458 
JOURNAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER. 
December  15.  1898. 
THE  £100  GRAPE  CLASS  AT  SHREWSBURY. 
As  indicated  on  page  417,  in  our  issue  of  the  1st  inst.,  the  notification 
there  made  was  not  of  a  final  official  character.  It  was.  however,  not 
very  far  from  correct.  We  now  find  that  the  £100  is  to  be  divided  over 
si*  prizes  for  twelve  bunches  of  Grapes  in  six  varieties,  each  bunch  to 
be  on  a  separate  stand,  and  the  whole  to  be  arranged  in  two  tiers  with 
non-flowering  table  plants  and  loose  foliage,  but  no  flowers,  on  a  table 
space  of  8  feet  by  4  feet  6  inches. 
The  prizes  are  to  be  apportioned  as  follows  : — 
First'prize,  the  Society’s  gold  medal  and  ...  ...  ...  £2(3 
Second  prize . 24 
Third  prize  . 20 
Fourth  prize .  15 
Fifth  prize  .  10 
Sixth  prize  .  ...  5 
As  no  such  prizes  have  been  offered  in  a  Grape  class  before,  and  as 
the  stipulations  are  well  within  the  means  of  many  cultivators,  great 
competition  may  be  expected,  and  the  gold  medal  will  be  a  permanent 
memento  of  a  notable  event.  At  least  one  variety  of  white  Grapes  is 
essential. 
In  judging,  points  are  to  be  given  for  every  bunch  as  representing 
superior  cultivation  and  finish  for  the  respective  varieties,  flavour  not  to 
be  a  primary  factor,  as  this,  in  the  case  of  all  varieties,  cannot  be  fully 
developed  at  the  period  of  the  year,  August  23rd.  The  maximum  points 
allowed  are — for  Muscats  ten,  all  other  Grapes  (black  or  white)  nine, 
and  for  decorative  staging  six  points.  A  thoughtful  provision  is  made 
by  which  local  florists  will  loan  table  plants,  if  required,  at  nominal 
rates.  It  will  be  safe  to  predict  another  crowd  at  Shrewsbury. 
GARDEN  REFUSE. 
WONDERFUL  !  I  said  when  I  finished  reading  those  few  remarks  on  the 
above  subject  (page  430)  by  Mr.  “  A.  D.”  It  makes  one  wish,  yes,  and 
even  crave,  for  a  good  heap  of  rubbish,  so  as  to  be  able  to  grow  “  those 
wonderful  crops  of  all  things.”  Yes,  ’ tis  strange  that  garden  refuse  is  so 
valuable  for  crops,  particularly  as  Mr.  “A  D.”  says  that  “according 
to  chemical  analysis  and  scientific  basis  it  is  deficient  in  phosphates  and 
potash.” 
I  know  your  correspondent  is  a  critic  of  no  mean  older,  but  for  how 
long  has  he  posed  as  a  chemist  ?  He  tells  us  that  according  to  chemical 
analysis  garden  refuse  is  deficient  in  phosphates  and  potash.  Will  he 
kindly  send  you  a  copy  of  such  analysis  ?  it  would  be  interesting  to  more 
than  one.  Now,  Mr.  “  A.  D.,”  don't  say  you  cannot,  but  do  it. 
I  have  pondered  over  this  matter  until  I  have  perhaps  got  “garden 
refuse  ’  on  the  brain,  but  it  strikes  me  that  an  accumulation  of  a  heap  of 
vegetable  matter  must  contain  more  nitrogen,  potash,  and  phosphates  than 
your  correspondent  would  have  us  believe.  Vegetation  of  any  kind 
cannot  grow  unless  the  plants  or  trees  find  suffuient  of  the  three 
substances  just  named,  for  they  are  necessary  before  a  plant  can  build  up 
its  tissues.  This  being  so,  it  must  be  perfectly  clear  to  anyone  who  will 
give  the  matter  a  moment’s  consideration,  that  an  accumulation  of 
vegetable  matter  is  an  accumulation  of  plant  food — yes,  and  plant  food 
in  an  available  condition  for  plant  growth  ;  and  if  your  correspondent 
wishes  it  I  will  try  and  prove  to  him  that  either  his  analysis  or  memory 
is  at  fault,  and  also  that  a  heap  of  good  garden  refuse  contains  on  a 
scientific  basis  more  plant  food  than  the  same  weight  of  best  farmyard 
manure. — A  Working  Student. 
CHEMICAL  MANURES— HOW  TO  OBTAIN 
THEM. 
The  obtaining  of  suitable  manures  by  the  occupiers  of  cottage  gardens 
and  allotments  is  a  more  difficult  matter  than  probably  most  people  are 
aware.  It  might  be  thought  that  in  agricultural  districts  cottagers 
can  obtain  an  abundance  of  good  farmyard  manure  at  a  low  cost  and  with 
little  trouble.  But  in  many  districts  such  is  by  no  means  the  case. 
Farmers  want  all  the  manure  they  can  obtain,  and  will  not  part  with  any 
of  it. 
It  is  an  easy  matter  for  the  cultivator  of  acres  to  buy  chemical  manures 
by  the  Ion  or  the  hundredweight  dinct  from  the  manufacturer  or 
importer,  but  occupants  of  small  plots  have  no  such  facilities.  Concentrated 
mixtures  are  sold  in  small  quantities,  but  experts  tell  us  to  beware  of 
such  merchandise,  as  by  buying  manure  in  this  form  we  pay  for  it  at 
about  three  times  its  value.  Even  in  agricultural  districts  there  are  few 
towns  and  scarcely  any  villages  where  such  manures  as  kainit,  super¬ 
phosphate,  nitrate  of  soda,  and  so  forth  can  be  bought  in  small  quantities 
and  at  ptices  that  will  suit  the  purses  of  the  multitude. 
Occasionally  something  is  done  through  co-operation  and  gardenirg 
societies,  where  there  is  someone  bold  enough  to  take  the  risk,  but  ihe 
average  working  man  is  not  a  great  speculator,  and  prefers  to  buy  his 
material  as  he  wants  it.  Knowledge  as  to  the  use  and  abuse  of  chemical 
manure  is  a  valuable  acquisition  to  gardeners  of  all  class*  s,  but  the  small 
cultivator  will  only  seek  after  fertilising  materials  in  a  half-hearted 
fashion  till  enterprise  steps  forth  and  provides  them  in  a  manner  that  will 
suit  his  requirements. — G.  H.  H. 
PLUMIERIA  BICOLOR. 
To  lovers  of  sweet  scented  flowers  Plumierias  will  be  appreciated,  as 
the  perfume  is  delicious.  I  have  found  that  a  stove  temperature  is 
necessary  to  grow  and  flower  them  satisfactorily  ;  then,  if  proper  attention 
is  afforded  as  regards  watering  and  compost,  not  much  difficulty  will  be 
experienced  in  their  management.  Good  turfy  loam  three  parts,  with 
one  of  well  decomposed  manure,  a  dash  of  silver  sand,  and  a  few  pieces 
of  charcoal  suits  them  admirably.  After  the  flowering  season,  which 
generally  occurs  during  August  and  September,  and  when  the  foliage 
commences  to  turn  yellow,  water  should  be  gradually  withheld,  and  when 
the  whole  of  the  leaves  have  left  the  plants  may  be  withheld  altogether 
for  some  weeks,  care  being  taken  that  they  are  out  of  the  way  of  drip, 
as  during  the  cold  season,  if  kept  too  moist,  the  stems  are  almost  certain 
to  decay  at  the  soil  level.  One  of  the  most  beautiful  of  these  plants, 
P.  bicolor,  is  depicted  in  fig.  78. 
Tn  early  spring,  or  when  signs  of  growth  appear,  the  plants  should  be 
shaken  out,  removing  a  portion  of  the  old  soil  after  the  manner  of  shaking 
out  Fuchsias,  and  indeed  a  compost  that  will  grow  these  will  suit 
Plumierias.  Water  6h*uld  be  applied  with  much  caution  for  some  weeks 
until  the  roots  have  taken  well  to  the  new  soil ;  the  supply  may  then  be 
increased  and  when  in  full  and  vigorous  growth  occasional  applications 
of  soot  water  will  be  of  much  benefit.  The  plants  should  be  shaded 
from  bright  sun,  and  it  is  essential  to  use  the  syringe  very  freely,  as 
aphis,  thrips,  scale,  and  mealy  bug  all  seem  to  be  much  enamoured  of 
the  succulent  nature  of  these  plants,  and  must  be  guarded  against 
accordingly,  or  the  handsome  green  leaves  will  soon  be  bereft  of  their 
beauty,  and  the  chances  of  the  plants  flowering  freely  be  very  remote. 
To  propagate,  I  have  found  it  best  to  stand  the  stems  erect  by  the 
aid  of  a  small  stick  on  the  surface  of  sandy  soil  or  cocoa-nut  fibre  refuse, 
and  not  insert  the  cuttings,  as  they  are  very  apt  to  damp  if  the  latter 
method  is  adopted.  The  compost  should  be  moderately  dry.— Grower. 
COMMENTS  ON  APPLES. 
About  twenty  years  ago  my  employers  wished  an  Apple  tree  to  be 
planted  on  the  lawn.  My  mistress  wished  it  to  be  a  Russet,  so  I  obtained 
lor  the  purpose  a  tree  of  the  Sykehouse  Russet,  thinking  that  to  be  a  good 
variety.  It  was  planted  and  grew  there  for  some  years,  but  like  the  tree 
(fig.  74,  page  435)  it  was  badly  cankered. 
The  tree  was  condemned,  but  instead  *'f  throwing  it  away  I  cut  off 
the  head  below  the  branches  and  planted  it  in  a  bad  position — the  east 
side,  and  near  to  a  row  of  old  Elm  trees.  It  threw  out  one  strong  shoot 
and  a  few  weak  ones.  The  latter  were  cut  away,  and  the  strong  shoot 
has  now  grown  into  a  good  head,  from  which  I  gathered  a  few  fruits  last 
year  ;  this  year  it  blossomed  well,  but  produced  no  fruit,  as  the  Apple 
crop  in  the  locality  was  generally  poor. 
I  was  much  interested  in  reading  Mr.  Picker's  instructive  remarks  on 
Apple  growing  in  Yorkshire,  but  did  not  you  fortunately  misunderstand 
his  alluding  to  Cox’s  Pomona  as  a  ‘‘  Yorkshire  Apple?  ”  According  to 
my  reading  he  seemed  to  refer  to  it  as  a  good  Apple  to  grow  in  that 
county,  just  as  1  might  call  it  a  good  “Somerset  Apple,”  because  it  does 
well  here,  instead  of  writing  of  its  nativity.  I  say  “fortunately”  in 
reference  to  the  misunderstanding,  because  we  thereby  get  the  interesting 
foot-note. — D.  W. 
[Our  friend  appears  to  like  foot-notes  as  well  as  Cox’s  Pomona  Apple. 
We  surmised  Mr.  Picker’s  meaning,  but  thought,  it  well  to  register  the 
historic  fact  that  Cox’s  Pomona  is  a  Buckinghamshire  Apple,  also  to 
emphasue  the  geographical  fact  that  it  succeeds  well  in  East  Yorkshire, 
and  chronicling  two  facts  in  three  lines  is  no  great  wasto  of  space.  We 
will  try  another  fact  or  two.  There  is  the  same  difference  between  a 
“  good  Apple  to  grow  in  Somersetshire  ”  and  a  good  “  Somersetshire 
Apple”  as  between  a  “good  gardener  in  Somerset”  (though  with  a 
Yorkshire  birthright)  and  a  “Somersetshire  man.”  The  gardener  in 
such  case  would  be  a  “  Yorkshireman,”  even  though  thriving  in  another 
county.  “  D.  W.”  must  be  a  good  gardener,  or  he  would  not  have 
remained  so  long  in  his  charge  ;  but  he  may  or  may  not  be  a  Somerset¬ 
shire  man.  We  know  that  the  Sykehouse  Russet— the  tree  which  he 
decapitated  and  “struck”  the  head  as  a  cutting  in  a  “bad”  position, 
but  which  the  tree  seems  to  like — was  not  a  bad  hit  ;  yet  though  much  at 
home  as  the  tree  may  appear  to  be  it  is  not  a  Somersetshire  Apple,  but  a 
Yorkshire  Apple  i  amed  after  the  village  of  Sykehouse,  where  it  origi¬ 
nated  many  years  ago.]  _ 
I  have  carefully  examined  the  selection  of  kitchen  Apples  given  on 
page  433  by  Mr.  Picker,  with  the  object  of  criticising  his  selection. 
I  must  confess,  alter  comparing  them  with  the  135  varieties  we  have,  I 
cannot  improve  it  in  any  way  but  one,  and  that  is  to  cut  out  Ecklinville 
Seedling,  and  confine  the  list  to  one  dozen,  and  not  trouble  about  the 
baker.  I  cannot  even  substitute  another  for  that  objected  to,  because 
the  list  contains  varieties  that  carry  the  season  right  through,  and  all 
have  points  of  importance  that  exception  cannot  in  all  honesty  be  taken. 
Fruiterers  in  some  districts  object  strongly  to  Ecklinville  on  account  of 
its  tender  skin.  If  I  must  give  the  baker  his  place,  and  make  up  the 
