April  12,  1930. 
JOURNAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER 
307 
Apple  Sturmer  Pippin. 
I  WAS  rather  astonished  to  read  the  depreciatory  remarks  of  “  E.,” 
page  271,  as  to  the  qualities  of  this,  with  me,  most  acceptable  and 
useful  of  all  the  late  table  Apples.  My  fruit  room  is  not  an  ideal  one, 
being  too  light  and  airy,  but  I  can  manage  to  keep  my  Sturmers  in 
fairly  good  condition  until  May,  in  which  month  they  are  my  best  table 
supply.  I  send  you  a  fruit  or  two  to  try  as  to  flavour,  and  see  the 
keeping,  not  that  it  is  necessary  to  send  you  Sturmers  to  prove 
flavour,  because  you  know  what  a  Sturmer  Apple  is  in  all  its  points  as 
well  as  anybody,  and  better  than  some,  but  that  you  may  see  and  taste 
them  again,  and  in  this  case  fruit  of  only  common  orchard  production. 
The  trees  from  which  they  were  gathered  are  some  fifty  to  sixty  years 
old,  and  year  by  year  give  us  good  crops  of  some  such  Apples  as 
sample  sent.  Late  table  Apples  are  undoubtedly  difficult  things  to 
keep,  Adam’s  Pearmain  for  one,  but  I  find  that  these  keep  best  with 
me  put  up  in  boxes,  hampers,  or  cases,  holding  say  a  bushel  or  so,  and 
kept  closely  covered  until  wanted.  I  felt  hurt  as  well  as  astonished 
at  “E.’s”  charge  against  my  favourite  Sturmer  Pippin,  that  I  have 
therefore  ventured  to  send  you  this. — N.  H.  P. 
[With  such  excellently  flavoured  specimens  as  those  you  send  we 
can  easily  understand  you  appreciate  Sturmer  Pippin.  It  is  undoubtedly 
a  variety  of  much  merit,  but  unfortunately  has  come  into  disrepute 
with  many  other  growers  besides  “  E.”  The  reason  of  this  would 
probably  not  be  easy  to  find.] 
Artificial  Manures  and  Peas. 
I  OBSERVE  that  Mr.  Udale,  in  his  Worcester  C.C.  Experimental 
Garden,  found  the  direct  application  of  a  complete  chemical  manure  in 
the  drills  with  Peas  proved  harmful.  That  was  my  experience  many 
years  ago  with  a  similar  compound,  but  when  applied  direct  in  the 
furrows  with  Potato  sets  it  was  very  efficacious.  Bemembering  that 
fact,  I  last  year  used  so  comparatively  innocuous  a  manure  as  native 
guano  in  a  trial  of  it  on  comparatively  poor  land  with  Potatoes  only, 
dressing  it  in  with  the  sets  in  the  furrows,  with  capital  results,  in  spite 
of  the  drought  which  followed.  No  doubt  the  native  guano  is  quickly 
soluble,  and  that  being  so  it  gave  considerable  impetus  to  the  plant 
growth  whilst  yet  young,  which  was,  in  the  face  of  the  dryness  that 
followed,  a  great  gain. 
In  using  this  manure,  however,  in  other  ground  and  with  more 
crops,  the  first  being  with  Peas,  having  one  row  of  a  variety  manured 
the  other  not  so,  in  ten  varieties,  after  ordinary  drills  had  been  drawn 
with  a  hoe,  with  a  fork  I  lifted  out  of  each  other  end,  to  be  the 
manured  row,  some  2  inches  more  of  the  soil,  then  strewed  in  the 
guano  dressing,  and  followed  with  a  fork,  well  covering  it  with  soil,  so 
that  the  seed  Peas  did  not  come  into  contact  with  the  manure.  I  shall 
watch  the  effect  of  this  dressing  clotely.  Judging  by  the  smell  emitted 
this  guano  is  of  a  free  nitrogenous  nature,  and  if  it  exercises  any 
beneficial  influence  at  all  on  the  Peas  it  will  be  chiefly  whilst  the  plants 
are  young. — A.  D, 
- <.#.» - - 
Fruit  Prospects. 
So  far  as  all  fruit  trees  are  concerned  it  is  probable  that  we  have 
not  experienced  so  late  a  flowering  season  for  many  years,  and  although 
the  weather  answerable  for  this  has  arrested  growth  in  all  vegetable 
crops  it  may  help  to  insure  a  heavy  set  of  fruit.  With  the  sole 
exception  of  Apricots  all  fruits  are  looking  well,  and  to  use  a  common 
expression,  “bristling  with  buds.”  We  have  to-day  (April  2nd)  over¬ 
hauled  our  stock  of  fish  netting,  and  labelled  it  so  that  it  will  be 
ready  to  hand  when  required  for  the  different  walls,  and  mended  any 
gaps  with  a  little  tarred  twine.  For  spring  protection  I  have  always 
used  a  double  thickness  of  half-inch  mesh  netting,  and  this  has 
only  failed  us  once  in  eighteen  years,  when  21°  of  frost  were 
registered  about  the  middle  of  April.  Farther  north  a  thicker  cover¬ 
ing  is  doubtless  necessary,  but  where  the  fish  netting  is  sufficient  I  am 
convinced  there  is  no  better  material,  for  protection  is  afforded,  and  at 
the  same  time  the  trees  have  always  the  benefit  of  light  and  air  ; 
the  extra  work  entailed  by  blinds  is  also  obviated.  Sufficient  of  this 
netting  is  kept  on  hand  to  cover  walls  devoted  to  Peaches  and 
Nectarines,  dessert  Cherries,  cordon  Pears  and  Plums. 
It  is  a  fact  not  generally  recognised,  but  one  that  deserves 
attention  when  taking  measures  for  spring  protection,  that  of  the  fruits 
named  the  Plum  is  most  susceptible  to  frost ;  only  a  slight  visitation 
following  an  afternoon  shower  is  sufficient  to  destroy  all  erect  flowers. 
Where  red  spider  is  locally  troublesome  it  is  advisable  to  look 
carefully  over  the  walls  some  warm  sunny  day  before  the  nets  are  put 
on,  and  if  the  pest  is  already  in  evidence  on  wood  and  buds  to 
mix  an  insecticide  to  the  neeessary  strength  and  syringe  thoroughly, 
taking  care  to  miss  no  part  either  of  the  wall  or  trees.  I  always  find 
it  advisable  to  adopt  such  preventive  measures,  otherwise  given  a  dry 
time  the  pests  make  great  headway  before  the  fruit  is  set.  Our 
cordon  Gooseberries  on  a  wire  fence  are  also  nearly  always  attacked, 
and  are  syringed  with  the  wall  trees. — A.  G.  B. 
- 4.— >  ■■■  — 
He  New  Chiswick. 
I  HAVE  followed  with  much  interest  the  remarks  that  have,  from 
time  to  time,  been  made  relative  to  the  form  in  which  the  Royal  Horti¬ 
cultural  Society  should  celebrate  its  centenary.  I  may  say  at  the 
outset  that  I  am  in  entire  agreement  with  “  A  Fellow  ”  (page  259)  in 
his  views  as  to  the  council  maintaining  its  freedom  from  outside  inter¬ 
ference,  To  have  an  advisory  committee,  each  member  of  which  held 
differing  views,  would  be  worse  than  useless,  and  I  am  wholly  in  favour 
of  leaving  the  council  unshackled  until  such  time  as  it  can  put  before 
the  Fellows  of  the  society  some  definite  recommendations.  Then,  if 
at  all,  must  Fellows  be  prepared  with  other  definite  schemes  for  the 
consideration  of  the  society,  for  there  can  be  no  doubt  that  the  pro¬ 
posed  removal  of  Chiswick  is  a  most  serious  step  that  may  have 
considerable  influence  on  the  success,  or  otherwise,  of  the  Royal 
Horticultural  Society, 
Personally  I  am  of  the  opinion  that  the  present  garden  should  be 
retained  to  the  utmost  limit  of  the  lease.  Of  course  we  hear  much 
about  the  soil  being  exhausted,  and  the  deleterious  effects  of  the 
atmosphere  on  the  plants  that  are  grown.  I  should,  however,  like  to 
ask  how  much  truth  there  is  in  either  of  these  statements.  That  the 
soil  is  not  what  it  ought  to  be  cannot  be  doubted,  but  is  it  irremediably 
bad?  As  for  the  atmosphere — well,  one  can  only  say  that  excellent 
results  are  secured  by  various  growers  in  situations  equally  as  bad,  and 
in  some  cases  slightly  worse.  I  am  not  alone  in  the  opinion  that  it  is 
more  a  question  of  means  than  otherwise  to  make  the  garden  a  success. 
No  one  can  gainsay  the  fact  that  the  superintendent,  Mr.  S.  T.  Wright, 
does  remarkably  well  with  the  material  at  command.  But  is  this 
material  the  best  procurable  ?  I  should  say  that  it  is  not.  The  labour 
might  be  vastly  improved,  and  I  venture  to  assert  that  few  gardeners 
would  care  to  undertake  the  management  of  Chiswick  Gardens  with  the 
staff  as  at  the  present  moment.  There  may  be  plenty  of  manure  and 
abundance  of  water,  but  there  are  good  and  bad  methods  of  employing 
both. 
We  hear  much  about  the  necessity  of  the  students  being  workers, 
and  we  read  of  it  in  the  official  report,  but  we  may  be  satisfied  that 
not  three  out  of  ten  answer  to  this  description  in  reality.  Certain  it  is 
that  when  they  have  an  uncongenial  task,  or  have  one  they  are  tired  of, 
they  have  to  be  moved  to  something  else  or  they  will  simply  kill  time. 
They  do  not  regard  themselves  as  workers,  hence  the  difficulty  that  the 
superintendent  must  face  in  managing  them.  That  the  society  does  not 
look  upon  them  as  workers  is  proved  by  the  fact  that  they  do  not 
start  work  until  after  breakfast,  and  leave  early  on  Saturdays,  whereas 
the  ordinary  staff  commence  and  finish  at  the  hours  customary  in  the 
craft.  If  they  were  really  in  earnest  they  would  recognise  the  fact 
that  the  work  done  before  breakfast  in  the  morning  is  perhaps  the 
most  important  in  the  whole  of  the  gardener’s  day.  How  would  many 
gardeners  like  to  have  the  handling  of  such  a  staff  as  this  ?  There  is 
a  tremendous  difference  in  the  way  that  a  piece  of  ground  is  dug,  as 
every  practical  cultivator  knows,  and  it  is  only  reasonable  to  suppose 
that  such  work  is  done  by  the  small  regular  staff,  and  not  by  the 
young,  active,  and  strong  learners.  Give  the  Chiswick  manager  a  full 
staff  of  thoroughly  good  men,  and  I  will  undertake  to  say  that  the 
results  after  two  years  will  be  vastly  different  from  those  of  to-day. 
As  for  the  proposed  national  school  of  horticulture,  I  think  this  is 
scarcely  a  thing  for  the  Royal  Horticultural  or  any  other  society  to  take 
up.  On  the  contrary,  it  is  entirely  a  matter  for  the  State.  In  other 
countries  we  find  establishments  maintained  by  the  State,  but  in 
England,  which  prides  itself  on  its  up-to-dateness,  we  find  matters  that 
are  unquestionably  of  national  importance,  left  either  to  private 
individuals  or  societies.  True,  we  hear  of  the  proposed  combination  of 
County  Councils,  but  even  this  would  not  be  an  uumixed  blessing,  as 
the  more  fingers  there  were  in  the  pie  the  more  wars  of  words  there 
would  be,  and  consequently  the  less  chance  of  sound  and  valuable 
work  being  done.  No,  I  should  say  let  the  State  find  the  national 
school  of  horticulture,  and  let  the  Royal  Horticultural  Society  turn  its 
attention  first  to  a  suitable  place  in  which  to  hold  its  fortnightly 
shows,  and  secondly  to  a  new  Chiswick  if  such  be  necessary.  In  a 
single  sentence,  I  think  that  the  Council  would  do  more  to  meet  the 
approval  of  Fellows  by  a  proper  hall  than  by  half  a  dozen  new 
Chiswicks  and  schools  of  horticulture. — Another  Bellow. 
The  agitation,  or  rather  exceeding  anxiety,  created  in  the  minds  of 
Fellows  of  the  R.H.S.  still  continues  to  manifest  itself,  and  will 
probably  not  be  allayed  until  the  Council  opens  its  mind  to  them  at 
general  meeting.  Whether  what  is  then  stated  will  serve  to  allay 
