374 
JOURNAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER. 
October  24,  1901. 
Sweetbriar  fruits  as  being  excellent,  “  making  pleasant  meates 
and  banketting  dishes  as  tartes,  and  such  like,  the  making 
whereof  I  commit  to  the  cunning  cooke  and  the  teeth  to  eat 
them  in  the  rich  man’s  mouth.”  Of  all  our  native  or  wild  fruits 
the  one  worth  earnest  attention,  culture,  and  improvement,  is 
the  common  Blackberry  or  Bramble.  In  the  United  States  the 
culture  of  the  Blackberry  as  a  market  fruit  is  very  extensive, 
and  the  economic  results  most  important ;  but  as  a  rule  the  best 
of  the  American  kinds  thrive  but  badly  or  intermittently  in  our 
own  gardens.  We  may  do  much  better  by  selecting,  cultivating, 
and  improving  from  seed  our  native  kinds.  Every  stretch  of 
Blaokberry  country,  every  hedge,  in  fact,  contains  varieties  of 
widely  varying  merit,  and  we  must  select  the  best  flavoured,  the 
largest-fruited  and  most  prolific  kinds.  It  is  a  fruit  that  may 
be  grown  on  rocky  slopes  or  stony  and  poor  ground  quite  unfit 
for  most  other  uses.  Selected  wild  varieties,  and  the  cut-leaved 
variety  (Rubus  fruticosus  var.  laciniatus)  are  decidedly  the  best 
to  start  with,  but  by  selection  and  cross-breeding  under  cultiva¬ 
tion  even  finer,  larger,  and  more  fertile  varieties  would,  and 
could  be  obtained.  The  wild  Bullace  Plums,  so  popular  in  Nor¬ 
folk  and  the  Eastern  oounties,  might  also  be  much  improved  even 
under  hedgerow  culture. 
Some  may  ask  me,  “  Why  go  to  the  trouble  of  cultivating 
that  which  already  grows  abundantly  wild?”  Well,  in  the  first 
place,  we  are  rarely  or  never  satisfied,  especially  by  things  that 
cost  us  little  or  nothing,  and  then  there  is  that  deep  laid  desire 
in  every  British  heart  to  go  “  one  better,”  in  a  word,  to  improve 
and  ennoble  whatever  is  taken  in  hand.  Besides,  there  is  in  the 
British  Isles  to-day  a  gigantic  army  of  gardeners,  amateur  and 
professional,  and  if  every  one  of  these  is  to  have  a  hobby  horse 
to  ride,  as  every  good  and  true  gardener  should  have,  well,  then 
there  is  some  chance  for  the  selection,  culture,  and  improvement 
of  all  the  best  of  our  native  plants.  No  one  cultivator  can  take 
up  or  grow  everything,  but  everyone  may  select  or  take  up  some¬ 
thing  and  make  it  more  beautiful  or  more  useful  for  certain 
places  or  purposes  than  it  was  before.  Hybrids  have  already 
been  obtained  between  the  Blackberry  and  the  Raspberry,  and 
attempts  are  in  progress  to  ensure  a  happy  marriage  between  the 
Japan  Wineberry  (Rubus  phcenicolasius)  and  the  best  of  our 
native  Blackberries  alia  Raspberries.  Even  without  actual 
garden  cultivation  much  may  be  done  by  merely  fostering  the 
best  of  wild  flowers,  fruits,  and  vegetables  in  suitable  places 
where  they  naturally  grow. 
(To  be  continued.) 
Fine  felosias. 
It  is  not  an  everyday  experience  to  find  Celosias  so  finely 
grown  as  those  now  to  be  seen  at  the  present  time  in  the 
Longford  Castle  gardens,  Salisbury,  though  I  believe  in 
this  instance  even  the  plants  scarcely  compare  with  those 
of  some  previous  years.  Be  that  as  it  may,  those  under 
notice  are  striking,  because  of  their  stature  and  vigorous 
condition.  Some  idea  may  be  formed  of  their  floral  state 
when  it  is  said  they  attain  to  a  height  of  about  5ft,  and 
spread  in  bush  form  to  nearly  4ft.  Their  flowering  pots  are 
Sin  in  diameter,  which  cannot  be  said  to  be  large  for  such 
fine  plants.  Gardeners  accustomed  to  see  them  in  6in  pots 
cannot  refrain  from  exclaiming  in  suitable  language,  and 
they  at  once  demand  their  unstinted  admiration,  if  not  envy, 
the  latter  being,  in  my  opinion,  a  pardonable  offence. 
Being  naturally  struck  with  their  unusual  proportions,  1 
inquired  a  little  into  their  history,  and  find  they  were  given 
comfortable  quarters  on  shelves  in  the  Melon  houses  until 
they  had  advanced  somewhat  in  stature,  then  transferred 
to  a  large  and  lofty  lean-to  Fig  house,  the  roof  of  which  is 
not  yet  fully  occupied.  The  seeds  were  sown  in  March,  the 
resultant  plants  given  periodical  pottings  until  they  had 
reached  the  final  Sin  size.  Watering  must  have  been  care¬ 
fully  attended  to,  syringing  assiduously  practised  (for 
Celosias  are  well  known  “spidery  subjects”),  and  the  soil 
substantial  and  good,  to  have  carried  in  its  train  such  satis¬ 
factory  “  dividends,”  and  Mr.  Hazelton  and  his  assistants 
are  to  be  congratulated  on  the  success  which  has  attended 
their  efforts. 
I  am  not  prepared  to  say  these  are  of  record  size,  but 
they  certainly  eclipse  every  example  of  Celosia  culture  that 
has  come  under  my  observation  previously,  and  I  should  be 
satisfied,  as,  no  doubt,  would  many  other  readers  of  the 
Journal,  if  this  instance  of  success  could  be  so  successfully 
imitated.  The  strain  is  one  of  Mr.  Hazelton’s  own  selec¬ 
tion,  extending  over  a  series  of  years,  some  of  the  plumes 
having  a  crested  extremity,  others  are  of  the  usual  feathery 
type.  They  are  distinctly  pyramidal  in  growth,  and  the 
colours  varied  and  refined.- — W.  S. 
Outdoor  Peaches  and  Nectarines. 
These  have  given  one  more  proof  of  their  adaptability  ta 
the  English  climate,  for  crops  have  been  both  abundant  and 
fine.  Our  trees  of  Hale’s  Early,  Violette  Hative,  Crimson 
Galande,  Alexander,  Dymond,  Bellegarde,  Barrington,  and 
Sea  Eagle  have  given  a  good  supply  of  well-coloured  and 
full-flavoured  fruits.  At  Heywood,  near  Westbury,  Mr. 
Robinson  is  very  successful  with  outdoor  Peaches  ;  his  trees 
cover  a  lofty  50yd  wall,  and  their  health  and  productiveness 
is  really  marvellous,  especially  when  it  is  remembered  that* 
no  maocer  what  the  summer  weather  may  be,  root  moisture 
is  derived  from  rain,  and  never  augmented  from  the  water 
pot,  except  for  the  daily  syringe  in  the  hottest  weather. 
Bellegarde,  Dymond,  Sea  Eagle,  Barrington,  Princess  of 
Wales,  Walburton  Admirable,  and  Condor,  are  some  that, 
have  not  failed  to  bear  their  burden  now  for  a  good  many 
years. 
Nectarines  are  not  so  satisfactory  as  Peaches,  by  reason 
of  the  partialitv  of  insects  of  various  kinds  for  them,  and 
which  are  eaten  and  spoilt  while  yet  in  a  hard  and  green 
state.  Woodlice,  earwigs,  wasps,  and  bluebottle  flies  are 
a  constant  source  of  terror  to  these  fruits,  or,  rather,  to 
those  who  have  the  charge  of  them.  It  is  worthy  of  remark 
that  with  the  late  sorts  just  named  the  season  of  ripe  fruit 
has  closed  early,  due,  no  doubt,  to  the  continuous  summer- 
like  weather.  Sea  Eagle  and  Princess  of  Wales  were  ripe 
in  the  middle  of  September,  and  Walburton’s  were  gathered 
by  the  end  of  the  month.  In  a  cool  house  on  an  eastern 
aspect  we  have  gathered  late  Peaches  and  Nectarines  until 
past  the  middle  of  October  in  some  seasons.  This  year  the 
last  fruit  will  have  been  plucked  by  the  5th  of  the  month. 
They  are  invariably  later  in  this  house  than  on  the  open 
walls,  ventilators  at  no  time,  except  when  frost  threatens  in 
the  spring,  are  ever  closed. — R.  A. 
- »  > - 
Scorpion  Flies  and  other  Insects. 
In  view  of  the  great  destruction  of  life  that  is  ever  going  on  in 
the  insect  world,  it  has  been  suggested  that  the  phrase  of  “  dying 
a  natural  death  ”  can  have  hardly  any  meaning  there.  So  many 
insects  have  their  lives  cut  short  by  quadrupeds,  birds,  reptiles, 
fishes,  and  by  their  own  brethren,  besides  what  they  are  liable  to 
from  the  hand  of  man  and  atmospheric  influences,  that  to  die  thus 
suddenly  seems  the  more  natural  mode,  and  death  by  decay  or  old 
age  rather  out  of  the  usual  order  of  things.  We  know  that  it  is 
almost  impossible  to  find  a  dead  donkey,  and  though  this  cannot 
be  said  of  insects,  the  number  of  bodies  one  sees  about  of  creatures 
belonging  to  this  race  is  comparatively  small ;  for  those  that  are 
suddenly  killed  are  often  as  suddenly  eaten  up,  even  to  the  frag¬ 
ments.  And  in  the  case  of  the  few  insects  that  die  peaceably, 
their  friends  have  never  any  occasion  to  resort  to  cremation,  as 
mites  and  other  small  creatures  are  generally  at  hand  to  reduce 
the  carcase  to  a  mere  shell.  Some  birds  also,  as  is  well  known, 
though  they  will  not  usually  eat  dead  insects,  hunt  up  beetle 
elytra  and  moth  wings  to  interweave  with  their  nests. 
The  Scorpion  Flies,  however,  frequent  visitants  to  the  garden 
during  the  summer  season,  prey  upon  living  insects  in  their 
imago  state ;  the  larvae,  about  which  not  much  is  known  at 
present,  are  conjectured  to  feed  upon  the  roots  of  plants.  That 
they  live  under  the  earth  is  certain.  Whether  they  are  strictly 
vegetarian  may  be  questioned,  since  it  is  quite  possible  that,  like 
the  flies  into  which  they  develop,  they  may  not  withstand  the 
temptation  to  devour  anything  alive  that  they  come  across  in 
their  subterranean  rambies,  and  which  it  is  in  their  power  to 
master.  A  glance  at  these  insects,  as  they  dart  about  amongst 
the  leaves  in  the  sunshine,  at  once  suggests  to  the  looker-on  their 
affinity  to  the  Dragon  Flies,  though  they  are  not  so  agile  nor  so 
fiercely  carnivorous  as  their  relatives.  But  I  have  no  doubt  a 
Scorpion  Fly  can  put  away  in  a  day  a  fair  number  of  small  insects. 
As  two  or  three  species  are  reported  to  feed  upon  those  leaf- 
rolling  caterpillars  which  the  gardener  finds  it  so  difficult  to  deal 
with,  we  have  reason  to  be  obliged  to  them.  I  have  myself  fre¬ 
quently  seen  them  on  bushes  which  were  swarming  with  cater¬ 
pillars,  but  could  not  detect  them  in  the  act  of  tearing  these 
from  their  abode — an  act,  nevertheless,  which  it  is  most  probable 
they  perform,  and  for  which  the  long  head  with  its  powerful  jaws 
and  the  spined  feet  are  particularly  fitted. 
History  carries  back  the  name  of  Scorpion  Fly  to  the  dajrs 
of  Aristotle,  who  fancied  these  insects  were  winged  scorpions  of 
diminutive  size,  though  in  the  mind  of  some  a  doubt  may  arise  as 
to  the  identity ;  for,  of  course,  Aristotle  did  not  leave  us  a  figure 
