February fS 1889. 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
169 
the opening of ventilators during the winter months to prevent the 
plants succumbing to asphyxia. 
I am well aware that it is a general impression that if the routine of 
giving air is not followed in strict obedience to the almost sacred tra¬ 
ditional laws disastrous consequences will follow, either in summer by 
scorching of foliage, or in winter from suffocation or other imaginary 
judgment, though I must inform Mr. Ward that I have long since 
satisfied myself that scorching of foliage is not always the resultant 
effect of non-ventilation ; but to fully explain my views on this topic 
would, I think, take a separate note, and I will content myself with 
assuring him that there are to my certain knowledge many gardeners 
of no small fame who can lay just title to being “ thoughtful, practical, 
and experienced men,” who are strong advocates of a system of non¬ 
ventilation of glass houses for certain plants. 
My thanks are due to Mr. Ward for settling the question as to the 
state of atmosphere that can be designated hot and moist, though he does 
so in a negative way, as he affirms that an interior temperature of G5° 
to 70°, with an external one of 50° to 55°, is nothing of the kind, and 
this is the sort of temperature I take it he considers favourable to the 
growth of mildew if the plants were subjected to a free or even light 
syringing. As a natural incident the pipes are only required to be made 
moderately warm to keep the temperature at this point, would it not be 
rather a work of supererogation to disperse as much moisture in the house 
as when, through hard firing, the air would be naturally predisposed to 
become more arid even if mildew was not—but which it is according 
to Mr. Ward—a natural concomitant of such a proceeding ? Your corre¬ 
spondent appears to distinguish between two temperatures of equal 
scale but of unequal quality owing to the manner in which they are 
raised, so he endeavours to restore the balance by withholding moisture 
in the one instance and in the other supplying it liberally according to 
circumstantial requirements. In this course I perfectly agree with Mr. 
Ward, but where I do not agree with him is in the conditions under 
which mildew is most likely to occur. By his watering I take it he 
•expects its ravages to be most severe in an excessively humid atmo¬ 
sphere at a temperature of 65° to 70°. If th : s is not so, why does he 
advise as an antidote the application of surphur and the maintenance 
of a dry and warm atmosphere? I can easily understand, if this is the 
position Mr. Ward has taken up, why he studiously avoids my query as 
to the reason why mildew is more prevalent in hot dry seasons than in 
cold wet ones. Possibly some facts in regard to the organisation of 
mildew and its resting spores when under climatic influence may have 
•crossed my opponent's mind. 
The last part of his reply to me, where it is said the capacity of the 
sir for taking up water gas varies with its temperature, increasing as the 
latter rises, and vice versa, embodied a question that has exercised my 
mind for some time. If this theory of the air being only capable of 
taking up water, or, as Mr. Ward terms it, water gas (which I presume 
to be identical with water in a state of suspension—that is, vapour when 
rendered visible by condensation), is only in proportion to its temperature, 
how does he explain the circumstance of extreme humidity of the air on 
some occasions during severe frost, and at another period its extreme 
dryness during a corresponding degree of cold, and in the same way in 
regard to heated air and its varying qualities ? If Mr. Ward’s theory is 
the correct one, we ought always to enjoy a dry atmosphere during frost, 
«nd humidity in proportion to the rise of the temperature. 
In reference to the note by “The Northern Amateur, H. D.,” if he 
will explain his ideas in a more explicit and comprehensive form in the 
•open columns, and will attach his full name thereto, if he has the courage 
•of his convictions on the above subject, I will do my best to argue the 
points on which he may be pleased to differ from me.—M. Coombe. 
[An article upon this subject from Mr. Bardney is also to hand, and 
•will be published shortly]. 
CANKER IN FRUIT TREES. 
“ W.,” in his article on fruit trees in East Anglia, when referring to 
•canker in Mr. Garrod’s fruit garden, says that, “ clearly the cause of 
"the canker of certain of the trees was not in the soil but inherent in the 
varieties.” This appears to me to be begging the question, for he assigns 
no reason for his conclusion. How could he, from a brief and super¬ 
ficial inspection, ascertain that the soil contained all that each variety 
required for perfect growth ; and if the soil did not contain sufficient of 
one or more of the necessary constituents, is it improbable that such 
deficiency would produce an unhealthy condition of the tree and render 
it liable to disease ? He says that grafting oured canker, which is quite 
in accordance with my own experience. At the Fruit Conference held 
at Chiswick last year, I submitted a photograph of a large and symme¬ 
trical pyramid Pear, Pitmaston Duchess, a picture of perfect health and 
fruitfulness. It had been grown under the following circumstances 
The tree was originally a Citron des Cannes, and then attained a height 
of about 12 feet, in continuous health and bearing regular crops, when, 
according to my theory, having used up the constituents of the soil 
necessary for its health, it gradually became cankered, then ceased to 
extend and bear, and finally began to die back. In the meantime it 
had been budded on the lowest bough with Pitmaston Duchess. The 
bud extended rapidly and horizontally so long as the head of Citron des 
Carmes remained on, but at last this was cut off. Then the growth 
became vertical, and now no one would suspect that Pitmaston Duchess 
is not the result of the original budding. Why does this variety flourish 
in the soil in which the others perished from canker ? The reason is. as I 
think, .that the food required by the one is in some respects different 
from that necessary for the other. Surely every gardener knows that 
“ some trees require different food than others.” There are varieties of 
Strawberry, notably the British Queen, which will not flourish without 
abundance of lime, while others are not so exacting in this respect. 
Everyone must have observed that, while some varieties of fruit trees 
flourish, others of the same kind grown in the same soil fail, although 
cultivated most carefully. It appears reasonable to suppose that the 
difference is due to certain deficienci s in the soil, and that the remedy 
may be the intelligent application of artificial manures to make good 
those deficiencies. It is well to bear in mind that “artificial,” as 
applied to manures, merely means contrived by art, artificial manures 
being quite as natural as stable manure, and that the latter may with as 
much propriety be called “chemicals” as the former.— Edmund 
Tonics. _ 
FUCHSIAS AS WINDOW PLANTS. 
The Fuchsia has been cultivated in this country for fully a century, 
F. coccinca having been introduced from Chili in the year 1788. A 
sailor who was struck with 
its beauty, brought it home, 
and it was iu the character 
of a window plant in this 
country that it first attracted 
attention. Ever since that 
period the whole family have 
been amongst the most popu¬ 
lar of window plants, and at 
the present time there are 
few that answer the purpose 
better. 
Fuchsia sblendens.— 
We are apt to forget the 
charms of some of our older 
plants as from time to time 
they are made to give place 
to new favourites. This is 
the case with some of the use¬ 
ful free-flowering Fuchsias. 
In a temperate house F.splen- 
dens is one of the prettiest 
of winter flowering plants. 
Its quaintly formed buds, 
conspicuously tipped with 
bright green,droop gracefully 
and remind one as much as 
anything of a large scarlet 
Correa. As the flowers de- 
velope the green segments or 
sepals become of a paler hue 
and afford a bold contrast to the brilliant capsicum-red colour of the tube. 
Associated with pure white flowers for table decoration it is particularly 
effective, and is deserving of being made a note of.—S. P. E. S. 
OAKLEIGH. 
Oakleigh, about two miles from East Grinstead, is the Sussex 
residence of Sir Francis Wyatt Truscott. The mansion is delightfully 
situated, the surroundings as far as the eye can see being of an enjoy¬ 
able park-like character—pleasant valleys or depressions, with tree-clad 
mounds and irregular copses, combining to render the district as attrac¬ 
tive as it is admittedly salubrious. The estate was purchased a few 
years ago by its present owner, and it is not conceivable that he could 
have found a home possessing greater natural advantages, yet so acces¬ 
sible from the Metropolis, for it is only a little more than an hour’s run 
by a “ good ” train from London Bridge. The mansion has been 
enlarged and beautified, pleasure grounds formed and planted, glass 
structures erected, one of the finest kitchen gardens in the county 
surrounded by lofty walls, and excellent and attractive cottages built 
for gardeners and workmen on the estate. When wealth and taste go, 
so to say, hand in hand, it is surprising what can be accomplished in a 
few years with the disposition for improvement so pronounced as it 
must have been by the owner of Oakleigh. Moreover, when estates are 
so cared for as this is they are of real benefit to the districts in which 
they are situated in the employment of labour and its necessary 
corollary the extension of trade. A Saturday afternoon’s run with Mr. 
George Truscott from murky London to sunny Sussex, and the more 
than kind reception accorded by Sir Francis and Lady Truscott, will not 
soon be forgotten, and there is little doubt endeavour will be made to 
comply with the frank invitation to “ run down again in summer 
time.” 
ELECTRICITY. 
I am not prepared to write very much about gardening after an 
hour spent in looking round during a January afternoon, for that is 
