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JOURNAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER. 
November  30,  1899. 
think  that  the  way  to  convert  this  bugbear  into  a  blessing  is  to  let 
the  leaves  rustle  away  until  the  bulk  is  laid  low,  then  to  commence 
his  harvest  in  a  methodical  manner. 
This  day  (in  the  third  week  of  November)  we  have  commenced  our 
harvest,  and  being  a  heavily  timbered  place,  the  crop  is  abundant.  Tne 
benefits  contingent  upon  waiting  until  the  main  crop  is  ready  chielly 
consist  of  the  facility  with  which  many  loads  of  clean  leaves  are 
gathered  and  deposited  in  a  few  places  about  the  grounds  specially 
selected  for  convenience  and  privacy.  One  place  consists  of  a  disused 
sandpit,  and  here  from  a  circumscribed  area  all  are  gathered  together. 
Another  lays  concealed  in  the  depths  of  a  shrubbery,  where  all  from 
that  quarter  find  a  resting-place;  and  again,  the  Beech  plantation 
which  fringes  the  demesne  provides  several  depots  and  the  Where¬ 
withal  to  fill  them.  As  against  this  system,  the  usual  routine  or 
gathering  up  leaves  as  they  fall  rarely  provides  good  leaf  mould,  and 
that  only  in  limited  quantity  compared  with  the  abundant  material  at 
hand,  for  with  the  incessant  cleaning,  all  Beech  mast  and  twiggy 
matter,  not  to  mention  a  liberal  addition  of  gravel  robbed  from  walks 
and  drives  where  loose  gravel  prevails,  practically  spoils  the  crop  for 
garden  purposes.  Now,  at  this  time  of  the  year,  for  every  ten  loads  of 
good  clean  leaves  the  final  sweeping  gives  one  load  of  rubbish,  which 
is  deposited  elsewhere. 
Valuable  as  is  leaf  mould  in  the  potting  shed,  the  advantages  of 
having  a  bountiful  supply  of  half-decayed  leaves  can  hardly  be  over¬ 
estimated.  During  the  past  autumn  fully  fifty  loads  taken  from  one 
of  our  largest  dep&ts  were  incorporated  with  the  soil  in  the  flower  beds 
of  our  rather  extensive  formal  garden,  and  as  a  manurial  agent  for 
the  ordinary  types  of  plants  used  to  fill  these  beds  for  either  summer 
or  spring  display  it  is  found  to  be  infinitely  preferable  to  the  heavier 
farmyard  dressing.  It  may  also  be  mentioned  that  for  every  five 
cartloads  a  sixth  of  sharp  sand  was  added,  well  worked  through  it 
with  forks  ere  being  wheeled  to  the  beds.  “  Why,  that  stuff  would 
grow  anything,”  said  an  interested  visitor  who  saw  the  operation. 
He  was  right,  and  a  dozen  examples  might  be  given  in  which  the 
results  are  almost  startling.  One  only  need  be  given  now,  and  that 
consists  of  a  hundred  clumps  of  the  old  Schizostylis  coccinea,  which 
were  transplanted  into  similar  compost  last  spring.  As  compared 
with  the  specimens  of  this  charming  old-fashioned  plant  generally  seen, 
these  are  robust  in  the  extreme  ;  the  spikes  of  bloom  now  in  full 
beauty  in  a  sunny  corner  being  not  unlike  miniature  Gladioli  in  size 
and  vigour. 
There  are,  of  course,  leaves  and  leaves,  some  of  which  bear  an 
indifferent  character  from  the  utilitarian  point  of  view.  There  is, 
however,  no  need  to  discriminate  in  harvesting,  all  are  leaves  that  come 
into  our  cart,  although  the  Oak  and  then  the  Beech  are  most  in  favour. 
The  main  point,  as  previously  remarked,  is  to  gather  them  as  clean 
and  free  of  twiggy  or  other  undesirable  matter  as  possible,  which  can 
only  be  done  when  they  lay  on  the  ground  in  quantity.  To  sum  up, 
there  are  many,  doubtless,  who,  whilst  acknowledging  the  force  of 
this  argument,  will  object  to  the  principle  on  the  score  of  tidyness. 
The  economy  of  time  and  labour  is  too  obvious  to  dwell  upon;  to  this 
little  can  be  said  beyond  remarking  that  if  we  could  for  the  nonce 
raise  our  views  (or  drop  them)  sufficiently  to  shut  out  for  a  brief  space 
that  formidable  barrier  it  would  be  of  distinct  advantage  to  all 
oanoeraed. — A.  N.  Oldhbad. 
THE  FRUIT  CROP  OF  1899. 
Some  little  time  ago  our  esteemed  Secretary  asked  me  to  give  a 
few  notes  on  “  The  Fruit  Crops  of  1899,”  a  somewhat  barren 
subject  at  the  best,  and  1  asked  myself  the  question,  What 
can  one  say  upon  a  matter  like  this  that  has  not  been  said  and 
repeated  time  and  again  ?  I  found  no  answer  to  my  question,  and 
I  have  no  excuse  for  my  appearance  except  the  poor  one 
that  1  am  acting  in  accordance  with  our  Secretary’s  orders.  It  is 
easy  for  those  who  are  gifted  with  the  pen  of  a  ready  writer  to 
hang  an  article  or  write  a  paper  upon  any  text,  but,  unfortunately, 
I  do  not  find  myself  in  that  happy  state;  nevertheless,  having  set 
ffff 
out  I  must  carry  it  through  somehow,  and  I  crave  your  indulgence 
if  I  wander  slightly  at  times  from  the  texts. 
Strawberries. 
Firstly,  then,  we  must,  I  think,  admit  that,  speaking  generally, 
the  season  of  1899  will  have  to  be  numbered  amongst  the  poor  fruit 
years,  and  the  best  we  can  say  of  it  is  that  good  crops  have  been 
extremely  partial.  Certain  favoured  spots  have  produced  fine  crops 
of  fruit,  and  the  fortunate  possessors  have  had  a  good  time, 
sending  fruit  to  markets  and  with  the  scant  supplies  receiving  good 
returns  in  the  way  of  money  in  exchange.  To  commence  with 
Strawberries,  certain  localities  had  good  crops  but  the  fruit  was 
never  plentiful,  nor  did  one  see  much  of  it  on  the  coster’s  barrow. 
In  our  local  markets  the  price  ranged  from  8d.  to  6d.  a  lb.  and  back  again 
to  8d.,  which  would  show  that  they  were  not  in  any  way  abundant. 
Our  local  growers  had  an  excellent  crop  and  first-rate  weather  for 
picking,  and  consequently  scored  a  great  success,  but  in  the  county  of 
Kent,  where  our  largest  supplies  usually  come  from,  one  heard  of 
hundreds  of  acres  of  Strawberries  being  ploughed  in  as  there  was  no 
crop  worth  picking. 
The  cause  of  this  disaster  is  not  far  to  seek,  and  I  think  we  may 
safely  say  that  it  was  the  long  drought  of  1898,  for  although  we  had 
a  very  trying  spring  this  year,  with  late  frosts  and  cold  winds  of  long 
duration,  I  do  not  think  that  the  spring  weather  would  account  for 
this  total  failure.  Of  course  one  knows  that  spring  frosts  will  blacken 
and  destroy  Strawberry  flowers  when  they  are  expanded,  but  the 
blooms  do  not  all  come  out  at  once,  and  it  takes  a  considerable  frost 
to  kill  the  unopened  buds  ;  moreover,  many  growers  tell  me  that  they 
had  no  blooms  to  begin  with. 
Speaking  of  my  own  personal  experience,  our  trial  beds  of  one-year 
plants,  set  thickly,  were  rarely,  if  ever,  better,  and  we  had  so  much  fruit 
that  a  large  proportion  was  wasted.  It  would  not  be  of  much  interest 
for  me  to  give  a  list  of  those  varieties  which  did  best,  for  I  find  that 
no  fruit  varies  more  in  cropping  and  quality  in  different  districts  than 
does  the  Strawberry,  and  even  from  season  to  season  one  is  compelled 
to  form  fresh  opinions  respecting  many  varieties ;  for  instance,  during 
the  past  three  or  four  years  Latest  of  All  has  been  grand,  and  (although 
it  is  not  one  of  the  latest,  by  the  way)  it  has  been  greatly  in  demand 
and  a  general  favourite;  this  year,  in  spite  of  our  having  had  a  genial 
rain  prior  to  their  ripening,  the  fruits  were  many  of  them  hollow  and 
insipid.  Royal  Sovereign  was  Al,  immense  crop  and  good  flavour; 
and  amongst  the  earlies  nothing  came  up  to  Scarlet  Queen.  1  often 
wonder  why  this  variety  has  not  corre  more  to  the  front.  During 
the  Strawberry  season  I  generally  have  a  walk  round  the  beds  before 
breakfast,  when  the  fruit  is  at  its  best,  and  one  can  best  appreciate 
its  flavour.  I  found  my  steps  generally  led  me  this  season  first 
to  the  Scarlet  Queen  beds,  later  to  Royal  Sovereign,  and  afterwards 
to  Auguste  Boisselot  and  President,  my  special  favourite,  Dr.  Hogg, 
having  failed  to  crop  this  year. 
Speaking  of  the  joy  of  eating  these  delicious  fruits  in  perfection, 
is  it  not  lamentable  to  see  the  stuff  set  before  the  general  public  for 
consumption  ?  I  live  now  in  the  city  of  Nottingham,  a  place  with 
260,000  inhabitants,  many  of  whom  are  quite  willing  to  pay  a  good 
price  for  a  fair  article,  and  yet  I  never  once  saw  a  nice  punnet  of 
clean  fresh  fruit  which  one  would  take  a  pleasure  in  eating,  but  only 
heaps  of  fruit  which,  however  good  when  first  turned  out  of  the 
baskets,  by  repeated  handling  and  weighing  soon  look  as  if  the 
proprietor  had  made  his  bed  upon  them  overnight. 
Small  Fruits. 
But  to  turn  from  this  somewhat  unsavoury  subject,  I  may  say 
that  in  the  Midlands,  despite  the  harsh  spring,  the  crops  of  Goose¬ 
berries  and  Currants  have  been  excellent,  although  in  some  localities 
the  Black  Currants  suffered  from  lack  of  moisture.  Speaking  of 
these  fruits  reminds  one  of  the  boom  which  was  made  some  years 
ago  over  Berry’s  Early  Kent  Gooseberry,  which  turned  out  to  be  an 
extremely  old  friend — Keepsake — under  another  name,  and  this  year 
we  have  fruited  the  new  Comet  Currant,  which  we  are  unable  to 
distinguish  in  any  way  from  La  Versaillaise.  There  is  a  difference 
between  the  two,  hut  it  consists  in  the  fact  that  the  first  named  cost 
us  2s.  6d.  a  plant  and  the  others  did  not. 
Whilst  we  are  thinking  about  small  fruits  I  should  like  to  ask 
if  anyone  has  fruited  the  Japanese  Mayberry  ?  I  have  asked  mauy, 
but  cannot  hear  of  anyone  succeeding  with  it.  With  us  it  has  been 
cut  each  year  by  the  spring  frosts,  and  although  in  America  it  with¬ 
stands  a  very  low  temperature  with  a  dry  atmosphere  I  fear  it  is 
useless  in  this  country.  The  Strawberry- Raspberry  we  have  most  of 
us  fruited,  and  I  presume  that  everyone  will  agree  with  me  that  although 
it  may  be  considered  as  an  interesting  and  somewhat  striking 
addition  to  our  mixed  border,  it  has  scant  claim  to  a  position  in 
the  fruit  garden.  The  Loganberry  has,  I  think,  come  to  stay;  it 
has  a  flavour  quite  of  its  own,  a  mixture  of  Blackberry,  Raspberry, 
and  a  decided  dash  of  Mulberry ;  it  is  by  no  means  to  be  despised  as  a 
dessert  fruit  when  fully  ripe,  and  it  is  really  excellent  when  preserved. 
