568 
JOURNAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER. 
June  18,  1898, 
root  drought,  whether  supplied  in  the  form  of  night  dews  or  artificially, 
is  most  helpful  and  refreshing,  the  obvious  inference  being  that  plants 
can  in  that  way  absorb  moisture  advantageously.  Of  course  no  such 
small  aids  are  so  efficacious  as  are  thorough  ground  soakings,  such  as 
good  rains  or  waterings  furnish.  It  is  to  be  hoped  that  more  good  though 
gentle  rains  may  soon  fall. — A.  D. 
EARLY  STRAWBERRIES. 
Seeing  a  paragraph  in  the  Journal  about  early  Strawberries,  I 
thought  it  might  interest  some  of  your  numerous  readers  to  know  that 
we  gathered  some  fine  fruit  of  Eoyal  Sovereign  on  a  south  border  on 
May  29th.  The  runners  were  layered  into  60’s,  and  planted  out  last 
August,  and  are  now  fine  large  plants  with  a  good  crop  of  fruit. — 
A.  Braddy,  Colchester,  _ 
I  have  forwarded  to  you  per  rail  to-day  (June  8th)  a  box  containing 
three  punnets  of  Strawberries.  The  varieties  are  John  Buskin,  Noble, 
and  Royal  Sovereign,  from  maiden  plants  grown  on  a  border  in  the 
open  air.  They  have  not  received  any  protection,  neither  have-d;bey 
been  watered  during  the  late  severe  drought,  otherwise  they  might  have 
been  larger. 
During  the  past  forty-eight  hours  heavy  thunder  showers  have  pre¬ 
vailed,  1|  inch  rainfall  being  registered  ;  this  has  done  a  great  amount 
of  good  to  the  growing  crops.  The  Strawberries,  I  fear,  have  somewhat 
deteriorated  in  flavour.  I  should,  however,  like  your  opinion  of  them 
as  compared  with  Mr.  Cannell’s  “  earliest  on  record.”  I  do  not  consider 
a  solitary  fruit  of  any  variety  is  sufficient  to  stamp  it  as  the  “  finest 
fruiting  kind  we  possess,”  more  particularly  when  such  standard  varie¬ 
ties  as  those  I  have  sent  you  may  be  gathered  from  outdoor  grown 
plants  nearly  200  miles  north  of  Swanley.  Specimens  of  these  were  ripe 
on  May  31st,  earlier  than  I  have  before  known  them. 
The  mild  winter  and  exceptionally  open  spring  is  doubtless  the  cause 
of  the  forwardness  of  crops  so  far  north.  Stevens’  Wonder,  grown  on 
the  same  border  under  similar  conditions,  will  be  ten  days  or  a  fortnight 
later.  It  is  a  light  cropper,  and  the  fruit  will  be  small,  this  is  also  our 
experience  of  it  when  forced.  What  have  others  to  say  as  to  the  beha¬ 
viour  of  this  variety  when  forced  ?  I  consider  Royal  Sovereign  a  great 
acquisition.  In  growth,  shape  of  fruit,  and  in  flavour  it  reminds  one  of 
British  Queen,  but  being  an  early  variety  is  to  be  preferred  to  any  other. 
I  predict  a  great  future  for  this  Strawberry.  It  forces  well,  but  is 
impatient  of  too  much  heat  in  the  early  stages  of  its  growth.  It  is  also 
Bubject  to  mildew,  which  may  be  kept  in  check  if  the  plants  are  well 
sulphured  two  or  three  times  during  their  growing  season.  Plants  in 
the  open  air  are  quite  free  of  mildew. — Geo,  Summers,  Sandbeck  Park, 
Yoi'lis. 
[The  Strawberries  sent  were  all  excellent  examples,  the  fruits  of 
Noble  being  of  much  superior  flavour  than  is  usually  the  case  with  this 
variety.] 
JOTTINGS. 
Early  Strawberries. — “H.  C.’s  ”  early  record  is  not  “up  to  date.” 
“  K.,  Dublin  ”  (page  511),  says,  “  A  grower  picked  his  first  basket  on 
May  28th,”  I  picked  several  ripe  fruits  on  May  16th,  and  began  to 
send  to  market  on  the  20th.  Variety,  J.  Ruskin  mostly,  and  a  few 
Nobles.  I  consider  John  Ruskin  a  very  good  early  fruit,  medium  size, 
bright  colour,  great  bearer,  and  a  good  grower. 
Royal  Sovereign  Strawberry . — Will  any  grower  of  this  variety  give 
us  the  relative  dates  of  picking  this  compared  with  Nobles? 
Tomato  Troubles  (page  515). — Yes,  various  and  numerous  are  these, 
and  very  perplexing  even  to  old  and  expert  growers.  Most,  if  not  all, 
seem  to  have  a  fungoid  form  of  origin,  and  it  is  very  doubtful  to  me 
if  many  of  the  so-called  remedies  are  of  any  good.  A  good  deal  was 
published  on  this  subject  last  year,  and  I  for  one  was,  and  am,  much 
indebted  to  you  for  the  information  gleaned  therefrom,  and  note  with 
pleasure  on  page  526  that  there  is  “more  to  follow.”  May  it  come 
soon  to  further  enlighten  us,  as  some  recommend  one  thing  and  some 
another.  All  very  easy  to  advise,  but  let  us  see  the  results.  Even 
some  of  our  experts  are  dumb  when  failures  have  to  be  recorded.  We 
hear  nothing  about  failures  only  under  the  cover  of  initials  in  the 
correspondents’  column  of  “  our  ”  Journal,  where,  by  the  way,  much 
may  be  learned.  Don’t  miss  this  part  of  the  Journal. 
What  has  “  W.  I.”  to  say  about  his  dose  of  10  ozs.  per  square  rod  of 
sulphate  of  iron  ?  How  haB  it  acted  ?  Strong,  hard,  disease-resisting 
plants,  have  they  been  secured  by  the  use  of  chemicals  ?  Has  the  breed 
of  the  “  animal  ”  (Save  the  word)  anything  to  do  with  “  his  ”  con¬ 
stitution  ?  If  so,  which  sorts  are  the  hardiest  ?  Did  “  J.  B.  R.”  try  the 
sulphate  of  iron  remedy,  and  with  what  result  ?  What  about  the 
disease-resisting  qualities  of  Chemin  Rouge,  Mr.  “  J.  B.  R.  ?” 
What  about  McDongall’s  anti-mildew  powder,  Bordeaux  mixture, 
Fostite,  Jeyes’  fluid  or  Creolin,  or  Little’s  phenyle?  Are  any  of  these 
all  that  is  claimed  for  them  to  be?  Is  not  their  use  as  remedial 
measures  almost  out  of  the  question,  and  as  likely  to  be  fatal  to  the 
plant  as  well  as  the  disease?  Again,  I  should  like  to  draw  out  “  W.  I.’s  ” 
opinion  of  phenyle  after  use  last  Beason  ;  also,  I  presume,  he  tried  anti¬ 
blight,  &c.,  &c.,  from  his  communications  to  your  paper. 
Mr.  G.  Abbey  from  time  to  time  very  fully  placed  the  life  history  of 
these  fungoid  diseases  before  us  in  the  Journal,  and  from  his  able 
articles  and  hints  I  have  made  several  trials,  and  noted  all  the  different 
stages  through  which  the  plants  affected  pass.  And  after  all  these  are 
the  conclusions  I  have  arrived  at — viz.,  that  all  their  diseases  are  of 
fungoid  growth,  and  the  most  prevalent  during  hot  Bpell  of  weather ; 
therefore  the  great  variation  of  temperature  may  at  least  be  responsible 
for  the  encouragement  of,  if  not  the  actual  origin  of  most  of  these 
diseases. 
The  only  remedy  is  a  good  dressing  of  quicklime  to  the  soil.  Try  and 
kill  the  germs  of  the  spores  ;  outward  appliances  of  anti-blight  and  other 
powders  are  useless  to  the  plants,  except  as  preventives  ;  the  disease  is 
inside  not  outside,  therefore  must  be  applied  to  the  little  mouths  of  the 
roots,  and  not  upon  the  leaves,  and  control  the  growth  to  hard  and  firm 
wood  by  confined  root  run,  planting  them  in  very  firm  borders,  the 
harder  the  better. — P.  O. 
IRIS  ROBINSONIAN  A. 
Like  many  members  of  the  family  the  flowers  of  this  Iris  are  of  short 
duration,  lasting  about  a  day,  but  the  succession  produced  maintains  the 
interest  over  a  comparatively  long  period.  I.  Robinsoniana  is  a  native 
of  Lord  Howe’s  Island,  where  it  is  said  to  be  sparingly  represented. 
The  leaves  attain  to  6  feet  and  more  in  length,  and  4  inches  in  diameter, 
while  the  scapes  are  about  8  feet  in  height.  The  flowers  (fig.  98)  are 
4  inches  in  diameter  with  spreading  divisions,  the  outer  ovate  1£  inch, 
and  the  inner  a  little  over  an  inch  across.  They  are  with  the  small 
stigmas  pure  white,  with  the  exception  of  a  small  crescent-shaped  bright 
orange  blotch  at  the  base  of  each  of  the  outer  divisions,  and  it  can  be 
understood  why  the  popular  term  “  Wedding  Flower  ”  has  been  applied 
to  it.  The  plant  is  extremely  ornamental  for  its  foliage  alone,  but  if 
the  secret  can  be  discovered  of  flowering  it  more  frequently  it  would 
become  a  great  favourite  where  sufficient  accommodation  could  be 
afforded.  The  specific  title  was  bestowed  in  honour  of  Sir  Hercules 
Robinson. 
YOUNG  GARDENERS. 
Their  Hours  and  Habitations. 
Your  correspondent  “Another  Subordinate ”  expresses  regret  that 
he  did  not  make  his  meaning  quite  so  plain  as  he  would  have  wished, 
but  surely  if  he  did  not  intend  to  convey  such  a  meaning  he  did  not 
carefully  read  over  what  he  had  written,  for  no  one  could  have  put 
but  one  construction  on  the  paragraph  in  reference  to  the  granting  of 
holidays  and  evenings  to  young  gardeners.  Undoubtedly  it  is  well 
known,  unfortunately  too  well  known,  that  there  are  but  few  gardens 
in  which  there  is  no  necessity  for  some  overtime  to  be  done  to  cope  with 
pressing  work  in  spring,  but  usually  this  is  limited  to  light  work  such 
as  Grape-thinning  or  training  of  Peaches,  labour  that  does  not  tax  or 
exhaust  the  energies  of  the  workman;  and  certainly  if  “Another 
Subordinate  ”  cannot  undertake  this  in  timeB  of  pressure  be  ought  to 
relinquish  garden  work  altogether.  “Another  Subordinate”  gives  a 
ready  answer  to  a  misquoted  query.  I  did  not  suggest  that  young  men 
would  not  be  better  off  in  having  a  good  bothy  and  the  necessary 
domestic  arrangements,  but  I  do  repeat  that  gardeners  have  not  always 
the  means  of  studying  the  young  men’s  conveniences  in  the  bothy, 
and  unless  these  are  provided  by  the  employer  it  certainly  cannot  be 
expected  that  the  gardener  can  do  so  out  of  his  own  pocket.  There 
are  many  instances  where  the  bothy  men  are  working  under  equal  or  even 
better  circumstances  than  their  chief,  and  there  is  a  remote  possibility 
that  this  may  be  so  in  “  Subordinate’s”  case. 
I  have  noticed,  too,  that  where  they  are  studied  in  matters  pertaining 
to  the  bothy,  it  is  not  appreciated  as  it  should  be.  I  have  had  but  one 
young  man  that  I  can  name  who  valued  a  good  bothy,  attended  to 
by  a  woman  every  day,  and  yet  others  have  had  the  same  privileges 
without  accounting  them  anything  more  than  common  necessity.  It 
is  clearly  as  much  the  duty  of  the  subordinate  to  study  his  own  work, 
in  whatever  department  he  may  be  engaged,  the  rules  of  the  garden,  and 
the  chief  under  whom  he  acts,  as  for  the  gardener  to  study  the  young 
men,  their  comforts  and  pleasures ;  and  if  young  men  act  simply  as 
machines,  doing  no  more  than  necessity  compels  them,  how  can  they 
reasonably  expect  any  exertion  to  be  made  on  their  behalf  by  the 
gardener  ? 
In  his  concluding  paragraph  “  Another  Subordinate”  asks  me  who 
is  to  look  after  the  comforts  of  young  men  if  head  gardeners  are 
not  going  to  do  so.  My  reply  is  that  if  young  men  studied  their  own 
interests,  and  that  of  the  gardener  under  whom  they  may  be  acting,  he 
would  be  an  ungrateful  man  that  would  stoop  to  such  a  level  as  to  with¬ 
hold  the  common  necessities  of  bothy  life.  But,  I  fear  at  the  same  time 
that  the  craze  for  pleasure  seeking  is  fatal  to  the  unanimity  of  good  feeling 
between  man  and  man.  I  have  always  aimed  to  be  generous  to  a  limit 
towards  my  young  men,  and  this  has  on  many  occasions  led  to  my 
being  imposed  upon,  and  when  remonstrance  becomes  a  necessity  then 
young  men,  some  of  them,  think  they  are  severely  dealt  with.  I  am 
writing  strictly  from  my  own  experience,  and  have  the  advantage  over 
your  correspondent  in  being  able  to  view  the  grievance  from  both  sides. 
