July 20, 1889. 
THE GARDENING WORLD. 
741 
A BRANCHING- BROCCOLI. 
About the middle of May last we received from Messrs. 
Sutton & Sons, Reading, an extraordinary novelty in 
the form of a huge branching Broccoli, which completely 
filled one of the large flat baskets, such as are commonly 
used by nurserymen. The accompanying illustration, 
prepared from a photograph which we had taken, serves 
to give a correct idea of the plant as seen from above, 
but while also indicating the arrangement of the heads, 
fails to show the mode of branching. The whole plant 
consisted of a strong central or main stem girthing 
6 ins., together with ten strong lateral branches 
originating from the primary oue at the ground level. 
All of them produced usable heads of Broccoli, the 
central one being the largest, measuring 7 ins. in 
diameter, and as many in depth. This crown had a 
few small leaves projecting through between the 
component branches, but it was otherwise quite 
compact, and a good specimen of a Broccoli in 
itself. Each of the ten side branches or stems carried 
a head from 2 ins. to 4 ins. in diameter when we 
STRAWBERRY CULTURE IN 
SOUTH EAST LANCASHIRE. 
I was invited a few days ago to see some beds of 
Strawberries in this so-called bad gardening county, 
and having availed myself of the opportunity I send 
you a few notes on what I saw. My first call was at 
the garden of a lady, where Strawberries, &c., had 
been grown for many years. A year or two ago the 
place changed hands, and fresh ideas were brought to 
bear on the cropping of the garden. Here I saw one 
of the heaviest crops of Strawberries I ever met with. 
Many had been gathered, yet one could not see where 
they had been picked from. The trusses were of 
immense size, like bunches of Grapes, with the berries 
large and colouring well ; but all cannot possibly 
swell up, unless we get some rain, and we have only 
had one slight shower since the hailstorms of Sunday, 
June 2nd. The varieties grown are President and 
Yates’ Seedling. The latter is a new name to me, but 
the sort is a prolific one. The way they were planted 
was as follows :—A trench was dug out for each row, 
entering by the lodge at the western side, we found 
two or three of the inmates of the houses busy gathering 
Strawberries off this bank, which from end to end was 
planted with them. They had been gathering for 
about ten days when I saw them, and there must have 
been many more bushels to gather as they ripened. 
Such a crop in this part is quite an exception, and 
does the gardener great credit. In another place I 
came upon a large quarter of them heavily cropped, as 
also large breadths of Black Currant bushes heavy with 
fruit. A small brooklet passes through the grounds, 
which would have been a capital place for Water Cress 
culture, but, alas, like most other water-courses in this 
county, it has been poisoned with sewage. Vegetable 
growing is carried out on an extensive scale. A large 
breadth of Cabbage suggested an inquiry as to whether 
any were marketed, but I was told that a cartload 
a-day was required to supply the houses. The Parsnips 
looked grand, so regularly thinned and clean, but the 
Onion beds are not good, the seed not coming up 
regularly. Peas, excepting one kind, were exceedingly 
Messes. Sutton’s New Branching Broccoli. 
received them, but being somewhat later than the 
central head, they would in the ordinary way have 
time to attain a somewhat greater size, and come into 
use soon after the primary one had been cut. There 
were other, hut very much smaller stems, also bear¬ 
ing flower heads, and some of these sprung from the 
secondary stems ; so that, given a good rich soil and 
plenty of room to develop by planting about 4 ft. 
apart] each way, this remarkable Broccoli has wonder¬ 
ful powers of branching and increase. The side 
branches have an advantage in springing from the 
ground level, inasmuch as they would be less liable to 
become broken down by wind, rain, or snow. The 
leaves were narrowly lance-shaped, slightly lobed, of 
a deep glaucous green colour, and in no way coarse. 
The variety is evidently capable of giving a large 
amount of produce—enough from one plant to supply 
a small family for a week—and cultivation and selec¬ 
tion will in time give the heads what is somewhat 
wanting now—a more refined appearance. We under¬ 
stand that at present the variety has not been named, 
but being fixed in character, it will be sent out next 
season, so that we shall soon know more about it. 
as if' fot Celery, and then filled up with 9 ins. of 
manure and rotten Beech leaves, which were trodden 
down hard. On this the soil was spread and the 
runners planted, the result being such a crop as I have 
never seen surpassed during many years of practice in 
different places. 
The other place visited was the Salford Hospital 
Farm, at Hope, near Eccles. These grounds are 
situated at the back of an immense range of buildings 
in the pavilion style, off the Eccles old road, a series of 
brick buildings extending for a quarter of a mile. The 
garden and piggeries are at the back of these buildings, 
having a depth about equal to the frontage, and are 
under the management of Mr. Rowlands, a most excel¬ 
lent gardener, as was evidenced by the condition of his 
crops. The buildings are divided from the garden by 
a public foot-path, necessitating the use of iron railings 
on either side. The hospital railings are flanked with 
a row of the golden variegated Elder, having a lively 
effect. The other side has a steep bank of earth thrown 
up against the railings, having a slope to the south, 
extending the whole length of the building. On 
fine, rows 100 yards long of Laxton’s Prolific, Fill 
basket, &c., being a picture to look at. Beans also 
were good, and ground was being heavily manured and 
prepared for the planting out of Leeks and other winter 
stuff when rain comes. I noticed also a lot of Mussel¬ 
burgh Leek for seed ; Mr. Rowland having a good 
strain is desirous of keeping it true. Red Cabbage 
was for the season extra fine, and will produce some 
fine heads. The whole place was remarkably free from 
weeds, and when we consider the only help he has 
is the poor unfortunate inhabitants of the hospital, 
redounds much to the credit of the gardener in charge. 
There was no spare land anywhere. Celery was of fine 
colour and growing strong and sturdy. I was taken 
into the yard to see the fine breed of pigs ; some of 
them were very fine animals, one sow I measured ex¬ 
ceeding 7 ft. in length from nose to tail. They were 
wonderfully fine bacon pigs, though if there is any fault 
to be found with them they are too fat, but this is to 
be corrected by cross breeding. 
As I walked about the grounds, I could not but think 
what a benefit it would be to many of the young under- 
