336 
JOURNAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER .  October  10,  1901. 
_ 
Pears,  and  the  Raisers  of  Them. 
Most  fruit  growers  are  aware  what  a  large  number  of  varie¬ 
ties  of  Pears  are  grown ;  at  the  same  tim&,  what  a  few  are  really 
worth  growing,  owing  to  either  their  being  flavourless,  shy 
croppers,  and  in  some  cases  non-croppers !  Perhaps  all  readers 
may  not.  know  that  nearly  all  our  sorts  of  Pears  have  been  pro¬ 
duced  in  France,  Belgium,  and  America — scarcely  any  in  our 
country.  It  has  occurred  to  me  that  if  the  hybridising  of  Pears 
could  be  carried  out  in  this  country  at  the  rate  our  Strawberries 
are,  we  should  certainly  have  far  better  and  more  suitable 
varieties  for  our  climate  and  soil. — A.  J.  Long,  Oxon. 
Cracking  in  Pears. 
“A  Cultivator”  asks:  “What  is  the  cause  of  my  Pears 
cracking  and  having  a  discoloured  skin  ?  Some  of  the  fruits  are 
very  bad,  and  are  simply  worthless.  I  should  be  glad  to  know 
what  is  the  cause  and  the  remedy.”  The  cause  of  the  cracking 
of  the  fruits  and  the  discolouration  is  the  presence  of  a  fungus 
known  as  Cladosporium  dendriticum  pyrinum.  It  also  attacks 
the  leaves.  The  only  remedy  is  to  spray  the  trees  with  sulphate 
of  copper,  dissolving  lib  in  25  gallons  of  water,  and  using 
the  solution  previous  to  the  blossom  buds  swelling.  Paris 
green  may  also  be  used  at  the  rate  of  lib  to  260  gallons 
of  water.  The  water  should,  however,  be  made  milky  by  making 
some  thin  whitewash  with  quicklime.  The  mixture  must  be 
sprayed  on  the  tree  several  different  times,  first  before  the 
flowers  expand,  as  soon  as  the  fruit  is  set,  again  in  three  weeks, 
and  a  last  spraying  at  the  end  of  the  next  three  weeks.  The 
trees  ought,  if  not  too  large,  to  be  lifted  and  replanted,  working 
some  better  material  among  and  under  the  roots.  Should  the 
position  be  ill-drained,  some  provision  must  be  made  to  improve 
it  in  this  respect,  as  insufficient  drainage  is  a  great  cause  of 
Pears  becoming  unhealthy. — E. 
- - 
The  Loganberry. 
I  look  upon  this  as  a  valuable  addition  to  our  hardy  fruits, 
more  especially  for  jam  making;  the  fruit  being  too  juicy  and 
soft  for  travelling.  The  plants  I  have  growing  here  on  a  gravelly 
subsoil  have  borne  well  this  year,  though  on  rather  weak 
growths.  After  the  first  year’s  planting  the  bushes  only  grew 
about  3  feet  high,  but  from  this  growth  they  produced  quite  a 
pyramid  of  large,  luscious  fruit,  similar  to  a  Raspberry,  but  more 
conical  and  of  a  distinct  Blackberry  and  Raspberry'  flavour.  I 
had  sufficient  quantity  to  preserve,  and  the  Blackberry  flavour  is 
more  pronounced  in  the  jam  than  in  the  ripe  fruit.  This  year 
the  plants  have  made  growths  10  to  12  feet,  and  are  still 
growing,  the  wood  being  extra  stout,  with  leaves  and  growth 
like  a  Blackberry  and  spines  on  the  wood  like  a  Raspberry.  If 
the  new  wood  fruits  as  the  smaller  old  wood  did,  it  will  be  an 
extraordinary  prolific  fruit.— C.  Orchard,  Bembridge,  I.W. 
Bothydom 
“  Do  gardeners  consider  the  comfort  of  the  bothy  as  they 
should?’  I  think  we  can  safely  answer  this  in  the  negative.  If 
yve  were  to  investigate  some  of  our  foremost  gardens,  we  should 
in  most  cases,  I  am  glad  to  say,  find  bothies  of  fine  appearance, 
and  well  adapted  for  the  comfort  of  their  inmates,  but  although 
they  denote  comfort  outwardly,  it  is  when  we  look  into  detail 
that  we  find  they  lack  the  necessities  which  young  men  most 
appreciate.  Few  gardeners  furnish  their  bothies  in  such  a 
manner  as  will  induce  the  bothy-men  to  look  forward  for  the 
long  winter  nights  being  spent,  under  the  bothy  roof,  in  comfort 
There  seldom  is  any  provision  made  for  quiet  study.  How  few 
bothies  have  a  library  of  horticultural  works,  and  how  often  is 
the  suitable  corner  for  study  devoted  for  some  less  useful 
purpose. 
here  the  bothy  is  so  little  considered,  young  men  are  glad, 
and  rightly,  to  spend  as  little  time  as  possible  where  their 
needs  are  not  heeded.  On  the  other  hand,  in  bothies  that  are 
well  provided  for,  more  interest  is  taken  in  the  work,  and  the 
men  aie  more  anxious  for  self-improvement.  I  have  known 
young  men  of  fine  promise  turn  to  some  other  profession  only 
because  they  have  been  disgusted  with  their  bothy  life.  Too 
often  gardeners  employ  unsuitable  labour  for  the  bothy,  and 
seldom  trouble  to  see  if  all  is  kept  comfortable.  There  are 
bothies,  on  large  establishments,  where  furniture  and  most 
ordinary  requisites  are  far  from  being  sufficient  for  the  bothy- 
men’s  needs,  and  the  employers  of  these  men  are  under  the 
impression  that  they  are  provided  with  all  their  common  wants. 
If  such  a  state  as  this  exists,  and  it  certainly  does,  how  can  we 
wonder  at  the  scarcity  of  good  journeymen? 
Many  gardeners  forget  how  their  men  try  to  meet  their  heads’ 
demands,  often  by  working  long  after  regulation  hours,  and  for 
all  this  gratis  work  they  naturally  expect  some  little  considera¬ 
tion,  and  in  nowise  would  they  appreciate  it  more  than  by  a 
little  more  thought  and  money  being  spent  on  the  bothy. 
I  hope  head  gardeners  will  soon  wake  up  to  the  fact  that  the 
bothy  needs  a  greater  share  of  their  thought  than  it  gets  at  the 
present. — Junior. 
- - ■ 
YouDg  Wood  t,  Old  for  Mrs.  Pince  Grape. 
It  has  already  been  frequently  asserted  that  to  produce 
good-sized  bunches  of  this  high-class  late  Grape,  it  is  neces¬ 
sary  to  fruit  it  on  the  young  wood.  A  striking  proof  of  the 
correctness  of  this  assertion,  in  one  instance  at  least,  has 
occurred  with  the  one  Vine  of  this  variety  under  my  charge, 
and  which  is  here  illustrated  in  a  bearing  condition. 
It  has  been  planted  something  over  twenty  years  in  our 
latest  house,  which  is  filled  chiefly  with  the  varieties  Ali- 
cantes  and  Lady  Downe’s.  The  Vines  break  naturally  with 
ventilation  open  front  and  top.  In  the  event  of  a  spell 
of  cold  weather  setting  in,  a  little  heat  is  turned  on. 
During  the  past  three  or  four  years  the  rod  of  Mrs.  Pince 
has  almost  failed  to  show  fruit  at  all  on  its  entire  length  of 
20  feet ;  excepting  one  or  two  small  bunches  it  has  always 
been  spur-pruned,  and  wood  and  foliage  are  most  healthy 
and  vigorous. 
The  old  rod,  too,  has  become  unsightly  as  well  as  un¬ 
fruitful,  through  my  having  at  times  left  four  and  five  eyes 
at  pruning  time  on  some  of  the  spurs  to  induce  fruitfulness. 
A  year  or  two  ago  I  left  a  piece  of  new  wood  3  feet  6  inches 
in  length,  which  carried  three  bunches  of  about  3  lbs.  weight 
each.  Having  been  successful  in  getting  a  good  strong  break 
from  the  bottom  of  the  rafter  last  year,  I  at  once  decided  to 
cut  out  the  old  rod  if  all  went  on  satisfactory,  which,  for¬ 
tunately,  was  the  case.  The  young  growth  was  stopped  at 
6  feet  and  shortened  to  5  at  pruning  time.  This  year 
the  old  rod  only  produced  four  bunches,  two  of  which  appear 
in  the  photograph,  while  on  the  young  cane,  with  the 
exception  of  one  or  two  of  the  lower  ones,  every  eye  con¬ 
tained  a  bunch.  This  amply  demonstrates  the  superior  fruit¬ 
fulness  of  the  young  wood  as  compared  with  the  old.  The 
three  illustrated  were  allowed  to  remain,  and  weigh,  respec¬ 
tively,  4  lbs.  2  ozs.  ;  4  lbs.  1  oz.  ;  4  lbs.  2  ozs.  Total  for  the 
three  bunches,  12  lbs.  5  ozs. 
For  the  variety  they  are  well  coloured,  looking  almost  as 
blue  as  Alicantes  and  Lady  Downe’s  in  the  same  house.  No 
trouble  was  experienced  with  their  setting,  as  they  set  as 
freely  as  Hamburghs  in  the  earlier  houses.  The  border  in 
which  they  were  growing  had  a  fair  dressing  of  bonemeal 
and  wood  ashes  well  forked  in  when  the  Vines  commenced 
to  break,  and  were  frequently  watered  with  liquid  cow 
manure.  One  or  two  dressings  of  Canary  guano  were  given 
to  the  Mrs.  Pince  when  taking  their  last  swelling,  which  I 
am  inclined  to  think  materially  assisted  them  in  finishing  so 
well. 
The  old  Hamburgh  noticed  in  the  Journal  issue  of 
October  25th  last  year,  and  from  which  the  Editor  illustrated 
a  bunch  weighing  over  6  lbs.,  has  this  year  produced  several 
good  bunches,  the  heaviest  being  slightly  over  4  lbs. — W.  H. 
Wilson,  Moor  Hall  Gardens,  Stourport. 
To  vouch  for  the  truth  of  his  statements  regarding  the 
weights  of  the  bunches,  Mr.  Wilson  asks  us  to  append  the 
following  certificate  : — “  I  have  much  pleasure  in  stating  that 
I  was  present  when  the  above  bunches  of  Mrs.  Pince  were 
cut  and  weighed,  and  can  certify  that  the  weights  given — 
viz.,  over  4  lbs.  per  bunch,  are  correct.  I  have  repeatedly 
seen  them  during  their  period  of  growth,  and  have  noted 
their  progress  with  much  interest.  I  should  like  to  say  that 
the  colour  and  general  finish  of  the  bunches  is  of  the  highest 
order,  exceeding  my  most  sanguine  expectations.” — (Signed) 
— Arthur  Combes,  F.R.H.S.,  St.  Mary’s  Nursery,  Hagley,, 
near  Stourbridge. 
September  30th,  1901. 
