40 
THE GARDENING WORLD. 
September 19, 1885. 
TREE FRUITS AND THE GALE. 
The fierce winds which so boisterously and so roughly 
careered over the face of the earth last week, accom¬ 
panied as they were by heavy rainstorms, have 
committed havoc with the tree fruits, Apples, Pears, 
and late Plums suffering most severely. Doubtless 
in the vast area of market orchards which surround 
the metropolis alone, very many thousands of bushels 
of fruits were laid low, indeed more fruit was thus 
removed forcibly from the tree and bruised against the 
earth, than often greets us as a seasons crop. Fallen 
Pears, especially if hard fruits, are valueless, whilst 
wind-fallen Apples, only the best samples pay for pick¬ 
ing up, and even then, it has been found difficult to give 
them away, so plentiful are these fruits and so cheap. 
Of course, the remaining fruits will improve in size, 
as a result of the thinning, and of the rain, and 
because of the thinning of the crop now, better prices 
may be looked for later. Where trees had so far 
suffered that they had lost their leafage, or were other¬ 
wise affected by drought, no doubt the sudden flooding 
of the earth with moisture, has caused an equally 
sudden rebound in the action of the sap, and large 
numbers of fruity are, as it were, dislodged, or forced 
from off the trees, through that cause alone. There can 
be little doubt, however, but that the bloom buds now 
forming on the trees, and without which no fruit can 
be hoped for next year, will swell and benefit immensely 
from the moisture which has so freely fallen, and the 
thinning of the crop now, will also so far relieve trees, 
that many may be induced to give some moderate crops 
next year, should the season be favourable. 
A big crop one year, and very poor ones for two or 
three years, is not at all the formula of cropping 
procedure we wish to see, we cannot at all command 
nature, but something may be done to arrest irregula¬ 
rities, by reducing these exhausting crops to 
moderate ones earlier in the year, when they do happen. 
-->X<—- 
THE LAVENDER. 
A few days ago, a box of sweetly fragrant spikes of 
blossom of the Lavender reached us, sent by a gardener 
who grows it largely. It was greatly welcomed by the 
good housewife, and now drawers, wardrobes, cabinets, 
&c., are redolent with its charming perfume. 
This well-known plant is the Lavendula vera of 
botanists, and, being included among our garden herbs, 
is one of the most aromatic. It is a native of the 
southern and warmer parts of Europe, and is abun¬ 
dantly cultivated, especially in France, where, in Pro¬ 
vence and Languedoc, it is said so to flourish that ovens 
are heated with it, Rosemary and Sage being also 
used for the same purpose. It is said to possess virtues 
in its natural climate which it does not possess when 
naturalised in other countries, and, in fact, although 
its essential oil enters largely into the composition of 
our medicines, and is esteemed for its beneficial effects 
in several maladies, yet its cultivation is by no means 
general, it being chiefly confined for the London market 
to Mitcham, in Surrey, while in other quarters it is 
merely cultivated as a garden plant. 
Lavender is from the Latin verb, lavarc (to wash), 
and it is said that the ancients employed it largely in 
their baths. The expression “Laid in Lavender” has 
arisen from the old custom of using the plant to scent 
newly-washed linen. 
“ Its spikes of azure bloom 
Shall be, ere v T hile, in arid bundles bound, 
To lurk amid the labours of the loom, 
And crown our kerchiefs clean with rare perfume. ” 
It was formerly believed that the asp, a dangerous 
species of viper, made lavender its habitual place of 
abode, for which reason the plant was approached with 
extreme caution. In Spain and Portugal Lavender is 
used to strew the floors of churches and houses on festive 
occasions, or to make bonfires on St. John’s Day. In 
Tuscany it is employed to counteract the effect of the 
evil eye on little children. The Kabyle women attribute 
to Lavender the property of protecting them from 
marital cruelty, and invoke it for that purpose. 
A very poor and light gravelly soil is best suited to 
the plant, in such being more fragrant, long-lived, and 
more capable of enduring severe weather than in a rich 
one. In rich or moist soils it grows luxuriantly, but 
it is, in general, destroyed during the winter. The 
situation in which it is planted cannot be too open. 
There are three methods of propagation—by seeds, 
by roots, and by cuttings. The latter plan is most 
generally adopted, and the slips or cuttings should be 
of the current year's growth, and they may be planted 
in May or June ; it may also be propagated by cuttings 
of those which are a year old, which are to be planted 
in March, April, and early in May. Both slips and 
cuttings should be from 5 to 7 ins. in length, which, 
after being stripped to half the length of their lower 
leaves, are to be planted to that depth, either in a 
shady border or in a frame. They should be shaded 
during mid-day until they have taken root. The rows 
of cuttings should be about 6 ins. apart each way. 
Water must be given only in moderate quantities until 
the cuttings have rooted. Slips, with rcfots, can be 
taken off in March and April or September, and planted 
deeply in the soil, at least 1 ft. apart in the rows, and 
the rows 2 ft. apart. The ground should be hoed occa¬ 
sionally, and the plants kept trimmed by the removal 
of over-luxuriant and straggling shoots, and withered 
flower-stalks. The flowers are produced in July and 
August, and the spikes of flower should be cut when 
the blossoms on the lower part of the spike begin to 
change to a brown colour. The bunches are hawked 
about the streets of London and elsewhere, and they 
are purchased for their perfume and for preserving 
clothes from moths.— J. TV. 
-- 
WOODWARDIA RADIOANS. 
One of the most striking features in the large Fernery 
at Tatton Park, Knutsford, in which all the Ferns are 
planted out, are some grand masses of this ornamental 
species. The Fernery is of large proportions, both in 
length and height, and tree Ferns with stems 8 to 10 ft. 
high, with fine spreading heads of fronds, have still 
plenty of room for further development. On some 
bold masses of sandstone the Woodwardias are planted, 
and have established themselves, so that at the present 
time the effect produced on one’s mind on entering the 
Fernery and beholding one of these grand clumps is not 
easy to describe. One mass has a spread of 8 ft. in width, 
many of the fronds measuring 6 ft. to 8 ft. in length, 
while the colour is of the pleasing pale green peculiar 
to this species. 
It would appear that conditions such as these are the 
most favourable for this plant, i. e., a cool temperature, 
planted in such a manner that the fronds falling down 
are near the cool moist surface of the rocks below ; for 
since it is proliferous at the apex of the fronds, we may 
reasonably come to the conclusion that the pendulous 
fronds soon meeting the soil the young plants quickly 
take roots and soon become established. If these are 
the natural conditions, we should always plant this 
species in situations where the fronds may continuously 
be cool and moist, though not necessarily wet. Ail 
abundance of water will be required in such a position, 
more especially when growing, yet all through the 
season the roots must be kept well moistened. 
This species, and its variety cristata, are often grown 
in baskets. Occasionally they are found growing freely 
and looking well, but often it is the case, that though the 
fronds come up freely and numerously, ou account of 
the dry condition of the atmosphere in which they are 
suspended, almost as soon as the frond is developed it 
is attacked with black thrip, and the fronds must be 
quickly removed to prevent their becoming unsightly. 
Such a condition of things leads one immediately to 
the conclusion that the baskets are placed so that they 
are too hot and too dry. Place them lower down, even 
on a pedestal or a mass of rock by a wall, let the fronds 
hang down so that the upper surface can be looked 
upon instead of always looking up at the underside 
of the fronds, and I feel sure that many plants will grow 
better for their change of locality.- TV. Swan, Falloiqfielcl. 
--—«£<-*- 
Dutch Bulbs in America. —With a view to promote 
in America, by all proper means, the love for flowers 
in general, and Dutch bulbs in particular, the General 
Union of Bulb Cultivators, Haarlem, have offered the 
leading horticultural societies of the United States, 
prizes for Hyacinths in bloom at the spring exhibitions 
in 1886. The offer has been accepted by the Pennsyl¬ 
vania Horticultural Society, Philadelphia, and by the 
Massachusetts Horticultural Society, Boston. The 
prizes offered are gold, silver-gilt, and silver medals, 
and will be competed for by nurserymen, florists, and 
seedsmen dealing in bulbs, with collections of 50 
named sorts of Hyacinths in pots. 
A REMARKABLE ELDER. 
It is not an uncommon occurrence to see Ferns, 
seedling Ash, Sycamore, Yew, and other plants and 
trees growing on the top of old walls, and some of them 
do well for years, while others—like the corn that fell 
on stony ground—soon perish for lack of earth. A 
short time since I was paying a visit to Adare Manor, 
a beautiful place, with extensive pleasure grouuds 
backed up by a large belt of trees, with evergreen 
Shrubs, Conifers, &c., filling in the foreground. The 
surface is undulating and very effective in appearance, 
and a little to the left a river comes down by the side 
of the mansion, which adds much to the beauty of the 
landscape. My attention was called by the able head 
gardener, Mr. A. Barker, to a curiosity which he found 
in one of the outlying woods or plantations on the 
demesne, and which he has since had brought home and 
placed on the top of the lawn near the outskirts of the 
pleasure ground. It is a common Elder, about 12 ft. 
in height and of corresponding breadth, growing out of 
a block of limestone, which cannot be far less than 2 
ft. long, nearly as much in width, and about 1 ft. in 
depth, and without a particle of nutriment on which to 
exist, as far as could be seen. 
I carefully examined the stone as it stood, and the 
stem of the tree, which I found to be over 4 ins. in 
diameter at its base, and so tightly packed into the 
stone that it is impossible to get the point of a knife 
between the stem and its singular root-hold. To show 
that there was no deception, Mr. Barker turned the 
stone on its side, which then brought to view a strong 
root, which had been cut off about a foot from the 
underside of the stone on its removal to its present 
quarters. I presume there was a natural fissure in the 
stone that had allowed the root to force its way through 
into the soil underneath. Through having been re¬ 
moved late in the season, which has been unfavourable 
to newly-removed trees treated in the usual manner, 
and doubly so to a tree whose fibrous roots have been 
cut away, and then stood on the level ground with, as 
previously stated, one large root only left to begin again 
with, the. growth has not been more than 3 or 4 ins., 
just sufficient to show that the treatment received has 
only checked, not materially injured, it. Young 
rootlets are being freely produced all along the root 
left, and these will doubtless, ere long, strike into the 
soil, so that next season, if all goes well, the tree will 
not, in appearance, be any the worse for the removal. 
I ought to have said, that when in its wild home, 
some of the annual growths were fulty 2 ft. long. Al¬ 
together, it is a well-furnished specimen, which will 
doubtless be pointed out to those favoured with a look 
round Adare in years to "come.— E. Dumper, Summer¬ 
ville, Limerick. 
-—- 
APPLE, MRS. BARRON. 
The benefits accruing from the Apple Congress held 
in 18S3, at Chiswick, are admitted on all hands to be 
very great. It gave a great stimulus to planting, and 
it served another highly useful purpose in bringing 
into public notice the merits of many varieties little 
known among growers, yet worthy, on various grounds, 
of wide cultivation. One of the sterling good sorts 
thus brought into notice, is the subject of this note 
and the accompanying illustration—a variety which 
has been grown in the Chiswick collection for some 
time under the name of Yellow Bellefleur. That it is 
but little known may be assumed from the fact that at 
the Congress only two home-grown specimens were 
exhibited—not a solitary sample of it being found in 
any of the large trade or private collections. On com¬ 
parison, it proved to be quite distinct from any other 
variety staged, and much superior to any other sort 
grown under the name of Yellow Bellefleur. Under 
these circumstances, it was thought worthy of recog¬ 
nition as a distinct variety, and was given the name 
of the popular lady which it now bears 
It is a large and handsome culinary variety, in 
season from October to February, and most suitable 
for cultivation in an orchard where the tree can be 
afforded plenty of room. The fruits are oblong in 
shape, somewhat angular near the eye, and the skin 
pale yellow, changing to orange as the fruits ripen. 
The eye is large and open, set in a shallow basin ; the 
stalk short and stout; and the flesh of a pale straw 
colour, tender and sweet. 
