810 
THE GARDENING WORLD. 
August 23, 1890. 
The Amateurs’ Garden. 
SEASONABLE WORK in the GARDEN. 
Gloxinias and Achimenes. —The early batches 
are now past their be3t, and require removing from the 
show houses to a pit or frame, where they may com¬ 
plete their growth and mature their tubers. They 
must not be suddenly dried off by withholding water ; 
but the soil must be kept tolerably moist and the 
foliage syringed till the latter die down naturally. 
Water may then be sparingly given, and finally 
withheld. Ventilate freely at all times. 
Chrysanthemums.—Now that the crown buds 
are distinctly visible on many of the early kinds, great 
attention must be paid to watering. The pots are now 
well filled with roots, and great advantage would be 
derived by the plants by giving them occasional weak 
doses of liquid manure. A bag of soot plunged in the 
tank from which the plants are watered would also 
prove very beneficial. 
Show and Fancy Pelargoniums, — Preparations 
may be made for re-potting the late batches of these as 
soon as the cut-back shoots develop fresh buds. The 
roots may be shortened in order that they may go into 
smaller-sized pots than those in which the plants 
flowered. The fancy kinds are more delicate than the 
others, and should be potted with lighter soil, using 
more sand. 
Primulas and Cinerarias.—Young plants will 
be all the better for being kept slightly shaded till the 
days shorten and the light gets weaker. A frame with 
a northern aspect would be more suitable than one 
facing south, and the plants will grow all the more 
freely if they are stood on a bed of ashes. Shift them 
into larger sizes before the roots get pot-bound, other¬ 
wise the plants will be disposed to flower before they 
ought. 
Zonal Pelargoniums. — Plants intended for 
winter flowering should be potted sufficiently early in 
the season, so that the soil may be well permeated with 
roots before the approach of winter. If done late in 
the year, the plants then develop growth at the expense 
of flowers, simply because the wood made does not get 
properly ripened in winter. At present a position 
fully exposed to the sun is the best place for them. 
China Asters.—Those who have been provident 
enough to plant out some batches of approved varieties 
in the reserve garden will now find them useful to lift 
and pot up the best for conservatory decoration. If 
they have been well grown, a single plant will be quite 
sufficient for a 5-in. or o-in. pot; whereas, if the stock 
has been grown on in pots, several plants are generally 
needed to produce the desired effect when in bloom. 
Shade from strong sunshine for a day or two until the 
roots take kindly to the new soil. 
Celosias.—The late batches of these useful subjects 
will require careful attention to get them into good 
condition by autumn. The plants should receive their 
final potting without delay. Syringe on fine days, and 
close the pits early in the afternoon, so as to economise 
sun-heat as much as possible. A light but rich 
compost is most suitable to the requirements of this 
class of plants, including the Globe Amaranth (Gom- 
phrena globosa). 
Greenhouse Rhododendrons. — Should any 
plants require potting before spring it is better to do it 
now, so that the roots may become established in the 
fresh soil before winter. A very small shift is all that 
is necessary, or, indeed, permissible, particularly at this 
time of the year. Those plants that flowered in spring 
will now have completed their growth and set their 
buds for next year. Of course, by keeping the plants 
in sufficient heat, the flowers will expand long before 
spring, but those who cannot afford them the proper 
amount of heat in winter should study to keep their 
plants resting till the convenient season arrives. 
Vineries.—Whatever lifting it is intended to carry 
out this autumn should be done at once, so that roots 
may be developed in the fresh soil before the fall of the 
leaf. The terminal shoot may be allowed to ramble at 
will, so as to encourage root-action ; and the plants 
will also derive great advantage by an occasional good 
cleansing with clean water applied by means of the 
garden engine. 
Melons.—The fruits on late plants should be 
reduced to three or four, according to the vigour of the 
plants, retaining those that promise to be best. Syringe 
the plants twice a day during fine weather, and en¬ 
courage growth by closing early in the afternoon. The 
temperature may be allowed to run up to 90° with sun 
heat, and if it is likely to fall below 70" during the 
night, it will be necessary to prevent it by resorting to 
artificial heating. In pits or cold frames where no fire 
heat is used, comparatively little water will be required, 
as evaporation goes on more slowly at this period of the 
year. 
Cucumbers.—Preparations may now be made for 
planting a batch of seedlings to fruit in winter. 
Thoroughly cleanse and scrub every part of the house, 
so as to get rid of insect pests and other vermin. 
Warm water and soft soap should be used for washing 
the woodwork. Examine the drainage of the bed, and 
when put right, cover with a layer of turf placed 
grassy side downwards. Three parts of good light 
loam, one of peat, and some charcoal, if it can be 
obtained, will prove a suitable compost. Telegraph is 
the best variety for winter use. 
Mushrooms.—The present is a very suitable time 
for making up beds of Mushrooms. Rather fresh 
farm-yard manure should be obtained, the rough 
material taken out, and the rest shaken up into a heap 
to ferment. To each cubic yard of this material, one 
of loam should afterwards be incorporated. Make up 
the beds to a depth of 18 ins. or 20 ins., and when the 
temperature is about 90° the spawn may be planted 
and covered with 3 ins. or 4 ins. of soil. 
-- 
THE SPANISH CARDOON. 
This vegetable is comparatively little known in this 
country, although it has been largely used upon the 
Continent for a great many years. The method of 
propagation adopted is by seeds, which are sown where 
they are to be grown, and blanched, or, as is more 
usually the case, they are sown under glass and brought 
on much in the same way as Celery. The seedlings 
are afterwards planted in prepared trenches when the 
weather becomes suitably warm. This is the method 
adopted at Syon House, Brentford, where the Spanish 
variety, the most popular in this country, is that which 
is grown. Some forms grown on the Continent are 
inconveniently spiny, and make work amongst them 
difficult or disagreeable. On account of the great size 
the leaves attain, a distance of 2 ft. is required between 
each plant in the trenches. The leaves are earthed up 
much in the same way as Celery, in order to blanch 
the great fleshy stalks, which, when well finished and 
properly cooked, form an excellent dish by way of 
variety during the winter season. 
-— >X< --- 
KIDNEY BEANS AT SYON 
HOUSE. 
Several successional sowings have been made in the 
open border in the gardens at Syon House, Brentford, 
and the earliest that have been brought on without any 
artificial protection have now been in use for some time. 
A sowing of the variety knowrn as Syon House was 
made under hand-lights, and, of course, came into 
fruit very early. Those that were left for seed are now 
ripening a heavy crop. The pods are of moderate 
length, pale green, and more or less striped obliquely 
with pale brown. It is one of the best for forcing, and 
is largely used for that purpose, and owing to its fertile 
character is also suitable for a general crop. 
A number of kinds were sown on the 17th of April, 
and are now in full bearing. Mohawk is a fortnight 
earlier than any other variety, and bears heavily. The 
pods are rather broad and light green. A Certificate 
of Merit was awarded this variety at the Vegetable 
Conference at Chiswick last year. Negro Mammoth 
comes next in point of time for use. It is of robust 
habit, and produces pods of great length. Sir Joseph 
Paxton follows, and bears well. It is a variety of great 
merit and forces well. Ne Plus Ultra succeeds the latter 
in coming into use, but its dwarf compact habit and 
prolific nature is well known to everyone. When 
cooked it is delicate and excellent in flavour. On one 
occasion there was a trial of some 200 varieties of 
French Beans at Chiswick, and this was the only one that 
received a First Class Certificate. 
Canadian Wonder is another variety of great repute, 
and received an Award of Merit at the Vegetable 
Conference last year. A sowing of it was made here on 
the 22nd of May, and the fruits are just now coming 
into use. The soil being rich, the Beans have made a 
wonderfully vigorous growth, the stems being about 
18 ins. high, and look as if they would continue to 
bear fruit for a long time to come. It is useful for a 
main crop on account of its prolific nature and the 
size of the pods. 
JUDGING POTATOS. 
It was a novel, unusual, and instructive sight, and not 
without its comic aspects also, to see the judges of 
vegetables at the recent Taunton exhibition, cutting 
through one each of the tubers in the several dishes of 
Potatos, to which they had to make awards. In the 
open class there was one for six dishes, and also classes 
for the best white and coloured Kidneys, and the best 
white and coloured Rounds, and much the same classes 
were found in the cottagers’ division. Twelve tubers 
were required to form a dish, and the judges cut one 
tuber in each dish right through the middle, and if 
there was a sign of hollowness, or a stain of any'kind, 
that particular dish was rejected. If the Potato cut 
was sound and clear, that dish was taken into eon- 
sideration. Whereat I wondered with an exceeding 
great wonderment ; and being in the west of England 
I thought after all it was likely to be found true that 
in regard to horticultural matters at least, the farther 
one goes west the more it seems to be certain the 
wise men came from the east. I perceived a great 
want of the logic of common sense in the practice of 
cutting only one tuber out of twelve, and that if it is 
necessary to cut tubers at all everyone without excep¬ 
tion should be cut, because it is obvious that if the 
first tuber in A’s twelve was sound, and the same in 
B’s twelve unsound, the second tuber in each might 
display the very opposite results, and so the whole 
should be gone through if this kind of test is a reason¬ 
able one. But fancy, what a wanton waste of good 
material of a useful character to cut into halves every 
tuber forming a dish of twelve ! 
Now I am sometimes called upon to judge Potatos, 
and I regard them from the point of view of symmetry 
of form, fidelity to the character of the type, cleanliness, 
brightness, evenness—all in combination with size, so 
long as the latter does not degenerate into coarseness. 
These characteristics, if present in the most approved 
form, not only evidence good cultivation, but in a large 
majority of cases a good variety of Potato. Any flaw 
in the middle of a Potato is the result of some accident 
over which the cultivator cannot possibly exercise any 
control. It is the work of Mother Nature, hindered in 
some one of her many processes in building up fibre 
and tissue in the vegetable kingdom. For all defects 
on the exterior of a Potato that lowers its value as an 
exhibition tuber, I hold the cultivator largely respon¬ 
sible, and the judges do rightly in putting a lower 
value on anything they deem imperfect as compared 
with those which are perfect. I think, therefore, the 
barbarous and useless practice of cutting Potatos by 
judges should be abolished. 
I have known judges do other strange things. I 
have seen fine dishes of kidney Potatos put behind the 
Ashleaf Kidney, on the ground that the latter is of such 
acknowledged fine quality as to be absolutely superior 
to everything else, which is begging the question with 
a vengeance. I have seen judges reject all yellow- 
fleshed Potatos, on the ground that the flesh of a good 
Potato should be white and not yellow. I have known 
them reject all purple-skinned varieties, however fine 
their quality, on the ground that white-skinned ones 
are superior to those with coloured skins ; and finally, 
I have seen parti-coloured Potatos, like Blanchard, 
Radstock Beauty, Beauty of Hebron, and others, ruled 
out of the competition on the ground that they are 
neither white nor coloured varieties! Such fearful and 
wonderful and irritating acts do judges sometimes 
perform in the execution of their duties as censors.— 
LOMARIA FLUVIATILIS. 
A very distinct dark olive-green and leathery-leaved 
species is that here named. It is a native of New 
Zealand, and succeeds in a greenhouse temperature. 
The barren leaves are linear, spreading, with pinnate 
fronds about 1 ft. in length in average size plants ; but 
in strong-growing large specimens they attain a length 
of 18 ins., and 2 ins. in width. The pinnse are oblong, 
blunt, very numerous, and rather closely arranged, 
especially towards the apex of the frond. The midrib 
and that of the pinme are covered with small black 
scales, which give the frond a very characteristic 
appearance. The fertile fronds are more erect, with 
linear segments, as in many other species. The general 
appearance then of this species is quite different from that 
of most others usually met with in hot-houses, and is 
not only distinct, but pretty. It may be seen in the 
nursery of Messrs. B. S. Williams & Son, at Upper 
Holloway. 
