March 23, 1895. 
THE GARDENING WORLD. 
469 
Royal Gardeners’ Orphan Fund —The following, 
appeal on behalf of this charity has been issued by Mr. 
Harry J. Veitch, who will preside at the anniversary 
dinner at the Hotel Metropole, on April 5th, and we 
sincerely hope it will meet with a hearty response :—- 
" Having consented to occupy the chair on April 5 
next at the anniversary dinner of the Royal 
Gardeners’ Orphan Fund, I am naturally most 
anxious that it should be a great financial success, 
and I confidently appeal to all lovers of gardens and 
gardening to assist me to the utmost of their power 
to attain this object. From a personal knowledge of 
the management of the funds of the charity I can 
confidently speak of the excellent work it is doing. 
With the exception of about /50 per annum for 
office expenses the whole of the work of distributing 
the income is carried on free of cost by the committee, 
and therefore almost the entirety of the income is 
available for the maintenance and education of the 
orphan children of gardeners until they attain the 
age of fourteen, at which age it is expected they can 
begin to earn. At present sixty-four children are 
assisted by an allowance of 5s. per week, the good 
done being limited only by the amount of means at 
the disposal of the committee, and when I mention 
the fact that not half the candidates at the last 
election could be assisted, solely in consequence of 
insufficiency of funds, I feel sure I shall not now 
appeal in vain for help to try and permanently 
increase the income of the charity. It is, I venture 
to assert, impossible to imagine any position more 
sad or heartrending than that of a widow left with, 
in many instances, several young children and with 
little or no means for their support, the father having 
been taken off prematurely and before he could make 
any or only a totally inadequate provision for them. 
It is such cases which I now ask all who love their 
garden to assist.” 
PLANTS RECENTLY CERTIFICATED. 
The following new plants were awarded First-class 
Certificates at the exhibition of spring flowers, held 
at the Crystal Palace on Saturday, March 16th. 
Arum Eggeri.— This plant appears to come 
pretty close to A sanctum palaestinum, which was 
shown with it for comparison. The spathe which is 
about 9 in. in length is of a rich dark brown on the 
inner side, light green at the base of the tube and on 
the outer side. The spadix is not quite so long as 
the spathe and velvety black in colour. The leaves 
are sagittate, from 5 in. to 6 in. in length, and of 
dark green hue. The specimen shown was about 
1 ft. in height, pretty, and distinct. Exhibited by 
Mr. T. S Ware, Tottenham, N. 
Leucojum carpaticum.— Although closely allied 
to L. vernum this plant is said to be of much 
stronger growing habit, and to attain a height of 
2 ft. when in full growth, which, of course, does not 
take place until the flowering season has passed. 
The scapes are regularly two-flowered, the flowers 
large and of good substance, and beautifully sweet- 
scented. The Perianth segments are white, tinted 
with pale orange on the inside, and tipped with 
bright green. It is stated that it flowers fully a 
week before L. vernum. Exhibited by Mr. T. S. 
Ware. 
-- 
DISEASES OF THE TOMATO. 
The members of the Royal Horticultural Society at 
the meeting held on Tuesday last, March 12th, were 
favoured with a paper on the above subject by Mr. 
Collenette, of Guernsey, Mr. J. Douglas being in the 
chair. Mr. Collenette was unfortunately unable to 
attend himself, and his essay was read by the 
assistant secretary of the Society. The paper dealt 
exclusively with Tomato growing in Guernsey, and 
gave a detailed list of diseases which attack the 
plants there, and the difficulties with which the 
cultivators have to contend. The essayist proceeded 
to state that many people in England ran away with 
the idea that the soil in Guernsey was rich, and 
naturally suitable for Tomato growing, but this was 
not the case as, in his opinion, there was plenty of 
land in England better than much of that in 
Guernsey that was regarded as unfit for cultiva¬ 
tion. 
In spite of this, the Tomato formed one of the 
most remunerative crops grown in the island, and 
hence its culture was one of the principal industries, 
over fifteen hundred people being directly engaged 
in its cultivation and exportation. The climate is 
a very favourable one, the average temperature for 
the winter months being as high as 43 5° Fahr., 
whilst the range of temperature did not exceed io° 
Fahr. The essayist then proceeded to enumerate the 
most fatal diseases with which Tomatos were liable 
to be attacked in Guernsey. The common Yellow 
Blight, a fungus known as Cladosporium fulvum had 
been, he said, productive of a great deal of damage, 
and he advocated sudden and frequent changes of 
temperature and moisture as a means of checking its 
ravages upon plants under glass. Black Stripe, 
another disease which, as far as he could learn, had 
only made its appearance in Guernsey since the 
under-glass cultivation of the Tomato had been com¬ 
menced, had caused a great deal of pecuniary loss to 
cultivators. In this case, the prompt removal of 
affected plants was the only efficacious method of 
dealing with a disease which first made its appear¬ 
ance as a black spot or stripe in the haulms or stems 
of the plant. 
Mr. Collenette went on to say that by far the most 
disastrous affection to which the Tomato is subject 
in Guernsey is that known as the Sleeping Disease, 
hundreds of pounds loss annually being occasioned 
by its ravages. The Sleeping Disease was described 
as being extremely insidious in its attacks, the 
mischief being done, and the plants doomed, before 
its presence was perceived. The first sign that any¬ 
thing was amiss was usually the loss of colour by the 
leaves, which after a time began to show whitish 
patches here and there owing to the obstruction of 
the chlorophyll by the mycelium of the fungus. At 
this stage the root begins to lose its smaller fibres, 
these rotting off wholesale. Next, the cortex becomes 
discoloured, and then the cambium layer in its 
whole circle turns brown, the plant, of course, dying. 
When the plants were not attacked until the fruit 
had reached a good size, it was often possible to 
ripen the crop. Such fruit lost none of its good 
appearance by coming from infected plants, and 
much of it was sold in the market in the usual way. 
This, Mr. Collenette was of opinion, was a great evil, 
inasmuch as it greatly assisted in the dissemination 
of the disease, for, although such fruit were 
apparently innocuous, it contained, as he had found 
by careful microscopical examination, the minute 
spores or spore-like bacteroids of the fungus. The 
essayist recommended culture in pots where houses 
had been infected, and thus allow the soil to lie fallow 
for a time, during which applications of lime and 
green copperas should be made, the use of organic 
manures being studiously avoided. A short dis¬ 
cussion followed, and a vote of thanks to the essayist 
terminated the proceedings. 
»I «- 
THE CULTURE OF VEGE¬ 
TABLES.* 
When asked to read a paper on some subject this 
evening it occurred to me that a golden opportunity 
had arisen to say something on Vegetable Culture, 
for as you are all aware, this is one of the most im¬ 
portant branches in gardening and one that appeals 
to the consideration of every gardener. 
The culture of vegetables should always 
have precedence of other things in the garden, 
because as they are really necessaries of life, and as 
such, should have first consideration. Fruit I con¬ 
sider as next in importance and flowers last, for 
although flowers are most beautiful in themselves 
and add much to the joy and beauty of our homes, 
yet we cannot claim for them the same importance 
in our existence as vegetables, for, while these latter 
have not such bright colours, they have in themselves 
a beauty of their own ; for who is he worthy the 
name of a gardener who cannot admire well-grown 
vegetables as much as any flower cultivated ? 
At most of our exhibitions, vegetables forma lead¬ 
ing feature from a cultural point of view; but the 
public generally do not seem to recognise that fact 
as much as they might do, for where there are bright 
colours and pleasant odours there you will find the 
public collected, and the cultivator of the humble 
vegetable stands a poor chance of having his efforts 
recognised to the extent he deserves. Even the 
gardening press seem to shirk to some extent the 
merits of well-grown vegetables, for how often do 
we find in the reports of exhibitions that “ owing to 
pressure in our space we are obliged to omit the 
* A Paper read by Mr. J. Gibson, at a meeting of the Chiswick 
Gardeners’ Improvement Asscciation, December 19th, 1894. 
vegetable classes,” and yet the same reports contain 
full and accurate accounts of many plants which 
require but little trouble beyond that of transit to 
and from the exhibition. This, of course, seems 
to be a somewhat sweeping assertion to make, 
and we are glad that there are signs in the near 
future of a greater interest being taken in the cul¬ 
ture of vegetables, for by having exhibitions exclu¬ 
sively devoted to them as has been proposed, the 
public will have an opportunity of becoming better 
acquainted with the productions of the soil, and the 
gardener of having his merits better recognised. 
To be able to keep a constant supply of good 
vegetables is a matter of considerable difficulty to 
many, owing to the limited space at their command. 
To be placed in such a position is, however, one of 
the best tests of the abilities of a gardener, for here 
in the midst of difficulties he will either triumph or 
fall, according to the experience he has gained, and 
the excellence of the different methods of applying 
the same to the best advantage. In large gardens 
these difficulties are, of course, much reduced by the 
greater space allowed for each crop. 
We now come to the more practical part of this 
paper, viz., how then to produce the best 
vegetables. I shall begin with the Potato, as being 
the most important of them all The soil claims our 
first attention ; a light sandy loam, which would 
naturally be somewhat dry, being the best medium. 
Trenching is an absolute necessity if first-class crops 
are expected, and yet more often do we find this 
important factor in the growth of all vegetables 
neglected. Quantity and quality should here be the 
object in view, and without deep cultivation neither 
of these points can be attained, for the key to the 
situation is undoubtedly deep culture. 
Manures also play an important part, but in 
applying these some forethought is necessary, as 
nothing in the way of green or raw manure should 
ever be used. Lime may be applied with considerable 
advantage, as it will help to rid the soil of insects 
and bring other manures previously applied into a 
more soluble state, besides acting as a manure 
itself. Soot should also be used with advantage, 
whilst wood ashes form one of the best manures to 
be had. The latter will, if scattered over the ground 
and well forked in, furnish the more necessary 
ingredients for the growth of the Potato. In forking 
the ground over care should be taken to break it up 
very finely. Everything should be in readiness for 
planting about the end of March or early in April 
for the main crop. 
The tubers for planting should be selected before¬ 
hand early and placed thinly in shallow trays, where 
they can receive plenty of light and air, but are free 
from frost. By this means a short sturdy growth 
will be produced at the end of each set, the smaller 
and side growths being removed, thus concentrating 
the whole energy of the tuber upon the development 
of the future plant. In planting, the rows should 
be from ft. to 3 ft. apart, according to the strength 
of the variety, and from 18 in. to 2 ft. between the 
sets, as by this means plenty of light and air will be 
able to reach all parts of the haulm, and strong well- 
matured growths will be the result, whilst the disease 
which is so prevalent in moist seasons will have less 
chance of affecting the plants. The lines may be 
drawn 6 in. deep and the sets carefully placed 
therein and covered over. When the growths have 
reached the height of 9 in. or 10 in. the plants 
should be finally earthed up, in doing which plenty 
of soil should be drawn up around them in order to 
prevent the young tubers from being exposed to the 
light. Nothing further will be required till the 
crop is ready for lifting. 
In many gardens the forcing of Potatos has to be 
resorted to, where, by means of heated pits and 
frames and other conveniences, new Potatos may be 
had all the year round. The varieties of Potatos 
are very numerous, and in this respect the gardener 
will have to find out by experience which sorts are 
the best suited to his particular locality. In one 
part of the country a certain variety may be all that 
can be desired, whilst practically worthless in 
another, according to the character of the soil and 
the situation. The following I have found excellent 
both in quality of produce and as good croppers :— 
For forcing and first crop, Ringleader, the Old 
Ashleaf, and Sharp’s Victor ; second earlies, Windsor 
Castle and Beauty of Hebron ; and for the main 
crop, Sutton’s Satisfaction, and Magnum Bonum. 
(To be continued.) 
