820 
THE GARDENING WORLD. 
August 30, 1890. 
Failing some such remedy, there seems to be 
no other course open but to forego the culti¬ 
vation of good Hollyhocks altogether, and take 
to hardy plants which have no fungoid enemies. 
‘TDeas for Seed. —Whilst we have had a very 
•r good Green Pea season, there seems some 
doubt as to the excellence of the seed harvest. 
So far we have had such frequent rain-storms, 
that it has been impossible to keep the haulm 
dry, and the pods hard. Specially has this 
been the case with wrinkled marrows, which, 
re-swollen up by the excessive moisture, have 
burst the shells, and fallen out largely. The 
trouble of harvesting has been greatly compli¬ 
cated by the excessive moisture, keeping the 
haulm longer than usual cropping, and thus 
compelling growers to leave the bine on the 
ground later than usual; also by the astonishing 
weed-growth, which everywhere has almost 
hidden the Peas from view. 
It is not so easy to harvest Peas as hay or 
corn is, by putting them into cocks or stacks to 
dry. The less turning they have the better, and 
yet it is needful that some frequent turnings 
be given, to prevent the lower side of the 
haulm from rotting, and the earlier-ripened 
pods bursting. Those who grow Peas in 
gardens on stakes, know little or nothing of the 
trouble involved in the harvesting of seed Peas, 
especially of the choicer varieties. Apart from 
the waste incidental to shedding, there is a 
great probability that when threshed out the 
yield will show much discolouration, as well as 
much split seed. 
All this has to be carefully removed by 
hand during the winter, for no kind of 
machinery can be made which will assort sound 
and discoloured Peas, and because of the cost 
incidental to all this careful assorting, it is not 
surprising the wrinkled Peas seem to be 
to some persons rather costly. AVe have some¬ 
times model Pea seasons, but these, like good 
fruit years, are indeed few and of late have 
been especially so. 
t j|>UNNER Beans.- —A season which has given 
"*«< an abundance of Peas, can hardly be other 
than productive of Runner Beans. A market 
gardener who grows Beans largely, mentioned 
a few days since that this most estimable 
of market vegetables sold freely at Is. 6 d. per 
bushel, a truly wretched return, when it is 
known that gathering done costs 6 cl. per 
bushel. It is not at all a matter for surprise 
that such should be the case, when it is 
remembered that around London hundreds of 
acres of land are devoted to Runner Bean 
production, and that the crop is consequently 
a most enormous one. 
Further, Beans come in at a time when the 
metropolis is largely denuded of its vegetable 
consumers, for, after all, the chief demand for 
these products seems to come rather from the 
mansions, hotels, and clubs, than from the 
homes of the poor. Certainly if these latter 
make demands for vegetables largely, it is 
through the small dealer and cottager, who 
pay only the lowest price possible to the grower. 
The present varieties of the Runner, white 
and scarlet, seem to satisfy market growers 
very well. Had they even more prolific 
varieties, were it possible to have such, the 
present evil would only be intensified. AVhen 
everything is paid for consequent upon growing 
and marketing Runner Beans, it seems 
impossible that anything can be left for the 
unfortunate grower, and yet it is a crop which 
for the keeping up of his trade connection 
cannot be dispensed with. Very early 
gatherings pay better, but those only for a week 
or so, then comes the glut, and down the prices 
fall at once. Just now good Potatos are selling 
at 60s. and 50s. per ton, truly astonishing 
prices during a season assumedly one of severe 
disease ; and whilst the crops in Ireland seem 
to be almost destroyed, our case with almost 
too great abundance of good vegetables, seems 
to compare almost distressingly with the nee Is 
of the Irish peasantry. 
Gardening Engagement.— Mr. H. Kent, for the 
last two years general foreman at Iwerne Minster, as 
gardener to Lady Webster, Hildon House, Stockbridge, 
Hants. Mr. Robert Johnstone, from the Tweed Vine¬ 
yard, Clovenfords, as gardener to Lawrence Pullar, 
Esq., The Lea, Bridge of Allan, N.B. 
The Potato Disease.—Mr. Kingston, writing from 
Brantingham Thorpe, Brough, East Yorkshire, on 
August 25th, remarks that since he last wrote, the 
disease has made rapid progress in that district, attack¬ 
ing the late as well as the early kinds. The thermometer 
is low during the nights, yesterday morning registering 
34°, and this Monday morning 36°. 
Plants Certificated at Ghent.—At the last meeting 
of the Belgian Chamber of Horticulture, held in Ghent 
on the 11th inst., Certificates of Merit were awarded 
by the jury to Madame la Marquise de AVarrin for 
Laelia majalis ; to Messrs. Vervset & Co., for Cattleya 
gigas variety, and Aerides crassifolia variety ; to M. 
De Langhe for Anthurium Leeraar De Beucker ; to 
Mr. Schmitz for Mina lobata ; and to Mr. Baumann 
for Lilium auratum rubro-vittatum. 
A Grove of Friendship.—On the occasion of the 
annual excursion of the members of the Royal Scottish 
Arboricultural Society, which lately took place in Ross- 
shire, the party visited the estate of Brahan, the 
ancestral seat of the Mackenzie clan, whose present 
chief is Major Mackenzie, of Seaforth. The estate is 
finely wooded, both with hardwood and Conifers, and 
it appears that a very interesting part of the wood near 
the mansion is known as “The Grove of Friendship,” 
having been planted by friends of the Seaforth family. 
The grove comprises many of the newer ornamental 
Conifers, among which examples of Picea Nordman- 
niana, Abies Douglasi, A. Albertiana, and AVellingtonia 
gigantea attracted the most attention. 
Mending Nature.—Exhibitors at flower shows some¬ 
times attempt fearful and wonderful things by way of 
furnishing some feature that nature in the hurry of 
business forgot to add, or in remedying some defect in 
the construction of a blossom neglected to be supplied 
possibly through oversight. Thus, at the recent 
exhibition of the Cardiff Horticultural Society, one 
exhibitor staged a bouquet, and in the place of the 
usual stamens and anthers of a bloom of Lilium 
auratum was discovered a marvellous development—the 
protrusion of a twisted horn-like spathe. It was con¬ 
cluded to be a new hybrid of boundless value, but a 
closer examination led to the discovery that the 
exhibitor had taken the pale-coloured [spadix from a 
bloom of Anthurium Scherzerianum, and by means of 
a piece of fine wire had placed it in the centre of his 
Lily flower 1 Costa Rica and Japan had thus combined 
and produced such a hybrid as was never known before. 
In this way nature was mended at Cardiff, to the great 
amusement of the judges. How to fill up the gulf in 
the centre of his Lily bloom was the problem presented 
to the mind of the exhibitor, and it was accomplished 
by means of a thoroughly original expedient. 
Gardening and Fruit-growing in Ireland.—Mr. 
AV. H. Hall, Six Mile Bottom, near Newmarket, writes 
to The Daily News of the 19th inst. :—“As the out¬ 
come of a tour of agricultural inspection of Ireland in 
May, 1883, I published a pamphlet entitled ‘Gleanings 
in Ireland after the Land Acts.’ In that publication 
I drew attention to the lamentable short-sightedness of 
the Irish in trusting for their main subsistence to so 
precarious a crop as the Potato. Subsequently, in 
September, 1888, I addressed the letter of which I 
enclose a copy to the Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland, 
urging the importance of teaching the principles of 
gardening and fruit-growing in connection with ele¬ 
mentary schools in Ireland. As the Irish Government 
displayed no other concern in the matter than a limited 
amount of benevolent neutrality, I took the matter into 
my own hands. I proceeded to advertise in the Cork 
city and county journals, without distinction of politics, 
that any teacher within the eight poorest unions in the 
county could, on application to me by letter stating 
that he had a suitable plot of ground, be furnished 
gratis with a dozen Apple trees and a few other plants. 
In answer to this appeal, in the course of last autumn 
I received about 130 applications, of which I granted 
about 90, and have received many warm letters of 
thanks. As my offer was not confined to teachers— 
although I aimed at them mainly—stationmasters, 
coastguardsmen, sisters of mercy, constables, dispensary 
doctors, &e., were included in the recipients of my 
gifts. But not one single P.P. or C.C. has come 
forward to apply on behalf of their parishioners, or to 
give me any help or encouragement. That my work is 
absolutely unsectarian is proved by the lines on which 
I intend to work in future, which are these : Instead of 
making any more gifts, I offer to sell fruit trees at one- 
half of cost price—viz., about 6 d. apiece—and to devote 
the proceeds of sale to local charities, in the proportion 
of ■ three-fourths to Roman Catholics and a fourth to 
Protestants.” 
-►>**•- 
THE CITY FRUIT SHOW. 
AVe have been favoured by the Fruiterers’ Company 
with a copy of the schedule of prizes offered for com¬ 
petition at an exhibition to be held in the Guildhall 
on the 6th, 7th, and 8th of October, with the object of 
promoting the extended and improved culture of useful 
fruit in the homesteads and cottage gardens in the 
United Kingdom. The prize list is divided into nine 
sections, and for the first three, viz., I. open to 
cottagers only (five classes for Apples, and other hardy 
fruits and Nuts, and one for Tomatos ; II. open to 
tenant farmers only (three classes for Apples, one for 
Pears, and one for other hardy fruits and Nuts) ; and 
III. open to amateurs and gardeners only (three classes 
for Apples, three for Pears, and one for six dishes of 
any other hardy fruit), England and AVales are divided 
into three zones—(1) northern (2), south-western, and 
(3) south-eastern, and prizes will be awarded in each 
section to exhibits from each zone. 
Section IV. is open only to nurserymen and trade 
growers in the United Kingdom (one class for a collec¬ 
tion of hardy fruits) ; section A r . is for amateurs and 
gardeners only in the United Kingdom (two classes for 
Grapes and one for Tomatos) ; section AH., open to the 
same class of exhibitors (one class for fifty dishes, 
thirty Apples and twenty Pears) ; section A T II., open to 
amateurs and gardeners (one class for twelve dishes or 
less of hardy fruits); section VIII., jams and preserves— 
traders and manufacturers—and section IX. for home¬ 
made jams and preserves of British-grown fruit only 
(four classes). 
Applications for schedules should be made to the 
Clerk of the Company, Mr. O. C. T. Eagleton, 
40, Chancery Lane, London, AV.C. 
- »X< -- 
ONIONS. 
In some places the crop has already been pulled to 
ripen off ; but a summer which has been characterised 
by coolness rather than otherwise, and a considerable 
amount of rain, has had the effect of keeping the 
Onions growing. With a moderately dry autumn, 
however, good, sound-keeping crops may yet be ripened 
off. There is generally a strong desire on the part of 
growers to obtain bulbs of large size; but however fine 
they may appear on the exhibition table, the fact 
remains that moderate-sized, plump, heavy and firm 
Onions always keep best. 
A large number of kinds are now on trial in the 
Chiswick trial grounds of Messrs. J. Veitch & Sons, of 
Chelsea, and all of the undermentioned kinds we noted 
there. The old Blood Red forms bulbs of medium size 
of a dark blood-red colour, and strong in flavour. The 
Giant Blood-Red Zittau is larger and somewhat paler 
in colour. One of the best keeping Onions is Bedford¬ 
shire Champion, a broad, rather flattened, pale straw- 
coloured variety with green veins. It keeps well, and 
is one of the best for a main crop. The AAYoxton is a 
new kind, with large, flattened, straw-coloured bulbs. 
The Brown Globe, on the contrary, is a deep Onion, 
tapering somewhat to a point. It is of a pale brownish 
red colour, at least while still growing. It is a very 
useful kind, as it keeps for a long time in good con¬ 
dition. Cranston’s Excelsior is a conical Onion, with 
a yellowish skin and green veins, and is a vigorous 
strong-growing kind. 
A r ery similar to the last in the growing state is Cocoa 
Nut, a new Onion that attains an enormous size under 
favourable cultural conditions. Royal Jubilee is also 
quite new. The skin at present is straw-coloured, with 
green veins, and the large bulb is both broad and deep. 
An early-ripening variety is Rousham Park Hero, with 
rather flattened, medium-sized bulbs of a straw-yellow 
colour, with green veins. It seldom produces any 
stout necks. On the contrary, The Lord Keeper is a 
large deep Onion, with dark green veins. The foliage 
is very vigorous, and very much inclined to produce 
stout necks, which may, however, disappear to a great 
extent as it ripens off. Like all the others, it was sown 
in the latter end of March, and is no doubt a late 
variety. The Southport White Globe is a new variety, 
and as early as Rousham Park Hero. The tops were 
falling down when we saw them early in this month. 
