August  22,  1HU1. 
JOURNAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER. 
17  L 
Seasonable  Hints  on  Florists’  Flowers, 
Auriculas. 
Those  who  have  collections  of  them  will  ere  this  have  placed  them 
in  their  summer  quarters — viz.,  lacing  the  north,  with  a  wall  or  high 
hedge  at  the  back.  Here  they  will  be  sheltered  from  the  sun’s  rays, 
and  so  not  pushed  into  quick  growth,  which  very  often  leads  to 
formation  of  autumn  bloom3,  which  the  grower  well  knows  destroys 
his  plant  for  a  good  spring  bloom.  Should  aphides  appear  the  frames 
may  be  easily  fumigated  by  one  of  those  delightful  contrivances  which 
have  superseded  all  the  inconvenient  tobacco  paper  or  tobacco  cloth, 
which  was  very  nearly  as  troublesome  to  the  persons  using  as  to  the 
aphides  themselves.  I  mean  McDougalPs  fumeurs  and  other 
preparations!  of  a  similar  character.  When  properly  used  not  a  single 
aphis  is  left,  they  are  all  killed  outright;  when  tobacco  was  used  many 
used  to  drop  down  on  the  pot  stup  fled  but  not  killed,  and  the  next 
day  would  be  found  crawling  up  again,  but  the  fumeur  finishes  them 
off  completely.  All  dead  leaves  should  be  carefully  removed,  and 
the  pots  kept  well  clear  of  weeds.  Watering  should  be  carefully 
attended  to,  rain  water  be  always  used  when  practicable.  The  frames 
should  be  kept  open  night  and  day,  but  cire  should  be  taken  that 
rain  does  not  come  upon  the  plants,  and  the  glazing  of  the  frames 
should  be  well  locked  to  to  see  that  there  is  no  drip,  for  nothing  is 
more  injur'ous  to  their  well  being  than  this  ;  if  neglected  the  plants 
become  water-logged,  and  deciy  sets  in.  The  frames  may  remain  in 
their  summer  quarters  until  the  beginning  of  October.  This  is,  of 
course,  a  good  time  for  the  grower  to  increase  his  stock,  and  the 
following  varieties,  if  not  already  in  possession,  may  be  safely  added. 
Green  edges. — The  Rev.  F.  D.  Horner,  Prince  of  Greens,  Abbd  Liszt, 
Mrs.  Henwood.  Grey  edges — George  Lightbody,  George  Rudd. 
White  edges. — Mrs.  Dodwell,  Acme,  John  Simonire.  Selfs. — Heroine, 
Mrs.  Potts.  I  say  nothing  of  Alpines,  for  I  have  never  grown  them,  but 
there  are  many  beautiful  ones  now  in  existence;  they  are  much 
hardier  and  more  easily  grown  than  the  Show  varieties. 
Carnations  and  Picotees. 
It  has  been  a  trying  time  for  these  plantp,  as  the  excessive  drought 
has  prevented  the  grass  from  coming  on  as  it  ought  to  do,  but  during 
the  rains  of  the  last  fortnight  the  plants  have  considerably  altered,  and 
layering  should  now  be  carried  on  briskly.  The  plants  are  now 
flowering,  and  staking  should  be  carefully  attended  to.  One  sighs 
over  the  collections  of  florists’  varieties  that  were  common  in  former 
days,  now  we  mostly  see  fancy  or  border  varieties.  Tnese  are  more 
adapted  no  doubt  to  the  adornment  of  the  gardens,  but  they  have  not 
the  peculiar  charm  of  the  florist  varieties  of  former  days  ;  indeed 
many  are  now  contented  with  growing  them  from  seed,  and  do  not 
give  themselves  the  trouble  of  layering.  Mr.  Martin  R.  Smith  is  so 
carefully  hybridising  that  we  are  obtaining  varieties  that  will  not 
burst  their  pods,  and  thns  will  diminish  the  trouble  of  growing  them. 
Gladiolus. 
The  earlier  b'ooming  varieties  of  these  are  now  in  flower,  and  one 
of  the  advantages  of  growing  this  beautiful  autumnal  flower  is  that 
they  bloom  in  succession,  and  so  prolong  their  season ;  indeed  Messrs. 
Yilmorin  have  marked  all  their  fine  varieties  in  four  groups,  and 
divided  them  according  to  their  time  of  blooming,  the  earliest  flowering 
at  the  end  of  July,  and  the  latter  in  the  end  of  September.  Those 
who  have  the  opportunity  of  seeing  Mr.  Burrell’s  splendid  strain  of 
these  flowers,  either  at  the  Drill  Hail  or  at  the  Aquarium,  should  take 
care  to  note  his  fine  strain  of  seedlings  ;  they  are,  I  think,  equal,  if 
not  superior,  to  the  best  of  the  foreign  flowers,  with  spikes  often 
containing  twelve,  fourteen,  and  even  twenty  blooms,  closely  packed 
together,  and  of  great  size  and  substance.  No  flower  has  probably 
exhibited  the  skill  and  intelligence  of  the  hybridiser  more  than  the 
Gladiolus  ;  one  remembers  when  three  or  four  blooms  were  considered 
a  spike,  and  when  the  flowers  were  not  half  the  size  that  they  are 
now.  it  is  a  curious  fact  that  the  G.  brenchleyensis,  which  was  raised 
at  Brenchley  in  Kent,  has  not  given  rise  to  any  of  the  same  strain. 
Those  who  wish  to  keep  their  beds  or  groups  tidy  will  see  that  their 
plants  are  carefully  staked  ;  they  do  not  absolutely  require  it,  but  then 
it  looks  very  badly  to  see  the  tall  spikes  “  flopping  about.”  I  think 
we  may  look  for  some  further  developments  of  this  flower  when  the 
Lemoinei  and  gandavensis  strains  become  more  crossed.  Mr.  Burrell 
has  got  some  curious  colours,  some  amongst  them  beiug  nearly  blue. 
He  speaks  very  confidently  of  further  progress  in  this  path. 
Ranunculus. 
These  are  now  to  be  harvested  and  put  by  carefully  in  some  place 
that  is  frost-proof.  The  number  ot  those  who  cultivate  them  has 
always  been  small,  and  has  been  still  further  diminished,  both  in  the 
north  and  south.  I  think  this  is  a  great  pity  ;  a  good  bed  of  them  is 
certainly  a  very  pretty  sight.  I,  unfortunately,  am  one  of  those  who 
have  been  compelled  to  abandon  their  culture,  and  I  have  transferred 
my  collection  to  the  curator  of  the  public  garden  at  Maidstone.  I  do 
not  know  of  anyone  who  has  followed  their  culture  in  the  same  earnest 
•way  as  Mr.  Lightbody  of  Falkirk,  and  Mr.  Carey  Tyso  of  Wallingford. 
Tulips. 
I  only  mention  this  bulb  because  I  do  not  see  that  the  attempt  to 
revive  their  culture  as  florists’  flowers  in  the  south  of  England  has 
made  any  progress.  Darwin  Tulips,  Parrot  Tulips,  and  other  orna¬ 
mental  varieties,  indeed,  find  much  favour.  It  is  almost  impossible  to 
find  any  one  now  in  the  southern  half  of  our  kingdom  who  cultivates 
them  with  the  carefulness  and  zeal  of  former  days.  My  recollections 
go  back  to  the  time  when  Mr.  Groom’s  collection  at  Walworth  used 
to  attract  a  large  number  of  visitors,  and  of  course  also  to  the  time 
when  Mr.  Charles  Turner  of  Slough  took  up  their  cultivation,  but 
which  he  was  forced  to  abandon  because  of  their  unprofitableness; 
there  was  no  sale  tor  them,  and  they  were  expensive  to  grow.  Even 
in  the  north  of  England,  where  the  taste  for  them  long  survived,  I  do 
not  think  that  there  is  as  much  zeal  in  their  cultivation  as  there  used 
to  be.  Gardening,  like  other  things,  has  its  fashions,  but  I  hardly 
think  we  shall  ever  see,  in  the  south  of  England  at  any  rate,  the 
same  love  for  florists’  flowers  as  there  used  to  be. — D.,  Deal. 
- - 
Storing  Fruit. 
Amongst  the  various  appendages  to  a  garden,  an  efficient  fruit  room 
is  certainly  not  the  least  important,  yet  such  a  room  we  seldom  see. 
Generally  some  back  shed  ts  fitted  up  with  shelves  in  a  very  rough 
manner,  and  on  these  the  winter  Apples  and  Pears  are  laid,  more  or 
less  thick  as  the  crop  may  have  been.  In  too  many  instances  they 
are  obliged  to  be  laid  too  thick  for  their  keeping  well  ;  as  they  are 
likely  to  be  all  wanted,  there  is  no  alternative  but  to  place  them  so,  if 
the  space  be  too  limited  for  their  being  kept  more  thinly.  Although 
we  all  know  that  good-keeping  fruit  will  remain  sound  a  considerable 
time,  even  when  subjected  to  this  treatment,  there  is  no  doubt  but  it 
would  keep  much  longer  if  allows  1  more  room  from  the  first,  and 
those  instances  in  which  fruits  have  been  kept  for  long  periods  will  be 
found  to  be  where  plenty  of  space  was  accorded  them.  Some  other 
c  mditions  seem  necessary  for  the  well-keeping  of  fruit,  and  it  will  be 
advisable  to  point  out  a  few  of  these  individually. 
Whatever  may  be  the  reputation  of  a  certain  variety  of  fruit  for 
keeping  purposes,  there  is  no  question  but  its  merits  that  way  are 
influenced  by  the  situation  in  which  it  is  grown,  as  well  as  the  period 
at  which  it  is  gathered,  and  the  condition  of  the  atmosphere  at  the 
time.  B y  way  of  exemplifying  these  three  conditions  it  will  be  as 
well  to  take  a  very  c  mmon  cai-e  to  point  them  out,  and  though  there 
may  be  some  difference  of  opinion  on  the  habits  and  qualification  of 
the  variety  given  as  an  example,  there  is  certainly  none  that  has  a 
wider  reputation.  I,  therefore,  by  way  of  pointing  out  the  conditions 
necessary  to  enable  a  fruit  to  keep  as  long  a  period  as  possible  in  a 
sound  condition,  will  take  the  Ribston  Pippin  Apple  as  an  example. 
In  very  many  districts  toe  Ribston  Pippin  Apple  has  ceased  to  be 
cultivated  as  a  profitable  fruit;  the  trees  thriving  indifferently  for  a 
very  few  years,  either  die  off  or  linger  on  a  wretched  existence,  the 
dead  branches  almost  equalling  the  live  ones  in  number.  Though 
there  is  generally  a  fair  proportion  of  blossom  each  season,  what  fruit 
there  is  can  seldom  be  classed  higher  than  second,  or,  perhaps,  third- 
rate.  Now,  these  fruits  have,  in  many  of  them,  the  germs  of  decay 
before  they  are  gathered  from  the  tree;  black  specks  near  the  eye,  or, 
in  some  cases,  near  the  other  end,  turn  into  a  mass  of  decay  of  a 
peculiarly  bitter  quality,  differing  widely  from  the  ordinary  “rot,”  by 
which  most  other  fruits  are  carried  off  moro  quickly,  but  not  less  surely. 
Whatever  may  be  the  different  opinions  regarding  this,  it  seems 
pretty  generally  admitted  that  it  is  mostly  due  to  the  diseased 
condition  of  the  tree  on  which  it  grows,  or,  perhaps,  the  worn-out 
constitution  of  the  variety.  Whether  this  be  so  or  not  (and  there 
seems  every  reason  to  believe  it  is  so),  certain  it  is  that  a  very  large 
proportion  of  the  Ribston  Pippin  Apples  that  are  grown  fall  a  victim 
to  this  black  spot,  which,  by  being  of  an  intense  bitter,  disqualifies 
this  Apple  from  mixing  with  others  for  making  cider,  which  the  decay 
in  other  fruits  does  not  necessarily  do,  as  they  are  not  so  bitter.  Now, 
this  bitter  principle  is,  doubtless,  imparted  to  the  fruit  by  the 
decaying  process  it  goe3  through  differing  from  the  same  conditions  by 
which  other  fruits  become  decayed  and  rotten  ;  and  whether  the 
chemical  change  which  takrs  place  in  the  Ribston  Pippin  has  its  origin 
in  the  imperfect  condition  of  the  fruit  at  the  time  it  is  gathered,  and  the 
latent  seeds  of  this  disease  be  engendered  then  or  afterwards,  certain  it 
is  that  a  very  great  proportion  of  the  iruit  of  this  variety  falls  a 
victim  to  this  disease.  Though  sune  situations  favouring  the  better 
development  of  the  fruit  may  render  them  less  liable  to  it  than  in 
others,  still  it  is  reasonable  to  suppose  that  those  places  now  in  a  great 
measure  exempt  will  eventually  become  diseased  like  the  rest,  and  the 
Ribston  Pippin  Apple  will  become  a  matter  of  history.  The  purpose 
is  not  now  to  prognosticate  this,  but  to  point  out  what  conditions 
are  necessary  to  preserve  what  healthy  fruit  there  may  be  as  long  as  it 
s  possible  to  do  so. — R.  (To  be  concluded.) 
