826 
THE GARDENING WORLD. 
August 29th, 1885. 
and no monsters fit only for Pumpkin pies. The salad 
class was a coarse one, but that for six bunches of 
herbs more than atoned for any shortcomings in the 
former. The two Apple classes were also good ones, 
containing a number of splendid samples, but nearly 
all unnamed. The best three dessert sorts came from 
Mr. W. Jacob, Pound Street, Petworth, and consisted 
of Lady Sudeley (shown last year as Jacob’s Straw¬ 
berry), Duchess of Oldenburgh, beautifully coloured, 
and Devonshire Quarrenden. The best kitchen 
varieties were Warner’s King, Loddington Seedling, 
and Stirling Castle, and the best single dish was one 
of Lord Suffield. Gooseberries, Currants, red, white 
and black, Plums, Morello Cherries, Apricots, Cob 
Nuts, &c., were also well represented. 
Fruit Culture under Glass.— Strawberries in 
Pots : If not already done, young Strawberry plants 
which were layered into the fruiting (6-in.) pots early 
in July should be detached forthwith from the 
parent plants, and the pots be stood on brick walls 
enclosing Vine-borders, on boards at the foot of the 
same, or on coal ashes in any situation well exposed 
to the south and west, so that the plants shall have 
the full benefit of the sun’s rays to ripen and consoli¬ 
date their crowns, withbut which satisfactory results in 
the way of a good crop next spring need not be looked 
for. Continue to give the plants liberal supplies of 
weak liquid manure daily, until they have completed 
their growth, towards the end of next month, and 
with the object of concentrating the energies of the 
plants to the formation of large and, as already 
stated, well-ripened crowns remove all runners and 
any small crowns that may spring from the original 
and principal ones as soon as they appear.— H. W. 
Ward. 
->£-!—-- 
Hardy Fruits at South. Kensington.—Messrs. 
George Bunyard & Co., Maidstone, sent a very inter¬ 
esting collection of hardy fruits, principally Apples 
and Pears, to the meeting of the Fruit Committee on 
Tuesday. Amongst the Apples were noted some very 
fine samples of Pott’s Seedling, large fruits weighing 
nearly 1 lb. each ; handsome specimens of The Queen, 
Messrs. Saltmarsh’s new variety, a fruit of good colour 
and remarkable for its high specific gravity; Lord 
Suffield, exceedingly fine fruits from an orchard-house 
tree; superb specimens of Cellini, also from an 
orchard-house tree; the new Worcester Pearmain, 
very highly coloured, a handsome variety for the 
dessert; Cardinal, a variety of medium size, of the old 
Nonsuch type, and a good bearer; and Peter the Great, 
a new American variety, much of the same character 
as Cardinal, and also a good, free bearer. Among the 
choicer sorts of Pears were Triompbe de Vienne, a 
large, handsome variety of the Beurre Bose type, very 
early and of good flavour; Petite Marguerite, a new 
variety received from America, somewhat resembling 
the old Autumn Bergamot in size and shape, and of 
most delicious flavour ; and Emile d’Heyst, a very 
fine sample of a variety which is as good as Marie 
Louise in flavour, and is well worth looking after as 
an early sort. A number of other good but better- 
known sorts were staged, and a Silver Banksian 
Medal was awarded for the collections. Messrs. 
Thomas Bivers & Sons also sent a collection 
of seedling Plums, several of which bore a 
close resemblance to each other ; some fine Peaches 
and Nectarines, Ac. From Chiswick, Mr. Barron 
brought up a collection of the Plums at present 
ripe, the best of which were McLaughlan’s Gage, 
Beine Claude d’Oullins, a very fine early variety, 
of good size, almost round, of a rich golden-yellow 
colour, and of exquisite flavour ; Bradshaw’s or Black 
Imperial, a large purple Plum of the Victoria type 
and a very free bearer. That beautifully coloured and 
valuable early Apple, Duchess of Oldenburg, was also 
represented by some very fine specimens from small 
trees. It was hoped that there would have been 
an interesting display of Plums, but very few 
were forthcoming — the only gardener sending a 
collection being Mr. G. W. Cummings, gardener to 
A. H. Smee, Esq., The Grange, Wallingford, who had, 
amongst others, Denniston’s Superb, Prince of Wales, 
Old Orleans, Jefferson’s, and the Bochester Cluster 
Damson, a most prolific bearer. Mr. G. F. Wilson, 
one of the first to adopt the orchard-house system of 
fruit culture, showed a very fine sample of the Trans¬ 
parent Gage, gathered from trees which have been in 
pots for twenty-eight years. 
Seasonable Work in the Plant-houses.— 
Dutch Bulbs : Where these are required for early 
forcing, they should now be potted as early as 
convenience will allow. There will be time enough 
later on for the general collection ; therefore, those that 
are potted now should be selected from the early 
varieties which are known to force well; and in 
making a selection it will be better to keep to the best 
old varieties that have been well tried, rather than to 
depend upon newer sorts, which have not been 
proved; it is a good plan, however, to do a few of 
the newer sorts, say two or three pots of each for 
trial, and these should be carefully reported on, and 
if any of them prove to be improvements on older 
varieties, they may be included in the collection for 
the following year. Where it is desirable that the 
flowering season of these useful plants should be 
prolonged as far as possible, it will be better to make 
several pottings, rather than to pot the whole batch 
at one time, as is often done. We recommend that 
the first batch should be potted as early as possible, 
the general collection early in October, and the latest 
batch about Christmas-time. It requires a little care 
in keeping the bulbs that are to be potted later on ; 
they should be placed in a dry, cool position, and if 
left in the bags, the bags should be open at the top, 
or it will be better to turn them out of the bags and 
place them on a shelf in the seed-room. 
Selecting Bulbs.— It is a mistake to suppose that 
the largest bulbs will give the best results. Moderate 
sized, firm, well-ripened bulbs are the best. Although 
results will in a great measure depend upon the 
quality of the bulbs, yet good culture will be as 
apparent as in any other class of plants. 
The Boiian Hyacinths will be the first to flower; 
these, if started early, may be had in flower by the 
end of September or beginning of October, and with a 
little management, a succession may be kept up 
throughout the winter ; these, with their slender spikes 
of pure white flowers, are even more useful than the 
larger sorts. The best method of starting these is to 
put them in pans or boxes, and as they begin to come 
into flower, the strongest may be taken out and potted, 
and the weaker ones will be useful for cutting. Tulips 
will also be better started in boxes, as the pots can 
then be made up more evenly than they can be 
obtained when grown in pots ; this is especially the 
case with the early forced bulbs. In making up pots 
for table decoration, Ac., small Ferns can be used, 
and when nicely combined are very effective. Paper- 
white Narcissus should be included among the bulbs 
for early forcing, as they may be had in flower by 
Christmas, when white flowers are very valuable. 
Pbeparing Bulbs foe Forcing.— The main points 
to be considered in preparing bulbs for forcing is to 
use good, rich, light soil for potting, and pot them 
moderately firm. In the case of Hyacinths, a little 
sand should be placed directly under the bulbs; this 
will prevent the young roots from damping off. After 
they are potted, they should be placed on a bed 
of ashes, which should be of sufficient thickness to 
prevent the worms penetrating the pots. The best 
material for covering them is cocoa-nut fibre refuse ; 
this covering should be at least 8 ins. or 4 ins. thick, 
and in case of heavy rains it will be better to have 
extra covering to keep the wet off. If ashes have 
to be used for covering the bulbs, inverted pots 
should be placed over the Hyacinths before the ashes 
are put on. 
Fuchsias in the Isle of Man. —During a trip 
recently made to this favourite holiday resort, I was 
much struck with the wondrous growth and size of 
the Fuchsias. It appears to be quite at home, and 
wherever it may be planted it flourishes in a most 
remarkable manner. Hedges may be seen along the 
road sides forming perfect lanes of Fuchsias, some of 
them from 8 ft. to 12 ft. high. They are used to 
divide fields and gardens, to form arbours and avenues. 
You can walk under them in some of the hotel 
grounds or public gardens; they are indeed won¬ 
derful, and to a gardener form one of the chief 
attractions of the place. Planted as specimens they 
form grand bushes, ranging from 10 ft. to 16 ft. high 
and as much as 30 ft. through. Under some are 
placed seats and tables to enable the visitors to take 
their tea, enjoy the fragrant weed, or read their 
Gardening World, as I did. Unfortunately, some 
of the bushes I did not see at their best, as the gale 
on the 10th inst. had injured them on the windward 
side as if by frost, whilst on the other side there was 
an abundance of flowers, hanging in beautiful pendu¬ 
lous clusters; the colour of the sepals is scarlet, and 
the corolla violet. Being questioned as to the name, 
I could not say what it is, unless it be the old Globosa. 
— B. L., Lindley, August 25th. 
The Kitchen Gardener’s Calendar. —Ordinary 
Work: As crops of Peas and Beans become exhausted 
clear them off and prepare the ground for other crops, 
such, for instance, as Lettuce and Endive, which will 
come off in time this autumn to allow of the ground 
being trenched for early crops of Peas, Cauliflowers, 
Ac., and for this purpose it will be necessary, now that 
the exhausted crops are being removed from the 
ground, to determine upon the space or spaces to be 
reserved, and in such positions as are best calculated 
to bring forward the respective kinds of early vege¬ 
tables. If not already done, lose no time in getting 
the planting of Broceolis, Savoys, and Winter Greens 
completed. Late plantings, when the plants have 
previously had plenty of room in the nursery bed to 
develop themselves, and are let down to the bottom 
leaves when being planted, I find withstand the 
effects of severe winters better than those planted 
much earlier. Draw some soil to the stems of Broceolis, 
Cauliflowers, Savoys, Borecoles, and Leeks as they 
require it, and see to the earthing-up of Celery 
when the plants are dry—a condition in which I am 
afraid they have been longer than is good for the 
quality of the crop this year, and take care that no 
soil is allowed to get into the heart of them while the 
work is being done. 
This crop, together with successional rows of Peas 
French Beans, and freshly planted Cauliflowers, 
Broceolis, and such-like, should have copious supplies 
of water given at the roots—that is, where the 
labour at command is adequate to the work to be 
done—during the prolonged spell of intensely hot 
weather, which, in this respect, will have rendered tho 
year 1885 as memorable as any of its predecessors 
during the present century. It is during such a 
season as this that the manifold benefits resulting 
from the laying on of heavy surface-dressings of rotten 
dung on either side of rows of Peas, Beans, Ac., are 
manifest. Make good plantings of Lettuce and Endive 
from sowings made the end of last month, and water 
the same every afternoon during the prevalence of hot 
weather, and also after the roots have taken well to 
the soil, otherwise the labour of planting will almost 
be as good as wasted; and Cabbage plants resulting 
from seed sown the same time should be pricked out 
5 ins. or 6 ins. apart in nursery beds, so as to make a 
sturdy growth before being finally transplanted in 
drills 3 ins. deep and 2 ft. apart the middle of next 
month. 
If Cauliflower and Lettuce seeds have not yet been 
sown as advised in a previous calendar (p. 779), no 
time should be lost in doing so. Another sowing of 
Badishes, and Mustard and Cress, can be made out-of- 
doors, after which it will be necessary to have recourse 
to a cold pit, where the sashes can be placed over the 
seed and seedlings when necessary. This will be a 
good time to cut a few bunches of the respective 
kinds of herbs when dry, and hang them up in a dry, 
airy shed or loft for future use. See that gravel and 
other walks in this department are kept free from weeds, 
Ac., and in order to preserve these in a clean and good 
condition there should be a sufficient number of 
garden scrapers, which are easily made and should be 
gotin readiness during bad weather, and distributed over 
the gardens, especially in the alleys leading from 
fruit walls and borders on to the walks, as also at 
short distances from each other at the sides and ends 
of the various plots, Ac.— II. W. Ward, Longford 
Castle. 
