December  12,  1901.  JOURNAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER . 
54? 
South  Africa. 
Cottage  Gardeners. 
The  Stutterheim  district  in  Cape  Colony  is  the  home  of  the 
South  African  cottage  gardener.  This  industry  is  in  the  hands 
of  the  remnants  of — what  is  locally  called — the  “  German 
.Legion.”  These  men,  who  had  served  in  the  Crimea,  came  to  the 
colony  at  the  conclusion  of  hostilities,  and  received  assisted 
grants  of  land  in  this  district.  At  this  time  this  part  of  the 
co!i°ny  though  not  far  removed  from  the  coast  town — was  a 
wilderness  of  veldt  and  hill.  The  German  Legion  transformed 
it  into  a  veritable  garden,  and  though  none  of  them  have 
amassed  any  wealth  to  speak  of,  they  have  all  managed  to  earn 
a  comfortable  living  out  of  their  labours. 
The  gardens  are  all  close  together,  the  boundary  of  each 
being  marked  off  by  cairns  of  stones.  All  are  laid  out  in  the 
same  way,  each  house  being  an  exact  duplicate  of  its  neighbour, 
these  houses  are  built  of  mortar,  mixed  with  dagga,  with 
thatched  roofs.  Each  cottage  has  its  front  room,  running  the 
length  of  the  building ;  behind  this  are  a  couple  of  small  bed¬ 
rooms  ;  back  of  all  is  the  kitchen — in  reality  the  dwelling-room. 
As  some  families  have  increased  a  wing  has  been  added  to  the 
main  building.  Each  gardener,  as  a  rule,  owns  a  couple  of 
horses  and  a  cart  or  two,  but  beyond  there  is  no  other  to  be 
met  with  m  the  valley. 
n  '^Jr]°^ier  which  differentiates  the  cottage  gardener  from 
all  other  agriculturists  in  Africa  is  that  no  native  labour  is 
employed  each  family  itself  providing  all  that  is  necessary  in 
this  respect.  In  the  centre  of  this  little  hive  of  industry  stands 
the  chuich— a  small  stone  building ;  behind  it  is  the  clergyman’s 
house,  the  one  pretentious  building  to  be  met  with  here.  These 
cottage  gardeners  supply  the  King  William  Town  market  with 
most  of  its  garden  stuff.  The  rail  runs  close  here  now,  and  trans¬ 
port  is  easy.  When  the  Legion  first  settled  down  there  was  not  a 
yard  of  rail  in  the  country.  At  this  time  the  people  used  to  drag 
their  own  carts  into  market.  Then  the  Government  stepped  in, 
r  i  -iv  ’ ed  grants  of  land  by  providing  horses.  The 
iff  ™6S  m.curred  m  this  way  have  all  been  long  since  cleared 
+  i  ’  u  ?i'e  1S  n°t.an  English  name  to  be  found  in  this  valley 
though  the  occupiers  can  all  speak  English,  and  the  children 
who  are  educated  at  the  neighbouring  village  of  Dohne,  can  all 
read  and  write  it. 
As  soon  as  the  daylight  closes  in  on  the  valley  the  people 
all  retire  to  their  own  homes  and  stay  there.  An  hour  later 
the  valley  will  be  illuminated  by  a  multitude  of  lights.  These 
aie  the  reflections  of  the  home-made  candles  shining  through  the 
ar  ri  nirirl  -  i1  t!'6 1  ^('ntrfj  of  all,  hanging  from  a  cross-bar, 
ananged  m  front  of  the  church,  is  a  lantern  burning  to  guide 
travelling  strangers.  & 
At  Christmas  time  the  valley  awakes  from  its  usual  quiet 
parties  and  dances  are  arranged,  and  the  people  pass  this  season 
in  the  same  hearty  way  as  do  their  kith  and  kin  at  home  in 
Germany  Many  of  the  Legion  have  gone  the  way  of  all  flesh, 
though  a  few  are  still  left.  Some  of  their  descendants  have  gone 
out  into  the  world.  There  is  a  celebrated  colonial  lawyer  who 
hrst  saw  the  light  m  this  spot,  but  the  majority  have  settled 
down  to  follow  in  their  father’s  footsteps. — D.  G.  It. 
Potato  Cultivation  in  West  Cornwall. 
Seed  and  forage  merchants  have  recently  imported  into  West 
Cornwall  a  large  quantity  of  early  Potato  seed,  for  which  owing 
to  the  high  prices— Myatt’s  £5  10s.  per  ton,  and  Duke  of  York’s 
£6  10s. — there  is  at  present  little  or  no  demand.  From  the  ex¬ 
ceeding  slowness  of  the  sales  since  the  seeds  arrived,  it  is  more 
than  probable  that  a  greater  part  of  the  seed  in  stock  will  have 
either  to  be  sold  at  reduced  prices,  or  be  left  in  the  hands  of  their 
present  owners.  Hitherto  it  has  been  the  practice  of  the  market 
gardeners  to  rush  off  to  the  importers  and  buy  as  soon  as  the 
seed  arrives,  for  fear  the  seed  would  be  insufficient  to  supply 
all  the  customers.  But  times  have  changed.  For  several  seasons 
in  succession  early  Potato  cultivation  has  proved  so  unremu- 
nerative  that  growers  are  by  no  means  anxious  to  give  for  their 
seed  any  price  that  may  be  asked,  as  many  of  them  do  not  care 
whether  they  till  any  early  Potatoes  or  not.  Besides,  market 
gardeners  nowadays  are  better  informed  about  crops  and  prices 
than  they  used  to  be.  They  know  that  last  season’s  crop  of 
Potatoes  in  Lincolnshire,  whence  the  bulk  of  the  seed  comes, 
was  so  remarkably  heavy  that  the  farmers  had  to  import  labourers 
from  Ireland  to  dig  up  the  crop.  In  fact,  early  Potato  seed  is 
so- abundant  that  it  will  be  impossible  to  maintain  the  high  price 
at  present  demanded.  The  market  gardeners  of  West  Cornwall, 
therefore,  need  not  be  in  any  hurry  to  make  their  purchases, 
as  the  best  informed  confidently  state  that  prices  will  drop  at 
least  50  per  cent,  below  present  quotations  before  the  season  is 
juuuh  older. 
Hardy  Fruit  Garden. 
PRUNING  AND  TRAINING  WALL  TREES.— As  a  rule  the 
most  favourable  weather  should  be  chosen  for  giving  the  winter 
attention  to  all  kinds  of  wall  trees.  When  the  weather  is  compara¬ 
tively  mild,  and  the  soil  dry,  the  pruning  can  be  the  most 
expeditiously  carried  out.  Following  close  upon  the  pruning, 
the  re-disposal  of  the  branches  and  shoots  may  be  taken  in  hand, 
first  clearing  the  trees  of  any  insect  pests,  or  incrustations  of 
moss  or  fungi  with  which  they  may  be  infested.  A  thorough 
cleansing  of  the  trees  and  walls  is  at  this  season  very  beneficial, 
and  ensures  a  clean  start  being  made  in  spring.  If  necessary, 
the  bricks  should  have  vacant  spaces  between  them  filled  with 
a  mixture  of  mortar  and  cement. 
PEARS. — Pears  succeed  well  on  walls  in  whatever  form  of 
trees  they  are  grown.  Walls  having  sufficient  space  for  good 
extension  of  the  branches  should  be  furnished  with  fan-shaped 
trees,  while  for  low  walls  and  trellises  the  espalier  form  is  the 
best.  Trees  can  be  secured  and  planted,  having  a  suitable  num¬ 
ber  of  branches  already  originated;  but  where  there  are  not 
sufficient  more  may  be  originated  by  closely  pruning  in  the 
winter.  Groups  of  spurs  ought  not  to  be  established  too  closely 
together,  nor  should  they  be  allowed  to  become  elongated  and 
permitted  to  grow  too  far  from  the  wall.  In  shortening  the 
side  growths  leave  two  or  three  buds  at  the  base.  In  the  case 
of  summer-pruned  shoots  the  buds  to  be  left  will  be  plump,  and 
showing  indications  of  forming  fruit  buds ;  while  those  that-  have 
been  neglected  in  this  respect  will  most  certainly  be  backward ; 
and  much  will  depend  upon  the  condition  of  the  roots  as  to 
whether  they  plump  up  to  fruit  buds  or  remain  as  wood  buds. 
Where  the  trees  have  very  powerful  root  action,  possessing  roots 
deep  and  strong,  the  trees  can  only  be  brought  into  fruitful 
condition  by  judicious  root-pruning. 
APPLES  — Apples  are  not  the  most  profitable  fruit  on  walls, 
and  as  a  rule,  should  not  be  grown  in  such  positions  except  as 
cordon  trees,  the  best  form  being  the  diagonal  single  cordons, 
planted  18in  to  2ft-  apart.  Train  at  an  angle  of  4odeg.  By  no 
means  neglect  the  summer  pruning  of  these,  or  they  cannot  fruit 
rati  factor  ly.  The  winter  pruning  consists  of  shortening  one 
summer-pruned  shoots  to  basal  buds,  leaving  one  or  two  If  the 
trees  are  old,  and  have  very  long  and  crowded  spurs,  thin  these 
out.  .  ,  -. 
MORELLO  CHERRIES. — These  Cherries  are  most  produc¬ 
tive  trained,  in  fan-shaped  form  on  walls,  allowing  free  extension 
of  branches  and  shoots.  The  latter  may  be  trained  somewhat 
thickly,  about  3in  apart  all  over  the  trees,  leaving  them  at  full 
length.  It  is  important  to  cut  out  the  old  fruiting  shoots  close 
to  the  point  where  they  originated.  This  may  be  done  imme¬ 
diately  the  fruit  has  been  gathered,  but  if  not  at  that  time,  then 
at  the  winter  pruning  and  training.  The  Morello  also  succeeds 
when  the  growths  are  spur-pruned,  but  the  most  profitable 
method  is  to  retain  only  the  young  shoots  of  a  vigorous  character 
and  well  ripened.  There  will,  of.  course,  be  a  number  of  super¬ 
fluous  shoots  which  must  either  be  cut  out  entirely  or  shortened 
to  form  spurs.  A  few  of  such  are  permissible  on  the  front  parts 
of  branches,  but  limit  the  number  so  as  to  avoid  crowding.— 
TrvHvrTTsraTON.  HANTS. 
Fruit  Forcing. 
VINES— EARLY  FORCED  IN  POTS.— Where  the  pots  are 
placed  on  pillars  in  the  pits  the  fermenting  material  will  need 
frequent  additions  as  the  heat  declines,  bringing  the  material 
up  about  the  pots,  so  as  to  maintain  a  steady  bottom  heat  of 
70deg  to  75deg.  Too  much  heat  at  this  stage  is  injurious  to  the 
roots.  A  gentle  warmth,  however,  accelerates  root  action,  and 
admits  of  higher  feeding  than  when  the  roots  are  not  excited  into 
activity.  The  temperature  of  the  house  should  be  gradually 
raised,'  so  as  to  have  it  60deg  to  65deg  at  night  by  the  time  the 
Vines  are  coming  into  leaf,  allowing  an  advance  of  5deg  to  lOdeg 
by  day,  admitting  a  little  air  at  70deg,  without  lowering  the 
temperature  or  causing  an  inrush  of  cold  sharp  air,  and  closing 
early  in  the  afternoon.  Disbud  as  soon  as  the  bunches  can  be 
detected,  reserving  the  most  promising.  Stop  the  growth  about 
two  joints  beyond  the  bunches,  allowing  a  leaf  or  two  more 
where  there  is  room. 
Remove  the  laterals  up  to  the  bunches,  and  allow  those 
beyond  to  extend  as  space  permits,  without  crowding,  it  being 
important  that  the  foliage  have  full  exposure  to  light  and  air, 
encouraging  that  amount  only.  Two  or  three  joints  of  extension 
are  sufficient  for  Vines  in  pots,  the  crop  preventing  further 
