2,0 
JOURNAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER.  September  19, 1901. 
Autumn  Sown  Sweet  Peas. 
Several  notes  have  appeared  on  this  subject.  To  those  living  in  the 
southern  counties  it  is  not  necessary  to  trouble  about  sowing  in  pots,  as 
in  ordinary  winters  they  will  stand  out  all  right.  I  sowed  four  short 
rows  on  September  19th,  1900,  on  well  trenched  ground,  and  the  result 
was  well  worth  the  extra  trouble;  we  had  finer  flowers,  earlier,  and 
more  of  them. — R.  I. 
Large  Pears. 
It  is  quite  certain  that  unnaturally  large  Pears  are  not  so  fully 
flavoured  as  those  of  a  natural  size.  In  Guernsey  we  Were  told  by  the 
Chaumontel  growers  that  those  weighing  from  10  to  15  ozs.  were 
much  superior  in  flavour  to  those  of  much  larger  size.  It  is  the  same 
with  the  Gooseberry,  and  probably  with  all  other  fruits.  The  pampered 
show  Gooseberries  of  Lancashire  are  infinitely  inferior  in  flavour,  not 
only  to  the  fruit  of  the  smaller-fruited  varieties,  but  to  unbloated 
specimens  of  the  same  variety.  The  bloated  berries  have  been  unable 
to  elaborate  all  the  sap  forced  into  them,  and,  therefore,  its  watery 
constituents  predominate  ;  for  ripening  is  neither  more  nor  less  than 
converting  the  watery  and  gummy  parts  of  the  sap  into  sugar  and 
aroma. — N. 
- - 
Royal  Horticultural  Society’s  Examinations. 
Several  of  your  correspondents  have  referred  to  the  above,  and 
hoping  it  may  interest  some  of  your  readers  I  send  an  analysis  of  the 
Royal  Horticultural  Society’s  lists,  which  will  enable  us  to  see  some¬ 
thing  interesting  in  connection  with  the  candidates  who,  for  convenience 
of  reference,  are  classified  as  under  : — 
m 
m  m 
^5  . 
cj  m 
°  2 
O  Co 
•  S  32 
d 
-4-3 
o 
IHO 
m  ^ 
85 
EH 
Private  study  candidates,  mostly  gardeners 
and  including-  Mr.  Browne’s  class  of  15  ... 
31 
...  40 
...  15 
..  86 
Horticultural  College,  Swanley . 
33 
...  11 
...  2 
..  46 
Essex  County  School  of  Horticulture . 
8 
...  7 
— 
..  15 
Reading  and  Lady  Warwick’s  Hostel . 
11 
...  3 
...  1 
..  15 
Oxford  City  Technical  School . 
7 
...  6 
...  2 
..  15 
Holmes  Chapel  Horticultural  School . 
3 
...  10 
...  1 
..  14 
Other  schools  and  institutes  . 
8 
...  2 
....  2 
..  12 
Reading  College  . 
5 
2 
...  1 
..  8 
Staffs.  County  Technical  Schools  . 
3 
...  4 
...  1 
..  8 
109 
...  85 
...  25 
..  219 
Failed . 
..  6 
Total . 
..  225 
It  is  reasonable  to  suppose  that  some  of  the  candidates  from  the 
various  public  institutions  were  gardeners  who  had  been  allotted  to 
these  centres  for  examination  purposes,  as  in  the  writer’s  experience 
one  fruit  farmer  of  some  standing  helped  to  swell  the  first  olass  list  of 
the  college  chosen  as  his  centre  some  time  ago. 
As  the  private  candidates  form  nearly  40  per  cent,  of  the  total,  it  is 
evident  the  vague  general  impression  that  these  examinations  are 
attended  solely  by  amateurs  is  not  quite  correct,  and  there  is  little  doubt 
that  as  soon  as  the  ruling  powers  realise  how  greatly  they  may  help 
professional  gardeners  in  their  home  reading  and  self-improvement 
some  steps  will  be  taken  to  held  the  examinations  earlier,  and  not,  as 
now,  in  the  busiest  time  of  the  whole  year.  At  Lady  Day  so  many 
promotions  and  ohanges  take  place  that  comparatively  large  numbers 
of  gardeners  find  themselves  heavily  handicapped  by  the  date,  if  not 
entirely  prevented  from  attending  the  examination,  and  as  the  best  and 
most  intelligent  gardeners  are  the  ones  to  obtain  promotion,  one  grave 
result  is  that  discredit  is  brought  on  this  part  of  the  society’s  work.  To 
students  who  have  heen  going  through  a  two-years  course  at  a  college 
or  school  it  makes  no  difference  whether  the  examination  be  held  in 
February  or  in  April.  It  is  easy  to  understand  that  staff  and  clerical 
difficulties  stand  in  the  way  of  the  needed  improvement,  but  luckily  the 
Royal  Horticultural  Society  is  progressing  by  leaps  and  bounds 
financially ;  and  as  Rome  was  not  built  in  a  day,  we  do  not  despair 
of  finding  the  society  helping  practical  gardeners  in  this  direction 
before  long.  When  they  do  so,  the  examinations  will  begin  to  rank 
with  those  of  other  large  and  influential  societies,  and  the  power  and 
nfluenoe  of  the  Royal  Horticultural  Sooiety  will  be  correspondingly 
increased. — Practice  with  Science. 
Seedling  Briers. 
In  answer  to  “  R.  W.,”  one  may  answer,  “  Yes,  it  is  usual  for  seedling 
Brier  stocks  to  be  as  uncomfortable  and  unsatisfactory  as  he  describes 
them  to  be.”  It  is  quite  reasonable  that  he  should  give  them  up,  as 
most  rosarians  have  done  before  him ;  but  why  he  should  fall  back  on 
the  Manetti  instead  of  on  the  most  popular  and  well-known  stock,  the 
Brier  cutting,  which  has  for  the  last  dozen  years  at  least,  by  general 
consent  been  awarded  the  first  place  among  dwarf  Rose  stocks,  it  is 
hard  to  say. — W.  R.  Raillem. 
Melon  Little  Heatl}. 
I,  like  many  others,  have  grown  Little  Heath  Melon  in  frames  for 
years,  and  can  speak  in  its  favour.  I  have  an  old  brick  pit  with  three 
lights,  4  feet  wide  and  5  feet  lone..  After  being  planted  with  Potatoes, 
which  I  lifted  the  last  week  of  March,  I  just  shook  up  the  bed,  which 
consisted  of  leaves,  and  then  mixing  some  short  horse  dung  to  start  the 
heat  again,  I  put  in  a  bushel  'of  soil  under  each  light,  and  no  more, 
consisting  of  three  parts  good  loam  two  years  old,  and  one  part  of  cow 
dung  put  in  a  heap  two  years  ago.  I  then  planted  the  Melons,  which 
were  strong,  one  under  each  light.  The  plants  were  raised  from  seed 
sown  in  a  48-sized  pot,  and  potted  singly  as  soon  as  the  first  rough  leaf 
was  produced ;  after  planting  they  grew  such  healthy  dark  green 
foliage,  that  my  gardening  friends  told  me  I  should  have  nothing  but 
leaves.  Very  soon,  however,  they  set  plenty  of  fruit,  and  fourteen  of 
these  in  all  on  the  three  plants  weighed  56  lbs. ;  my  largest  was  5£  lbs. 
weight.  They  were  all  out  by  the  16th  of  August,  and  now  I  have  the 
pit  planted  again  with  May-sown  Cauliflower  for  late  autumn  use,  with 
the  lights  off  till  protection  shall  be  wanted ;  thus  by  Christmas  the 
pit  will  have  done  good  duty,  if  I  have  not. 
As  regards  affording  air  to  Little  Heath  Melon,  I  gave  them  about 
the  same  treatment  as  the  Potatoes,  which  grew  in  the  pit  before  them, 
except  that  in  dull  days  the  lights  were  pushed  off  back  and  front  to 
have  a  free  circulation  of  air  from  early  in  the  morning  until  I  shut 
up,  and  it  always  fell  to  their  lot  to  be  last. — C.  M.,  Warwick. 
- - 
Grubs  at  %  Greens. 
When  1  went  to  school  there  came  occasionally,  once  a  half  year  or 
so,  an  old  gentleman  to  give  us  a  lecture  on  chemistry.  His  experiments 
were,  I  am  afraid,  all  we  cared  about.  What  was  to  be  heard  passed 
unheard  by  the  majority,  but  what  was  to  be  seen  attracted  all 
eyes.  I  regret  to  say,  also,  that  we  delighted  in  taking  pen  and  ink 
sketches  of  the  professor  in  various  attitudes ;  his  long  nose,  spectaoles, 
and  pointed  chin,  were  attractive  to  the  caricaturist.  But  what  I  want 
specially  to  remark  upon  was,  the  fact  that  on  chemical  leoture  days 
the  under  masters  sat  with  the  boys  as  learners. 
Now,  to-day,  I  wish  to  sit  with  the  boys.  I  write,  not  to  inform, 
but  to  get  information.  My  Broccoli  plants  and  other  subjects  of  this 
class  have  been  attacked  by  a  horrible  grub,  such  as  I  never  had  the  pain 
to  be  acquainted  with  before.  I  saw  one  day  two  or  three  plants  leaning 
on  their  sides  and  looking  flagged.  On  approaching  them  I  found  they 
were  all  but  severed  at  the  part  of  the  stem  just  below  the  surface,  on 
examining  which  stem  I  found  it  was  bored  like  a  gun.  Pulling  up  the 
root  I  scocped  away  the  earth  with  my  fingers,  and,  lo !  a  little  way 
down  was  the  offender — a  flat,  yellowish.green  grub,  curled  up  in  a 
semicircle.  I  find  all  my  neighbours  are  suffering  similarly,  doubtless 
the  dry  so:  son  is  to  blame.  I  saw  a  large  bed  of  Lettuces  reduced  to 
five.  Then  I  hear  that  Onions,  Leeks,  and  Carrots  are  also  attaoked. 
As  to  my  1  atallions  of  Winter  Greens,  they  look  as  if  they  were  General 
Botha’s  botallions  cut  up  by  British  cannon  balls.  If  you  please,  I 
want  to  be  told  a  remedy  for  my  plants  against  these  pests,  for  I  am 
tired  of  finding  them  and  crushing  them  on  the  path,  as  the  cry  is 
“  Still  they  come.”  I  do  not  care  about  the  scientific  name  of  my 
enemy,  possibly  it  is  “  Yellowgreenius  grubbensis,”  the  product  of 
“  Musca  tormentor  gardenerii.”  These  names  will  suffice  for  me  ;  but 
I  want  to  exterminate  the  foe.  Lime  water  has  been  tried  but  has 
failed.  Will  you  befriend  your  troubled — Rector  ? 
[Though  there  is  no  application  known  whioh  will  kill  the  grubs 
whilst  it  does  no  injury  to  the  plants,  yet  there  might  be  something 
sprinkled  over  the  surface  of  the  soil  at  another  season  of  the  year 
which  would  prevent  the  mother  depositing  her  eggs  there.  However, 
you  do  not  wish  to  know  the  scientific  name,  and  we  will  merely  say 
that  your  “  yellowgreenius  grubbensis  ”  is  known  to,  and  character¬ 
istically  described  by  gardeners  as  the  “  Leather-coat,”  for  a  tough¬ 
skinned  adversary  he  is.  The  only  remedy  is  (without  intending  a  pun), 
to  grub  round  each  plant  in  a  bed  so  soon  as  you  see  that  one  plant  in 
it  is  attacked.] 
