156 
THE GARDENING WORLD 
November 3, 1894, 
should be hardened off, and the more airy and cool 
they can be kept, the better will they flower. 
During the time they are in a warm close place, a 
daily syringing will benefit them ; but after that no 
syringing is required. Good fibrous peat chopped 
small with a minimum of earthy matter in it, and made 
rather sandy with coarse Bedfordshire silver sand is 
the best compost to grow them in, and particular 
care should be exercised in the drainage, for they are 
very impatient of stagnant water ; pot firm and avoid 
filling the pots too full. Allow room for a liberal 
supply of water when required so that the plants get 
a thorough soaking each time of watering, and if any 
doubt arises respecting this, give a second or even a 
third watering and make sure that it has penetrated 
through the ball. This is most essential to their 
well-being, in fact unless careful attention to water¬ 
ing is persisted in failure is certain. At the same time, 
with proper attention, we hold that there is no class 
of hard-wooded plant more easily managed, or which 
gives more satisfactory results for the small amount 
of attention required.— W. B.G. 
-- 
GARDENING ON A SMALL SCALE 
FOR PROFIT. 
In these days when it is frequently affirmed that 
only large growers can make a living, and some 
among them, owing to the low prices which prevail, 
find it a difficult task to hold their own, to raise 
the question of making gardening on a small scale 
pay may appear to some a little out of place, but 
there are instances to be found of industrious men 
living near towns with gardens large enough to 
occupy most of their spare time who manage to make 
them a source of profit after supplying their families 
with vegetables. Those who have more ground than 
enough to supply the requirements of their own 
household, if they have a sufficient knowledge of the 
cultivation of hardy flowers, we mean such as are so 
largely used in the neighbourhood of towns, namely, 
Wallflowers, Canterbury Bells, Daisies, Pinks, Sweet 
Williams, Polyanthus, Pansies, etc., which are all 
readily grown by division, seeds, or cuttings, will do 
well to devote some of their spare ground to their 
cultivation, and at the same time cultivate the very 
best strains procurable. This will cost a little more 
for stocking the ground at the outset, but will in the 
end well repay the extra outlay, because when it gets 
generally knowm that whatever he has to part with 
is the best of its kind procurable he will find a 
readier sale for his plants than his less enterprising 
neighbours. 
In respect to vegetable culture the same plan of 
growing only the best should be adopted, and it will 
often be better to depart from the ordinary system 
of cropping and grow only a few things which 
experience tells him succeed best, following in this 
respect the lead of the market-men who generally 
find it best to concentrate their energies on the pro¬ 
duction of a few specialities and do them first-rate. 
This is how a few men often have for a time the 
command of the market for some special production, 
selling it at a price above that obtainable by others. 
Early Potatos on warm soils are still fairly remunera¬ 
tive and can be cleared off in time to plant Broccoli, 
or, better still, Veitch's Autumn Giant Cauliflower. 
This would be off the land before Christmas and so 
allow ample time to get the ground manured, 
trenched, or ridged up for the ensuing summer's 
crops. To do this it is most essential that liberal 
supplies of manure be worked into the ground. 
There are in most localities those who know the 
advantages which fresh gathered vegetables possess 
over those which have been marketed, and will 
readily pay the best price for own grown produce 
when they can get it, so that the small grower will, 
with a little effort on his part, be able to pocket that 
which the market-man has to let go into the middle¬ 
man’s till. French Breakfast Radishes pay well 
enough early, and can be cleared in ample time for 
an early crop of Celery. This, to pay, must be done 
first-rate, if the grower cannot get it quite up to the 
mark he had better limit his growth of this crop to 
his own requirements. The difference in the price 
per stick of medium and first-class stuff is more than 
one-half. Rhubarb well manured and forwarded by 
being covered over with litter is a good paying crop; 
the number of stalks gathered from good productive 
stools would surprise many. For the earliest crop 
we prefer Champagne on account of its precocity 
and its colour. The only drawback we know of is 
that it bruises so readily, but here the small grower 
if careful will have an advantage over the green¬ 
grocer, whose bunches having been handled several 
times are almost invariably bruised. 
Sea Kale generally finds a ready sale, and if 
grown on what is called the natural system would 
cost but little to produce, and we may add that 
having received as good a price for it grown on this 
plan quite late in the season as really good forced 
Kale, we can with every confidence recommend the 
adoption of this plan to any who have the means of 
following it out. Cabbages pay well if early, but 
from the enormous growth of these the difference of 
a few days will often bring down the price to one- 
half that at which they started. It will generally 
happen that Red Cabbage will pay the small grower 
much better, these being less trouble to dispose of 
at a paying price than he would have in selling 
Spring Cabbage, unless he had them in very early ; 
and these to answer his purpose should be off the 
ground by the end of June and the ground got ready, 
for another crop. 
Turnips or Onions, the latter if sown thick and 
drawn green, command a ready sale. Vegetable 
Marrows generally pay very well and will often 
realise a better price than Cucumbers, if extra early. 
Of Peas we would say to the small man beware, 
they are comparatively costly to produce, and unless 
exceptionally early or late seldom pay the small 
grower. Lettuce on good ground will often pay well 
as a catch crop between other things. Among herbs 
Mint, if afforded some protection to get it a little in 
advance of that grown in the open, finds a ready 
sale at good prices during the lamb season, and con¬ 
sidering the little trouble it entails is one of the best 
paying things grown. 
French Beans and Scarlet Runners will pay well 
enough in some places, but the latter, owing to its 
almost universal culture by those having only a tiny 
garden, is often a bad selling thing, and unless the 
small grower is tolerably certain of a sale for them, 
he had better only grow these for himself. The 
market is sometimes so glutted with them that they 
can scarcely be given away s With these and other 
things he should consider what demand there is 
likely to be and confine his attention mainly to things 
which he finds do best and sell well in his own 
locality. In this, as in most other matters, 
experience is the surest guide. Seed saving to a 
limited extent may add something to his profits, but 
let him beware of making attempts at saving seed 
of any of the Cabbage tribe, because in all proba¬ 
bility some neighbours will be having a miscellane¬ 
ous collection of these flowering at the same time, 
and his chances of saving anything of the family 
true are small indeed. 
We had almost forgotten Brussels Sprouts, 
possibly the best paying crop among the Brassicas. 
Get a good market strain, do them well, and have 
them early. In our own experience of selling 
vegetables this, in most seasons, proved the most 
remunerative crop in the garden. Another good 
paying crop is Egyptian Beet, but it must be early 
and be got rid of quickly, and Spinach after severe 
winters, which sometimes almost annihilate winter 
greens, will often pay famously well, costing little for 
seed or preparation of ground.— IV. B. G. 
-- 
Hardening ^iscellany. 
APPLE—LEMON PIPPIN. 
This is an Apple which, unlike the varieties of recent 
introduction, can boast of a history. It has been a 
well known occupant of our orchards and fruit 
gardens for many a long year. In season from 
October to April, it is suitable either for kitchen use, 
or for appearance upon the dinner table as a dessert 
fruit of first-class quality. The tree is hardy, of 
good constitution, and will continue in bearing for a 
great number of years. It is one of the most easily 
distinguished Apples known to us, and the name 
applied to it is really a most appropriate one. In 
both shape and colour it very closely resembles a 
Lemon, and the stalk is of a peculiar shape, being 
very short, and completely covered with the fleshy 
elongation of the fruit. It is stated that the first 
instance we have of the name Lemon Pippin being 
applied to this Apple is in " Ellis's Modern Husband¬ 
man,” in which it is stated concerning this Apple 
that "it is esteemed so good an Apple for all uses 
that many plant this tree in preference to all others.” 
This was as far back as the year 1744, although the 
fruit must unquestionably have been extensively 
cultivated some years prior to that date, as we find 
it mentioned by early writers, such as Rogers and 
Rea, under the name of the Quince Apple. 
A NOVELIST AND FLORIST IN COURT. 
In the Queen's Bench Division last week, before Mr. 
Justice Cave, Mr. David Christie Murray, author, 
sought to recover damages from Mr. Strudwick, the 
well-known florist of the Bayswater Road, in respect 
of personal injuries sustained through the alleged 
negligence of the defendant’s servant. It was stated 
for the plaintiff that on the 31st of March last 
he and a young lady were being driven along Bays¬ 
water Road in the direction of Bond Street in a 
hansom, and when the vehicle arrived at a spot near 
defendant’s shop it was struck violently by a ladder 
which was being carried on a man’s shoulder from 
the defendant’s yard into the Bayswater Road. The 
hansom was overturned, and the driver was thrown 
off his box and had his thigh broken by a passing 
trap. Plaintiff and the lady both received injuries, 
the former having his right hand severely cut. In 
consequence of his injuries plaintiff was unable to do 
any-work for some time. The defendant admitted 
that the ladder was his property, but contended that 
the accident was due to the hansom being negligently 
driven against the ladder whilst it was being conveyed 
along the highway, and Mr. Justice Cave held that 
no case of negligence had been made out. It was 
clear, he said, that the cabman drove too near the 
ladder which was being conveyed along the high 
road, and therefore there would be judgment for the 
deferfdant, with costs. 
STRAWBERRIES IN POTS. 
Steps should be taken without delay to afford 
protection to those plants in pots which it is intended 
to force during the coming spring. Whilst frost has 
no effect upon them at all, the heavy rains that 
usually visit us at intervals about this time of year 
are decidedly injurious. Copious and repeated 
downfalls of rain, such as we have experienced 
during the past week, must necessarily wash a great 
part of the nutriment out of the soil; and as this is a 
consideration of considerable importance, something 
must be done to protect the plants from the 
weather. If the pots are plunged in the open, lights 
may temporarily be placed over them to exclude the 
rain, and yet at the same time allow free ventilation. 
It is advisable, however, to plunge them at the com¬ 
mencement of winter in places where preparations 
for sheltering have been made—either in the 
protection ground or in any spare frames that may 
be available. In the latter case, however, the lights 
must be pulled off as often as the weather permits.— 
Fragaria. 
LESSONS FROM FLOWER SHOWS. 
I have read with interest the remarks that have 
appeared in your columns on this subject. I 
quite agree with some of your correspondents that 
note-taking is overdone, and as ” O " takes objection 
to some of those remarks, probably he is connected 
with the “ trade ” and delights in note-taking as 
leading to “ business.” I have visited the Kingston 
Chrysanthemum Show several seasons in the even¬ 
ing, as I was unable to be there earlier in the day, 
and I think any of your readers will bear me out 
that "note-takers ” are a veritable nuisance at that 
time when the Drill Hall is always crowded, such 
conduct renders it utterly impossible to catch a 
glimpse of the principal exhibits, especially with 
the spectators moving either way, which suggested 
to my mind that the promenade space should be 
divided by ropes, and the company made to move 
one way. I hope it is so now. I justly admire a 
man that takes notes with an aim, but have no 
sympathy when I see several yokels grouped in front 
of a prize stand of blooms, lacking the common 
courtesy to move for anyone ; some of them are 
busy with the "note-book" in hand writing down 
the name of every variety, which some of their com¬ 
rades are obliged to spell out for their edification. I 
have often wondered why such "note-takers” do 
not peruse the excellent account that is given of the 
exhibition in the gardening periodicals! Probably 
