268 
JOURNAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER. 
March  29.  1900. 
early  to  maturity.  When  we  start  out  with  the  idea  that  over-ripening 
is  the  cause  of  the  trouble,  we  are  met  with  the  signidcant  fact  that 
the  highest  and  best  ripened  portion  of  the  trees  are  least  affected. 
“  W.  S.”  has  shown  that  in  his  case  at  any  rate  his  trees  have  been 
comparatively  immune  through  the  dry  season,  and  want  of  water 
should  by  all  reasonable  deduction  have  produced  one  of  the  worst 
seasons  on  record. 
Yet  with  all  this  seemingly  contradictory  evidence  there  can,  I 
think,  be  little  doubt  that  the  more  carefully  the  trees  are  cultivated 
and  the  closer  the  attention  paid  to  the  likes  and  dislikes  of  individual 
sorts  the  less  likely  is  bud-dropping  to  be  a  serious  trouble.  Therefore 
avoid  overcropping  and  starvation  as  much  as  overfeeding  with  its 
attendant  grossness  of  growth.  Avoid,  too,  the  slopping  about  of 
pailfuls  of  water  early  in  the  season  and  the  drenching  two  or  three 
times  daily  with  the  syringe  whether  the  weather  is  fine  or  wet.  Lay 
in  only  suflBoient  wood  to  form  a  well  furnished  tree,  so  that  the  light 
plays  as  equally  as  possible  in  all  parts  of  it,  and  keep  the  foliage 
clean. 
This  advice  has  been  given  many  times  in  the  Journal,  but  unfor¬ 
tunately  it  is  not  often  followed  in  its  entirety.  Again  I  would  like 
to  see  those  practical  men  whom  one  often  meets  at  shows  and  in  their 
gardens,  coming  out  of  their  shell  and  letting  readers  have  the  benefit 
of  their  own  experience. — H.  -E.,  Coldham  Hall,  Bury  St.  Edmunds, 
- - ^ ^ - 
Market  Gardening  in  Soutli  Africa. 
The  market  gardener  is  to  a  considerable  extent  a  yet  unknown 
quantity  in  South  Africa.  In  the  Transvaal  this  is  especially  the  case. 
There  has  always  been  a  good  market  for  all  kinds  of  garden  pro¬ 
duce  in  Johannesburg,  but  the  demand  has  invariably  been  greater 
ihan  the  supply.  The  same  remark  applies  to  most  of  the  towns  and 
villages  in  South  Africa,  with  the  exception  of  Cape  Town,  and  here 
vegetables  such  as  Cabbage,  Peas,  Beans,  and  Tomatoes  can  be 
obtained  at  reasonable  prices.  In  Natal  the  “  market  gardens  ”  are 
almost  entirely  in  the  hands  of  the  coolies.  Tliese  people  were 
originally  brought  over  from  India  under  indentures  to  work  on  the 
railways  for  a  certain  number  of  years. 
After  their  period  of  service  expired  they  took  up  plots  on  the  land 
between  Durban  and  Pietermaritzburg.  They  have  turned  their 
attention  principally  to  fruit  and  keep  the  market  well  supplied  with 
Bananas  and  Pine  Apples,  which  can  generally  be  bought  at  the  rate  of 
2s.  per  100  for  the  former,  and  six  for  a  shilling  of  the  latter.  They  are 
not  market  gardeners  in  reality,  though  they  are  called  so.  Chinamen 
are  popularly  supposed  to  be  excellent  market  gardeners,  at  least  this 
is  the  opinion  held  in  Australia  and  the  Pacific  coast.  Some  of  these 
people  have  at  times  settled  down  in  the  Colonies  and  started  gardens, 
but  Europeans  in  Africa  will  have  no  dealings  with  them,  and  they 
have  had  to  turn  their  attention  to  trading  with  the  natives. 
The  Boers  as  a  rule  live  on  Pumpkins.  This  is  their  one  vegetable 
food.  Pumpkins  are  no  trouble  to  grow,  they  are  also  no  trouble  to 
prepare  for  the  table,  and  it  is  hard  to  enter  a  Boer  homestead  at  the 
dinner  hour  without  finding  this  vegetable  on  the  table.  Pumpkin  is 
very  well  in  its  way,  but  Englishmen  soon  tire  of  it  and  look  for 
others,  which  as  a  rule  they  cannot  get.  On  the  mines  along  the 
Witwatersrand  reef  the  great  difficulty  the  men  had  to  contend  with 
was  the  absence  of  all  green  food.  Mahy  of  these  mines  employed  as 
many  as  five  or  six  hundred  Europeans,  and  it  is  not  going  beyond 
the  mark  to  say  that  the  white  men  oh  the  reef  would  have  disposed 
of  enough  garden  produce  to  have  kept  dozens  of  gardeners  busy,  but 
no  attempt  was  ever  made  to  supply  them.  The  writer  lived  on  one 
occasion  for  about  a  year  on  a  mine  situated  about  ten  miles  from 
Johannesburg,  and  during  that  period  the  only  vegetable  he  partook 
of,  leaving  the  inevitable  Pumpkin  on  one  side,  were  of  the  potted 
variety. 
After  the  present  “  difficulty  ”  is  satisfactorily  settled,  there  will 
be  great  openings  for  qualified  market  gardeners  in  Africa.  The  climate 
is  all  that  could  be  desired.  Labour  is  cheap,  natives  can  be  engaged  to 
work  for  15s.  a  month,  and  their  food ;  the  latter  consisting  of  maize 
with  an  occasional  supply  of  meat,  costs  very  little.  With  a  growing 
population,  ever  increasing  markets  will  be  opening  up  in  all  the  large 
towns  and  villages  of  the  colonies  and  the  Transvaal.  A  few  years 
ago  an  expert  travelled  through  the  country  districts  of  the  Cape  and 
Natal  giving  lectures  on  dairy  farming.  This  gentleman  was  despatched 
on  this  errand  by  the  Government,  and  the  farmers  came  in  in  numbers 
to  listen  to  him  and  to  ask  his  advice,  since  which  a  great  improvement 
in  the  supply  of  dairy  produce  has  been  noticeable.  The  market 
gardener,  however,  has  been  altogether  neglected. — D.  G.  R. 
[It  is  certain  that  the  opinion  expressed  above  will  be  justified  by 
the  development  of  a  market  gardening  industry  in  the  neighbourhood 
intervening  between  Johannesburg  and  Pretoria,  which  lie  some  fifty 
miles  apart.  There  the  marvels  witnessed  at  Melbourne  and  San 
E rancisco  during  the  second  decade  of  their  existence — 1860-1870 — are 
sure  of  being  reproduced,  so  that  ten  years  hence  a  population  of  some 
1  wo  hundred  thousand  or  more  will  be  crying  for  fresh  vegetable  food 
during  the  summer  months.  The  demand  for  Peas,  Cauliflowers, 
Cabbages,  Tomatoes,  Melons,  Potatoes  and  Brussels  Sprouts  will  be 
enormous.  But  intending  emigrants  should  recollect  that,  compared 
with  England,  it  is  an  arid  land,  and  the  soil  can  only  be  kept  moist 
and  friable  during  the  winter  and  spring  months  by  continual  watering 
or  even  irrigation,  if  good  results  in  market  garden  produce  are  to  be 
obtained.  Then  with  the  summer  come  swamping  thunderstorms  and 
often  astounding  hailstorms,  which  destroy  unprotected  vegetables  and 
fruits. 
Hence  the  newcomer  must  have  a  little  capital  if  he  wishes  to 
se  cure  the  first  fruits  of  the  new  condition  of  things.  So  wonderful, 
however,  are  the  productive  properties  of  the  soil  when  plentifully 
irrigated,  that  a  skilful  cultivator  will  rapidly  reap  the  reward  of  his 
labours  in  the  matter  of  produce,  while  for  the  first  half  a  dozen  years 
prices  Will  undoubtedly  rule  high.  It  may  be  said  that  in  mining 
communities  market  gardening  is  the  one  industry  which  is  not  over¬ 
done.  Moreover,  the  Rand  is  not  in  the  nature  of  a  precarious 
alluvial  mining  camp,  but  a  centre  of  solid  wealth,  which  will  attract 
the  class  of  luxurious  persons  who  consume  fresh  food  in  large 
quantities.  Pastoral  farmers  like  the  Boers  and  isolated  miners 
gradually  learn  to  dispense  with  fresh  butter,  cream,  milk,  and 
vegetables.  In  countries  such  as  Australia  and  South  Africa  there  is 
no  verdant  landscape  or  dairy  farming  scenery,  and  “  a  farm  ”  is  the 
last  place  at  which  to  procure  the  aforesaid  necessaries  of  European  life. 
These  things  are  only  developed  within  easy  distance  of  the  most 
populous  districts — one  of  which  the  Rand  is  certain  to  become.] 
Spring  Flowers. 
To  many  persons  the  spring  of  the  year  is  the  most  pleasing  of 
all  the  seasons,  and  one  can  scarcely  be  surprised  that  this  is  the 
case.-  The  lover  of  Nature,  the  lover  of  flowers,  the  lover  of  trees  has 
then  the  opportunity  of  seeing  all  these  things  clothed  in  their 
tenderest  garb,  which  appeals  to  them  more  than  the  profusion  of 
summer  or  the  rich  full  tones  of  the  autumn  colours.  There  are  few 
gardens  indeed  where  the  spring  does  not  bring  in  addition  to  its 
bountiful  promises  a  certain  number  of  flowers,  and  there  are  none  at 
any  period  of  the  year  or  in  any  position  in  the  garden  that  are  more 
beautiful  than  these.  They  are  not  as  a  rule  of  pretentious  charms, 
but  tend  rather  to  a  purity  and  modesty  that  appeal  with  irresistible 
force  to  the  tastes  of  the  reflned. 
Where  is  the  gardener,  be  he  amateur  or  professional,  who  does 
not  delight  in  wandering  round  his  garden,  peering  into  nooks  and 
corners  for  the  anticipated  flowers  ?  The  garden  may  be  simply  a 
narrow  straight  border  in  a  confined  back  yard,  or  the  gardens  and 
grounds  of  some  princely  domain  ;  in  both  are  the  same  keen  desire,  the 
same  eagerness,  to  find  first  the  harbingers  of  spring  and  then  the 
blossoms,  telling  us  in  floral  language  that  spring  has  come.  Hundreds 
of  thousands  of  flower^  are  thus  sought  for  by  those  interested  in  horti¬ 
culture  throughout  the  length  and  breadth  of  the  British  Isles. 
Our  pleasure  in  this  pursuit  is  added  to  immensely  by  the  vagaries 
of  the  climate,  with  its  many  rapid  changes,  that  carry  us  from 
sunshine  to  gloom,  from  calm  to  storm  in  the  space  of  a  few  short 
hours.  Every  gardener  knows  that  we  scarcely  have  two  seasons  alike, 
whereas  in  many  other  lands  the  seasons  come  and  go  with  the 
regularity  of  the  tides,  and  each  succeeding  one  is  largely  a  counter¬ 
part  of  its  corresponding  predecessor.  Though  these  extreme  varia¬ 
tions  cause  us  many  an  hour  of  trouble,  they  nevertheless  add  a  meed 
to  our  enjoyment  in  bringing  us  constant  surprises,  for  to  a  great 
extent  we  never  know  what  the  next  day  may  bring  forth.  We  find 
the  swelling  bud,  and  speculate  as  to  its  complete  expansion,  but  our 
estimate  is  not  always  correct.  We  have  all  seen  the  bud  that  wants 
the  sun’s  genial  influence  for  only  a  few  hours*  rest  in  the  same 
condition  for  day  after  day,  and  almost  week  after  week.  By  this  very 
uncertainty,  then,  I  say  again,  is  added  a  zest  to  our  appreciation, 
and  a  greater  power  to  enjoy  our  treasures  when  they  come.  We 
Englishmen  can  yield  to  none  in  our  power  to  appreciate  the  beauties 
of  Nature  as  found  in  the  field,  the  hedgerow,  the  garden,  and 
the  wood. 
If  the  enthusiastic  hardy  plant  lover  could  in  a  few  days  during 
spring  visit  different  places  in  the  British  Isles,  with  their  varied 
conditions,  what  a  plethora  of  beauty  he  would  find.  Plants  that  in 
