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JOURNAL  OR  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER 
November  3,  1898. 
yielding  well,  but  not  very  heavily,  'l  et  in  a  large  collection  of  varieties 
the  proportion  of  poor-flavoured  tubers  is  so  small  that  3  or  4  per 
cent,  would  cover  it.  The  majority  are  cooking  splendidly.  They  are 
not  necessarily  “  balls  of  flour,”  which  is  a  figure  of  speech  that  ought 
to  have  been  done  away  with  years  ago,  considering  that  many  of  the 
really  rich  and  high-flavoured  yellow-fleshed  sorts  have  very  little 
“  fiouriness  ”  about  them.  But  they  are,  with  hardly  an  exception, 
ripe,  unctuous,  and  full  of  taste — Potatoes,  in  fact,  that  satisfy  the 
palate  far  better  than  mere  fluffy  flakiness. 
But  the  drought  does  more  than  give  us  flavour  in  our  vegetables, 
it  teaches  us  new  lessons,  and  gives  us  fresh  moral  training.  A  man 
may  be  able  to  point  to  show  successes  by  the  yard,  but  unless  he 
can  prove  that  he  is  capable  of  supplying  the  table  with  a  plentiful 
supply  of  sweet  and  wholesome  produce  in  the  face  of  difficulties  and 
inconvenience,  he  can  only  claim  to  be  half  a  gardener.  Gardening 
without  water  is  a  distinct  branch  of  the  art  of  horticulture.  It  means 
new  ideas,  novel  devices,  ever  changing  lines  of  action.  Countless 
schemes,  born  of  wants  of  the  moment,  have  to  be  resorted  to.  AVhen 
young  greens  are  planted  under  a  brazen  sky,  with  three  months’ 
drought  behind  them,  and  perhaps  another  three  in  front,  with  shading 
material  as  scanty  as  the  water  supply,  the  wits  of  the  planter  must 
act  quickly  and  promptly.  Perhaps  there  is  a  fading  toav  of  Sweet 
Peas  that  may  be  hastily  dragged  out,  sticks  and  all,  and  spread  over 
the  gasping  plantlets,  or  maybe  a  few  armfuls  of  Carrot  tops  come  in. 
It  is  not  a  time  for  standing  on  ceremony;  while  you  are  hunting 
round  for  something  orthodox  the  plants  are  dying,  and  better 
heterodoxy  than  an  empty  garden.  Alertness,  resource,  readiness  to 
make  the  most  of  the  smallest  thing  at  the  shortest  notice —  these  are 
traits  of  gardening  character  which  drought  fosters. 
1  here  is,  too,  another  big  lesson  to  be  found  by  a  little  burrowing 
in  the  dust  of  this  parched-up  year.  I  allude  to  the  lesson  of  deep  and 
perfect  tilth.  Deep  culture  in  itself  is  not  enough  ;  it  will  not  give 
the  young  plant  the  quick  send-off  in  spring,  which  is  so  essential  to 
its  success.  Surface  culture  in  itself  is  not  enough,  for  it  will  not 
supply  the  fast -developing  plant  with  the  moisture  that  it  needs  later 
in  the  year.  But  the  two  combined  work  mar\Tels.  They  are  corre¬ 
lative,  and  their  separation  leads  to  disaster.  The  drought  will  not 
have  troubled  us  in  vain  if  it  teaches  the  mighty  and  far-Teaching 
truth  that  .Nature  ever  holds  something  in  reserve,  and  teAvards  for 
robust  and  intelligent  labour,  applied  with  courage  and  faith  in  the 
hour  of  trial- — W.  Pea. 
SUCCESSFUL  MELON  CULTURE. 
\\  henea’ER  T  go  to  Cardiff  I  make  it  part  of  my  business  to  look  up 
Air.  Pettigrew,  and  with  him  spend  a  few  enjoyable  hours  in  the  Castle 
gardens.  Mention  has  already  been  made  of  that  noted  gardener’s 
success  with  pot  and  other  Grape  Vines,  and  I  would  now  direct  attention 
to  the  very  successful  manner  in  which  he  grows  Melons.  As  far  as  my 
experience  goes  the  method  of  culture  adopted  differs  considerably  from 
that  followed  generally  ;  and  only  at  Longleat,  in  Mr.  Taylor’s  days,  have 
T  seen  crops  of  Melons  equal  in  weight  and  quality  to  those  grown  in 
Cardiff  <  astle  gardens.  Whether  the  plants  are  grown  in  ordinarv  plant 
stoves.  Melons  occupying  the  side  beds,  and  Crotons  and  a  variety  of 
other  heat-loviDg  plants  the  central  pits,  or  Pine  Apples,  as  of  old,  the 
centres  and  Melons  the  sides,  or  Melons  occupy  part  of  a  span-roofed 
house  and  either  Tomatoes  or  Cucumbers  the  other  half,  the  result  is 
always  the  same — abundance  of  fine  fruit. 
At  Longleat  two  or  three  plants  grown  on  the  extension  system  were 
enough  to  cover  a  roof  about  30  feet  long,  but  at  Cardiff  Castle  they  are 
planted  more  thickly,  or,  say,  4  feet  to  5  feet  apart,  with  plenty  of  head  room. 
All  are  planted  in  narrow  heated  pits,  in  beds  2  feet  wide,  filled  1  foot  in 
depth  with  strong  loam.  This  is  not  arranged  in  the  form  of  a  ridge 
from  which  the  water  so  much  needed  by  the  Melon  roots  occupyino-  the 
soil  runs  offj  but  is  made  perfectly  level. 
As  a  preventive  of  canker  each  stem  is  enclosed  in  an  earthenware 
collar,  which,  if  I  remember  rightly,  are  about  9  inches  in  diarreter. 
and  are  made  specially  for  the  purpose.  With  these  in  position  the 
beds  may  be  flooded,  as  they  frequentlv  are,  with  water  and  liquid 
manure,  without  wetting  the  stems  of  the  plants,  and,  if  need  be, 
syringing  water  or  drip  may  be  excluded  by  means  of  brown  paper 
There  is  no  drying  off  the  plants  at  the  roots,  and  under  this  treatment 
a  modification  of  the  extension  system  of  training  rather  than  the 
close  stopping  practice  more  in  vogue — the  plants  are  continuously  bearing. 
Instead  of  a  crop  all  of  one  age,  and  foliage  more  or  less  defunct, 
the  plants  at  Cardiff  are  in  perfect  health,  carrying  fruit  of  various 
ages  at  one  time.  Some  may  be  fit  to  cut,  others  fast  swelling  to  their 
full  size,  and  a  few  more  about  the  size  of  Lemons,  or  smaller,  all  on 
one  plant.  On  a  sirgle  plant  from  which  a  respectable  crop  of  lar^-e 
fruit  had  already  been  cut  I  counted  ten  more  in  different  ages  the 
heaviest  weighing  not  less  than  6  lbs.  Grown  and  ripened  under ’such 
conditions  the  fruit  is  bound  to  be  thick  !n  the  flesh,  juicy  and  richly 
flavoured.  J 
The  favourite  varieties  are  Blenheim  Orange,  which  is  still  one  of 
the  best,  if  not  the  very  best  in  the  scarlet  flesh  section  ;  Golden  Orange 
a  handsome  ribbed  variety  belonging  to  the  Hybrid  Cashmere  type,  and 
gmnd  for  exhibition  purposes,  and  TIolborn  Favourite.  The  last-named 
was  raised  at  Cardiff  Castle.  Of  this  there  were  scores  ot  fruit  weighing 
from  5  lbs.  to  7  lbs.,  all  handsomely  netted,  the  more  fonvard  changing  to 
a  rich  golden  yellow  colour.  It  is  vthite-fleshed,  and  the  quality  hard  to 
surpass.  Mr.  Pettigrew  ought  to  exhibit  some  of  his  Melons  at  onejof' 
the  meetings  of  the  Boyal  Horticultural  Society,  also  contributing  a 
paper  on  his  method  of  culture. — W.  Iggulden. 
FASCIATED  RUNNER  BEAN. 
I  SEND  for  your  inspection  afasciated  Scarlet  ltunner  Bean  stalk  with 
a  few  pods  attached.  I  have  never  heard  of  a  similar  phenomenon  in  the 
Bean  tribe,  though  I  have  frequently  noticed  similar  abortions  in- 
Asparagus,  Lilium9,  young  Ash  trees,  Dahlias,  Vegetable  Marrows,  and 
other  plants.  Perhaps  it  may  be  figured  in  the  “Journal.” — William 
Gardiner. 
[Dr.  Masters,  in  his  interesting  work,  “Vegetable  Teratology,”  puts 
the  cause  of  the  fusion  of  several  growths  together,  and  thus  producing  a 
flattened  or  other  form  of  monstrosity,  concisely  as  follows  : — “If  it  happen 
that  an  unusual  number  oi  buds  be  formed  in  close  apposition,  so  that  they 
are  liable  to  be  compressed  during  their  growth,  union  is  very  liable  to 
take  place,  the  more  so  frim  the  softness  of  the  young  tissues.  In  this 
way  it  is  probable  that  what  is  termed  fasciation  is  brought  about.”  A 
list  is  given  of  upwards  of  150  plants  in  which  this  malformity  has  been 
observed.  In  this  list  we  find  Phaseolus  sp.  P.  vulgaris  and  P.  multiflorus 
are  not  mentioned,  and  the  author  had  evidently  not  seen  a  case  when 
the  list  was  compiled.  Many  things,  however,  have  happened  since  then 
— thirty  years  ago — and  among  the  best  is  the  presence  of  the  Doctor, 
with  intellectual  and  physical  activities  little  worn  by  the  erosion  ot 
time.  We  find  Phaseolus  vulgaris  fasciatus  in  Johnson’s  “Gardeners’ 
Dictionary,”  but  have  not  seen  an  example  like  the  one  sent  by  Mr. 
Gardiner.] 
