December 15, 1894. 
THE GARDENING WORLD 
251 
towards the base as the bloom gets old. Mr. Robert 
Owen, Castle Hill, Maidenhead. 
King of Plumes. —Here we have a decorative 
variety of the Japanese type. The flowers shown 
varied from 3 in. to 4^ in. in diameter, and were deep 
yellow almost golden. The florets are quilled at the 
base, but expanded on the upper half, and lacerated 
with divaricate segments. A bunch of flowers is 
both pretty and ornamental. Mr. Robert Owen. 
- 4 *-— 
THE PRECOCIOUS RIPENING OF 
PEARS. 
I was very much interested in your leader upon the 
early ripening and decay of Apples and Pears, having 
had my attention drawn to it more particularly in 
reference to Pears, apples, unfortunately being so 
short a crop, that there were hardly any left to put 
away. Pears, on the other hand, were a heavy crop, 
and quite early in the autumn we discerned signs of 
what was likely to follow, the final results being as 
you describe in your issue of the 1st inst. 
A crop of Swan’s Egg was the first that arrested 
our attention, many of those which were maggot 
eaten being quite ripe by the end of September, and 
the sound ones gathered and put away with the 
greatest care, have all been ripe and eaten for some 
time. This in our experience is a most unusual 
occurrence, and quite against pur speculations as to 
what would follow upon a comparatively cold and 
wet summer, having often found some Pears, Swan’s 
Egg for instance, being rather later in ripening in 
consequence of a cold summer. The mildness and 
moisture of the autumn has doubtless been a contri¬ 
butory cause of the premature decay, but it has 
occurred to us that it may be owing to the prolonged 
drought and excessive heat of the summer of 1893, 
and the subsoil in many instances being quite dry 
till a late period of the present year, and so most 
likely at a higher temperature than it oftentimes is 
during the autumn. If this has not had something to do 
with the early ripening of some of our late Pears, 
owing to the roots being in a warmer medium than 
they generally are at a corresponding time of the 
year, possibly some observers of the different tem¬ 
peratures of soil, may be able to furnish some data 
to go by which might elucidate this question.— 
W. B. G. 
-- 
THE GLOBE ARTICHOKE. 
In many places this is highly esteemed as a second 
course vegetable, and any course of cultivation 
which is likely to improve it in quality and duration 
of bearing should receive the attention of the 
cultivator. There are two methods of propagation, 
namely, seeds and suckers; the first of these may have 
its advantages, but our own experience has been that 
no dependence can be placed upon seedlings, many 
of them throwing small heads, and so proving com¬ 
paratively worthless. Seeds sown in a seed pan 
placed in heat early in the season germinate readily, 
and when strong enough to handle, potted off into 
long thumbs, and afterwards in 4-in. pots, gradually 
harden off and grow on in a cold frame, and planting 
out during mild weather in April, will come into 
bearing during the summer. 
Those who have to fall back on seedlings for a 
stock should mark the best among their plants 
with a view of raising future stocks by means 
of suckers from them. There are two well defined 
varieties, seeds of which are offered separately. In 
the green or French variety, the scales of the calyx 
are spreading. A good plant of this is one of the 
handsomest hardy herbaceous plants we have, but 
for culinary purposes we regard it as decidedly 
inferior to the Globe, the scales of which curve 
inward, forming a compact head. Propagation by 
suckers is effected during March or early in April, 
when the young growths are about 10 in. in length, 
selecting those with fibrous roots attached to them. 
The hard brown stem by which they are attached to 
the parent plant should be cut off, and if this proves 
crisp the cutting will be a good one ; if at all stringy 
reject it as worthless. 
This being a crop which seldom stands less than 
four or five years on the ground, and in very many 
instances much longer, the soil should be well 
trenched and manured, choosing an open spot, 
because if overshadowed by trees the growths come 
spindly and form proportionately small heads. We 
say four or five years; this we regard as the extreme 
limit at which it is advantageous to let them occupy 
one piece of ground. Having the soil in good working 
condition and the plants in readiness, have the 
outside leave's removed so that the heart of the 
sucker appears above them, and then plant them, 
inserting a third of their depth into the soil. Mark out 
the rows 4J ft. to 5 ft. apart, and put the plants 3 ft. 
apart in the rows. Give a good soaking of water 
when planted, and protect for a time with a large 
flower or Sea Kale pot till established, and water 
well whenever necessary. An occasional watering 
with liquid manure during the early part of the 
summer is beneficial, and give a good mulching of 
short manure during dry weather. 
All weak superfluous suckers may be removed 
during June, and young plants will produce a supply 
of heads from July to October. Older plantations 
will commence bearing in May, and will generally 
be past their best when those fresh planted com¬ 
mence bearing, so it is a good practice to make a 
fresh plantation annually equal to a fourth or fifth 
of the space allotted to the crop, and destroy an 
equal portion of the old plantation. By these means 
a better succession is kept up than where the old 
beds remain for a more lengthened period and then 
entirely renewed. The heads attain a much larger 
size than is natural to them if a piece of wire is 
bound tightly round the stem about 3 in. below them. 
In common with most vegetables a dressing of 
common salt is highly beneficial to it. When the 
heads are cut the stalks, too, should be cut clean 
out; their retention afterwards only weakens the 
plant. 
There are two other uses to which the old school 
of Gardeners sometimes put this plant which have 
fallen into disuse, at least it is long since we have 
either seen or heard of their being attempted ; we 
allude to the production of Chard’s and Gobbo. 
Where the first of these was done, fresh plantations 
of Artichokes became an annual necessity owing to 
the plants being destroyed in the process. The plan 
may be briefly described as follows : early in July 
after the best heads were gathered, the leaves were 
cut down to within a foot or so of the ground, and 
the flower stems as low as possible. This quickened 
fresh growth, which when about two feet in height, 
was during September and October, bound closely 
together with either hay or straw bands and then 
banked round with earth to exclude the air ; these 
Chards would be fit for use from a month to six weeks. 
When wanted for use during the winter months, 
they were taken up previous to severe frost and laid 
in sand in a shed or other building secure from frost. 
The second use was the production of Gobbo. We 
can only remember seeing this done but once, but 
believe the practice is common in Italy. To produce 
this, bend down the stem to a right angle, and bind 
the stalks with the leaves on them lightly together 
and cover over, so as to blanch them, this produces 
a lump which is eaten raw with salt. The old plan 
of winter treatment which consisted in placing light 
litter round the plants, and then banking round with 
earth or ashes, is in many cases quite unneccesary 
for according to our own experience this plant is 
much hardier than it is generally supposed to be, but 
locality and soil have a great and varied influences 
on many plants, and it is best for the cultivator to 
be guided in many things by the nature of his sur¬ 
roundings.— W. B. G. 
-•*•- 
A PARADOXICAL MONTH. 
The rainfall of November, which was confined 
almost exclusively to the earlier half of the period, 
was in'excess of the average over Wales, the southern 
parts of England and Ireland, and the west of 
Scotland. In London the total amount was about 
three inches and a quarter, or forty-seven per cent, 
more than the average, but in many other parts of 
our southern counties the excess was much greater, 
the aggregate for the month being in some places 
more than twice as much as the normal. November 
was, however, not everywhere a wet month. In the 
northern parts of England and Ireland, as well as in 
the more eastern parts of Scotland, there was a con¬ 
siderable deficiency of rainfall, the amount being 
only half the average at Aberdeen and York, less 
than half the average at Wick and Leith, and very 
little more than a fifth of the normal at Shields. 
One of the most striking facts in connection with 
the weather of last month as experienced over the 
south-eastern counties was that, in addition to being 
one of the wettest, it was also one of the finest 
Novembers of recent years; and, to make the 
paradox still more complete, we may say that the 
portion of the month with the heaviest rainfall was 
also that with the largest amount of sunshine. At 
Westminster the last ten days of the month pro¬ 
duced no rainfall and an aggregate of only four hours 
of bright sunshine, the totals for the preceding 
twenty days being three inches and a quarter of rain 
and rather over fifty-six hours of sunshine. The 
aggregate duration of bright sunshine for the month 
at Westminster was about sixty-one hours, or two 
and a half times as much as the average, and half 
as much again as in any November since the record¬ 
ing instrument was started in 1883. In every 
November but two of the past eleven years the 
amount of sunshine registered at Westminster was 
less than half that recorded last month, and in two 
years, namely, 1884 and 1885, it was only one-fourth 
of the quantity. The unusually sunny character of 
last month is the more significant when we remember 
that both in September and October the amount of 
bright sunshine in London was the smallest observed 
since records of this kind were begun. At Greenwich 
the total duration in each of these months was only 
half the average, as shown by observations extending 
over seventeen years. 
-- 
THE MANAGEMENT OF COLD PITS 
AND FRAMES. 
These, however well any place may be provided 
with heated structures, are still almost indispensable 
in any place where a good supply of flowers and 
vegetables has to be kept up. The various uses to 
which these simple contrivances can be and often 
are put is almost marvellous, and there are times 
during the growth of many plants used for green¬ 
house and conservatory decoration when they will 
do far better under frame than under greenhouse 
cultivation. I have in mind the ordinary style of 
those usually found in private gardens, the low span- 
roofs of the market men who grow in them Primulas 
Cinerarias and Cyclamens to the highest perfection, 
where the plants stand generally on a bed of ashes, 
and are a very different article to the greenhouses 
found in many places with open lattice work staging, 
rendering many of them during the summer months 
the worst possible contrivances in which to grow 
many things, and in these instances ample provision 
of cold pits and frames is a desideratum. 
I recently saw Chinese Primulas in No. 24 pots, 
splendid specimens, grown in a cold frame, and 
instances where these and Cinerarias are grown 
well, reflecting great credit upon the growers, are, 
no doubt, familiar to many of your readers The 
attendant labour during the winter months will often 
be laborious on account of the covering up and 
uncovering, and in some market establishments 
where Mignonette is largely grown this is possibly 
the most costly item in the expenditure entailed in 
the cultivation of this fragrant flower, two or three 
acres of frames being in some instances devoted to 
it. One use to which I once put some cold frames 
was the growth of young Azaleas planted out. Here 
they made much better progress than similar plants 
wintered in vineries, and gave but little trouble. 
They passed through a more than ordinary severe 
winter, aud by the next autumn made plants double 
the size of those grown in pots. 
During the winter months every effort should be 
made to exciude frost, and if from insufficiency of 
material frost should get in they must remain closed 
for days together till the plants thaw. The greatest 
source of difficulty occurs when the covering-up 
material gets saturated by heavy rains. To obviate 
this, wooden shutters or galvanized iron sheets 
should be placed over the covering-up materials, 
whether litter, straw, or Russian mats. One inch of 
dry material is far more effective than three or more 
of wet, where ample supplies of covering are at 
hand to keep the temperature a few degrees above 
freezing. There will be few occasions, when, should 
the air be clear and bright, some amount of light 
may be admitted by the partial or total removal of 
the covering at an earlier hour in the day than where 
a deficiency of covering is supplied. Cleanliness in 
connection with plants wintered in frames, especially 
those generally designated soft-wooded, is of supreme 
importance; a few decaying, rotting leaves if 
allowed to remain any length of time will often spoil 
