52 
THE FLORIST AND POMOLOGIST. 
the severe cold. Strawberry plants are looking well. Vegetables here have 
suffered very little. Parsley on rich land, where it got a large growth, has 
suffered a little, but on poor land, when sown in May, it is untouched. 
Lettuces have stood well. Cabbages have stood well—a large piece of 
Enfield Market, Early Barnes, and Shilling’s Queen look as green and well 
as they did in November last. Wheeler’s Imperial, which, by the way, is 
one of the best sorts in cultivation, and Nonpareil planted out ten days 
earlier than the other, have suffered very slightly. Borecole and Brussels 
Sprouts look as well as they did in October. Of all Winter Greens there is 
none to equal Brussels Sprouts; but to have them fine they should be sown 
in March and planted out in good rich land as early in June as possible. 
Broccoli I have always laid facing the north in the autumn, and the prin¬ 
cipal part of mine have been so treated this last autumn. These plants are 
very little injured, and will be extremely useful by-and-by; but a few left 
standing have suffered very severely. This simple plan of laying them 
down will always save the great bulk of the plants in ordinary seasons, but 
to leave them standing is to run a great risk ; for though they may and do 
escape in very mild winters, they will not stand a severe one untouched. 
And here I would beg respectfully to ask those interested in the matter the 
question, Of what use are the so-called Winter Broccolis ? The only use I ever 
found of them was—and in this way they are very valuable—that when sown 
late they sometimes come in before the other sorts in spring. But the name of 
Winter Broccoli leads the inexperienced to think they can have an abundance 
of this valuable vegetable during the winter months of January and Febru¬ 
ary. If they lived along the south coast, either of England or Ireland, 
they might in most seasons have them ; but if they live inland, and north of 
London, unless in very exceptional seasons the thing is impossible. The 
true Walcheren is very superior to all autumn or winter Broccolis ; and as 
this can be had all the autumn months, and sometimes by proper storing 
can be kept—in-doors, of course—all through January, I prefer it to all 
other kinds. A sowing made from the 15th to the 25th of May will furnish 
plants for putting out during July. I make four large plantings of it in July, 
at intervals of seven days, and in good land, and different situations. These 
furnish an abundant supply during the whole of the autumn, up to the end 
of December. 
Stourton, M. Saul. 
DESSERT ORANGE CULTURE.* 
In the diary of that “ fine old English gentleman,” John Evelyn, may be 
found an intimation to the effect that he had eaten as good “ China Oranges ” 
plucked from his own trees as he ever wished to eat. In those days dessert 
Oranges were, it seems, called “ China Oranges.” Although Oranges were 
cultivated in France long before Evelyn’s time, yet they were considered 
merely ornamental appendages to palaces and mansions: no thought seems 
to have been turned to them, so as to consider them fruit trees ; and even 
Evelyn, with his remarkable horticultural sagacity, does not mention that 
lie had ranked Orange trees among fruit trees, for in his “ Kalendarium 
Hortense,” when he mentions for every month “ fruits in prime and yet 
lasting,” no mention is made of Oranges. It would seem, therefore, that 
* From the Report of Proceedings of the International Horticultural Exhibition and 
Botanical Congress of London , 1866—a very interesting record of that great Horticultural 
gathering, just issued. 
