June  12,  1902. 
JOURNAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER. 
509 
Apple  trees  at  the  age  of  ten  years,  it  seems  a  case  of  absolutely 
missing  tlie  economic  point  of  the  question.  Mr.  Molyneux  could 
scarcely  expect  similar  productiveness  of  the  new  grafts  under 
six  to  seven  years.  Perhaps  he  adhered  to  sending  the  Apiiles  to 
towm  in  the  grandmotherly  bushel  baskets,  instruments  of  torture 
that  should  have  been  long  ago  replaced  by  neat  cases,  non- 
returnable,  in  which  the  fniit  would  sell  well  and  easily.  Nor 
should  railway  freight  be  a  repelling  element,  for  we  have  first- 
rate  authority  in  the  Royal  Horticultural  Society’s  volumes  in  a 
treatise  on  “Commercial  Fruit  Growing,”  first  published  some 
seven  years  ago,  after  submission  in  competition  to  the  Society 
and  gaining  first  prize,  for  rve  there  find  that  the  neare.st  best 
paying  markets  were  150  miles  away  from  the  writer’s  plac3  of 
production. 
What  “  G.  H.  H.”  says  on  page  381,  of  your  issue  of  May  1, 
is  also  very  true  in  the  main,  but  his  laisser-aller  xJi'ocess  is  too 
slow,  more  like  natural  evolution  than  intelligently  assisting 
jiature  in  a  comprehensive  way  according  to  the  time.s  we  live  in, 
for  all  the  extra  leisure  we  afford  the  foreigner  increases  our  di.s- 
ability  to  meet  him,  and  the  struggle  will  be  another  lengthened 
guerilla  warfare,  instead  of  a  sharp  decisive  encounter,  which  is 
the  only  truly  economic  method  with  the  cheapness  of  freeholds 
in  our  favour  actually.  What  “  G.  H.  H.”  calls  “  too  much 
individualism  ”  on  the  part  of  growers  I  can  only  characterise  as 
a  state  of  unblessed  independent  ignorance — nay,  obstinacy — to 
quit  old  grooves,  resulting  in  the  refusal  of  cc^oiieration  on  prin¬ 
ciple,  which  sorely  reacts  on  railway  rates,  a  chronic  waste  which 
smacks  of  jiuerility.  “  Get  the  fruit  from  the  trees  and  into  the 
market,”  is  the  maxim,  as  “  G.  H.  H.”  correctly  points  out. 
Never  mind  anything  else! 
“  Observer,”  avIio  enters  the  lists,  has  evidently  a  nearer 
horizon  than  the  problem  is  susceptible  of.  When  prices  sink 
to  an  unremunerative  level,  it  is  the  rubbish  which  sinks  so  low, 
grown  irresponsibly  on  the  200,000  acres  of  trees  that  ought  to 
be  felled.  “Observer”  finally  avers,  in  your  issue  of  May  22, 
that  Potatoes,  in  descending  below  a  remunerative  price  since 
last  crop,  jirove  the  illusion  that  home  grown  top-fruit  in  jilenty 
can  sell  at  paying  prices.  The  case  of  Potatoes  is  only  another 
instance  furnished  by  Hop  growers  last  season,  when  they  allowed 
their  produce  to  be  beaten  down  below  the  price  at  which  foreign 
could  be  imported,  with  a  loss  to  themselves.  Here  is  merely  the 
British  type  of  unblessed  independence  that  has  to  rise  above 
inerely  looking  over  the  hedge,  and  must  take  a  comprehensive 
suiwey  on  the  despised  principle  of  co-operation.  “  L’l'nion  c’est 
la  force!  ”  as  evei’y  Belgian  coin  tells  us. 
In  Great  Britain  the  quixotic  idea  prevails  that  opposition  is 
the  crux,  the  marvellous  waste  incurred  by  it  in  Parliament  being 
the  most  comprehensive  study  of  “how  not  to  do  it,”  if  the 
science  of  national  economics  is  to  have  a  voice,  Avhioh  our 
Colonies  will  soon  insist  on  teaching  the  unprogressive  Mother¬ 
land,  which  requires  to  be  “  woke  up,”  as'  the  Prince  of  Wales, 
fresh  from  Colonial  impressions,  said  at  the  Guildhall  last 
October,  and  which  the  late  Cecil  Rhodes  said  on  an  earlier 
occasion  at  a  Cannon  Street  Hotel  meeting  three  years  ago. — 
H.  H.  Rasc'hen,  Sidcup,  Kent,  May  26,  1902. 
P.S. — When  your  habitually  intere,sting  contributor  relative 
to  agricultural  matters,  as  in  the  case  of  page  397  of  your  issue 
of  May  last,  despairs  of  the  resuscitation  of  the  gentleman-farmer 
in  saying  there  is  no  room  for  them  now,  Avere  to  peruse  these 
lines,  he  might  reconsider  his  verdict.  The  farmer  proiAer,  for 
returns,  is  not  in  it  with  the  re.sults  probable  from  my  suggestions, 
and  he  Avould  easily  save  money,  even  if  he  lost  some  by  lAure 
agriculture  and  cattle  farming,  that  his  taste  might  require  him 
to  enter  upon,  as  a  sine  qua  non  for  undertaking  “  suf)erior  to 
up-to-date  hardy  fruit”  and  “early  vegetable  cultKation  on 
selected  sites.” 
Backward  DeYonshire. 
The  folloAving  paragraph,  taken  from  “The  Western 
Mercury,”  admirably  describes  the  remarkable  thriftlessness  and 
unenlightenment  that  preA'ails  in  regard  to  horticulture  in  one 
of  the  loveliest  and  fairest  corners  of  this  Avonderful  land  of 
ours: — “The  spade  (says  the  paragraph)  is  still  an  almost  un- 
knoAvn  tool  in  Western  Devon  and  CornAA'all.  This  implement 
requires  the  Avearing  of  a  hoot  or  .shoe  for  the  lArotection  of  the 
foot  in  its  use,  and  as  the  inhabitants  of  these  counties  still 
employ  the  long  handled  shovel  AA'orked  by  the  hands  only,  with¬ 
out  the  aid  of  the  foot,  it  must  be  assumed  that  ui>  to  a  com¬ 
paratively  recent  period,  like  the  Irish  and  Highlanders,  they 
worked  barefooted.  I'lfficient  garden  cultivation  requires  the  use 
of  the  spade,  and  to  its  absence  is  probably  to  be  attributed  the 
non-existence  of  the  Avell  cultivated  allotments  so  common  in 
some  districts.  The  remains  of  old  orchards  are  rmry  numerous 
in  the  more  sheltered  A^alleys  of  both  counties.  Little  attempt 
appears  uoaa'  made  to  tend  them  or  to  groAv  fruit  on  modern 
plans.  Yet  these  counties  probably  contain  many  localities  as 
AVell  adapted  for  the  production  of  fine  and  early  fruit  and 
vegetables  a-S  the  Channel  Islands  or  the  adjacent  xiortions  of  the 
Continent  from  aaIucIi  our  toAvns  noAV  draAV  so  great  a  proi>ortion 
of  their  supiilies.” 
The  folloAving  interesting  account  of  the  Chrysanthemum 
exhibitions  and  gardens  seen  by  Mr.  T.  Rockett  during  his  recent 
trqj  to  Europe  AA’as  read  by  that  gentleman  at  a  recent  meeting 
of  the  Horticultural  Society  of  Victoria,  Australia,  and  reported 
in  the  Melbourne  “  Weekly  Times.”  Mr.  Rockett’s  lucid  narra¬ 
tive  Avas  listened  to  Avith  much  interest  and  iileasure,  and  at  the 
close  of  the  paper  the  meeting  accorded  him  a  hearty  Amte  of 
thanks. 
Anyone  interested  in  the  culture  of  the  “  Mums,”  for  this  is 
the  name  by  Avhich  they  are  knoAvn  best  in  the  old  country, 
mu.st  admit  that  no  other  floAver  has  made  such  rai^id  strides 
during  the  last  tAventy  years,  and,  further,  there  have  been 
more  “  Mum  ”  shoAvs  held  during  that  time  than  all  other  floAver 
shoAvs  combined.  The  cause  of  the  popularity  is,  to  a  great  ex¬ 
tent,  OAving  to  the  Avonderful  results  obtained  Avhen  skilfully  cul¬ 
tivated.  Their  season  is  also  a  long  one  in  England,  ranging  at 
least  from  August  to  January. 
Early  Varieties, 
The  early  floAvering  varieties  (of  Avhich  Ave  knoAV  very  little) 
make  a  brave  di.splay  in  many  of  the  public  and  private  estab¬ 
lishments,  Avhere  they  floAver  freely  in  the  oi>en  air  during 
August,  September,  and  early  in  October.  In  the  near  future 
Ave  in  Australia  Avill  certainly  xolant  them  more  extensively,  more 
especially  in  the  cool  districts,  Avhere  they  would  be  a  great 
success.  Many  people  here  Avill  knoAV  that  early  Avhite  variety, 
Lady  FitzAvigram,  and  Avhen  I  tell  you  that  there  is  a  large 
number  of  various  colours  that  are  dAAarfer,  earlier  and  better 
than  that  variety,  you  can  realise  how  important  they  are  for 
beds,  borders,  or  tlie  general  decoration  of  gardens,  and  especially 
so  Avhere  floAA^ers  are  required  in  great  numbers  for  cutting. 
These  early  floAvering  varieties  are  groAvn  by  scores  of  acres  by 
market  groAvers,  and  as  I  had  opiDortunities  of  seeing  a  very 
large  collection  at  Mr.  Wells’,  EarlsAvood,  Surrey,  I  Avill  here 
give  the  names  of  those  that  appeared  to  me  as  tlie  best  of  the 
early  Japane.se  varieties:  Rarisiana,  GoacheFs  Crimson,  Madame 
Marie  Ma,ss6,  Crimson  Masse,  Orange  Masse,  Victor  MeAv,  Rabbie 
Burns,  Mychett  Beauty,  Mychett  White,  Market  White,  Louis 
Lemaire,  Harvest  Home,  Golden  Queen  of  the  Earlies,  Ambrose 
Thomas.  The  dAAarf  early  floAvering  Rompon  Clu’y-santhemums. 
I  noted  Avere :  Mrs.  E.  Stacey,  Rierce’s  Seedling,  Mrs.  Selby, 
Mignon,  Toreador,  Madame  TolAvorth,  and  Blushing  Bride,  manj^ 
of  the  latter  not  one  foot  high. 
Japanese  Varieties. 
But  Avhat  appears  af  present  cf  the  greatest  importance  to 
the  majority  of  the  Chrysanthemum  enthusiasts  ai’e  the  large 
Jai^anese  varieties,  and  Avhile  in  England  I  Avatched  them  very 
closely  during  the  A-arious  stages  cf  groAA'th.  I  also  recognised  a 
number  of  varieties  that  I  Avas  familiar  Avith  in  Australia,  more 
especially  at  Wells  and  Company’s  Nursery;  in  fact,  this  place 
Avas  ahvays  open  for  me  to  visit,  and  sometimes  it  AA'as  “  Mums  ” 
from  morning  till  night.  They  are  groAvn  jArincipally  in  Tin,  Sin, 
and  9in  pots,  and  carry  from  one  to  three  blooms  each.  The 
most  interesting  time  to  see  them  is  Avhen  they  are  carefully 
housed  and  coming  into  bloom.  While  the  show  lasts  the  public 
are  alloAved  the  privilege  cf  seeing  them,  but  Sundays  appear 
to  be  the  time  most  favoured.  This  Avill  apply  to  other  Chry.s- 
anthemum  traders,  also  to  shoA'.s  made  at  tlie  various  xniblic 
l^arks  and  gardens,  where  this  floAver  is  one  cf  the  chief  sjAeci- 
alities  of  the  place.  A  large  collection  is  also  groAvn  at  Mr.  H. 
Cannell’s,  SAvanley,  Kent.  About  2,000  or  more  are  groAvn  for 
large  blooms,  and  there  I  Avent  through  them  Avith  Mr.  Cannell’s 
Chrysanthemum  grower.  Australia  was  again  AA-ell  represented 
in  this  collection,  with  such  varieties  as  W.  R.  C’hurch,  General 
Hutton,  Nellie  Rockett,  Mr.  T.  Carrington,  Rhyllis,  Lady 
Roberts,  &c.,  many  cf  them  almost  developed.  If  the  collections 
had  been  smaller  I  might  have  imagined  I  AA'as  Avith  Chrysanthe¬ 
mums  in  Australia. 
Visit  to  Paris. 
In  Raris  I  visited  four  nurseries  where  ChrA'santhemums  Avere 
a  speciality.  The  first  AA'as  Mens.  Nonin,  and  as  he  is  also  a 
rai.ser  of  some  repute,  I  felt  anxious  about  Avhat  he  might  have  to 
shoAv  me.  There  is  not  the  expemse  in  the  glass  structures  in  the 
market  groAvers’  establishments  hero  on  account  cf  a  milder 
climate  than  England,  consequently  the  .structures  are  more 
portable,  and  partake  more  of  the  form  of  sashes,  or  glazed  lights, 
that  are  placed  over  the  plants  just  as  they  are  coming  into 
