274 
JOURNAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER. 
September  20,  1900, 
bwell  tu  a  lartie  size,  and  lUHy  be  gathered  with  late  varieties.  No 
variety  HurpHBses  this  for  preserving  as  jelly.  The  tree  is  one  of  the 
most  suitable  fnr  esjialiers  or  for  training  cordon  fashion,  and  really 
handsome  specimens  are  secured  frona  either  style  of  training. 
We  now  come  to  a  group  of  soft  early  Apples  which,  coming  into 
use  almost  simultaneously,  causes  a  glut  from  mid-autumn  to  early 
winter.  I  have  already  mentioned  Duchess  of  Oldenburg,  which  is 
one  of  the  handsomest  Apples  and  also  free-cropping.  It  was  intro¬ 
duced  by  the  Royal  Horticultural  Society  in  1824  from  Taurida, 
Russia,  under  the  name  of  B  rovitsky,  and  was  distributed  as  a  dessert 
variety.  It  is  p'  rhaps  better  as  a  dessert  than  a  culinary  sort,  but 
for  neither  can  it  be  highly  commended.  In  a  wet  season  like  the 
present  much  of  the  fruit  rots  before  it  is  quite  ripe. 
In  Lord  Suffield  we  have  an  Apple  that  bids  fair  to  become 
sufrreme  as  an  autumn  fruit.  Unfortunately  the  tree  has  of  late 
years  become  enfeebled,  much  subject  to  canker,  and  the  handsome 
fruits  spotty.  On  trial  of  Lord  Grosvenor  I  intended  to  replace  it 
with  this  variety,  but  having  meanwhile  used  the  knife  and  pruning 
saw  to  some  effect,  cutting  hack  the  worst  specimens,  and  others  leas 
badly  affected  having  been  trimmed,  and  young  growths  encouraaed 
to  sufiply  the  {lace  of  those  removed,  the  trees  have  done  fairly  wtll 
of  late  years,  and  most  of  those  of  Lord  Grosvenor  have  been 
regrafted  with  late  sorts,  as  I  consider  the  latbr  has  not  proved  itaell 
a  worthy  substitute  for  the  former.  Ringer,  which  has  the  appearance 
of  an  improved  Keswick,  does  not  make  sufficient  growth.  It,  along 
with  Potts’  Seedling  and  Stone’s,  might  be  useful  lor  small  gardens, 
but  ev<n  in  these  I  should  be  inclined  to  plant  Lord  Suffield  in 
preference. 
Hawthornden,  New  Hawthornden,  Ecklinville,  Stirling  Castle, 
The  Queen,  and  Warner’s  King  are  well  known  examples  of  a 
popular  section  of  which  it  is  doubtiul  if  mure  than  one  variety,  or 
two  at  the  most,  need  be  cultivated.  The  first-named  is  perhaps  the 
oldest  of  the  group,  and  Nicol,  a  hundred  years  ago,  stated  it  to 
have  been  found  by  the  poet  Drummond  at  his  seat  ol  Hawthornden. 
Th“  tree  requires  a  holding  soil,  and  neither  it  nor  Stiilinu  Castle 
succeeds  on  light  soils.  The  best  of  all  is  Warner’s  King,  an  Apple  of 
many  synonyms,  some  of  which,  as  for  instance,  Cobbett’s  Fall,  are 
not  certainly  correct.  The  fruit  may  be  used  in  August  atid 
continues  fit  onwards  till  January.  Old  trees  are  somewhat 
subject  to  canker,  and  the  healthiest  sort  in  this  group  is  undoubtedly 
E.klinville. 
Ce.lini,  Peasgood’s  Nonesuch,  and  Emperor  Alexander  are  a  trio 
that  have  been  very  popular,  yet  none  of  them  is  reliable,  the  first 
being  so  canker  eaten  that  it  is  on  most  soils  difficult  to  preserve 
in  file,  while  the  otheis  are  shy  bearers,  aud  otherwise  except  for 
size  of  fruit,  of  no  great  value.  The  Eve  Apple  or  Manks  Codlin 
when  well  grown,  properly  pruned,  and  a  succession  of  bearing  .-hoots 
provided,  is  a  cat  ital  second  early  vadety  for  small  gardens.  When  a 
fair  CP  p  is  left  by  thintiing  the  individual  fruits  attain  a  medium  size, 
the  flavour  is  good,  and  the  tree  rarely  tails  to  crop  annually. 
01  early  dessert  Apples  we  are  less  wealthy  than  m  culinary, 
though  many  people  like  the  latter  for  eating  as  well  as  cooking. 
The  earliest  first-class  variety  is  Irish  Peach,  which  comes  into  use 
with  us  in  the  end  of  August.  The  tree  requires  special  pruning,  and 
must  not  be  spur-pruned,  but  the  growths  merely  thinned,  wh  n  it 
carries  annually  laige  crops  in  small  clusters  towards  the  ends  of  the 
shoots.  Fine  fiuit  can  only  be  secured  by  reducing  these  to  single 
fruits.  The  tree  assumes  a  pendant  habit,  quite  distinct  from  any 
other.  Earlier  than  this,  Margaret,  or  perhaps  more  cirrectly, 
Magdalen,  and  Juneating  are  woitti  a  plac3.  Mr.  Gladstone  is  a  faiily 
g(  Oil  Apple  that  comes  closely  on  the  heels  of  Irfih  Peach.  Lady 
Sudeley  has  made  a  favourable  impression,  and  James  Grieve  seems 
likfly  to  be  ome  a  standard  sort. 
Good  second-rate  varieties  largely  grown  are  found  in  Devonshire 
Quarrenden,  which  crops  abundantly;  Red  Astrachan,  somewhat  shy 
to  fruit,  but  of  beautitul  appearance,  even  more  so  than  Worcester 
Pearmain.  Kerry  Pippin,  ttiough  small,  is  so  well  flavoured  that  it 
should  find  a  place  in  all  gardens.  It  bears  best  on  long  shoots,  and 
tue  tree  requires  judicious  pruning.  All  the  above  named  sorts  are 
singulirly  tree  fnm  the  attacks  of  disease,  which  so  often  cripples 
Cjcking  sorts.  Gravenstein,  though  the  tree  is  unfruitful  and  uncertain, 
is  so  delicious  a  fruit  that  it  cannot  be  dispensed  with.  The  branches 
and  shoots  should  be  disposed  very  widely  apart,  and  by  this  means 
the  tree  assumes  a  more  fruitful  habit.  In  the  north,  Oslin  Pippin, 
which  we  find  under  various  forms  ot  spelling  in  old  books,  forms  a 
very  re'iab  e  early  dessert  Apple.  The  tree  is  dwarf  and  very  prolific, 
and  at  one  time  was  propagated  almost  solely  from  truncheons  stuck 
in  the  ground.  King  of  the  Pippins  brings  us  to  the  meeting  p'ace 
betwei  neatly  and  late  sorts,  the  eailier  of  this  being  ready  to  use 
sou.etimes  in  late  October,  though  it  is  best  in  November  onwards.  To 
secure  reall)  fine  Iruit  the  liees  should  be  under-cropped,  and  as  they 
are  very  prolific,  it  is  important  that  very  severe  thinning  should  torm 
part  of  its  management.  The  Iriiit,  moreover,  should  be  gathered,  not 
in  the  slump,  but  as  it  becomes  fit  and  ready. — B. 
Too  often  some  out-of-the-way  corner  is  the  one  assigned  to  th& 
Violet.  Presenting  little  that  is  gay,  its  merits  seem  forgotten  at  the 
time  it  most  deserves  attention,  so  that  when  the  season  for  flowering 
arrives  the  result  is  not  always  satisfactory,  for  though  the  plant  is 
very  hardy,  and  will  accommodate  itself  to  most  situations,  there  are 
some  more  favourable  than  others,  and  it  is  to  these  that  we  ought 
more  particularly  to  direct  our  attention,  and  in  a  few  words  detail 
the  practice  most  likely  to  produce  a  good  result.  Some  situations 
present  natural  advantages  which  it  would  be  difficult  to  imitate, 
yet  much  can  be  done,  and  the  plant,  as  stated  above,  is  very 
accommodating.  It  is  not  everywhere  that  it  succeeds  satisfactorily, 
and  a  glance  at  the  places  where  it  does  prosper  may  teach  us  how 
to  manage  it  so  as  to  procure  a  similar  result,  and  perhaps  the  beet 
way  to  consider  the  subject  is  to  trace  the  plant  to  its  wild  state — 
the  original  British  one  inbabiiing  dry  banks  by  the  side  of  lanes  and 
woods  where  it  blooms  profusely  in  early  spring. 
The  best  situation  both  for  the  Neapolitan  and  double  and  single 
Russian  Violets  are  those  rather  stiff  soils  overlying  chalk,  and  where 
the  p'ant  has  an  opporiunity  of  ei  joying  the  free  air,  and  not  over¬ 
shadowed  by  trees,  especia  ly  evergreens.  I  am  not  sure  but  a  slight 
shading  with  deciduous  trees  is  beneficial  rather  than  otheri»i-:e,  as  the 
plant  is  so  liable  to  led  spider  in  hot  summers,  aud  a  partial  shading 
from  the  hot  midday  sun  induces  the  dew  to  remain  longer  on  the 
foliage,  and  consequently  renders  the  plants  less  susceptible  of  injury 
from  this  pest.  A  soil  too  rich  is  more  likely  to  produce  leaves  than 
floweis,  so  that  manuring  too  freely  is  not  advisable. 
When  a  new  plantation  is  wanted  it  is  best  to  make  one  as  soon  as 
the  plants  are  rooted  sufficiently  to  be  taken  off.  The  plant  generally 
produces  abundance  of  runners  after  it  has  done  flowering;  and  to 
induce  them  to  root  freely,  and  quickly  become  plants,  it  is  very  good 
practice  to  sift  some  leaf  mould  or  flue  soil  amongst  the  growths,  and  if 
the  weather  is  dry  to  water  once  or  twice.  Generally  it  is  the  end  of 
May  before  the  young  plants  are  sufficiently  rooted  to  be  taken  off  with 
advantage,  when,  the  ground  being  previously  well  dug  and  prepared, 
they  may  be  planted  in  rows  about  18  inches  apar^,  allowing  a 
foot  from  plant  to  plant  in  the  row.  This  planting  ought  to  be  done  in 
damp  weather  if  possible,  and  the  little  afier-atten'iou  required  during 
the  summer  is  simply  to  remove  any  runners  or  suckers  that  show 
themselves.  It  is  better  to  allow  them  to  grow  a  little,  and  then  out 
them  off,  so  as  to  encourage  the  main  plant  to  form  a  head  or  crown 
well  set  with  flowering  buds  for  the  ensuirg  season.  It  is  attention  to 
this  that  makes  a  plant  tidy  looking,  and  retains  it  in  a  condition  fit  to 
remove  with  a  ball  if  wanted  in  au'umn.  Observe  that  a  too  frequent 
stopping  of  all  laterals  or  runners  is  not  such  good  practice  as  letting 
them  grow  some  length,  and  then  cutting  them  all  back  ;  for  the 
pruning  of  the  Violet  is  something  like  that  of  the  espalier  Apple  or 
Pear  tree  — to  cut  i  ff  every  shoot  as  it  is  found  is  more  hurtful  to  the 
tree  than  allowing  them  to  arrive  at  nearly  their  growth,  and  then 
removing  them  to  enable  all  the  energies  of  the  tree  to  go  to  the 
formation  of  flower  buds  (in  embryo)  for  the  ensuing  season.  The 
Violet,  though  a  herbaceous  plant,  may  be  treated  exactly  the  same 
way,  and  with  a  like  happy  result. 
The  above  treatment,  simple  as  it  is,  is  not  the  only  attention 
required  during  summer.  The  plant  being  very  liable  to  red  spider, 
means  must  be  laken  to  counteract  it  if  possible.  For  that  purpose  a 
mixture  of  sulphur  and  soot  is  about  the  best  thing  that  we  have  tried, 
aud  when  any  of  the  leaves  turn  yell  jw  it  is  often  a  sure  sign  that  this 
pest  is  at  work.  A  thorough  watering  when  the  atmosphere  is  moist  will 
do  good,  and  when  the  plants  are  dry  dust  them  well  with  the 
mixture  mentioned  above.  The  admixture  of  soot  will  render  the 
colour  more  like  that  of  a  heal  hy  plant,  and  the  formaiiou  of  flower 
buds  will  go  on  more  prosperously  in  proportion  as  the  plant  is 
healthy  :  by  which  is  meant,  that  it  is  supposed  to  be  ma  uring  its 
tissue  in  proper  lime  aud  not  prolonging  the  season’s  growth,  or 
becoming  what  may  be  called  gross  and  leafy.  I  need  hardly  add  that 
occasionally  moving  the  ground  between  the  rows  is  useful  also  during 
the  early  summer  season ;  afterwards  I  expect  the  plant  will  occupy 
it  all. 
The  forcing  of  the  Violet  is  far  from  being  at  all  times  a  successful 
operation.  Tne  plant  is  impatient  of  forcing  as  generally  performed. 
It  may,  however,  be  forwarded  considerably  by  gentle  means,  not  the 
least  being  the  well  and  early  preparation  of  the  plants  the  preceding 
summer,  so  as  to  enable  the  plant  to  have  a  period  of  rest  ere  it  is 
excited  again  into  growth;  fur  if  forced  too  eaily  leaves  only  will  be 
the  result.  The  best  way  is  to  prepare  some  plants  as  directed  above, 
and  in  October  take  them  up  with  a  ball  and  plant  th^m  in  an  old 
Melon  bed  that  has  a  little  bot  om  heat  (but  very  little)  remaining- 
Tne  plants  may  be  placed  tolerably  close,  aud  with  sutticieut  soil  to 
enable  the  roots  to  have  plenty  to  live  upon  while  the  p  ant  is  in  the 
frame.  They  must  be  near  the  glass.  A  little  watering  at  the  time 
will  be  necessary,  but  will  hardly  be  wanted  afterwards.  Violets  may 
also  be  taken  up  and  forced  in  pots,  and  they  do  pretty  well  that 
way. — R.  J. 
