November  15,  1900. 
JOURNAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER, 
443 
Perpetual  Strawberries. 
From  mid-June  up  to  November  5th  I  gathered  in  the  open  every 
day  a  dish  of  So.  Joseph  Strawberries  from  about  seventy  plants  put 
out  last  autumn.  There  is  still  a  heavy  crop  of  fruit,  but  they  take  a 
long  time  now  to  colour  and  ripen,  and  have  at  last  lost  flavour.  But 
I  may  fairly  say  that  to  the  end  of  October  they  were  fine  and  good. 
As  a  matter  of  fact  the  fruits  were  larger  through  October  than  they 
were  in  September,  this  being  because  the  strong  early  runners  that 
did  not  bloom  at  first  then  came  into  bearing.  I  do  not  think 
“Wanderer”  would  have  called  them  “little  Strawberries”  if  he 
could  have  seen  them  ;  and  if  there  is  any  doubt  on  the  matter  I  dare 
say  some  of  the  members  of  the  Ipswich  Gardeners’  Mutual  Improve¬ 
ment  Association,  to  whom  I  sent  a  6ne  basket  on  October  11th,  or 
those  of  them  who  came  to  see  the  plants  on  October  28th,  will  bear 
out  my  statements.  My  success  with  these  Strawberries  consists,  I 
believe,  as  I  have  stated,  solely  in  the  constant  suppression  of  all 
runners  as  soon  as  found,  with  the  exception  of  four  or  five  of  the 
earliest  to  each  plant,  which  are  encouraged  to  root  where  they  grow. — 
W.  K.  Raillem. 
He  Apple. 
Referring  to  Mr.  Brofherston’s  learned  fand  interesting  article  on 
this  domestic  friend,  whether  or  no  the  Apricot  was  Eve’s  Apple  I  am 
not  prepared  to  say  ;  but  I  think  everyone  who  has  travelled  in 
Palestine  will  agree  with  me  that  it  is  certainly  the  Apple  tree  of  the 
Bible.  I  do  not  remember  ever  seeing  one  of  our  English  Apple 
trees,  whereas  one  June  and  July  when  there  I  saw  nothing  but 
Apricots.  We  encamped  in  orchards  of  them  near  Beyrout,  good  sized 
standard  trees  many  of  them,  and  near  Damascus  on  the  banks  of 
Abana  and  Pharfar  I  saw  literally  acres  of  that  fruit  on  the 
ground  drying  into  the  universal  there  and  much  esteemed 
“  Mishmish.”  I  have  very  little  doubt  that  in  the  Canticles  the 
Apricot  is  the  Apple  tree  there  spoken  of  in  our  authorised  version ; 
and  again  in  Prov.  xxv.  11,  revised  version,  where  we  read, 
“  Apples  of  gold  in  baskets  of  silver,”  there  seems  reason  to  think  it  is 
Apricots  in  silver  filigree  baskets  which  piobably  are  alluded  to.  It  is 
possible,  as  Mr.  Broiherstou  rather  suggests,  that  the  Orange  may  be 
the  tree  which  is  intended,  and  I  understand  the  Orange  groves  now 
round  Jaffa  have  become  one  of  the  finest  garden  sights  of  the  country  ; 
but  this  tree  would  hardly  have  ever  had  the  universal  culture  of  the 
Apricot.  That  Oranges  were  the  golden  Apples  of  the  Hesperides 
seems  exceedingly  probable,  and  I  certainly  regard  Jason  as  a  public 
benefactor  in  facing  the  dragon  to  get  them.  While  on  the  subject  I 
may  mention  a  somewhat  homely  but  wholesome  Apple  proverb. 
An  Apple,  an  egg,  and  a  nut. 
You  may  eat  after  a  slut, 
the  exterior  of  each  affording  protection  against  the  suggested  dirty 
fingers. — A.  C. 
In  the  article  by  Mr.  Brotherston  on  pages  413  and  414  of  last  week’s 
Journal  of  Horticulture  he  refers  to  the  Apple  known  as  Pomewater, 
and  says  it  “  can  be  traced  from  the  time  of  Lydgate,  the  poet  monk, 
till  it  disappears  about  the  beginning  of  the  eighteenth  century.” 
Judging  by  this  remark  it  would  appear  that  your  correspondent  has 
not  seen  the  monograph  on  the  Apple  which  was  published  by  the  late 
Dr.  Robert  Hogg  in  1859.  On  page  159  of  that  interesting  work  the 
author  gives  a  full  description  of  the  Pom“water  Apple,  and  adds  to 
this  the  following  observation  :  —  “  I  think  there  is  little  doubt  that  this 
is  the  Pome  Water  of  Gerard.  It  is  still  grown  in  Lancashire  and  on 
the  borders  of  Cheshire,  of  which  county  Gerard  was  a  native,  and  with 
thefiuitsof  which  he  was,  in  all  probibility,  best  acquainted.”  Your 
correspondent  further  says  :  “The  fruit  was  very  large,  and  not  unlike 
in  shape  to  the  Dutch  Codlin.”  In  Dr.  Ho'g’s  description,  however, 
the  Pomewater  is  said  to  be  “  medium  sized,  2|  inches  wide  and 
2i  inches  high.” 
I  am  aware  that  this  variety  is  not  included  in  any  edition  of  the 
“Fruit  Manual,”  not  even  in  the  second,  which  appeared  immediately 
after  the  monograph — namely,  in  1860.  But  many  other  varieties 
were  excluded  as  well,  and  the  object  evidently  was  to  confine  the  lists 
in  the  “  Manual  ”  to  varieties  inonameice.  But  there  is  another  fact 
which  proves  Dr.  Hogg  had  not  rentiunced  his  opinion  that  the  Cheshire 
Apple  was  the  true  Pomewater.  On  one  occasion,  I  remember  distinctly, 
amongst  some  truiis  sent  for  names  he  identified  an  Apple  as  the  one 
he  had  described  over  twenty-five  years  before  as  the  historical  curiosity 
here  noted,  and  he  informed  me  himself  that  he  had  seen  it  several 
times,  but  always  from  old  orchards  in  one  of  the  two  counties 
mentioned.  I  have  had  many  horticultural  tours  in  Cheshire  and 
Lancashire,  but  I  have  never  succeeded  in  discovering  trees  of  the 
variety  in  fruit,  though  occasionally  in  markets  and  shops  there  I  have 
seen  Apples  that  closely  resembled  it.  Perhaps  some  of  your  Cheshire 
readers  could  throw  a  little  light  upon  the  subject,  and  Messrs. 
Dicksons  in  particular  ought  to  be  in  a  position  to  say  something  on  the 
matter. 
I  do  not  know  what  authority  there  is  for  assuming  that  Pomewater 
is  derived  from  “a  corrupted  form  of  some  old  French  appellative.” 
Pomus  and  Pomum  occur  in  very  old  lists,  and  in  an  edition  of  Boyer’s 
“  Dictionnaire  Royal,”  published  in  1783,  which  gives  a  large  number 
of  the  old  French  names,  there  is  nothing  suggestive  of  the  title  in 
question.  Andie  Leroy  gives  very  elaborate  details  respecting  the 
early  French  varieties  and  names,  but  I  have  failed  to  find  anything 
bearing  ou  the  Pomewater. 
It  is  a  matter  of  considerable  interest  to  determine  how  many  of  the 
really  ancient  varieties  of  Apples  are  still  in  existence.  The  maintenance 
of  characters  in  the  form  of  cultivated  plants  over  long  periods  has 
both  praofical  and  scientific  importance,  and  the  Apple  c  institutes  one 
of  the  best  objects  for  comparison  and  investigation.  There  are  several 
very  old  Scotch  Apples,  concerning  which  no  doubt  Mr.  Brotherston 
could  give  us  useful  information. — R.  Lewis  Castle. 
- - 
The  Rose  Analysis. 
It  is  very  gratifying  to  learn  that  Mr.  Pemberton,  than  whom  we 
have  no  higher  authority  on  the  question  of  exhibition  R  ises,  has  formed 
such  a  high  opinion  of  my  R  ise  analysis  as  a  guide  to  theearly  exhibitions. 
I  suppose  there  must  be  something  in  his  contention  th  it  for  the  later 
shows  it  cannot  however  be  regarded  as  equdly  reliable,  because  as  far 
back  as  1887  he  expressed  exactly  the  same  opinion  as  he  does  now. 
He  seems  to  have  forgotten  that  in  1888  I  at  his  suggestion  took 
down  the  names  of  all  the  Roses  in  the  prize  stands  at  the  National 
Rose  Society’s  northern  exnibition,  and  compared  the  records  thus 
obtained  with  those  made  at  the  Society’s  Crystal  Palace  Show,  and 
that  in  my  analysis  for  that  year  appeared  the  following  paragraph 
describing  the  outcome  of  that  comparison  ;  “  When  the  results 
obtained  at  the  society’s  two  exhibitions  this  year — one  held  on  the 
7th  and  the  other  on  the  20-h  of  July,  were  compared,  there  was  found 
to  be  but  little  difference  between  them.  In  fact,  oat  of  the  twenty- 
four  Hybrid  Perpetiials  most  frequently  shown  at  the  Crva^al  Palace 
and  at  Darlington  respectively,  only  E.  Y.  Teas,  Prince  C.  de  Rohan, 
Xavier  Olibo,  Camille  Bernardin,  and  Heinrich  Schultheis  are  not  to  be 
met  with  in  both  lists.” 
Considering  the  long  interval  between  the  two  shows,  that  the  Rose 
season  that  year  happened  to  be  an  unusually  late  one,  and  that  most 
of  the  exhibitors  at  Darlington  hailed  from  the  south,  I  thought  1  had 
proved  conclusively  that  my  analysis  might  be  regarded  as  a  sufidciently 
trustworthy  guide  for  at  all  events  the  midseason  exhibitions  as  well  as 
the  early  ones,  if  not  for  the  later  exhibitions  as  well. 
Mr.  Pemberton  states  that  these  analyses  are  based  on  the  flowers 
exhibited  ac  the  society’s  metropolitan  show,  which  is  always  held  on 
the  first  Saturday  in  July.  This  is  undoubtedly  true,  but  not  so  the 
very  natural  inference  to  be  drawn  from  those  facts.  For  few 
rosarians,  I  think,  have  ever  considered  how  great  must  be  the  range  of 
time  covered  by  the  analysis  in  question.  In  the  first  place,  every 
exhibitor  throughout  the  country  who  has  any  Roses  out  on  the  day  of 
“  the  National”  is  certain  to  bring  them  to  that  particular  show.  This 
alone  must  make  a  considerable  diffirence  between  the  varieties 
exhibited  from  the  late  and  early  districts,  to  say  nothing  of  the  range 
in  dates  between  the  let  and  7th  of  July.  But  more  than  all  there  is 
the  difference  between  early  and  late  seasons,  amounting  not 
unfreqiiently  almost  to  the  difference  between  an  ordinary  southern 
and  northern  exhibition. 
Now  as  to  the  varieties  named  by  Mr.  Pemberton,  Horace  Vernet 
and  Charles  Lefebvre  are  certainly  two  of  the  most  perfect  exhibition 
Roses  that  we  possess,  but  if  my  comparative  tables  tell  me  truly  they 
are  not  as  reliable  as  many  others.  Splendid  in  certain  seasons,  but 
equally  indifferent  in  others.  For  my  own  part  I  have  scarcely  been 
able  to  stage  a  bloom  of  either  variety  the  last  two  years,  whereas  in 
a  favourable  season  they  fi  id  a  place  in  almost  every  stand.  As  for 
Madame  Victor  Verdier,  Cou  itess  of  Rosebery,  and  Auguste  Rigitard, 
I  persevered  with  these  varieties  year  after  year  for  ten  seasons,  but  of 
so  little  service  were  they  ihat  I  have  now  almost  entirely  discarded 
them;  and  except  ter  large  growers  I  should  say  they  were  but  of 
little  use.  Taking  the  last  four  very  early  Rose  seasons,  those  in  which 
the  conditions  at  the  Crystal  Palace  Show  are  likely  to  have  been  most 
in  accord  with  those  at  an  ordinary  northern  show,  the  number  of  tihies 
they  were  staged  in  prize  stands  at  the  Crystal  Palace  was  as  follows  : 
1893 
1895 
1896 
1897 
Auguste  Rigotard 
7 
1 
5 
5 
Madame  Victor  Verdier 
14 
2 
4 
5 
Countess  of  Rosebery 
Ber,'(  ha  lasted. 
10 
11 
5 
3 
