476 
JOURNAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER. 
November  12,  1898. 
during  some  seasons  the  majority  of  the  prizes  go  north,  other  years 
most  of  them  go  south  ;  stiil  such  luck  a  true  florist  can  bear,  shake 
hands  with  his  conqueror,  and  promise  him  a  dusting  nest  year.  Do 
judges  give  the  first  prize  to  the  inferior  products  of  their  exhibitor 
because  his  father  was  a  clever  man  1 — A.  L.  G. 
THE  YOUNG  GARDENERS’  DOMAIN. 
An  Awaking. 
Thanks,  my  young  friend,  “  W.  T.”  (page  430)  for  your  gently 
insinuative  reminder.  Awake  ?  Oh,  yes,  I’m  awake  ;  have  my  eyes 
upon  the  lot  of  you,  as  “  Young  Ireland  ”  leaps  the  fence  to  join 
“  A  Y'oung  Scot  ”  and  the  other  representative  of  the  empire,  Now, 
young  bothyites,  if  you  do  not  take  this  splendid  opportunity  you  are 
not  what  I  take  you  for  ;  and  if  yon  are  not  that,  what  are  you  ?  Look 
at  them,  Mr.  Fleet  Street,  500  at  least  peeping  over  the  fence  ;  bold  up 
a  box  of  drawing  instruments,  and  see  them  tumbling  over  for  it,  for 
the  best  design  for  a  flower  garden — or  any  garden.  Yet  stay,  “  advice 
is  cheap,  but  example  fetches  a  long  price  ; "  here  is  a  half-guinea 
fountain  pen  for  the  best  literary  work  in  “  The  Young  Gardeners’ 
Domain.”  I  know  the  pen  to  be  a  good  one,  for  I’ve  tried  it.  Here  it 
goes  to  171.  Now,  Mr.  Fleet  Street,  let  me  out  of  the  “Domain,”  and 
keep  me  out,  and  all  the  old  lads  too  ;  and  if  you  are  not  soon  inundated 
with  some  good,  plain,  sensible  letters  from  our  boys,  then  there  will  be 
none  more  disappointed  at  their  diffidence  than — E.  K. 
[This  is  “waking  up’  to  a  purpose,  and  the  watchful  “  E.  K,”  is 
cordially  thanked.  Mr.  Fleet  Street  will  correspond  with  him,  and  a 
mutual  arrangement  for  the  bestowal  of  the  pen  (which  is  received) 
■hall  be  published  iUrhen  the  conditions  are  determined.] 
Long  Wobds  anh  Plain  Work. 
I  WANT  to  tell  you  please  that  I  am  only  the  boy  here,  the  other 
fellows  in  the  bothy  are  young  men,  so  they  say.  When  we  saw  "  The 
Young  Gardeners’  Domain  ”  they  said  it  was  simply  splendid,  and  they 
would  write  out  some  grand  pieces  for  it  at  once.  They  said  “  That 
boy  ”  (that’s  me)  “  needn’t  try,  because  he  knows  nothing  except  wash¬ 
ing  pots,  and  cleaning  up  the  stokeholes,  and  scrubbing  out  the  houses, 
and  what  people  write  about  now  is  eelworms,  and  crown  buds,  and 
phenyle.”  One  fellow  started  about  eelworm,  I  suppose  because  he 
went  fishing  at  night  last  summer,  and  caught  one  little  pike  and  a  big 
wigging  from  the  governor.  I  saw  one  chap  looking  for  some  big  words 
in  the  die.  I  thought  I  would  just  like  to  tell  you  about  my  stokeholes. 
I  take  out  all  the  clinkers  and  ashes  every  morning  before  breakfast, 
then  sprinkle  the  floors  and  sweep  them  clean.  The  governor  likes  them 
so,  and  shows  me  how  much  heat  can  be  had  with  a  small  bright  fire, 
instead  of  a  furnace  choked  full  of  dust  and  ashes.  Sometimes  me  and 
one  of  the  other  fellows  go  to  see  other  gardens,  and  then  I  look  into 
their  stokeholes,  because  I  want  ours  to  be  the  best.  Washing  pots  is  a 
nasty  job,  so  I  count  them  out  twelve  at  a  time,  they  seem  easier  that 
way,  and  when  a  lot  is  put  to  soak  the  night  before  it  is  easy  to  clean 
them  with  some  sand  and  a  bit  of  sacking.  Each  size  is  put  in  its 
own  place,  and  they  look  real  nice.  I  heard  our  master  say  that  I 
should  make  a  gardener  some  day,  but  I  did  not  want  to  wait  till  then 
before  I  wrote,  so  I  send  you  this,  and  I  shall  watch  to  see  if  yon  pnt  it 
in.  If  you  do  so  I  shall  be  glad,  and  the  other  fellows  wo’n’t  they  be 
“  done  ”  when  they  see  its  from — That  Boy. 
P.S. — Please  say  what  you  think  of  my  writing,  because  I  have  been 
practising,  and  will  you  see  the  stops  are  all  right  before  it’s  printed? 
[We  have  no  fault  to  find  with  the  writing.  As  to  the  “  stops  ”  they 
were  like  the  dirty  pots — too  many  of  them.  We  liked  the  last  one,  as 
it  is  a  good  thing  when  writers  know  where  to  stop.  The  best  part  of 
the  letter  is  the  useful  work  in  it  (which  is  better  than  long  words)  ;  the 
worst  a  few  slips  in  grammar,  and  some  abbreviations.  We  leave  one 
—“Die,”  for  Dictionary — as  an  error  to  be  avoided  in  literary  work. 
We  leave  two  or  three  samples  of  bad  grammar  for  the  “other  fellows” 
to  pick  out,  and  give  the  "  Boy  ”  a  lesson — for  his  benefit.] 
Nature’s  Lessons. 
I  AM  prompted  to  write  now  there  is  an  opportunity  afforded  in 
the  Journal  of  Ilorticu  ture  without  any  fear  of  being  severely  criticised 
by  our  elders.  We  converse  in  our  bothies  on  “  Memories  and  Morals  of 
Bothydom,”  and  approve  of  the-  advice  that  has  been  given.  Shall  we 
always  heed  it  ?  I  sincerely  hope  we  shall ;  indeed  a  great  error  would 
be  made  if  we  did  not  act  and  pay  attention  to  the  counsels  of  our 
friendly  mentor.  I  should  like  to  say  that  much  precious  time  is 
wasted  in  the  summer  which  might  be  utilised  in  a  manner  that  wonld- 
make  ns  more  conversant  with  the  flora  of  our  fields  and  hedgerows. 
Many  of  us  do  learn  from  Nature  no  doubt,  but  a  larger  majority 
remain  ignorant  of  the  many  interesting  plants  of  our  own  native 
land.  The  exercise  recommended  could  be  indulged  in  more  without 
the  slightest  injury  to  our  general  work. — F.  W.  G. 
On  tee  Spending  of  Spare  Time. 
Bravo!  “3.  Junr.”  and  a  “Young  Scot,’’ you  have  set  the  ball 
a-rolling  and  I  will  help  you  to  keep  it  going.  But  I  must  begin  by 
thanking  with  all  my  heart  our  old  friend  for  the  grand  pages  he  has 
given  us  of  late  ;  such  timely  and  helpful  advice  can  and  will  be 
appreciated  by  all  right  thinking  bothy  lads.  Was  there  ever  a  time  in 
the  annals  of  horticulture  when  the  young  had  more  chances  of  learning, 
more  kind  advisers,  and  perhaps  more  need  of  advice  than  the  present  ? 
I  think  not,  let  ns  then  take  advantage  of  our  chances  while  we  are  • 
young,  for  we  shall,  I  feel  sure,  be  very  thankful  for  having  done  so  in 
after  life. 
Let  our  aim  be  to  excel.  Let  us  be  careful  and  attentive  to  minor 
duties.  My  father  told  me  when  I  left  home  to  try  to  do  everything 
better  than  it  was  ever  done  before  ;  grand  advice  that.  We  must  put 
our  whole  heart  into  our  work  or  we  may  as  well  give  up  at  once. 
Gardeners  work  hard,  very  hard,  but  whoever  achieved  greatness  without 
preseverance  in  duty,  and  surely  the  crowning  position  of  a  life  spent 
in  studying  the  beauties  of  nature  is  worth  working  for.  What  say  yon 
my  fellow  workers  ? 
Let  ns  therefore,  instead  of  spending  all  our  spare  time  in  “pleasure 
seeking,”  as  “  S.  Junr.”  puts  it,  or  bur  money  at  the  public  house  bar, 
spend  both  in  sound  literature  and  healthful  study.  Let  us  keep  a 
diary  as  suggested  by  “  S.”  1  have  found  it  a  great  help  to  me,  and 
shall  continue  it.  A  good  practice  also  is  to  spend  a  few  hours  in 
summer  drawing  rough  plans  of  the  flower  beds,  numbering  them,  and 
writing  underneath  the  contents  of  each  bed,  then  in  the  winter  they 
may  be  brought  out  and  drawn  more  accurately.  If  we  do  this  every 
year  at  each  place  we  go  to,  we  shall,  when  we  emerge  from  bothy  life 
have  quite  a  collection  of  plans  which  we  may  revise  at  our  own 
discretion  — A  Youngster. 
[Very  good  for  a  “Youngster,”  and  only  two  words  mis-spelt — 
“diery”  for  “diary,”  and  “excell”  for  “excel.”  We  were  pained 
not  long  ago  on  finding  a  sound  practical  gardener  and  worthy  man 
lose  an  excellent  situation  through  a  letter  which  contained  several 
errors  in  spelling,] 
Appreciation  and  Endeavour. 
Now  that  the  Editor  of  the  Journal  has  given  young  gardeners 
encouragement  to  write  on  different  subjects,  I  think  w*  ought  not 
to  let  the  chance  go  by.  It  would  do  no  harm  to  write  articles  con-- 
nected  with  our  work,  which  might  be  both  useful  and  interesting, 
and  I  am  sure  many  young  gardeners  could  do  a  little  in  that  way 
if  they  would  only  try.  Many  thanks  to  “S,  Junior”  for  leading  the 
way.  If  others  will  only  come  to  the  front  as  he  has  done,  we  might 
impart  some  useful  information  on  subjects  connected  with  our  daily 
duties.  I  think  “Old  Boy”  deserves  great  praise  and  many  thanka 
for  giving  us  younger  members  some  sound  advice  in  his  splendid 
articles,  and  I  hope  we  will  always  remember  the  kindly  remarks- 
towards  young  gardeners. — Dunelm, 
[When  “Dunelm”  writes  again  he  will  oblige  by  leaving  more- 
space  between  the  lines.  The  “  Old  Boy  ”  leaves  three-quarters  of 
an  inch  quite  clear,  and  his  copy  is  a  treat  to  the  printers.] 
FRUIT  FORCING. 
Pines. — Young  plants  are  apt  to  become  drawn  and  weak  through 
the  moisture  so  prevalent  in  our  climate  during  the  autumn  months. 
As  growth  advances  in  these  plants  they  should  be  placed  so  as  to  obtain 
all  the  light  possible,  then  the  growth  will  be  sturdy  and  well  solidified.. 
As  the  beds  subside  owing  to  the  decomposition  of  the  fermenting 
material,  those  freshly  made  of  leaves  or  even  tan  require  prompt 
attention  to  raising  the  plants,  so  that  they  may  have  the  full  benefit  of 
light,  and  in  doing  this  take  care  not  to  chill  the  plants  or  allow  them 
to  become  overheated  at  the  roots.  Prepare  new  beds  v/hen  necessary, 
and  the  best  plan,  where  the  extent  of  glass  admits  of  it,  is  to  free  all 
the  pits  or  houses,  and  not  return  them  until  the  structures  and  beds  are 
In  proper  condition.  Tan  is  much  the  best  fermenting  material  for 
affording  bottom  heat  to  Pines  ;  Oak  and  Beech  leaves  are  suitable  and 
durable,  and  the  beat  from  them  is  milder  and  lasts  longer  than  any 
other. 
Pine  plants  should  be  arranged  at  this  time  of  year  in  accordance 
with  their  requirements  for  the  winter.  P’ruiting  plants  need  the  best- 
places  for  swelling  off  their  fruits  properly  at  a  time  when  natural  means 
will  not  afford  mnoh  assistance.  The  fruiting  plants  must  have  a  night 
temperature  of  65°,  and  70°  to  75°  by  artificial  means  during  the  daytime, 
losing  no  opportunity  of  admitting  air  at  80°,  closing  at  that  tempera¬ 
ture.  Successional  plants  require  a  night  temperature  of  60°  and  65°  by 
day  artificially,  advancing  from  sun  heat  to  75°  or  more ;  but  air  must 
be  admitted  between  70°  and  75°.  Suckers  or  stock  not  in  fruiting  pots 
must  not  be  brought  forward  too  rapidly,  as  they  are  not  prepared  to 
make  growth  until  well  rooted  and  have  formed  a  sturdy  base.  They 
.will'  progress  satisfactorily  in  a  night  temperature  of  55°  to  60°,  and 
*60°  to  65°  in  the  daytime,  but  avoid  chills  or  anything  likely  to  cause  a 
stunted  growth.  As  regards  moisture,  fruiting  plants  require  a  genial, 
atmosphere  at  all  times,  therefore  sprinkle  the  paths,  beds,  and  walls- 
regularly  as  they  become  dry,  and  the  plants  will  need  syringing  in  a 
light  house  during  bright  weather  two  or  three  times  a  week.  Succession, 
plants  will  only  require  syringing  occasionally,  as  they  will  derive 
*  essential  moisture  from  the  fermenting  materials.  Suckers  will  have; 
