May  14,  1896. 
445 
JOURNAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER. 
-  The  Tamworth  Pansy  Show. — The  schedule  of  the  above 
show,  which  is  to  be  held  in  the  grounds  at  Bolehill  on  the  27th  inst., 
shows  that  good  encouragement  is  given  to  different  sections  of  culti¬ 
vators  of  Pansies  and  Violas.  Prizes  are  offered  for  local  amateurs, 
cottagers,  also  for  all  comers  and  from  everywhere,  including  trade 
growers.  Gold  and  silver  medals  are  offered  for  trade  exhibits,  and 
seventy-five  money  prizes  in  the  various  other  classes.  Mr.  Sydenham 
announces  that  he  will  have  a  million  plants  in  bloom,  so  there  will  be 
something  to  see  besides  the  competitive  exhibition. 
- SOCIETE  FRAN9AISE  d’Horticulture  de  Londres.— The 
seventh  Bulletin  of  this  Society  came  recently  to  hand,  and  contains 
the  reports  of  the  Society’s  proceedings  during  the  year  1895.  It  would 
appear  that  the  progress  is  satisfactory,  and  that  the  number  of  members 
shows  no  signs  of  diminution.  Particulars  are  given  of  the  various 
meetings  that  have  been  held,  and  in  addition  there  are  several  articles 
on  various  phases  of  horticulture  that  cannot  fail  to  be  of  service  to  all 
readers.  The  publication  is  a  highly  creditable  one,  and  it  is  hoped  that 
the  success  of  the  Society  in  the  future  will  result  in  even  better  ones 
than  this  being  sent  out.  The  Secretary  is  Mons.  Louis  Gentil,  4,  Old 
Compton  Street,  London,  W.C. 
- The  Weather  Last  Month. — April  was  dry  and  mild,  with 
only  very  slight  frosts  on  five  days.  The  wind  was  in  a  westerly 
direction  twenty-one  days.  Total  rainfall,  P06  inch,  which  fell  on 
twelve  days,  the  greatest  daily  fall  being  O' 33  inch  on  the  10th. 
Barometer,  highest  reading,  30-298  at  9  P.M.  on  the  20th ;  lowest, 
29  412  at  9  A.M,  on  the  29th.  Temperature,  highest  in  the  shade,  68°  on 
the  27th;  lowest,  30°  on  the  24th.  Mean  of  daily  maxima,  56  40°; 
mean  of  daily  minima,  39,26°.  Mean  temperature  of  the  month,  47-83°. 
Lowest  on  the  grass,  21°  on  the  2nd  and  4th.  Highest  in  the  sun,  133° 
on  the  18th.  Mean  of  earth  at  3  feet,  47,90°.  Total  sunshine,  173  hours 
55  minutes.  There  were  two  sunless  days. — W,  H.  Divers,  Belvoir 
Castle  Gardens ,  Grantham. 
-  Eichardia  .ethiopica. — The  Arum  Lily,  although  so  well 
known,  is  not  always  grown  to  the  best  advantage.  We  often  see 
half-starved  plants  grown  in  too  much  heat  and  kept  in  small  pots, 
which  gives  them  a  weak  appearance,  but  if  planted  out  of  doors  all 
the  summer  and  then  lifted  a  profusion  of  bloom  during  winter  and 
spring  will  be  the  result.  Anyone  having  a  stock  of  plants,  however 
small,  will  do  well  to  take  them  in  hand  at  once,  and  withhold  water 
for  a  week  or  two  until  all  danger  of  frost  is  over.  They  should  then 
be  turned  out  of  their  pots  and  have  all  the  old  soil  shaken  away  from 
their  roots,  and  planted  out  singly  in  trenches  like  Celery  on  a  well- 
manured  piece  of  ground  that  is  fully  exposed  to  the  sun.  They  will 
require  very  little  attention  all  the  summer.  As  the  old  foliage  dies 
away  fine  healthy  growth  will  be  substituted.  About  the  end  of 
September  lift  and  pot  them  in  some  rich  soil,  using  rather  large  pots  so 
as  not  to  injure  their  roots,  and  place  in  a  house  kept  at  about  50°,  with 
plenty  of  light.  Flowers  will  soon  appear,  and  if  the  plants  are  well 
supplied  with  liquid  manure  a  succession  of  bloom  will  be  kept  up  for 
many  months.  Richardias  are  gross  feeders,  and  should  never  be 
allowed  to  get  dry  after  they  are  planted  out,  or  green  fly  will  soon 
attack  them. — Grower. 
-  Ventilating  Cool  Houses. — The  closing  words  of  :‘H.  D.’s” 
critique  on  this  subject  brings  to  mind  an  amusing  picture  of  self- 
reliance  and  self-confidence  in  his  newly  found  system  of  ventilation, 
and  openly  defies  the  “  storm  ”  of  criticism  anticipated  to  sink  the  old 
ship  which  he  has  so  recently  taken  in  charge.  No  one  admires  pluck 
and  confidence  more  than  myself,  but  during  the  few  years  which  the 
faculty  of  memory  enables  me  to  recall,  I  have  more  than  once  been 
witness  to  the  sinking  of  a  “  ship  ”  with  a  self-infallible  man  at  the 
wheel,  and  when  the  calm,  which  invariably  follows  the  storm,  makes 
its  appearance  the  brave  and  self-reliant  commander  is  a  being  of  the 
past.  I  should  be  sorry  to  think  that  such  a  misfortune  may  fall  to  the 
lot  of  one  so  gifted  as  “  H.  D. ;  ”  we,  and  myself  personally,  should  mourn 
the  vacant  pages  which  his  active  mind  now  fills.  I  heartily  coincide 
with  the  views  expressed,  although  I  am  under  the  conviction  that  the 
old  notion  of  ventilation,  or,  in  other  words,  “  coddling,”  has  long  been 
“  exploded.”  In  my  short  travels  I  have  certainly  not  met  with  “  many 
good  gardeners  ”  who  adopt  this  somewhat  in-hygienic  treatment.  Pure 
air  is  the  elixir  of  life,  and  the  more  all  things  get,  with  reasonable 
discretion,  the  better  and  stronger  are  they.  Allow  me  to  congratulate 
"  H.  D.”  for  launching  the  “old  ship,”  and  shaping  the  course  so  fairly  ; 
but  defy  not  the  “  storm  ”  until  safely  harboured  ;  accidents  may  occur 
with  the  best  and  safest  at  the  wheel, — F.  Dunn,  Oaldeigli. 
-  Figs  at  Chiswick.— Whilst  all  the  fine  bush  plants  growing 
in  the  large  show  house  at  these  gardens  exhibit,  as  they  have  from  the 
first,  the  greatest  possible  fruitfulness,  there  is  just  now  standing  on  one 
corner  of  the  centre  bed  a  large  but  very  thin  bush  of  the  well  known 
Pingo  de  Mel  that  is  carrying  a  heavy  crop.  The  fruits  come  in  dense 
clusters,  and  are  of  good  size  and  excellent  flavour  when  ripe.  We 
counted  on  this  bush  the  other  day  (it  is  in  a  13-inch  pot)  no  less  than 
120  fruits  rapidly  approaching  the  ripening  stage,  This  fact  speaks 
volumes  for  the  sort,  especially  for  pot  culture.  Potting  takes  place 
about  once  in  two  years,  and  pruning,  which  is  thinning,  is  hard.  The 
house  will  furnish  a  great  crop  again  this  year  without  doubt. 
-  Trapping  Wireworm. — The  following  little  colloquy  with 
one  of  our  greatest  of  market  Cucumber  growers  tells  its  own  tale. 
“  Do  you  use  the  turf  from  this  pasture  for  your  Cucumbers  ?  ”  “  Yes, 
we  do.”  “Do  you  not  suffer  from  wireworm?”  “Well,  we  get  our 
share.”  “  How  do  you  destroy  them  ?  ”  “  We  set  traps  for  them  in  the 
houses  by  inserting  here  and  there  large  pieces  of  Carrots,  into  which 
they  enter,  and  thus  are  caught  in  large  quantities.”  There  is  nothing 
new  in  this  system  of  trapping,  but  its  very  simplicity  sometimes  leads 
to  its  being  ignored.  However,  out  of  several  thousands  of  Cucumber 
plants  growing  in  over  100  houses  not  one  seemed  to  have  suffered  from 
or  to  be  lacking  through  injury  from  wireworm.  The  trapping  must, 
however,  be  persisted  in. — Wanderer. 
-  Grape  Factories. — When  we  see,  as  is  the  case  at  Broxbourne, 
apparently  over  100  huge  glass  houses  devoted  to  Grape  production,  and 
the  annual  produce  exceeds  considerably  over  100  tons,  and  first-class 
market  Grapes  too,  it  seems  difficult  to  regard  such  production  in  the 
same  way  that  we  look  upon  the  few  vineries  seen  in  private  gardens, 
and  upon  the  care  of  which  great  anxiety  as  well  as  much  labour  is 
expended.  In  this  latter  case  Grape  growing  may  be  regarded  as 
gardening,  but  in  the  former  case  it  seems  to  be  more  fitly  termed  Grape 
manufacturing.  It  does  not  matter  that  the  houses  cover  many  acres, 
or  if  end  to  end  would  run  into  miles  in  length,  or  that  the  Vines  are  in 
them  by  thousands.  There  seems  to  be  not  a  pin  to  choose  between 
them  relative  to  variety  and  time  of  starting,  and  their  productive 
power  seems  to  be  alike  also.  No  gardener  should  ever  set  himself  up 
as  a  first-class  Grape  grower  until  he  has  seen  one  of  these  huge  factories 
and  studied  the  methods  adopted  in  them.  Practically  this  method  may 
be  said  to  resemble  the  feeding  of  a  mill  with  corn  at  one  end,  bread  for 
human  food  being  the  product  at  the  other.  The  houses  are  there 
because  protection  is  essential  to  the  Vines  ;  the  hot-water  pipes  because 
heat,  too,  is  essential  to  the  manufacture.  Soil  is  also  an  essential 
because  it  constitutes  the  larder  from  which  certain  ingredients  in  both 
Vine  and  fruit  are  drawn,  and  the  Vines  themselves  are  there  because 
these  are  the  primary  subjects  in  Grape  production.  But  after  all  the 
actual  process  with  these  aids  seems  to  resolve  itself  into  the  feeding  the 
soil  with  certain  elements  called  manures,  which  again  are  rendered 
soluble  and  capable  of  utilisation  through  the  agency  of  water,  and 
Natare,  under  the  beneficial  surroundings  furnished,  does  the  rest. 
From  the  bursting  of  the  bud  to  the  colouring  of  the  Grapes  the  process 
of  manufacture  goes  on,  and  the  product,  though  relatively  so  enormous, 
seems  to  be  by  these  market  growers  regarded  as  merely  a  matter  of 
course.  It  is  only  the  novice  who  wonders. — A.  D. 
DRYING  MELONS  FOR  RIPENING. 
A  few  weeks  ago  “  E.  D.  S.”  (page  294)  gave  a  lucid  and  practical 
article  on  the  culture  of  Melons.  With  one  item  advised  I  am  obliged 
to  be  at  variance,  and  that  is  the  “drying  off  process.”  I  have  been 
tutored  on  both  modes  in  my  earlier  days — withholding  water  on  the 
fruit  getting  ripe,  on  the  one  hand,  and,  on  the  other,  watering  copiously 
right  up  to  the  time  of  cutting.  I  hold  to  the  latter  treatment,  and  shaH 
continue  it  until  I  can  see  the  utility  of  the  “drying  off  process.” 
Firstly,  is  it  not  against  Nature  to  “  dry  off  ”  the  plants  ?  Secondly, 
must  not  they  get  overrun  with  red  spider  ?  Thirdly,  is  the  flavour 
of  the  fruits  improved  thereby  ? 
I  have  gained  several  prizes  for  Melons  in  strong  competition,  the 
majority  of  my  opponents  adhering  to  the  drying  treatment,  which  1 
ignore.  It  would  be  interesting  if  exhibitors  for  honours  at  the  hands 
of  the  R.H.S.  would  indicate  to  which  process  their  fruit  had  been 
subjected.  This  would  be  to  a  certain  extent  a  test  of  the  relative 
value  of  the  two  methods,  and  an  extra  line  added  to  the  reports  on  the 
awards  being  made  would  be  duly  noted. 
It  cannot  be  said  that  abundance  of  water  tends  to  crack  the  fruit 
this  rarely  happens  if  water  is  given  systematically.  It  more  frequently 
occurs  through  not  removing  the  superfluous  foliage  often  enough,  but 
allowing  it  to  grow  into  a  thicket  and  then  making  a  thorough  clearance. 
This  causes  the  sap  to  rush  somewhere,  mostly  to  the  fruits,  the  super¬ 
abundance  causing  them  to  burst  the  tissues. — G.  D.,  Stubton  Hall 
Gardens. 
