January 30, 1886. 
THE GARDENING WORLD. 
341 
manured, and with the drills running north and south. 
By this method the banks on each side protect the young 
growth from the fierce March winds, while they catch 
and retain every southerly ray of sunshine—indispen¬ 
sable for perfecting the foliage, and ripening and filling 
the pods. I have heard this described as the perfection 
of culture, hut, probably, some of your readers may he 
able to tell us of equally satisfactory plans for having 
early Peas. 
As to the varieties for early use my friend has a 
natural weakness for Daniel O’Bourke ; hut even if he 
had not, no modern introduction—and I try every 
novelty I can get—can heat this except Carter’s First 
Crop. If other varieties are desired, I can guarantee, 
and have seen with others, American Wonder and Mr. 
Laxton’s Earliest of All. For late use I have yet to 
find a better dwarf Pea than Stratagem, but un¬ 
fortunately, like many other good things, the difficulty 
seems to be to get this variety true. It is an immense 
convenience, especially in villa gardens, to have a Pea 
such as this, requiring no staking, and yet so large and 
full. I like variety, but I would only name two more for 
the general crop, Cnlverwell’s Marrow and Telegraph. 
Potatos. —The frame culture of Potatos and Peas 
differ in this respect that the former has a mild 
heat from stable-manure and leaves, and is not trans¬ 
ferred. My friend, however, adopts a plan I have 
not seen elsewhere ; he starts a score or more of Eight 
Weeks in 10-in. pots, sunk in such a frame about this 
time, and transfers them to an open border besides a 
wall, facing south. He tells me no other variety is so 
quick in maturing—as the name indicates—as this; 
and as to the peculiar plan of transferring to the 
open air, he says, and I believe truly, without ample 
sunshine and air, frame Potatos, or any Potatos, have 
little or no flavour or consistency. Nothing I have 
ever grown to my mind for early use supersedes 
Myatt’s Ash-leaf, if you can get it true. There is a 
certain amount of wisdom in the old couplet:— 
“ Be not the first by whom the new is tried ; 
Nor get the best to lay the old aside.” 
But for the open ground one of the heaviest croppers 
among kidney’s is Carter’s First Crop, and then Mr. 
Dean’s Cosmopolitan. To come on immediately after¬ 
wards, add Ash-top Fluke and Beauty of Hebron. What 
has become of Extra Early Vermont 1 I suppose de¬ 
generated, and ultimately got lost, like all the 
American introductions. This is an excellent time to 
examine stock on hand, or to add new varieties, or 
well-tested or established ones. — TV. J. Murphy, 
Clonmel. 
PEARS VERSUS PEACHES FOR 
A SOUTH WALL. 
Probably, what I am about to -write may provoke 
some good-tempered criticism ; should it do so, some 
good may result in obtaining the practical experience 
of men with-whom I may now differ. From experience 
and the result of carefully-kept notes, I am quite of 
opinion that if the south walls in most gardens were 
planted' with our better kinds of dessert Pears, the 
result would be more gratifying to employer and em¬ 
ployed. With us the past two seasons have proved 
most disastrous to outdoor Peach trees ; in fact, the 
produce was an eyesore, notwithstanding the excessive 
heat which has prevailed, and also that the trees were 
carefully netted and protected during the spring 
months. 
Were I alone in my failures I would persevere ; but 
some of my neighbours, with treble the number of 
trees, are in a similar plight, so that I have come to 
the conclusion that there is something in it, and which 
is, in my opinion, that unless under favourable con¬ 
ditions with regard to soil and subsoil, Peach-growing 
outside had much better be abandoned. Anyone with 
an ordinary lean-to house planted with Peach and 
Nectarine trees (say four) will obtain more good fruit 
than from fourteen planted on the open wall, and what 
is of more advantage, they can be had just when 
wanted, and under fair average treatment the quality 
will not be questioned. 
I well remember it being said that Peaches from 
under glass are not to be compared with those grown 
out of doors, and I particularly remember once handing 
a fruit which I had grown to a gentleman a believer in 
that doctrine, which elicited the remark, ‘ ‘ I never- 
tasted anything like this before—delicious!” He was 
quite convinced—and so, I may hope, will others be— 
of the desirability of planting Pears instead of Peaches 
on their south walls, where Peaches do not succeed. 
Our Peach wall is about 100 yds. long, with two door¬ 
ways through it, thus dividing it into three parts. As 
an experiment, I have planted the top part with the 
following varieties of Pears, and have been more than 
rewarded by the splendid fruit which I gathered during 
the past season :—Madame Treyve, Beurre de l’As- 
somption Pitmaston Duchess, Easter Beurre, Doyenne 
du Comice, Josephine de Malines, and Citron des 
Carmes. Madame Treyve, although only the second 
season, gave me nine beautiful fruits; Pitmaston 
Duchess, planted the same time, eleven fruits, the 
largest weighing 15 ozs. and of better quality than I 
had before tasted, having little or no grittiness about 
it; and of Easter Beurre I will say no more, Mr. Editor, 
than ask you to give in your paper your own opinion 
of the fruit I send you, gathered from quite a young 
tree, and certainly in anything but a favourable season 
for large fruit on account of the extreme drought that 
prevailed. I may add that from press of work the trees 
were not once watered during the whole of the summer. 
All being well, I hope I may send you next season 
specimens of some of the other kinds planted on the 
same wall, that you may judge whether the experiment 
is worth a trial. — W. C., Croome. [For size, colour, 
and the luscious, melting character of the flesh, the 
fruits of Easter Beurre received were all that could be 
desired. They were, in fact, a revelation in comparison 
with what fruits we ordinarily get of this variety. The 
experiment in this case must be regarded as a decided 
success.—E d.] 
--- 
IVY-LEAVED PELARGONIUMS. 
In a recent number, when noticing the plants in 
flower at Swanley at Christmas, we called attention to 
the great merits of the new Ivy-leaved Pelargonium, 
Fiirstin Joseph von Hohenzollern, which, by the 
courtesy of Messrs. Cannell, we are now enabled to 
illustrate. The figure, though of course giving no idea 
of the great beauty of the flower as regards colour, 
shows its great size and depth of petals to perfection. 
The individual pips are exceedingly fine—an advance on 
all others that have come under our notice ; and as the 
plant has a fairly good habit, and seems to bloom as 
freely in winter as in summer, it certainty deserves high 
commendation. The colour is a rich shade of red 
suffused with purple, approaching in brightness some 
of the rich tints now so common in the zonal section. 
--XCi-- 
HERBACEOUS PHLOXES. 
These are unquestionably among the most beautiful 
and useful of herbaceous plants, and must always take 
a prominent position where hardy flowering plants are 
grown. Their extreme hardiness and adaptability to 
almost all situations renders them everybody’s plants, 
for they can be grown to perfection by amateurs and 
professionals alike, upon the most limited of resources. 
Their wide range of colour, and the delicious odour of 
the flowers, claim the admiration of all. They are 
divided into three distinct sections. The first, to 
which we shall only make a passing allusion, consists 
of such dwarf trailing kinds as P. verna, P. setacea, 
P. Nelsoni, and others, which are very beautiful and 
admirable for front lines, and trailing over rockwork. 
The two sections principally grown are P. suffruticosa 
and P. decussata. In many places the latter is grown 
to the entire exclusion of the former ; but as the suf¬ 
fruticosa are a month earlier in blooming, quite distinct 
in habit, and mostly dwarf growers, they come in well 
for front lines. The flower spikes of these are more 
compact, the flowers being arranged round the centre 
stem in such a way that I have had them compared to 
spikes of Hyacinths, while the spikes of the decussata 
section are more loose and spreading. 
The main reasons why the decussata section are the 
most popular are to be found in their great range of 
colours, and more vigorous habit of growth, possessing 
as they do a robustness of constitution, which is 
wanting to some extent in the others. Plants of 
varieties of P. suffruticosa purchased from the nursery 
in 60 pots in the spring, if shifted on into 48’s will give 
two or three trusses of bloom in the summer, and in 
many places will be found useful for conservatory or 
indoor decoration. I remember that some years hack 
Mr. Barron, at Chiswick, grew large quantities of the 
P. decussata in 48’s for the baskets at the Conservatory 
at South Kensington. This was managed by taking 
strong cuttings in the spring, and when rooted, potting 
them into 60’s, and then into 48’s, gradually inuring 
them to the weather. These plants make excellent 
stock for planting in the borders the following spring. 
When cultivating them for exhibition purposes, select 
a site free from shade and sufficiently removed from the 
vicinity of large trees and shrubs to prevent their roots 
from encroaching on them and impoverishing the soil. 
Those commencing their culture will find early in April 
a very good time to procure a stock. The soil should 
have a liberal dressing of half rotten manure, and be 
well broken up to a depth of 10 ins. to 12 ins., and as 
they are very shallow rooting plants, a good mulching 
of well decayed manure spread among them early in the 
summer, is a great help to them. The young growths 
