JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[ Jauua-y If 1 , 1E89. 
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noted, is enormous as to size. Onions were noteworthy, inasmuch 
as there was no getting them to stop growth. 
With fruit I am afraid it can only be said to have been an unsatis¬ 
factory season. Quite half of the Strawberries absolutely decayed, 
and of those -which remained very many were badly coloured and of 
poor flavour. Raspberries were later, and on the whole better than 
usual. Carters’ Prolific and Northumberland Fillbasket both very 
fine. On autumn sorts nothing. Blackberries on walls also failed 
to ripen in any quantity. Cherries fairly good, late, and many 
destroyed with wet. Plums were very deficient ; Victoria, Wash¬ 
ington, and Jefferson being the only ones which did fairly well of 
the main crop sorts. But the best of all was a large tree of White 
Magnum Bonum, which bore a large crop, and kept ripening until 
late in the autumn. This tree had been condemned, as it generally 
was unsatisfactory, but this season’s service has saved it. Figs were 
very good, not large, and continued ripening longer than usual. 
Peaches were very good, beautifully coloured, and extended the 
season up to November. The present has been a good Peach year 
in the north. Of Apricots we had a full crop, and although the 
best, Moorpark especially, were irremediably damaged by the wet 
at midsummer, sufficient remained to make it a very good Apricot 
year. The fruit was coloured very highly, ripened badly until late 
in the season, when they ripened much better. The Moorpark 
family was the least satisfactory. 
The best Pear this season has been Marie Louise. We are now 
using the last, and have had it in almost constant use since the end 
of October. Williams’ Bon Chretien was also a very good crop, 
highly coloured, but soon past; Knight’s Monarch has ripened 
early, and of a very rich flavour ; Winter Nelis has also ripened ; 
Crasanne and Passe Crasanne, both good ; Beurre Bachelier, 
Beurre Diel, Triomphe de Jodoigne, Beurre Ranee, and Glou 
Mor§eau are here in Mid-Lothian only fit for cooking. Very 
many trees were innocent of fruit, or very nearly so. Jargo¬ 
nelle was excellent. 
The Apple crop is generally considered a failure. We had 
them fairly abundant. The best croppers were Warner’s King, of 
better quality than usual ; Lord Grosvenor, a capital Codlin, which 
is keeping well ; Ecklinville Seedling, very good ; Mere de Menage, 
a large crop, but smaller than usual ; Northern Greening, a large 
crop of good fruit ; New Northern Greening, very good ; Peck’s 
Pleasant, New Hawthornden, Gascoigne’s Scarlet, each very good. 
The following not nearly so good as usual Keswick, Lord Suf- 
field (very badly cankered in fruit), Rymer, Stirling Castle, 
Duchess of Oldenburg, King of Pippins, Ribston Pippin, Margil, 
Cox’s Pomona, Cellini, Cobham, Sturmer Pippin, Fearn’s, Court 
Pendfi Plat, and Reinette de Canada. As a rule fruits are better 
coloured than usual, but that I attribute to the strong sunshine in 
early summer. Many varieties, even in young healthy trees, there 
was not a fruit to be seen. There can be no doubt of the wisdom 
of planting a good number of trees of each sort of good standard 
varieties in a season like the present, when so many have 
failed, these secure us against a bare fruit room. I have added 
some fifty newer sorts to our large collection, and this year the 
only ones really worth recommending have been Potts’ Seedling, 
New Northern Greening, Peck’s Pleasant, Gascoigne’s Scarlet, 
New Hawthornden, Lord Grosvenor, and perhaps Duchess of 
Gloucester.—B. 
JASMINUM NUDIFLORUM. 
This is one of the few outside flowering plants of special interest 
at midwinter. For several weeks its bright yellow flowers are pro¬ 
duced in succession, and yet we find in gardens generally one solitary 
plant, or at the most two, trained to walls. It certainly looks well 
in such positions if, after the wall has once been furnished with 
main shoots, the growth made annually is allowed to hang naturally 
from the wall and cut close back after flowering. It is even more 
beautiful on a fence, and might be planted with advantage in many 
o';h?r positi-ms in t’le garden. On an open fence, or on hurdles 
where the shjots could extend on either shP, it forms a pretty and 
’at the same time a very graceful hecge. When once sufficient 
main shoots have been trained into position it needs very little 
attention, except cutting close back with the shears annually after 
flowering. It is conspicuous when trained over narrow arches of 
wire, when arranged sufficiently high to allow its shoots to hang in 
a graceful manner without touching the head in passing under it. 
It is equally effective on the rockery, but in this position it should 
be planted near the top, so that its shoots can hang downwards. It 
is very effective when planted just at the hack of a large stove and 
allowed to grow over it naturally during the summer. In this 
position it needs cutting back close to the stove or ground every 
season. On large rockeries it looks well if trained up iron stakes 
varying in height from 3 to 5 feet. If three or four holes are 
made through the rod, after it has once reached the top—that is, 
three or four shoots have been taken up, it can be loosely secured 
to the stake with copper wire placed through the holes. This 
would save labour in staking and tying at short intervals of time. 
The wire if left loose enough would last for several year*, and all 
the attention needed would be to prevent the plant becoming too 
thick at the base and the annual cutting back to the stake or nearly 
so. Trained in a similar manner it is equally picturesque in 
shrubbery borders, and we are surprised it is not more generally 
employed in such positions. Amongst shrubs it looks well when 
the lower shoots are removed and it is made to become a standard. 
It looks better than a great many plants when in a circular bed, 
say 3 or 4 feet across, the central plant trained up a stake 
5 feet high and the outer plants five or six in number about 
3 feet 6 inches high. It forms a weeping pyramid, and when 
in flower is truly ornamental. If a bush-shaped specimen is 
needed fit is only necessary to have all the stakes the same 
height. 
It should occupy a sunny open position, for it flowers much 
more profusely than in the shade. If sheltered places can be 
found for it all the better, for its flowers are not then so liable to 
be injured by frost. It is not very particular about soil, for it will 
grow luxuriantly even in a gravel walk, provided it can be started 
at first into growth. But it enjoys and deserves better fare than 
this ; it will, however, do well in any ordinary garden soil. A large 
stock of plants is quickly raised by inserting cuttings of ripened 
wood in early autumn. If inserted even in July they will he 
rooted by autumn. Where a wall is furnished with this plant and 
the lower shoots can be pegged on to the ground or just covered 
with soil they will have formed abundance of roots, and be strong 
plants suitable for planting in any position in the autumn follow¬ 
ing.—'W. B. 
LEAVES AND BIRDS. 
Trees, shrubs, and herbaceous plants of the deciduous class 
were rendered prematurely leafless this season. In early summer 
“ caterpillars innumerable ” defoliated the Oak and Ash ; but 
Nature, strong in recuperative force, to some extent made good the 
havoc by a strong second or midsummer growth. The different 
hues were preserved until late in the season, but it made no 
difference in time and manner of the fall. Late growth usually is 
characteristic of late casting of the foliage, or if caught by frost 
before mature the foliage clings as if to shield the immature wood 
and buds from wintry blast and storm. Mark the difference—the 
spring undefoliated growth is firm in wood and plump in bud, the 
midsummer growth is attenuated, the wood is soft, and the buds are 
small and pointed. Is this how variegation comes ? I have 
noticed that visitations of this nature—sudden checks to growth and 
after-rush of sap to new parts for recuperation—is characterised in 
those parts by a change in the foliage, if not decidedly variegated, 
tending in that direction, and marked by barrenness for some time, 
if not indefinitely. 
The caterpillars diminished considerably the harvest of leaves ; 
the crop of fallen leaves is much less, though the season was wet, 
than in 1887. With the caterpillars came the outcry, Where are 
the birds ? That pest the sparrow ! Why did it not leave the 
poultry and pig food troughs, abandon the garbage of street and 
alley, desist from eating the tops of Peas, and take to devouring 
caterpillars ? Surely no such visitation of caterpillars as occurred 
in 1888 has been seen within the last forty years, or if so it would 
be instructive to know when and where. The sparrow is said to be 
no good to the farmer or gardener. Miss Ormerod even threw the 
weight of her influence into the farmer’s crusade against the 
sparrow ; yet I can vouch from experience he is a mixture of good 
and evil. In winter feeding on Lettuce and Spinach leaves, with 
the top of unguarded Peas, and varied with buds of Currant and 
Gooseberry bush, with an eye to yellow Crocuses, Primroses, 
Polyanthus, and Auricula pips. Add Peas in pod with grain in 
ear, and we are at the er.d of the sparrow’s evil deeds. There are 
