February 7, 189L 
THE GARDENING WORLD. 365 
THE YOUNG MEN. 
My few notes which appeared in your issue of 
December 27th regarding the young men have been the 
means of drawing forth several letters bearing on the 
subject, with, I trust, beneficial results. They have 
mostly testified to the truth of my assertions regarding 
the state of the young gardeners of to-day. 
I most cordially accept and reciprocate the good 
wishes with which “One of the Erring Ones” closes 
his letter (p. 295). In several instances he questions 
the veracity of my statements. Regarding my assertion 
that young men too frequently visit the public- 
houses, he says it is as unjust as it is unfounded. 
In reply I will only refer him to “Ardnahn’s” letter 
(p. 313), who, in enumerating several “demoralising 
enjoyments ” sought out by young men, includes 
“public-house company.” Until my “erring” friend 
brings forward convincing proof to the contrary, I must 
reluctantly adhere to my statement. He asks what 
harm I see in an “innocent game at cards,” while a 
little further on he says he does not for a moment 
defend gambling, evidently forgetting that the first 
step towards gambling is an “innocent game at cards.” 
Shown in this light I trust my “erring” friend will 
observe wherein I see harm in card-playing. I am 
sorry he cannot spare a few shillings out of his scanty 
earnings wherewith to purchase a few standard works 
on gardening. No doubt gardeners’ wages are small t 
but “where there’s a will there’s a way,” and ether 
books cost money, even Dickens’, Kingsley’s, and 
Scott’s. 
There is certainly not so much done by head- 
gardeners to promote the well-being of those under 
them as should or could be. Masters have a great 
deal in their power to make or mar the prospect of 
those employed under them, by example as well as by 
precept, but I am afraid in the great majority of cases 
little or no interest is taken in the men after work 
hours. Much might be done by head-gardeners in 
establishing mutual improvement societies on the lines 
indicated by Messrs. Jeffrey and Barnes. 
“Ardnahn” must not think that because there are 
men who are not qualified for filling good situations, 
that this is a good reason for wasting his precious 
leisure hours ; quite the reverse. Some day he may be 
called upon to fill a responsible place, and if he be 
not qualified for it, then the same complaint could be 
made regarding him. No, “ Ardnahn ”; do al 1 that lies 
in your power to make yourself efficient in all the 
branches of your calling, so that you may be able to 
discharge whatever duties you may be called upon to 
undertake in a practical and workmanlike manner. It 
may not be your fortune to gain one of those places 
which you term “prizes”; but bear in mind that 
there is more honour in thoroughly managing a small 
place than in mismanaging a large one. Be that as it 
may, if “Ardnahn” does all in his power to make 
himself master of his profession he will have this satis¬ 
faction, that whether he has charge of a large or a. 
small place, he has left no stone unturned in his efforts 
to make himself worthy of filling the most responsible- 
situation. 
Regarding bothies much has been said against them, 
and no doubt with good reason, because, as a rule, they 
are miserable sheds, generally at the back of hothouses, 
and facing the north, so that they get very little sun¬ 
shine, and offer few inducements for men to stay 
longer in them than is really necessary, when they can 
make themselves much more comfortable elsewhere. 
In my bothy days I never had the good luck to fall in 
with one containing a library, but am glad to learn 
that there are such, and trust that the day is not far 
distant when they will be quite common. 
No doubt, young men, you have a great many difficul¬ 
ties to contend with, but meet them manfully and you 
will be astonished how easily they will succumb before 
you. Do not despair, although your bothy is not so 
good as you would wish ; it is only a brief lodging place, 
and in a few years you will have a more comfortable 
home. Do not be disheartened, although you get but 
little encouragement from your superiors, but bravely 
fight your own battles, and in the end you will be sure 
to conquer, the victory being all the greater because 
won by your own hard and unassisted efforts. 
Persevere, my young friends ; there is more sympathy 
for you than you think, and through the pages of the 
horticultural papers many friends are ever ready to 
lend a helping hand to those who make use of what 
means they have in their power to benefit themselves. 
Press on, my young friends, through difficulties and 
discouragements, knowing that these ever beset the 
path of progress. There is no royal road to success ; 
that is gained only by hard and unremitting efforts. 
Once the goal is reached, however, yon will look back 
on your past struggles, and be glad that you had such, 
because the fact that a prize has been gained by 
indomitable courage and perseverance against adverso 
circumstances adds very much to its value .—Father 
Christmas. 
-- 
BLENHEIM ORANGE APPLE. 
Some of the daily and weekly newspapers occasionally 
make profouud and startling discoveries in reference to 
fruit and fruit culture, and some of them have become 
suddenly alive to the fact that the Blenheim Orange 
Apple is keeping well—that it is a variety of great 
value, which in their opinion is a most important fact 
for fruit cultivation. They say nothing that was not 
known before, though the writers declare themselves 
with apparent wisdom. 
Now it has been known for years that the Blenheim 
Orange or Pippin, the last no doubt being its original 
name, is a very valuable and highly-esteemed Apple, 
but no one who has anything like a practical know¬ 
ledge 'of fruit culture would venture to plant several 
acres of this variety as a commercial speculation ; if 
they did they would have to wait a long time for a 
crop, and find it a precarious one also. More’s the 
pity, for it is one of the handsomest of fruits, good for 
all purposes, but especially so for baking. It is very 
slow, however, in coming into bearing as a standard, 
and Mr. George Bunyard tells us that for garden culture 
it is too spreading as a pyramid, and should be grown as 
an espalier or bush, while it succeds as a cordon when 
grafted on the Paradise stock. He also tells us that 
the best fruit is grown on heavy soils. If it were only 
a sure and heavy cropper, it would be our representative 
British Apple ; it is already in some respects, but not 
wholly so. It is thought by some that double-worked 
trees are the most productive in respect to cropping. 
The history of this Apple is well known. The pip from 
which it sprang as a seedling was sown by a native of 
Woodstock, Oxfordshire, a man oi the name of 
Kempster, and the Apple is still locally known as 
Kempster’s Pippin. Its popular name, Blenheim 
Pippin, originated, no doubt, from the fact that 
Blenheim Park, the residence of the Duke of 
Marlborough, is at Woodstock. 
When I was at Cardiff during the summer I paid a 
visit to the famous fruit garden at Cardiff Castle, the 
residence of the Marquis of Bute. In this garden there 
is a large number of fine bush and pyramidal trees of 
Apples and Pears fifteen years of age and thereabouts. 
Among them are several each of Blenheim Orange and 
Beauty of Hants, the latter greatly resembling the 
former in appearance, but more conical in shape, and 
generally considered to be identical with it. But Mr. 
Pettigrew, the gardener at Cardiff Castle, told me that 
while he rarely got fruit on his trees of Blenheim 
Orange, and they appeared to be in the veiy pink of 
perfection for fruiting, Beauty of Hants gave him 
excellent crops every season ; indeed, it is one of his 
most reliable sorts, and he believed that both varieties 
were worked on the same stock. I am unable to 
say if this is a general experience, but it is Mr. 
Pettigrew’s. 
It is interesting to notice how this inestimable fruit 
tree—the Apple—has been carried during the last 
three centuries to every part of the globe where it can 
thrive. Hot countries are unfavourable to it; the fruit 
is appreciated nevertheless, as in Alexandria and even 
Cairo, where imported European Apples never wait 
long for a purchaser. It does admirably well in New 
Zealand and in Australia, whence Apples now find 
their way to the English markets, arriving very oppor¬ 
tunely in the spring. In the park-like prairies of Chili 
it has become quite plentiful, where there is a great 
deal of cider now being made, called in Spanish, chica, 
and corresponding in its use and measure of popularity 
to th evin ordinaire of the French. It has reached even 
to Patagonia, and how grand has been its success in 
North America needs no telling. 
What may be the dimensions of the largest Apple 
tree in the Old World it is perhaps difficult to say ; but 
it is stated that in Cheshire County, Connecticut, U.S., 
there is one certified by family traditions to be quite 
140 years old, the trunk of which, at a foot from the 
ground, above all the enlargements common to the base 
of trees, has a girth of over 13 ft. A few years ago the 
uppermost limbs of this wonderful tree reached to the 
height of 60 ft., and the lateral spread of the whole to 
100 ft. From five out of the eight branches there 
have been gathered crops varying from 85 to 110 
bushels of perfectly ripe good fruit,— R. D. 
Hardening Hisceliany. 
--t-- 
Begonia Crednen. 
'The: above is a new hybrid which has been raised on 
the Continent between B. Sckarfianaand B. metallica. 
The plant has the habit of the latter, but the flowers 
recall those of the former, according to the Revue de 
L'Horticulture Beige. The plants attain the height 
of 2 ft. to 2j ft., grow very vigorously, and are fur¬ 
nished with fine foliage. The upper surface of the 
one-sided, heart-shaped leaves is hairy and green, with 
a metallic tint ; and the lower surface is deep red. 
The flowers are borne in large cymes well above the 
foliage, and are large, pure white, and furnished with 
bristly, red hairs on the back, as are those of the 
parent plants. Owing to the beauty of its foliage and 
flowers it is reckoned to become popular for room 
decoration. There is great difficulty in raising it from 
seed, as the latter ripens badly, but the plant can be 
freely propagated from cuttings. 
Double Sport of Chinese Primula. 
A bloom was sent us the other day by Messrs. B. S. 
Williams & Son, Upper Hollow ay, of a sport from 
Alba magnifies, a single white variety of the Chinese 
Primula, and which has been cultivated by them for 
many years. The sport was so perfectly double that no 
seed will ever be produced by it. Having been wrapped 
in cotton wool, the flower was rather withered before we 
examined it, and it then appeared of a pale pink or 
blush ; but when fresh it may be pure white. The ! 
outer and larger segments were imbricated andi 
beautifully fringed, while the inner segments were: 
gradually smaller, and some of them stalked, as if they 
had arisen from the stamens, and which is most likely 
the case. The seed vessel and the style was in a mon¬ 
strous condition, so that all hope of seed from it is 
precluded. The whole was pale green, opened out and 
partly separated into its component pieces. Some of 
the latter were smooth and represented styles, while 
other pieces were hairy and senate, or lobed, repre¬ 
senting true, but miniature leaves. All these pale 
green pieces were, however, wholly hidden by the 
coloured segments, so that the variety is beautiful, and 
if vigorous, will prove an acquisition for garden and 
other purposes. 
Gathering Pears. 
An American authority states that one of the most 
important points in the management of Pears is to 1 
gather them at the right time. So he says ; “ Summer 
Pears should be gathered at least ten days before they 
are ripe ; autumn Pears at least a fortnight, and winter 
Pears as nearly as possible about the time the tree stops 
growing. If left on till the commencement of the fall 
of the leaf they are worthless. A Pear ripened on the 
tree is not fit to be eaten. The usual way to deter¬ 
mine when Pears are fit to be gathered, is to lift the 
fruit upwards, and if on raising them they part readily 
from the stalk, they are fit to gather. Never shake 
Pears down : hand-pick them all.” 
Disporum Leschenaultianum. 
There are something like a dozen species of Disporum, 
but few of them are ever seen in gardens. The flowers 
are small, and comparatively inconspicuous, so that 
any ornamental qualities which they possess is due to 
the berries they produce at the tips of the shoots. The 
species under notice generally and regularly produces 
about two bluish black fruits about the size of large 
black currants. These fruits hang on the plant for the 
greater part of the winter. A specimen may be seen in 
the Heath house at Ilew. 
Anemone Caffra, 
As the name indicates, this is a South African species 
of the same habit as A. Fanninii, but judging from 
present appearances it will not be so good as the last 
named species. Time will show this, and also how far 
it differs. The leaves are radical or mostly so, large, 
reniform, seven to nine lobed, deep green, and some¬ 
what wrinkled above. The flower scape terminates in 
a single bloom of moderate size, consisting of about 
fifteen sepals, which are white or slightly tinted with 
green at the tips. The stamens are yellow, and form a 
column surrounding and hiding the styles ; and 
curiously enough the inner ones commence to expand 
first. It flowered recently at Kew, but as the plants 
gain strength, and the days get longer, and the light 
better, the flowers may greatly improve in size and 
appeaBanee. 
