October  4,  1900. 
JOURNAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER 
307 
Jottings. 
For  the  past  fortnight  I  have  been  wandering,  in  the  company  of  a 
•tried  and  trusty  companion,  up  and  down,  as  fancy  led  us,  the  counties 
of  Hampshire,  Wilts,  and  Dorset.  I  do  not  propose  to  give  any  detailed 
account  of  these  wanderings,  which  were  undertaken  more  with  a  view 
to  stu  lying  the  country  traversed  and  the  various  cathedrals,  old 
■churches,  and  ancient 
remains  of  the  Druids 
and  Romans  than  with 
any  idea  of  horticul¬ 
ture,  but  I  mention 
the  fact  in  order  that 
I  may  just  say  how 
very  delightful  such  a 
tour  may  be,  especially 
given  such  delightful 
weather  as  we  have 
had  during  the  past 
month.  One  mounts 
one’s  bicycle  with 
sufficient  baggage  for 
a  day  or  two  and 
sends  on  a  further 
-store  by  rail  to  some 
convenient  stopping 
place,  and  then  one 
is  free  to  turn  north, 
south,  east  or  west, 
and  can  make  long 
days  or  short  ones  at 
will.  One  of  the  great 
charms  of  such  a  holi¬ 
day  is  the  fact  that 
for  the  greater  part  of 
the  time  one  has  no 
known  address,  and 
consequently  the  daily 
post  and  the  sixpenny 
telegram  are  things 
which  trouble  not  ; 
then  comes  a  week 
end  when  one  picks 
up  the  baggage  and 
the  packet  of  home 
letters,  which  at  such 
a  time  are  doubly 
valued;  other  things 
must  wait,  and 
am  ngst  them  “  the 
Journal,”  so  that  when 
one  gets  back  and  dips 
into  its  familiar  pages 
there  is  quite  a  store 
of  reading  to  be  got 
through. 
This  somewhat 
lengthy  introduction 
will  explain  why  these 
notes  touch  upon 
matters  some  of  which 
are  getting  ancient  to 
many  of  your  readers. 
First  of  all,  I  would 
ask,  as  I  believe  has 
more  than  once  been 
asked  before,  why  do 
not  your  correspon¬ 
dents  give  us  some 
idea  of  the  locality 
they  write  from  ?  I 
know  the  native 
n.odesty  of  many 
gardeners  (I  use  the 
word  in  its  widest 
sense)  compels  them 
to  use  a  nom  de  plume 
or  bare  initials,  but  the  world  is  wide,  and  it  would  not  perhaps  be 
asking  too  much  if  they  would  add  the  county  they  write  from,  or  even 
if  they  are  north  or  south  of  the  border  or  dwellers  in  the  sister  isle. 
'Were  this  done  your  readers  might  glean  inforihation  as  to  the  habits  of 
the  plants,  fru't,  or  what  not  in  various  localities,  and  the  common  stock 
of  knowledge  be  increased,  whereas  now  one  is  simply  confused  by 
reading  that  things  one  knows  to  be  good  are  somewhere  or  other 
accounted  inferior,  and  vice  versa. 
Let  us  take  for  example  the  article  by  “B.”  upon  early  Apples. 
Doubtless  his  remarks  are  apt  and  true  in  his  locality,  but  what  grower 
in  the  North  Midlands  would  call  Duchess  of  Oldenburg  more  a  dessert 
than  a  culinary  Apple,  or  decry  its  cooking  qualities  ?  It  lacks  the 
firmness  of  Dumelow’s  Seedling,  but  for  an  early  variety  I  know  no 
better  cooker,  and  especially  is  it  in  demand  for  making  jelly.  But  to 
return  to  the  question  of  stating  the  locality  from  which  one  writes. 
The  article  1  have  quoted  is  a  sort  of  conundrum  to  me.  First  of  all 
I  say  to  myself,  having  read  the  remarks  upon  Duchess  of  Oldenburg, 
the  writer  surely  hails  from  the  south,  and  then,  again,  when  he  speaks 
of  Keswicks  being  fit  for  cooking  in  January,  he  must  be  far  north, 
and  the  result  is  that  instead  of  being  instructed  I  am  mystified.  I 
know,  of  course,  that 
Keswicks  can  be  kept 
till  January,  but  I 
greatly  doubt  their 
cooking  qualities  at 
that  season  in  any 
locality ;  and  seeing 
that  we  have  abun¬ 
dance  of  midseason 
and  late  Apples  in 
cultivation  I  fail  to 
see  why  one  should 
try  to  keep  them  so 
far  past  their  best 
time  for  consumption. 
Now  to  Pears,  how 
is  it  that  one  so  rarely 
sees  in  a  list  of  choice 
varieties  that  most 
excellent  Pear  Comte 
de  Lamy  ?  So  far 
as  I  can  see  neither 
Mr.  Atkins  nor  Mr. 
Raschen  mentions  it, 
and  yet  I  know  of  no 
finer  flavoured  Pear 
except  Doyenn4  du 
Comice.  Of  course  it 
is  small,  and  with  some 
folks  size  is  still  every¬ 
thing,  but  happily  the 
silly  craze  for  size  is 
passing  away,  and 
people  now  seldom  or 
never  plant  such  tur¬ 
nip  -  fl  i  voured  things 
as  Beurre  Clairveau 
or  Beurre  Bachelier, 
whilst  Comte  de  Lamy, 
Winter  Nelis,  and  such 
small  but  delicious 
fruits  are  once  more 
in  demand.  Let  it  bo 
noted  that  both  the 
last  named  are  excel¬ 
lent  croppers. 
One  more  wonder 
and  I  will  close.  One 
reads  almost  daily  of 
the  glut  of  fruit  in  our 
orchards,  of  Plums  un¬ 
saleable,  and  given  to 
the  pigs,  and  so  on 
ad  nauseam.  Can  no 
sensible  person  devise 
a  means  by  which  the 
public  could  be  allowed 
to  participate  in  this 
bounty  given  to  us, 
but  made  by  us  into 
a  nuisance  rather  than 
a  blessing  ?  I  know, 
of  course,  that  London 
and  some  of  the  large 
towns  have  their 
costers  who  retail 
fruit  cheaply,  but 
when  one  hears  how 
and  where  this  same 
fruit  is  stored  one 
rather  dreads  to  patronise  them  ;  but  why  cannot  the  ordinary  citizen 
purchase  fresh  fruit  at  a  reasonable  price  ? 
Let  me  give  an  example.  A  fortnight  since  Pershore  Plums  were  sold 
in  Nottingham  at  2s.  fid.  per  pot,  or  2^  lbs.  a  penny,  and  yet  I  could 
not  find  a  shop  in  the  town  where  they  were  offered  under  2d.  a  lb. 
No  wonder  that  fales  are  curtailed  and  gluts  ensue  when  the  retailer 
is  such  a  glutton  for  profits.  Had  they  been  offered  at  Id.  a  lb.  this 
city  of  250,000  inhabitants  would  have  taken  them  up  like  a  drop  in 
a  sponge,  and  would  have  hungered  for  more  ;  but  when  they  never 
get  a  taste  of  good  cheap  fruit  their  tastes  remain  undeveloped.— 
A.  H.  Pearson,  Lowdham,  Notts. 
Fig.  84. — Robus  phcenicolasios  (’Veitch). 
