486 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
L ITa; 29, 1890. 
to all who have shared in bringing them to their present satis¬ 
factory condition. 
What are the fruits generally grown ? That is a question I 
have often been asked. The standard trees are mainly Plums, the 
inter or under crops Currants (Blacks predominating), Raspberries, 
and Strawberries. Not many Gooseberries are grown, at least I 
saw very few, nor Apples and Pears in the 300 acre plantation. 
The soil explained the reason. A deep drain revealed its nature— 
clay. The surface is fairly workable in suitable weather, but 
below it the ground cuts like cheese. Strawberries and Rasp¬ 
berries do not make a quick start, but when established bear fine 
crops of splendid fruit, and continue doing so much longer than 
in light soil. It is the same with the Plums, and they will bear 
fruit of the best character for years. The trees are apparently 
about G yards apart, and the bushes about as many feet asunder 
in line between the trees and in the spaces between the rows. 
Roads are formed at convenient intervals, and as showing the 
nature of the soil are being trenched, small coal or breeze being 
added as the work proceeds, and the clay burnt into ballast. 
This will render them firm and clean. The smoke from the 
burning roads was found to be of service in checking the increase 
of caterpillars, and with that object rubbish was being burnt in 
convenient places, and clouds of smoke were seen rising in 
different places among the trees. Very severe and persistent 
has been the combat with the foe. Probably almost every 
advised remedy has been tried in varying strengths and with the 
greatest care, the experiments having been examined by a com¬ 
mittee of fruit growers. Very interesting was the discussion that 
followed after the inspection, which resulted in the recommenda¬ 
tions of Paris green paste in the proportion of 1 ounce to 10 gallons 
of water for Plums, and 1 ounce to 20 gallons for Apples. Since 
then Mr. Campbell’s formula, as recorded on page 427 last week, 
has been found more effectual by him, and will probably be tried 
at Toddington. The work of spraying hundreds of thousands of 
trees and bushes over and over again is gigantic, but it has to be 
done, or they would be devoured. Small French pumps are used, 
they fit like knapsacks on the backs of the men, who work the 
ha,ndle with one hand, and guide the nozzle with the other for dis¬ 
tributing the spray, which falls like mist on the trees. The com¬ 
bat has been severe, but the pests are practically mastered. The 
foliage is saved, and 500 tons of fruit expected to be gathered. If 
the invading horde had been allowed to take possession and remain 
unmolested the yield might perhaps have been 500 stones. The 
attacks of the pest appear to be the most violent in low and much 
sheltered positions. Mr. Hooper said at the meeting that his 
fruit-growing land was at a considerable altitude, and he had some 
difficulty in finding a caterpillar. My advice to intending fruit¬ 
growers^ has long been, “ If you have a choice, keep out of the 
valleys.” Shelter is good, and in some positions essential, but in 
others may do more harm than good. 
Mr. J. Hiam placed his finger on a strong point in the enemy’s 
position when he said “ the caterpillars got into the centre of the 
bud and ate all the inside out and the petals closed over ; he was 
afraid that was where they (not the caterpillars) might be beaten.” 
He was not satisfactorily answered, and I shall be able to give 
him strong supporting testimony another day. 
Returning to the fruit. One portion of the great plantation 
alluded to is on the side of a hill having a long steady slope to the 
valley, and the lower the trees go the less satisfactory they are. 
In other plantations on higher ground, where the soil is also freer. 
Apples, Pears, Cherries, indeed all kinds of fruit are grown, and in 
the later plantations preference appears to have been given to 
bush trees. They do not require stakes, and I understood Lord 
feudeley to say that one staking of his standards cost him £700. 
They are, however, now strong enough to stand alone, and the clean 
stems are convenient for banding with paper and smearing with 
cart grease for fixing the wingless female moths as they creep up 
the trees at night. Thousands have been caught in that way, and 
i have been done, for one tree was pointed out to me 
that had not been banded, and it was the worst attacked of all; 
indeed if all were like it there would not be much fruit for the 
factory this year. 
^3,ctory is a feature of Toddington. It is a huge building 
Mree or four storeys high, and is being considerably enlarged. Mr. 
Bea,ch, jun., is the presiding genius there, and even at this season 
or the has 130 people employed in preparing jam for the 
market. The demand is ever increasing, because the product is 
pure and the public are finding it out. They could not if they 
would make up mysterious concoctions, for only genuine jam fruit 
IS grown, and the most scrupulous care is exercised in its selection 
ana conversion. It is not in the least suggested that similar care 
IS not exercised by other fruit growers and firms, for it is satis- 
actory to know that it is, but it is equally known that tons of 
worthless rubbish in Apples, if nothing worse, is made to form the 
“ body ” of jam which is sold as something else, and this miserable' 
practice is still advocated in occasional letters to the newspapers. 
The demand for the genuine article v ill be bound to increase, and 
it is because the Toddington jam is genuine that Mr. Beach has in 
a few years built up his gigantic business. The trade in bottled 
fruit is also enormous ; the huge bins that were filled with the- 
different kinds, and the great breaches made in them by withdrawals,, 
proving this conclusively. The boiling of the fruit is done by 
steam, and so great is its heat under pressure that when the tap is- 
turned and the steam admitted round the coppers cold w'ater placed 
in them boils in fifteen seconds. This is quick work and clean, 
and there can be no burning of the fruit. 
During the fruit gathering season an army of respectable 
women is employed, and clean and comfortable accommodation is 
provided for them in buildings erected for the purpose, the sleeping, 
and cooking departments being apart, and all under the best super¬ 
vision. In the routine work of cultivation a practical foreman has 
charge of about 40 acres of plantation with a staff of men unde'i' 
him, and thus the work goes surely on without confusion, and no- 
one can inspect it without being satisfied that it is done right well.. 
Large blocks of curvilinear iron and glass structures have been 
erected, and will very soon be a source of profit, if they are not 
now, and will insure a substantial income from Grapes, Peaches, 
Tomatoes, and flowers if during any season the outdoor crop cf 
fruit should fail. But when the caterpillar is stamped out, as it 
will be, it will be a marvellous thing if all kinds fail at once 
through inclement seasons. There is very remote fear of any¬ 
thing of the kind occurring, and as the trees, planted by Mr. G- 
Bunyard about eight years ago, will soon be in full bearing, and in 
the “ holding ” soil remain so for several years, and as the bushes 
will commence improving in value, the ultimate estimate of a 
thousand tons of fruit a year ■will in all probability be considerably 
exceeded. 
Lord Sudeley is a cool clear headed man of business (not an 
enthusiastic faddist), and so undoubtedly is Capb 'n Corbett; and 
to both of them, and my guide Mr. Mallison, I am indebted for 
considerate attention. Mr. Wise, the active manager of the 
remarkable undertaking, I was unfortunate in not seeing, but 
there can be no doubt he is a gentleman of great administrati'ye 
ability, while all who know him speak in high terms of his zeal in- 
the discharge of his duties and of his courtesy to all.— J. Wright. 
FLOWER CULTURE FOR PROFIT. 
SEJII-DOUnLE Pr.IMUL.i?. 
If the flowers of these are sent direct to the London marketfs 
they are not particularly profitable, but at the same time are re¬ 
munerative. Where, however, large quantities of cut flowers are 
needed for home decoration, the surplus being sent either to private 
customers or to the nearest florists’ shops in the district, then 
double Chinese Primulas rank among the most generally service¬ 
able plants that can be grown. I am thinking of and referring 
more especially to the old semi-double white, which cannot be- 
propagated from seed, no other form, whether propagated from 
seed, cuttings, or divisions, being half so profitable. That there 
has of late years been a great improvement in the strains of semi¬ 
double Chinese Primulas, and which can be as readily raised from 
seed and grown as the single forms, I freely admit, but they are 
nothing like so serviceable as the good old semi-double white- 
There are two forms of the latter, one having stouter trusses, 
larger, rather more double fringed flowers ; the other, and which is- 
the most common, being the least showy, but in reality the more 
floriferous and profitable of the two. 
A stock of either cannot, as a rule, be very quickly raised, no 
nurserymen and but few private gardeners caring to part with 
strong many-crowned plants. The start has therefore, in most 
instances, to be made with small plants as received from the 
nurseries, and the less these are tampered with the first season the 
better. Rather strive to grow them to a great size before the 
autumn, and during the following winter they will form several 
crowns or divisions suitable for propagating purposes. Where so 
many private gardeners err is in being in too great a hurry to in¬ 
crease their stock of plants. These Primulas cannot be propagated 
anyhow, and every division slipped or taken off the old stem with a 
knife must have a portion of hard stem attached, or it is very 
doubtful if it will strike root. “ Irish ” or rooted cuttings are the 
best, and with our large stock of plants we simply pull them in¬ 
pieces every spring, shaking away some of the old soil from the 
roots and repotting. The surest method of quickly raising a good 
number of plants is to trim off the lower leaves from the stems 
and to bank them up with leaf soil and sand. This being done 
directly after the principal flowering period is over, the pots set on 
a shelf in a moderately warm greenhouse, and the top-dressing 
