248 
THE GARDENING WORLD. 
December 17, 1887. 
FRUIT AND FRUIT TREES. 
In a recent lecture on “Fruit and Fruit Trees ” Mr. 
Leo. Grindon, of Manchester, said the subject was one 
that should prove interesting to every person on every 
ground. Fruits were the only products of nature 
except a few trifling ones that were provided ready for 
human consumption, and in the animal kingdom the 
oyster was the only food eaten raw, and was the only 
animal that it was thought no cruelty to eat alive. A 
few vegetables, such as Celery, Radish, Water-cress, 
Mustard, Cress, and those used for salads, were eaten 
without being cooked. In some fruits were to be 
found some of the best forms of nourishment, but the 
question arose, how many fruits were there ? Bo- 
tanieally speaking, every kind of plant that bore a seed- 
pod might be called a fruit plant. As there were 
100,000 different sorts of plants in the world, so there 
were about the same number of fruits, but of these only 
about 500 were known in the market place or in the 
fruit shops. IIow many were there of which they 
knew nothing in this country? If they attempted to 
count up all they knew of, they would, probably, reach 
to about 60, including those imported into England. 
Many came from distant parts, and it was not worth 
while to send others to this country on account of their 
softness or the inability to carry them in a perfect 
condition. These sixty were the most palatable. 
There was no tropical fruit which could be compared 
with the English Apple in the variety of ways in which 
it could be cooked. To what countries might these 
50 or 60 be referred? Where did they first exist in a 
wild state ? It was interesting to note the primitive 
forms from which these fruits had been developed, and 
in England many of these had their home. The wild 
Apple or Crab was certainly the progenitor of the Apple. 
The Pear was also a wild British tree. The Cherry was 
certainly a wild English tree, but the fruit of the wild 
Cherry was only a stone, with a pink skin, and a layer 
of sour matter just enough to make one indifferent to 
another taste. The Gooseberry, the red Currant, the 
black Currant, and the Raspberry, but not the Straw¬ 
berry, were natives of this country. The garden- 
cultivated Strawberries were not the improved form 
of the little wild Strawberry, but they were the 
improved form of a plant which belonged to Northern 
Italy. The wild Strawberry should be called the wood 
Strawberry. He would call their attention to a part 
of the world of a most extraordinary character : South¬ 
western Asia, which was situated between the tropics, 
and those cold parts of the northern hemisphere, which 
formed Southern Russia. It was different from any 
other part of the world in having the sea, with its 
breezes coming up on all sides. It was rich, also, in 
mountain and valley. The Grapes and the Walnut 
were indigenous to Northern Persia. 
India, too, supplied this country with many fruits, 
including the Orange and the Lemon. The Orange 
was not brought into Europe until the seventh century. 
It was taken by the Moors into Spain, where it was 
improved by cultivation, and taken thence into Italy, 
thence into France, and finally into England, which, 
however, it did not reach until the fourteenth century. 
All kinds of Gourds and Pumpkins came from India, 
and were diffused over the world chiefly in the Eliza¬ 
bethan age. China was the home of a variety of the 
Peach called Nectarine. The Fig was a native of 
South-Western Asia. The Banana was found in the 
East and in the West Indies, and was by some 
absurdly supposed to be the fruit with which Eve was 
tempted. As a matter of fact, it was impossible to tell 
what the forbidden fruit was. The Apple was not 
mentioned in the Bible at all; indeed, the term Apple 
had been applied to many varieties of fruit. In 
reference to the Banana being found in two widely 
distant parts of the world, he said that there were 
several other examples of this kind. The plants that 
he had mentioned as being peculiarly British were 
pretty well diffused over Europe right into South- 
Western Asia. 
What fruit had Africa produced? Not one ; there 
was not one fruit which was not known in South- 
Western Asia. There were in America great numbers 
of Nuts, and had it pleased the Almighty to place our 
first parents there rather than in Africa or South- 
Western Asia, that civilisation should have been 
developed there, and that all that was glorious in the 
way of arts and sciences should have grown up there, 
then who would say that the wild native fruits of 
America, with 3,000 years of cultivation, might not 
have been improved upon in the same way as the Apple 
and the Plum had been in Europe. From America 
came the Pine-apple and Brazil nuts, but that country 
now was rich in nearly all the fruits of the Old World. 
Australia was in much the same position as America 
with regard to its fruits, and if the native fruits had 
had as fair a chance as the Apple, the Gooseberry, the 
Pear, or the Currant, they might have been improved 
by this time to a most admirable condition. It was 
well known that in Australia there were plenty of nice 
little bush fruits, which, when improved, might com¬ 
pete with the English fruits. Unfortunately there 
were in the world some poisonous fruits, such as the 
Belladonna, but not many. Mr. Grindon concluded 
by giving a description of the growth of the Cocoanut. 
-- 
THE CHINESE PRIMULA. 
The first evidence we had of the existence of this 
popular species was in 1819, when John Reeves, Esq., a 
corresponding member of the Horticultural Society of 
London, and then resident in China, sent home 
drawings of it, which excited much attention. At the 
request of the Horticultural Society he sent home seeds 
and a plant, the former of which failed to germinate, 
and the latter died on the way to this country. Soon 
after this a Captain Rawes succeeded in bringing home 
a live plant, which he presented to a relative of his— 
namely, Thomas Palmer, Esq., of Bromley, Kent— 
who managed to flower it. This was in 1821, or some¬ 
where about that time, according to Lindley, who 
figured it in his Collectanea Botanica, t. 7. The work 
in question is dated 1821, and Lindley said the Primula 
flowered in the spring of that year with great beauty. 
The honour, then, of first having introduced it belongs 
to the Horticultural Society, but Mr. T. Palmer was 
the first to grow and flower it successfully. 
A large collection was flowered in March, 1825, in 
the Horticultural Society’s establishment at Chiswick, 
and from time to time figures of different varieties 
appeared in several botanical works, which commented 
upon the great variability of the species, that had 
evidently been cultivated for a long period of time in 
the gardens of China prior to its introduction to this 
country. We can now regard with pride the state of 
perfection to which it has been brought by the per¬ 
severing efforts of British florists. A fine collection of 
named sorts are now at their best at Messrs. James 
Carter & Co.’s nurseries, Forest Hill. Besides those in 
flower, there are later and more extensive batches that 
will make a display towards spring, while those now 
in perfection will continue flowering more or less till 
that time. 
The most intensely-coloured variety is, doubtless, 
that named Vermilion, the flowers of which may be 
described as deep rose-vermilion, with a five-angled 
deep yellow eye. This and a number of the following 
have triangular deeply-lobed leaves of the ordinary 
type. A vigorous-growing kind'is that named Holborn 
White, which is also very floriferous, with large, flat, 
much-imbricated white flowers, tinted with pink, and 
having a five-lobed orange-coloured eye. Amongst the 
plain-leaved white kinds, it is, perhaps, the most robust 
in habit. Holborn Carmine has a good constitution, 
with brilliant rosy carmine flowers, produced with 
great freedom up till April. A noticeable feature of 
the blooms of this variety is that they display a 
decidedly blue tint as they die off. In our opinion, 
Elaine is a most charming and distinct white, the purity 
of which is more vividly brought out by contrast with 
the deep red petioles of the dark green leaves. The 
flowers are imbricated, conspicuously undulated, which 
gives them a crumpled or crisped appearance, and most 
abundantly produced. 
Fern-leaved varieties were represented by Fern¬ 
leaved Ruby and Fern-leaved White. The former may 
be described as having brilliant rose flowers and dark 
green deeply-cut leaves. The latter is undoubtedly a 
fine thing, with a robust constitution, large finely-cut 
leaves of a deep green colour, but not in any way 
stained with red, and white flowers tinted with pink, 
often measuring 2J ins. in diameter. The flowers are 
also notable for the great size of the five-lobed orange 
eye. The variety originated from Holborn White 
crossed with Tonkin’s Queen. Snowflake and Prince of 
Wales are semi-double kinds of great beauty. Both 
have the ordinary triangular leaf, and the flowers are so 
freely produced as to render them very valuable for 
cut-flower purposes. The first-named has white flowers 
faintly tinted with blush, and is, perhaps, the most 
valuable on account of its colour and lasting properties. 
Prince of Wales, having rosy salmon flowers, is con¬ 
spicuous for the great length of its flower-stalks, which 
give off flowers, tier above tier, in great abundance. 
An unnamed novelty attracted our attention by the 
prettiness of its flowers, which might be described as 
Picotee-edged. The five-lobed orange eye is surrounded 
by a broad white band, and the margin is rose-coloured, 
the colour being broken up into lobes or blotches, but 
forming a continuous band. It will be an acquisition 
if it prove constant from seed, and may be the origin 
of a new race. Holborn Gold Leaf is rather striking 
from the uniform yeUow colour of the leaves, but it is 
not a vigorous grower. An exceedingly curious form 
is that named Ivy Leaf (of which we gave an illustra¬ 
tion in our issue for March 28th, 18.85), with small five 
to seven-lobed, deep green leaves, but the flowers being 
monstrous they do not produce seed. 
--»$*«- 
BLACK VARIETIES OF BEET. 
Observation shows that there is a wonderful amount 
of variety in dark-coloured Beets with respect to the 
foliage and the flesh of the root, but especially the 
latter. An equally important fact is that the plants, 
both foliage and root, are much smaller than the cor¬ 
responding parts of green-leaved or pale varieties, which 
are apt to attain too great dimensions and become 
coarse for table purposes when sown too early or on 
rich soil. We have then in these richly coloured 
Beets not only a finer article as regards appearance, 
but quality is also improved by the roots containing a 
smaller percentage of water. 
We recently examined a large collection of dark- 
coloured varieties at the trial grounds of Messrs. J. 
Yeitch & Sons, Chiswick, where the kinds were 
characterised by their even and regular appearance, 
and the wonderfully small bulk of their foliage. After 
an examination of a large number of sorts, we came to 
the conclusion that for shape, medium size, and the 
great depth of colour in the root when cut, Yeitch’s 
Black was the best. It was also the darkest coloured, 
being when freshly cut of a deep blood-black of great 
richness. Next in order comes Pine Apple, with fine 
tapering clean roots of a purplish black colour when 
cut, while the skin is also very dark. It is a dwarf 
variety, but has the fault of pushing its crown a little 
above ground. Pragnel’s Exhibition Beet merits third 
place, from the fine shape of the root and its deep 
violet-purple colour when cut. These three are good 
either for exhibition or for table purposes ; and although 
the undermentioned are also good in their way, their 
classification according to merit has not been attempted. 
In some establishments where variety of colour is 
desired for bedding arrangements in the flower garden, 
use is often made of Dell’s Crimson Beet for the sake of 
its dark-coloured foliage. The same might apply to a 
number of others grown here, their habit being dwarf, 
and their foliage dark in colour. Kelway’s Crimson 
Gem has fair-sized roots with crimson flesh. Another 
rich claret-fleshed variety, named Nutting’s Dwarf 
Crimson, might be used for bedding purposes. Craw¬ 
ford’s Beet would, apparently, from its fine shape and 
clean skin, make a good all-round Beet ; its colour 
when cut is of a rich, warm crimson. Dewar’s Beet is 
also noteworthy for the dwarf habit of the foliage, the 
clean tapering form of the root, and its rich crimson- 
purple colour when cut. Besides these a considerable 
number of others are grown, the characters of which 
are, however, of minor importance compared with 
those described. 
-——— 
CHRYSANTHEMUM MRS. BEALE. 
A new white Chrysanthemum, recently imported 
from Japan, was certificated under this name at the 
Crystal Palace Chrysanthemum Show. It is a Japanese 
variety, something in the style of Lady Lawrence, and 
will, no doubt, prove an excellent exhibition bloom 
when specially grown for that purpose, as it is naturally 
a vigorous-growing kind, producing large and very 
effective heads of great purity. The crown buds are 
the best when intended for cut bloom, and when grown 
by an expert the florets become incurved at the tip, 
and attain the enormous width of 1 in., which gives 
the head the bold and massive appearance presented by 
Comte de Germiny when in its best form. It is the 
outer or guard florets that assume such dimensions and 
become most incurved, while those towards the centre 
become gradually narrower, but never, in any sense of 
the term are they narrow or thread-like. They become 
more or less involute at the margins, which causes them 
to become incurved ; they are also slightly toothed at 
the apex, and tubular in the lower half. 
The crown buds are the earliest, while the heads 
produced on the terminals are somewhat smaller but 
much later, seeing that when we examined them a fort¬ 
night ago they were not fully expanded. The guard 
florets of the terminals, in some instances, measured f in. 
in width ; the leaves are ovate, lobed or pinnate, and of 
good substance ; while the growth made was vigorous, 
but only 4 ft. in height. We may add that a batch of 
plants at the nurseries of Messrs. J. Carter & Co., 
Forest Hill, will be in excellent condition to cut from 
for some time to come ; and that for the illustration of 
Chrysanthemum Mrs. Beale we are indebted to the 
Messrs. Carter, who imported the variety from Japan. 
