Oct. 18th, 1884. 
THE GARDENING WORLD, 
99 
“ Gardening is the purest of human pleasures, and the greatest 
refreshment to the spirit of man.”—B acon. 
Ikrkraitg iStorlfr, 
SATURDAY, OCTOBER 18 th, 1884. 
The Cheysanthemuh Season. —The fall of 
the leaf, a change now so sadly apparent in the 
face of nature, reminds us that the Chrysanthe¬ 
mum season is close at hand. Not hut that the 
real season of our Queen of Autumn flowers now 
begins very early and ends only in the new year, 
and is, therefore, a long one. Still the real 
season—the gay time when the Chrysanthemum 
may be said to hold its court, is a short one, and is 
compressed into but two or three weeks. The 
ball will open with the first week in the coming 
month somewhat quietly, but during the succeed¬ 
ing week it will become exceedingly lively, and 
will die off with gentleness about the close of the 
third week in the month of November. Thus to 
growers, judges, visitors, and not least, to the 
horticultural press, the show season, if short, is 
a busy one, and it is difficult to compress into the 
limited time at disposal all that we would like 
to accomplish. Our confreres of the gardening 
papers, in their anxiety to serve all alike, run 
hither and thither, gleaning reports here and 
there, all, alas! too much alike to become very 
interesting reading; and all has to be centred 
into so short a time and into space so limited that 
doing justice to all is a physical impossibility. 
Would that some of the floral charms which 
gladden our eyes in November so abundantly 
could be carried over into the following month! 
A show of Chrysanthemums with other decorative 
plants about the middle of December would 
indeed be a novelty, but one so desirable that 
it is to be regretted no encouragement has ever 
been given to growers to cultivate specially for 
late flowers. We pay a heavy penalty in that 
respect for the pleasure of seeing monster blooms 
by the hundred, just for a week or two in what is 
called the Chrysanthemum season. 
Obnamental Gotteds. —It is not intended to 
present an invidious comparison if we say that in 
the family of Cucurbitaceaj Gourds play the part 
of drones, for they are big, showy, very absorbent 
of goodfood, and yet after all are useless. Yet they 
find their admirers just as many another useless 
thing in common life finds admirers, simply 
because it is big and pretentious, plays perhaps a 
showy pompous part, and there its existence ends. 
How many an one is there who has produced a 
gigantic Pumpkin, so big as perhaps to excite 
the wonder and admiration of bumpkins, and to 
outvie the famous big Gooseberry in local interest, 
that has not presently come to regard this vege¬ 
table monstrosity as a species of white elephant 
or old man of the sea, for its existence after the 
wonder of neighbours is exhausted is apt to cause 
the grower to think that the fame attached to the 
production of a mammoth Pumpkin is of a dubious 
and transitory kind, and that he is but little 
better than a fool for his pains. Some small 
solace may be afforded when he learns that 
Pumpkin makes a very nice substitute for Apples 
in the family pies, just as Mangel Wurzel in 
seasons of scarcity may make excellent jam, but 
a powerful imagination is needed notwithstanding 
to make the palate a willing partner in the little 
deception that is being practised. We fear that 
after all the Pumpkin has little to recommend it 
beyond its common monstrosity of character. 
Many an one who has gazed with exceeding pride 
and anticipation upon the gradually increasing 
monster has finally concluded that one small 
but succulent Marrow would give more satis¬ 
faction. But all Gourds are not big Pumpkins, 
though all Pumpkins are Gourds. There are many 
of curious and interesting shape, some indeed 
are very handsome, but still few are worthily 
edible. The Turk’s Cap is cirriously coloured 
and varigated ; the Orange is the very personifi¬ 
cation of an Orange, but is rather larger and 
worthless. Some are bottle-shaped, others pear 
or egg-shaped, others warted all over and the 
variety is remarkable. How few gardeners after 
all grow Gourds, they do not care to bother with 
■what is so worthless, but they will cultivate the 
best varieties of the Marrow and produce great 
quantities of those each summer, for the obvious 
reason that the fruits are pleasant eating, and as 
a vegetable are almost universally appreciated. 
We may be told that Marrows are Gourds also, 
and that much we admit, but they are not so 
regarded or classified in common nomenclature. 
The term Gourd seems to be applied almost 
exclusively to all those huge fruited or otherwise 
curious or ornamental kinds that are not esteemed 
edible. The term Marrow or perhaps Vegetable 
Marrow seems to have been adopted almost as 
generally for that particular branch of the 
Gourd family, which we cultivate exclusively for 
edible purposes, and thus custom has drawn a 
distinctive line that is clear and expressive. 
Across the Atlantic, from whence so many of 
these big Gourds have come to us, the familiar 
term applied to them is Squash. It is to our 
ears far from being pleasant or expressive, even 
Pumpkin is better than that. The Ohio Squash, 
a huge round variety, is in its early stage pleasant 
eating, though perhaps to most English tastes a 
little too strong-flavoured. 
Late Peaches. —As compared with a respect¬ 
able Pear how stands the merits of an October 
Peach? This question’is worth asking, because 
in not a few gardens Salway and other of the 
very late Peaches are still grown, and it would 
be interesting to learn how far as compared with 
any decent ripe Pears such Peaches were 
appreciated. It must be admitted that it is a 
great “ come down ” from a Eoyal George or a 
Gros Mignonne to a Salway, and it is worth while 
asking whether it is desirable to injure the repu¬ 
tation of one of our grandest and most luscious of 
wall fruits by offering as dessert such parodies as 
October Peaches present. The real fact is that 
there are few fruits which need ample light and 
warmth to ripen them fully so much as Peaches, 
and those conditions cannot be had in October, 
simply because the light and sunshine of summer 
has passed away. Whether even so good a late 
Peach as the Salway—for it is as good as can be 
looked for in its season,—would be much the 
better were it 'artificially ripened in August, is 
doubtful; but then it may be that were some 
of the best early autumnal kinds such as 
those named above to be retarded so as to 
ripen in October’, we should find very much 
better fruit than the Salway can give. It is 
somewhat instructive to find that whilst human 
ingenuity has been so largely diverted to the 
acceleration of growth in plants, by forcing, and 
even to the application of electricity for that 
purpose, nothing seems to have been done to 
ensure retardation beyond what an ordinary cool 
house or the north side of a wall will ensure. 
But science has constructed such mechanical 
appliances in the form of cold rooms and 
refrigerators that almost any amount of cold may 
be maintained, What would be the result weto 
a greenhouse in a north aspect erected, the 
temperature of which could be maintained by 
mechanical appliances to about freezing point 
even during the summer, and in which plants 
might be kept in a state of rest for weeks and 
even months beyond their natural time ? If such 
a house were practicable, we might have high- 
class Peaches in pots so retarded that the fruit 
would ripen under glass in October instead of 
in July, and thus ensure a lengthened season with 
the finest and best fruits. 
Outdooe Gbapes. —Although we cannot say 
with the poet Longfellow, that now has returned 
the old Salernian reign of warmth and fruit¬ 
fulness ; at least we have had a summer such as 
the oldest inhabitant cannot recall the equal of, 
for ripening Grapes in the open-air. If in many 
localities the resulting crops are not so good as 
might have been looked for, the lack is to be 
accounted for solely by want of thorough ripening 
of the wood of the vines last autumn, or else in 
the exceeding drought at the roots this year. 
One most remarkable feature found in relation 
to outdoor vines is the apparent entire absence 
of mildew, and that is the more remarkable 
inasmuch as we have not infrequently associated 
that pest with dryness of soil. After the present 
season’s experience, we may now assume that 
cold, especially cold draughts of air, are the chief 
elements in producing mildew in the open-air, 
whilst heat, and especially such continuous heat 
as we have had this season, serves to hold it in 
check. Perhaps if we could have a series of 
hot summers, the vine mildew might presently 
be exterminated. Whilst outdoor vines have 
well-ripened fruit this year, they have also 
wonderfully well-ripened their wood. We have 
seen the season’s growth on a good aspect, 
ripened grandly, indeed, equal in colour and 
hardness to the best wood in any vinery. 
Farther, we have seen such bond fide house 
Grapes, as Frankenthal and Madresfield Court, 
very finely ripened on a south wall, and scarcely 
troubled by flies and wasps, which prove, as a 
rule, sadly destructive to Grapes when they can 
get at them. For that reason, it is always well 
when outdoor Grapes are really good, to protect 
them with some very thin cotton netting, lest 
the season’s produce be spoiled. 
-- 
Aheeican Potatos. —It is interesting to note 
that very few novelties in Potatos are now being 
introduced to this country from America. It 
cannot be clearly assured whether this com¬ 
parative decadence of popularity for strangers 
that once were the rage and were purchased 
rashly at fabulous prices, is due so much to 
lack of quality on the one hand, as to the 
greater popularity of home-raised kinds on the 
other; but it is certain that for one new 
American sort put into commerce here at least 
half a dozen English or Scotch-raised kinds are 
offered and the more readily purchased. It is 
worthy of remark in connection with this con¬ 
sideration that we never-find any new Potato 
coming to us from Ireland, although there can 
be no doubt but that new forms must be raised 
there. Perhaps raisers are very far in the 
background in respect of quality. In any case 
an Irish kind on an English show-table is a 
rarity. We hope our compatriots of the Emerald 
Isle will not regard that as evidence of the 
common hatred by the Saxon for everything 
Celtic. We should think genuine Irish patriots 
might do their beloved country good service by 
introducing into it for common cultivation many 
of our best Potatos. If we do not now introduce 
American novelties in Potatos, at least we have 
not been slow in the past to utilize the more 
desirable features of that strain by employing 
