66 
JOURNAL  OF  HORTTCULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER. 
January  20,  1898. 
FRUIT  NGTE."^. 
Adams’  Peaemain  Apple. 
This  Apple  should  certainly  find  a  place  in  every  garden  where 
dessert  fruit  is  required.  It  is  one  of  the  most  attractive  of  British 
Apples,  and  though  the  flesh  and  flavour  are  not_  equal  to  Cox’s  Orange 
or  Kibston  Pippin,  it  is  useful,  inasmuch  as  it  will  come  in  after  these 
and  many  other  kinds  are  over,  and  from  January  to  March  is  its  ))est 
season  for  eating.  We  have  two  trees,  low  standards,  in  the  full 
sunshine,  that  annually  furnish  a  crop,  heavier  some  years  than  others, 
still  when  it  attains  a  fair  sized  tree  it  is  a  constant  bearer.  The 
a]»pearance  of  the  fruit  is  good,  which  is  an  essential  for  the  table.  It 
should  not  be  planted  in  the  shade  of  other  trees,  otherwise  it  will  be 
deficient  in  colour.  Another  essential  point  is  that  the  fruiterers  will 
always  purchase  good  or  fair  samples  of  this  Apple  because  they  are 
attractive  for  the  windows,  and  find  a  good  retail  sale. 
Nec  Plus  Meuris  Pear, 
This  is  another  useful  fruit  for  dessert  purposes  from  January  to 
March.  Pears  at  this  season  are  not  always  very  plentiful.  It  is  a 
second  size  fruit  of  a  brownish  colour,  but  the  flavour,  particularly  after 
a  fine  autumn,  is  very  fair.  We  have  never  found  it  crack  as  some  late 
Pears  do.  The  fruit  buds  set  freely,  and  the  fruit  is  generally  picked 
about  the  end  of  October  or  first  week  in  November.  We  have  it  as  a 
low  standard,  and  planted  in  the  full  sunshine.  It  annually  produces  a 
fair  quantity  of  Pears,  and  some  years  is  heavily  laden.  No  doubt  if 
grown  on  a  wall  the  fruit  would  be  better  flavoured,  most  Pears  are,  and 
would  be  a  useful  addition  for  those  who  are  short  of  Pears  after  the 
Christmas  season  is  over. — A.  Harding,  Orton, 
POTATO  DISEASE  IN  THE  COUNTY  COURT. 
One  of  the  most  wonderfully  arrived- at  decisions  that  has  come  under 
my  notice  was  achieved  at  the  Bradford  County  Court  recently.  If  it  is 
to  stand  as  a  precedent  it  will  be  one  of  the  most  Important  that  has  ever 
been  jjerpetrated  in  connection  with  the  Potato  trade.  A  Potato  dealer 
sought  to  recover  £11  7s.  fid.  for  Potatoes  supplied  to  another,  who 
refused  to  pay  on  the  ground  thaf  they  were  diseased.  The  conditions  of 
sale  were  the  Potatoes  were  to  be  sold  “on  rail.”  The  Judge  found  for 
the  plaintiff  on  the  ground  that  he  was  of  opinion  that  “  the  substantial 
cause  of  the  diesease  came  after  delivery  at  the  station.”  The  .Judge  is 
reported  to  have  based  his  verdict  on  expert  evidence ;  but  surely  he 
must  have  been  peculiarly  advised,  or  he  took  a  different  view  of  the 
advice  than  was  intended,  for  the  statements  in  the  summary  of  the  case, 
as  reported  in  the  “Mark  Lane  Express,”  are,  to  put  it  mildly,  eccentric. 
There  can  be  no  doubt  that  the  disease  was  ordinary  Potato  disease, 
“  Phytophthora  infestans.”  His  Honour,  in  explanation,  said,  “  the 
infection  might  be  carried  by  a  man  who  had  been  handling  a  bad  Potato 
subsequently  picking  up  a  good  one  to  look  at  it,  and  then  putting  it 
back  in  a  pie,  and  the  whole  pie  had  been  known  to  be  destroyed  in  this 
way.” 
As  to  carrying  infection,  I  do  not  object  to  that  ;  but  as  to  a  whole 
pie  being  contaminated  from  one  tuber,  I  flatly  deny  it,  and  am  quite 
sure  that  this  statement  cannot  be  substantiated.  There  is  no  proof  that 
the  disease  can  be  carried  from  tuber  to  tuber  when  dug  ;  what  is  more, 
the  evidence  is  against  conidia  being  formed  on  tubers,  and  therefore 
germs  cannot  be  given  off  to  start  it  from  tuber  to  tuber.  It  is  equally 
certain  that  the  mycelia,  or  root  threads,  in  one  tuber  do  not  spread  from 
tuber  to  tuber.  If  the  spores  of  the  disease  happened  to  be  resting  on  the 
other  tubers,  sweating  would  be  sufficient  to  set  up  disease,  as  the  warmth 
and  the  moisture  settling  on  the  tubers  would  be  favourable  to  germina¬ 
tion  and  subsequent  growth.  This  is  very  common  ;  and  what  is  more, 
there  is  little  doubt  that  it  was  from  spores  which  settled  on  the  tubers 
while  being  dug  that  the  Potatoes  in  question  suffered,  particularly  as  the 
.Judge  himself  stated  a  portion  of  the  crop  not  sent  away  contained 
disease. 
Another  erroneous  conclusion  the  Judge  drew  was  that  if  the  spores 
which  were  on  the  tubers  at  the  time  had  begun  to  germinate,  so  as  to 
effect  them,  it  would  have  been  visible.  This  is  by  no  means  the  matter 
of  course  he  said  it  was.  The  spores  are  so  small  that  several  thousands 
are  required  to  reach  an  inch  if  laid  alongside  one  another.  ^Moreover, 
the  disease  is  not  noticeable  to  the  naked  eye  until  it  has  developed  root 
threads,  and  they  in  their  turn  have  brought  about  putrefaction,  the 
rapidity  of  which  is  largely  due  to  the  temperature. 
That  fewer  Potatoes  among  those  which  were  left  were  diseased  does 
not  prove  anything.  If  they  were  dug  later  in  all  jirobability  the  spores 
had  fallen  from  the  leaves,  whereas  at  the  time  of  digging  they  may  have 
fallen  directly  on  to  the  tubers.  This  is  the  common  cause  of  after¬ 
disease,  and  one  which  anyone  who  has  the  slightest  pretensions  to  a 
knowledge  of  the  disease  cannot  fail  to  have  become  cognisant  of.  It 
might  have  been  that  the  other  Potatoes  were  dug  on  a  drier  day,  or  the 
skins  may  have  become  more  hardened,  and  therefore  more  difficult  for 
the  germ  to  penetrate.  His  Honour,  however,  held  it  was  more  likely 
that  the  spores  were  carried  on  to  the  Potatoes  after  they  were  placed  in 
the  truck,  having  been  wafted  on  the  air.  One  knows  that  when 
Potato  disease  is  rampant  the  air  is  largely  charged  with  spores  ;  but  the 
farther  from  a  diseased  field  the  scarcer  do  they  become.  There  are 
other  points  in  connection  with  the  judgment  based  on  deductions  from 
“  scientific  ”  evidence  which  are  as  strange  as  those  dealt  with  here  ;  it 
is  not  necessary,  however,  to  go  further  to  show  how  dangerous  it  is  to 
handle  subjects  on  very  limited  knowledge.  If  the  verdict  is  to  be  upheld 
in  the  future,  it  will  be  necessary  for  those  dealing  in  Potatoes  during 
the  digging  season  to  have  them  microscopically  examined  at  the 
moment  of  delivery  and  acceptance;  or  some  other  .Judge  without  a 
profound  knowledge  of  fungal  disease  may  make  a  verdict  which  will  go 
to  prove  the  old  adage  that  a  little  knowledge  is  a  very  dangerous  thing — 
but  the  .Judge  will  not  be  the  sufferer. — W.  J.  Malden  (in  “North 
Wales  (  hronicle.”) 
EQUAL  PRIZES. 
I  QUITE  agree  with  Mr.  Beckett  (page  17)  when  he  says  it  is  possible 
that  two  exhibits  of  a  similar  nature  may  be  so  absolutely  equal  as  to 
necessitate  an  equal  prize  being  awarded.  It  has  been  my  lot  on  several 
occasions  when  assisting  as  judge  at  shows  to  award  an  equal  prize. 
In  many  instances  vegetables,  and  especially  Onions,  Carrots,  and 
Potatoes,  have  been  of  such  ecjual  merit  on  all  points  that  we  have  felt  it 
unfair  to  place  the  two  exhibitors  first  and  second,  and  the  decision  has 
generally  met  with  the  approval  of  the  executive  of  the  show,  the  exhibitors 
concerned,  and  the  general  public.  It  may  often  happen  that  the  other 
exhibits  in  the  same  class  are  a  great  many  points  behind  these  first  two, 
and  when  such  is  the  case  no  second  prize  is  awarded,  but  two  firsts,  and 
then  a  third  ;  the  money  value  of  the  first  and  second  prize  is  added 
together  and  divided  between  the  two  equal  firsts. 
One  instance  occurs  to  my  memory  of  a  .July  show  in  one  of  our  Fen 
towns,  wlibre  vegetables  are  well  grown,  and  are  quite  a  feature  of  the 
exhibition.  It  was  a  class  for  “  Six  Onions,  autumn  sown.”  The  variety 
in  both  cases  was  the  Lemon  Rocca.  Both  sixes  in  appearance  and  finish 
were  exactly  alike,  and  each  bulb  was  minutely  examined  for  any  blemish, 
but  there  was  none,  and  even  when  tested  with  a  pair  of  scales  they  were 
found  to  be  exactly  the  same  weight.  It  really  looked  as  if  these  two 
exhibits  were  from  the  same  garden  ;  but  such  was  not  the  case,  as  we 
found  out  afterwards  that  the  two  exhibitors  were  old  opponents  in  the 
art  of  showing  well  grown  vegetables, — A.  Haeding,  Orton, 
CALIFORNIAN  EXPERIMENTS. 
We  find  from  the  report,  by  Mr.  E.  ,J.  Wickson,  of  the  Agricultural 
Experiment  Station  of  the  University  of  California,  that  27,329  plants  and 
roots  were  distributed  during  the  past  season.  We  also  observe  that 
attention  has  been  widely  called  of  late  to  the  desirability  of  the  Camphor 
tree  (Cinnamomum  camphora)  for  growth  in  California  valleys  and 
foothills  either  as  an  ornamental  tree  or  as  a  possible  source  of  profit  for 
its  timber  and  for  the  gum  and  oil  which  are  derived  from  it  by  simple 
distilling  processes.  The  Camphor  tree  was  introduced  to  California  at 
least  twenty-five  years  ago,  and  was  among  the  first  plants  distributed 
from  the  University.  There  is  therefore  at  the  present  time  ample 
demonstration  of  the  hardiness,  drouth-resistance,  and  beauty  of  the  tree, 
and,  so  far  as  its  growth  is  concerned,  it  is  an  eminently  safe  tree  to  plant 
for  ornamental  or  forest  purposes.  Concerning  profit  to  be  derived  from 
its  planting  we  do  not  undertake  to  give  assurance.  The  tree  is  a  hand¬ 
some,  broad-leaved  evergreen,  attaining  large  size  and  noticeable  by  the 
characteristic  light  green  of  its  foliage.  It  endures  in  California  a 
temperature  as  low  as  20°  Fahr.,  and  is  probably  about  as  hardy  as  the 
Olive.  The  report  also  contains  the  following  notification  : — 
Plants  for  Green-Manuring. — We  are  still  pursuing  our  effort  to  secure 
a  leguminous  plant  which  will  prove  satisfactory  for  green -manuring  in 
California.  As  explained  in  earlier  publications  of  the  Station,  it  is 
necessary  to  have  a  plant  which  will  make  a  heavy  growth  during  the 
winter  months,  so  that  it  can  be  ploughed  in  early  in  the  spring  and  the 
ground  put  in  shape  for  the  thorough  surface  pulverisation  which  largely 
prevents  evaporation  of  moisture  during  our  long,  dry  summer.  For  this 
reason  we  cannot  use  many  plants  which  are  used  for  green-manuring  in 
humid  climates.  Crimson  Clover,  Cow  Peas,  &c.,  do  not  make  good 
winter  growth.  The  square-pod  Pea  (Lotus  tetragonolobus)  is  better, 
but  still  too  scant  in  its  winter  growth.  The  common  “  Bur  Clover  ” 
(Medicago  denticulata)  and  its  near  relative  “  Snail  Clover”  (M.  turbinata) 
are  proving  very  satisfactory  in  some  parts  of  the  State,  and  the 
“  Canadian  Field  Pea  ”  is  coming  into  quite  wide  use  in  some  of  the 
southern  Citrus  orchards.  Experiments  are  also  in  progress  with  the 
native  Lupins  which  may  yield  valuable  results.  We  offer  this  year  still 
another  plant  for  trial,  which  we  desire  to  have  planted  on  a  small  scale  in 
many  localities  to  determine  its  hardiness  and  thrift  under  our  winter 
conditions  of  heat  and  moisture — namely.  Fenugreek  (Trigonella  foenum 
grsecum).  This  is  an  old  plant  of  the  Mediterranean  region.  It  is  of  the 
Clover  tribe  ;  an  annual  which,  under  favourable  conditions,  produces  a 
heavy  weight  of  stem  and  foliage.  It  is  used  in  the  old  countries  for 
hay-flavouring ;  the  seed  also  has  aromatic  quality  and  special  uses  in 
veterinary  medicine.  But  it  is  rather  for  its  possibilities  in  the  green- 
manure  line  that  we  desire  its  trial,  and  this  use  is  suggested  by  the 
report  of  the  Director  of  the  Botanical  Service  of  Algeria  and  Tunis,  which 
mentions  a  trial  of  Fenugreek  sown  in  the  autumn  which  produced  by  the 
1st  of  the  following  March  a  weight  of  25  tons  per  acre  of  green  forage. 
The  part  of  the  field  which  was  allowed  to  ripen  produced  about  1400  lbs. 
of  seed  per  acre.  We  wish  to  determine  by  local  trial  whether  the  plant  will 
endure  our  winter  frosts,  and,  if  so,  whether  its  winter  growth  is  greater 
than  that  of  other  legumes  mentioned  above.  The  availability  of  Snail 
Clover  for  green-manuring,  especially  in  regions  of  abundant  winter  rains, 
has  been  approved  by  a  number  of  experimenters  during  the  last  year. 
