235 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRY GENTLEMAN, January 11, 1859. 
most delicious of our autumn Pears—I tasted many, and found 
them comparatively dry, and devoid of all their usual aroma. 
As records will now be kept of these fluctuations in the flavour 
of fruits, to which end the reports of the British Pomological 
Society will largely help, we may one day find out the cause, and 
another day suggest a remedy for these discrepances in the 
flavour of our garden fruits.—T. R., the other Judge at Willis’s 
Rooms, in 1857. 
In his communication which appeared in last week’s Cottage 
Gardener, “ I, one of the Judges at Willis’s Rooms, 1857,” has 
put a construction on my notice of Cox’s Orange Pippin which 
it does not bear. I do not impugn the judgment of the Judges 
at Willis’s Rooms, for I think it very possible, knowing how 
variable the Ribston is, that the specimens of Cox's Orange 
Pippin exhibited on that occasion were superior to those of the 
Ribston Pippin, and, consequently, they judged rightly. But it 
is from the inference they drew from their decision, that I dissent; 
for, in giving forth the unqualified judgment they did, they 
plainly led the public to suppose, that. Cox’s Orange Pippin was 
unexceptionably superior to Ribston Pippin. I myself was told, 
without any qualification, that it was so ; the daily newspapers 
reiterated it, and the public believed it. But, in dissenting from 
such an inference, I think it is too much for “ I ” to say, that I 
thereby intended “to convey censure on the men who con¬ 
scientiously endeavoured to discharge the duty entrusted to 
them.” It is a question of opinion ; they gave theirs, and I have 
given mine, and both are to be estimated just for what they are 
worth ; but it is a hard case, if, when one individual differs from 
another in a matter of opinion, he is to have improper motives 
attributed to him. 
I allow that Cox's Orange Pippin is a first-rate Apple—I have 
ever been of that opinion ; but 1 repeat that it is “ neither superior 
nor equal to Ribston Pippin, ” and that there are many other 
Apples as good and better, as I have already said. I question 
not the decision of the Judges, that the specimens of Cox’s which 
were exhibited at Willis’s Rooms were better flavoured than the 
Ribstons exhibited on the same occasion ; but, in drawing the 
inference they did, and in giving publicity to it in this single 
instance, I think they gave a hasty and unguarded judgment. 
What was the case this season at St. James’s Hall? Three 
dishes of Cox’s Orange Pippin were exhibited from different 
growers, including the same gentleman who took the prize last 
year, and they were all beaten by Mr. Newton’s Cornish Oilli- 
fiower. We all know that Ribston Pippin is very variable in its 
quality, and that there are seasons and localities where it succeeds 
better than in others ; but, if we are fairly to test the merits of the 
two fruits, let us take both in their best state, and then form a 
judgment. It was not merely in stating that Cox’s was superior 
to Ribston that I think the Judges erred in coming to the conclu¬ 
sion they did, but in thereby conveying the idea that Cox's 
Orange Pippin is so superior to our best Apples ; for, in general 
estimation, the Ribston Pippin ranks so high, that any variety 
which surpasses it must be something very extraordinary indeed. 
Before wo can say that any one fruit is superior to another, we 
must see both in their best condition, and judge them together 
under such circumstances ; but to judge an inferior Ribston 
Pippin with a Cox’s Orange Pippin in its highest state of ex¬ 
cellence, and from the comparison to publish the conclusion that 
the former is the superior variety, is, I still think, unguarded. I 
may mention, in support of my opinion, that the Bornological 
Society lias this season decided, at a very full meeting, that Cox's 
Orange Pippin is not superior to the Ribston Pippin. —H. 
CULTURE OF THE HYACINTH. 
We have long been taught to believe, that nobody can grow a 
Hyacinth but a Dutchman. Now, there are very few things 
that an Englishman cannot do, if he sets about it, and I have 
scarcely a doubt but that as good bulbs may be produced in the 
market gardens of London as among the dykes of Holland—nay, 
it was done by an old gardener (Justice) before we were born. 
The fact is, that, though we are fond of flowering this plant, we 
never think of cultivating it. We sometimes plant a bed of fresh 
roots from the shop in the open ground. These flower nobly the 
first year—merely, however, throwing up, half-mechanically, the 
flower which the skill and industry of the Hollander had caused 
to fatten and ripen within the bulb the year before. Upon 
making inquiries as to the second year’s show of bloom, our 
informant is generally silent, or shirks the subject with a low 
growl. The fact is, that the Hyacinth, like the Carnation, is an 
instance of a plant in which the improvement of race by high 
cultivation has been carried to the utmost; and by high cultiva¬ 
tion alone can such plants be kept up to the mark. I turned 
my attention to this plant, some years ago, for several seasons, 
and saw quite enough to convince me that the culture was to be 
done. 
In my experiments, I followed implicitly the practice of the 
Dutch, as described in the books,—to wit, by excavating the 
border, placing a few inches of well-made, rather rotten manure 
at the bottom, and filling up to the surface, and six or eight 
inches above it, with a carefully-made and very sandy compost. 
In my own case, this was the soil shaken from the roots of 
Geraniums and other plants at potting time, and collected ex¬ 
pressly for the purpose. I found it indispensable that the plant 
should be cultivated from the offset. Every offset, however 
small, should be planted and shifted to fresh quarters every year. 
They will attain a good size for blooming in from two to three 
seasons, according to their strength when planted. They may 
be allowed to remain two years following in the same bed, but it 
is hardly safe practice—at least, not in the midland counties. 
The young stock, to commence with, may be supplied from pot 
plants of the preceding season, which frequently produce a large 
number of offsets ; and, according to my experience, this is far 
the best way to begin. In practice, the system is not so com¬ 
plicated and troublesome as it seems. A bed of this kind, after 
its crop of bulbs, will grow Carnations well for a season, or 
perhaps two, or Anemones, which will thrive under this treat¬ 
ment. Three or four small beds, running up to a south wall, or 
other good exposure, will admit of a simple rotation that no good 
gardener would think troublesome. Moreover, the amateur will 
find it pay to concentrate his attention for a year or two upon 
one small space of ground thoroughly well cared for. 
I omit smaller details in the present flourishing state of gar¬ 
dening knowledge. It is sometimes recommended to omit the 
substratum of manure, as being too stimulating. The Dutch use 
it very strong—I believe, always in the shape of night-soil. 
By the method above described, I grew many sound, clean- 
skinned bulbs, resembling imported specimens, and some quite 
as good as the ordinary run. The large, handsome, single whites 
thrive like Daffodils. 1 remember, also, the single yellow Heroine ; 
the blue Nimrod; the very dark purples, both single and double ; 
and the pretty and curious L' Unique — all doing kindly, and mak¬ 
ing clean bulbs. Avoid very double and very late flowering sorts, 
and take the bulbs up rather early—that is, before the foliage is 
utterly dead, laying them in by the heels in a dry place for a 
week or two before cleaning and housing them. If you keep 
them in a cool place, such as a dry cellar, or apple-room, they 
will tell you themselves when they want to be planted, by the 
appearance of the ring from which the rootlets spring ; and this 
begins to show life long before the uninitiated would think it.— 
Amellus. 
BEES SECRETING WAX. 
There are certain scientific truths,—such as the identi y of 
lightning with electricity, and the circulation of the blood,—w hich, 
owing their discovery, in the first instance, to the genius o' an 
individual, have been so often verified by others, and are so con¬ 
sistent with the phenomena- which they profess to explain, that 
no one at this time ever thinks of doubting them, or deems it 
necessary to repeat the experiments by which they have been de¬ 
monstrated. Most person^ would be surprised at finding a 
Fellow of the Royal Society denying the conclusions of Franklin, 
in the one instance; or a member of the College of Surgeons 
disputing the correctness of Harvey’s reasoning, in the other; and 
it is with somewhat similar feelings that I have perused the doubts 
of Mr. Wighton, respecting Huber’s discovery of the secretion 
of wax by bees, from either honey or sugar. As that gentleman 
professes himself acquainted with the experiments of the great 
apiarian discoverer, but remains unconvinced by them, I fear it 
may be deemed presumption in me to attempt carrying the argu¬ 
ment further. I would remark, however, with reference to the 
passage he quotes from his own work, that Huber destroyed the 
new combs so often, and they were so frequently reproduced, 
whilst the bees had access only to honey, in the one experiment, 
and to sugar in the other, as, in my opinion, to do away with 
