THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
December 4. I 
100 
great favourites with our washerwomen. But to the 
main fact—the labour question—the question of our 
times. I do thiuk, that after a man has trenched his 
ground nearly a foot deep in order to get his crop up, 
he should either be in a position to talk of his thirty 
tons to the acre, or to stoutly affirm the land whence 
the Yams were cultivated was in a position to carry out 
a two years’ course of cropping, with no manure and 
little handling. 
1 here beg respectfully to observe, that I consider all 
deepeners of the soil as generally valuable in rotation 
matters; but then, we must look to our balance-sheet, 
and see if the cash paid will come back, with its proper 
interest. 
These are my present impressions as to this I'am. If 
they are erroneous, I am open to conviction; they are, 
at least, truthful in intention. I would, however, let it 
have a thorough trial nest year, taking care not to 
invest too much cash in its purchase. 
R. Errington. 
LONDON HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY’S 
MEETING.— 20tii November. 
{Cont'unted from page 142.) 
Pine-Aprles. — There were twenty-eight or thirty 
Pine-Apples exhibited at this meeting, and never did I 
see so many of this fruit coming up so nearly in the 
point of merit. None of the Pines were remarkably 
large or heavy, but they looked lirst-rate, and ready for 
the dessert-table, without a single third rate specimen ; 
and very few which were much below first-rate. Mr. 
McEwen, from Arundel Castle, took the highest prize 
for them. Mr. Fleming bad the second prize, and Mr. 
Jones, gardener to Lady Charlotte Schreiber, third. ]\Ir. 
McEwen, from Petworth, Mr. Forbes, from Woburn 
Abbey, and Mr. Tillyard, were among the best known 
hands in this comj)etUion. 
Grapes —These were equally fine and numerous; 
but some of the Muscats were not nearly ripe, nor 
were the first-prize Grapes, the old Tokay, quite ready 
for table; but the bunches and berries were magnificent. 
The tliree bunches weighed ten-pounds-and-a-quarter. 
Two of them were four pounds each. They were from 
Air. Hill, gardener to R. Hneyd, Esq., of Keele Hall, 
Staffordshire, who had the first prize lor white Grapes 
for them. There were four second prizes in this class, 
and one third prize. iMr. Tillyard, gardener to the 
right Honourable the Speaker, had the first prize for 
black Grapes, the Common and Mill Hill Hamhro'. 
Mr. Hill bad the second prize for black ones; he 
had the Black Prince and the two above kinds of 
Hambro’. Air. Clarke, of Turnmoss, near Alanchcster, 
seems to ripen and colour the Muscat Grajies better 
than most of our first-rate gardeners ; while those from 
Bishop’s Stopford lacked in these qualities considerably. 
Pears. —Mr. AIcEwen, gardener to Colonel Windham, 
of Petworth, took the first prizes for dessert and for 
kitchen Pears; the kinds were — Dessert, Ducliesse 
d'Angouleme, Beurre d’Cajnamont, Marie Louise, splen¬ 
did Pan Mons Leon le Glerc, Beurre Diel, and very 
handsome Napoleon. His kitchen Pears were the three 
oldest and best known of that class.— Uvedale's St. 
Germain, Catillac and Black Pear of Worcester. Air. 
Whiting, gardener to H. T. Hope, Esq., of the Deep- 
dene, took the second prize for dessert I’ears; and Air. 
Ingram, the Royal gardener, the second, for kitchen. 
The kinds w'ere, (Iredale’s St. (Jermain, Spanish Boiicltre- 
tien. Vicar of Wakefield, and Catillac, of all of which the 
Catillac ripens on a standard farthest north ; but I have 
seen the Black Pear of Worcester ripening on open 
standards at Altyre, near Forree, in the hot summer of 
1820. 
Apples. —Air. Ingram took the first prize, and Air. 
Whiting the second, for dessert Apples; while Air. 
AIcEwen, from Arundel, took the first prize for jmdding 
and sauce Apples, and for tart and dumpling Apples 
as well. 'They were Alfriston, Alexander, Dumeloiv's 
Seedling, Gloria Mundi, Blenheim Pippin, and Baxter s 
Pear main. 
Plums, — Coe's Golden Drop, Imperatrice, Coe's late 
Red, and the lekivorth Imperatrice, were the kinds ex¬ 
hibited; and Air. Hill, from Keele Hall, had the first 
again here. Air. Tillyard, the second; and Air. Aluir- 
head, gardener to Lord Charles Wellesley, had the 
third. 
Figs. —The Nerii and Brown Turkey were the only two 
kinds exhibited, and the two Alacs fought it out for 
them. He of Arundel gardens coming off second best; 
but it was a very,close contest; but I believe the Arundel 
Baspherries and Straivherries carried the day; bpt the 
newest fruit to me, the highest coloured, certainly, and, 
I should think, the hottest fruit under the sun, was a 
small berry-like Capsicum, from the garden of the 
Society ; it was called Rote's Small Capsicum, and might 
be about the size of the bead-seed Ahrus precatorius. 
This kind is so very hot and pungent that writing the 
name has actually made a tickling in my throat. I 
could eat a dozen Chilis any day, but the half of one of 
these little berry-like things very nigh drove me mad; 
and my eyes watered so that I was obliged to get out of 
the rooms, and all out of London as if I had been 
half scalded alive. 
There was a considerable deal of talk about the China 
Y''am, Dioscorea batatas, and lots of nice-looking roots of 
it were exhibited. It is much like a long, thin, pars¬ 
nip turned upside down. It was said to be a nice thing 
to eat; not soft and pulpy, like a carrot or parsnip,—nor 
yet mealy, like a good boiled potato, but more firm and 
crisp, in the way of a nut or filbert. The conclusion at 
which we, or most of us, arrived at, from what we heard 
on the spot was, that no assistance or any artificial heat 
should have been given to the young plants at all; but 
to plant out the “ sets,” or small tubers, at once, like so 
many potatoes, and about the middle of April; that onr 
climate seems warm enough for the growth of the plant; 
but that we must suspend our judgment of the produce, 
and on the likelihood of a profitable return, till we have 
learned from a second trial of the plant. 
D. Beaton 
CHRYSANTIIEAIUMS, POAIPONES, AND 
LILIPUTS. 
For the last ten months, I have taken more pains with, 
and made a greater number of experiments on, the Pom- 
pone Chrysanthemums, than I recollect to have done in 
so short a time with any other family during my life¬ 
time, in the garden, at least. 
When I saw that they were destined to become very 
popular, and very useful into the bargain, and know'iiig 
my own deficiency respecting them, from the fact of 
their “ coming in ” just at the time I was going out of 
office, and so missed them at the first start, I had no 
time to lose to enable me to get sufficiently up to the 
mark of a practical judge over them; and if the war 
had been carried on, from the first, with such earnest¬ 
ness as I prosecuted this subject, we should have been 
masters of it by this time, as completely as 1 am now 
over this subject; for, as Cedo nulli, the name /if one 
of the best of them implies, “I yield to none” on that 
point. 
It is true, I should not like to waste my precious time 
in training them into contortions, in order to get the 
plants into certain forms, and the flowers all to one 
face, or view, to suit a cockneyfied style of taste—such 
