612 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[ June 19, 1890. 
Of the Hybrid Teas I have already cut very fine blooms of Viscountess 
Folkestone and Grace Darling, both very lovely and delicate Koses. I 
am at a loss to conceive how anyone could doubt in what category to 
place these varieties. The foliage of the former is so unlike that of a 
Tea, and the latter has so little (if any) of the perfume of that fragrant 
class. 
There is a point much mooted amongst Kose growers as to the 
relative merits of planting Teas in the autumn or laying them in and 
planting in the spring, and I have lately seen a letter in one of the 
papers commending the former. My own experience is the reverse. 
Owing to some mistake there were some of my Teas which I did not 
receive until the ground was too cold and wet for planting. I laid 
these in ; protected them during frost. These have done a great deal 
better than those which had been planted in the early autumn, and 
therefore when either climate or soil are unfavourable no one, I think, 
need fear to grow Teas if they adopt this practice. 1 have been told 
by Mr. Frank Cant, whose fine blooms have delighted many of us, that 
he always lifts his Teas in the autumn, replanting them immediately, 
that this gives them a check ; they do not start so early, and are not so 
likely to be damaged by spring frosts. A hint that may be useful to 
some growers. 
I have just seen on one of my plants a blossom of Mrs. James 
Wilson, one of Messrs. Dickson k. Sons’ novelties, which seems singularly 
bright and a good grower.—D., Beal. 
Kose Show Fixtuees, 1890. 
J une 19th.—Eyde. 
,, 21th.—Drill Hall, Westminster (N.R.S.). 
„ 25th.—Richmond (Surrey). 
„ 27th.—Royal Aquarium, VVestminster. 
,, 28th.—Eltham, Reigate. 
July Ist.—Canterbury, Colchester, Hereford, Sutton. 
„ 2nd.—Bagshot, Brockham, Croydon, Dursley, Hitchin. 
„ 3rd.—Bath, Farningham, Norwich. 
„ 5th.—Crystal Palace (N.R.S.). 
„ 8th.—Gloucester, Ipswich, * VV^inchester. 
„ 9th.—*Brighton, Diss, Ealing, Tunbridge Wells. 
„ 10th.—Birkenhead, Woodbridge, Worksop. 
„ nth,—Ulverston. 
„ 12th.—New Brighton. 
„ 15 th.—Christleton. 
„ 17th.—Birmingham (N.R.S.), Helensburgh. 
„ 22nd.—Tibshelf. 
„ 24th.—Salterhebble (Halifax). 
Aug. 2nd.—Ripley. 
*In the ease of Brighton and Winchester, where the Shows extend 
over more than one day, the date of the first day’s exhibition only is 
given.— Edward Mawley, Rosehanh, lierlihamsted, Herts. 
CURRANTS, GOOSEBERRIES, RASPBERRIES. 
We recently promised to reproduce one of our old friend, Mr. 
Robert Fenn’s articles, written nearly forty years ago. It is as 
follows :— 
“Now I am “ I’ th’ vein’’ (and the majority of my countrymen and 
women in bed and asleep), I will detail one or two little contrivances 
that I have been working upon this season, such as protecting and train¬ 
ing my Currants, Gooseberries, and Raspberries. 
I do not, however, pretend to say that these things have not been 
done before, suffice it in me to affirm I never saw or heard of any like 
them, or did anyone that I have come in contact with ; therefore, if the 
ideas are not new they are not generally known ; which to all holders 
of small gardens infested with birds they ought to be, or some other 
contrivances which may be better. 
I am a great lover of birds, I like to see and hear* them about me, 
though not one particle of fruit would they leave me here if I did not 
look strictly after it upon the netting principle. 
Training Currants. —In my small garden, 46 yards long by 30 broad, 
I dare only allow myself seven Currant bushes, two of White and five 
Red, with a few temporary ones against the wall, merely to occupy the 
space till the young fruit trees fill it up. These seven Currant bushes 
are planted on the fruit border ; they stand, as it were, in the angle of 
a triangle between each fruit tree, so that they do not shade or rob the 
roots of the trees in any degree to be injurious. The branches of the 
bushes proceed from one short main stem, and when trained, as I shall 
presently show, appear like an inverted cone. Procure two forked 
stakes 3 feet long, drive them into the ground 6 inches, one on each side 
the bush, then fasten a wooden hoop 2 feet 3 inches diameter hori¬ 
zontally upon them, and fasten the branches within side the hoop equi¬ 
distant around with zinc wire. (If I were called upon to subscribe to a 
memorial for the men who invented zinc wire and blotting paper, I 
would certainly do so.) 
Currant Protectors. —Procure four stakes 1 inch in diameter and 
4 feet long, and two strong wooden hoops 3 feet diameter, nail the 
stakes equidistant firmly to the hoops, allowing one hoop to be 6 inches 
within the bottom of the stakes, and the other even with their tops. 
Now fasten eight smaller rods between the four rods, and even with the 
top and bottom hoop ; place the machine topsy turvy, and slightly drive 
some tin-tacks 4 inches apart all round the edge of the hoop, return the 
machine to its first position, and in a similar manner drive some tacks 
round the upper edge of the top hoop, lay the construction on its sidar, 
and drive some tacks 4 inches apart the whole distance between the 
hoops on one of the four stoutest stakes, or now, more properly speaking, 
supports ; from this extension motion again come to the first position, 
and see how completely you can fasten a net round and over the top 
through the agency of the tin-tacks. Sharpen the four 6-inch legs, and 
the thing is complete. 
Can you fancy anything more to the purpose, or much cheaper than 
this for placing over, remaining firm and thoroughly protecting the fruit 
from damp and the feathered tribe, or, as a lady expressed to me the 
other day, “ from the fingers of the bipeds also 2” 
Last, and by no means the least, the foliage by this contrivance ia 
preserved fresh and green. Everybody knows how soon the leaves turn 
yellow if the trees are matted up, and everybody knows, or at least 
should know, that if this is the case they cannot expect a good crop of 
fruit the following season ; and as regards the look of the thing, behold 
the bright red fruit and the dark green foliage, and contrast a tree- 
matted up as if it was in the last stage of consumption. These netted 
machines will be of immense service in the spring to pop over the 
bushes when frosts as well as birds prevail. 
Gooseberry Training. —I had been worrying myself many months 
about my Gooseberry hushes ; I wanted to train them as espaliers, but 
I was obliged to halt in this opinion, for the tremendous broadsides we 
get here in the shape of wind is something a storm at sea might envy. 
At the moment I now write the wind is cracking its cheeks over my 
horticultural productions in style, and I fear bent on mischief. I have 
everything, however, on the post-and-rail principle, so I can in a great 
measure defy it. 
A very famous Gooseberry cultivator in this town trains his bushes 
on the table-trellis system, but the enormous quantity of hooks, crooks, 
stakes, and props that he brings into play in order to effect it frightened 
me completely, and I was on the eve of letting my bushes grow in 
their natural way, which, with the large sorts now in vogue means 
sprawling on the ground, but an article on trellises some time a^o 
brushed up the idea again, and I think I have mastered myself. 
Take two forked stakes 1 foot 6 inches long, drive them into the 
ground 6 inches, one on each side the bush, then fasten a wooden 
hoop 2 feet 3 inches diameter horizontally upon them. Attach the 
branches of the bushes to the upper edge of the hoop with zinc wire, 
placing them similar to the spokes of a wheel. 
This is really a very simple proceeding, and I do not think I 
should have mentioned it here were it not that most people who see 
the plan pronounce it something that they never saw before, and ap¬ 
prove of it mightily. The bushes certainly have a very compact 
appearance, and I must say that until I see a better system I shall 
continue to train them in this manner. As to the fruit it hangs sus¬ 
pended in the safest way possible, not a splash can reach, not a thorn 
can prick them, and this is saying a great deal. I wish I was in a 
similarly safe position. 
My Gooseberry bushes are planted in a parallel row alongside the 
garden walk, the width of border I allow for them is 4 feet. 1 intend 
to net them in exactly the same manner that I do the Strawberry, 
and using two nets instead of one to hang down each side. The same 
nets that are on the Strawberries will always be done with in time, and 
be at liberty for the Gooseberries just as they begin to ripen, and again 
in the spring when frosts and birds prevail. 
I train my Raspberries along a single rail. This is much better, 1 
think, than tying them to stakes ; they have more freedom, and this- 
fruit, like our own country, flourishes better in such a state than some^ 
other nations of Europe which I could mention. Raspberries are 
difficult to net, at least so far as expense is concerned, but the thing 
could be done easily enough by making a temporary framework suffi¬ 
ciently high to walk under, and straining a net entirely over it. I think 
it was Mr. Errington who mentioned two pieces of glass as a scarecrow, 
and finding that as fast as my Raspberries began to ripen the other day 
they disappeared immediately, 1 procured three tapering rods 8 feet long, 
f-inch diameter at their base, placed them slanting and firm in the soiJ 
between my canes, fastened two pieces of string 3 feet long to their top» 
about an inch apart, made fast two pieces of glass to the ends of the- 
string, and the result is that not a bird has shown its beak amongst my 
Raspberries since. How long this state of things will continue remains 
to be seen ; birds soon get accustomed to scarecrows.— Upwards AXI> 
Onwards. 
CLEANING THE SURFACE OF PONDS. 
I seem to think that a little further advice to “ A. McK.” about 
cleaning slime, duckweed, &j., from ponds may not come amiss. I do> 
not approve of ducks. They must be perpetually there, and they keep 
the water in a perpetual state of muddiness in small ponds, which 
becomes as bad to look upon, or worse, than the slime. “ A. B. D.’s”" 
remedy is drastic ; but it is, I fancy, on too extensive a scale for 
“ A. McK.’’ My ponds have the finest spring water continually 
flowing into and out of them, but in the spring-time and the early 
part of summer the green slime creates itself as quick as yeast upoii 
new beer in a fermenting tub. I was unsuccessful in many ways, even 
to the thoroughness of “ A. B. D.,’’ till at last a long-handled bass- 
broom (whalebone) came to my aid. This is used effectually by the- 
user standing near the margin of the water, inserting the head of the- 
broom at arms’ length into the surface slime, and with a drawing motion 
it will be collected and cling to the bristles, and at once made ta 
