562 
JOURNAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER.  December  19,  1901. 
Ce  ope^ia  Gardneri. 
The  illustration  and  notes  of  the  above,  on  pages  540  and 
541  of  last  week’s  Journal,  were  very  interesting  to  me.  One 
point  you  omitted  to  refer  to  was  that  the  flowers  form  a  trap 
like  those  of  Aristolochia  Clematitis.  Small  flies  enter  the 
flowers  at  or  about  the  time  the  stigmas  are  ripe,  so  that  if  they 
bear  pollen  from  other  flowers  cross-fertilisation  occurs.  They 
are  usually  unable  to  escape  until,  in  the  course  of  a  day  or  two, 
the  pollen  is  shed,  and  then  the  hairs  at  the  mouth  of  the  corolla 
wither  and  allow  them  exit.  The  hairs  in  the  corolla  tube  point 
inwards,  so  that  it  is  an  easy  matter  for  small  flies  to  enter, 
but  the  case  is  reversed  when  they  endeavour  to  return.  No 
doubt  self-fertilisation  is  the  prevailing  mode  with  both 
Ceropegias  and  Aristolochias.  About  eighty  species  of 
Ceropegias  are  known,  and  have  a  distribution  over  parts  of 
three  continents,  viz.,  Africa,  Asia,  and  Australia,  the  natural 
order  to  which  they  are  attached  being  Asclepiadacese,  that 
claims  also  Periploca  grseca,  a  very  beautiful  glaucous-leaved 
climber :  Stephanotis  floribunda,  the  various  charming  Hoyas ; 
the  fleshy  Stapelias,  with  flowers  of  a  carrion-odour ;  and  also 
the  equally  well-known  Asclepias  pf  our  conservatories  and  plant 
borders. — J. 
Apple  Barnack  Beauty. 
I  have  read  with  interest  your  extract  from  the  “  Fruit  Trade 
News  ”  (page  542)  on  the  great  merits  of  the  above-named  Apple. 
ithout  wishing  to  detract  from  the  merits  of  Barnack  Beauty 
Apple,  I  must  say  the  remarks  of  your  contemporary  savour  a 
bit  too  much  of  the  Doctor’s  Pink  Pill  business.  I  have  grown 
this  Apple  for  some  years  past  and  can  certainly  recommend  it 
as  a  good  variety  either  for  cooking  or  dessert  purposes.  There 
are,  however,  kinds  more  suitable  for  dessert  use  in  northern 
gardens. 
Barnack  Beauty  is  well  worth  growing  for  eating  uncooked. 
The  tree  is  of  a  good  habit  of  growth,  either  as  an  open  bush  or 
pyramid,  but  for  dessert  use  it  is  best  grown  as  an  espalier,  the 
latter  form  being  the  best  for  growing  all  eating  Apples — in  the 
North,  at  any  rate.  Barnack  Beauty  fruits  freely  on  young 
trees,  and  I  have  seen  such  in  a  well-fruited  state  in  the  York 
nurseries  of  Messrs.  Backhouse  and  Son. 
It  was  raised  at  a  village  called  Barnack,  in  Northampton¬ 
shire.  and  was  first  brought  into  notice  by  the  late  Mr.  R.  Gil¬ 
bert,  of  Burghley.  I  do  not  think  anyone  will  regret  adding  it 
to  their  collections,  but  would  doubt  their  making  a  fortune  by 
planting  it  extensively. — H.  J.  Clayton,  Grimston,  Tadcaster. 
[Messrs.  Brown,  of  Stamford,  first  introduced  this  variety  to 
commerce.  It  is  not  mentioned,  “R.  M.,”  in  the  'latest  (fifth) 
edition  of  the  late  Dr.  Hogg’s  “  Fruit  Manual.”] 
Gardeners  and  Estate  Agent'-. 
I  had  not  intended  entering  this  discussion  at  all,  for 
although  nothing  has  been  said  on  either  side  to  which  exception 
could  be  taken  by  any  fair-minded  man,  yet  the  fact  that  it  has 
to  be  discussed  is  deplorable — there  is  no  other  word  for  it.  I 
write  as  a  gardener  and  from  a  gardener’s  point  of  view,  and  I 
trust  with  a  fair  mind.  An  ounce  of  fact  is  proverbially  valuable, 
and  this  is  fact :  A  lady  engages  a  gardener  through  her  agent. 
He  has  a  ten  years’  reference  from  his  late  employer,  satisfactory 
in  every  particular,  the  ladv  and  her  agent  having  gone  most 
minutely  into  all  the  details  of  his  career  for  nearly  twenty  years 
back.  The  gardener  brings  his  family  and  goods  to  the  place 
at  great  expense  (for  a  poor  man),  and  works  hard  to  improve 
the  garden  and  those  portions  of  the  estate  he  supervises.  The 
lady  wishes  certain  improvements  carried  out,  consulting  the 
gardener  as  to  the  probable  cost,  and  gives  him  orders  to  see  the 
matter  properly  executed. 
To  prevent  friction  with  the  agent,  he  tells  him  of  the  lady's 
orders,  which  the  agent  immediately  begins  to  find  fault  with 
on  the  score  of  expenses.  Here  is  the  gardener  between  two 
stools,  and  being  new  to  the  place  he  is  at  a  loss  what  to  do. 
Thinking  still  to  avoid  any  friction,  he  puts  off  commencing  the 
work  until  the  lady  and  her  agent  have  had  time  to  consult 
together  respecting  it.  After  a  reasonable  time  he  begins  the 
work.  The  agent,  seeing  the  men  employed  in  the  gardener’s 
absence,  tells  them  to  leave  off,  and  the  next  thing  that  happens 
is  a  very  acrid  letter  from  the  lady  to  know  why  the  work  is 
not  proceeded  with.  Explanations  follow.  The  lady  says  she 
will  see  her  agent  on  the  subject,  and  in  a  few  days  the  gardener 
is  ordered  to  “  postpone  ”  the  work.  From  that  day  onwards  he 
has  lost  his  employer’s  esteem,  and  in  a  very  few  weeks  he  gets 
his  notice-  to  quite  the  lady’s  service,  through  her  agent. 
Asking  why  his  services  are  dispensed  with,  the  gardener  is  told 
that  “  Her  ladyship  desires  me  to  say  that  she  has  no  fault  what¬ 
ever  to  find  with  you  or  your  work,  and  you  are  evidently  capable 
of  taking  charge  of  a  much  better  place  than  hers.”  There  is  the 
three  months’  notice  after  three  months’  service,  and  although  it 
is  very  easy  to  say  “  Get  another  place,”  let  anyone  with  a 
reference  of  this  kind  try  it  on,  and  see  how  easy  it  is  to  get 
one.  I  have  tried  it  for  ten  months,  and  have  had  a  wife  and 
family  to  keep  in  the  meantime,  so  will  sign  myself — 
A  Gardener  Out  op  Place. 
Mr.  Harman  Payne  and  the  Rosarians. 
I  quite  expected  to  see  in  your  valued  Journal,  date  Decem¬ 
ber  12,  some  notice  of  Mr.  C.  Harman  Payne’s  extraordinary 
speech  at  the  last  annual  dinner  of  the  National  Chrysanthemum 
Society.  Of  course,  we  must  make  some  charitable  allowance  for 
dinner  oratory,  but  I  must  say,  though  without  prejudice,  chat 
such  wild  language  as  he  is  reported  as  having  used  is  a  verbal 
picture  of,  not  only  gross  inaccuracy,  but  vulgar  aspersion.  I 
cannot  for  the  life  of  me  understand  a  “  gentleman  ”  saying  that 
the  National  Rose  Society  is  mostly  composed  of  old  spinsters 
and  country  clergymen.  In  the  last  annual  report  of  the  N.R.S. 
I  find  that  there  are  included  among  about  640  subscribers  sixteen 
spinsters  (not  mostly  old,  to  my  personal  knowledge)  and  forty 
parsons,  together  with  a  bishop,  a  dean  (the  revered  president 
of  the  society),  and  an  archdeacon,  thus  leaving  out  of  640 
members  about  580  who  are  neither  old  spinsters  nor  country 
clergymen.  Where  do,  then,  the  words  “  mostly  composed  ”  come 
in  ?  One  more  inaccuracy  and  most  misleading  remark  :  “  There 
is  only  one  Rose  Society,  while  there  are  400  furthering  the  in¬ 
terests  of  the  1  Golden  Flower,’  and  for  every  one  Rose  grower 
in  this  country  there  are  500  growers  of  Chrysanthemums.”  For 
myself  I  feel  bold  enough  to  nearly  reverse  these  figures.  There 
is  only  one  National  Rose  Society  and  there  is  but  one  National 
Chrysanthemum  Society,  and  I  feel  sure  that  there  is  only  one 
man  in  this  country  who  would  express  himself  in  the  words  I 
have  quoted,  and  that  man  is  Mr.  C.  Harman  Payne. — A  Member 
op  the  N.R.S. 
[We  think  our  correspondent  takes  Mr.  Harman  Payne’s 
remarks  a  little  too  seriously.  Much  should  be  forgiven  to 
votaries  intoxicated  with  the  glare  of  the  Chrysanthemum, 
especially  when  the  season  is  at  its  height.  Wait  till  the  summer 
comes,  and  the  Rose  holds  the  field  again.  There  will  then  be 
balm  in  Gilead  for  the  rosarian.] 
Cbrisimas  on  Duty. 
There’s  a  good  old  “  merry  England  ”  smack  about  “  Young 
Journeyman’s”  letter,  on  page  542,  that  carries  one  back  to  the 
happy,  the  bright,  the  unforgotten — the  “  auld  lang  syne  ”  of 
bothydom.  Again  can  old  boys  enjoy  in  retrospect,  as  the  young 
brother  enjoys  in  anticipation,  a  Christmas  day  on  duty,  when 
poking,  stoking,  damping  down,  and  matting  up  still  left  ample 
room  for  inter-sandwiching  sufficient  “  divarsion  ”  to  give  the  day 
a  Christmassy  flavour.  Oh,  those  right  royal  feasts  in  the  little 
bothy  on  the  Cotswolds,  against  which  looms  up  a  memorable 
black  fast  in  a  big  bothy  elsewhere.  However,  the  pleasant 
experiences  have  previously  been  touched  on  in  “  Our  Journal,” 
and  the  fireless,  feastless  one  was  not  exempt  from  the  pillory  of 
print  in  its  pages,  so  they  shall  not  be  reinflicted  on  latter-day 
bothyites.  Just  a  reminder — nothing  more — to  old  heads  of 
the  times  “  when  we  were  boys  together,*”  to  the  end  of  a  little 
condescension  being  given  at  this  particular  season  to  the  bothy. 
In  scanning  the  schedule  of  Christmas  goodies  compiled  by 
“  J.  H.  M.” — “  nuts,  oranges,  cigars,  roast  beef  and  plum 
pudding,  with  a  wee  drop  of  something  short,”  it  is  but  right 
that  he  should  have  the  credit  lie  deserves  for  his  menu.  Of 
course,  the  “wee  drop  of  something  short”  will  be  very  wee  and 
very  short,  and  the  head  of  “  J.  H.  M.”  may  be  very  long  and 
very  strong — shrewd  and  sensible — as  we  may  take  it  from  his 
well-penned  letter. 
Any  objection?  No:  not  exactly,  just  a  suggestion  from 
tbe  pages  of  the  writer’s  past  life.  We  were  big  boys  in  a  cer¬ 
tain  bothy,  and  there  was  a  little  lad  fresh  from  home,  ever  ready 
as  a  young  hero  worshipper  to  follow  in  our  footsteps.  Said  the 
“  missus  ”  :  “  What  be  you  lads  gwine  to  have  for  Christmas  ?  ” 
“  Oh,  plenty  to  eat,  missus,  and  a  bot- - ”  “  Now,  don’t  ’ee  get 
anything  strong,  ’cos  o’  young  Newcomer.  I’ll  make’ee  something 
good.”  We  didn’t,  and  she  did.  Good  motherly  old  soul.  She 
brought  over  some  eggs — laid  them  herself,  she  said,  and  con¬ 
sequently  they  were,  like  Caesar’s  wife,  above  suspicion — and 
with  a  jug  of  hot  milk  and  other  “  ingridiments  ”  concocted  a 
pleasant  beverage  which  pleased  all  and  offended  none.  Un¬ 
doubtedly,  the  good  sense  displayed  by  “  J.  H.  M.  ”  renders  it 
