1881. ] 
GARDEN GOSSIP. 
143 
like King of Tom Thumbs, with dark-tinted foliage, 
and flowers of a deep but brilliant crimson, many 
degrees deeper and richer than in the variety just 
named, from which it has probably originated. We 
know of nothing which comes so closely to it in 
colour as some of the brighter crimson forms of 
Phlox Drummondii, w T hich are peculiarly rich and 
velvety in the intensity of their brilliant colouring. 
In richness and brilliancy of hue it was quite un¬ 
approachable, and the whole seed-plot, occupying a 
large stretch of ground, was quite true, so that it 
should be perfectly reliable from seed. The very 
few gaps in the rows, indicating the places whence 
inferior seedlings had been removed, may be re¬ 
garded as a strong test of constancy, as the whole 
batch of plants were at the time we saw them in 
full bloom, and very attractive. 
— $(. new book now before us is Mr. S. 
Wood’s Forcing Garden, (Crosby Lockwood 
and Co.) It is a volume of liandy size, and 
goes through the various departments of forcing— 
fruits, flowers, and vegetables ; the text being illus¬ 
trated by various figures of houses recommended 
for the different subjects treated on. There is a good 
deal of practical information to be picked out of the 
volume, and we have noticed less that is objection¬ 
able than in some of the author’s previous writings. 
Hence it may be commended to the notice of 
amateurs who may wish to accelerate the growth 
of any particular crop, and young gardeners may 
read it with profit. 
—- Some prizes of five, three, and two 
guineas were offered this year for proficiency 
in Packing Fruit for Market, by Messrs. 
Webber and Co., fruiterers, of Covent Garden, for 
the best packed boxes of fruit, viz., one of not less 
than 14 lb. of grapes, another twenty-four peaches, 
and a third of not less than 2 lb. of strawberries, to 
be sent per rail, and duly delivered to the Koyal 
Horticultural Society. The 1st prize was won by 
Mr. Crump, of Blenheim. His box of black Ham¬ 
burgh grapes was secured with a thick lining 
of moss, wmdding, and paper, but without any 
division between the bunches, and came out well; 
his peaches were firm, but had about them rather 
too much wadding; and his strawberries, packed in 
leaves, were first-rate. Mr. A. Waterman, of Preston 
Hall, Aylesford, was 2nd, with good fruits, the grapes 
having interlacings of paper that are objectionable. 
Mr. Austin was third, but his grapes, though of good 
colour, were somewhat rubbed. Mr. J. Watson, of 
Colston Bassett, a fourth exhibitor, sent peaches, 
packed in bran, which had become displaced. This 
material is deprecated, as not being so good as soft, 
clean moss. Mr. Webber advises, for peaches, each 
fruit to be wrapped in soft paper, and packed carefully 
into dry, well-picked moss, as the very best method, 
the use of much wadding being avoided. 
— Douglas Las very properly called 
attention to tlie neglect of tlie Ranunculus a3 
a garden flower, the neat and symmetrically- 
formed double flowers nodding in the breeze afford¬ 
ing a feature of unusual beauty. The old florists 
used to be very particular about these flowers, but 
the fact is, that ordinary w r ell-worked soil, light or 
medium, suits them admirably; indeed, it matters 
little what the soil is, if the fine sandy peat left over 
after repotting Orchids is used to plant the tubers 
in, for they grow freely, and flower well, in this 
sandy peat. Some of the fine double varieties of 
fifty years ago have been handed down to us, and 
we admire them all the more because of the 
thoughts they suggest to us of the gardens of the 
florists so long ago. Why should not the Persian 
Ranunculus be still further improved ? The Rev. 
Joseph Tyso tells us, through the pages of the 
Horticultural Register, how to manipulate the flowers 
in order to obtain seeds. He says :—“ Obtain some 
of the best show flowers in each class which produce 
seed-vessels, either dark, white, scarlet, crimson, 
yellow, striped, &c., and a number of the best semi¬ 
double of each corresponding class producing anthers 
as well as pericarps. Thus, if a new flower is desired, 
fertilise any good dark flower with the pollen of 
a semi-double of the same colour.” The best named 
Scotch varieties can be obtained from any seedsman 
at 10s. a hundred, and the stronger-growing French 
form at the same price. Those who wish to save 
seeds could do so by using the pollen from the 
French varieties on the more doublo old-fashioned 
strain. The seeds may be sown in the autumn, and 
the plants very soou produce flowers. 
— portrait of Mr. C. W. Johnson was given 
in a recent issue of the Journal of Horticulture , 
as a frontispiece to the second volume of the 
third series of that publication, which was com¬ 
menced by Mr. Johnson, under the title of the 
Cottage Gardener, over thirty years ago. The 
portrait is accompanied by a pleasing narrative of 
his active and energetic life, and all who have known 
him will cordially unite in the aspiration of the 
narrator that he may long continue to participate in 
the pleasure which a retired life, in the midst of a 
garden of pleasures, can afford. 
-— ®he elegant Cham^dorea glaucifolia 
is grown by Mr. Hudson, of Gunnersbury 
House, in 8-in. pots, in which way they take 
up little room, and are easily moved for decorative 
purposes. In these they grow up with a slender 
shaft 10 ft. or 12 ft. high, capped with a crown of 
graceful foliage ; the wonder at first is where they 
can get the food sufficient to maintain such an 
amount of vegetation. The answer is, Standen’s 
manure. 
— ®he Report of the Fruit Crops, as 
recently published in the Gardeners Chronicle , 
is, on the whole, more favourable than was 
anticipated, though not so uniformly so as that on 
the Potato crop. The weather of last autumn was 
conducive to the ripening of the wood. Taking the 
several fruits in order, it appears that Apricots are 
greatly under average, more especially in the Midland 
and Southern counties ; Plums are about an average 
crop ; Cherries have been extraordinarily plentiful, 
the Scottish, Midland, and Southern districts yield¬ 
ing the best crops ; Peaches and Nectarines, though 
not grown out-of-doors in the North, yield a propor¬ 
tion of favourable reports for the whole kingdom, at 
least a third greater than those of an opposite char¬ 
acter ; Apples, the most important of our hardy 
fruits, are almost uniformly abundant—in Scotland, 
remarkably so; Pears have not yielded quite so well 
as Apples; Small Fruits, such as Currants, Rasp¬ 
berries, and Gooseberries, have been very abundant 
everywhere ; Strawberries, on the whole, have been 
very productive; Nuts, which are usually fickle, 
show good crops. “ Although, therefore,” adds our 
contemporary, “ we cannot look on this as a typically 
good fruit year, it is so vastly superior to the last 
two years, that we cannot fail to be thankful. It is 
the more a matter of satisfaction that Ireland shares 
with the rest of the kingdom not only in an un¬ 
usually fine Potato crop, but also in a good supply 
of fruit.” 
