June 26. j 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
187 
form, a white ground, and beautifully spotted with dark 
crimson. 
Commendations to Mr. E. G. Henderson for Beauty of 
St. John’s Wood, commended for its colour. Also for Queen 
of the Fancies, commended for fine colour and good form. 
Also to the same for a new Shrubby Calceolaria named 
Wellington Hero, a bright clear yellow, suitable for bedding 
purposes. 
Mr. Willison, of Whitby, sent some fine high-coloured 
Polenlillas named respectively Alpha and Empress. The 
censors desired them to be sent again. 
Mr. Kimberly, of Coventry, had some Pansies of merit 
named Zenobia and Pluto, but they were so much injured 
by travelling, that the censors could not adjudicate upon them. 
Mr. Schofield, of Ivnasthorpe, near Leeds, Yorkshire, 
sent some cut flowers of Calceolarias, but the censors re¬ 
quired the plants as well, in order to discuss upon their 
merit. 
Mr. Chater, of Saffron Walden, sent some promising 
seedling Pansies, namely Rotunda, light buff, with rose spot; 
Sparkler, the colour of which is choice and dark; Aurantia, 
a pleasing variety, and of the brightest yellow; China, white 
ground, dark edges, a pleasing flower ; and Beauty, a white 
ground, with the edges of a pleasing dark colour. 
Messrs. Henderson, of Pine Apple Place, sent a beautiful 
new Heath named Erica grande. The flowers are arranged 
in a circle round the stem; they are long, and of a bright 
orange scarlet corolla. The censors wish to see this again. 
Cucumbers should be grown from cuttings when once 
w r e obtain a first-rate kind, for, strictly speaking, seed 
cannot be depended on altogether to produce the same 
variety. 
At a recent meeting of gardener’s, it was stated by one 
party that he had grown Cuthill's black spine from the seed 
of 1846, but from the last packet of that date, sown this year, 
only one seed of twelve vegetated, and he had taken a con- 
siderale number of cuttings or rather layers from it, all of 
which were in full bearing, and he should continue to keep 
stock from it. He had always found the seed produce 
excellent fruit, although not always alike. He had been 
able to keep the stock over from year to year, without any 
perceptible difference in the vigour of the plant, and the 
plants from layers begun bearing when not a foot long. He 
had last year sown a few seeds from one of the handsomest 
cucumbers he ever saw, but, instead of coming like the 
parent, they produced fruit almost as taper as a carrot. It 
was observed by several that there was no hope of seed 
being true, unless we would devote a box to a single plant 
and be content with the first handsome fruit, cutting all 
others away, and arming the box with gauze or thin muslin 
to keep out the flies, which may wander that way with the 
pollen of some other of the family, perhaps vegetable 
marrow. However, the ordinary way of saving seed is to 
set the bloom of the first promising fruit, which, if properly 
fertilized, is past taking hurt by any mixture of the breed. 
Still, nothing can be so certain as cuttings or layers. 
Hereford had its Horticultural Society for many years, 
and fell back in horticulture as the society became 
neglected and died. It is a source of some gratification 
j that among other signs of better times for the science, 
A new Society has been formed under the highest pa- 
j tronage, and a very creditable display was made at the first 
j exhibition, on the 17th instant, lioses were remarkably 
| fine in all the classes; grapes, melons, peaches, and nec- 
| tarines, were good; fine.vegetables abundant. Fuschias 
better grown than we usually see them near London; cal- 
: ceolarias purchased in London at three guineas per dozen, 
' well grown, but mere rubbish. This is not a little discourag¬ 
ing to the country growers. Geraniums with hardly half a 
dozen sticks. Bouquets and designs were numerous, and 
1 upon the whole the Society may be considered well-esta¬ 
blished and liberally supported, one of the signs of “ a good 
time coming.” The prospectus made an announcement, that 
all things would be judged by the standards laid down in 
“ The Properties of Flowers and Plants,” and the author 
j was appointed j udge. The only drawback on the first show 
was a want of room. Four marquees on the cattle green 
were insufficient for a proper display of the plants. 
There must be on. the part of fair showers a sharp 
look out for the exhibitors who show other people’s flowers, 
or use deception in exhibiting. Several persons who 
are alleged to have done this are the common subjects of 
conversation at floral meetings. We trust that this hint 
will be taken, and that those who have transgressed in 
this particular will at once abandon it, and in this hope 
we abstain from mentioning names. 
During the meeting of the British Association at 
Ipswich, in the first week of July, his Royal Highness 
Prince Albert is to be the guest of Sir W. Middleton, 
Bart., at Shrublancl Parle. 
The beautiful gardens and grounds are directed to be 
open to the public on the fifth of July. Half-a-crown will be 
charged for admission, and the money realized will be for 
the benefit of the Ipswich Museum. 
From the 9th to the 12tli of December, both days 
inclusive, will be The Birmingham and Midland 
Counties Exhibition of Poultry, in the Bingley Exhibi¬ 
tion Hall, Broad-street, Birmingham. 
All poultry must be in the show-yard by the 6th of 
December. There are prizes for Spanish, Dorking, White 
Dorking, Cochin-China, Malay, Game, Golden-pencilled 
Hamburgh, including Bolton Bays, Golden-spangled Ham¬ 
burgh, Silver-pencilled Hamburgh, Silver-spangled Ham¬ 
burgh, Poland (white-crested, golden, and silver) Bantams, 
Pigeons (carriers, Antwerps, Barbes, pouters or croppers, 
runts, fan tails, jacobines or cappers, turbits, nuns, arch¬ 
angels, trumpeters, and almond or ermine tumblers) geese, 
ducks, turkeys, and Guinea fowls. Additional particulars 
may be obtained of Mr. T. B. Wright, Midland Counties 
Herald Office, Union-street, Birmingham. E. Y. 
THE ERUIT-GARDEN. 
The Peach, the Nectarine, and the Apricot.— 
We must again beg leave to return to these important 
fruits, for there are matters connected with their culture, 
which, if missed or delayed now, cannot be carried out 
with effect later. The apricot will not class precisely 
at this period with the other two, but a little advice 
may be offered in a separate form in the sequel. 
Disbudding. —Although this should have been com¬ 
pleted some weeks since, there may be those who have 
not yet completed the process. To such we say, do all 
that you intend to do in this way immediately. There 
is no occasion now to go over the whole ground of the 
pros and cons again, or to the rationale of this practice ; 
suffice it to observe, that the very highest point of 
culture requires that not a shoot be left on the tree, 
which is not intended to be reserved in the future 
year. This will seem difficult to those whose trees 
are out of order, or who have not yet learned to com¬ 
prehend the benefits arising from the practice.. It is 
not, however, our duty to descend in the advice given to j 
unworthy compromise, in order to make things more 
easy; but rather to point to models of the very highest 
order, which may elevate the standard of culture. Sim- j 
plicity is, indeed, admirable; but there exist points in 1 
which an extreme of the kind will not quite reach the 
case; for there are proceedings in gardening affairs, 
which, although they involve but a simple principle or 
two, yet carry of necessity an appearance of complexity, 
especially to the uninformed. I 
However, there may be exceptions to this thorough 
disbudding. If a tree lias been out of order through the 
attack of insects, or if the root has been in ill-condition, 
and the tree is just rallying from a “ fret,” then, indeed, : 
