158 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[ etaruary l, 1589. 
Now out of over thirty sorts which I have tested, and which include the 
principal varieties, and also include three out of the four sorts he names 
(the one not included being Blenheim Orange, because it is notoriously 
unfruitful when young), out of these sorts not one produced on an 
average quite 2d. per tree the second or third years, and this was the 
gross price, out of which had to deducted cartage and railway carriage, 
commission, manure, rent, taxes, picking, and labour cultivation. Cer¬ 
tainly prices were low, as they frequently are, and they are never 
very high, for foreign competition prevents this even in unfavourable 
seasons, when there is scarcely any crop. This year prices were better; 
and trees of the sorts he named, and which are now some six and seven 
years planted, made as follows :—Cox’s Orange Pippin, 8d. per tree 
(this is the best dessert Apple) ; Warner’s King about 2d. per tree, and 
■Stirling Castle 5d. per tree. I have sorts which pay better, and I have 
grubbed up and replaced Stirling Castle because it bears so much that it 
will not grow into a large tree, the Apples on it being like ropes of 
Onions most years. It is suitable for small gardens where a dwarf tree 
is desired. Small trees mean small profits. 
“ My figures are reliable, for every year I add up the amount received 
for each variety of fruit and divide it by the number of trees that I 
have of each sort, and so I know exactly how much each variety produces. 
By this method, though troublesome to attend to in the busy season of 
the year, I know just which varieties are the most profitable to plant. I 
do not know any other market grower who does this. The prices are 
taken from market returns, and not from fancy prices. It is easy to 
make these things appear very profitable on paper. 
“ Of the four sorts of Pears that Mr. Morgan names, Louise Bonne 
and Marie Louise canker too much on most soils to be profitable to grow. 
Williams’ off standard trees in England, although a very fine flavour, do 
not come large and clear, and in competition with heavy arrivals from 
France they fetch low prices, and this sort must be discarded in 
favour of improved varieties. Of the remaining variety, Pitmaston 
Duchess, a large Covent Garden salesman informed me a few days ago 
that he had seen half sieves of large and fine English Pitmastons sold 
very low indeed. Pears have sold very badly this last season, but all 
these things have to be taken into account, and fruit when grown has 
to be sold even if it is at a loss. I may add that the soil of my fruit 
farm is very suitable for fruit-growing, and that it is well manured and 
cultivated. It is a matter for regret that those who take upon them¬ 
selves the office of being “ a teacher of babes ” and an instructor of 
the public should make such wild and unguarded statements as have 
been made during this winter, and the remark that you make, ‘We are 
afraid that many who plant under these conditions will be rather dis¬ 
appointed,’ is quite true. There is not much prospect of improvement 
in the profits of fruit-growing until agriculture, as a whole, is more pro¬ 
fitable, for directly any one fruit pays at all well, even for a single year, 
immense quantities of that sort are immediately planted by farmers in 
this district, who are anxiously looking out for something that is pro¬ 
fitable to grow, and in a few years the supply is so large that prices fall. 
A few years ago it was Black Currants that were planted, and prices 
have fallen to about half what they were. Last winter it was Cobnuts. 
This it is large Apples and Gooseberries. Apples sold very well at the 
commencement of the season, but now have fallen very low. I believe 
I read in the South-Eastern Gazette that Mr. Bunyard said that £110 
per acre was made by Apple growing. I should be very glad to have 
proof that anything like that sum has been made on an average during 
the last seven years, even by a single acre. If it is true, I wonder Mr. B. 
does not plant his many acres with Apple trees. I suppose raising trees 
for sale is more profitable.— Walter Kruse, Yew Tree Farm, Leeds, 
Kent." 
[We agree with the Editor of the South-Eastern Gazette when he 
says “ so much exaggeration has been current in London papers and 
periodicals about this pursuit that it is a great public service for 
practical men to reduce expectations to their proper proportions, and 
-so to prevent disappointment in uninformed enthusiasts.” Can the 
writer of the article referred to prove that he has planted 300 Apple 
trees of any varieties as they are sold from nurseries, and that these 
trees have in three years afforded him a profit of 4s. each ? If he can 
we will give him a medal."] 
FREESIAS. 
About five years ago a friend of mine kindly forwarded me a dozen 
bulbs of the above from Cape Towd. They were duly potted, and 
■flowered well the following spring. As they were new to me, I took 
great pains with them as to ripening the bulbs, and finally stored them 
away dry till the following August. They were shaken out, sorted, and 
potted according to their different sizes, placing the bulbs in a 6-inch pot. 
This system 1 have carefully followed ever since, so that now I have 
several dozen pots, which by being introduced into the forcing house a 
dozen at a time, have given me a succession of blooms from Christmas- 
day to the present time and for a month to come. They have been much 
admired, and I thought I had managed them well, but lately I have 
been told by a noted gardener who has seen them, that he had heard 
some growers by special treatment succeed in blooming the same plants 
all the year round. I am sure many more besides myself would be glad 
to know how to accomplish this. Perhaps some of your readers who 
have succeeded will enlighten us, as the beautiful scented blooms are 
always appreciated, and are deserving of more extensive cultivation.— 
H. Harris, Horsham. 
FRUIT FORCING. 
Vines.— Feeding. —Fruiting Vines in pots will need fresh surface 
dressings of rich material, well decayed manure, with a sprinkling of 
bonemeal, or preferably superphosphate, with copious supplies of liquid 
manure in a tepid state whenever water is required, keeping the plunging 
material about the pots well moistened to insure the spread of the roots 
into it, and augment the support of the Vines. Vines swelling their 
crops will need liberal supplies of liquid manure in a weak and tepid 
state, and the borders may be sprinkled with superphosphate before 
watering, and afterwards mulched with 2 or 3 inches of rather lumpy 
manure, which should be kept moist to encourage surface rooting. 
Maintain a genial condition of the atmosphere by damping available 
surfaces two or three times a day, especially at closing time, which 
should be sufficiently early to raise the temperature 5° to 10° over the 
ordinary day temperature from sun heat. Sprinkling the floors in the 
evening with liquid manure will invigorate the Vines and prove injurious 
to insects, particularly red spider. 
Peaches and Nectarines. — Earliest House. —Tying and regu¬ 
lating the young growths will be necessary as they advance, in doing 
which allow plenty of room for the shoots swelling. Avoid overcrowd¬ 
ing the foliage, every leaf must have light and air. Those shoots 
retained to attract the sap to the fruit must be kept closely pinched 
to one leaf after having previously been stopped. Be not deceived by 
the syringing— i.e., making the surface of the border look wet whilst 
the soil beneath may be too dry, but give good waterings, and if the 
trees are weakly apply liquid manure. If syringings morning and 
afternoon fail to keep red spider in check, employ a solution of softsoap 
2 ozs. to the gallon of water. The temperature should be maintained 
at 60° to 65° by artificial means, a fall to 55° on cold mornings being 
much [better for the trees than hard firing, which only induces 
attenuated growth. 
Second Early House. —The trees will now want attention in dis¬ 
budding, doing it gradually, removing the strongest and ill-placed, 
thinning the fruits where too thick by first .removing the smallest and 
those on the under side of the tranches, but avoid wholesale thinning 
and disbudding. Keep the temperature at 55° at night in cold 
weather, and a little warmer, or 60° in mild, but a comparatively low 
night temperature is preferable to a high one, 65° by day, with an ad¬ 
vance to 70° to 75° from sun heat, and free ventilation from 65°. 
Syringing must he practised morning and afternoon, except when the 
weather is dull. 
Third Succession House. —Trees started early in the month will be 
in flower and must have attention in fertilising the flowers by shaking 
the trellis, or dusting them with a camel’s hair brush. Syringing the 
trees must cease whilst they are in flower, but sprinkle the floor every 
morning and afternoon, avoiding cold currents of air, but ventilating 
freely. Maintain a temperature of 50° at night, 55° by day by artifi¬ 
cial means, advancing to 65° or more with sun, but not without full 
ventilation. 
House to Afford Fruit in Late July or Early August. —This should 
be closed early in March, syringing twice a day until the buds show 
colour, when it must cease. Maintain a temperature of 50° by day, and 
40° to 45° at night, advancing to 65° with sun. Make a careful examina¬ 
tion of the border, and if at all dry afford a thorough supply of water. 
If there is a plentiful supply of blossom remove those at the back or 
under side of the trellis by drawing the hand the reverse way of the 
growth. 
Late Houses. —Many are unheated, which is a mistake, but a greater 
still is having the roof lights fixed. Last season, however, was so 
unusually cold and wet that, though our late houses, indeed all, have 
moveable roof lights, the wood was not so firm or the buds so prominent 
as desirable in autumn, therefore we advised the lights to be kept over 
the trees ; the trees now are swelling the buds and promise abundance qf 
blossom. Ventilate freely, merely excluding frost after the blossom is 
advanced in showing colour. Heat is essential in cold localities, as the 
blossom is not safe or the young fruit from severe spring frosts, and the 
fruit does not ripen perfectly if the late summer be cold and sunless. 
A gentle heat during flowering does much towards ensuring a good set, 
and in autumn artificial heat ripens the fruit and wood, plumping the 
buds wonderfully. See that the borders in all houses do not lack water. 
If the soil has left the walls loosen it with a fork and close the inter¬ 
stices so as to make the water pass through all parts of the borders and 
thoroughly moisten them from the surface right through to the 
drainage. 
THE FLOWER GARDEN. 
Cannas. —These are very effective when planted in groups, and 
isolated plants are also very ornamental. Some of the best are Bihorelli, 
dark bronze foliage, scarlet flowers ; Chatei sanguinea, foliage dark, 
flowers red ; gigantea major, green foliage, scarlet flowers ; grandiflora 
floribunda, dark foliage and very free flowering; Warscewiczi, dark 
foliage, blood red flowers ; nigricans, dark foliage, bright red flowers ; 
