously prepared for early forcing, all that is needed 
is a close atmosphere and a little warmth to excite them into activity, 
and when once growing a higher temperature may be maintained 
until they commence to unfold their flower buds. Directly they reach 
this stage they should receive cooler and more airy treatment, so that 
the flowers when expanded will contain colour and substance. Tea 
Roses should not be subjected to a higher temperature than 55° at night, 
neither should the temperature of the forcing house exceed 60° after the 
plants are once started. An exception of this may be made in the case 
of Lilac, Lily of the Valley, and Spiraeas, for they will bear strong heat 
without injury. 
Hoses .—To succeed the Tea varieties introduced into the forcing 
house the next batch of plants should be under cover where they can 
be preserved from frost ready for introducing at any time, according to 
circumstances and the demand for flowers. The Hybrid Perpetuals in¬ 
tended for the earliest batch, and still outside, may now be pruned back 
and placed in a cool house. If required in bloom as early as possible, 
place the first batch in a vinery or Peach house ready for starting where 
the trees are intended to produce an early crop of fruit. The batch to 
follow them may have the protection of a cold house. The remainder of 
these varieties can remain outside for some time longer if the pots are 
plunged. All Tea varieties not yet wanted for forcing should be placed 
in cold frames or cool houses, where they can be protected from 
frost.—W. B. 
JUDGING PEARS AND GRAPES AT THE BATH SHOW. 
I think Mr. Ward has not improved his position by the use of the 
argument adopted on page 4G5. Not only did 1 express an honest opinion, 
but it was also the opinion of many practical gardeners, all known to both 
Air. Ward and myself, and whose names I could give, that errors of 
judgment occurred more especially in the Pear classes. Mr. Ward claims 
to have been consistent throughout the classes, but it has yet to be proved 
that consistency and correctness of judgment are necessarily conjunctive. 
In my opinion, Mr. Taylor’s Alicantes were very superior to any staged 
as far as finish and denseness of bloom were concerned, and should have 
been either first or third. They were not so “ gappy ” as Mr. Ward 
represents, neither were the third-prize bunches so “ dirty ” as he states 
they were. Mr. Nash, for whom I have great respect, is one of the 
most uniformly successful exhibitors at both the Bath and Bristol Shows, 
no one ever I should say grudging him his success, and his Alicantes are 
usually superb. This season he exhibited perfect bunches in August, but 
those shown at Bath were cut from overcropped Vines and were not so 
black as they might have been. When I used the word “ favoured ” I did 
not imply unfairness in decision, but, with the Editor’s permission I will 
withdraw it and substitute lucky. 
Mr. Ward did not, I think, attend the Bristol Show, yet he asserts that 
Messrs. Nash and Taylor “ occupied the same positions with the same 
Grapes there.” How does he know they were the same Grapes ? and even 
if they were, two bunches only instead of three as at Bath were shown, 
and thi? might easily have made a material difference. 
As to the Pears, I think it would have been better if Mr. Ward had 
let my criticism pass unnoticed. His estimate of Mr. Bannister’s six 
dishes of four fruits each, not six, was wide of the mark, as there was no 
Buch marked disparity as he asserts. What if Pitmaston Duchess were 
in one dish, and that very small sort Winter Nelis in another P or, to adopt 
Mr. Ward’s argument, what if three large-flowering Chrysanthemums 
wete on the same board as three Pompons? If the latter were to be 
included, and were as well grown as their bigger brethren, must the fact 
of their being naturally small necessitate their being “ passed My con¬ 
tention at the Bath Show was that each variety ought to have been 
judged on its own merits and without reference to its neighbours, and I 
repeat it here. Every dish Mr. Bannister staged was equally good. Ripe¬ 
ness had nothing to do with it, ripe fruit only being stipulated for in the 
case of a single dish of Pears. In the “Notes and Gleanings” of last 
week it will have been observed that the Bith Committee awarded Mr. 
Bannister an equal first prize. What Messrs. Coleman and Wildsmith 
would have done at Bath nobody knows, and their names might well have 
been left out.— Your Reporter. 
VENUS’S EARLY DWARF CABBAGE. 
If Mr. Venus has any Cabbages ready at the time when Mr. Inglis 
sends his collection to the Fruit Committee for their inspection he has no 
objection whatever to sending them, but as Howick is much earlier than 
Allerburn House, it is possible they m*y n t be ready at the same time. 
However, I enclose some seed of Venus's selection, an 1 if Mr. Inglis will 
send some of his perhaps the Editor will be kind enough to have them 
grown side by side, and under the same circumrian 'es, an I report thereon. 
This, I think, will be a fair way to decide the matter. 
Mr. Inglis understands that Yenu-’s Cabbage is a selection from Cook’s 
Early Dwarf, and that he is in p'-session of a selection from the same 
variety, which he believes is superior to that possessed by Mr. Venus. 
This is certainly an admission that Mr. Inglis thinks there is a difference 
in the two selections. 
It is nearly twenty year3 since a few Cabbage plants were selected 
from a seed bed and given to Mr. Venus. During all that time he has 
always selected the largest and finest for seed purposes. So long has this 
Cabbage been connected with the name of Venus, n 1 so familiar in this 
neighbourhood that, when recommending it, it never occurred to my mind 
to make any inquiry as to any original name that it might possess. 
I have only once seen Cook’s Early Dwarf growing. What I saw 
were more globular in form, and not near so large as wnat we have had 
from Mr. Venus. My only object in rec -m mending this Cabbage was 
simply to try and make more widely known a variety that I knew was of 
great merit, and I thought too little known 
During the past twenty-six yea's I have derived much pleasure and 
profit from the Journal of Horticulture , and thought I might be doing 
some good in recommending such an excellent article.—J oseph Oliver, 
Eslinqton Park, Alnwick. 
[We will have the Cabbages fairly tried if Mr. inglis sends us seed as 
suggested.] 
ALPINE PLANTS AND THEIR CULTIVATION. 
There has long been a general though erroneous idea that 
the culture of alpines is beset with great difficulty; this, though 
lessened during the past few years, is by no means fully dispelled, 
for many would gladly take Alpines in band, but they have no 
rockery, and appear to think that such a structure must be of 
great height. That such ideas are without foundation is obvious 
if we consider for a moment the great altitude at which many «f 
the choicest plants of Alpine regions are found. Is it not rather 
a matter for surpr-ise that we can successfully grow such numbers 
of them at home in the lowlands? Such great altitudes are not 
indispeusable in the culture of these plants nor do we require 
elaborate and expensive rockeries; indeed a n ;mber of them 
may be successfully grown in good soil oil an even surface. 
One of the primary points in the cultivation of alpines, and 
indeed any other class of plants, is a fondness for that particular 
group of plants. Nothing which may he written can in any 
degree compare with the picture presented by the Alpine region 
in flower, and nothing can in any way enlighten those who 
indulge in their cultivation so much as to see them growing in 
their native haunts. There is many a hint, many a small secret, 
to be gained as to their preference to this or that rock against 
which it may be growing. Happily, however, this preference of 
soils is confined to few species under cultivation since plants 
which are said to have a distinct hatred for such and such soil 
have been grown luxuriantly in that particular soil, so that it 
would appear that such precise preparations are not indispensable. 
This has repeatedly been the case during my own experience, and 
I may here mention two plants, hododendron ferrugineum and 
hirsutum ; the former in a wild state always (or nearly so) 
inhabiting granitic rocks, and the latter limestone; and not only 
do travellers recognise the two species by their habitats (for the 
flowers are very similar), hut they even assert that neither will 
grow on the opposite formation. Whether this be so or not I 
cannot determine, but neither limestone or granite is indispensable 
in the cultivation of the two species, both having grown in com¬ 
pany with Daphne cneorum and Andromedas in a mixture of 
peat, loam, and sandy grit. For another instance I would name 
Gentiana verna, one of the loveliest plants of the Alps, often 
found at high elevations and reputedly fond of limestone; the 
same plant, however, occurs, though less frequently, in England 
and Ireland, and when found within the limits of our own isle it 
is invariably in a rich loamy pasture. Seeing that it does admir¬ 
ably in loamy soils generally under cultivation, the limestone 
