1834 .] 
APPLE MR. GLADSTONE.-THE BENEFITS OP MULCHING. 
73 
Thus being small growing plants, we find they 
do well on blocks of wood, the roots being 
surrounded by living sphagnum moss, and the 
blocks being suspended from the roof, but 
though exposed to light they must not be 
exposed to sun ; indeed, as the leaves are of a 
thin texture, they must be shaded, though all 
the light that can possibly be given them with¬ 
out exposing them to the direct sunshine must 
be afforded. 
We find the cool end of the East India 
house to suit them, and here we give them a 
good supply of moisture at the roots during 
the summer season. They must always be 
kept moist, and should not be allowed to get 
dry even during the winter, for they are nearly 
always growing, and so require a continual 
supply of sustenance. If grown in pots or in 
pans, they will require less abundant moisture 
than when on blocks, but the supply must be 
continuous. One thing must always be borne 
in mind, and that is to keep them free from 
insects.—B. S. Williams, Holloway. 
APPLE MR. GLADSTONE. 
[Plate 610.] 
MONGST early-ripening dessert Apples 
the variety we here figure seems des¬ 
tined to hold a conspicuous place, 
since it possesses at least two 
qualities which go a long way towards 
securing popularity, a pleasant taste and a 
high tone of colour, for which latter it will 
be prized as an ornament to the dessert even 
by those—if there be any—who do not highly 
estimate the flavour of Apples. 
Though it has just now come rather sud¬ 
denly into public notice, it does not appear to 
be a new variety, but to have been a chance 
seedling brought into notice by the late Mr. 
Jackson, of Kidderminster, in 18d8, and dis¬ 
tributed by him under the name of Jackson’s 
Seedling. The original tree is said to be a 
very old one, and to be a sure bearer. It is 
described as being of slender bushy habit, very 
fruitful on the Paradise stock, and also pro- 
•ductiye on the Crab. 
The fruit is scarcely medium size, roundish 
or oblate, furrowed, with a small but open 
'•eye, and a stalk of moderate length set in a 
narrow angular basin. The skin is a deep 
crimson on the exposed side and thickly streaked 
with crimson where shaded,.the surface being 
characteristically marked irregularly, here and 
there, with short bars or stripes of clear 
yellow. The flesh is tender, juicy and sweet, 
with an excellent flavour. Mr. Jackson states 
that with him it ripens in the latter half of 
July. A First-class Certificate was awarded 
to Mr. J. E. Lane, of Berkhamstead, for 
specimens exhibited before the Fruit Com¬ 
mittee of the Royal Horticultural Society on 
August 14, 1883, and it is from some of these 
that our figure has been prepared by Mr. 
Macfarlane.—T. Moore. 
THE BENEFITS OF MULCHING. 
T is generally admitted by experienced 
planters, that a proper system of mulch¬ 
ing plants of almost every class is of 
great advantage to them, not only as a 
protection to the roots, but by inducing the 
plants to root upwards, whereby they can re¬ 
ceive the benefit of sun and air. It need not 
be argued that under such conditions the colour 
and flavour of fruit is greatly improved. The 
natural inclination of some plants to keep 
their roots near the surface, when means are 
allowed to maintain the upper crust of soil in 
a moist condition, and protected from a dry 
and scorching atmosphere, is very striking. 
Probably no plant shows this more than the 
Vine, which is also one of the readiest to go 
downwards after moisture when threatened 
with danger from drought on the surface. 
Last season we placed a number of wide 
flat planks on the inside borders within a few 
feet of supernumerary Vines planted for tem¬ 
porary purposes. In the course of a few 
weeks we had occasion to move the planks, 
and the surface of the soil beneath them was 
matted with vine roots, white, and interwoven 
as closely as they could be. We placed a 
quantity of turves over them, and dusted a 
little of Thomson’s Vine manure over the 
turves, and over this some old mushroom 
manure, and on examining them a short time 
ago the whole was found to be a mass of 
thread-like fibre. 
In a range of peach-houses young trees were 
covered at the roots by turves fresh from an 
old orchard; these were made firm, and in a 
short time they were matted with roots. 
With a large number of currants, gooseberries, 
young apple and plum trees, the same practice 
was adopted last season, and they were well 
mulched beside. The yoflng roots are now 
well up to the surface, and are very healthy and 
vigorous.—M. Temple. , 
