38 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRY GENTLEMAN, October 16, 1S60. 
rate your ball would furnish a score of No. 32-pots, the right 
size pot to begin afresh. An expert hand would do them thus 
in a couple of hours ; a novice would need six or seven hours to 
get through the work—a teasing job. 
3. Solanum capsicastrum is a very slow grower for one of that 
family. The way to cultivate it is, to plant it out on a hot 
border in the very richest soil towards the end of May, for the 
first six or seven years from the seed or spring cutting ; to take it 
up at the end ot September, dock its roots a little, and put it 
each time in the smallest pot that will hold all the roots un¬ 
cramped ; and when it is of a fruiting age, to keep it in sight all 
the winter in imitation of Mandarin Oranges, and to give it the 
same amount of water as would do for a good-sized Pelargonium 
or fancy Geranium. One sowing of it is enough for a family 
man in a lifetime. Your plants are now about the same size as 
our own, and ours will get a cold frame this next winter, as they 
are too young to fruit. There are some other imitations of little 
Orange-fruiting plants ; but this is the king or queen of them all, 
and one of the very easiest plants to manage and do well.] 
NEW BOOKS. 
The Fruit Manual.* —We need no other evidence that 
such a work as this is needed, and will find many purchasers, 
than the numerous packages which are sent to us containing 
fruit, of which the senders request us to furnish the proper 
names. This volume will enable any one who will take the 
trouble to have the pleasure of finding out for himself the in¬ 
formation which he has to seek from others. It is a book, also, 
that will serve as a check upon vending fruit trees without a 
sufficient care that they are properly named, for the purchaser 
can detect whether the fruits they produce agree with the 
descriptions given in its pages. At this season of the year, too, 
he can by the same aid readily rectify any mistakes that may 
have been made in naming the Apples and Pears with which his 
orchard or garden has been planted. 
It is no dictum of ours, that Dr. Hogg has “ a more intimate 
acquaintance with fruits and their history almost than any other 
living authorityand we know better than any one else, the 
unwearied labour and care which he bestowed upon the contents 
of this book to render it accurate and copious. That he has 
succeeded in his efforts we not only testify from our own slighter 
knowledge of the subject, but from the unanimous opinion of 
every competent judge who has referred to the volume. How¬ 
ever, as evidence which even the most uninitiated may appreciate 
let us take some example, and we happen, without any premedi¬ 
tation, to have opened the volume at page 258, and fixed upon 
the “ White Magnum Bonum ” Plum. Let us see how the in¬ 
formation given respecting it will bear comparison with what 
previous works devoted to fruit-description furnish. 
The earliest is the “Pomona” of John Rea, published in 1665, 
and there w r e find no more than this. “ Bonum magnum , or the 
Dutch Plum, is a very great, oval-formed yellowish Plum, and, 
according to the name, is good as well as great. 
Batty Langley published in 1729, his “ Pomona, or Fruit- 
garden illustrated,” and in that he says “The Moguls Pluml 
or White Magnum Donum, also called the White Holland or 
Dutch Plumb, an excellent fruit for baking or preserving ; when 
’tis ripe its pulp is very yellow- within, as well as without, and 
covered with a fine white flew : the pulp sticks to the stone, hath 
a fine sharp acid when ripe ; ’tis a very good bearer, and a 
beautiful fruit: Ripe Aug. 20, 1727, south-east wall.” 
In 1831, Mr. George Findley, published his “ Guide to the 
Orchard, &c., and in that we find as follows :— 
“ White Magnum Bonum (White Mogul, White Holland, 
Plum, Imperiale Blanche).— Branches long, smooth. Fruit 
of the largest size, oval. Skin yellow, covered with a thin white 
bloom. Flesh yellow, firm, closely adhering to the stone. Juice 
acid, not fit to be eaten raw, but excellent for sweetmeats. Stone 
oval, lance-pointed. Ripe the beginning and middle of September. 
It ripened at Twickenham (where Langley lived), in 1727, on a 
south-east wall, August 20th.” 
Dr. Hogg’s “ Fruit Manual ” gives the following particulars: — 
White Magnum Bonum (Askew's Golden Fgg; Donum 
Magnum; Dame Aubert; Dame Aubert Blanche; Egg Plum ; 
Grosse Luisante; Imperiale Blanche; White Mogul; Yellow 
* The Fruit Manual; containing the Descriptions and Synonvmes of tl 
r ruits and Emit frees commonly met with in the Gardens and Orchards 
Great Britain, with Selected Lists of those most worthy of Cultivation. I 
Ilohert Hogg, LL.D., F.H.S., &c. London : Cottage Gardener Office. 
Magnum Bonum). —Fruit of the largest size, oval, with a rather 
deep suture extending the whole length of one side. Skin deep 
yellow, covered w r itli thin white bloom. Stalk an inch long, inserted 
without depression. Flesh yellow, firm, coarse-grained, with a 
brisk subacid flavour, and adhering to the stone. Shoots smooth, 
A culinary Plum, highly esteemed for preserving. Ripe in the 
beginning of September.” 
In conclusion we will give an extract from the preface, that our 
. readers may be acquainted with the nature of the volume’s 
entire contents, and w-e will add in the words of another, “ what 
is done is done thoroughly.” 
“ My object has been to prepare a convenient manual of 
reference for amateur fruit-growers, nurserymen, and professional 
gardeners, and to condense in a space as small as possible all 
useful information respecting the varieties of fruits mentioned. 
I have been particularly careful in regard of the synonymes; 
and at the end of each of the kinds of fruits I have given selec¬ 
tions of varieties for limited gardens, and for different situations 
and aspects. In most cases 1 have given a synoptical arrange¬ 
ment of the different fruits by which to facilitate their identifica¬ 
tion ; and I trust that the pains which have been bestowed upon 
the work generally, will secure for it a favourable reception, and 
an indulgent consideration for any errors that inadvertently may 
have occurred.” 
TRADE CATALOGUES RECEIVED. 
A Descriptive Catalogue of Fruit Trees, by James Veitch, jun.. 
Royal Exotic Nursery, King's Road, Chelsea, S. W. —This is a 
catalogue embracing a very extensive collection of fruit trees, 
and furnishes admirable descriptions of all the most esteemed 
varieties both old and new. In it we observe many novelties of 
great merit ; and from a very close inspection of the kind of 
information it supplies we consider it a very useful and reliable 
catalogue. 
Catalogue of Seeds and Implements (for Colonial Circu¬ 
lation), by Peter Dawson Son, Edinburgh and London .— 
This is a happy idea of the Messrs. Lawson to publish a catalogue 
expressly for the colonists, to w-hom judiciously assorted seeds 
must be a great boon. To emigrants also this catalogue will be 
exceedingly useful. 
Catalogue of Bulbs offered for sale by John Sampson, Pilsby, 
near Clay Cross; and a Catalogue of Dutch Flower Roots, by 
Edward Taylor, Malton, Yorkshire, are both good catalogues of 
good selection. 
Catalogue of Choice Nursery Stock, offered by Stephen Brown , 
Sudbury, Suffolk, contains good selections of the usual stock of 
a nursery. 
Catalogue of Imported Bulbs, by Stephen Brown, Sudbury, 
Suffolk, will be found to enumerate a good stock of these articles. 
TO CORRESPONDENTS. 
Mildew in Vinery (Isabelle tie Roubignc). — If you had employed 
flowers of sulphur as soon as the mildew appeared, and had persevered in 
using it according to the directions we have frequently given, your bunches 
oi Grapes would not have been destroyed, nor would the Geraniums and 
other plants have been mildewed. You can prevent its appearance next 
year almost completely, by painting over the walls, flues, and stems of the 
Vines, as soon as the leaves have fallen, with limewash as thick as paint, in 
which flowers of sulphur have been mixed in the proportion of a handful 
to a bucketful of limewash. Clean out the refuse and leaves from the 
vinery, and burn them before applying the limewash. Fork over the vinery- 
border, and sprinkle its surface with flowers of sulphur. Repeat this 
sprinkling in the spring ; and if any mildew reappears on the Vines in the 
summer, dust them thoroughly with flowers of sulphur, applied by means 
of a Boite a houppe. Lime water will not kill weeds on gravel walks, but 
it will kill worms in lawns. One peck of freshly slaked lime is enough for 
forty gallons of water, to be repeatedly stirred, and then left until it be¬ 
comes clear. 
Works on Pruning, &c. (G. F. Wade ).—You will And all you ask for, 
and much information besides, in “The Garden Manual,” published at 
our office, price Is. 6rZ. Free by post for Is. 8<Z. 
Fuchsias not Flowering (L. R. Lucas ).—The Fuchsias would need 
quite as much heat as you propose (40° to 45°), and should not be potted. 
Unless such kinds as Don iniana and Serratiflora, they do little good in 
dark weather in winter. We would rather advise you to let them rest, and 
start as early as you like in spring. Your sand stages are just the thing for 
Fuchsias, Scarlet Geraniums, Cinerarias, and Calceolarias, but for fancy 
and florist Pelargoniums the spare shelves would be better, or you might 
get each pot on a reversed saucer, or a square piece of wood, anything by 
which the bottom of the pot shall not always stand on a damp medium, 
especially in winter. 
Cocoa-nut Fibre for Orchids and Ferns (17. W. E .).—'The cocoa- 
nut refuse is not at all fit for Orchids, but it is the finest thing in the world 
for all Ferns which need peat, and to use it instead of peat, and without 
sand. We have triedit for Ferns on the recommendation of a clergyman 
