March 17,1887. ] 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
217 
thoughts on the subject. Time is flying, the Jubilee Day is approaching, 
and I am afraid there will ere long be a general evaporating of generous 
sentiment. If good is to result from the Orphanage proposition a direct 
appeal must be made on a clear basis to every person likely to subscribe, 
this appeal emanating from an established organisation of representative 
men conducting it on business principles, and the gardening press will, 
no doubt, help on the good work. 
Gardeners never appear to tire with writing about Grapes, and 
nothing appears to suit them better than a smart “ paper fight ” over the 
relative weight, size, and merits of varieties. Messrs. Taylor, Castle, 
Barker, and Jenkins have written well on their favourite theme. Mr. 
Jenkins thinks Mr. Castle’s experience as to the superiority of Alnwick 
Seedling over the Black Hamburgh in October is unique.” I am not 
sure that it is. I have tasted, with other gardeners, well grown and 
ripened “ Alnwicks ” in October, with Hamburghs of the same grower, 
and the palm was accorded to the former. Mr. Castle is not very clear 
when writing in the issue of January 27th, as to the date to which he 
alludes when he says, “ I question very much whether the equal of 
Alnwick Seedling is to be found at this date.” As he hail just been 
writing of its excellence in October he perhaps meant that date. If 
that is so, well grown examples of Madresfield Court are, I think, in the 
estimation of most persons, much superior in flavour. 
I WAS much more astonished by Mr. Castle’s high praise of the 
Alicante as to flavour, even in July. Judging it by quality alone I con¬ 
sider it inferior to every black Grape in general cultivation. Growing 
for “ appearance ” or for market is another matter, about which Mr. 
Castle is entitled to speak with authority. 
Grapes vary greatly in flavour in differing soils and conditions of 
culture. At the present moment I know of some good looking Gros 
Colmans that are not far removed from being “ nasty,” and of some 
others that are almost what may be termed excellent. \ our correspon¬ 
dent says, “ The better this Grape is grown the better the flavour.’ 
True ; so is the Black Hamburgh, and when the old favourite is pro¬ 
duced in its best condition the fruit is a long way in advance of imper¬ 
fectly grown examples ; but the difference in quality may be no fault 
of the gardener. Of two very competent Grape growers one fails in pro¬ 
ducing well flavoured Black Hamburghs, and the other equally fails with 
Gros Colmans, and I suspect if they were to change places the quality 
of the varieties would remain practically the same. 
There is also a great difference in varieties of the Hamburgh. In a 
vinery that could be named are two Black Hamburghs growing side by 
side. There is no difference in the appearance of the Grapes, but those 
from one Vine are not worth eating in comparison with fruit from the 
other. If Mr. Castle should happen to have soil unsuited for this 
variety, and at the same time an essentially flavourless form, his re¬ 
marks on the relative superiority of the Alicante can be understood. In 
support of his observations on the skins of Grapes affecting the flavour, it 
may be stated that the superior variety above alluded to has a decidedly 
thicker skin than the other has that is so distinctly inferior. 
Just a thought on the experiments with chemical manures referred 
to in the Home Farm article on page 204. It is this : If the intelligent 
use of these manures were general throughout the land, and entirely de¬ 
voted to the sustenance of food crops, not weeds, the condition of 
agriculturists and landowners would soon show improvement ; indeed, 
“ depression ” would in a very few years be supplanted by prosperity. 
Let the same mixture that answered so well for Barley be applied to 
Potatoes, but diminishing the nitrate of soda by a hundredweight and 
increasing the potash correspondingly, and they will find the investment 
profitable. Concentrated or chemical manures might also be used much 
more extensively in gardens, where farmyard manure is scarce, with 
great advantage to all kinds of crops. 
iS£N itrate of soda is the quickest of all fertilisers, but it is liable to 
adulteration with common salt. It should be purchased under a 
guarantee of 5 per cent, refraction, which means 95 per cent, of pure 
nitrate of soda. For cold wet soils sulphate of ammonia, though a little 
less quick in action, is preferable, for it is in the nature of the nitrate 
to make such land still colder and wetter, and this is not desirable ; 
moreover, sulphate of ammonia is more lasting in its effects, containing 
about 5 per cent, more nitrogen. It is open to adulteration with sulphate 
of magnesia (Epsom salts), and should be purchased under a guarantee 
that it contains 24 per cent, of ammonia. A simple method of testing 
the purity of sulphate of ammonia is to spread some on a nearly redhot 
shovel, and if the manure entirely disappears it will not be far from 
genuine. It is a great friend to the gardener when rightly used, but 
incautiously applied or abused it is like fire, dangerous. It has spoiled 
hundreds of Chrysanthemums that it might have benefited, for there 
are many so-called gardeners who do not read for self-improvement, and 
ignorance usually makes men venturesome. Another rest will now lx; 
taken, and neither Editor nor readers will be troubled again this month 
by—A Thinker. 
AN ADDRESS ON FRUIT-GROWING. 
In connection with the first exhibition and conference recently held 
at Chester the following excellent and suggestive addresB was delivered 
by Mr. E. J. BaiTlic, F.L.S. The exhibition was large,'representative 
collections of Apples and Pears being arranged by Messrs. F. & A. Dick¬ 
son & Sons, T. Rivers & Son, G, Bunyard A Co., and by several local 
growers. 
Mr. Baillie, in the course of his address, remarked that it seemed 
needful to say a word or two as to the purpose of that meeting. The 
idea originated with their Chairman, and the desiie was to see how far 
British-grown hardy fruit was obtainable so late in the season. Secondly, 
they wanted to arouse an interest locally in a question of such national 
importance ; and thirdly, they wanted to convince the outside public 
that their institution was not a castle of an idea, but that while it was a 
school for the arts and sciences, it could very appropriately anil properly 
be devoted to the economies of life and health. In the abstract of agri¬ 
cultural returns published by the Government in 1883 he found that 
190,000 acres of land were returned under the head of orchards. At 
the first blush that struck one as a wide area. But when he stated that 
in England alone the same return gave 68,000 acres as devoted to the 
cultivation of Hops, it would be found that Hop cultivation actually 
took up more than a third of the area given to British fruit-growing. 
The total area of Great Britain was 66,786,199 acres, therefore only 
1 acre in 300 was devoted to the cultivation of fruit. The population 
was 35,000,000, and it would be found if the land were to be distri¬ 
buted amongst them, each person would be the happy possessor, or 
rather unhappy possessor, of about 20 yards of land from whence to 
obtain his fruit supply. Another feature was, that we were paying 
£7,000,000 annually for the importation of hardy fruits, or equal to 4s. 
per head per annum of the population for foreign fruits. 
A feature that he thought ought to be remembered was that fruit of 
some kind or other could be gr^wn almost here, anywhere, and every¬ 
where. But though in Cheshire they had not the warm sunshine of 
Kent and Hereford, fruit growers ought not to be discouraged, for though 
of course a great deal depended on the climate, much more might be 
done by cultivation. That the wonderful collection of fruit sent by Mr. 
Bochin was an evidence of what could be effected in Denbighshire ; and 
if, as Mr. Bochin wrote and isaid, his finest fruit was gone from the 
collection, they might judge of the general excellence from what 
remained. He contended our in our own immediate district we had 
but too frequently the typical farmers’ orchard ; the too generally 
neglected orchard, with trees which were venerable specimens of 
antiquity, covered with lichen and other parasites, constituting them 
the happy hunting grounds of the cryptogamic botanist, but with no 
assurance of fruit crops. Having dealt cursorily with the question of 
cultivation, which he held to be a most potent element for successful 
fruit-growing, the lecturer referred to the distribution of fruit, observing 
there were difficulties enough, and it seemed monstrous that America 
could afford to pay higher rates of wages for cultivating, picking, and 
gathering fruit sent 3000 or 4000 miles to a profitable market, whilst 
tons of fruit grown on British soil were almost lost, while depression 
was sounding in our ears. One of the great difficulties of this question 
was without doubt that of railway rates and charges. He dealt very 
tersely and pungently with this part of the subject, also with the question 
of the middlemen’s mulctings before the fruit reached the consumer, 
quoting examples, as for instance where a gentleman complained of being 
charged 6s. 6d. per basket as carriage from Kent to London, whilst the 
cost of carriage from New York to London for the same article was but 
9d. ; and many others. The question of remedial suggestions, however, 
was an awkward matter. First, he thought, the people must be 
educated to an increased demand for fruit to be grown locally, doing 
away with railway rates, and the various temperance organisations 
might do much to undertake the work through the ladies of their 
respective bodies. He advocated the establishment of fruit fairs, with 
exhibitions and conferences on the subject, and interchanges of ideas. 
With regard to the storage of fruit, he noticed that in one of the 
collections in the building were some very beautiful specimens of fruit 
said to have been stored in “ hoggs,” in the same manner as Botatoes ; 
but whether that method could be carried out to advantage was open to 
trial; certainly the specimens on exhibition had as beautifully fresh 
appearance as when newly gathered. So, too, there was another lot said 
to have been gathered in the autumn of 1885. They were not particu¬ 
larly brilliant specimens, but being gathered so long ago it was not to 
be wondered at. Yet if Apples could be kept from 1885 till that time 
the question of fruit preservation was open to be still further considered. 
Then came the question, What could they do 1 He thought it might be 
suggested that Chester should try to establish a fruit fair; and if the 
outcome of the conference should be to form a small committee to make 
a recommendation to the Council or some other body on that subject 
they would have done some good. It was a question claiming the 
attention of Chester and the neighbourhood. A great deal had been 
said as to whether it was really wise to go on promulgating the subject, 
but it seemed to him that there was no room to question it ; as long as 
we went on paying millions of pounds annually for foreign-grown fruit 
which might just as well be grown at home it seemed to him the question 
ought not to be asked. He asked, what better prospect could there be 
for cultivators of the soil than that of hardy fruit-growing 7 Taking 
the aspects of the last few years for Tomatoes, Mushrooms, and other 
things, the demand for which had alarmingly increased, he thought 
there ought to be a largely increased demand for British fruits. It had 
been said that the climate of this country was against fruit-growing, but 
he asked where could be the climatic difficulty in face of the “ gluts ” 
of frui.t we had had during the last few years? In conclusion, the 
lecturer alluded to several letters that hail laeen received from gentlemen, 
some complaining of non-success in the mattet of fi'uit-growing, another 
