November  11,  1897. 
JOURNAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER. 
449 
Take  another  phase  of  the  subject — the  watering  of  delicate  plants, 
or  of  more  vigorous  ones  in  a  critical  stage  of  their  development,  such 
as  Chrysanthemums  when  unfolding  their  florets.  A  good  waterer 
studies  not  only  the  appearance  of  the  soil,  but  also  of  the  plants. 
Many  a  time  he  will  be  in  doubt  as  to  whether  water  is  really  required, 
and  a  glance  at  the  foliage  quickly  decides  his  plan  of  action.  And 
yet^  he  would  be  unable  to  thoroughly  explain  the  precise  way  in 
which  he  gleaned  this  “  revelatipn”  from  the  leaves,  though  he  might 
tell  you  he  noticed  an  indefinable  something  about  them  which  the 
trained  eye  understood,  if  the  brain  did  not.  There  are,  however, 
many  instances  in  which  vegetation  speaks  quite  plainly,  even  to  eyes 
that  are  not  highly  trained. 
Go  into  a  neglected  garden,  or  badly  cultivated  field  in  summer 
time  when  the  cmps  should  be  looking  their  best,  what  a  sorry  plight 
either  presents.  The  crops  are  poor  and  poverty  stricken  in  appearance, 
while  the  weeds  are  rampant,  robbing  the  ground  of  much  of  the  food 
it  contains.  To  the  gardener  who  practises  good  culture  such  struggling 
crops  cry  in  unmistakeable  terms  for  food,  for  space  free  from  noxious 
weeds.  Look  also  at  the  stunted  trees  in  many  an  English  orchard, 
stunted  through  starvation  combined  with  a  neglect  to  thin  the 
branches.  Manure  and  a  free  circulation  of  air  are  the  things  they  ask 
for;  give  them  that  which  they  crave,  and  they  will  in  due  time 
reciprocate  the  kindness. 
Strange  as  it  may  seem  to  some,  it  is  none  ‘the  less  true  that  only 
a  few  years  ago  I  met  with  fruit  growers  in  Kent  who  still  clung  to 
the  doctrine  that  fruit  trees  did  not  need  manure.  But  it  is  right  to 
add  that  were  some  of  the  “  old  school,”  who  were  not  noted  for  the 
high  ([uality  of  their  produce.  I  think  there  are  few  readers  of 
the  Journal  of  Horticulture  who  do  not  know  that — when  the  land 
has  been  properly  prepared  before  being  planted — young  trees  do  not 
require  manure  till  they  begin  to  bear  good  crops,  but  if  it  is  then 
continually  withheld  stunted  growth  and  unsaleable  fruit  will  in  time 
be  the  result. 
Fortunately,  however,  there  is  a  brighter  side  to  this  subject,  for 
plants,  trees,  and  flowers  show  quite  as  clearly  when  they  are  being 
well  treated  as  when  they  are  neglected.  The  vigorous  crops  of 
vegetables  which  have  been  well  attended  to  during  every  stage  of 
their  development  show  by  their  glo.ssy  leaves,  stout  stems,  and 
shapely  roots  or  tubers,  that  they  will  yield  a  bountiful  harvest.  The 
well-tended  orchards  and  fruit  plantations,  which  are  now  yearly 
increasing  in  number,  give — if  we  take  the  average  for  a  number  of 
years — a  return  for  the  labours  bestowed  upon  them  such  as  few  other 
crops  will  yield.  During  a  plentiful  season,  when  the  brightly 
streaked  or  golden  fruits  are  weighing  down  the  branches,  a  gladness 
pervades  the  land,  for  if  rightly  disposed  of  it  means  abundance  of 
delicious  food  for  millions.  Even  in  seasons  when  fruit  is  somewhat 
scarce  we  have  to  some  extent  a  consolation,  for  England  would  not 
be  half  so  fair  without  her  fruit  trees  at  blossoming  time. 
The  numerous  flowers,  too,  which  are  cultivated  'solely  for  their 
beauty  have  a  fine  language  of  their  own,  and  when  that  language 
bursts  forth  in  all  its  beauty  at  some  critical  time,  or  in  some  almost 
forsaken  spot,  its  influence  cannot  be  withstood  by  the  hardest  and 
most  callous  natures.  To  the  hardened  criminal  it  speaks  of  the  green 
fields  and  flowing  streams  of  innocent  childhood  days,  and  the  mind  is 
instinctively  uplifted  at  the  thought.  To  the  sick  and  suffering  in 
many  a  home  of  poverty  flowers  speak,  and  inspire  with  a  magic 
spirit  of  liope. — H.  D. 
WATERING  PLANTS. 
“A  Busy  Man”  431)  inquires  why  the  per-centage  of  loss 
among  market  growers’  plants  is  so  small  and  the  results  so  good.  To 
answer  this  question  fully  would  require  a  lot  of  space,  but  there  are 
several  things  that  lead  up  to  it. 
In  the  fii'st  place,  market  growers’  plants,  as  a  rule,  are  graded  ;  each 
batch  of  plants  is  in  the  same  size  pots,  and  one  is  almost  a  fac-simile  of 
another.  But  there  is  a  moi'e  important  point  than  this.  Any  man  of 
experience  in  plant  growing  can  easily  tell  by  the  ap-'earance  of  such  as 
Pelargoniums,  Chrysanthemums,  and  many  others,  whether  or  not  the 
plant  is  dry  at  the  root.  The  thing  is  to  get  into  the  habit  of  thinking, 
and  acting  quickly  and  decisively.  The  hand  and  head  must  work 
together,  and  one  might  almost  say  that  a  practised  eye  sees  through  the 
ball  of  soil  contained  in  a  flower  pot.  There  is  a  lot  of  time  wasted  in 
private  gardens  by  the  knuckling  process,  as  ymur  correspondent  terms  it ; 
but  I  imagine  that  the  promiscuous  use  of  the  hose  would  not  lead  to 
the  splendid  results  one  may  daily  see  in  Covent  Garden. 
I  recently  saw  a  collection  of  some  20,000  Heaths  that  were  being 
prepared  for  sal#  at  a  large  market-growing  establishment,  but  I  can 
answer  for  the  fact  that  each  one  of  these  had  for  months  been  separately 
examined  before  water  was  given.  The  collective  mode  of  treatment  that 
a  market  man  can  practise  simplifies  his  work  considerably,  and  I  do 
not  sp<*ak  without  experience  in  market  wmrk  ;  but  A  Busy  Man  ”  may 
rest  assured  that  well  considered  culture  may  go  on,  notwithstanding  the 
fact  that  the  hose  is  used  pretty  freely. — H.  B.  R. 
BUNYARDS’. 
Good  Fruit  and  no  Fever  at  Arlington. 
A  song  for  dun  October, 
That  tints  the  woods  wi’  broon, 
And  fills  wi’  pensive  rustling 
The  wooded  dells  aroon’. 
While  Untie,  merle,  and  mavis 
Nae  langer  pipe  wi’  pride. 
Nor  larks  wi’  song  salute  us 
Aboon  the  green  hillside. 
It  is  old-fashioned,  I  believe,  to  begin  an  article  with  rhyme,  and  still 
more  so  to  end  with  it.  And  yet— well,  stand  on  the  “  green  hillside”  of 
Allington,  gaze  round  on  the  beautiful  wooded  landscape,  rich  with  the 
browns  and  yellows,  the  chromes  and  coppers,  of  early  autumn,  and  the 
searching  lines  force  themselves  out.  Below  lies  the  stricken  town,  but 
it  has  no  air  of  melancholy.  Cheerful  and  bright  it  looks  under  the 
October  sun,  making  the  best  of  misfortune  as  bravely  as  its  inhabitants 
are  doing. 
The  Red  Light  Extinguished. 
Danger?  A  fig  !  If  there  were  danger  in  entering  Maidstone  then 
would  the  present  writer  have  something  to  boast  about ;  but  there  is 
none— not  a  shred  ;  not  a  particle.  And  as  for  Allington — why,  the 
place  is  two  miles  away,  with  a  distinct  water  supply,  a  wholesome 
situation,  and  as  fine,  invigorating  an  air  as  anyone  need  wish  to  breathe. 
It  is  strange  to  hear  that  a  buyer  from  Bunyards’  has  cancelled  a  good 
order  because— mark  the  reason  — he  does  not  care  to  have  trees  from  a 
neighbourhood  where  there  is  fever  I  It  would  be  as  reasonable  to  refuse 
to  buy  sugar  at  the  Army  and  Navy  Stores  because  a  plant  in  the  Drill 
Hall  was  attacked  by  green  fly.  Injustice  would  be  done  to  a  good  old 
firm  and  to  a  distinguished  fruitarian  if  this  example  (which  is  based  on 
complete  lack  of  knowledge)  were  followed.  Nothing  kills  like  ridicule, 
and  floods  of  it  ought  to  be  poured  on  people  who  display  such  unreason¬ 
able  nervousness. 
Visitors  to  Bunyards’  need  not  go  near  Maidstone  unless  they  wish. 
Practically,  the  nursery  has  a  station  of  its  own.  “  Ah  1  ”  someone  may 
remark  ;  “  and  that  station  is  Barming,  where  the  fever  is  bad.”  Another 
baseless  objection.  The  station  for  Barming  village  is  East  Farleigh,  and 
the  L.C.D.  station  of  the  former  name  is  probably  two  miles  away.  A 
good  two  miles,  judging  by  the  vigorous  remarks  of  people  who  get  out 
at  Barming  station  under  the  impression  that  they  are  at  the  village. 
Nothing  of  the  sort  ;  they  are  at  Bunyards’.  There,  close  to  the  line,  is 
a  private  gate,  and  a  civil  porter  lets  you  through  it.  Once  across  the 
portal  you  have  acres  of  trees  all  around  you,  and  a  wholesome  fruit 
atmosphere,  healthy,  inspiriting,  driving  away  with  a  rush  all  unworthy 
fears. 
A  Tree  Transformation — Axes  and  Brains. 
A  beautiful  nursery  this.  For  a  full  mile  along  the  railway'  it  stretches* 
the  front  most  tastefullj'  and  handsomely  adorned  with  shrubs.  It 
stretches  away  in  all  directions,  bounded  by  a  distant  tree  in  one  quarter, 
by  a  wood  in  another,  and  so  on.  The  whole  affair  spells  progress.  Not 
so  many  years  ago  three  parts  of  it  was  simply  a  wood.  Axes  got  loose 
in  the  wood,  so  did  brains.  The  axes  did  not  scatter  the  brains  (there  is 
too  much  of  that  lop-sided  system  at  work  in  the  world),  but  the  brains 
guided  the  axes.  That  is  why  scores  upon  scores  of  acres  have  been  so 
marvellously  transformed.  They  are  wood  now,  if  you  like  to  look  at  it 
in  that  way,  for  far  as  the  eye  can  reach  almost  there  is  nothing  hut  trees, 
full  of  health  and  full  of  vigour;  but  the  millions  of  fat  buds  bristling 
among  and  through  the  yellowing  leaves  tell  of  a  new  order  of  things. 
Their  mission  is  a  higher  one  than  that  of  the  old-time  trees.  They 
yield  the  magnificent  fruit  that  carries  the  name  and  fame  of  Kent  all  over 
the  United  Kingdom.  That  forlorn  looking  bush,  now  drooping  its  aging 
foliage,  gave  a  Bismarck  the  size  of  a  teapot,  and  the  drift  of  trees  on  the 
right  3'ielded  the  Gascoyne  s  of  which  the  huge  size,  splendid  shape,  and 
brilliant  colour  have  been  the  admiration  of  fruit  growers  everywhere. 
Double  Working  of  Fruit  Trees. 
The  fruit  trees,  which  stand  in  serried  ranks  at  Allington,  represent 
the  finest  material  which  high  skill  and  good  Kent  soil  can  produce. 
When  the  axe  was  done  with,  spade  and  pruning  knife  came  in,  and  there 
were  brains  behind  them  too.  There  are  differences,  because  individual 
varieties  have  their  special  characters,  but  the  differences  are  in  habit  of 
growth,  not  in  health.  Standard  D’Arcy  Spices,  beside  Ecklinvilles, 
show  marked  differences,  the  former  being  one  of  the  weakest  of  growers, 
the  latter  one  of  the  strongest,  but  the  one  is  as  clean  and  sound  as  the 
other.  In  connection  with  this  point  of  relative  vigour,  it  is  instructive 
to  observe  the  enormous  care  and  time  devoted  to  overcoming  the 
weaknesses  of  varieties,  especially  by  double  working.  Some  varieties 
almost  refuse  to  make  standards.  Neither  coaxing  nor  pushing  will  get 
them  up.  Such  awkward  customers  are  conquered  by  grafting  them 
standard  high  on  more  kindly  sorts,  but  it  all  means  time  and  labour, 
which  again  means  money.  To  begin  with,  there  is  the  stock  proper  (let 
us  say  the  Crab),  then  there  is  the  secondary  stock  (Ecklinville,  for 
example).  The  Crab  has  to  be  produced,  then  the  Ecklinville  has  to  be 
thoroughly  established  on  it,  so  by  the  time  the  graft  can  be  put  on  six  or 
seven  years  have  elapsed,  and  more  time  still  is  needed  to  make  a  tree 
ready  for  sale.  Buyers  do  not  always  think  of  these  things  when  com¬ 
paring  the  price  of  good  trees  and  rubbish. 
Some  of  the  Apples. 
And  what  about  varieties  ?  Sit  down,  puzzle  your  brains,  and  when 
you’ve  made  what  you  consider  to  be  a  complete  list,  you  will  discover 
