December 18 , 1886. 
THE GARDENING WORLD. 
251 
Earl Cathcart expressed a hope that Mr. Ap Thomas’s 
information might he put into a form available for 
future reference. 
Papers were then read by Mr. Richard Dean on 
“ The cultivation of the Potato,” who dealt with the 
importance of deep tillage, manuring and trenching in 
autumn if the former was necessary, but recommending 
that a crop of Potatos should follow one for which the 
ground had been well manured. He also advocated the 
selection soon after the crop is dug of the handsomest 
tubers, and those most time to character, selecting them 
of medium size ; also cultivating well, keeping the 
ground clean, and earthing up with great care ; by Mr. 
Alexander Dean on “Raising new "Varieties,” who 
narrated the methods by which he had raised new 
varieties, dealing with the details of several crosses 
made for the purpose of securing certain definite 
results, and especially varieties ripening early with 
robust hard stems that would entitle them to be termed 
disease resisters ; and by Mr. Earley on “ The advan¬ 
tage of lifting the crop early as a preventative of 
disease.” 
Railway Rates of Transit. 
In the evening Mr. T. H. Bolton occupied the chair. 
In opening the proceedings he said that it was generally 
admitted that the railways had hardly answered the 
requirements of the public either as to accommodation 
or cheapness of transit. In the last Parliament a 
measure had been introduced, on the responsibility of 
Mr. Gladstone s Government, to place the railway 
companies under greater supervision, and to require 
that they should more fully discharge the duties which 
had, under Parliamentary sanction, been entrusted to 
them. This measure was not then carried through, 
but its passing into law was only deferred, and the 
railway companies would have finally to submit to 
Parliamentary control. "\Ve had had very great reason 
to complain of the unfair preference that was practically 
given to foreign producers in connection with the main 
trunk lines into the great cities. It was no use for the 
railways to plead that they could not afford to satisfy 
the demands of the public, for it could be seen from 
any returns that most of the chief lines were paying 
good dividends. ° 
Mr. "W. A. Hunter, M. P., then read a paper on the 
subject under discussion. He said that the subject of 
railway charges for carrying of Potatos might be con¬ 
sidered under the following heads (1) Preferential 
charges in favour of foreign as against home-grown 
Potatos ; (2) irregularities in the charges compared 
with the service rendered; (3) charges by railway 
companies exceeding the maximum ; (4) excessive pro¬ 
portion of the charges to the value of the article ; (5) 
suggestions for cheapening the rates for conveyance. 
"W ith regard to the last consideration, could cheaper 
rates be obtained ? It was first to be remembered that 
as it stood now the law could do nothing to help the 
Potato grower. On the Brighton line the rate charged 
per ton per mile, exclusive of collection and delivery, 
v aried between Ad. and 6d., while in America the 
Pennsylvania Railroad Company charged less than id. 
per ton per mile on the average of its whole goods 
traffic. 1 his was lower than the English average for 
the coal traffic only. The secret of the low American 
rates was not in the unremunerative character of the 
work done, but in the mode of conducting railway 
business. "What was required was a truck rate besides 
a tonnage weight. By such an arrangement the trader 
could have the option of sending by the present system, 
or having a truck and loading it as he pleased and 
with what he pleased, up to the full carrying capacity 
of the waggon. At a rough guess he would say that 
an eight or ten ton truck ought to be charged about 
6d, per mile for short distances (say under forty miles), 
and a diminishing rate for long distances, so that for 
200 miles it ought not to exceed Ad. per mile. It 
might be said that though this system would be 
beneficial to the large trader it would not be so to the 
small trader. Indirectly it would, however, for the 
moment a fair truck rate was established, a class of 
carriers would spring up who would collect the traffic 
of small men and make their profit by sending full 
truck loads. Under the present system the independent 
carrier had been exterminated, and the railway com¬ 
panies had established a monopoly. If a truck rate 
were fixed, the business would be made more profitable 
to the companies, and at the same time the railway 
monopoly would be smashed. 
THE “JUBILEE ” FLOWER CUP. 
Exhibitors of Chrysanthemum blooms too well know 
the necessit}' for using cups and tubes, in order to 
properly set up their flowers, to need any recommenda¬ 
tion of them from us. But there are cups and cups, 
tubes and tubes, good, bad and indifferent, and all do 
not know that most of the leading exhibitors have 
discarded the old wooden cups in favour of tin or zinc 
ones, on account of their greater durability. Tin cups, 
however, should not be used by those who can afford to 
pay a little more for zinc ones, as the former are so 
liable to rust. In combination with zinc cups, some 
exhibitors have been using a zinc tube, with two small 
pieces of brass fixed inside to form a spring, so that the 
cup can be fixed to any height that the exhibitor may 
desire when arranging his blooms. 
Mr. B. Field, Swan Place, Old Kent Road, has just 
introduced another form, which many exhibitors have 
expressed a high opinion of. In his pattern the zinc 
cup is telescoped into the tube, and the fit being perfect, 
when water is put into the tube, the cup can be set at 
any height, and the use of springs is entirely obviated. 
In the neck of the cup and at the base, rings of zinc 
wire are fixed, forming a close clip for the flower-stems. 
"We like the appearance of Mr. Field’s introduction, and 
they are well and neatly made in three sizes. "Wenote 
that Mr. Field moves with the times, and has secured 
the title of “ Jubilee ’’.for his latest idea. 
Hardening |Jiscellany. 
"Work for Spade and Pick. —A correspondent 
writes from the Cape of Good Hope :—“ Gardening 
is neither so pleasant or remunerative here as some 
suppose, and many of the gardeners who came out here 
‘ on spec. ’ will, no doubt, join the rush to the Trans¬ 
vaal Gold Fields, the good and well-authenticated news 
about which has already caused hundreds of people 
from this district to hurry thither. It is said that 
there is plenty of gold, and that, too, without excessive 
labour in the getting ; and I have no doubt that the 
quantity obtained will astonish the world when the 
diggings are properly worked. There are very ancient 
workings found, which seem to indicate that this is the 
district from whence Queen Sheba got that immense 
quantity which allowed of her making so great a gift 
to King Solomon.” 
Shelter Oaves for Plants.— Many years ago I 
visited a garden where the mud banks had been 
hollowed out so as to make caves to shelter plants. A 
short time back, acting on this idea, and having a 
quantity of mould got by digging out a pond, I made 
a long mound, and at the north side of this let in pieces 
of sandstone so as to make back, sides and top, and 
brought the soil so as to cover these. I then planted 
the caves with known hardy Ferns, such as Hypolepis 
millefolium andAdiantumpedatum, and among them A. 
cuneatum, and the shelter and warmth of the covering 
earth have made these resist the frost of the two last 
winters, and of the present one. I mean to carry out 
this plan on a larger scale, and believe that Primula 
obconica, which was not much cut in the open last 
winter, and possibly P. floribunda, mav be grown out 
of doors by this means. I have some shelters which I 
believe to be new, and which promise well ; when these 
have been proved a little longer, I propose to send you 
a note on them ; meantime, I may say that a common 
wicker hen-coop with bracken worked round it, makes 
a good portable shelter .—George F. Wilson , Heather- 
hank, Weybridge Heath, Dec. 13th, 
Gaultheria procumbens as an Edging 
Plant. —Mr. G. F. Wilson is to be congratulated on 
his aptitude in finding out interesting features of horti¬ 
cultural interest, and for the felicitous manner in which 
he makes them known to the readers of the horticultural 
press. One is tempted to remark that “there is nothing 
new under the sun,” for at least this is true as regards 
the use of Gaultheria procumbens as an edging plant. 
About twenty years ago it might have been seen used 
for this purpose, and round such a bed as possibly it 
may startle some to hear of, being no other than a bed 
of Yucca filamentosa variegata. It may be well to 
place this fact on record, to prevent any mistake being 
made as to its hardiness in after years. The Yucca not 
only grew well but flowered well, and this was the un¬ 
fortunate part of it, for it was the beginning of its end. 
The stools had to be taken up after the flowering season 
had passed, and my friend, Mr. William Casey, of the 
Clapton Nurseries, who knew the value of those stools 
better than I did, persuaded me to let him have them 
in exchange for some young plants.— George Thcmson, 
Knap Hill, near Woking, December 14 th, 1886. 
Sutton’s Seedling and Abundance Po¬ 
tatos. —Having tried these two introductions of 
Messrs. Sutton, and found them such decided acqui¬ 
sitions, I cannot refrain from advising all who are not 
yet acquainted with them to purchase without delay 
for next season’s planting. The “ Seedling ” I like 
immensely, from the rapidity with which it ripens its 
crop, which is, indeed, in every way satisfactory, both 
as to size and quantity ; while its cooking qualities 
leave nothing to be desired. Abundance is a much 
stronger grower, and yields an immense crop of tubers, 
large in size and of excellent quality. In short, I 
predict for these varieties a very successful career, and 
congratulate both the raiser and introducer of such 
sterling novelties.— W. C. 
Winter-flowering Pelargoniums.— At the 
meeting of the Floral Committee, last Tuesday, Messrs. 
Cannell & Sons showed a stand of one dozen superb 
bunches of single-flowered zonal Pelargoniums. The 
varieties were :—Queen of the Belgians, white ; Hya¬ 
cinth, scarlet; May Caswell, pale peach ; Mr. Cannell, 
crimson-scarlet; Lady Reed, white with salmon centre ; 
Lord Chesterfield, crimson ; Kate Greenaway, rose- 
pink ; Cato, bright scarlet; Swanley Gem, light 
scarlet; Kentish Fire, crimson ; Olivier, salmon ; and 
Linette, crimson-scarlet. 
What is the Cause ?—A correspondent writes 
as follows :—“ I recently observed, in one of your con¬ 
temporaries, a selection of Pears recommended for 
garden culture—among them Beurre Ranee. I have a 
tree of this variety in my garden (Wiltshire), the fruit 
of which ripened on the tree at the end of November, 
but with this drawback : before they were fit to gather 
they commenced to crack, so that one-third, at least, 
of the crop was unfit for storage. Of the remaining 
two-thirds, the majority have gone rotten in the form 
of little specks all over the surface. The soil is a black 
loam on a sandy bottom, and plenty of surface manure 
has been applied. If anyone can point out the cause 
or causes of such a state of things, I shall be very glad. 
So far, I fear that Beurre Ranee is not a Pear adapted 
for culture in this neighbourhood.” What do some 
of the Pear cultivators say ? 
A New Discovery (?)—It was stated in a 
London newspaper recently, and formulated, too, 
as a new discovery, “That wonderful effects may 
be obtained by watering fruit trees and vegetables 
with a solution of sulphate of iron. Under this system 
Beans will grow to nearly double the size, and will 
acquire a much more savoury taste. The Pear seems 
to be particularly well suited for this treatment; old 
nails thrown into water and left to rust there will im¬ 
part to it all the necessary qualities for forcing vegeta¬ 
tion as described.” Although one would like to know 
on whose authority this statement is made, sulphate of 
iron may possibly possess the virtues ascribed to it; at 
any rate, the experiment is worth trying. If any of 
your readers have already tried a solution of sulphate 
of iron as a liquid manure, I shall be glad to be in¬ 
formed of the result.— Simon. 
Prize Celery. —During September I saw, at a 
country flower show, some wonderful Celery, not only 
large in size, but remarkably solid, and, when tasted, 
I found it to be singularly crisp and sweet. I asked 
the exhibitor to set forth his cultural process—for his 
sticks of Celery far outstripped, in point of size, as well 
as of quality, anything competing with it—and he has 
done so in the following pithy words : “Sow the last 
week in February or first week in March, in a gentle 
heat, in fine and rich soil ; prick off on a gentle hot-bed 
as soon as the plant can be well handled, and shift on as 
required, always using sweet and rich soil, until all 
danger from frost has passed ; then plant out in the 
trenches, previously prepared by thorough digging and 
the placing therein of a liberal quantity of good sound 
manure from the stables and pigstye. Shade from hot 
sun until the plants, which should have been put out 
with large bases of soil about them, have got well hold ; 
then, unless the season be wet, water liberally, giving 
liquid manure, after the first month, with every second 
application of the watering can. Take care the plants 
