February 20, 1892. 
THE GARDENING WORLD 
391 
fruit in good condition commands a ready sale for 
preserving; and as for Raspberries and Black 
Currants for preserving. I have never yet known the 
supply to be equal to the demand in the Midland 
and Northern towns. 
Some day my views will be taken up and worked 
out. Not just now, perhaps, for it is not easy to get 
out of old grooves. Many cottagers have large 
gardens, larger than they really want for their own 
family use, and for the brief time they have from 
their ordinary daily occupation for work in their own 
gardens. If they knew of a certain outlet for any 
crops they might grow for marketing, and which they 
would soon find out were wanted, depend upon it 
they would soon begin to make more profit out of 
their gardens than had been previously done, — TV. D. 
Hardening |Iiscellany. 
THE COLLECTION OF APPLES AT 
CHISWICK. 
We have at present at Chiswick one of the largest 
(if not the largest) collections of varieties of Apples 
in the world. There are, however, a number of good 
sorts scattered here and there throughout the country, 
and but very little known. The council of the society 
invite the owners of such comparatively unknown 
sorts to send grafts of them, with name, locality, age 
of tree (if known), and any other particulars, to 
Chiswick for trial alongside of the standard collec¬ 
tion. Grafts, &c., should be addressed to the 
Superintendent, R.H.S. Gardens, Chiswick.— TV. 
TVilks, Sec. R.H.S ., Feb. io th, 1892. 
VEITCH S RED-STEMMED WHITE PRIMULA. 
This is a very pretty thing indeed, and is a pleasing 
departure from the ordinary white (Primula sinensis 
finibriata alba). The flowers are quite as large, of as 
good substance, and quite as floriferous, while the 
flower stem and the leaf stalks, instead of being a 
greenish-white, are of a deep ruddy-crimson hue. 
The red colour sets off the white flowers to great ad¬ 
vantage, the contrast being a most pleasing one. I 
have seen it in many conservatories in Devonshire, 
and the other day I saw a nice batch of them in 
Messrs. Veitch's houses at Exeter.— Devoniensis. 
PRIMULA OBCONICA. 
Should any of your readers experience any strong 
itching sensation from being stung by this plant in 
the course of handling and re-potting it, a very 
simple cure is to be found in an application of 
Condy's fluid and cold water, say half a wine glass- 
full of the former to a pint of water, and bathe the 
arm and hands with it, allowing it to dry in. It is a 
safe and quick cure. Some persons are so frightened 
about its stinging properties as to discontinue grow¬ 
ing it, but they need not be with so simple a remedy. 
And it is always well to have Condy’s fluid in the house 
as an efficient disinfectant, and I know its value in a 
sick room under the suffering from bronchial asthma 
and great difficulty in breathing, and have found a 
little Condy's fluid, dropped upon a hot coal, throw 
out a vapour which gives ease and comfort.— D. W. 
EARLY STRAWBERRIES. 
In: November I started a batch of Strawberries, in¬ 
cluding La Grosse Sucree, Keen’s Seedling, Noble, 
and a dozen of Black Prince; I had not seen this 
variety for twenty years, until two years ago, when 
a friend spoke of it as being grown by him for con¬ 
serves, no other being accepted. He offered me some 
runners, and last year I layered a dozen in small 
pots, and grew them on in the usual way. On the 
seventh of this month there were three perfectly ripe 
fruit on the Black Prince, and one or two more on 
each pot colouring. This day, February 15, La 
Grosse Sucree and Keen’s are changing colour, and 
Noble will do so at the end of the week, the fruit 
being larger and more evenly set than the others. If 
those in successional batches do as well as they did 
last year, I shall be well pleased with Noble. None 
of our pot plants have attained the size of those in 
previous years in consequence of the cold sunless 
wet season, and I do not think that they received 
more than two waterings from the time they were 
layered, the almost daily showers being a little too 
much. After this I do not think much importance 
can be attached to crown ripening. At any rate, so 
far as we are concerned in this district, the essential 
conditions were entirely absent, and the previous 
season was only a trifle better, yet our forced Straw¬ 
berries were never better than they were last year. 
I feel sure that if I had fifty plants of Black Prince 
this year, that I could have picked a pound of fruit 
on the seventh of this month, so it appears that in 
point of earliness we have not improved on old sorts, 
— TV. P. R., Preston. 
HARDY TREES & SHRUBS. 
Deciduous Spindle Trees. 
lor some years past the evergreen species and 
varieties of Euonymus have received the greatest 
amount of attention from planters, and those who 
grow young plants for window boxes, pots and deco¬ 
rative work generally. This is doubtless commend¬ 
able for towns where something hardy and evergreen 
is wanted in the immediate vicinity of dwelling 
houses during the winter months. The deciduous 
species on the contrary are most interesting when in 
fruit during the autumn months, and loaded with 
their red fruits, but more especially after the latter 
burst and expose the seeds which are covered with 
an orange-coloured aril. The birds molest them very 
much, and consequently the fruits do not hang so 
long as they would otherwise do. The deciduous 
kinds are generally if not always propagated 
from seeds, which they produce usually in great 
abundance. 
E. Europ.eus.— The British species is perhaps 
the most abundant, and the most widely disseminated 
Euonymus Europ.eus 
in British gardens. The lance-shaped leaves are 
finely sawed on the edges and resemble to some 
extent those of the almond in miniature. The plant 
may be described as a large shrub or low tree when 
allowed to attain its proper dimensions, and then 
produces its highly-coloured fruits in great abundance 
during September and October. The capsules 
burst open exposing the orange-coloured seeds 
suspended by means of long stalks similarly to those 
of the Magnolia when it ripens seeds. The decaying 
leaves often become bright red before they fall. 
The capsule itself may be described as rose 
coloured, but there is a variety named E. e. fructu 
albo in which the capsules are white while the seeds 
retain their bright orange hue. Several varieties 
have been cultivated, but most of them have got lost 
during the period of neglect which shrubs in general 
have suffered for some years past. The accompany¬ 
ing illustration shows the character of the leaves 
and the fruit when mature and burst so as to expose 
the seeds. 
E. latifolius.— The leaves of this species are 
broader than those of the European Spindle Tree, 
ovate and finely toothed. The fruit is acutely 
angled or somewhat winged, and ripens in September, 
when it becomes of a bright red. It is larger, even 
more showy, and if anything more abundantly pro¬ 
duced than in the case of E. europmus. The leaves 
also become of a purplish-red before they drop. The 
species is a native of South Europe from the south 
of France to Tauria. The branches even in winter 
are more interesting and attractive than those of any 
other deciduous species. It should be allowed 
plenty of space to develop its true character, and the 
planter who does so will be amply pleased with the 
results, for it is highly ornamental when well laden 
with fruit. Seedlings are also easily raised as in the 
case of E. europseus. 
E. verrucosus. —Seldom is this species seen in 
gardens, but used to be grown by collectors of shrubs 
who valued it for the sake of its distinct upright habit 
and warted branches as indicated by the specific name. 
It is a native of central Europe and grows to a 
height of 6 ft. to 12 ft., and bears fruit which ripen3 
to a reddish purple in September. 
E. atropurpurens.— The leaves of this species 
attain a length of 2 in. to 5 in. and are lanceolate> 
resembling to some extent those of a Peach. The 
fruit is bluntly four-angled and furrowed, crimson, 
with white seeds covered with a red aril, and ripens 
in October. The flowers are dark purple as indicated 
by the name, and the decaying leaves are purplish 
red. Like many other American plants it likes a 
peaty soil, and does best when grown in somewhat 
shady positions. Several other deciduous species 
have been introduced, but like the last two they have 
been suffered to get out of cultivation from neglect. 
WASTE NO VRUIT AND 
VEGETABLES. 
A lady, writing recently in a public journal, said that 
one of the lessons to be derived from the life of that 
splendid old man recently deceased—Cardinal Man¬ 
ning , who at the time of his death possessed practically 
nothing—is that of thought for others. We are 
sadly in need of more of this kind of consideration 
all round. Those who cannot give money can some¬ 
times render help in other ways, and kindly sympathy 
is always acceptable. I am quite sure many persons 
waste a good deal of the fruit, flowers, and vege¬ 
tables they grow—there is more than the family and 
servants can consume, and it is wasted. How easy 
it appears to say to those who are not so well off in 
these respects, and have no gardens of their own, 
“ If you care to send you can have a basket of 
vegetables, or if your children will come for some 
fruit, they shall have it." I have a neighbour—a 
lady with a benevolent nature—who does this, and 
her kindness is greatly appreciated, and she is 
regarded as the Lady Bountiful of the neighbour¬ 
hood. An act of this character comes to a fine nature 
as a positive luxury. It is not necessary to be rich 
to perform such little acts of kindness—far from it; 
what is necessary is to be thoughtful and unselfish. 
Where in this wide world can anyone find such com¬ 
passion as that shown by the poor for the poor ? A 
few flowers given from a garden is at all times a 
worthy gift, and especially so when made to an 
invalid, or to a person in a lowly station of life. 
Rich people are in too many instances so far removed 
by position from the bulk of their fellow-men, that 
they miss opportunities of taking a personal interest 
in them. But thoughtful people of small means 
have it in their power to do a great deal; there is 
scarcely a limit to the little acts of kindness they can 
perform. Gardeners and those interested in garden¬ 
ing are to be commended for their support of the 
provident and charitable institutions connected with 
horticulture, but let us give generous impulses a 
wider play in some such directions as we have 
ventured to indicate.— R. D. 
Apple May Queen.— In general appearance this 
variety may be compared to a small Blenheim 
Orange, but it is firmer and keeps much longer, 
in fact till May, as indicated by the name. The 
fruit is globuiar, slightly compressed at either end, 
and of medium size. The skin is of a greenish 
yellow on the shaded side, speckled all over with 
small green spots and lightly suffused or streaked 
with red, but of a bright red all over the sunny side, 
and more or less splashed with a darker hue; the 
whole surface is bright and shining. The half open 
eye is set in a moderately deep even cavity, and the 
very short stalk is set in a deeper and narrower 
evenly rounded cavity. The flesh is still very firm 
but crisp, tender, and sweet, pale yellowish white 
and slightly suffused with red just under the skin, 
as seen in Duchess Favourite, Red Baldwin, and 
others, and is agreeably fragrant. A dish of it was 
exhibited by Air. W. Crump, Madresfield Court 
Gardens, Malvern, when an Award of Merit wag 
granted it. 
