December  9,  1897. 
JOURl^AL  OF  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER. 
545 
is  trifling— no  Cherries  whatever,  very  few  Lemons,  less  Plums;  and 
hardly  any  drapes  and  Pears,  except  from  the  Channel  Islands  and 
the  Cape  of  Good  Hope, 
From  the  Cape  we  receive  about  1500  bushels  of  Grapes,  and 
40,000  bushels  from  the  Channel  Islands  ;  these  exhaust  the  trade  in 
Grapes.  Between  18,000  and  19,000  bushels  of  Pears  are  sent  by  the 
Channel  Islands,  Malta  gives  about  6000  bushels  of  Oranges.  But 
all  the  fruit  from  all  the  British  possessions  does  not  exceed 
1,300,000  bushels,  which  is  about  one-thirteenth  of  the  total  supply. 
One  small  Continental  country,  Belgium,  far  exceeds  the  quantity 
which  the  British  possessions  contribute. 
But  the  colonies  are  now  learning  the  art  of  safely  transporting 
tender  raw  fruits  across  the  ocean.  Their  few  experiments  hitherto 
have  been  failures ;  for  instance,  South  Australian  Oranges  last 
autumn,  and  Canadian  Pears  two  years  ago;  but  they  were  not  hope¬ 
less  failures — they  pointed  out  the  way,  and  the  possibilities  of  the 
colonial  fruit  trade  with  the  British  Isles  are  immense.  The  tiial  ship¬ 
ment  of  Canadian  Pears  decomposed  from  the  heat  engendered  in  the 
railway  cars  on  the  journey  to  IMontreal.  Since  that  experience  the 
fruit-growers  of  Ontario,  and  the  Government  of  the  province,  have 
consulted,  and  used  their  fresh  knowledge  in  the  organising  of  a  system 
of  cooling  stores  and  refrigerating  railway  cars  and  cold  steamship 
chambers,  in  which  to  preserve  delicate  fruits  from  self-destruction  due 
to  ripening  en.  route.  These  measures,  it  is  hoped,  will  allow  Grapes 
to  be  transported  without  losing  their  bloom,  and  preserve  the  delieate 
skins  of  Peaches,  and  the  firmness  of  Pears. 
The  Government  of  Ontario  has  undertaken  to  pay  the  entire  cost 
of  the  new  experiment,  and  has  guaranteed  against  the  loss  the  fruit 
growers  who  have  promised  to  contribute  supplies  to  the  first  ship¬ 
ments.  If  the  trial  succeeds,  next  season  the  fruit-growers  of  the 
Niagara  district  will,  according  to  the  agreement,  take  over  from  the 
Government  all  the  buildings  and  responsibility. 
This  interesting  experiment  will  deal  with  Pears,  and  Grapes,  and 
Peaches,  in  the  first  place — of  which  we  do  not  now  receive  any  from 
Canada  It  is  regarded  with  much  hopefulness,  and  will  be  extended, 
if  successful,  to  Strawberries,  and  other  fruits  and  vegetables.  We 
need,  therefore,  have  no  fear  of  the  decline  in  quantity  or  increase  in 
price  of  so  wholesome  and  agreeable  a  diet  as  raw  fruit. — T.  0.  Moore. 
DEC'EPTIVE  APPEARANCES. 
PiEADERS  of  horticultural  papers  are  indebted  to  scribes  of  the 
perambulating  order  for  numerous  valuable  hints.  But  for  them 
many  successful  practices  would  never  come  to  light,  and,  all  things 
considered,  note-taking  “chiels”  are  indispensable  adjuncts  to  the 
horticultural  world.  If,  however,  we  concede  this  point,  it  does  not 
follow  that  these  critical  observers  of  our  failures  and  successes 
should  be  regarded  as  altogether  infallible.  In  reality,  they  in  their 
turn  must  submit  to  the  chastening  influences  of  criticism,  more  or 
less  friendly  in  character,  according  to  circumstances.  A  casual 
visitor  to  x  garden  is  njt  always  admitted  behind  the  scenes.  He  maybe 
able  to  glean  much  useful  information  from  those  who  accompany  him 
in  his  rounds,  and  it  is  just  possible  that  he  may  be  hoaxed.  He  may 
be  able  to  form  his  own  opinion  upon  certain  factors  in  the  success 
or  failure  attending  the  cultivation  of  different  fruits  or  flowers,  and 
there  is  also  the  possibility  of  his  being  deceived  by  appearances. 
Let  me  give  a  few  instances  of  what  might  have  proved  mislead¬ 
ing  information  and  deceptive  appearances.  On  inspecting  a 
comparatively  young  orchard  in  Essex  I  found  Apple,  Pear,  Plum, 
and  Filbert  trees.  Gooseberry  and  Currant  bushes.  Strawberries, 
Asparagus,  and  other  vegetables  thriving  grandly  in  what  at  first  sight 
appears  to  be  a  large  bed  of  gravel.  Nowhere  else  have  I  seen  better 
crops  or  finer  fruit  of  some  varieties  of  Apples  on  comparatively  young 
yet  very  vigorous  trees.  Each  variety  was  represented  in  long  rows 
of  a  hundred  or  more,  with  scarcely  a  failure  anywhere.  Had  I  not 
been  in  the  secret  the  chances  are  that  a  paragraph  would  have 
conveyed  the  astonishing  assertion  that  fruit  trees  thrive  better  in 
smooth  gravel,  or  tlie  contents  pure  and  simple  of  a  gravel  pit,  than 
in  a  good  loamy  ground.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  about  one-half  of  the 
soil  in  that  large  orchard  is  composed  of  smooth  pebbles,  one-quarter 
of  sandy  or  gritty  soil  previously  mixed  with  it,  and  the  rest  added 
loamy  soil  and  manure.  Only  the  stones  are  in  evidence,  but  beneficial 
as  may  be  the  effect  of  these  it  would  not  be  correct  to  give  them 
all  the  credit.  This  instance  also  affords  a  good  object  lesson  in  what 
may  be  done  by  perseverance  and  the  exercise  of  common  sense.  It 
was  the  added  soil  and  liberal  dressings  of  manure  that  were  needed  to 
make  this  stony  ground  fertile,  and  unless  these  had  been  given 
the  fruit  trees  would  have  failed  to  become  profitable. 
A  few  years  ago  it  fell  to  my  lot  to  assist  a  well  knoxvn  expert  in 
determining  what  might  be  advantageously  done  in  the  direction  of 
converting  a  derelict  farm  at  Bromham  in  Wiltshire  into  a  profitable 
fruit-growing  establishment.  The  soil  generally  was  found  to  be  very 
light  and  sandy,  and  apparently  better  adapted  to  the  growth  of 
Carrots  than  anything  else.  After  closely  observing  the  vegetation, 
including  tree  and  hedgerow'  growth,  of  the  farm,  my  colleague 
confidently  asserted  that  the  ground  was  not  only  more  fertile  than 
it  might  appear  to  a  superficial  observer,  but  that  it  was  also  capable 
of  great  things  in  fruit  production  if  properly  treated.  Annual  visits 
to  this  farm  have  amply  satisfied  me  that  the  deductions  were  perfectly 
sound.  The  soil  only  requires  plenty  of  manure,  that  of  a  nitrogenous 
character  more  especially  to  make  it  remarkably  fertile.  The  fruit 
trees  all  grow  strongly,  but  are  yet  most  productive ;  Strawberries 
succeed  remarkably  well,  many  acres  of  them  being  grown,  while  the 
vegetables  are  equally  satisfactory. 
What  is  even  more  surprising  to  the  uninitiated  is  the  fact  that 
Cucumbers  under  glass  succeed  admirably  in  this  loose  sandy  soil,  as 
also  do  Tomatoes,  to  the  growth  of  which  several  long  houses  are 
mostly  devoted.  One  span-roofed  house,  about  150  feet  long  and 
30  feet  wide,  is  wholly  devoted  to  Grape-growing,  and  the  Vines  are 
planted  in  the  ordinary  sandy  soil  of  the  farm.  The  growth  of  these 
Vines  and  the  crops  of  Gros  Colman  produced  have  been  the  talk  and 
admiration  of  the  district.  What  surprises  gardeners  most  is  the 
nature  of  the  soil  in  which  they  are  rooting-.  When  I  recently  went 
through  this  vinery  the  dry,  loose,  much-trampled  surface  presented  the 
appearance  of  a  sand-bed,  but  ap|  earances  w'ere  misleading  in  this  case. 
IMr.  Vallis  is  satisfied  with  his  sandy  soil,  but  he  does  not  forget  to 
apply  blood  manure  of  his  own  preparation  freely  to  supply  the 
elements  needed  to  meet  the  requirements  of  his  heavily  cropping 
Vines.  The  men  who  form  Vice  borders,  and  not  those  who  take 
charge  of  them  a  few  years  after,  best  know  what  ingredients  were 
employed,  and  casual  observers  are  not  competent  to  form  very  decided 
or  reliable  opinions  upon  what  has  been  done  in  the  way  of  ameliorating 
conditions. 
Wishing  to  cover  the  whole  of  the  border  inside  of  a  large  vinery 
1  oxvn  with  a  mulch  of  some  kind  to  prevent  the  too  rapid  loss  of 
moisture  and  to  keep  down  dust,  we  last  summer  used  strawy  manure 
as  far,  as  the  heap  would  go,  and  covered  the  central  pathway  with 
2  inches  of  spent  tanners’  bark.  Heat,  moisture,  and  trampling 
favoured  the  comparatively  rapid  decay  of  the  bark,  and  before  very 
long  Vine  roots  found  their  way  into  it,  these  forming  fibres  freely. 
Tanners’  bark  was  also  used  as  a  mulch  among  Tomatoes,  and  where 
kept  sufficiently  moist,  was  fully  occupied  by  healthy  roots. 
Fruit  growers  who  paid  us  visits  were  not  slow  in  perceiving  and 
condemning  the  tanners’  bark ;  but  on  one  occasion  I  overheard  my 
foreman  coolly  remark  to  one  more  than  usually  critical  gentleman 
that  it  was  the  best  form  of  mulch  that  could  be  employed,  and  seeing 
that  the  crops  were  good  an  erroneous  impression  xvas  conveyed. 
I  should  not  think  of  using  tanners’  bark  as  a  mulch  if  anything 
better  were  ava  lable.  I  consider  this  another  case  that  may  be 
regarded  as  deceptive  in  appearance,  and  might  have  misled  the 
shrewdest  of  critics.  Instead  of  giving  all  the  credit  to  the  soil  in 
which  Grape  Vines  carrying  superior  crops  are  growing,  let  me  urge 
that  visitors  who  report  on  these  successes  the  necessity  for  attaching 
more  importance  to  the  general  all-round  treatment  accorded. 
My  list  of  deceptive  appearances  is  by  no  means  exhausted,  but  I 
will  be  content  to  refer  to  two  more  only.  Last  season  I  and  a  friend 
paid  a  visit  to  a  well-known  specialist  in  Chrysanthemums,  Begonias, 
and  Tomatoes.  The  latter  under  glass  were  then  at  their  best,  and  we 
were  most  impressed  with  the  crops  produced  by  a  large  number  of  roof- 
trained  plants.  The  plants  were  confined  to  single  stems  in  the  usual 
way,  and  from  the  lower  part  of  the  trellis  to  the  ridge  were  grandly 
furnished  with  clusters  of  handsome  fruit.  Apparently  they  only  had 
a  ridge  of  soil  about  1  foot  wide,  and  not  so  much  in  depth  to  root  in. 
The  proprietor  without  so  much  as  a  ghost  of  a  smile  stated  that  such 
was  really  the  case,  and  also  that  he  did  not  manure  very  freely. 
Having  had  an  all-round  experience  both  with  Tomatoes  and  those 
who  grow'  them  we  were  not  “had  ”  in  that  way.  The  slate  staging 
supporting  the  soil  had  previously  been  heavily  covered  with  ashes 
for  pot  plants  to  stand  on,  and  we  found  this  completely  matted  with 
roots.  Tomatoes  can  be  grown  successfully  wholly  in  ashes,  and  as  a 
malter  of  fact  they  will  form  more  feeding  roots  in  a  bed  of  ashes, 
similar  to  that  just  alluded  to,  than  in  the  narrow  ridge  of  soil. 
One  more  instance  of  appearances  deceiving,  which  tells  rather 
against  myself,  and  I  have  done.  This  time  the  one  most  responsible 
was  misled  by  appearances,  as  w'ell  as  numerous  gardeners  who  “  gave 
us  a  call.”  Two  Cucumber  plants  were,  early  in  the  year,  planted  in 
small  mounds  of  soil  on  slates  covering  a  water  tank,  heated  by  hot- 
water  pipes.  Twice  top-dressings  were  given,  each  plant  eventually 
having  about  one  and  a  half  bushel  of  soil  to  root  in.  Throughout  a 
long  season  those  plants  remained  in  a  healthy,  productive  state, 
without  apparently  forming  many  roots.  When  they  came  to  be 
cleared  off  the  water  in  tank  underneath  was  crowded  with  active 
root-fibres,  and  it  was  these  that  principally  supported  the  extraordinary 
top  growth. — W.  Iggulden. 
