490 
JOURNAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER. 
Noyember  29,  1900. 
Manures  and  Leguminous  Plants. 
I  AM  quite  aware  that  I  am  bearding  a  lion  when  I  venture  to 
contest  anything  which  comes  from  Mr.  J.  J.  Willis,  but  I  cannot  accept 
as  correct  his  assertion  in  the  article  on  plant  elements  (page  457)  that  the 
action  of  farmyard  manure  in  plant  feeding  is  slow.  I  think  every 
gardener  will  hold  that  with  the  exception  of  manures  in  liquid  form 
no  manure  is  more  active  or  speedily  utilised  by  plants  than  is 
good  animal — i.e.,  farmyard — manure.  Possibly  I  may  be  scientifically 
wrong,  yet  mechanically  or  practically  right,  for  the  two  things  are  not 
always  in  harmony.  Just  in  the  same  way  scientists  insist  on  the  use- 
lessness  of  giving  nitrogenous  manures  to  leguminous  plants,  notably 
Peas  and  Beans,  but  all  experience  shows  that  nitrogenously  manured 
soils  give  the  best  growth  and  Onest  crops  of  these  products.  If  anyone 
doubts  that  assertion  let  them  grow  breadths  on  well-manured  (farmyard 
dressed)  ground,  and  on  unmanured  ground,  of  Peas  and  Beans,  and 
note  the  difference.  All  our  best  gardeners  use  animal  manure  liberally 
in  dressing  ground  for  these  crops. — Practitionee. 
Tt|e  RH.S.  Meetings  for  1901. 
I  AM  greatly  pleased  to  find  that  in  arranging  the  Drill  Hall  meetings 
for  the  ensuing  year  clashing  with  the  great  number  of  southern 
Chrysanthemum  shows  held  in  the  first  week  of  November  is  avoided. 
During  the  second  week  of  November  fewer  shows  around  London 
are  held,  and  those  are  usually  of  small  dimensions.  Thus,  fixing  the 
first  November  meeting  for  November  12th  will  avoid  this  confliction, 
yet  should  not  be  too  late  for  the  presentation  of  first-class  blooms  of 
seedling  varieties.  It  is  evident  that  the  impress  of  the  E.H.S.  Floral 
Committee  is  yet  eagerly  sought  for,  and  indeed  its  awards  still  stand 
as  the  highest  in  the  kingdom.  A  very  important  change  is  made  in 
the  date  of  the  Crystal  Palace  Fruit  Show,  which  is  fixed  so  late  as 
October  10th,  11th,  and  12th  ;  that  is  fully  a  fortnight  later  than  was 
the  show  this  year.  It  is  to  be  feared  that  it  will  ring  the  knell  of  soft 
fruits.  Peaches,  Nectarines,  and  Plums,  for  these  were  almost  at  their 
best — certainly  Plums  were — at  the  end  of  September  this  year,  and 
this  has  been  a  rather  late  season. 
Possibly  it  will  suit  fruit  growers  in  the  midland  and  northern 
districts,  but  experience  of  several  years  has  shown  by  the  truly  superb 
quality  of  the  fruit  staged  that  the  earlier  date  suits  well.  One  wonders 
how  far  in  so  materially  changing  the  date  growers  who  exhibit  have 
been  consulted.  Evidently  there  will  be  a  summer  meeting  and 
conference — the  subject,  “Lilies” — at  Chiswick.  There  will  be  a  good 
deal  of  ink  used  over  Lilies,  no  doubt,  but  the  theme  is  at  best  a  dull  one. 
Lilies  are  all  beautiful  flowers,  but  they  have  little  about  them  that 
is  sentimental  or  romantic. — Scrutator. 
— — 
Gardens  of  tl|e  Ancients. 
In  Mr.  Henslow’s  interesting  account  of  the  gardens  of  the  ancients 
I  do  not  see  mention  of  the  garden  of  Alcinous.  Homer’s  description 
of  this  is  so  beautiful  and  interesting  that  I  send  you  a  portion,  always 
provided  that  you  tolerate  such  an  amount  of  mere  poetry. 
Fotir  acres  was  the  allotted  space  of  ground. 
Fenced  with  a  green  enclosure  all  around  ; 
Tall  thriving  trees  confessed  the  fruitful  mould  ; 
The  reddening  Apple  ripens  here  to  gold. 
Here  the  blue  Fig  with  luscious  juice  o’erflows, 
With  deeper  red  the  full  Pomegranate  glows. 
The  branch  here  bends  beneath  the  weighty  Pear, 
And  verdant  Olives  flourish  round  the  year. 
Beds  of  all  various  herbs,  for  ever  green. 
In  beauteous  order  terminate  the  scene. — {^Odyssey.) 
Herbs  were  greatly  in  request  in  those  flays  because  of  their  healing 
powers.  They  were  always  fighting,  and  wounds  were  always  needing 
attention.  A  certain  woman  is  highly  spoken  of  in  the  “  Iliad.” 
She  that  all  simples’  healing  virtues  knew. 
And  every  herb  that  drinks  the  morning  dew. 
As  to  flowers.  Princess  Nausicaa  says  that  her  father’s  garden, 
mentioned  above,  is  full  of  them,  but  unfortunately  does  not  give  any 
names. 
Here  a  rich  juice  the  royal  vineyard  pours. 
And  there  the  garden  yields  a  waste  of  flowers. 
The  flowers  on  the  other  side  of  the  Mediterranean  in  Homer’s  time 
are  rather  more  familiar,  having  place  and  name  in  Holy  Scripture. 
RenoYating  Pear  Trees. 
Our  good  friend  “  N.  H.  P.’s  ”  note  on  “  Pruning  ”  at  page  458 
reminds  me  of  a  photograph  of  a  thoroughly  renovated  Pear  tree, 
with  samples  of  fine  fruit  from  the  tree,  placed  not  long  since  before 
the  Fruit  Committee.  In  that  case,  instead  of  cutting  back  all  the 
horizontal  branches  close  to  the  main  erect  stem,  the  operator  had 
out  away  first  the  second  and  third  horizontal  branches  from  the 
bottom  of  the  tree  on  each  side,  leaving  the  lower  ones.  Prom  these 
were  taken  up  vertically  stout  summer  shoots,  12  inches  apart ;  as  these 
grew  other  branches  above  were  removed,  the  tree  therefore  not  being  at 
any  time  impoverished.  Eventually,  after  a  very  few  years,  the  vertical 
branches  had  displaced  all  the  horizontal  ones,  and  admirably 
refurnished  the  tree.  So  much  was  the  committee  impressed  with  the 
good  work  thus  done  in  the  matter  of  renovation,  that  a  cultural 
commendation  was  unanimously  awarded.  Some  others  may  like  to  do 
the  same. — A.  D. 
Spade  V.  Fork. 
Improving  the  working  of  strong  land  has  been  for  a  number  of 
years  one  of  my  main  objects,  and  I  consider  the  advice  given  in  the 
Journal  of  Horticulture  of  November  8th,  page  431,  very  practical,  and 
certainly  written  by  a  thoroughly  experienced  hand.  Mr.  Shepherd’s 
note,  page  466,  is  certainly  new  teaching  to  me,  in  fact  quite  opposite  to 
my  way  of  working  land,  and  when  he  says  working  his  clayey  soil 
with  a  fork  is  quite  impossible,  I  cannot  understand  it.  For  my  part  I 
have  never  seen  the  strong  land  that  I  could  not  work  better  with  a 
fork  than  spade.  Why  do  we  use  the  fork  in  preference  ?  Is  it  not 
easier,  and  does  it  not  leave  the  land  lighter  and  better  than  it  is 
possible  to  do  with  the  spade  ?  Of  course,  there  is  digging  and  digging, 
with  either  spade  or  fork,  and  there  is  a  great  difference  in  the  way  it 
is  done.  I  have  a  great  objection  to  it  being  dug  flat,  and  like  it  kept 
fairly  straight  up,  as  it  works  so  much  better  the  following  season,  and 
I  like  the  under  side  of  the  large  lumps  just  opened  with  the  fork, 
which  comes  very  natural  to  a  practical  hand  ;  as  for  the  top,  leave  it  as 
rough  as  possible. — T.  Welch, 
Prize  Cards  at  ExRibitions. 
I  CANNOT  understand  the  reason  why  the  exhibitors’  cards  after  the 
adjudication  has  been  completed  should  be  allowed  to  remain  blank 
side  up  during  the  show.  It  would  take  only  a  comparatively  short 
time  for  one  of  the  officials  to  go  round  after  the  judging  is  over  and 
turn  up  every  card  bearing  the  name  of  the  exhibitor.  When  only 
the  number  of  the  exhibitor  was  placed  on  each  card,  and  only  the 
name  of  the  prizetakers  were  written  upon  them,  this  might,  perhaps, 
have  entailed  much  labour,  but  of  late  years  it  has  become  the  custom 
to  have  the  name  of  the  exhibitor  written  or  printed  (the  latter  an 
infinitely  better  plan)  on  the  cards.  By  adopting  this  simple  system 
every  exhibitor  has  the  recognition  to  which  he  is  justly  entitled.  For 
instance,  many  exhibits  only  fail  by  a  point  or  two  to  secure  awards, 
and  by  exposing  the  name  of  the  exhibitor,  he  or  she  would  have  the 
opportunity  of  being  credited  with  the  work,  and  the  visitor  to  perceive 
the  comparative  merits  of  the  prize  and  non-prized  exhibits,  also 
render  the  exhibition  far  more  interesting  to  the  spectator.  The  plan 
advocated  would  also  aid  reporters,  especially  where  non-prized  exhibits 
are  considered  worthy  of  special  notice. — W.  G. 
Weather  and  Commerce. — The  fifth  of  a  series  of  eight  lectures 
on  Australasian  subjects  was  given  on  Monday  night  at  the  Imperial 
Institute,  when  Mr.  Clement  L.  Wragge,  F.E.G.S.,  Government 
Meteorologist  of  Queensland,  discoursed  on  the  weather  bureau  of  that 
colony  “  in  relation  to  the  natural  resources  and  commerce  of 
Australasia.”  Sir  Horace  Tozer,  K.C.M.G.,  presided.  Mr.  Wragge 
said  the  work  of  the  Queensland  bureau  was  divided  into  two  main 
parts — 1,  Climatology  ;  2,  forecasting  the  weather.  Every  locality  of 
Australia  had  its  own  particular  climate,  which  had  to  be  investigated 
in  pastoral,  agricultural,  horticultural,  and  especially  hygienic  interests. 
A  knowledge  of  the  distribution  of  rainfall  was  also  of  the  very  first 
importance,  and  for  the  weather  forecasts  of  his  bureau  he  claimed 
that  90, to  95  per  cent,  had  proved  correct.  Reference  was  made  to  the 
general  formulae  with  regard  to  isobars  and  gradients  of  the  great 
anticyclonio  and  cyclonic  disturbances  and  Antarctic  V-shaped 
depressions  that  traversed  the  Southern  Ocean.  The  lecture  was 
excellently  illustrated  with  numerous  Australian  subjects,  and  specimen 
weather  charts  were  projected  on  the  sheet,  showing  the  conditions 
favourable  for  hot  winds,  “  southerly  busters,”  transcontinental  rains, 
and  other  subjects  of  Antipodean  interest.  An  interesting  account 
was  given  of  the  operations  at  the  observatory  on  Mount  Kosciusko,  in 
New  South  Wales,  established  in  1897.  This  is  the  highest  point  of 
Australia,  7328  feet  above  sea  level,  and  the  observatory  is  worked, 
under  Mr.  Wragge’s  charge,  in  connection  with  a  low  level  station  at 
Merimbula,  near  Twofold  Bay. 
