548 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[ Eeeiaibcr 26,1889. 
fairly moist condition, and the period that the flowers will continue 
in good condition be extended very much. 
The worst places to keep these plants are hot dry rooms, but 
even there they may be had in fair health by free applications of 
water. These remarks apply more particularly to Erica hyemalis, 
E. caffra, E. gracilis, and E. melanthera, but young plants of 
E. Cavendishiana and the E. ventricosa, varieties which flower in 
spring, must on no account be allowed to be dried. The best 
position during winter is on a cool base, where the plants will 
require a minimum of water applied to keep the soil reasonably 
moist. 
The plants may be grown on for a second year in the same pots 
if care is taken to place them in a position where they are shaded 
from direct sunshine during the greater part of the day ; but such 
plants are of course not to be compared with those bought in. 
However, by transferring into larger pots fine plants may be pro¬ 
duced. Free drainage, good peat and sand firmly rammed in, and 
attention to watering, are the chief items to bear in mind. After 
repotting the plants must be kept close for the first ten days, and 
until May they will be better where the protection of glass can be 
given them, but thereafter the growths will be sturdier and more 
healthy if made in the open air.—B. 
LANCASHIRE PRIZE GOOSEBERRIES. 
Very few persons outside the exhibiting districts know any¬ 
thing about the large prize Gooseberries seen at the various 
Gooseberry shows in the midlands and the north, and the 
very great interest taken in their cultivation by working men 
chiefly. I have before me a copy of the “ Gooseberry Growers’ 
Register” for 1889, which records the exhibits and prizewinners at 
seventy-three Gooseberry shows held in Lancashire, Yorkshire, 
Staffordshire, and other northern counties during the year 1889 : 
also tabulated columns showing the number of prizes won by each 
variety at all the Gooseberry shows for the year. For instance, 
forty-eight varieties of reds were exhibited, a variety named 
Bobby taking 127 prizes of various degrees, and the heaviest berry 
of the lot weighing twenty-nine dwts. London follows next with 
eighty-nine prizes, Lord Derby eighty-eight, Clayton seventy-seven, 
Dan’s Mistake sixty-nine. Yellows : Leveller 155, Ringer 102, 
Lady Houghton eighty-one, Mount Pleasant, sixty-nine. Fifty- 
five varieties of yellow were shown at the various shows. In 
greens forty-five varieties were shown, and Surprise scored 105 
prizes, Stockweil ninety, Shiner eighty, and British Oak seventy. 
In whites forty-five varieties were staged, and Careless scored 
eighty-eight, Transparent eighty, Hero of the Nile seventy-six, 
and Antagonist fifty-five. A record is also given of the heaviest 
berry of the rear since 1809, each year recording the name of the 
sort and its weight, and the heaviest Gooseberry in all these years 
is London, exhibited in 1852, weighing over 37 dwts., but many 
others run it close in weight. For a long number of years the 
heaviest weighing Gooseberry of the year has ranged from 
27 to 36 dwts. 
Is the Gooseberry sufficiently valued as a dessert fruit ? may be 
very safely asked. Many of these prize varieties are thin-skinned, 
luscious, and deliciously flavoured when well lipened, and because 
the Goosebeiry is regarded as a common fruit, and so little attention 
is devoted to it, and so little knowledge exists amongst gardeners 
as to the merits of many of the prize varieties as a dessert fruit, 
that the poor Gooseberry is a neglected scion of our family of 
fruits beyond its uses for culinary purposes. An impression exists 
that they are poor croppers, but this is not the fact ; but to obtain 
very large fiuits for exhibition work thinning out is resorted to, 
and the plants get plenty of care. Well planted at first, with top- 
dressings and manure water in the fruit growing stage, but woe 
betide the exhibitor who does too much when the fruit is 
ripening. 
Of the varieties generally grown in our gardens old Crown Bob 
holds a place, and has done so for nearly a century. The Warring¬ 
ton or Ashton is everybody’s Gooseberry, so also is Whitesmith. 
Golden Drop or Early Sulphur, Green Gage, Rambullion, Whin- 
ham’s Industry are all first-rate, but none of these grow to the size 
of the Lancashire prize varieties. For delicious flavour give me 
still the old Red Champagne, small; but what a bonne louche when 
quite ripe. 
The caterpillar of the Gooseberry and Currant moth is a 
troublesome customer, but a little care at the proper time will do 
much to prevent its ravages. Either a top-dressing of gas lime or 
the removal of the top soil ai d burning it is one step, and the 
dressing of the trees before Christmas is another, using a mixture 
of softsoap and paraffin oil. Then a steady look out very early in 
the growing season for the caterpillar. These are all steps towards 
the preservation of the Gooseberry tree from the ravages of the 
caterpillar.—R ibes. 
Select Hardy Cypripediums. 
Among hardy plants we have none possessing so many charms^ 
as the best hardy Cypripediums. Several species are even more- 
beautiful than are many from tropical climes, and while the latter 
can only be grown in heated structures, and. are therefore expen¬ 
sive to cultivate, the former may be grown by a far more 
numerous body of amateur horticulturists, provided they give due 
attention to a few simple though essential details. Anyone making 
a start with hardy Cypripediums should bear in mind that they 
cannot well be accommodated in the border usually devoted to- 
hardy herbaceous plants ; therefore it is prudent not to put them 
there, as the idea of obtaining satisfaction from them in this posi¬ 
tion will be vain. The position best suited for their requirements 
is almost sure to exist in any garden, and if not it is easily made- 
One of the primary considerations should be a partially shaded, 
low-lying, and naturally moist place. The question of suitable soil 
will next require attention, for the right material will scarcely be 
forthcoming in many gardens, and the natural soil will therefore 
have to be removed to a depth of 2 feet. Prior to proceeding with 
this part of the work a rough idea of the outline of the bed should' 
be decided upon. This being done excavating the soil is simple 
enough. The soil being removed to the above depth, next cover 
the bottom with about 6 inches of brickbats, broken pots, or 
any similarly rough material that will form an efficient drainage,, 
for although decidedly moisture-loving, stagnant water or anything 
approaching it must be carefully avoided, and by covering the 
potsherds with moss litter or rough sods of common peat an effective^ 
drainage will be insured. _ 
The filling-in of suitable soil forms the next item. This should 
consist of rough fibrous or spongy peat and well decayed leaf soil in 
equal proportions, filling the hole to within 6 inches of the surface,, 
which, with the sides of the bed sloping to this level, would have a 
foot thick of soil for the Cypripediums. Such a position as this 
might remain a veritable home for these charming plants for many- 
years with au annual mulching of well decayed manure. 
In planting them it is only necessary to cover with about an 
inch of soil, spreading the roots out carefully, and not burying 
them in a mass to quickly decay and permanently injure the plants. 
This is important, particularly to those who have but little experi¬ 
ence with them. To commence with, I strongly recommend the 
following as not only perfectly hardy, but robust and vigorous 
also. 
C. spectabile must, of course, be allotted the first place, since- 
no other can equal this glorious plant when seen in established 
clumps in its full beauty. I have never forgotten the earliest plant 
I knew. Huge masses they were, producing six or eight stems, and 
each stem a pair of its lovely flowers. They were planted in a 
shady peat bed, which was favoured by a supply of water (at option)> 
from a fountain in a higher part of the garden. During summer 
the bed was always in a state of semi-saturation, which suited them 
splendidly. The plant grows about 2 feet high when established, 
producing leafy stems, and terminating with its charming flowers.. 
These vary considerably, the lip sometimes being of a bright rosy 
carmine, in others rose, while in many others the tinge of rose is 
delicate in the extreme, while the sepals and petals are white ; but 
whatever shade one may chance to have, all will be found chaste 
and beautiful beyond compare. This handsome species is a native 
of North America, whence our leading hardy plant dealers in¬ 
variably procure their supplies annually in December. I mention 
this fact for this reason, that if the plants are procured at once and 
planted as directed, the majority of the roots maybe preserved, a 
highly desirable matter where success is coveted. It may interest 
not a few who have no convenience for making an artificial bog 
for these and similar plants, that this charming species may be 
grown in pans of peaty soil kept moist, either in a shady corner of 
a cold frame or in the greenhouse ; in fact, many importations of 
less than twenty years ago, when its complete hardiness was not 
