J)iunr7  19.  18G0. 
jofkxal  of  horticulture  and  cottage  gardener. 
Ul 
CHRYSANTHEMUM  TRADERS. 
I  AM  not  surprised  that  under  the  pressure  of  ray  recent  tread 
some  of  the  Chrysantheraum  traders  have  turned.  I  wanted  them  to 
do  so,  because  it  enables  me  to  say  again  that  if  there  are  proceedings 
in  relation  to  awards  of  medals  or  other  things  made  by  the  N.C.S.  to 
which  traders  object,  their  proper  course  is  to  wash  their  hands  of  such 
a  body,  or  fdilin^  that,  to  bring  forward  their  complaints  and  objcc- 
tions  at  committee_  or  members’  meetings,  and  not  intrude  such 
objectionable  topics  into  trade  lists,  ^Vho  of  Mr.  Wells’  customers — 
and  I  hope  he  has  thousands,  for  I  heartily  wish  him  well— cares  a  straw 
for  the  N.C.S.  or  its  doings  ?  If  it  wished  to  take  a  suicidal  cour.'C  by 
disgusting  person.®,  and  the  members  sit  idly  by  and  see  it  .so  drifting, 
that  is  their  business ;  but  it  does  not  concern  the  great  Chrysanthemum 
growing  public  one  atom.  I  fear  it  is  not  only  at  the  Aquarium  that 
traders  exhibit  and  obtain  medals  for  plants  or  flowers,  ostensibly 
their  own,  but  which  they  did  not  grow.  If  the  practice  is  objected 
to  by  members  of  the  N.C.S.,  let  tliem  get  a  condition  inserted  that 
any  person,  trader  or  otherwise,  exhibiting  products  in  his  name  which 
he  has  not  grown,  at  the  N.C.S.  shows  1  e  expelled  from  membership. 
I  hat  is  the  way  to  deal  with  what  they  may  deem  a  grave  impro¬ 
priety,  and  far  preferable  to  dragging  such  subjects  into  catalogues. 
— A.  D. 
Your  correspondent,  “  A.  D.”  (page  13),  in  dealing  with  this  sub¬ 
ject,  seems  to  have  got  a  little  out  of  his  depth.  Has  he  any  idea  of  the 
amount  of  expense  necessary  to  maintain  a  collection  of  Chry.-anthe- 
mums,  either  as  a  trader  or  private  grower  ?  I  think  not. 
Take  the  example  of  the  private  grower  first.  Many  gardeners 
look  to  the  prize  money  to  purchase  new  varieties,  without  which 
they  have  little  chance  of  winning  prizes,  or  even  showing  creditably. 
Does  ‘‘  A.  D.”  know  of  the  many  hours  an  exhibitor  has  to  wirk,  for 
w'hich  he  receives  nothing  ?  Love  of  the  flower  he  must  have,  but  a 
little  of  the  gold  that  he  so  freely  speaks  of  is  necessary  to  pay  the 
numerous  expenses  the  competitor  has  to  meet.  In  very  fi  w  gardens 
is  everything  connected  with  exhibiting  charged  to  the  owner.  Per¬ 
haps  our  friend  has  a  competency,  and  can  afford  to  work  for  nothing. 
If  so,  that  is  no  reason  why  gardeners,  who  are  generally  poor  men, 
c.in  afford  to  exhibit  for  nothing,  and  pay  their  own  expenses. 
Now,  as  tiaders,  all  firms  dealing  in  this  particular  line  should 
have  equal  opportunities.  We  are  aw^re  that  gold  medals  in  goodly 
number  have  been  awarded  to  exhibits,  some  part  of  which  have  not 
lecn  grown  by  the  exhibitor,  and  consequently  why  those  who  have 
shown  what  they  have  grown  are  not  entitled  to  tell  their  patrons 
so  in  catalogues  I  cannot  understand.  So  long  as  medals  are 
given,  they  should  go  to  worthy  exhibits  without  favour.  In 
advertising  its  goods,  a  celebrated  firm  shows  a  medal,  said  to  have 
been  awarded  by  the  N.C.S.  for  the  most  compilete  collection  in  the 
kingdom.  Did  the  Society  ever  award  such  a  medal  ? — Fairplay. 
[We  cannot  imagine  a  N.C.S.  judge  risking  his  reputation  by 
favouring  any  particular  exhibitor,  and  if  such  an  outrage  occurred 
the  Committee  would  surely  purge  itself  of  such  an  unworthy 
member.  iMore  than  one  or  two  Chrysantheraum  purveyors  con¬ 
scientiously  believe  they  possess  the  best  collections  in  the  kingdom, 
and  if  so  they  naturally  advertise  what  they  believe  to  be  the  fact. 
One  thing  is  certain,  they  would  not  occupy  commanding  positions 
in  the  Chrysanthemum  wmrld  if  they  did  not  advertise  in  some  way, 
but  only  grumbled.  If  the  classes  of  the  N.C.S.,  some  of  which  have 
been  of  undoubtedly  wide  scope,  require  alteration,  pre.ssure  should 
be  brought  to  bear  on  the  Committee  to  alter  them,  but  competitors 
are  not  open  to  reproach  who  act  within  the  stipulations,  and  if  they 
did  not  so  act  they  would  be  open  to  disqualification.] 
-  Planting  of  Fruit  Trees.— With  respect  to  the  subject 
matter  of  the  paragraph  taken  from  the  “Irish  Farmers’  Gazette,”  and 
publiohed  on  page  9  of  the  Journal,  as  to  the  proper  depth  to  plant  fruit 
trees,  I  can  but  ask  whether,  when  budding  of  the  stock  is  properly  done, 
there  is  any  “scar”  to  hide,  or  even  to  be  more  liable  to  suffer  injury 
than  other  portions  of  the  stem  ?  Is  not  that  nonsense  ?  But  has  any¬ 
one  in  experience  ever  found  the  scion,  if  budded  on  the  Paradise 
stock  low  down,  to  later,  if  planted  below  the  bud  union,  throw  out 
roots  ?  I  have  never  found  such  to  be  the  case,  and  I  think  it  is  purely 
imaginary.  To  plant  deep  with  such  anticipation  would  be  doubly  wrong, 
as  not  only  is  such  scion-rooting  most  improbable,  but  the  variety  is 
worked  on  the  dwarfing  stock  for  special  reasons,  and  to  induce  the 
formation  of  scion  roots  would  be  to  destroy  the  object  aimed  at  in 
budding,  and  even  to  render  the  proper  stock  roots  largely  useless  and 
inoperative.  AVithout  doubt  the  closer  relatively  that  roots  can  be  kept 
near  the  surface  the  better.  Naturally  they  will  seek  to  descend  into  the 
earth  in  just  the  same  way  that  branches  seek  to  ascend  ;  but  whilst  in 
the  latter  case  it  is  often  our  aim  in  the  production  of  fruit  to  endeavour 
to  make  these  grow  rather  horizontally  than  vertically,  so  have  we  in  the 
case  of  roots  to  largely  endeavour  to  counteract  Nature’s  downward 
attractive  force  by  seeking  to  keep  them  horizontally  growing  also ;  not 
only  because  the  surface  soil  is  being  most  aerated  the  sweetest,  but  is 
also  the  most  convenient  for  feeding  with  manures,  and  thus  supplying 
fruit  tree  needs. — A.  D. 
JOTTINGS. 
M’e  sometimes  talk  of  the  busy  season,  but  I  wonder  if  any  of  us- 
can  call  to  mind  a  really  good  gardener  who  is  not  “busy”  at  all 
times.  True  there  are  seasons  when  work  presses  upon  us  in  almost 
overwhelming  force,  when  our  energies  and  aptitude  for  manage-^ 
ment  are  taxed  to  their  utmost  limit;  but  the  real  secret  of  success  in 
going  through  these  ordeals  is  in  being  prepared  for  them  by  making 
a  good  start  with  the  new  year.  To  keep  any  establishment  going 
sa'isfactorily  little  improve m  nts  have  to  be  continually  made,  as  each 
season  should  teach  us  some  lessons  in  economic  management  or 
cultural  advances.  Failnns  of  some  kind  or  other  will  always  occur 
under  the  best  of  management,  and  to  know  the  cause  of  such  is  the 
first  step  toward  turning  failure  into  success.  How  often  may  we 
trace  failures  to  the  simple  fact  of  making  too  late  a  start,  and  then 
pushing  plants  or  crops,  as  the  case  may  be,  on  too  fast  to  make  up 
for  lost  tim".  This  applies  with  particular  force  to  bedding  plants  ; 
unless  we  have  strong  sturdy  plants  with  abundance  of  roots  by 
bedding-out  time  they  c.an  never  prove  satisfactory,  as  the  season  is 
nearly  over  before  they  become  strong  enough  to  flower  freely.  Bear¬ 
ing  these  things  in  mind  it  behoves  us  to  make  a  special  effort  during 
the  year  which  has  just  begun  to  have  all  things  in  readiness  by  the- 
appointed  time.  , 
Although  Pelargoniums  are  not  so  freely  employed  for  bedding 
purposes  as  formerly,  there  is  still  a  great  demand  for  them,  and  to 
have  the  plants  in  good  condition  by  the  middle  of  May  next  they 
ought  to  be  taken  in  band  at  once.  Those  which  have  been  rooted 
in  thumb  pots  will  be  reidy  fur  a  shift  into  the  3^-inch  size,  in 
which  they  make  bedding  plants  of  the  best  quality.  In  cases  where- 
the  cuttings  were  placed  in  boxes  the  strongest  should  be  potted  in 
the  same  s'zed  pots,  and  the  weaker  ones  into  3-inch.  The  over¬ 
crowding  of  bedding  plants  in  winter  cannot  always  be  avoided  ;  the 
result  of  it  usually  is  that  they  become  spindly.  When  this  happens  a 
good  plan  is  to  cut  them  down  to  within  2  inches  of  the  soil,  insert 
the  cuttings  in  small  pots,  and  place  both  the  cut  down  stock  and 
cutting  in  a  warm  house  ;  then  if  former  are  potted  when  they  have 
made  an  inch  of  young  g'owth,  good  plants  can  be  produced  by 
bedding-out  time. 
Good  loam,  with  the  addition  of  a  fourth  of  leaf  soil  and  some 
sharp  sand,  Ltius  a  suitable  compost,  provided  the  loam  has  been 
stacked  at  least  a  year  ;  but  the  roots  of  yourg  softwooded  plants  do- 
not  move  freely  in  newly  cut  turf,  and  when  they  are  placed  in  it  a 
partial  failure  is  often  the  result.  I  find  that  nothing  suits  them  better 
than  old  Cucumber  or  Tomato  soil  which  was  removed  from  the 
houses  last  September,  and  placed  in  a  heap  in  the  open  air.  If  this 
is  now  placed  under  cover,  and  turned  a  few  times  till  it  becomes 
fairly  dry,  no  other  addition  than  sharp  sand  is  needed  to  render  it  a 
suitable  compost  for  Pelargoniums,  and  the  majority  of  bedding 
plants. 
When  a  good  stock  of  Lobelias  is  required,  the  work  of  pro- 
p.igating  should  be  taken  in  hand  at  once.  Raising  plants  from  cuttings 
and  by  root  division  is  an  excellent  plan  to  secure  uniformity  of 
growth  and  colour  of  flower;  but  it  is  not  so  necessary  as  formerly, 
as  many  notable  seed  firms  now  send  out  seed  which  produce 
plants  with  scarcely  1  per  cent,  of  “rogues”  among  them.  The 
beautiful  compact-growing  Emperor  William  should  be  grown  by  all, 
and  of  course  should  be  increased  by  cuttings  or  division.  I  like  to 
sow  the  seed  in  well-drained  boxes,  using  light  sandy  soil,  which  is 
watered  before  sowing,  the  seeds  having  a  slight  sprinkling  of  sharp 
sand  scattered  over  them.  A  square  of  glass  is  then  placed  over  the 
box  and  covered  with  paper,  before  being  set  on  a  shelf  in  the  pro¬ 
pagating  house.  As  the  seedlines  appear  the  glass  is  tilted,  and  the 
shading  by  degrees  removed.  With  such  treatment,  and  due  attention 
given  to  pricking  off  before  the  young  plants  become  crowded,  large 
numbers  of  strong  plants  may  be  quickly  raised  from  a  couple  of 
pickets  of  seed,  and  there  is  time  to  still  further  increase' the  stock  by 
dividing  each  clump  into  two  or  three  later  on. 
Fuchsias  are  still  extremely  piopular,  being  now  largely  employed 
in  the  flower  garden,  as  well  as  for  decorative  use  in  pots.  Old 
plants  which  have  been  resting  under  a  stage  should  now  be  brought  out. 
Those  required  principally  for  supplying  cuttings  do  not  need  severe 
pruning  ;  if  the  points  of  the  shoots  are  removed  young  growths  push 
very  quickly,  and  a  single  plant  will'supply  a  great  many  cuttings.  If, 
however,  the  plants  are  required  to  form  compact  bushes  or  shapely 
pyramids  for  flowei'ing  in  G-inch  pots,  they  should  be  pruned  in 
closely.  Those  for  forming  bushes  ought  to  be  cut  down  to  within 
3  or  -i  inches  of  the  soil,  and  the  main  shoot  of  the  pyramids 
cut  back  to  a  pioint  when  the  wood  is  strong,  the  side  shoots  being 
pruned  to  one  or  two  eyes.  As  soon  as  3’oung  growths  appear, 
shaking-out  apd  repotting  should  be  performed;  then,_with  libeial 
S3'ringings  and  a  temperature  ranging  between  60°  and  70°,  pleut3’’  of 
cuttings  will  quickly  be  produced.  These,  if  inserted  as  soon  as 
ready,  will  make  useful  plants  in  4-inch  pots  by  bedding-out  time,  or 
for  flowering  in  5-inch  pots  during  the  summer  months. 
