May  1,  1902. 
JOURNAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER. 
381 
.industry?  Pos,sibly.  At  any  rate,  I  can  point  to  numerous 
instances  of  persons  who  own  and  live  on  small  areas  of  land 
devoted  entirelj^  to  fruit  culture.  They  may  not  make  fortunes, 
but  they  make  a  comfortable  living,  and  on  these  small  holdings 
unore  labour  is  employed  by  far  than  on  the  extensive  and  half- 
cultivated  farms  round  about. 
Wherever  the  blame  may  lie,  it  is  a  well-known  fact  that  our 
system  of  distribution  is  as  bad  as  it  can  possibly  be.  It  is  hard 
to  believe  that  a  small  country  like  this  produces  more  soft, 
quickly  perishable  fruit  in  seasons  of  plenty  than  its  millions 
can  produce  ;  and  yet  it  seems  so,  for  during  the  past  few  years 
hundreds  of  tons  of  wholesome  fruit  have  rotted  on  the  ground 
because  it  did  not  pay  to  pick.  Is  co-operation  on  the  part  of 
producers  impossible?  There  is  a  little  community  of  persons 
engaged  in  fruit  growing ;  yonder  is  a  thickly  populated  manufac¬ 
turing  or  mining  district.  A  few  miles  of  railway  divide  them, 
with  several  other  obstructions  in  addition.  The  producers  are 
-anxious  to  sell,  the  consumers  are  ready  to  buy  ;  but  there  is  the 
gulf  between  them,  and  they  both  suffer.  Can  no  way  be  devised 
by  which  these  obstructions  may  be  removed?  Your  cor¬ 
respondent  certainly  points  to  some  healthy  signs,  but  the  move¬ 
ment  is  slow — very  slow — and  these  difficulties  in  distribution 
•are  a  mighty  stumblingblock  to  the  progress  of  the  fruit-growing 
industry. 
On  the  part  of  growers,  it  appears  to  me  that  there  is  too 
much  individualism  and  a  want  of  combination.  The  require¬ 
ments  of  customers  are  not  studied  as  they  ought  to  be,  and  the 
-foreigner  takes  advantage  of  the  general  neglect  in  this  direction. 
Take  Apples  again  as  a  case  in  point.  Who  caters  for  the  late 
supply?  Not  the  rank  and  file  of  home  growers,  certainly,  for 
in  accordance  with  a  time-honoured  custom,  their  main  idea  is 
to  get  the  fruit  from  the  trees  and  into  the  market  with  as  little 
delay  as  possible.  One  grower  might  not  be  able  to  afford  the 
means  for  providing  proper  storage,  but  twenty  could,  by  a 
united  effort.  But  Avith  our  fruit,  as  Avith  our  eggs,  poultry, 
butter,  and  so  on,  Ave  are  suffering  for  lack  of  combination.  One 
groAver  cannot  affect  raihvay  rates  or  break  down  any  monopoly, 
not  yet  a  hundred  if  each  one  is  a  unit  and  Avorking  independently 
of  the  others ;  but  if  they  Avere  banded  into  one  force^  Avith  a 
mutual  object  in  vieAV,  there  Avould  be  a  chance  of  removing  the 
•obstacle. 
I  agree  Avith  your  cori'espondent  that  Ave  have  the  means  in 
our  poAver  of  bringing  about  the  desired  end,  but  before  the 
machine  can  be  set  fairly  going  there  must  be  a  foundation  to 
start  Avith.  There  must  be  a  breaking  doAvn  and  then  a  building 
lAp,  so  that  the  fruit  groAver  of  the  future,  Avho  has  capital,  knoAA'- 
ledge,  and  inclination,  can  start  fair  Avith  competitors  both 
abroad  and  at  home. — G.  H.  H. 
In  my  opinion  fruit-groAving  is  extending  C[uite  as  fast  as  the 
demand  for  fruit  increases,  and  does  not  need  any  such  “  boom¬ 
ing”  as  “H.  D.”  gives  to  the  enterprise  in  your  issue  of  April  24. 
The  idea  of  keeping  out  imports  is  applied  thoughtlessly  to  many 
products.  We  are  told  that  Ave  could  produce  all  the  eggs  Ave 
require,  instead  of  importing  many  millions  annually ;  and  so  we 
could,  if  it  Avere  worth  whije  to  produce  them  at  eighteen  to 
tAventy  a  shilling,  the  prices  at  AAdiich  most  imported  eggs  arrive. 
A  similar  declaration  is  applied  to  butter,  which  yields  no  living 
profit  at  the  price  at  which  the  bulk  of  our  foreign  supply  comes 
in.  It  isi  much  the  same  with  fruit.  Whenever  there  is  a  big 
crop  of  Plums  or  Gooseberries  prices  sink  to  ruinous  rates,  as  Avas 
the  case  last  season;  and  American  Apples  often  come  into  the 
country  at  lOs.  to  I2s.  per  barrel  of  nearty  three  bushels. 
Fruit  growers  who  understand  and  thoroughly  attend  tO'  their 
business  do  fairly  well,  one  year  with  another;  but  Avhy  urge 
Avealthy  landlords  and  other  men  of  capital  to  compete  with  them 
on  a  large  scale,  and  thus  make  their  industry  as  little  remunera¬ 
tive  as  com  growing  is?  “  H.  D.”  adopts  the  position  of  an 
enemy  of  the  fruit  groAver  who  has  a  living  to  get  by  his  industry. 
To  recommend  facilities  for  Avorking  men  to  grow  a  little  fruit, 
and  thus  to  raise  themselves  gradually  to  a  comfortable  condition, 
is  all  very  well,  and  I  have  given  such  recommendations  in  public 
more  than  once ;  but  to  urge  capitalists,  Avho  can  very  Avell  take 
care  of  themselves,  to  rush  into  fruit  groAving,  to  the  possible  ruin 
of  industrious  men  who  can  only  make  a  moderate  success  at 
present,  appears  to  me  censurable.  There  is  no  “  crying  need  ”  of 
“a.  combined  effort  to  plant  on  a  big  scale”  ;  but  a  crying  need 
would  be  likely  to  follow — namely,  a  crying  need  of  a  living  for 
the  rank  and  file  of  fruit  groAvers. — Observer. 
Victoria  Regia  at  KeAW. 
This  wonderful  member  of  the  vegetable  kingdom,  which  is 
always  treated  as  an  annual  at  Kew,  has  again  been  planted  in 
the  great  tank  within  the  house  (No.  10)  named  after  it.  Last 
year  a  fungoid  disease  so  crippled  the  plant  that  it  had  to  be 
destroyed.  Cow  manure  was  considered  to  have  been  an  objec¬ 
tionable  component  of  the  compost,  and  has  this  year  been 
omitted,  and  good  loam  and  horse  manure  in  layers  haAm  been 
employed. 
New  Rose,  Souvenir  de  Pierre  Netting. 
The  “Journal  des  Roses,”  in  its  number  of  January,  pub¬ 
lished  a  chromo-lithograph  of  this  novelty  Avhich  the  firm  of 
Soupert  and  Notting,  of  Luxembourg,  aauII  put  into  commerce. 
It  has  been  Avell  said  that  the  merits  of  this  Rose  must  be  con¬ 
siderable  to  bear  a  name  so  much  esteemed. 
The  Book  of  the  Rosa. 
This  best  of  all  the  handy  books  devoted  to  teaching  Rose 
groAving,  by  Mr.  Foster-Melliar,  M.A.,  has  been  issued  as  a  revised 
second  edition,  price  six  shillings,  by  Messrs.  Macmillan  and  Co. 
A  lighter  quality  of  paper  has  been  employed,  consequently, 
though  there  are  more  pages,  the  bulk  is  slightly  less  than  the 
first  edition.  The  price,  too,  it  Avill  be  observed,  is  materially 
reduced,  and  the  clientele  of  the  book  (which  Ave  aauII  revicAv  soon) 
will  be  widened  on  that  account. 
Rose  Wichurlana. 
At  first  the  use  of  this  Rose  Avas  not  detected,  and  it  AA'as 
alloAved  to  fall  out  of  the  ranks.  In  America  it  was  first  used  to  coAmr 
graAm  spaces  on  account  of  its  evergreen  foliage.  Then  Mr.  Mania 
hybridised  ih  and  tAvo  interesting  series.  Mania’s  Triumph,  and 
others,  and  Evergreen  Gem,  &c.,  some  Avith  yelloAv  flo Avers,  con¬ 
tinued’ giving  us  novel  additions.  A  French  hybridiser  contiirued 
the  strain  Avith  colour  variations,  in  Rene  Andre  and  others. 
Rubra,  a  single  rosy  crimson,  being  a  decided  break.  They  fill  a 
void  for  bank  covering,  and  Ave  AA’ould  only  ask  that  they  be 
aUoAved  to  be  creeping  Roses,  and  not  be  toihured  into  climbers. 
Hedgerows  of  Roses. 
A  clergyman  calls  attention  to  the  fact  that  an  American 
lady  has  at  her  OAAn  expense  planted  Roses,  irroperly  fenced  hr 
and  irrotected,  by  the  side  of  a  iieAV  road  betAveen  the  villages  of 
Niton  and  WhitAvell,  Isle  of  Wight.  He  remarks  that  “  if 
Avealthy  landoAvners  Avould  only  folloAv  her  example,  and  plant 
at  once  (it  is  not  too  late),  many  country  lanes  and  villages  might 
be  made  to  look  lovely,  and  England  indeed  aa'ouM  ‘blossom  as  a 
Rose  ’  at  the  Coronation  of  our  Gracious  King  and  Queeir.” 
[We  Avould  also  call  attention  to  the  extensive  Rose  plantings 
undertaken  during  the  last  ferv  years  near  Stanstead,  in  Essex, 
by  Sir  Walter  Gilbey,  Bart.  There  are  thousands  of  dAvarf  Roses 
there,  planted  in  beds  and  borders  close  to  the  public  higliAvay.] 
Celery. 
I  had  thought  all  had  been  said  or  Avritten  upon  tliis  subject 
that  Avas  needed.  Cultural  instructions  on  groAA'ing  tliis 
vegetable  have  appeared  in  horticultural  journals  many  times. 
Only  the  other  day,  however,  I  Avas  shoAvn  some  “heads”  Avdiich 
had  been  badly  crippled  in  the  earthing-up  process;  about  the 
worst  specimens  of  careless  gardening  I  have  noted  for  many  a 
year.  Celery,  Ave  knoAV,  must  be  properly  blanched  for  most 
purposes,  but  to  pile  the  earth  above  the  centres  of  the  plants, 
and  to  then  deliberately  tread  it  doAvn,  is  certainly  not  in 
accordance  AAuth  the  advice  found  in  these  pages. 
An  early  start  must  be  made  Avdien  Celery  has  to  be  groAvn 
and  finished  by  August  or  in  the  beginning  of  September.  I 
usually  make  a  soAving  about  the  middle  of  Februai-y  of  some 
dAvarf  groAving  sort.  White  Gem  is  the  best  I  have  thus  far 
found,  and  the  variety  appears  to  have  become  Amry  popular. 
Prick  off  the  young  plants,  Avhen  ready,  into  boxes  containing 
light,  rich  soil,  made  moderately  firm.  A  good  place  for  raising 
and  growing  the  young  plants  in,  until  they  obtain  a  hold  of 
the  soil,  is  a  frame  over  a  hotbed,  Avhere  a  moderate  amount  of 
bottom  heat  is  at  command.  From  this  position  they  may  be 
transferred  to  a  shelf  or  stage  near  the  glass  in  a  recently 
started  vinery  or  a  warm  greenhouse,  and  Avhen  large  enough 
and  of  sufficient  strength  they  should  be  removed  to  a  cold  frame 
for  hardening  previous  to  planting  in  the  trenches  outside. 
The  treatment  for  sowings  in  March  is  practically  the  same, 
unless  large  numbers  of  plants  are  required.  In  such  a  case 
it  is  a  better  plan  to-  sow  thinly  in  a  frame  over  a  gentle  hotbed, 
and  allow  the  young  plants  to  remain  here  until  planting  time, 
taking  care  they  are  properly  inured  to  the  Aveather  before 
putting  them  out.  In  April,  for  the  late  crops,  seed  may  be 
sown  outside  in  Avell  prepared  soil  in  a  warm  position.  If 
