Dec. 6th, 1884. 
THE GARDENING WORLD. 
211 
“ Gardening is the purest of human pleasures, and the greatest 
refreshment to the spirit of man.”—B acon. 
Cljf iitrkntng lEorlir. 
SATURDAY, DECEMBER 6th, 1884 . 
Autumn versus Spring Exhibitions. —There 
is no doubt but that Autumn Exhibitions find 
much more favour among lovers of flowers than 
Spring Shows. Anyone who has attended the 
leading Exhibitions of Chrysanthemums held in 
and around London during the past three weeks 
could not but be struck with the large numbers 
of persons attending them; and taking, to all 
appearance, a great interest in the popular 
autumn flower. In the provinces, as in London, 
crowds have been drawn to see the Chrysanthe¬ 
mums, and Chrysanthemum Societies have had, 
on the whole, a very good time of it. Now one 
would suppose that by the time we had reached 
the end of September, the flower-loving public 
would have somewhat tired of soft and brilliant 
blossoms, and would be inclined to say, Hold, 
Enough ! The reverse appears to hold good, and 
especially so when there has been an unbroken 
continuity in the flowers of the garden from the 
Crocuses and Wallflowers of March right on to 
Dahlias and Chrysanthemums in November. Is 
it because the lover of flowers looks with some¬ 
thing akin to abhorrence to the probability of 
the arrival of the time when the hostile influences 
of autumn weather—snow, frost, wind and rain— 
will destroy what remains of floral beauty, and 
they cleave to it with obstinate regard? On the 
other hand we have seen Flower Shows held in 
March, aglow with vernal beauty, full of un¬ 
common representatives of spring flowers, but 
yet, for some reason, sparsely attended. One 
would imagine that at the termination of the 
long parentheses of comparative inaction coming 
between the autumn and winter, when there is an 
almost entire absence of any indication of floral 
life in wood, field, or road-side, those who love 
flowers for their own sakes would gladly welcome 
some opportunity of looking upon the fair flowers 
of the earth, and giving them a hearty welcome 
on their re-appearance once more. But it is not 
so, and it will be noticed that there are very few 
Spring Shows, as compared with Autumn Exhibi¬ 
tions. We have attended not a few, and have in 
most cases to deplore a paucity of visitors. It may 
be there is something like a fashionable rage for 
the Chrysanthemum just now. We have no 
spring flower to compare with it as a speciality. 
A collection of good varieties can be obtained at 
a comparatively small cost, and it is within the 
compass of almost any gardener to grow them 
successfully. We have no spring flower we can 
compare with it in these respects ; and probably 
this is a main reason why Autumn Shows of 
Chrysanthemums are preferred to Spring Exhi¬ 
bitions of hardy and forced flowers. 
Apple, King of the Pi ppins.—I t is exceeding 
amusing to find this popular dessert Apple plan 
at the very top of the selected kinds througho 
the kingdom as shown in Mr. Barron’s Apj 
Congress Eeport, whilst we read in a contei 
porary a contemptuous allusion to the Apple, ai 
to those who have thus given it their suffrag( 
It might have been thought that when a kb 
Which had been so widely admitted to be 
good was thus honoured, it may well have been 
saved from contemptuous reference by some one 
■who could hardly be an Apple cultivator. Tho 
universal admission of the merits of King of the 
Pippins shows that it must have many good 
points, and although it is not in the front rank 
in all soils for quality, yet it is excellent when 
well-grown, as is testified by its popularity in the 
London market. But the King is a very free and 
regular cropper. It produces a handsome even 
sample, which always sells well. Then it is a 
good keeper also. The tree is never coarse in 
growth, and is probably of all dessert kinds 
the most fruitful. These are points which no 
doubt have been duly considered by those who 
have given it their votes, and thus placed it in a 
position of such proud eminence. The chief 
defect of the kind is found in the occasional 
tendency of the roots to suffer from severe 
frosts; but that is a very occasional result and 
chiefly follows when the preceding summer has 
been cold and wet. 
Orciiaed Conversion. —A striking instance 
of the diverse value set upon land in market 
garden districts and in purely agricultural 
districts has just come under our notice. In 
the latter districts we know too well just now 
that once a piece of land becomes foul, or goes 
to the bad, it is hardly thought worthy of 
recovery, whilst plenty of clean land may be had 
almost for the asking. In a market garden 
district, however, there is always much anxiety 
to obtain any orchards or fields that may become 
tenantless, even though the soil be foul, and for 
years may have been grossly neglected. In the 
particular instance to which we refer, what was 
once a good market orchard got literally into 
Chancery, and very soon into a terrible condition 
of neglect and decay. The soil became foul 
with Convolvulus, Couch-grass, and other weeds; 
the trees stunted and wretched ; the bushes 
starved and worthless. Yet the moment legal 
matters are so far arranged that at length the 
rightful owner takes possession, a neighbouring 
market gardener becomes the tenant of the 
neglected orchard for a term of years, he sets a 
large number of men to work grubbing out the 
bushes, he prunes the trees, and finally trenches 
the whole of the soil, several acres in extent; 
burying the grass and weeds well below the surface, 
and adding presently a coating of manure, will 
plant Wall Flowers and other things, the which 
will admit of the hoe being kept freely employed 
on the surface all through the summer. After 
that the ground will be clean and fit for any 
purpose. Thus employed for market garden 
purposes, this neglected land will return a rental 
of from £4 to £5 per acre. In a farm district 
the land would probably remain a desert till 
doomsday. 
--Hh- 
Horticultural Buildings. —It is a vicious 
practice to associate architectural fancies with 
erections intended for the growth of plants. It 
is always found that just as designers depart 
from the one great need in plant-houses, the 
securing of the greatest possible amount of glass 
surface with a minimum of opaque obstruction 
to light, just so will these houses prove unfit 
for the growth of plants or fruits. Any kind of 
erection that is intended to combine a maximum 
of architectural designing with a minimum of 
transparency, will inevitably prove for its special 
purpose a failure. Curiously enough, too, archi¬ 
tects’ greenhouses or conservatories are seldom 
elegant. They are mostly laboured or heavy in 
form and almost invariably displeasing. The 
simplest plant structures, even if erected by the 
crudest builders, seldom shock our tastes, simply 
because glass-houses must ever possess an element 
©£ lightness and almost of grace to which other 
buildings composed of heavy and opaque materials 
cannot aspire. We find in all our market plant 
growing establishments, and indeed most plant 
nurseries, where plants are grown and produced 
in vast quantities, and in singular perfection, 
that the houses in which they are grown are 
severely simple and light. As much glass as 
possible, and as little wood, with an entire 
absence of external decorative effect. It matters 
not indeed whether the structures be required for 
the production of Grapes, Peaches, or other fruits, 
of Palms, Ferns, Orchids, or any kind of flowering 
stuff in common use, the experience still is tho 
same, that simple light houses are the best. 
Architectural houses look well from the designer’s 
point of view, on paper; but from a cultural 
point of view they are assuredly failures. 
Look to the Fires. —One of the most impor¬ 
tant things requiring attention in connection with 
plant-houses at this season of the year is the 
stoking. So much, indeed, depends upon the 
management of the fires that all young gardeners 
should endeavour to make themselves thoroughly 
acquainted with everything in connection with 
the heating apparatus. We are much afraid that 
this is not generally the case, for it is very diffi¬ 
cult to find young men who have any idea of 
stoking with economy and efficiency. To make 
the most of the heating power of any boiler the 
flues must be kept thoroughly clean, be cleaned 
out, in fact, at least once a week. The next thing 
is to see that the ash-pit is cleaned out every 
morning, not merely in front, but from end to 
end, for, if not properly cleaned out at the 
extreme end, the fire will become choked where 
it is most difficult to bring the stoking-iron into 
effect, and will prevent the stoker from ever 
getting a really clear fire. It is a great mistake 
also to be constant^ stirring a fire up and putting 
on small quantities of fuel. According to our 
experience it is much better, when the clinkers 
have been removed, to well fill the furnace with 
fuel and to leave full draught on until the fire 
has burned up quite bright, when the ash-pit 
door should be quite closed and the damper 
be pushed in. This will confine the heat and pre¬ 
vent rapid combustion. 
-->£<- 
Shrub Planting.— Mr. Temple writes from 
Carron House, Falkirk:—It is surprising how 
well certain plants will grow under, apparently, 
the most unfavourable circumstances. While 
extensively engaged in planting shrubs last 
season, we had a variety of positions, and a still 
greater variety of soils to deal with, but one site 
in particular seemed to be a very unlikely spot 
to get shrubs to grow on. Formerly this was a 
large hole which had been filled with brick-bats, 
ashes, and plaster rubbish, and to break up this 
solid bottom seemed almost impossible, and we 
thought conifers in variety, and deciduous trees 
and shrubs most unlikely subjects to thrive in such 
a position. The surface was, however, well 
broken up, a thin layer of road-scrapings and 
other soil was placed on the top, and on this the 
plants were set. The roots were well covered 
with good soil, over which was laid a good 
mulching of rotted manure, and then a surfacing 
of soil from roadsides. One watering was given, 
but a good one, after which we had nearly two 
months’ (May and June) without rain. The 
result was that there were no deaths, but instead 
an unusually vigorous growth. When lately 
removing some Hollies from this space, we found 
the roots matted upwards in the manure. 
Bed-spotted Potatos. — On examining the 
Potatos earthed upon the Jensenian plan at 
Chiswick, many tubers were found to be spotted 
Internally with reddish brewn, no symptom of the 
