August  29,  1901. 
JOURNAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER. 
195 
a  higher  position.  Mr.  M.  Cuthbertson,  Rothesay,  follows  as  a  good  third, 
and  no  less  than  twelve  new  varieties  of  Cactus  Dahlias  appear  in 
this  lot.  AmoDg  a  variety  of  other  cut  flowers  mention  may  be  made 
of  the  fine  Pentstemons,  the  pretty  Pansies,  Marigolds,  and  Phloxes. 
Miscellaneous  Groups. 
Mr.  Bckford,  Wem,  shows  a  collection  of  fine  Sweet  Peas,  though 
among  these  no  new  forms  were  seen.  From  Mr.  Amos  Perry,  Winch- 
more  Hill,  London,  a  large  and  interesting  collection  of  hardy  flowers 
are  forward,  including  thirty-two  varieties  of  Nymphseas,  arranged  in 
pans  of  water  ;  the  rare  Aster  Thomsoni  was  also  represented. 
Mr.  Charles  Irvine,  Jedburgh,  was  represented  by  a  large  and  fine 
collection  of  new  Frenoh  Phloxes  and  Pentstemons. 
Mr.  John  Forbes,  Hawiok,  had  also  a  lot  of  Phloxes  and  Pentstemons 
with  a  grand  lot  of  single  blooms  of  Carnations  in  bewildering  variety, 
also  a  few  examples  of  Begonia  Caledonia,  in  a  small  exhibit. 
Firom  Messrs.  Laing  &  Mather,  Kelso,  a  bunch  of  their  new 
Carnation  Sir  R.  Waldie-Griffith  was  conspicuous.  Lord  Hamilton  of 
Dalzell,  Hamilton,  has  forward  a  small  group  of  dwarfed  Japanese 
Conifers  and  Acers. 
Messrs.  Dobbie  &  Co.,  Rothesay,  have  one  of  their  finely  arranged 
groups  of  cut  flowers,  consisting  mainly  of  Cactus  Dahlias,  in  great 
variety,  with  Pompons  and  Show  sorts  more  sparingly  introduced. 
Here,  also,  are  a  grand  lot  of  Dahlias  from  “  Hobbies,”  Ltd. 
(Mr.  J.  Green),  most  prettily  arranged  with  Maidenhair  Ferns  and 
Asparagus  in  pots. 
Messrs.  Lister  &  Sons,  Rothesay,  have  a  very  extensive  collection 
of  cut  flowers  representing  the  various  subjects  for  which  they  are 
known.  Fancy  Pansies  are  here  very  fine  ;  large  and  bright  Sweet 
Peas,  Violas,  and  Dahlias  are  also  well  shown. 
Messrs.  Smith  &  Simons  were  represented  by  a  large  group,  mainly 
of  large  Palms  and  other  subjects  useful  for  decorating  apartments. 
Since  first  wiring,  Messrs.  Veitoh  &  Sons,  of  Chelsea,  have  arranged 
their  group,  which  ocoupies  one  end  of  the  large  marquee,  and  formed 
one  of  the  most  attractive  groups  in  the  whole  show. 
At  the  time  of  sending  off  our  telegram  no  awards  had  been  made 
■to  any  of  the  trade  exhibits. 
- <♦#•* -  . 
Storing  Frnit. 
(< Concluded  from  page  172.) 
No  one  who  has  visited  a  fruit  room  in  September,  when  there  is  a 
quantity  of  fruit  all  ripening  into  that  mellow  condition  which 
betokens  perfection,  hut  must  have  been  struck  by  the  odour  which  is 
emitted  from  them.  This  odour,  it  is  needless  to  say,  must  be  as 
hurtful  to  the  well-keeping  of  fruits  as  anything  can  be — 3ay,  for 
instance,  a  quantity  of  Williams’  Bon  Chretien  Pear  all  ripening  at 
once  into  the  condition  fit  for  table,  and  in  a  day  or  two  all  will  be 
in  a  stage  beyond  this,  and  become  a  mass  of  juice  which  it  is 
difficult  to  handle  without  bursting  them.  Now,  I  always  look  on 
a  mass  of  this  kind  as  the  most  dangerous  to  a  fruit  room ;  and  as 
all  early  fruits  ripen  in  warmer  weather  than  other  kinds  do,  they 
ought  to  be  furnished  with  a  degree  of  ventilation  almost  amounting 
to  complete  exposure,  in  order  that  the  odour  emitted  by  ripening 
fruit,  which  very  quickly  takes  a  decaying  turn,  may  not  contaminate 
the  rest.  Fruit  at  that  time  ought  also  to  be  kept  thin.  But  to 
return  to  the  Ribston  Pippin.  It  often  happens  that  these  have  to  be 
gathered  when  the  fruit  room  is  more  or  less  occupied  by  fruits  in 
the  condition  spoken  of,  and  if  the  weather  be  warm  at  the  time  the 
fruit  is  impelled  onward  to  a  condition  fit  for  table  much  earlier  than 
they  otherwise  would  be  if  kept  cooler  ;  and  what  is,  perhaps,  as  bad, 
the  infectious  character  of  the  atmosphere  they  are  in  hastens  on  decay 
some  time  before  ripeness  or  mellowness  has  done  its  part,  hence 
fruits  that  ought  to  be  in  perfection  in  January  are  ready  by  the  end 
of  November,  not  Ribston  Pippin  Apples  only,  but  all  other  kinds  of 
fruits  as  well.  This  is  one  of  the  reasons  why  fruits  in  certain  seasons 
keep  longer  and  better  than  they  do  in  others — the  simple  fact  they 
are  not  ready  to  gather  until  cold  weather  insures  their  keeping,  as 
more  fruit  generally  perishes  in  November  than  in  December  and 
January,  and  no  amount  of  mere  cleanliness  and  care  of  removing 
diseased  fruit  can  compensate  for  the  crowded  condition  of  the  fruit 
room  in  the  early  autumn  months,  when  the  weather  at  the  same 
time  is  of  a  kind  that  favours  “  forcing,”  which  it  certainly  does  when 
it  is  warm  at  the  periods  spoken  of. 
Now,  as  the  Ribston  Pippin  cannot  be  preserved  under  circum¬ 
stances  as  described,  let  us  suppose  an  opposite  case,  when  there  was 
no  lack  of  fruits  generally ;  the  fine  autumn  of  the  year  before  securing 
sufficient  bloom,  but  the  multitude  of  fruits  only  resulted  in  each 
being  very  small,  and  the  unfavourable  season  did  not  mature  them 
with  that  degree  of  perfection  so  requisite  in  good  fruit,  hence  we  had 
a  quantity  of  half-perfected  fruits,  presenting  little  but  a  thick  tough 
skin,  and  a  core  quite  as  large  as  usual.  Some  of  these  fruits  possibly 
might  keep  longer  than  was  ever  known  before  ;  as  they  contained  so 
little  saccharine  matter  there  was  scarcely  anything  within  them  to 
engender  decay,  hence  a  sort  of  withering  or  shrivelling-up  instead  of 
the  usual  spot  and  rot  which  consume  the  better  class  of  fruits. 
From  the  above  it  will  be  seen  that  warmth  favours  decay  by 
forwarding  the  fruits,  and  thereby  hastening  on  the  perioi  of  their 
existence  ;  so  in  like  manner  cold  encourages  preservation  by  retarding 
the  natural  ripening  of  the  fruit,  and  when  it  has  approached  that 
condition  it  tends  to  keep  it  from  advancing  further.  But  this 
unnatural  state  of  things  has  its  disadvantages.  Fruits  so  treated  are 
never  good.  Pears  may  be  kept  in  an  ice-house  to  a  period  much 
beyond  that  of  their  usual  keeping  time,  but  the  flavour  is  gone.  The 
same  may  be  said  of  summer  fruits,  as  Strawberries,  Peaches,  and  the 
like,  which  have  been  so  tried  frequently.  We  may  therefore  learn 
from  this  that  Nature  cannot  be  so  far  outraged  as  is  here  shown  with 
impunity.  There  exists  a  proper  time  for  such  fruits  to  be  had  in 
perfection,  and  to  retard  them  much  beyond  it  only  produces  an  article 
much  diminished  in  its  most  important  qualities.  From  this  we 
therefore  learn  that  an  ice-house  is  not  a  suitable  place  to  preserve 
fruit  intended  for  table,  although  it  may  become  a  very  good  medium 
to  preserve  some  that  it  may  be  desirable  to  keep,  from  motives  of 
curiosity,  for  as  lengthened  a  period  as  possible.  Some  other  conditions 
are  also  necessary  to  the  well-keeping  of  fruit,  as  will  be  shown. 
Whenever  a  quantity  of  fruit  is  piled  up  in  a  heap,  it  begins  what 
in  common  language  is  called  “  to  sweat.”  This  sweating  brings  out 
an  oily  substance  to  the  outside.  Sweating  will  also  occur  without 
the  fruit  being  so  closely  piled  up  as  spoken  of,  but  it  is  more  slow; 
and  if  it  be  thinly  on  a  shelf  it  is  in  its  most  legitimate  way.  This 
sweating  coats  the  skin  with  a  sort  of  varnish,  which  resists  the 
action  of  the  atmosphere,  and  certainly  promotes  the  keeping  qualities 
of  the  fruit.  This  varnish  ought  not  to  be  removed  by  any  means, 
handliug  being  one  of  the  certain  ways  to  do  so.  Let  the  fruit, 
therefore,  be  placed  at  first  singly  on  the  shelves,  and  little  else  will  be 
wanted  but  looking  over  them  and  picking  out  decayed  ones  :  and 
the  place  being  kept  cool  and  well  ventilated,  there  is  a  tolerable 
certainty  of  their  keeping  well,  other  things  also  being  favourable. 
Some  useful  fruit  rooms  that  I  have  seen  are  lean-to  against  the 
north  wall  of  a  garden,  the  great  defect  in  these  being  the  want  of 
ventilation  which,  in  part  at  least,  ought  to  be  at  top,  and  is  rarely 
thought  of  in  a  lean-to  shed.  Tne  sides  being  low,  the  exhalation 
from  fruit  cannot  well  be  all  carried  off  from  them  ;  it  is  better,  therefore, 
to  leave  an  opening  at  top  to  allow  it  to  escape,  otherwise  the  fact  of 
being  behind  a  wall  is  an  advantage  rather  than  otherwise,  and  more 
so  if  it  be  isolated,  and  not  form  part  of  a  series  of  buildings,  as  by 
that  means  end  ventilation  could  be  more  easily  accomplished.  I  have 
also  seen  a  very  useful  fruit  room  half  underground  ;  but  this  is  only 
advisable  on  a  dry,  gravelly,  or  sandy  soil.  I  have  also  seen  one 
under  the  shade  of  a  tree,  not  in  a  dense  wood  (which  is  bad),  and  it 
answered  very  well.  The  main  thing  to  stipulate  for  is  plenty  of 
space  and  ventilation,  and  to  use  the  latter  on  all  occasions,  except, 
perhaps,  in  damp,  warm  weather,  and  the  probability  is  that  fruit  will 
keep  as  long  as  it  is  required  to  do.  A  Kentish  farmer  stores  his 
Apples  away  in  the  oast  kiln,  than  which  nothing  can  be  more  airy  ; 
and  although  the  large  quantity  they  often  have  compels  them  to  lay 
them  thicker  than  they  otherwise  would,  they  often  contrive  to  keep 
Nonpareil  and  Golden  Knob  Apples  in  agiod  condition  till  March, 
and  French  Crabs  still  longer. — R. 
Preserving  the  Form  and  Colour  of  Flowers.  —  From  a 
Frenoh  botanical  journal  we  extract  several  recipes  for  preserving 
the  form  and  colour  of  flowers.  One  method  is  to  immerse  the 
stem  of  the  fresh  speoimen  in  a  solution  of  31  parts  by  weight 
of  alum,  4  of  nitre,  and  186  of  water,  for  two  or  three  days  until 
the  liquid  is  thoroughly  absorbed,  and  then  to  press  in  the  ordinary 
way,  except  that  dry  sand  is  sifted  over  the  specimen,  and  the 
packet  submitted  to  the  aotion  of  gentle  heat  for  twenty-four  hours. 
Another  method  is  to  make  a  varnish  composed  of  20  parts  of 
powdered  copal  and  500  parts  of  ether,  powdered  glass  or  sand  being 
used  to  make  the  copal  dissolve  more  readily.  Into  this  solution 
the  plants  are  carefully  dipped  ;  then  they  are  allowed  to  dry  for  ten 
minutes,  and  the  same  process  is  repeated  four  or  five  times  in 
succession.  Plants  may  also  be  plunged  in  a  boiling  solution  of  one 
part  of  salicylic  acid  and  600  of  aloohol,  and  then  dried  in  bibulous 
paper.  But  this  act  should  be  very  rapidly  done,  violet  flowers  especially 
being  decolourised  by  more  than  an  instantaneous  immersion.  Red 
flowers,  which  have  changed  to  a  purplish  tint  in  drying,  may  have 
their  colour  restored  by  laying  them  on  a  pieoe  of  paper  moistened 
with  dilute  nitrio  acid  (one  part  to  ten  or  twelve  parts  of  water),  and 
then  submitting  them  to  a  moderate  pressure  for  a  few  seconds.  But 
this  solution  should  never  be  allowed  to  touch  the  green  leaves,  as  they 
would  be  decolourised  by  it. 
