March 3, 1888. 
THE GARDENING WORLD 
421 
treatment given it in most situations throughout the 
land. Tomatos, until recently, wore scarcely known, 
except by the elite of society ; but now the masses 
have acquired a taste for them, and purchase the fruit 
extensively. 
The more popular the article the greater the incentive 
to introduce improved varieties. That there are too 
many names without improvement already is -acknow¬ 
ledged. In one firm’s seed catalogue to hand, in the 
selected list of nine sorts, no less than thirty-one are 
claimed as synonyms of one or other of the nine. 
This, apparently, is a laudable course to take, and 
shows what a great responsibility rests upon the Royal 
Horticultural Society’s Fruit Committee. Still, we see 
and read of dissensions by raisers and cultivators. 
By limiting the number of sorts, the committee is 
performing a public duty, and it is to be hoped that 
raisers will not relax their efforts, but continue in 
submission to these trials, despite their would-be sorts, 
or even the charge for trial that has been suggested. 
Of the value of this move I have grave doubts—firstly, 
after many unsuccessful trials by the same raisers, 
they may abandon the art, or the committee may feel 
disposed to grant a certificate as a non-damper, casting 
aside merit. [Very unlikely.—E d.] Secondly, who 
likes to pay for his articles being condemned ? Will 
raisers not give themselves the benefit of the doubt ? 
If so, we must expect sorts innumerable—rubbish or 
otherwise. 
With me Tomatos do not succeed well outside, as I 
am situated on one of the hill ranges of the north. 
Still, if I had given the last summer a trial, the result, 
no doubt, would have been fairly good, as I have seen 
as splendid vines of the old red as it was possible to 
conceive. Of course, allowance must be made for the 
tropical summer we passed through. The best results 
are obtained by us from growing on good plants in 10-in. 
pots, and plunging them out under a south or south¬ 
east wall about the end of June, training and getting 
such fruits as ripen up to the second week in October, 
when they may be re-lifted and again'taken inside to 
ripen and finish off such fruits as are still immature, 
and they are then generally as plentiful on the plants 
as at any time during the summer. 
Those who have not already got sturdy plants from 
autumn-struck cuttings, or who have not some stray out 
of the way stools from which to take cuttings, may sow 
seed in pots or pans from now to the end of March. 
They may be reared in precisely the same manner as 
Cucumbers, potting the seedlings into 4-in. pots as soon 
as fit to handle in fine rich friable soil. Re-pot again 
into 6-in. pots, keeping the plants near the light; 
there to remain until removed into 10-in.pots (for pot 
culture only), or to be planted out in ridges, against 
walls, partitions, externally or internally. 
In houses the ridges or beds should not be over rich, 
as Tomatos are gross growers. A soil of medium texture 
I consider best, and they should be planted out from 
18 ins. to 4 ft. apart, according to the system of training 
adopted—single, double, or treble stem system, as a 
matter of choice. After the fifth to ninth tier of fruits 
are set, the rods should be stopped, all laterals kept in 
check, and if a dose of weak liquid manure is given 
occasionally, it will be beneficial. We grow ours in an 
unheated span-roofed house 60 ft. by 12 ft., Tomatos 
being its chief occupants. The vigorous, healthy, 
purple stems, adorned with large foliage, and fine 
clusters of fruit, comes of the above treatment, and is 
begotten of plenty of light sun, air, and moisture. 
Excelsior, Hack wood Park, and Large Red are best.— 
A Yorkshire Gardener. 
-- >3X «- - - 
SCILLA SIBIRICA. 
Amongst the long list of Scillas that grace the flower 
garden from time to time this must be considered 
one of the first harbingers of spring, being only 
preceded by S. bifolia as far as this geDus is concerned. 
It is, moreover, contemporaneous with Chionodoxa 
LucilUe, and preferred to that by some growers on 
account of its intense blue colour. The flowers are, 
however, more pendent than those of C. Luciliee, and 
in colour more nearly identical with that of C. sardensis, 
except, perhaps, that they are a shade paler. Weak 
bulbs produce two flowers on a scape, but strong ones 
three or four. For forcing purposes it is extremely 
useful, being in season at the present time, when 
the ground in the open air is frost-bound, thus pre¬ 
venting the growth either of Scilla or Chionodoxa. 
One great recommendation of the species is its decidedly 
dwarf character, and even if forced so hard as to 
destroy the durability of the flowers the scapes and 
leaves never attain a great length. An additional 
recommendation of the plant is its extreme hardiness, 
and the certainty with which it will make its annual 
display on the accession of more genial weather. 
-->*<*- 
THE VALUE OF SCIENCE TO 
THE PRACTICAL GARDENER. 
By Edward W. Badger.* 
My object in offering you a few remarks this evening 
is to direct your attention to some of the considerations 
which should influence a young gardener who wishes 
to attain eminence in his profession, and make him 
endeavour to be something more than the slave of 
empirical rules, a merely practical man—which should 
make him strive to get knowledge as well as experience. 
It is not uncommon to hear a man spoken of dis¬ 
paragingly as a theorist because he chances to be 
scientific, and to regard him as in some way a very 
inferior and less reliable person than the practical 
man, as though all arts, however much based on 
practice—including that of gardening—were not de¬ 
pendent on well-ascertained truths, the knowledge of 
causes and effects, the laws of nature, so far as we 
know them. And yet what more damaging epithet 
can you apply to a medical man than to call him an 
empiric ? It would be no more hurtful to call him a 
quack ; whereas the medical man, properly educated by 
a course of scientific training and practical experience, 
is deservedly honoured and trusted. It seems almost 
a waste of time to speak on this subject, and I would 
not do so did I not know that there are gardeners who 
do not value science as it deserves to be. 
There is no operation you have to perform which 
will not be better done if you know the reason why it 
should be done, and often in one particular manner in 
preference to any other. Besides, when the reason 
why is known, the operation becomes an intellectual 
one and an exercise of mind. Thus there is scarcely 
anything a gardener has to do which may not be 
dignified by the knowledge of its why and wherefore. 
Make it a rule, then, never to be satisfied with merely 
knowing how to do anything, whether it be the cul¬ 
tivation or propagation of a plant, the preparation of a 
piece of ground, or the application of a fertiliser, but 
seek until you can find out the reason for doing it. 
Possibly someone may reply, “Have not most of our 
older gardeners won all their prizes without taking all 
this trouble?” Well, perhaps they have to a certain 
extent, but I think I may assure you that the most 
successful gardeners have invariably been intelligent 
thinking men ; many of them of more than average 
intelligence, and I feel sure no man with an awakened 
mind can be engaged in your delightful pursuit without 
wishing to know everything that can enlighten him or 
make him a more successful craftsman, and every effort 
to attain knowledge will, of necessity, enlarge and 
strengthen the mental powers brought into use. This 
ought to be a sufficient reason of itself why you 
should not be content to be “rule of thumb” men. 
A small acquaintance with the progress of science 
during the past fifty years will satisfy any reasonable 
being of the vast advances made by mind over matter, 
and of the benefits we owe to scientific knowledge, for 
it is a matter of history that it is to our workers in the 
cause of science that we are chiefly indebted for the 
starting points in this progress. It is the unobtrusive 
* A paper read on February 22nd at the meeting of the 
Chiswick Gardeneis’ Mutual Improvement Association. 
student who invariably makes the discovery which 
enlarges our knowledge and opens new fields for the 
exercise of inventive powers ; these in turn are utilised 
by our manufacturers, and thus the world’s progress is 
helped on. If we cannot claim for the vegetable 
physiologist any such marvellous additions to our 
knowledge as have been made by chemists and 
physicists, we can certainly lay claim to a great deal 
on his behalf ; and happily it is now in the power of 
almost everyone to become the possessor of books which 
will give the young gardener knowledge above price, 
that a few years ago was unattainable by the millionaire, 
embodying all that the workers in vegetable physiology 
have added to our stores, enlightening us on many 
obscure points, and rendering luminous much that was 
dark at the beginning of the present century. 
The ordinary routine of a young gardener’s training 
has generally involved little more than acquiring a 
knowledge of his elder’s methods in the practice of 
gardening. Supposing him to be under the care of an 
experienced observant man, aud to be himself pains¬ 
taking, he will in time become a skilled practical 
gardener ; he will know how to propagate plants with 
which he is acquainted, and to cultivate them suc¬ 
cessfully, for he will do as his successful teacher has 
done before him. Here, however, he will probably 
stop, utterly ignorant of the principles on which his 
successful practice is based; he will probably be able to 
give satisfaction to his employer, and his occupation 
will enable him to earn a living. But in these days of 
intellectual activity is this all a man should strive for ? 
Take another case : a smart lad, using the oppor¬ 
tunities which are accessible everywhere now-a-days, 
gets some sound knowledge of physical science and 
possibly of chemistry before he leaves school. His 
desire for knowledge has been awakened, and when he 
commences to work, he goes on quietly adding to his 
stores. He gets some simple elementary book on 
Botany, say Dr. Maxwell T. Masters’ excellent Botany 
for Beginners, and studies it page by page until every 
word of it has become familiar to him. This little 
book will be almost as good for a beginner as a personal 
instructor could be, and our young student by the time 
he has learned all it can teach him, will be ready to 
tackle more advanced books, of which there are many 
ready for his use, and at no very great price either. 
He will soon acquire a general knowledge of the latest 
researches in vegetable physiology, which will teach 
him all that is at present known of the life history of 
plants, and how they live and grow. By this time he 
will be ready to read with benefit such books as 
Johnson’s Science and Practice of Gardening, the 
“Principles of Gardening,” in Moore and Masters’ 
Epitome of Gardening, and that grand book Dr. 
Lindley’s Theory and Practice of Horticulture. Having 
thoroughly mastered these he will be prepared to benefit 
to the utmost by special books on practical gardening, 
such as Thompson’s Gardeners' Assistant, ¥m. Paul’s 
Rose Garden, Moore and Jackman’s Clematis, and 
hosts of others, which it is needless to name. Don’t 
you think our “smart boy,” by the time he has 
reached manhood, if, along with his reading, he has 
been daily working in a well-managed garden, and 
thereby acquiring practical knowledge, will be a more 
skilled gardener, and a more intelligent man, and 
better able to overcome the difficulties which every 
gardener meets with in the course of his experience 
than the ordinary type of gardener ? He will be in a 
position to test the rules of practice, and very likely to 
improve upon them. Horticulture, to him, will no 
longer be a mass of complicated, perplexing, and un¬ 
connected rules ; but every operation will be based 
on one or more plainly understood laws, and what 
previously seemed chaos will be arranged in order in 
his mind. 
And then fancy a young gardener, such as I have 
described, a thoroughly scientific and practical work¬ 
man, being placed in charge of a well-furnished garden; 
with what delight and confidence he will enter on his 
new duties ! Do not you think his chances of success 
will be considerable ? He will possibly find much to 
amend ; his Vines may be out of order, his fruit trees, 
perhaps, full of wood, but fruitless ; the vegetable 
garden not so productive as it ought to be. 'With what 
hopefulness he will be able to set about the work of 
improvement, and what pleasure will be his when the 
improvements are effected ! 
Besides the books I have named there is one which 
I would also commend most warmly to all young 
gardeners— The Propagation and Improvement of 
Cultivated Plants, by F. W. Burbidge. It contains an 
immense amount of valuable information of a most 
suggestive character, which will set every intelligent 
