804 
THE GARDENING WORLD. 
August 18, 1888. 
formation of the leaves. Foremost among 
them we place a small compact variety known 
as Tom Thumb, a very tender and sweet-eating 
Lettuce, well adapted for small gardens. One 
of the best of Lettuces for summer and winter 
alike is what is known as All the Year Round; 
there is a white-seeded as well as a black- 
seeded form, and both are of the most valuable 
character; it is one of the best Cabbage Let¬ 
tuces grown. The Auctoria is a larger and 
greener type, and the White C-havigny might 
be termed a white Victoria, but not so good as 
All the Year Round. Paris Market is an 
early red-tinged variety of medium size ; Grand 
Admiral is like it, but bolts to seed earlier, 
and should be treated more as a winter than as 
a summer Lettuce. Stanstead Park comes in 
the earliest of all the winter Cabbage Lettuces, 
and is no use for summer; the leaves are 
much blotched with brown. Sutton’s Stand- 
well appears to be identical with the white- 
seeded form of All the Year Round. Lee’s 
Immense Hardy Cabbage Lettuce is a large 
variety of a pale green colour, and well adapted 
for winter work. The Green Unctuous is a 
very dark green-coloured form of the Victoria. 
The old white-seeded Brown "Dutch Lettuce is 
much tinted with brown, but it is a good 
summer variety. The Neapolitan and the 
AYhite Silesian are both curled-leaved Lettuces, 
the former being much grown for summer use, 
though not so much as formerly. Scott’s 
Favourite is a brown-leaved form of Drumhead 
or Malta. 
When to sow and when to plant out 
Lettuces for ordinary garden purposes are 
matters of such common knowledge that there 
is no need for referring to them in this relation, 
except to state that the winter varieties are 
usually sown from the middle of August to 
the middle of September ; and when they are 
planted out permanently they should be placed 
at the bottom of a south wall, or in a well- 
drained bed, and fully exposed. AYinter 
Lettuces are not injured by snow; indeed, 
what have been regarded as tender varieties 
have come through the winter in comparative 
safety, when well covered by it. As soon as 
the mild weather appears in February growth 
commences, and the plants go on maturing 
until ready for use. 
-- 
Royal Present to a Gardener.—The King of the 
Belgians, who recently visited Longleat, has presented 
Mr. AY. Pratt with a very handsome breast pin set 
with diamonds and pearls, and surmounted with a gold 
crown. 
The Hampstead Chrysanthemum Society, which, 
notwithstanding a bad day last year, is in the happy 
position of having a balance in hand, announces its 
next annual exhibition for the 14th and 15th of 
November, at the Yestry Hall, Haverstock Hill. 
Gardening Engagement.—Mr. James Friend, for 
nearly six years general foreman at Iwerne Minster, 
Dorset, as gardener to H. Kimball Cook, Esq., Stan- 
more Park, Middlesex. 
Cold Storage of Fruit.—A committee has been 
formed for the purpose of making experiments with 
the view of testing what can be done by means of the 
refrigerating process in preserving fresh fruits for 
lengthened periods after they are ripe. The process by 
which it is to be done is known as “ The De la Vergne 
System, 1 ' which is carried out by the Leadenhall Market 
Cold Storage Co., Limited, at their offices, 791, Grace- 
church Street. The possibilities are many, and until a 
good trial has been made with many kinds of fruits 
under different conditions, no one can say but that 
quite unexpected results might be obtained. The fol¬ 
lowing are the names of members of the committee that 
has been appointed to carry out the experiments—viz., 
Messrs. John Lee, T. F. Pavers, J. Wright, J. Smith, 
AY. Marshall, H. J. A f eitch, J. Cheal, Tallerman, 
A. F. Barron, and Dr. Hogg. 
Proposed Conference on Fruit Culture at Dnnkeld. 
—AA e learn from Mr. P. AY. Fairgrieve, gar¬ 
dener to the Dowager Duchess of Athole at Dunkeld, 
that in response to suggestions which have been made 
that it was desirable to have a meeting of gardeners 
and others interested in fruit culture, and that such 
meeting should be held at Dunkeld Gardens, where the 
culture of hardy fruits has received a considerable 
amount of attention for many years, he has, with the 
sanction of the Dowager Duchess of Athole, made 
arrangements for holding a conference on the 31st inst. 
The proceedings will take the form of a practical 
inspection of the fruit trees at Dunkeld, and a friendly 
discussion on the best methods of fruit culture, Mr. 
Fairgrieve undertaking to answer all questions relating 
to his methods of culture, and to the varieties he grows. 
The visitors will also inspect the Hermitage and 
Hermitage grounds, and luncheon will be provided on 
the lawn at 12.45 p.m. 
Appley Towers, near Ryde.—In these grounds are 
many grand plants seldom seen growing out of doors. 
Desfontanea spinosa is full of flower, and 7 ft. through. 
Fremontea californica grows very freely, and flowers 
magnificently ; Grevillea and Lomatias do the same, 
and many more of our greenhouse plants seem to 
thrive equally well, showing how mild the climate is. 
Fine specimen Palms and Australian Dracaenas adorn 
the grounds in many prominent situations, giving 
quite a tropical appearance to the surroundings. 
Unfortunately the place is suffering owing to the late 
Sir William Hutt’s death, and Mr. Miles, the gardener, 
is struggling under great difficulties to keep the garden 
in order. It is a great pity some enthusiast having 
a love for horticulture could not inherit such an 
establishment. 
The Night-scented Stock. -— During the day few 
plants are more insignificant and uninteresting, on 
account of the closing of the flowers, the petals of which 
roll up in the same way as do some of the perennial 
species of Silene. They are lilac, with a white blotch 
at the top of the claw—colours that are by no means 
either brilliant or attractive. During the day they 
roll from the apex inwards to the centre, so that the 
back only is seen. A casual observer would almost 
certainly fail to observe that the plants were in flower 
should he visit the bed or border during the day. As 
evening and a cooler atmosphere succeeds the day, the 
flowers quickly unroll, and become powerfully fragrant, 
inviting their night-flying visitors of the insect world. 
The sweet odour pervades the atmosphere for some 
distance around, making an evening walk in the 
garden a pleasant occupation. There is a bed of 
this, the Matthiola bicornis of botanists, in the gardens 
of the Royal Horticultural Society, Chiswick ; and 
although the flowers are in themselves comparatively 
insignificant, no garden should be without a bed, line 
or patch of it. 
Lilium Parryi. — Few Lilies are more distinct than 
this species, which was introduced as recently as 1879. 
The flowers are pale yellow, and copiously dotted with 
small purple spots internally, but from the drooping 
habit of the flower they are only detected upon close 
inspection. The tube is of considerable length, with a 
spreading limb, constituting the species a handsome 
and desirable one. Although a recent introduction, it 
has so far proved amenable to the peculiarities of our 
climate, and flowers regularly every year. The stems 
are slender, but range from 2 ft. to 6 ft. in height, 
according to conditions of culture, and bear the flowers 
in a raceme along the upper portion. It was very 
noticeable recently in a bed amongst other species in 
the gardens of the Royal Horticultural Society at 
Chiswick. 
-->X<-- 
ffoTES on Bruits. 
The Feuit Ceops ix the AYesterx Shiees. 
The gloomy forebodings expressed by many in the 
early part of the season have happily not wholly been 
realised, for on lately passing through parts of the 
counties of Gloucester, AAmrcester and Hereford, I 
noticed that there was generally a good sprinkling of 
fruit on the trees, although Pomona has certainly not 
loaded all the trees in our gardens and orchards with 
tresses of beautiful gold and russet fruits. Hot even 
Herefordshire was this year able to successfully woo the 
fickle goddess, although it has sung her praises loud 
and long, and even had some of her greatest beauties 
painted to adorn its own particular “Pomona,” and 
also the walls of some of the houses in its cathedral 
city. 
Apples are a failure in many places, even the old 
Keswick Codlin aud the Hawthornden being barren. 
Pears are better on walls and cordons ; and standard 
Plums of such sorts as The Pershore and Dymock are 
bearing freely. In Gloucestershire and AVorcestershire 
the more choice sorts of Plums are not so plentiful. On 
walls in gardens, Peaches, Figs and Apricots are a 
fair crop. Cherries were plentiful, but those who 
bought the crops on the trees have suffered great losses 
from the torrents of rain cracking the fruits and so 
spoiling them for marketing. How strange it seems, as 
one drives through fertile vales, to see thrifty young 
Orchards enjoying all the advantages of a good 
situation, good soil, and plenty of shelter, yet devoid 
of fruit, while at the next homestead, with less 
favourable advantages, the trees are laden. It is the 
same in gardens. You may go into some, and see not 
an Apple on standards, cordons, or espaliers, although 
root pruned and otherwise systematically treated, 
while but a few yards away, in a north aspect, trees that 
have never been touched since they were planted are 
loaded with fine fruit. It well-nigh upsets all our pet 
theories about fruit culture, and seems to tell us that 
after all climate is the prime factor.— Cor. 
-- 
HALF AN HOUR WITH A 
MARKET GARDENER. 
It is seldom that a private practitioner cannot find 
something to admire and emulate during a walk over 
a well-tilled market garden ; and in these days of keen 
competition there are few which do not come under that 
category, for the man who fails to produce anything 
but first-class stuff will be almost certain to go to the 
wall. The quantities of most things sent to the metro¬ 
politan markets are generally so great that not only 
must they be well grown to command a prospect of 
sale, but well packed and sent in the best possible 
condition to take the eye of dealers. The detection of 
a few stringy Beans in a sample of Scarlet Runners 
will, if there are many in the market, spoil, and it 
may be, lose the sale of them ; and it is the same with 
Lettuces, a few withered leaves on the outside will 
deter buyers from taking them, however good they are, 
if clean tidy samples are present. 
And as farmers have already encroached largely on 
the domains of the market gardener, and if they are to 
exist at all must do so more and more, the market 
gardener will most likely have to submit as best he 
may to lower prices unless he can place himself in 
direct communication with the consumer. There is a 
wide field open among the lower, middle, and working 
class populations for a larger consumption of garden 
produce. The almost universal objection urged against 
their more extended use is their costliness, and this, in 
face of the outcry among the growers that much of 
their produce scarcely pays fof growing, is an anomaly, 
proving that the middle-man gets more than a fair 
share of profit or that there is an unavoidably heavier 
cost incurred in the distribution of this class of goods 
to the consumer than of other articles in daily use. If 
from this cause, it will be difficult to find a remedy, 
and unless the dietary arrangements of millions of 
people can be revolutionised by their being brought to 
put a higher estimate on the value of garden produce 
as food, better prices cannot be expected. 
This district is one in which, as regards the summer 
months, we seldom get the amount of rain we would 
like for our green crops, so that, on looking over 
breadths of Cauliflowers and Brussels Sprouts, to find 
evidences in every small depression in the ground that 
these crops have evidently suffered from a super¬ 
abundance of rain is a novel experience. AYe note 
that even Celery can have too much water, for one end 
of a long row which was submerged during the late 
heavy downpour looks very miserable in comparison to 
the rest. 
AYe notice a fine plantation of Cauliflowers made 
during the coldest part of July, and which was planted 
when the ground was soddened, looking very much 
like a bad case of clubbing, but on examination it is 
found that owing to the unfavourable condition of the 
soil the lower part of the tap-roots actually rotted. 
Since the fine spell of sunshine, however, they are 
making new fibres well above the decayed portion, and 
may ultimately pull through. 
The heavy rains have washed the soil down to a hard 
smooth surface, which every hour’s sun renders more 
hard, thereby making hoeing a laborious and ex¬ 
pensive operation. Large breadths of Cabbage are 
sown for the spring supply, Early York for the first, to 
be followed by Early Rainliam, while East Ham has 
been used this season as a succession to them. A 
breadth at present in cut is a superb piece, and we 
