THE GARDENING WORLD. 
715 
July 12, 1890. 
The secretary should he a real worker, zealous for the 
welfare of the association, striving to work up his 
district by inducing all the gardeners living in it to 
become members, so that the place of meeting should 
be one from which horticultural “light ” should be ever 
radiating. It is a good course of procedure to change 
the secretary annually, if possible. There is nothing 
like a pretty constant infusion of new blood in such 
matters. Keep a man in office too long, and he is apt 
to lose an interest in the work, and perhaps become 
proud and independent. This yearly change would 
give all a chance of making themselves useful in carrying 
on the work of the association, and taking greater 
interest in its welfare. Tho committee, which should 
not be a large one, ought to consist of good men, each 
and all heartily anxious for the thorough success of the 
association. Let all workers make a point of 
attending every committee meeting. It is very 
advisable to have changes on the committee from time 
to time, in order that all the members of the society 
should have placed at their disposal a voice in the 
management of its business. 
(To be continued.) 
-- 
EARLY STRAWBERRIES.* 
We do not force any at Maidstone ; our customers prefer 
Yicomtesse Hericartde Thury and La Grosse Sucree for 
the earliest crops, following with Keen’s Seedling, Pre¬ 
sident, and Sir Charles Napier. It is probable that a 
greater variety will be found available in a few years. 
The Noble is a kind that produces enormous fruit and 
comes early, but requires a cooler temperature to perfect 
its fruit, and on that account has probably been 
hastily condemned for forcing by some growers who 
have pushed them rather hard. It is no doubt wanting 
in flavour, and is a Strawberry to grow for sale, when 
its size will be sure to command a good price ; but in 
my opinion it wants more flavour. One of our custo¬ 
mers made 24s. per lb. of it. Auguste Nieaise is 
finding many admirers as an early forcer, and Harris 
A1 produces very handsome fruits, but as tasted are 
wanting in flavour, possibly having been kept in the 
heat withoutthat necessary help to colour and flavour, 
viz., a quiet rest in a cooler house. When this is 
attended to, Keen’s Seedling and others retain that 
fine aroma and full flavour which obtains outside. 
To come to outside culture, I am of opinion that 
many of our earliest Strawberries should be grown on 
the one year system (as biennials), as a recent look 
over my beds convinces me that they deteriorate rapidly 
after the first year, and I would suggest that the 
earliest runners should be laid in pots or into turves, 
and then transferred as soon as well rooted to a well- 
prepared, deeply dug, and heavily manured site under 
a south wall, placing them 3 ft. apart in the rows, and 
1 ft. from plant to plant. Syringe overhead for a few 
days if the weather is dr} 7 , cut away 'all runners 
that show themselves, and keep the plants to one 
single crown ; if any short manure can be had, mulch 
the plants after they are settled. Early in April sur¬ 
face-hoe the ground, and if slugs are abundant dress 
the land with lime and soot; remove all decayed foliage, 
and at once proceed to mulch heavily with half- 
decayed manure, taking care to keep it well round the 
crowns. As May comes in, the flower-stalks will show, 
when the weak ones should be cut away and the strong 
trusses be thinned of all the small blossoms. In this 
way the strength of the plant will be thrown into the 
remainder, and result in a crop of fine handsome berries. 
This extra attention will amply repay the cultivator as 
far as a few extra early fruits are concerned ; the later 
ones can take their chance. The varieties I would 
recommend for this purpose are— 
1. King of tlie Earlies. —A small but deliciously 
flavoured fruit, a marvellous cropper. 
2. Vicomtesse Hericartde Thury. —Rather larger, but 
most prolific, and of exceptional flavour. 
3. La Grosse Sucree. —A large fruit of very rich 
sweet flavour. 
4. The Noble. —Yery large and handsome, deficient 
in flavour, but invaluable in other ways ; far before all 
others as an early kind. 
5. Crescent Seedling. —For two years the first to 
pick ; not first class, but passable. 'Worth culture as 
the earliest, requires sugar. 
6. Keen's Seedling. — A full-flavoured fine old 
standard variety, ripening well at the point. 
7. Pauline.—An ugly fruit, but very precocious, and 
when fully ripe, of fine pine flavour ; delights in iron¬ 
stone soil—distinct and good. 
short paper read by request at the Horticultural Club to 
open a discussion. 
8. Sharpe's A T o. 1.—Fruit very large and early, of 
vinous flavour. 
Other kinds worth trial in this way are— 
9. Auguste Nieaise; 10. James Veitch ; 11. Black 
Prince; and 12. Jewel. 
Crescent Seedling produces its fruit all at one time, 
and was the earliest at Chiswick last year. With us 
in 1890, Jewel has the same characteristic, and both 
are pistillate American kinds, which require artificial 
fertilisation, or to be planted amongst others. 
Several fresh kinds are under trial, and though a 
prominent writer has lately ventured the remark that 
six kinds are about all that is required to keep up a 
supply, and that in the race for size and precocity, 
flavour has been lost, I maintain that although we 
may not be able to introduce varieties that are “ giants, ” 
and distinctly before older kinds (as took place in the 
past, when British Queen and Sir J. Paxton came out), 
still every small advance must be noted, and used as a 
stepping stone for future improvement, and I would 
place the limit at about twenty-five kinds for private 
gardens. 
I strongly recommend fresh beds to be made every 
year of the kinds named in this list of early Strawberries, 
as although Keen’s, Vicomtesse, King of Earlies, and 
Noble will succeed for two or three years, the fresh beds 
with young plants fruit about a week earlier—a very 
important point in extending the season. For garden 
work three years should be the utmost limit, unless 
beds are required to produce small fruit for preserving 
purposes .—George Barnyard, Maidstone Nurseries, June 
9th, 1890. 
---— 
Hotes on Uruits. 
--f-- 
Flavour of Hale’s Early Peach. 
I have forced this variety for over ten years, and have 
not found mealiness to be a characteristic of it. It 
mostly ripens off with a luscious, and at times, rather 
piquant flavour and with plenty of juice. We give it 
the first place among the earliest forced Peaches, both 
for flavour, colour, sizs and handsome shape, and have 
rooted out in its favour such kinds as Early Beatrice, 
Early Rivers, Early Louise, and, lastly, Alexandre, which 
latter variety, like Hale’s Early, is of American origin. 
Hale’s Early is a variety that swells off very rapidly 
after the stoning period is past, and requires careful 
handling during this and the ripening off stage, in 
regard to airing and watering, to have the fruit first 
class. A too close and moist atmosphere must be 
guarded against during the last stages of swelling off, 
but copious supplies of water must be given to the 
roots, short of stagnating the border. As soon as the 
colouring process commences, a thorough and last 
watering (while the tree is in fruit) should be given, 
and the border mulched to the depth of 3 ins. This 
last watering and mulching we find to be usually 
sufficient to carry the tree through till the last fruit is 
gathered ; at the same time a warm but drier and well- 
aired atmosphere must be maintained. In all pro¬ 
bability your correspondent, “ W. K.,” who asks for 
information about the flavour of Hale’s Early, kept too 
close an atmosphere, and, may be, a little too dry at the 
root through the last stages of swelling and ripening 
off of the fruit. 
We have never had so good a crop, and the fruit of 
so fine a quality, of the variety under notice as we have 
had this season, the fruits averaging from ozs. to 
8 ozs., and returning us 17s. per dozen in the open 
market in the last week of May and early part of June. 
Alexandra Noblesse is an excellent late, mid-season 
Peach, and is too late a variety for early forcing. I 
find it to do well for the latest houses. 
Is it the early variety Alexandre, before mentioned, 
that your correspondent refers to ? When we forced 
this kind it was, for earliness, slightly in advance of 
Hale’s Early, but inclined to be rather dry and woolly, 
and inferior in flavour as compared to the latter. 
Hale’s Early Peach is, however, not without its 
faults, and with us its two worst are the persistent 
dropping of its buds when forced, and the sun-scalding 
of the fruits when about two-thirds ripe. The former 
we have been able to reduce to a minimum by keeping 
the leaves hanging on the trees as long as possible, 
thereby preventing a too early maturation of the wood, 
and by annual or bi-annual (as the case demands) 
lifting and shortening back if necessary, and re-laying 
the tip end of the roots. The latter fault we have 
remedied by simply shading the glass through the 
hottest part of the day.— J. Kipling, Knebworth. 
ARDENING fJISCELlANY. 
—**■—■ n , 
The Late Mr. B. S. Williams. 
Much to my regret I was prevented from paying the 
last tribute of mourning regard to my old friend. On 
Thursday last I met at the Trentham Flower Show Mr. 
F. Sander, of St. Albans, who suggested that some¬ 
thing should be done to perpetuate our friend’s memory, 
and that it should take the form of a medal similar to 
the “Veitch Medal.” I quite agree with the sugges¬ 
tion, and shall be most happy to do all in my power to 
assist in carrying out this desirable object. Mr 
Williams always took a most lively interest in horti¬ 
cultural exhibitions, no one contributed more to 
their success, and no one was more highly esteemed 
amongst horticulturists of all grades. The main cause 
of this was his naturalness. There was nothing 
assumed, or to use a figure-of-speech in common use in 
the present day, he “put no side on.” In this respect 
1 think all of us may learn an important life-lesson, 
summed up in two words, “Be natural.” I am not 
wedded to the medal idea. The fund might be devoted 
to a Williams’ Memorial in connection with the 
Orphan Fund ; but this, of course, is a matter of detail 
which the trustees appointed would determine to the 
satisfaction of all concerned .—Bruce Findlay, Man¬ 
chester. 
Digitalis ambigua. 
The flowers of this species are nearly as large as those 
of our native Foxglove, but strikingly distinct. They 
are drooping, and produced in a long, one-sided 
raceme, light yellow, bearded at the mouth, and 
reticulated with pale brown. The stems are about 
2 ft. high on an average, and the plant is compact in 
habit, with ovate, strongly nerved or ribbed, dark 
green leaves, the radical ones being considerably 
elongated. Propagation is effected by means of seeds, 
as the rootstock increases very slowly. It well merits 
a place in the herbaceous border on account of its 
distinct appearance and large floovers, notwithstanding 
their pale colour. A plant may be seen at its best in 
the gardens of the Royal Horticultural Society at 
Chiswick. 
Lithospermum prostratum. 
The deep Gentian blue of this plant is very striking 
when seen in a mass. The prostrate habit of the 
slender, shrubby stems renders the plant a very 
suitable subject for a rockery; but even where it is 
grown we seldom see a plant sufficiently large to give a 
correct idea of its splendid appearance. In a small 
state it grows very slowly, and is liable to get parched 
up by the heat of the sun striking on the bare rocks or 
ground ; but after it forms a close mass the roots are 
completely protected, and when in flower forms a mass 
of the deepest blue, almost hiding the foliage. A 
rather cool, moist situation should be selected for it in 
districts especially where the rainfall is scanty. Pro¬ 
pagation can readily be effected by cuttings of the 
ripened wood inserted in pots of light, sandy soil, and 
placed under a hand-light or in a frame. 
Eckford’s Primrose-coloured Sweet Pea. 
When anybody describes a colour as being of a prim¬ 
rose hue, I immediately conjure up in my mind's 
eye banks and hedgerows of that dainty flower, and 
thereby get a clearly-defined idea of the shade spoken 
about; but I am sure it is a big stretch of imagination 
to call this new Sweet Pea primrose coloured. It is 
distinctly misleading, for it is only a creamy white or 
a sulphury white ; certainly not a yellow, nor what 
might by courtesy be called a shade of yellow. It is a 
good Sweet Pea, but whoever suggested the name, 
Primrose-coloured, has a good deal to answer for. I am 
a bit primrosy in my preferences, but I must draw the 
line somewhere. A primrose shade, or even a canary- 
yellow, may be evolved from this variety by-and-bye, 
but it is early days to call it primrose coloured. Try 
again, Mr. Eckford .—Saint Andrew. 
Lilium monadelphum Szovitzianum. 
The bold character of this Lily points to it as a subject 
highly deserving of more attention than it has hitherto 
received, except at the hands of the enthusiast. It 
differs from the type in the filaments being free to the 
base, while the perianth is more spread open. The 
stems vary from 3 ft. to 4 ft. in height or even more, 
