526 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
f December 19, 1889. 
open, and no fault could be found with the quality, nor are, there 
any yet to supersede in that respect. It is admirably adapted for 
dessert purposes or eating uncooked just when ripe and fresh from 
the plant, but its size otherwise militates against it, especially 
when offered for sale. Connoisseurs are of opinion that it is the 
most pleasingly flavoured of all Tomatoes, and it may be they are 
right. Of the Large Yellow very little need be said. The only 
time I had it true to name was when seeds were had direct 
from America. It yielded very heavy crops in the open air, the 
fruit varying considerably in form, some being ill-shaped, others 
presentable, while all were of a clear orange yellow, and the worst 
in point of flavour of any variety of Tomato yet tried. Sutton’s 
Golden Nugget was the next noteworthy addition to the list of 
yellow fruited varieties, and this, again, proves much more fruitful 
against an open sunny wall than under glass. Each strong dis¬ 
budded stem is capable of perfecting four or five large racemes of 
fruit during a favourable season, these being small, oval-shaped, 
and of a deep yellow colour. Unfortunately the quality is not 
first-rate, otherwise it would be admirably adapted for dessert 
purposes. Given the flavour of Greengage, or even of Perfection, 
and it would be a model dessert variety. 
Carter’s Blenheim Orange or Apricot was the next in the yellow 
fruited section I had an opportunity of trying, and on the whole 
it is an advance in the right direction. It is of moderately strong 
growth, sets freely under glass or in the open, the fruit varying 
considerably in form, some being round and smooth, and others 
corrugated somewhat after the style of Large Yellow. The fruit 
are very clear skinned, the colour being a bright yellow with a 
tinge of crimson on the upper surface, this giving the fruit a very 
attractive appearance, a well selected dish, or such as was shown 
at the Chiswick Vegetable Conference, being very handsome. If 
eaten directly the fruits are ripe the flavour is brisk and good, or 
equal to most of the red varieties, and that is saying a good deal 
for a yellow Tomato. No Tomato is improved by being kept till 
it is over-ripe, but the yellow varieties appear to lose what little 
acidity they possess the most quickly. 
During the past season we had an opportunity of testing three 
other yellow fruited varieties in addition to those already named, 
each being perfectly distinct and more or less valuable. Daniel’s 
Golden Eagle belongs to the small round-fruited section, the fruit 
being produced in great clusters, and of the size and form of an 
Orleans Plum. It grows strongly, fruits freely under glass and in 
the open, the colour being orange yellow, while the quality is fairly 
satisfactory, especially when the fruit is grown under glass. Yellow 
King was grown against a sunny open wall. In everything but 
its colour and quality it much resembles the Mikado, being of 
robust yet fruitful habit, the leaves being large and broad, while 
the fruit is borne in large branching clusters, and attains a great 
size. In common with the Mikado the fruit varies in form, some 
being large and ugly, and others smooth, round, of great depth, 
and of a clear canary yellow. It is, however, a little flat in 
flavour. From New York comes the finest if not quite the best 
flavoured of all the yellow varieties. Henderson’s Golden Sunrise 
might be briefly described as being a yellow Perfection, and from 
an exhibitor’s point of view it is a great acquisition. With us it 
was of moderately strong growth, and against a sunny wall was 
exceptionally prolific. When growing, and before the fruit com¬ 
mences to colour, it might easily be mistaken for Perfection. 
When ripe very handsome dishes of large, smooth, round, clear 
yellow fruit were gathered, and which in a collection of varieties 
would tell well. There is room, however, for improvement in 
flavour, more acidity being wanted.—W. Iggulden. 
NOTES ON SHRUBS. 
In making standards out of old Laurel bushes and other shrubs, I 
cannot lay stress enough on the importance of having the old bushes cut 
before Christmas, and rather in November, if convenient. The second 
season after I began some experiments I was sadly put out, and lost a 
whole season, as well as a dozen fine Portugal Laurels, bv cutting them 
down to the ground in April, which is a good time for general pruning 
them, and, as I then thought, a good time to cut them close to the 
ground also ; but it is not so. It is true the stools will shoot out pro¬ 
fusely enough, but not so vigorously as to form clean stems the first 
year, without a constant pruning-in of the side branches through the 
growing season, and even then they would look knotty for a long time ; 
whereas, by cutting them late in the autumn, strong succulent shoots 
will rise as straight as ramrods, and as smooth as a gun-barrel. I was 
also thwarted about the time of ringing the bottoms, to facilitate the 
emission of roots. Ringing must be done at, or a little after, midsum¬ 
mer ; for. if you ring them any time in April or May, and cover the cut 
parts, a communication is soon formed by a new layer of bark. It was 
on a large stool of the Lilac, with thirteen strong suckers, and another of 
the common Privet, with nine suckers, that I first discovered that spring 
ringing has little influence in arresting the circulation, and I was rather 
surprised at the fact; but so it was, and, as the whole went through my 
own hands, I could not be mistaken. 
Standard Lilacs are very handsome when you can have them without 
the wilderness of suckers which they are so prone to send forth, and they 
are the easiest of all to make, except the snowball bearing Guelder Rose, 
which will make the most handsome of standards imaginable, and, in 
good soil, an old plant cut down will throw up suckers 7 or 8 feet high, 
with hardly a side branch. This and the common Lilac often throw up 
suckers, without the old plants being cut down, sufficiently long to make 
these standards, but unless they are well disbudded, and rings of bark 
cut out as above, you can never divest them of their natural way of pro¬ 
ducing suckers. 
The common Syringa (Philadelphus coronarius) is another deciduous, 
rambling shrub, as prone to give forth suckers as the Lilac, but, treated 
as standards, they make beautiful little trees, and the troublesome habit 
of producing a host of suckers is got rid of. They make elegant little 
trees, like standard Roses, for forcing, in the spring. There are several 1 
others of this genus which ought to be in every shrubbery, whether as- 
standards or huge bushes. These flower early in summer, and there is- 
another species that does not flower till July, and on that account is 
valuable, besides that it is a very handsome shrub ; the name is 
Gordonianus. In their natural way of growing these shrubs are little 
better than a Raspberry bush ; indeed they are more trouble than orna¬ 
mental that way, but train them into standards, and one could hardly 
believe how well they look. 
I had a handsome round-headed standard of the old-fashioned Fly 
Honeysuckle in bloom last May, and two young gardeners mistook it for 
Weigela rosea. Now, of all the weedy things in the world, this Honey¬ 
suckle is the queen or king, when allowed to ramble about after its own 
fashion. Therefore, if handsome manageable plants can be formed out- 
of such materials, surely it is better to have a good selection of them 
than to have grass plots and shrubberies stuffed with Laurels and half a- 
dozen other common things. 
The common Berberry makes a handsome standard, but how seldom 
is it tried that way, being only allowed to make a thicket of scrambling' 
suckers—choking up the shrubbery like other plants of the same habit. 
Yet when reared up on a clean straight stem, 5 or G feet high, it forms a. 
very interesting little tree, and while in fruit particularly so. There is- 
another form of it called the Asiatic Berberry, which, if possible, is a 
still more interesting little tree, with bunches of purple berries in th& 
autumn. This Berberry was distributed all over the country, and 
recommended for underwood in plantations, to shelter and feed game, 
for which use it is well adapted, and no poacher could force his way 
through a thicket of it, for it spreads from the roots as much as the- 
common Blackthorn. There is one more Berberry called B. aristata, 
a brittle-leaved Berberry, which, I think, would answer well as a standard, 
though 1 have not seen it grown that way. 
The Kerria japonica, with double yellow flowers, which may be seem 
in every old garden in the country, growing after the manner of the- 
Raspberry, would make a singularly beautiful standard if the stem did 
not rise above 4 or 5 feet high. The long slender branches first grow 
perpendicularly, and then bend over gracefully, like plumes of feathers, 
and, when in full blossom, the weight of the flowers weigh down the 
branches till their points nearly sweep the ground. 
The genus Spirma furnishes a host of plants, which produce suckers- 
in such numbers as to destroy each other. I never tried them, nor saw 
them tried by others, as low standards, but I am quite satisfied a great 
reformation could be made in their culture by getting rid of their 
suckers, and rearing them on single stems from 2 to 5 feet high, accord¬ 
ing to the growth. Spiraea Lindleyana, treated as a low standard, would 
form one of the handsomest plants that one could place on the grass, and' 
when not in flower might be mistaken for a Sumach tree. 
Speaking of Indian shrubs, where could you find a better subject for 
a handsome standard than the “ Beautiful Leycesteria ” of Dr. Wallich— 
a softwooded shrub, which caused a good deal of heartburning in this- 
country a few years since, having not proved what it was at first reported 
to be, and is already almost neglected. It is also one of the “ ne’er-do- 
wells,” if allowed its own way of growth, but elevate its handsome 
foliage, and its pendant clusters of flowers and fruit on a clean stem 
6 feet high, and, my word for it, you will create a sensation in your 
neighbourhood. It has no English name, but commemorates that of 
William Leycester, formerly chief judge at the Bengal Presidency. 
But enough; a book might be written on the subject, and not 
exhaust it. These examples are taken from the most common shrubbery 
plants—the most difficult subjects to deal with in any other way, and 
the least elegant in their modes of growth, when allowed to take their 
natural turn. Although I would strongly recommend this way of 
managing such plants, it is more for the purpose of getting rid of their 
propensity for throwing up a wilderness of suckers than for torturing: 
their heads into globular forms, like those of standard Roses. Indeed, I 
would rather let them take their natural way of growth, merely preventing- 
any large limbs or shoots being formed to derange the balance of their 
gro (vth ; and this is easily effected by stopping over-luxuriant growths 
occasionally, and by pruning the shoots in winter according to their 
size and strength—that is, the very short branches to be only a little 
shortened—the middle-sized ones to have one-half or two-thirds of their 
length cut off, and the small spray either cut out entirely, or cut into a 
few eyes, according to their position, and not allowing any to cross each 
other. This, of course, would be modified according to the way they 
produced their flowers after their head was properly set off. What would 
our Gooseberry and Currant bushes be if they were allowed their 
