March 9, 1901. 
THE GARDENING WORLD 
435 
Barr’s New Dwarf Marrowfat Pea, “The 
Herald.” —A verv valuable addition to our early Peas, 
comiog in with TP illiam the First andcther earliest round 
Peas, and bearing a profusion of large, well-filled pods, 
i ontalning 8 to io Peas of fine flavour ; sturdy, branching 
habit; ht. ioins. to I2ins. Per pint, 3/6. 
Barr’s Lightning Runner Bean.— A remarkably pro¬ 
lific Runner Bean, and the earliest of all, bearing numerous 
heavy clusters of long, fleshy pods of a fine delicate 
flavour ; a valuable acquisition. Per quart, 2/6. 
Barr’s Covent Garden Beet.— Medium sized roots, 
dark crimson flesh, fine flavour. Per packet, 6d.; per 
oz., 1/3. 
Barr’s Champion Broccoli.— A magnificent Broccoli 
with fine, well-protected, snowy-white heads. Sow April 
and May for a succession. Per packet, 1 /-; per oz., 2/6. 
Barr’s Little Queen Cabbage.— A fine little Cabbage 
of de'icateflavour ; highly recommended. Per packet, 6d.; 
per oz , 1/6. 
Barr’s Champion Solid White Celery.— Solid and 
sweet, remaining long in condition. Per packet, 1/- & 2/6. 
Barr’s Paragon Cabbage-Lettuce.— Light green, 
leavrs smooth and succulent, compact medium size, all 
heart, sweet and tender. Per packet, j/-; per oz., 2/6. 
Barr’s Pride of the Market Cucumber.— A grand 
Cucumber with handsome dark green fruit of fine form ; 
an all-the-year-rouncl variety. Per packet, 1/6. 
Barr’s Thick-Fleshed Tomato.— Surpassing all others 
in depth of fruit, solidity of flesh, and heavy cropping 
qualities; the fruit is large and smooth, bright scarlet, 
and of fine flavour. Perpacket, 1/-. 
BARR’S SEED GUIDE contains a select list of the best 
vegetables and the most beautiful flowers for garden and 
greenhouse. It is full cf practical hints, and will be found 
Invaluable to gardeners, amateurs, and exhibitors. Sent free 
on application. _ 
BARR & SONS, 
11,12 & 13, King Street, Covent Garden, London. 
Nurseries: LONG 0ITT0N, nr. Surbiton, SURREY. 
Fruit and Vegetables 
Build up Life 
AND 
Maintain the World. 
It is therefore absolutely important that all should 
have the best Seeds and Varieties, 
H. CANNELL & SONS, 
SWAN LEY, KENT, 
have proved over and over again by their crops and 
by their numerous exhibits and medals awarded for 
many years besides other indisputable evidence that 
their own Kentish Grown Golden Seeds are the 
purest and most perfect in Europe, and bring forth 
the best crops of any. 
Should Seed Catalogue not have reached our Customers, 
please intimate. 
OLD CUSTOMERS. 
The following must surely convey pure, genuine 
and truthful evidence as to who supplies the best 
CHRYSANTHEMUMS. 
Mr. . 7 . BOND, The Gardens, 
Olantigli Toivers, Wye, Kent. 
Dec. 6 th, 1900 . 
“ I will thank you to send on the following 88 Chrysanth¬ 
emums. Those you sent me last year brought me such 
splendid blooms, and gave the best I ever had." 
Mr. F. THORNTON, The Gardens, 
Boothby Hall, Lincoln. 
Dec. 6 tl\ 1900 . 
" I am sure you will be pleased to hear those varieties 
0) Chrysanthemums you sent me last year enabled me to 
carry off at our two largest shows, five firsts at the one and 
three firsts at the other, also premier for Incurves. Of 
course you are aware I have exhibited with similar result 
noiv tor many years from what you have sent me." 
PLEASE CORRESPOND— 
H. Cannell & Sons, Swanley. 
VEITCHS’ 
NEW POTATOS. 
SYON HOUSE PROLIFIC. 
AWARD OF MERIT, R.H.S. 
This new variety may be classed as one of the 
best late kinds of recent introduction. It is an 
excellent keeper and a most abundant cropper. 
Per 14 lbs., 4/-. 
“Potato, Syon House Prolific.— I am 
pleased to say that as regards quantity and quality 
the results are very satisfactory. Last winter I con¬ 
sidered it one of the best cooking Potatos.— 
A. W." The Garden, October 14th, 1898. 
THE MAJOR. 
AWARD OF MERIT, R.H.S. 
This splendid addition to the second early 
varieties is an abundant cropper ; the tubers are 
kidney-shaped, large, with russet skin, and both 
at Chiswick and in our own trials have shown no 
signs of disease. 
Per 14 lbs., 4/ . 
DEVONIAN. 
AWARD OF MERIT, R.H.S. 
.A most promising mid-season or late variety, 
producing a heavy crop of kidney-shaped tubers 
of medium size, very floury when cooked, and of 
delicious flavour. 
Per 14 lbs., 3/-. 
leovnCj 
1 Gardening is the purest of human pleasures, and the greates 
refreshment to the spirit of man "— Bacon. 
Edited by J. FRASER, F.L.S., F.R.H.S. 
SATURDAY, MARCH gth, 1901. 
The Editorial and Publishing Offices are 
now removed to 4, Dorset Buildings, 
Salisbury Square, Fleet St., London. 
Editorial matters are to be addressed to 
the Editor. 
All other communications and Remit¬ 
tances must be addressed direct to the 
Proprietors— 
HIGKS, WILKINSON & SEARS. 
NEXT WEEK’S ENGAGEMENTS. 
Monday, March nth,—United Horticultural Benefit and 
Provident Society’s Annual Meeting at the Caledonian 
Hotel. 
Tuesday, March I2tb.— Royal Horticultural Society's Meeting. 
T>olli nation in Orchards. —After a 
favourable summer to develop and a 
dry autumn to ripen the wood and plump 
up the flower buds, gardeners, as a rule, are 
satisfied with the prospect of an abundant 
fruit crop in the following season, provided 
the blossom is not injured nor destroyed by 
late frosts in spring. All these amenities 
are, of course, necessary preliminaries to an 
abundant harvest, but even “with all 
appliances and means to boot ” the crops 
may be more or less of a failure from some 
cause or other not always readily determin¬ 
able. The causes at work are really very 
complex. These are the kind and quality 
of the soil, the heat and moisture or other¬ 
wise of the growing season and the district 
in which the trees may be grown, over 
which the cultivator has no control, Top 
and root pruning, and, to a certain extent, 
pollination, are causes or agencies which an 
intelligent gardener may control. The last 
named aspect of the case is the object to 
be discussed in these notes. 
Apples, Pears, Plums, Cherries and other 
fruit trees may be loaded with blossom so 
that the orchard or plantationsmay look like 
so many woods or groves of snowy or pink 
blossom, as the case may be, and theweather 
at the time of blossoming may be all that 
could be desired and yet the trees may be 
relatively or more or less completely un¬ 
fruitful after the fall of the blossom. 
Investigations into the various causes which 
contribute to this result have ior the last 
four years been a self imposed task by the 
professors, or more particularly by Mr. S. 
W. Fletcher, of the Extension Work de¬ 
partment of the Cornell University, Ithaca, 
New York ; and the results of three years’ 
investigations are recorded in Bulletin 181. 
Mr. Fletcher commences his report by the 
statement that “ not all the flowers can set.” 
Just why this should be is not easy to 
determine except, perhaps, that Nature 
produces a superabundance of flowers so as 
to favour the chances of pollination in spite 
of the many adverse circumstances to which 
the trees may be subject. Only a small 
percentage of the blossom sets even under 
favourable circumstances in the case of the 
most productive varieties. This, however, 
is immaterial seeing that even then the 
fruits may require thinning if fruits of good 
size and form are desired. Should all the 
blossoms upon a tree give rise to fruits the 
labour and expense of thinning them on the 
part of the cultivator would be greatly 
multiplied. Out of 4,725 untouched 
blossoms on Apples, Pears, PJums and 
Apricots under observation, only 617 fruits 
set, or about one for every eight blossoms. 
Moreover, the blossoms were apparently 
uninjured by winter and the weather was 
favourable for the setting of the fruits. The 
wholesale failure of fruits to set is termed 
self-sterility or self-unfruitfulness. This 
particular phase of the question is often 
confused with barrenness due to other 
causes. Some of the latter may be the 
results of (1) heavy wood growth, (2) the 
attacks of fungi, (3) frost, and (4) unfavour¬ 
able weather at the critical time of the 
blossom. 
Heavy wood growth refers to that made 
by young trees which bear very little fruit 
for some years. In Britain that statement 
would apply to certain varieties, including 
Blenheim Orange, also to trees on the 
free and Crab stocks and to trees whose 
tops are cut down disproportionately to the 
root system—all of which phases are well 
known to gardeners. Overfeeding, but par¬ 
ticularly with nitrogenousingredients, would 
also serve to stimulate wood and leaf 
growths to the detriment of the fruiting pro¬ 
clivities of the trees. Lack of vigour through 
age or starvation would, to a much greater 
extent, conduce to unfruitfulness. Fungi 
might bring about sterility directly by 
attacking and destroying the blossom, or 
indirectly by ruining the foliage and thus 
robbing the blossoms of the sources of 
sustenance. In this country Peach blister 
ruins the foliage and likewise the chances 
of a crop in this way. Apple and Pear 
scab may kill the blossoms, but more likely 
destroys the young fruits just after they are 
set; and in any case fruits that are attacked 
in their early stages never develop into per¬ 
fect samples. 
In the United States it would seem that 
the flower buds of Apples, Apricots, &c., 
are more likely to be injured by severe frost 
in winter than is the case in Britain. Here, 
the most likely time for injury from this 
