223 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRY GENTLEMAN, July 19, 1859. 
Queen Pine. Tile sliaft, or column, between them was I 
graced with Melons and Gx-apes in a pendent position, 
and set out with fine, rich foliage and flowers. If any¬ 
thing, the flowers were, perhaps, too mimerous, but the 
idea was a happy inroad on the general practice of 
showing fruit all flat on dishes. 
Vegetables were shown in good condition, though not 
in great quantity. The best tray of ten varieties be¬ 
longed to Mr. Nicholson, and contained large Cabbage 
Lettuce, Kidney Potatoes, winter Onions, Carrots, Cau¬ 
liflowers, green Marrow Peas, Tomatoes (ripe), Custard 
Vegetable Marrow, and a brace of Cucumbers. The 
second tray contained some fine Asparagus and Peas, but 
the Cauliflowers were not so good. I could get no informa- 
tion concerning the beautiful Pea shown in several stands. 
I was then using Dickson’s Favourite, and had not got 
a Marrow in use. 
The cottagers came out well as to quality. Cucum- 
bei's, three or four brace shown by them, were first- j 
rate productions, each brace fairly matched, straight 
as gun barrels, crisp, and young, and all about twenty- 1 
two inches in length. Pity the gardener that com- I 
petes with such cottagers. I presume that gardeners 
and amateurs got three prizes for Cucumbers, but in 
comparison of these cottagers’ productions there was 
hardly a good brace if put together. I should like to 
know the means at such cottagers’ disposal for turning 
out such results on the 24th of June. Assuredly we 
must bestir ourselves if we would not be walked over. 
The most successful cottager-grower, as far as I recollect, 
was Mr. James Nether wood, Deighton, and the same 
cultivator stood first for many things besides Cucumbers. 
Two facts more connected with this Exhibition are 
worthy of notice. The first is, that twelve Judges were 
appointed—nurserymen and gentlemen’s gardenei’s—from 
Halifax, Hull, Middleton, Lancashire, York, &c.; so that 
there was no difficulty in getting all the judging satis¬ 
factorily done in good time. How different when, at 
many provincial shows, a couple of men are expected in 
a couple of hours to discriminate the relative excellencies 
of some hundreds of different entries ! 
The second fact is, that for all the pleasure the public 
derived from this Exhibition, it is almost solely indebted 
to the entei’prise and public spirit of one individual—Mr. 
T. Hawkins Appleby, 61, Briggate, Leeds. One cause of 
the declineof provincial societies is the jealousies and heart¬ 
burnings of their members. Business of all kinds is often 
better done by one individual than by clubs or societies. 
Eloral fetes had been held in Leeds, but they have been 
discontinued of late yeai - s, and partly from the above 
causes. Last year, Leeds being honoured with the meet¬ 
ing of the British Association, Mr. Appleby was appealed 
to if he could not get up a floral and horticultural fete— 
gentlemen subscribing to help to defray the expenses. 
That fete, held also at the Abhey, was highly successful. 
On the faith of that success, when appealed to again, Mr. 
Appleby complied, though almost all, if not the whole, of 
the responsibility would have rested upon himself—so 
far as the pecuniary liabilities were concerned. These 
expenses, owing to the large posters and the advertising- 
in all the large towns within railway distance, must have 
been large; but all, we trust, will be defrayed by the 
multitudes of visitors. Considering the uncertainty of 
our climate, few would have run such a risk. All honour 
to the spirit of one who has enabled so many to look back 
on the 24th of June as a red-letter day of pure enjoy- I 
ment. R. Fish. 
THINNING GARDEN CROPS. 
Thebe are few operations in gardening which exercise a greater 
influence on the welfare of a crop than a timely and judicious 
thinning, like the pruning of a Vine, or a wall tree. A proper 
thinning is essential, not only for appearance but for absolute 
success. A fruit tree left in a state of confused growth will still 
bear a something ; but the produce of some crops left unthinned 
would be very poor indeed. For instance: a field of Turnips 
would not be worth much if left untouched with the hoe; and 
some garden crops are equally liable to suffer by the number of 
plants being often tenfold more than there is room to grow to 
perfection. • As most plants having small seeds are of necessity 
sown much thicker than they are expected to perfect themselves, 
and iu their earlier growth stand very close to each other, and of 
course draw each other into a weak and spindly growth, it is 
advisable to commence the thinning before this “ drawing ” takes 
place, or before it extends to any extent. This is especially 
advisable with such plants as are injured by an elongated neck. 
For instance : Radishes suffer by that; and even Onions, though 
they stiffen and become partially robust again, yet there is no 
question but they would have been better without the injury 
which their contact with each other occasioned. Onions, in fact* 
ought to be thinned as soon as they are large enough to handle. 
They need not be fully thinned at this time, a few may be left to 
take out afterwards ; but if there is any danger of this latter 
thinning being neglected, let them be fully thinned at once. 
Generally speaking, Onions are sown in rows about a foot apart; 
and if the ground is good, they will bear thinning to about five 
inches or so apart in the row. They root much deeper than is 
generally expected; and where the ground has been trenched 
they will send their roots down nearly two feet in search of 
moisture in hot dry weather, provided the soil at that depth is 
such as to invite them so low. Carrots may have more room, 
as likewise ought Beet, both between the rows and between the 
plants in the row; these plants are very impatient of being left 
uuthinned for any length ot time. Parsnips ought to bo thinned 
to their proper distance as early as they can be handled; and 
Turnips cannot be too soon attended to after they get the rough 
leaf. In fact, all crops that are sown where they are to stand to 
mature themselves require more or less thinning, excepting those 
produced from the larger-seeded kinds, as Broad Beans, Scarlet 
Runuers, &c., which, being pretty certain to grow, are sown 
no thicker than they are expected to grow. 
The old maxim of thinning in time cannot be too strongly 
urged on those having the management of kitchen-garden crops ; 
for more depends on it than is generally supposed. _ In hot, dry 
weather, when Lettuce has to be sown where it is to mature 
itself, a timely thinning will in many cases prevent its running to 
seed, w’hich it otherwise would do if left as sown. A timely 
thinning also enables the remaining plants to grow to a larger 
size than they would do if left to struggle against each other; 
besides which, the operation is easier and more quickly done 
when it is begun in time than when it has been delayed unt 
the mass is in confusion. All these reasons tend to enforce 
the “thinning iu time” of all gardening produce requiring this 
operation. 
It need scarcely be said that vegetable crops are not the only 
crops that suffer by a neglect of the above rule. Fruit trees and 
fruit plantations are equally injured ; and timber plantations, or 
rather plantations of young trees, are very much injured by their 
thinning being delayed. Many a plant, that would have made a 
useful and ornamental tree, is iri’etrievably ruined by being left 
to struggle for an existence, with, perhaps, half a dozen others 
equally suffering with itself. The axe of the woodman sometimes 
comes too late, the feature of the tree being altered ; and instead 
of the stiff robust specimen, capable of resisting any amount of 
wind, there is one having more the character of the Indian 
Bamboo, elongated to a frightful extent, and nearly as thick at 
one end as the other. Thinning, therefore, is one of those im¬ 
portant axioms which ought never to be lost sight ot; and whether 
the object is a hotbed ot early Carrots, a field of Turnips, or a 
young and rising plantation of timber trees, the law is equally 
binding on all; and its due observance cannot be too strongly 
urged on all interested in these matters.—J. Robson. 
THE HERBARY. 
{Continued from page 176.) 
Section 2.—herbs used for their perfume. 
Though perfumes are not absolute necessaries of life, yet, as 
the organ of smell has been given to man in common with other 
animals, such plants as yield a grateful scent are highly valued; 
and there can be no doubt that the pleasing aroma arising from 
various plants is conducive to health, and is, to say the least of 
