588 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[ December 31, 1885. 
cut off), and again cankered after the next winter. I have also some young 
Apple trees which were healthy until the hot summer of 1881, after 
which they were badly cankered, and more so after this late hot 
summer. The first is quite a different-looking disease to the last, and 
appears to be caused by rupture of the sap vessels by frost. The last 
sort of canker I attribute to the drought sending the roots down deep 
after moisture into an unfavourable subsoil, and the disease eats right 
into the wood. Our top soil is a rich fertile loam interspersed with 
debris of the limestone called Kentish rag. The subsoil is red and clayey, 
likewise full of stones, and the natural drainage is good. The sub¬ 
soil I believe contains a good deal of iron, which I regard as a cause of 
canker, and which opinion is corroborated by the interesting information 
given by “Thinker” on page 536. This subsoil is called locally “red- 
pin.” Since reading in the Journal the observation of the late “ Single- 
handed,” that the acids always present in humus act as solvents on the 
mineral plant-food present, and when they reach the iron, which binds 
some subsoils into pans, it is dissolved, and the pan put an end to,” the 
manures which I have applied have been principally those which furnish 
humus, and which always attract and hold water best of all soil ingredi¬ 
ents, and would therefore tend to keep the roots from going into the sub¬ 
soil after water. It is a fact that the red soil in the neighbourhood 
is deficient in humus, and fruit trees growing in it are more subject to 
canker, while the opposite is the case with the more loamy soil. Varie¬ 
ties which flourish in the latter, even if full of springe, are killed with 
canker in the former even where there is good natural drainage. The 
deduction is that much iron in the soil causes canker, and that a plentiful 
application of the humus will cause the iron to dissolve and get washed deep 
down from the roots, but I have not had sufficient time to prove it 
on my own ground. 
I remember Mr. Bunyard telling me that a gentleman cured canker 
by a plentiful application of wood ashes round the roots. I have often 
wondered what was the reason of it. First, If it was due to the large 
quantity of potash they contain, and either it or phosphorus or other 
mineral supplying the tree with some element needed to sustain a healthy 
growth ; humus or decayed vegetation would also mean plenty of potash 
and similar minerals, only unburnt. Second, If it was due to the action 
of these minerals in dissolving iron in the soil; or, third, if it simply 
caused the production of surfaee roots in the good soil, but this would 
not bring the lower roots up. Perhaps Mr. Bunyard can give us some 
further information as to whether the tree or trees were dug up and 
replanted, &c.— Walter Kruse, Maidstone. 
Mr. Hiam has done well to draw special attention to this subject, 
tshich, in spite of our professed improvements in fruit culture, still appears 
to be rather on the increase than otherwise. He may have somewhat 
overshot the mark in ascribing this malady solely to insect agency ; not¬ 
withstanding, it is highly prffable that a very large per-centage of the 
cases classed as canker have originated from and increased by insect 
ravages only. In support of this belief I knew of one special and striking 
instance where an old, long-neglected, and much-cankered orchard of 
Apple trees was completely restored to health by thorough periodical 
dressings over stems and branches, and where the roots received no 
attention beyond a light annual surface-dressing with well-decomposed 
manure. I should say, however, that the soil, if not the situation, was 
considered favourable to their growth, and so rapid was their improve¬ 
ment that in a few years afterwards scarcely a trace of the disease could 
be discovered. It may be said, indeed it is stated in your last week’s 
impression (page 529) that such cases “ are not canker, as the term is gene¬ 
rally understood.” Such may possibly be so, but to discriminate between 
them and say which is real canker engendered by internal ailment, and 
which is produced by external agency, be it animal, atmospherical, or other 
cause, is indeed difficult to decide. There cannot be a doubt, however, 
but that in some unsuitable situations and soils canker is exceedingly pre¬ 
valent, and the difficulty, in some instances the impossibility, effecting a 
cure, or of even checking its increase, seems to point conclusively to other 
than insect agency as the cause of the evil. 
That some few kinds of soil seem to exert a prejudicial effect on fruit 
trees by inducing canker and disease some time after they have been 
planted therein cannot be disputed, but it is not improbable that this evil 
is often more due to unsuitability of position rather than to any hurtful 
chemical constituents of the soil. By this I mean that if planted in the 
same kind of soil, but in a drier, warmer, and more elevated position, the 
trees would in all probability grow less luxuriantly and continue altogether 
free from the disease. 
' It i 9 this over-luxuriant growth, enforced by too damp positions and 
by too stimulating treatment, as well as by the frequent mutilation, some¬ 
times mis-called pruning, that we have most to fear. This strong growth 
is for a time very promising, and will perhaps continue to be so as long 
as favourable springs aod, what is still more important, suitable autumns 
for thoroughly ripening it continue, but the first unfavourable autumn, 
succeeded by a severe winter or spring, will produce such evil results as 
will quickly and 'permanently develope into canker in almost every 
branch, except perhaps on a few trees possessing hardier constitution-". 
How plainly does the instance mentioned by Mr. Warner (at page 540) 
of one variety of Apple being free from canker while another, although 
growing on the same stem, is diseased, point to this conclusion. 
C° ul<1 we but impart the constitutions of Cox's Orange Pippin and 
Wellington to Ribston and Golden Pippio, or that of Beurr6 de Capiaumont 
and Dunmore Pears to Glou Morqeau and Easter Beurrd, we should have 
but little to complain of in respect to canker, even in this unsuitable and 
changeable cl'mate. Some few kinds of soil may, without the presence 
of any other predisposing cause, possibly produce canker, but they are, I 
think, few indeed. That soil highly impregnated with iron may and 
sometimes does have an injurious effect on Apple trees in some positions 
is also possible, an instance of which 1 believe I once saw ; but when these 
trees were removed to a higher position a short distance away, where the 
soil was equally impregnated with iron, and where they quickly outgrew 
the disease and afterwards continued free from it, I was compelled to 
change my belief. In respect to the canker or gumming peculiar to many 
kinds of stone fruits referred to by “ An Old Gardener ” (page 529), what¬ 
ever may be the precise physiological disarrangement in the tree which 
engenders it seems likely to be veiled in mystery, but there can be no doubt 
whatever that unsuitability of climate is the main predisposing cause. When 
this can be remedied and other details of cultivation are reasonably and 
judiciously carried out, canker or gumming almost wholly disappears, thus 
showing most plainly that unsuitable climate, and not soil nor insects, is 
the worst factor in producing canktr.—T. Challis. 
COVERING SEAKALE CROWNS. 
In the “ Work for the Week,” page 525, it is recommended that the 
soil from between lines of Seakale be put upon Seakale crowns to bleach 
them. I have found that where soil is used alone, and is at all adhesive, 
it cripples and sometimes breaks the Kale in its struggle to get through the 
soil. To avoid this we mix coal ashes, old leaf soil, and sometimes seasand 
with the soil. Either of these materials will do to lighten the soil, but 
having leaf soil and seasand at hand, we find useful for working into the 
soil for future vegetable crops. 
A few words a9 to our practice may not be out of place at this season, 
as where this vegetable is appreciated most gardeners are now busy taking 
up the old crowns for forerng. In taking up the plants many of the large 
roots will be broken off, and others that are not necessary are broken as 
the work of lifting proceeds ; these are all saved, and covered either with 
sand or soil until a wet or unsuitable day for outdoor work comes ; they 
are then taken to house and made into cuttings about 4 inches in length, 
the top being cut quite flat, and bottom slanting for the purpose of know¬ 
ing the top from bottom, as we find that when cuttings are planted the 
wrong end up the crown starts from the bottom, consequently is some 
time reaching the surface of the soil, and is very weak. Alter the 
cuttings are made they are again covered with soil or sand to keep 
them fresh until a suitable piece of ground is made ready in early spring 
by deep trenching, and at the same time working in well-decayed manure, 
seaweed, and sand. A line is then put down in centre of double line; 
we make holes with dibber on both sides of the line at 6 inches from it, 
and alternate. These double lines are 3^ feet apart, thus giving us ample 
room to mix the material above described with the stiff soil to put on 
the crowns, which are covered 1 foot deep. In this way we get very fine 
heads, many 1 lb. weight, from spring cuttings, and of good quality. Our 
early supply is taken up in the usual way, and either forced on slight 
hotbeds of leaves, or in boxes or pots under stages of any heated house, 
but our bed quality Kale is got by covering where it grew.—W. O., 
Fata Island, Corlt. 
NOTES ON CHRYSANTHEMUMS. 
Among gardeners no other flower, not even excepting the Rose, can 
lay claim to such popularity as the Chrysanthemum, and every season 
adds hundreds to the lists of growers. The Chrysanthemum season 
serves to bridge over some of the months which at one time were usually 
the dullest in the year. 
The season of 1885 cannot by any means be said to have been highly 
favourable to the production of high-class blooms in great abundance, and 
never before probably were there so many disappointments. The exces¬ 
sive heat of the summer, coupled perhaps with a scarcity of water, left its 
mark on great numbers of plants, and then to make matters worse we in 
the south experienced severe frosts before the greater portion of the 
plants were housed. This appeared to have been most injurious to the 
very forward and latest buds. The effect of first the hot weather and then 
the early frosts was less apparent, I might say was unobservable, in the 
classes for cut blooms, but the specimen-trained plants, as far as my ex¬ 
perience goes, told a very different tale, many being shown that were very 
poor indeed. Only a few being grown, the exhibitors had no choice in the 
matter ; but plants to provide cut blooms being more numerous much less 
difficulty was experienced in selecting the required numbers. The frost, 
however, quite spoilt the chances of several intending exhibitors, some of 
whom I hope to see well to the front next season. A friend in the extreme 
north of England informs me that their plants were uninjured by frosts, but 
we dwellers in the “sunny south ” would be surprised to hear that the 
bulk of his Chrysanthemums were not yet at their best, and as this was 
about December 10th this grower should put in appearance at the January 
Show of the National Chrysanthemum Society. Chrysanthemum shows 
do not appear to be at all numerous in the northern counties, but there is, 
I should imagine, no reason why there should not be many of them, only 
they must be held in December instead of November. 
There were naturally plenty of disappointed exhibitors in this district, 
but as a rule I heard but little grumbling at the awards of the judges. 
The greatest bother was about synonyms being included where distinct 
varieties are stipulated for, while doubt existed in some quaiters as to the 
sections to which some varieties rightly belonged. I was somewhat sur¬ 
prised to find that Mr. Hobbs, one of the best known Bristol amateur 
exhibitors, should have felt justified in including Empress of India ani 
Mrs. Cunningham in a stand of twenty-four distinct large-flowered varie- 
