1S7S.] 
THE GOLDEN RATHRIPE TEACH. 
1 85 
though easily grown, their culture is not gener¬ 
ally understood; and certainly the results of the 
efforts made to grow them which one sometimes 
witnesses are not entirely satisfactory. 
Let us take the Pansy first, and explain in a 
few simple remarks the method to be followed to 
obtain the best results. Propagate by slipping 
off the slender growths that are to be found 
at the base of the plant in October, or even 
in November ; these w r ill be the best’adapted 
for spring flowering. The slips will have small 
hair-like roots attached to them, and they 
will soon become established. If the plants 
can be wintered in a cold frame, so much the 
better; if not, they must be planted out as soon 
as they are established. In order to obtain a 
continuous and good bloom, the soil must be 
amply trenched, and if it is light, with a dry 
subsoil, plenty of rich cow-manure must be 
worked-in during the operation of trenching. 
A heavy wet soil is improved by mixing leaf- 
soil or road-scrapings with it, and using stable- 
manure, as being the driest and lightest. The 
plants should be put out about one foot apart, 
and as growth is made, the shoots should be 
pegged down to the surface of the ground. 
The Pansy is well adapted for pot culture, 
since its sweet-scented flowers can be obtained 
by the aid of a cold frame placed in a sunny 
corner in February and March ; but to obtain 
early flowers, it is desirable to propagate the 
plants in August or early in September. Pot 
them two plants in a large 60-sized pot, and 
when the soil has become quite permeated with 
roots, repot into their blooming-pots. Six- 
inch pots are best to flower them in, and 
the soil should be four parts rich loam, 
one part leaf-mould, and one part rotten 
manure,—cow or stable dung, as the loam 
may be light or heavy ; river-sand, too, should 
be added, if the compost is not open enough. 
The plants should be placed on a stage, quite 
close to the glass. It will be necessary to look 
to them at night, as slugs are very partial to 
the leaves and flower-buds, and they will be 
found feeding at that time, and must be de¬ 
stroyed. Green-fly may be killed by fumigating 
the frames with tobacco-smoke, or dusting the 
plants with powdered tobacco. 
The Pink requires similar attention to the 
Pansy, in order to produce masses of its flowers 
from young plants. As with the Pansy, young 
plants have to be propagated annually, but the 
slips, or pipings, as they are called, have to be 
put in earlier ; late in June or early in July is 
the best time. In my youthful days, in Scot¬ 
land, I used to plant the pipings on the shady 
side of a hedge or gooseberry-busli, and they 
rooted freely in that position, without any glass 
protection; but in the warm, dry climate of the 
South of England they require a glass frame to 
root in, with a little bottom-heat. The plants 
should be put out in the open ground early in 
October, the soil being prepared for them as for 
Pansies.—J. Douglas, Loxforcl Hall, Ilford. 
THE GOLDEN EATHEIPE PEACH. 
[Plate 481.] 
(fcpfiDHOSE careful gardeners and skilful men 
^ us i ness ) the Dutch, laid the found- 
ation of a very pleasant and profit¬ 
able commerce, when they introduced the 
cultivation of the peach in their kniekerbocker 
colony of New Amsterdam, little thinking, 
perhaps, of the enormous extent of territory 
over which Peach orchards were ultimately 
destined to stretch. Almost abandoned in the 
States originally planted, Peach culture in 
the Southern States has risen to national im¬ 
portance. Steamers and railway cars are 
freighted solely with Peaches, when the harvest 
is at its height. As the simplest and cheapest 
method of planting is by sowing seedlings, 
many orchards have been raised by economists 
from seed alone, and the consequence has been 
that innumerable seminal varieties are extant 
in the States. In the race for a good price, 
early-ripening varieties are eagerly sought for. 
Since the discovery of the Early Beatrice Peach, 
which was largely popular, from its excessive 
precocity, many early sorts have been 
“ edited ” and put into circulation, but it still 
remains to be proved whether these varieties 
have beaten the prototype. 
Among the orchard sorts of America, the 
large yellow-fleshed peaches have been dis¬ 
tinguished by more favour than they have 
ever had in England; and the Golden Rath- 
ripe, of which a figure is given, is one of the 
best of the early yellow-fleshed sorts. It is 
very large, very jnicy, and possesses a distinct 
flavour. When well grown and well ripened, 
