234 
fHE GARDENING WORLD 
December 9, 18S9. 
servatories duriDg the blooming period some of the 
newer varieties for the coming season might well be 
brought before our readers. 
For those of the " Wells-Pockett " strain, the 
catalogued descriptions are meagre, yet this is a safe 
plan, for it would be utterly false to give glowing 
descriptions to young stock coming from Australia 
direct to England. These have now been tried for 
a season so that their characters with us are pretty 
certain. Tooronga is our first choice. The form is 
after the Globe d Or type, the habit capitally dwarf 
and most vigorous, the flower being of a deeper 
yellow and firmer build than that of the above 
named. Yellow Good Gracious it is almost certain, 
will soon be found in every up-to-date collection. Good 
Gracious itself was striking enough, but in this 
novelty the twisted florets are finer and lend a 
charming quality to the bloom. Then Meredith 
may be selected. In this we have an enormous 
bloom of a clean terra-cotta colour with golden 
suffusion. The strength of the blooms seen even on 
the late struck plants, grown in small pots, was 
quite remarkable. It is sure to satisfy the most 
fastidious tastes. To add yet three more from this 
group the names of Lady Clarke, Sir W. J. Clarke, 
and Lord Brassey, may be noted. Lord Brassey, by 
the way, is a very large and handsome flower of 
crimson and old gold colours. 
M. E. C-alvat’s novelties are strongly represented 
in the Earlswood collection. Many of them are 
very promising, others are not so brilliant, while yet 
a certain few have been weighed in the balance and 
have been found wanting. Among the finer intro¬ 
ductions from this source, which it may be well for 
cultivators to enquire after, is Lydia, which Mr. 
Wells announced when his list was published, as 
" not doing well.” Like the seedlings of the 
herbaceous Calceolarias however, the finest blooms 
come ultimately from those which were delicate and 
refined in the early stages. Delicacy is not the 
failing with Lydia, the variety is not weak, but its 
wants require to be known. The colour of the 
flower is an exquisitely soft, but perfectly decided 
lilac, or lavender-rose tone, and the blooms are 
strongly built; the habit is also good. Mdlle. Delaire 
is well described as a rosy-pearl incurved Jap, the 
florets of which are slighiy hairy, a point which 
adds something to its merits. In W. Wells we 
have not an ideal bloom, for it comes, at least so far 
has come, rather too dense, but the colour is good— 
a bright gold. Among other continental novelties 
the richness of Francois Filon, a deep golden-yellow, 
left a favourable impression. Margaret L. Silhol 
which grows rather tall, is all the same a lovely, 
pure white, Jap. This, along with SirH. Kitchener, 
Sir J. W. Clarke, Miss Lucy Cheeseman, Lord 
Salisbury and other recent novelties was shown in 
capital form in the Drill Hall, Westminster, on 
November 7th. 
Taking just a skip here and there through the 
general collection of Japs, the following really 
splendid varieties cannot be left unconsidered : — 
Amiral Avellan, rich golden-yellow, Annie Prevost, 
pure white ; Chatsworth, white, suffused with pink i 
the recurved petals curving up at the ends; Col. 
W. B. Smith, golden-bronze, suitable for any 
purpose; Eastman Bell, a crimson sport from 
President Borel; Emily Towers, which proved to be 
one of the finest large lilac-pink varieties of the 
season; Etoile de Feu (fiery star),a rich gloriously and 
brilliant combination of hues, a splendid variety for 
cutting purposes; Helen Shrimpton, rosy-crimson 
tipped with deep yellow; Henry Weeks, H. J. Jones, 
Hero of Omdurman, Hon. W. F. D. Smith, all of 
various depths and shades of crimson, and all of such 
merit that one cannot be chosen without the other. 
Mdme. Louise Kemp, a pure white, sport from Mrs. 
Harman Payne; Mrs. Coombes, a large bloomer, 
and of a deep rosy flesh-pink; Mrs. W. Seward, one 
of the finest flowers there is. The upper surface of 
the petals is of the brightest crimson, while the 
reverse is rich gold. Lili Boutroy, .Little Nell and 
Lionel Humphrey are all good. Mrs. White 
Popham, R. Hooper Pearson, and Wattleblossom 
are likewise of the first merit. 
Though incurved varieties are not so strongly 
represented, yet we_ cannot omit to mention C. H. 
Curtis, Hanwell Glory, Duchess of Fife, Mr. A. E, 
Stubbs, Mrs. H. J. Jones and President Bevan. The 
single varieties, and those suitable for market, are in 
larger stock here than in most other collections. 
Taking a look in upon the ever beautiful and useful 
singles, we noted Admiral Sir T. Symonds, large 
deep yellow; Carrie Wells, crimson, with gold 
reverse; Disraeli, a beautiful primrose shade, very 
fine; Earlswood Beauty, also very fine; Christmas 
Cheer, pure white; Elsie Neville, large crimson; 
Gladys Foster (see p. 183 of T he Gardening World); 
Gus Harris, Mayblossom, Miss Crissy, Lady 
Windsor, Poinsettia, Purity, Rose Pmk, White Eye, 
and Yellow Giant. These in their various sections 
though hurriedly and scantily noticed may in all 
freedom be recommended as some of the best of 
present attainments among Chrysanthemums.— H. 
THE FRUIT CROP OF 1899. 
(Concluded from p. 215.) 
Passing on to Plums, these were somewhat patchy 
in the Midlands, some localities having practically 
no fruit at all whilst others had a very fair crop. It 
is, I know, the custom to lay the blame of all failures 
upon spring frosts, but mischievous as these un¬ 
doubtedly are, I think that much loss is charged to 
them of which they are in a great measure guiltless. 
What I mean is this, when trees are suffering from 
an overcrop the previous season, and oftentimes also 
from a lack of manure, the blossom is o more easily 
damaged by spring frost than would have been the 
case had the trees been in more robust health. I 
noticed particularly this year that the Plum and 
Damson bloom at Chilwell was almost entirely 
destroyed, whilst at Lowdham, thirteen miles away, 
in the same valley, with the same climatic conditions, 
and what seems an exactly similar soil, the trees 
were well loaded, in fact many Victorias had to be 
supported with props to prevent the trees being 
broken. I have purposely said “ what seems to bean 
exactly similar soil,” for although the soil is on the 
same geological formation and to all appearance is 
as much alike as possible, I believe that some 
difference exists (which possibly a chemical analysis 
would show), and that this difference in the con¬ 
stituents of the soil is toe main cause why one 
village is essentially a Plum district whilst the other 
cannot lay claim to be anything more than a fair- 
weather locality for Plums. It may illustrate this 
point more clearly if I state that for twenty years we 
never saw fruit upon young nursery trees of Pond’s 
Seedling, at Chilwell, whilst this year, at Lowdham, 
although an unfavourable spring, three-year feathered 
standards were roped with fruit; also untrimmed 
standards of Brussels and Brompton Plums, used for 
stocks, carried fruit, which I have never seen any but 
old-established trees do at Chilwell. 
Our neighbours made an excellent price of their 
Plums and Damsons, the latter realising the comfort¬ 
able price of 3s. per peck of 18 lbs—in 1877 we sold 
Damsons at 11s. 6d. per peck, but the crop was so 
thin that they did not pay very well even at that 
price. Speaking of pecks, is it not absurd that 
although these measures are supposed to be 
abolished, each local market, not to leave out 
London which heads the list in these absurdities, has 
its own terms of pecks, bushels, baskets, sieves, 
pots, and whatnot, the meaning, or rather weight, of 
which not one person in a dozen living in the district 
understands, and still fewer out of it ? For example : 
a housekeeper in Nottingham buys a peck of Potatos 
and receives 20 lbs. If she weighs her purchase and 
subsequentiy buys a peck of Pears or Plums she 
thinks they are short weight, because they only 
weigh 18 lbs. a peck, Apples 16 lbs., Black Currants 
14 lbs., Beans 9 lbs., Peas 8 lbs. 
What idea do these quotations of pecks, pots, and 
others, convey to the intelligent grower in another 
county who is trying to study our market’s prices ? 
Our old-fashioned tons, hundredweights, quarters 
and pounds, are somewhal cumbersome as compared 
to the metric system of our continental neighbours, 
but these local measures and weights for fruits, corn, 
and other things, are “confusion confounded.” 
Pears this season were generally a failure, and the 
French producers must have had a good time if they 
received anything like a share of the 2$d. each for 
which very ordinary Williams’ Bon Chretiens were 
retailed in our shops. Strange to say, as soon as 
home-grown fruit came in (certainly within a fort¬ 
night) better Williams’ Bon could be bought at 3d, 
per lb.; what a profit to the grower would have 
resulted from the use of a tiny bit of thin blue paper 
wrapped around each fruit ! 
Apples in the Midlands have been almost an 
average crop; some varie'dos,indeed, have produced 
a heavy crop. I wish someone who has the time 
to study such things would tell us why certain 
varieties almost always pull through the worst of 
spring weather, whilst others alongside, in bloom at 
the same time, quite as constantly succumb. One of 
our leading nurserymen once told us that the hardy 
varieties were those in which the petals were 
incurved, but the little observation I have given to 
this point does not quite bear this out, and I think 
the reason is still to seek. 
If there is one fact which stands out more 
prominently than another in respect to the fruit crop 
of 1899, it is that the British gardener can, despite 
the weather, produce a sample of hardy fruits which 
it would puzzle any other portion of the world to 
excel. Every visitor to the Crystal Palace Show 
must have been amazed to find that, with all the talk 
of failure of crops, cold, ungenial spring, and 
burning, droughty summer, the fruit exhibited was 
really splendid. When one tries calmly to carry 
one’s mind back to the Apple and Pear Congress of 
1888 and the samples of Apples and Pears which 
were then exhibited and considered good, one cannot 
but marvel at the enormous progress which has been 
made in the production of fine fruit. I venture to 
say that many market samples from young and well 
cared for orchards of to-day are far superior to the 
picked fruit which was exhibited at the Conference 
in 1888. 
It would be difficult to exaggerate the value of the 
Apple and Pear Congress, the great Guildhall Show, 
and the subsequent Crystal Palace Shows from an 
educational point of view, and I am sure you will 
agree that the effect they have had in stimulating 
growers to produce better fruit has been simply 
marvellous. To many visitors at the earlier shows 
the fruit exhibited was a revelation; they had no 
idea such fruits could be produced in the open, still 
less had they any thought that such fruits could be 
grown anywhere except in favoured Kent and Devon ; 
and yet to-day the Midland exhibitors stage fruits 
superior to the best seen in 1888, whilst our friends 
from Maidstone, Exmouth, Bassaleg, Hereford, and 
other places have made still further progress in 
excellency. 
This march of progress is a matter of congratula¬ 
tion to all, for it is undoubtedly only by the produc¬ 
tion of fine fruit of high quality that we can hope to 
command our home markets, or to make fruit 
growing a commercial success. That our exhibitors 
can much improve upon the results already obtained 
with our present varieties of fruits we can scarcely 
hope, nor can we expect that market growers can 
quite attain the high level at which our friend Mr. 
Woodward, of Barham Court, stands ; but some of 
them are close upon his heels, and when one looks 
back upon the market samples of fifteen years ago 
and tries to compare them with the best of to-day 
one can but rejoice. I say the best of to-day, for 
unfortunately there is still a fearful amount of 
rubbish sent to market, but its day is over, and it 
must soon be a thing of the past, from the simple 
fact that the public will not buy it at any price, and 
the only market open for it is the " smasher,” by 
which term I suppose you will recognise the jam 
maker, who uses these small fruit as a basis upon 
which to make several kinds of jam, which are not 
always sold under the name of Apples. Our local 
growers have been making from 40s. to 55s. per ton 
of small Apples sent to the jam factory, but they do 
not like the price, and many of them are now 
planting orchards of bush fruits on cultivated land, 
and intend shortly to lay to the axe in the old 
orchards to provide some Christmas fuel. 
I must apologise for having wandered somewhat 
from my subject, but I have been preaching improve¬ 
ment in fruit growing for so many years now that I 
find it difficult to keep away from a matter which is, 
after all, slightly connected with the fruit crop of 
1899, nor can one help rejoicing when one sees the 
improvement which has been already effected, for 
the question is one of no mean importance or narrow 
bounds. 
Seeing that during the past fourteen years we have 
imported no less than 55,727,756 bushels of Apples, 
valued at £15,726,476, the question is of some im¬ 
portance financially, especially when we see that the 
imports are rapidly increasing, and that the average 
price is higher during the latter half of the period 
than it was during the first seven years. This shows 
that the taste for fruit is increasing ; a fact which is 
