300 
THE GARDENING WORLD 
January 6, 1900 
plants for the next year’s supply of Strawberries at 
Syon House have been snugly placed in the ground 
on which they are to fruit. Every chance is thus 
given to them. The ground is richly manured, in¬ 
deed, heavily manured both below and above, being 
ikewise deeply worked. The soil, be it noted, is a 
remarkably light, sandy loam. It follows then that 
a visitor to the place under note, in the middle of 
December, particularly after such a mild autumn as 
this has been, must necessarily see very large plants. 
As a matter cf fact this was the case. The finer of 
the samples, planted in August, I believe, had now 
developed to a breadth of i ft. across. The "crowns” 
of the plants are very strong, and the foliage and 
general build of the plants sturdy, so that it need not 
be imagined that long leaf-stalks span out to make a 
massive diameter. The number forced is 5,000 
annually. Mr. Wythes does not like, in fact, con¬ 
demns, the practice of stacking up the plants and 
covering them over with ashes as a means of econo¬ 
mising space For the earliest forcing, La Grosse 
Su:ree is the favoured variety. 
Indoor Fruits. 
Vines sprouting early in December are not a sight 
to see in an every day walk. Yet such was seen in a 
low range of sunken lean-to pits facing south. These, 
of course, supply Grapes by the end of March and 
beginning of April. What a task it is when one 
comes to think it over—Grapes in March. He who 
has this to do, also has to keep the supply forth¬ 
coming throughout the twelve months. To be able 
to do it is an honour, even though it causes grey 
hairs. Following upon these earliest pits are other 
houses which had been started in December. A 
large quantity of Vine eyes are yearly propagated, 
and are grown on in the usual way, being cut down 
in November and rested. In February of the next 
year they are shifted into their fruitiog pots, and a 
crop taken that year. Heavy crops are borne by all 
the younger canes, and so hard is the pressure for 
fresh Grapes that whenever a cane begins to decline 
from heavy yields, a fresher one has to be installed. 
When the first crop has been taken from the two- 
year-olds, in pots, they are sometimes planted out in 
low lean-to pits for early forcing. Thus the 
system is seen to be one whereby vigorous young 
canes are brought on to supply the early returns. 
Winter fruiting Cucumbers were in very fine con¬ 
dition. No pinching, or at least only that which is 
absolutely necessary, is done. 
Tomatos. 
Classing these with the indoor fruiting plants, it may 
also be said that Tomatos have to be kept going all 
the year. I saw numbers in the process of ripening, 
and a large houseful of sturdy young plants just at 
the flowering stage which will fruit early in the New 
Year. These were sown in September, their sturdy 
appearance in a temperature of 65° or so, being ex 
plained by the fact that they had been grown in the 
open air for as long a period as it was safe to leave 
them. The variety used is Syon House, the result 
of a cross between Conference and Ham GreeD, both 
of them capital Tomatos and favourites, too. As a 
further addition to plants in “ fruit,” the forced 
Kidney Beans may be noticed. A dish or two of the 
pods (fruits) are relished for the Christmas dinners, 
and being the acme of luxury they are the more 
demanded. But only those who have to provide 
supplies during the short, gloomy days, know how 
much care is wanted to do so. The plants do fairly 
well once the days begin to lengthen, and the arti¬ 
ficial heat above and below is ample. Bottom heat 
is recommended as a necessary factor, the plants 
even being placed over the hot water pipes for the 
sake of encouraging root growth. Mr. Wythes’ 
system is to sow the seeds at once into the fruiting 
pots, which are 6 in. in diameter. Top-dressing he 
does not adhere to, and upon principle, but he advo¬ 
cates feeding by means of liquid manure. The 
plants just fruiting were sown about the end of 
October. Fogs did a lot of damage, however, by 
causing showers of the flowers to drop. The Octo¬ 
ber to December plants never produce full crops, 
from the causes stated. The old variety, Mohawk, 
has been found best from among something like a 
dozen others tried for December supplies. 
Of the Banana plants, some in tubs, and some 
planted out, there is matter for no comment. A fine 
healthy stock is in hand. 
The Vanilla is not seen as a fruiting plant in many 
of our gardens, but at Syon it is made use of. The 
pods take nine months to mature for use, so that one 
might hope for something " extra special ” when 
they do yield a return. 
Plant Houses. 
In the houses there are so many points of cultural 
interest, &c., to glean, that it would necessitate a 
longer article than the present to fully notice them. 
Malmaison and Tree Carnations have recently been 
strongly favoured by the Duchess, and to meet the 
desire the head gardener now cultivates these by the 
thousand. The plants, which are presented in all 
stages, are sturdy and free from disease so far as 
passing scrutiny made evident. I had almost 
written that they were clean, but Mr. Wythes has 
discovered that a little soot among water is a capital 
preventive of fungus and insect attacks when 
occasionally syringed over the foliage. However, 
soot upon the foliage is easier to remove than disease 
within the plant tissues. Very carefully is the oper¬ 
ation of watering gone about. Specimen Heliotropes 
for winter flowering are other features of Syon 
which one should like to see indulged in more 
liberally in other gardens. Heliotropes are very 
valuable as winter or spring pot plants. Eupatori- 
ums in wonderfully small pots were also seen to be 
favoured. The houses of Orchids, more or less 
those of the cool temporature section, are grown in 
quantity to suit demands; and the Cattleyas can 
likewise be furnished in goodly array. One need 
only refer to the Temple Show groups of these which 
Mr. Wythes exhibits in the spring to prove that they 
are up to the high standard mark. The little 
Pinguicula caudata, a curious subject to succeed 
with at times, gladdened us with its tall stalks bear¬ 
ing the pinky blooms. Probably the 
Nepenthes House 
is one of the finest of the plant structures at Syon. 
This class of plants has a peculiar fascination for 
Mr. W., and his taste is one I would follow. Insect¬ 
ivorous plants are full of interest, and it is one of the 
sad things in horticulture that they, with many 
members of the Cactus tribe, which again forms a 
distinctive but highly interesting class of plants, do 
not become established in the popular regard. As 
things are at present we may as well abstain from 
further comments on this grand collection. Most of 
the finer species and varieties are represented, the 
whole appearance of the houseful being splendid. 
On many of the plants there was simply no room for 
more leaves or " pitchers." The numerous other 
plant houses and conservatories were each in capital 
trim. 
A look in at the fruit room, which is papered 
both on the ceiling and walls with prize caids, not a 
few of which bore the words Gold Medal, and also a 
flying visit to the young gardeners’ reading room and 
library, terminated the visit. The latter adjunct 
deserves high commentary. What a treasure for 
the industrious young "Adam,” in having every 
volume of the Encyclopaedia Britannica to refer to, 
and with most of the standard horticultural works, 
papers, and funds of good novelistic literature all at 
hand— Havrhon, D. 
CARROT AND ONION GROUND. 
Carrots and Onions are such favourite vegetables 
that (here is no gardener but has tried to make 
these two crops an annual success And they re¬ 
quire a deal of catering for. If one’s soil is agree¬ 
able, some pest is more than likely to come in its un¬ 
welcome visitation, and if pests are absent for a 
season, that season generally may be set down as 
a phenomenally dry one, or erratic in one or other of 
its several climatical items. That the soil has a 
great influence on the ultimate results of the crop 
goes without challenge. Many vegetables have no 
decided regard for any special class, or mechanical 
condition of soil. Not so with Carrots and Onions. 
For them special beds have to be prepared, and it 
is with the desire that the proper preparation of 
these beds may be seen to while there is yet good 
good time,that the present notice is penned. Both like 
rich and pirous soils. The first is a tap-rooted 
vegetable, the latter is a bulb. Both store up nutri¬ 
ment in the portions which we use for our nourish¬ 
ment. Both can be grown, and, of course, as a 
rule they are, as annuals, but strictly they are 
biennials. 
In the case of the tap-rooting vegetable, it would 
at first seem that the land in which it grew would 
require to be very much more deeply worked than 
that from which the spreading rooted Onions drew 
strength. Yet we cannot have rich and porous land 
with lasting qualities of goodness, fit also to supply 
a steady drain of moisture and fatness, unless the 
larder is larger, unless the land is deep and uni¬ 
formly stocked. Onion roots penetrate to a depth of 
many feet. Thus without doubt the land for both 
crops requires most thorough preparation. Having 
trenched the areas to a depth of 3 ft., and having 
enriched the lower strata with easily decomposable 
farmyard muck, all other ingredients for fertility, 
which as often as not are misused, may be collected 
in preparation for a surface dressing, latterly to be 
forked in. 
For both cases soot is a capital natural fertiliser ; 
a dash of gas-lime, just a mere dusting of the surface, 
proves helpful in more ways than one ; spent Mush¬ 
room dung from old beds is generally in too scanty 
quantity to be liberally employed ; still, so much as 
can be spared ought to be used. For heavy soils, 
secure a few tons, say ten tons per acre, of road 
scrapings. It may not be at all times easy to lay 
hold of so much. The plan followed by ourselves is 
to stack the road-parings, scrapings, and trimmings 
in certain convenient stations on our own estate at 
those parts where it borders the highway. When 
left for a year or two such a stack is very valuable 
to us. 
On the other hand, if the soil is very light, use up 
the leaf mould and as much sappy dung as can be 
supplied. These may one and all be evenly spread 
abroad and forked, or lightly dug into the ground as 
soon as convenient, The gas-lime is not in quantity 
enough to do any harm, especially if it has a week’s 
exposure. When the land has been thus enriched 
in the surface spit, such further top-dressings as can 
be given by applications of wood ashes,burnbake (old 
potting and border soil, &c., burned); and the 
sweepings from hen-houses and pigeon cotes are 
additional ingredients whose use will make a very 
rich body into which the roots will revel. Onions like 
a very firm bed ; Carrots a moderately firm bed. 
As an artificial fertiliser for the Onion bed the 
following admixture has been recommended as of 
specia value:—1 cwt. of sulphate of potash, 2 cwts. 
of superphosphate, and f cwt. of nitrate of soda per 
acre. Carrots enjoy a little more potash. It is to 
be recommended that gardeners buy and mix their 
own artificial fertilisers, genuineness and economy 
are thus made pretty certain. Dustings and hoeings 
between the growing crops add greatly to their on¬ 
ward growth. The best preventives against droughty 
seasons and their ill effects lie in deep tillage, the 
incorporation of humic material such as leaf mould 
and dung, and steady, constant surface hoeing. To 
prevent insect attacks the very safest mode of pro¬ 
tection is that of raising the seedlings early, so as to 
be too tough before the particular pests bestir them¬ 
selves.— L. A. IV. 
Hardening Miscellany. 
CULINARY PEA, GRADUS. 
Such resumes upon vegetable trials by private 
growers from over the breadth and length of the land, 
as was given by Mr. William Carmichael in his refer¬ 
ence note on dwarf Kitchen Peas, in your paper last 
week, p. 285, are always useful to those of us who 
are now making out our season's seed orders. I can 
endorse all he says in regard to the first seven 
varieties he mentions, but surely Mr. Carmichael has 
not the true Gradus to have given it such a denuncia¬ 
tion. From my own experience of the variety, and 
from the opinions of other growers, Gradus has 
always proved a favourite, and stands high. It varies 
but little on different kinds of soil, coming in as a 
second early. The pods are large, well filled, borne 
heavily, and the habit of the plant quite as good as 
that of William Hurst, Chelsea Gem, Daisy, or 
Stratagem, its height beiDg three feet. According to 
a connoisseur upon the flavour of peas, Gradus re¬ 
presents the pink of perfection. If Mr. Carmichael’s 
other varieties did well, one ought to expect that the 
true Gradus would not have failed in the manner he 
states.— Surprised. 
WATER LILIES IN ARRANGEMENTS. 
In the December issue of Tijdschri/t Voor Tuinbouw 
there appears two illustrations representing the great 
adaptability of the Water Lilies, particularly the 
White Water Lily, for purposes of floral decora 
