292 
THE GARDENING WORLD 
Jan. 10th, 1885. 
and useful newspaper articles or paragraphs, and 
therefore lacking a dignified style, fall readily 
into the dirt which they fling about with no 
measured hand. Why they should he thus 
permitted to sully the fair pages of garden 
teaching and to discredit honest journalism, is 
something we in common with many others fail 
to understand ; but in the interests of journalism 
and gardening, it is to be hoped that these moral 
mudlarks may be quickly cast overboard, and 
that respectable and intelligent gardeners may no 
longer have to blush with shame, because of 
their present involuntary associations. 
-- 
“ The Bied as the XjABOueee of Man. 
In our last we commented upon the reported 
determination of the Wirral farmers, backed by 
Miss Ormerod, to exterminate the sparrows from 
their land; and it seems not unlikely, if the 
advantage of a contrary course be not shown, that 
in the enhanced vigilance against all supposed 
causes of evil during the prevailing agricultural 
depression, the numbers of these and other birds 
will be very greatly diminished by a wholesale 
slaughter. W hat would be the effect of a warfare 
of this kind, writes Mr. Walter Carling, of 
Hitching, in The Daily News, it may not 
be inopportune to point out by the following 
extracts from the writings of a naturalist of note 
(Jules Michelet, The Bird, pp. 213 et seq. “ The 
Bird as the Labourer of Man”) which, while 
evidence of a love of all birds, are yet in no wise 
disregardful of the interests of the tiller of the soil. 
« The ‘ miserly agriculturist’ is the accurate and 
forcible expression of Virgil; miserly and blind, in 
truth, for he proscribes the birds which destroy 
the insects and protect his,crops. Hot a grain will 
he spare to the bird which, during the winter 
rain, hunted up the future insect, sought out the 
nests of the larvae, examined them, turned over 
every leaf, and daily destroyed myriads of future 
caterpillars; but sacks of corn to the adult insects, 
and whole fields to grasshoppers which the bird 
would have combated. With his eye fixed on 
the furrow, on the present moment, without 
sight or foresight, deaf to the grand harmony 
which no one ever interrupts with impunity, 
he has everywhere solicited or approved the 
laws which suppressed the much-needed 
assistant of his labour, the insect-destroying bird. 
And the insects have avenged the bird. It has 
become necessary to recall in all haste the 
banished.” Here follow instances of the forced 
disappearance—consequent on an outcry such 
as is now raised against the sparrows in England 
—of crows and starlings from parts of various 
countries in Europe, resulting far otherwise than 
in the expected amelioration of the land. The 
writer continues “ The sparrow, even, which 
attacks the grain, but also defends it—the 
thieving, pilfering sparrow, loaded with so many 
insults, and stricken with so many maledictions 
—it has been seen without him Hungary would 
perish ; that he alone could wage the mighty war 
against the cockchafers and the myriad winged 
foes which reign in the low-lying lauds ; his 
banishment has been revoked, and the courageous 
militia hastily recalled which, if not strictly 
disciplined, are not the less the salvation of the 
country.” A fit conclusion will be to urge, in 
the words of Michelet, that the adjustment of 
the proportion of the number of birds to the 
lands on which they live, be left to a higher 
authority :—“ All toil, all appeal of man to 
nature, supposes the intelligence of the natural 
order. Such is the order, and such is the law; 
life has around it and within it its enemy—most 
frequently as its guest —the parasite which 
undermines and cankers it. Inert and defence¬ 
less life, especially vegetable, would succumb to 
it but for the stronger support of the indefatigable 
enemy of the parasite, the merciless pursuer, the 
winged conqueror of the monster.” 
(Sarbxmtrg lltisallang* 
The first meeting for the year of the Fruit and 
Floral Committees of the Eoyal Horticultural Society 
will take place on Tuesday next, at South Kensington. 
The Committee of the National Auricula, and 
National Carnation and Picotee Societies, will be 
held on Tuesday at the same place. 
A Bee and Fruit Farming Company (Limited) is 
being formed to take over the Cray Valley Bee 
Farm at Hoekenden, Kent, lately occupied by J. 
Garratt, Esq. 
Mr. D. Webster, late of the Lawson Seed Company, 
has lately become connected with the firm of Messrs 
Hurst & Son. 
It is proposed to hold a Grand National Dahlia 
Show at the Crystal Palace in September next, if 
sufficient funds can be obtained to carry out the 
programme. Those Dahlia fanciers who may feel 
disposed to assist in this direction should communi¬ 
cate at once with the Secretary and Treasurer, Mr. 
Thomas Moore, Botanic Garden, Chelsea. 
The Bose Show at South Kensington will be held 
on July 7th, and not on the following day, as stated in 
our last. 
The very beautiful and extensive floral decorations 
for the wedding of Lord Dormer and Miss Bald, of 
Upper Grosvenor Street, including the bride’s exquisite 
bouquet, a gem in itself, the bridesmaids’ baskets, and 
the 132 bouquets of Lilies of the Valley, as well as the 
very choice marriage bell suspended by a floral rope, 
were carried out by Captain Baikes, of Baker Street. 
Messrs. Webber & Co., of Covent Garden, have 
decided instead of giving prizes for the best packed 
samples of Grapes, Peaches and Strawberries in one 
competition as heretofore, to give separate prizes this 
year for Strawberries in May, Peaches in July, and 
Grapes at one of the autumn shows, the competition 
to take place at the Boyal Horticultural Society’s 
Gardens, South Kensington. But few gardeners 
were able to compete under the former conditions ; 
now there is a chance for all. 
-—— 
Hybrid Hollies. —A very remarkable case of 
hybridization has occurred in my grounds. My house 
stands in a demesne of broken ground, of which about 
120 acres are woodlands, partly natural and partly 
planted. The natural growth is Oak, Ash, and Holly. 
Towards the end of the last century my father planted 
near the house many varieties of Holly; amongst 
them, and close to one another, were a golden-berried 
Holly and two or three of the old laurel-leaved 
variety. The golden berry bore its fruit in great 
profusion, and, being never touched by birds, was a 
striking object till late in the spring. In the severe 
winter of 1830, however, the birds found out that the 
yellow berry was even better to eat than the red, and 
have ever sinoe paid their earliest attentions to it. 
This became manifest after some time from the 
appearance amongst the seedling Hollies, which are 
very abundant, of some specimens of the yellow- 
berried Holly exactly like the parent tree, which is a 
very prickly plant of no great growth, and every year 
we find additional specimens showing themselves. 
But about ten years since my attention was attracted 
by a young Holly with leaves almost smooth, and 
of most luxuriant growth. Looking more closely, I 
saw that the few berries which were on it were neither 
red nor yellow, but Apricot colour, and of a peculiar 
obovate form. This induced me to look about the 
neighbouring woods, and I found about twenty trees, 
of much the same age, generally presenting the same 
characteristics of growth and foliation, but with 
berries varying in colour from the ordinary coraline 
red to brilliant gold, and generally preserving also the 
same obovate shape. One very beautiful variety was, 
when gathered a week ago, of a pale pink, much like 
pink coral. Of the berries of the Apricot varieties 
the birds have made a clean sweep, the principal 
depredator being the missel thrush, a bird which is 
itself of comparatively recent appearance in this 
district.— Enquirer, in The Field. 
BRITISH FRUITS AT NEW 
ORLEANS. 
Messrs. J. Cheal & Sons, Lowfield Nurseries, 
Crawley, Sussex, the only English nursery firm 
exhibiting Fruits at the New Orleans International 
Exhibition, have been awarded the Gold Medal and 
one hundred and fifty dollars for the best coUection of 
one hundred varieties of Apples, Silver Medals and 
money prizes for collections of fifty, twenty, and ten 
varieties respectively; and for specimens of Cordon 
Apples and Pear-trees—one Gold, and five Silver 
Medals, and four hundred and twenty dollars in 
all. We had the pleasure of seeing the fruits 
before they were packed, and can bear witness to the 
fact that the samples were good ones, and that the 
collection sent out was a thoroughly representative 
one, creditable alike to the firm and the country 
which they represented at New Orleans. The whole 
collection consisted of about two thousand fruits, in 
two hundred varieties. Each fruit was first wrapped 
in paper, and then packed in layers of dry hay in 
strong packing cases. They were all sound, picked 
specimens, but to make up for any losses that may 
have taken place from decaying soon after the cases 
were unpacked after their long journey, more speci¬ 
mens were sent than were required in the various 
competitions. We append a list of some of the leading 
varieties of which specially fine samples were sent, 
and congratulate the Messrs. Cheal on the success 
which has crowned their enterprise:— 
Gravenstein. 
Hormead Pearmain. 
Hoary Morning. 
Hawthornden. 
Fearn’s Pippin. 
Striped Beefing. 
Mere de Menage. 
Dutch Mignonne. 
Winter Pearmain. 
Beinette du Canada. 
Blenheim Orange. 
Emperor Alexander. 
The Queen. 
Bibston Pippin. 
Cox’s Orange Pippin. 
Beauty of Hants. 
Golden Noble. 
Beauty of Kent. 
Alfriston. 
Minchull Crab. 
Pomeroy. 
Mannington’s Pearmain. 
King of the Pippins. 
Mank’s Codlin. 
Stirling Castle. 
Forge Apple. 
Dumelow’s Seedling. 
Bull’s Golden Beinette. 
Curltail. 
Tower of Glamis. 
Bainbow. 
Hollandbury. 
Boyal Busset. 
Adams’s Pearmain. 
Hanwell Souring. 
Cellini Pippin. 
BROCCOLI AND CAULIFLOWER 
ALL THE YEAR ROUND. 
Some of the old school of gardeners may smile at 
the heading of this article, and while they may content 
themselves with furnishing a supply of these excellent 
vegetables eight months out of the twelve, may be 
inclined to question the possibility of securing a 
continuous supply at all times during the year. If 
there are any of your readers thus sceptical a visit to 
Covent Garden Market, or, indeed, to any of the great 
markets, Birmingham, Manchester, or others, will 
convince them that a supply, sometimes more limited 
it is true, may always be obtained. It may be urged 
that the supply thus furnished is not always supplied 
from the same sources, and that it is impossible to 
obtain a continuous supply all the year round in the 
same establishment. To this assertion I join issue, 
and while I admit that the cold and rigorous winters 
of the more northern districts are against obtaining a 
supply during December and January from the open 
ground as a rule, in the southern, western, and 
midland districts there is no difficulty. During these 
months a plentiful supply is generally supplied to the 
leading markets from Cornwall. 
Thirty years ago in the south of England, with the 
limited supply of varieties then in existence, it was 
very seldom at any part of the year that I could not 
produce a dish when called upon, and now with the 
improved protecting varieties imbued with additional 
hardiness in their constitution, the difficulty is very 
materially lessened, and the excuse must be exceptional 
causes that cannot overcome it. The great secret to 
secure the desideratum is the selection of sorts to grow 
and the time when the seed should be sown, and upon 
this some little local experience is necessary, as sorts 
which may suit a warmer locality may not stand the 
test in a colder. Taking my own locality, which 
perhaps is one of the most unfavourable all things 
