January 22, 1898. 
THE GARDENING WORLD 
331 
UTILITY OF EARTHWORMS. 
Earthworms have not a very good character in 
our country places. Often they are regarded as a 
useless product of creation, if not as enemies of 
culture, only to be trampled under foot when they 
meet our scornful gaze. 
However, agriculturists have already told us that 
far from being injurious the worm aerates the soil with 
its furrows, bringing to the surface the fertilising 
principles carried by water into the lower layers, 
under the form of fine humus, absorbing humidity, 
aiding nitrification, possessing the value of real' 
manure. 
In fact, the worm lives on animal and vegetable 
remains, the decomposition of which it accelerates, 
rendering their assimilation by the roots of our 
plants easier. There is only one objection to the 
worm, viz., it transports to the surface microbial 
germs or spores, which, being produced by animals 
that have died from carbuncle and been buiied too 
near the surface, might develop on the grass in pas¬ 
turages and transmit disease of a carbuncular kind 
to cattle. It is very easy to prevent this danger by 
completely burning the carcasses of diseased animals 
or burying them very deeply, surrounded with a layer 
of quicklime. As such precautions should always 
be taken we may call worms our auxiliaries. 
Mr. Wolny, professor at Munich, fully informs us 
of the services they render. He recently made a 
series of cultural experiments in two sets of boxes, 
in one of which earthworms were placed, whilst the 
other had none. The boxes containing worms always 
gave the best results. The following, according to 
Mlustrirte landwirtscliafftliche Zeitung, are the extra 
percentages obtained in crops :— 
SEED. STRAW. 
Peas 
25 per cent. 
95 per cent. 
Haricots .. 
69 
47 
Rye 
94 
48 „ 
Colza 
92 
156 
Potatos gave 130 per cent, more tubers. 
With such eloquent figures all comment is need¬ 
less. Do not crush the worms !—Agriculture Moderne, 
October yd, 1897. 
“THE TROPICAL SUMMERS OF 
1896-97: THEIR EFFECTS ON THE 
FRUIT TREES AND FRUIT CROPS.”* 
In reviewing the many-sided effects of the tropical 
summers of 1896-97, the facts range themselves as 
favourable and unfavourable. The tropical heat, 
combined with drying winds, and that general 
absence of rain during the spring months of the 
period under notice, dried the soil to an unusual 
extent; and although in 1896 abundant autumnal 
rains fell, in 1897 the months of September and 
October were the driest known for years. 
The eflect of the heavy rains of the autumn of 1896 
was felt in the activity of the sap and the adhesion 
of foliage on fruit trees rather later than usual, and 
consequently the trees did not get that rest which is 
as necessary for the vegetable world as for the animal 
creation ; and we agree with Mr. R. D. Blackmore 
that the general failure of fruit crops in the spring of 
1897 was largely due to that cause: 
The want of power in the trees themselves to lay 
up that necessary nutriment, and ability to perfect 
embryo fruit buds, was arrested at a critical period, 
and as reported in the gardening papers, many cases 
of imperfect blosssoms were noted in fruits, and 
doubtless many more facts would have been 
discovered had they been suspected and looked for. 
To outward appearance the blossoms were perfect, 
the corollas being bold, as usual; but in many 
individuals either stamens or pistils were wanting. 
No doubt also the upper or fruit nourishing roots 
suffered from the want of surface moisture, and thus 
were prevented from doing their work—while lower 
anchor roots struck deeper and deeper to gain mois¬ 
ture and sustenance for the development of the tree, 
making the subject less fertile, and adding gross wood 
to all garden trees, and thus trees were found to 
require root pruning more than usual to restore that 
relative balance of fruit and wood-producing power 
which a well managed fruit tree should exhibit. 
In orchards (especially among young trees) the 
want of fruit was a distinct benefit, as they were then 
enabled to form vigorous trees be'ore starting to 
V A paper read at a meeting of the Horticultural Club on 
Tuesday, the nth inst., by Mr. Geoige Bunyard, V.M.H. 
crop, and a foundation was thus laid for full develop¬ 
ment and after success ; as if a young orchard tree 
commences to crop in its earlier stages, its after¬ 
growth is checked for years, and in the future such 
checked trees produce pecks where bushels of fruit 
should be garnered. 
In the dry autumn of 1897 matters were different, 
and the glorious and gorgeous colours of the foliage 
on Cherries, Peaches, and Nectarines, the fine 
russet-brown of the Apple foliage, and the golden 
Plum leaves,hasled us to infer that Nature's work has 
been well and truly done, and with a fair spring a 
good all-round crop may be anticipated in 1898. 
Although from a nurseryman’s point of view the 
shorter and stouter growth fruit trees made in 1896- 
97 meant some loss and extra expense in staking for 
standard trees, &c., still the growers cannot fail to be 
great gainers in having the wood of fruit trees well 
ripened, hardened, and consolidated for future benefit, 
as heavy frosts tell much less severely on such 
perfected trees. If this is felt in the south, how much 
more must it benefit planters who live in the midland 
and northern counties ! The pretty fruit shown by 
Mr. Day, from Galloway, and the grand Pears from 
Mr. Divers, Belvoir Castle Gardens, sent to the 
Royal Horticultural Society, bear out this fully. 
The fruit crop of the Jubilee year, 1897, will be 
noted in our minds for its remarkably high colour 
and development more than for its great size. Many 
examples submitted to us have been beautiful 
beyond all former years; for example, crimson 
Blenheim Orange Apples, Warner’s KiDg, and other 
green Apples with scarlet flushes on the sunny side ; 
and Comice and other Pears with lovely red cheeks ; 
while many Russets have lost their character and 
come out with golden skins, only broken here and 
there with russet. Many of the less hardy Apples 
as Lord Suffield, Ribston, and King of Pippins, and 
Glou Mor^eau, Bergamot d'Esperen, Gansell’s 
Bergamot, and other Pears have been so handsome 
and good, that planters have called for them freely, 
forgetting that they are not to be relied upon (as a 
rule) for freedom from canker, or quality. Their 
extra good appearance, flavour, &c., points a moral, 
and doubtless we ought to place these and similar 
good but variable Apples on walls or in warmer 
places. Apples of the type of American Mother, 
Melon, Scarlet Nonpareil, Allen's Everlasting, Duke 
of Devon, Sturmer Pippin, with those that do not 
always ripen well,as Calville Blanche, Boston Russet, 
Calville Rouge, Chatley’s Kernel, Reinette du 
Canada, and Dutch Mignonne Apples, with Beurre 
Diel, Bergamot d’Esperen, Olivier des Serres, Beurre 
Ranee, Beurre Baltet, President Osmonville, Easter 
Beurre, Zephirin Gregoire, &c., Pears, would not be 
out of place on many walls which are well situated, 
and now devoted to a doubtful crop of Peaches or 
Nectarines, especially those old walls, unpointed and 
full of nail-holes one often sees in ancestral gardens, 
where choice Pears and Apples would flourish and 
give good results. 
The extended use of large and handsome Apples 
for decoration should lead growers to place Peas- 
good's Nonsuch, Buckingham, Belle de Pontoise, 
the Queen, King ofTomkin’s County, Twenty Ounce, 
Gascoigne's Seedling, &c., on walls for this purpose. 
One special feature of the 1897 fruit crops was the 
general success of the British raised varieties, such 
as Nonpareil, Northern Greening, Wyken Pippin, 
Blenheim Orange, Devonshire Quarrenden, Yellow 
Ingestre, Stirling Castle, Wellington, Ecklinville, 
Kerry PippiD, Keswick Codlin, Winter Queening, 
Nanny, Hormead’s, Lane’s Prince Albert among 
Apples ; and Hessel, Althorp Crassane, Hacon’s In¬ 
comparable, Bishop's Thumb, Pitmaston Duchess, 
Crawford, Aston Town, Eyewood, and Knight's 
Monarch, among Pears, causing a demand to arise 
for trees of many old and superseded kinds, which 
for market purposes are yet valuable. 
The general crops on the Codlin and early 
Apples and Pears need only be noted to state the 
fact that such kinds have time to recover themselves 
after the fruit is gathered, and so prove regularly 
fertile. 
Exceptional prices have been made of some fruits. 
In our district, Devonshire Quarrenden, Ingestre, 
and Ribston Apples paid well (one grower selling 100 
bushels of the latter as gathered at 14s 6d. per bushel), 
while Cox's Orange Pippins made up to 25s. per 
bushel retail; and Wellingtons, with a Peach-like 
colour, made 10s. 6d. wholesale. 
As might be expected, the heat and drought have 
caused all late Pears to ripen months before their 
usual season, and by the time this is in print many 
fruit rooms will scarcely have a Pear in them ; at 
present Olivier des Serres and Beurre de Jonghe with 
a few of Easter Beurre from open trees are all we 
possess. 
But we are inclined to think thorough ripening will 
allow us to keep Apples a.s late as usual, while they 
will certainly not be such large examples — in short, 
beauty will compensate for mere size. 
Perhaps no outside fruit felt the grand weather of 
1896-97 more than Peaches and Nectarines on walls. 
The trees made that reddish wood so dear to the 
cultivator’s eye, and the crop set well. The fruit, 
where the trees were copiously watered, grew out to 
a fine size, and coloured to perfection, raising the 
almost lost hopes of manyold gardeners and encourag¬ 
ing them to persevere in their open-wall cultivation. 
Those who had late Peaches made long prices, as the 
fruit under glass was forwarded by the heat, and thus 
made a market for the outdoor crop. Peaches and 
Nectarines are yearly more in demand. 
We attribute the failure of the Plum crop to the 
causes already named, for Plums by their surface¬ 
rooting nature, would naturally be affected more than 
deeper-rooting fruits. 
We cannot refrain from again cautioning gardeners 
from relying on a few varieties for an annual crop; 
and the best kinds for quality should be planted in 
various positions to ensure a return, and also to 
lengthen the season of each kind. 
Market growers naturally go in for the sorts 
favoured by the public, but we are inclined to think 
many less known but reliable croppers should be 
introduced. 
Strawberries, Raspberries, and bush fruits generally 
cropped where good deep cultivation was practised. 
In conclusion, it is evident that cultivators should 
do all in their power to utilise all the sunshine 
possible, and the protection they possess, added to 
careful thinning of boughs and fruit, and by giving 
liberal encouragement to the trees that crop, and not 
over-stimulating those that are barren. 
-—-S®- 
READING AND DISTRICT GARDENERS. 
The annual general meeting of the Reading and Dis¬ 
trict Gardeners’ Mutual Improvement Association was 
held in the club room, British Workman, on Monday, 
the 10th inst., when Mr. C. B. Stevens presided over 
a good attendance of members. The report and 
balance sheet read by the hon. secretary, Mr. James 
Pound, jun., were of a very satisfactory nature, both 
showing that the association was in a very flourishing 
condition. The membership was still on the increase, 
thirty-one new members had been elected during the 
year 1897, making over 180 “ paid-up ” members on 
the books, whilst the balance in hand was double 
that at the end of 1896. 
The Committee regretted the death of Mr. Alfred 
Sutton, who had always taken a great interest in the 
work of the association, and had, since its formation 
in 1888, provided gratuitously the club room for their 
meetings. They also record the death of Mr. George 
Palmer who was an annual subscriber from the com¬ 
mencement of the association. The meetings during 
the year had been well attended, on some occasions 
upwards of eighty members being present, and with 
the subjects so varied and interesting—such as 
soils; insects injurious to plant life; table decora¬ 
tions ; summer bedding ; zonal Pelargoniums ; bees 
as friends and enemies of the gardener ; kitchen 
garden work; Tomatos and their diseases ; the 
Balsam ; fruit growing ; Sweet Peas ; some types of 
insect pests ; a chat about Chrysanthemums, &c.— 
much benefit and help must have been attained by 
meeting together. 
The thanks of the committee were due to the 
president, Mr. C. B. Stevens, for the great interest 
shown, not only in presiding at their meetings, but 
taking an active part in all the other business 
connected with the association ; to Messrs. Sutton & 
Sons for their kindness in providing a room at the 
Abbey Hall for the use of the members and supply¬ 
ing it with horticultural and other literature: to the 
honorary members for their kind and general 
support ; to those who have helped forward the work 
by reading papers and introducing subjects for 
discussion; to those who have added so much 
interest to the meetings by bringing exhibits of 
flowers, &c. ; and last, but not least, to the horti- 
