October 28, 1905. 
THE GARDENING WORLD 
841 
The Editor invites enquiries, which may cover 
any branch of gardening. Questions should be as 
brief as possible and written on one side of the 
paper only; a separate sheet of paper should be 
used for each question. Readers are invited to 
give their fellow gardeners the benefit of their 
experience by sending supplementary replies—see 4 
Prize Competitions. "• 
Replies cannot be sent by post. 
Garden Plans .—Gardeners who ivould make 
the best use of this column are invited to prepare 
and forward to us a rough outline dra Ling or plan 
of their gardens, indicating the position of beds 
and lawns, the character and height of the fence 
or wall ; position of vegetable garden, orchard, 
etc. The north side of the garden and any over¬ 
shadowing buildings should be denoted. It should 
also be stated whether the garden is flat or on a 
declivity, and all large trees should be marked. 
Particulars of the nature of the soil will also 
help us to give satisfactory replies. When such 
plans are received they will be carefully filed. y with 
the name and address oj the sender, and will be 
consulted by the Editor whenever an enquiry is sent. 
by Messrs. Bradley Bros., Mill ldane Nurseries, 
Bardney, near Lincoln. Those who have seen 
it describe it as a sort of hybrid Brussels 
Sprout. Thei seed parent was a Brussels 
Sprout. No name has yet been given to this now 
winter green, but doubtless it will receive one 
before it is put into commerce by the raisers. 
The habit of growth is good, and, what is of 
more importance, the edible portion has a 
very fine and delicate flavour, which has been 
compared to a combination of Spinach and 
Green Peas. "What that particular 1 flavour 
might be we are not in a position to say, but 
the raisers certainly think highly of it, and 
believe that it will meet with public ap¬ 
proval. The pungent odour common to most 
members of the Bvassioa tribe when being 
■cooked is said to be quite absent from this new 
vegetable. 
A Contrast 
in Species. 
SENECIO CLIVORUM AND GROUNDSEL. 
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Novelties in plant life are always interest¬ 
ing in that they present new characters, but 
a novelty of value as a garden plant needs 
also to be ornamental. Such is the case in 
the newly-introduced Senecio clivomm. Like 
so many of our recent introductions, it is a 
native of Central China. Already it has re¬ 
ceived a widespread reputation, and is now to 
be seen in many gardens. Growing in the 
herbaceous border in the gardens from which 
I write are many bold-clumps of this large 
species. Now the genus Senecio is reputedly 
the most extensive in the vegetable kingdom. 
Since there are no less than 900 species dis¬ 
persed over the whole globe, it follows that, 
the many species will differ greatly, and 
therefore require different treatment. It 
seems hard to realise that the common 
Groundsel should be of the same genus as 
the massive S. clivorum. An established 
plant of the latter would be about 5 ft. in 
height and as much through. When grown 
in a good deep loam it flourishes and produces 
very large leaves ; in fact, so large and coarse 
growing is this'Senecio, that it would he better 
grown in isolated clumps, where it could 
receive plenty of moisture. 
Coarse, but yet magnificent, when in flower 
is S. clivorum, but how does it compare with 
the common Groundsel, growing wTiei-e it 
can, so weedy and insignificant ? The latest 
comer has for many weeks past, and con¬ 
tinues still to be, a handsome sight, for it is 
flowering profusely at the time of writing 
(September 10th). 
The flowers ai'e of a bright golden yellow 
and borne well above its large leaves. Each 
flower-head would be 3 in. or 4 in. across ; it 
is the ray florets which possess the beautiful 
colouring, and these florets are not stiff and 
formal, but rather loosely borne, giving the 
flower-heads a somewhat ragged appearance. 
But what of the flower of the Groundsel ? 
It is. anything but showy,- and its ray florets 
are wanting. After all, it does not need 
them, for it is self-fertilised, and therefore 
needs no showy petals to attract insects, 
whereas S. clivorum, a showy species, depends 
on insect visitors. So fond, too, are the 
bumble-bees of this new species that I 
have in early morning often seen them still 
sleeping on the flower heads by which they 
were attracted. Herbert Cowley. 
Apple and Pear Trees. 
I propose shortly planting out about fifty fruit 
trees (Apples and Pears). Will you kindly ad¬ 
vise me through the medium of your interesting 
paper the various kinds you can recommend as 
good table fruit? Also please let me know which 
system you prefer of pruning the trees, the 
pyramid or the horizontal system of training. 
On the latter system the trees seem less exposed 
to the wind. Kindly give me the meaning of 
“on Paradise stock.” (H. J. R.) 
Your question is rather an open one, seeing 
that you do not state what number of varieties 
you would like for each. In the way of table or 
dessert Apples we can thoroughly recommend 
Allington Pippin, Blenheim Orange, Cockle’s 
Pippin, Cox’s Orange Pippin, Duchess’ Favourite, 
Golden Noble, James Grieve, Lady Sudeley, 
‘Mother (American), Mr. Gladstone (for early 
fruits), Ribston Pippin, Yellow Ingestre, 
and Worcester Pearmain. The above is 
rather a large number and not of equal 
quality, though all are excellent on account- 
either of their quality or their free-fruiting 
character. In the case of large ones mentioned, 
only the small fruits should be used for dessert. 
First-class dessert Pears are Beurre Giffard, Jar¬ 
gonelle, Williams’ Bon Chretien, Fondante 
d’Automne, Conference, Louise Bonne of Jersey, 
Marie Louise, Pitmaston Duchess, Doyenne du 
Comice, Beurre Diel, Easter Beurre, Conseiller 
de la Cour, Olivier de Serres, Josephine de 
Malines, and Beurre Ranee. The three last 
named are amongst the best of the late keeping 
Pears. All of those we have mentioned are of 
excellent quality, and differ much in flavour. 
Some of them fruit very regularly, while all of 
them are well tried and standard sorts. Pit¬ 
maston Duchess is the largest we have named, 
though there are several other large fruiting 
kinds of inferior quality. The Apples we should 
grow in the form of bushes or half standards; 
there is much less danger of the fruits being 
blown down when grown in these forms and 
planted so as to shelter cne another. Some 
people plant them very thickly in their early 
stages, and remove every other tree when they 
commence to crowd one another. This system 
of planting affords excellent shelter. We have 
not very much faith in the horizontal system of 
training, and think it only suitable, in some 
cases, for making a screen between the more 
decorative parts of a garden and the kitchen 
garden. The system has often been used for the 
training of Pears in order to prevent them from 
growing too rampantly. In recent years culti¬ 
vators have taken to the growing of Pears on 
the Quince stock, which has the effect of keeping 
the trees dwarfer and bringing them into bearing 
condition at an earlier age. Pears naturally 
grow in pyramid form, and if grown upon the 
Quince stock might very well be trained as 
pyramids. They can be planted thickly, as in 
the case of bush Apples. When certain varieties 
of Apples are said to he on the Paradise stock, it 
simply means that such varieties have been 
budded or grafted on a certain other variety, 
known as the Paradise. The Paradise simply 
relates to varieties of Apples that are well 
adapted as stocks for working better varieties 
upon. A Paradise has a great wealth of fibrous 
roots near the surface, and therefore serves to 
dwarf the varieties worked upon it, and to bring 
them into a fruiting condition at an earlier age. 
There are, however, several varieties of Paradise 
stocks, the English Paradise being the best, so 
that if you want fairly dwarf Apple trees you 
should get them upon the English Paradise. 
Likewise in the case of Pears you should get 
them on the Quince stock. 
The Use of Fowls’ Droppings. 
(1) I am troubling you again. I apologise for 
so doing, and beg that you will kindly give a 
little more of your valuable advice. How can I 
make use of fowls’ droppings to the best advan¬ 
tage on my garden? As I clean out my fowl- 
houses every few days, what can I do with the 
manure till wanted? If put in a heap the wet 
takes out all its goodness—at least, so I am told. 
(2) Also, will Clay’s fertiliser answer the same 
purpose as stable manure, as I believe it is as 
cheap as buying the latter ? (Charles A. Mttrton.) 
(1) We should use fowls’ droppings in the case 
of those vegetables which are specially benefited 
by applications of nitrogen. Usually they are 
scarce enough, and a gardener is satisfied if he 
can get sufficient to fertilise his Onion ground. 
You could, however, use it to advantage in the 
rearing of Carrots, Parsnips, Beetroot, Celery, | 
Potatos and Tomatos. In the case of most of 
these vegetables you could dig in the droppings 
previous to raking the ground and sowing the 
seeds. A fork would be sufficient to dig them in 
with, as they should be kept as near the surface as 
possible. The nitrogen they contain soon gets 
washed downwards, after becoming soluble. If 
the droppings are perfectly dry when you collect 
them they could be kept in a large box until 
wanted. We have no idea, however, of the quan¬ 
tity you are likely to collect in a course of a 
twelvemonth, and it might be advantageous to 
build a small shed, or something similar, which 
will serve to throw off the rain and keep the 
droppings dry. In private gardening establish¬ 
ments, there are usually tool and potting sheds 
where fowl and pigeon manure can be kept dry 
without having to build anything special for it. 
(2) With regard to the well-known fertiliser which 
you mention, we have no doubt it would answer 
the same purpose as stable manure in certain cases 
and for certain crops. The same statement 
would apply to various other artificial manures, 
and all are lacking in some essential which farm¬ 
yard manure can supply. Independently of its 
manurial value, farmyard manure has the pro¬ 
perty of increasing the humus in the soil and 
making light soils more retentive of moisture. 
This property is a very valuable one in the rais¬ 
ing of many crops in dry seasons. If no mamne 
is given, we presume that your soil in the course 
of a number of years would get very short of 
humus, and farmyard manure would then be bene- 
