282 
JOURNAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER. 
September  25,  1902. 
conference  between  gardeners,  which  the  annual  flower 
show  bring  together,  it  may  be  at  the  Drill  Hall,  at  Shrews¬ 
bury,  or  the  remotest  village  in  the  country,  there  are  sure 
to  be  the  same  topics  raised  when  a  quorum  of  gardeners, 
amateur  or  professional,  meet,  and  individual  troubles  met 
and  surmounted  in  their  many  forms  are  related  as  an 
appeasement  and  solace  offered  and  accepted  from  one  to 
another.  There  is  a  great  and  mutual  sympathy  existing 
among  horticulturists  as  a  body  throughout  the  many 
sections  in  which  it  is  divided,  and  this  mutuality  has  been 
a  great  power  in  dealing  with  the  troubles  of  the  year. 
Though  the  winter  was  cheerless  and  cold,  and  the  rain¬ 
fall  much  below  the  average,  fruit  trees  of  all  kinds  made  a 
wonderful  effort  to  do  their  best,  and,  indeed,  the  gardener’s 
hopes  were  raised  to  a  high  concert  pitch  by  the  wealth 
and  vigour  of  almost  every  kind  of  tree  and  nlant.  When 
one  considers  the  droughty  state  of  the  soil  last  year,  it  was 
not  less  than  marvellous  that  the  universal  tree  life  should 
have  responded  so  well  to  the  trying  exigencies  of  weather. 
But  so  it  was,  and  but  for  ill  winds  which,  contrary  to  pro¬ 
verb,  have  blown  no  one  good,  there  were  splendid 
prospects  held  out  from  the  garden  and  field  almost  every¬ 
where.  The  great  staple  fruit  of  the  British  orchard  made 
country  drives  and  railway  journeys  intensely  pleasant  by 
their  bounteous  blossom  ;  Pears,  Cherries,  and  Plums  were 
not  less  remarkable  in  the  outburst  of  their  floral  spring 
dress.  King  Frost,  and  the  not  less  powerful  factor,  “  blight,” 
have  both  asserted  their  prowess  in  a  most  determined 
manner.  One  advanced  gardener  was  overheard  to  say  that 
instances  were  not  wanting  where  the  air  of  fruit  plantations 
was  simply  made  odorous  with  quassia  and  its  allies,  and 
while  he  yet  diligently  applied  it  himself,  his  trees  were  not 
able  to  make  any  headway,  nor  did  his  effort  combat  the 
virulent  enemy.  He  then  turned  his  thoughts  to  an  antidote 
of  another  kind,  one  applied  to  the  roots  instead  of  the 
heads  of  his  trees — nitrate  of  soda.  This  had  a  marked 
effect  in  producing  growth,  and  whether  the  growth  ad¬ 
vanced  by  this  stimulant  was  too  fast  for  the  depredators  to 
hold  in  hand,  or  the  sap  promoted  by  the  action  of  the 
soda  was  too  strong  in  flavour,  is  an  item  of  theory  on  which 
thoughts  may  vary.  Whatever  its  basis  may  be,  certainly 
results  were  assuring,  not  so  much  for  the  present  as  the 
future  crops  in  prospect.  No  doubt  there  are  thousands  of 
instances  where  trees,  garden  and  orchard,  are  in  a  sorry 
plight,  due  to  the  persistent  attacks  of  insect  life,  and  Apples 
in  particular  have  been  hard  punished.  Plums,  another  great 
market  commodity,  were  full  of  promise  as  regards  flower, 
the  trees  healthy,  and  the  blossom  strong.  The  cold  winds 
prevailing  at  the  time,  however,  contributed  more  to  their 
collapse  than  actual  frost.  One  instance  of  the  shortness 
of  the  crop  in  a  remote  country  district  occurs  to  me  as  I 
write :  A  grower  accustomed  to  the  gathering  and  sale  of 
scores  of  sacks  of  Plums  this  year  bewails  a  crop  of  15lb. 
In  regard  to  Strawberries,  who  among  the  hosts  of  pri¬ 
vate  and  market  growers  can  record  an  absolute  triumph 
without  at  some  period  of  the  season  a  disturbed  state  of  mind 
consequent  on  frost,  cold  winds  and  late  season  ?  The  great 
bulk  of  the  nation’s  crop  was  matured  almost  within  the 
space  of  a  fortnight’s  duration,  early  and  late  districts  being 
brought  into  conflict,  and  a  great  depression  of  price  was 
created  by  the  fact  of  foreign  fruit  being  ripe  and  sold  at 
the  same  time.  Truly  there  was  a  great  and  very  severe 
shatteringof  the  nerves  of  the  grower,  when  comparisons  were 
made  with  the  wealth  of  his  crop  and  the  income  derived 
therefrom. 
Another  great  industry  in  the  market  world,  the  growth 
of  Tomatoes  and  Cucumbers,  finds  records  which  are  dis¬ 
tinctly  unfavourable.  There  were  extremely  bad  times  for 
setting  of  the  fruits  of  these  under  glass,  and  outdoors  they 
are  late,  and  threatened  with  wholesale  destruction  by 
disease  attack.  Cucumbers  have  been  erratic,  mysterious 
diseases  and  collapse  have  been  very  rife.  The  cold  and 
sunless  season  has  contributed  to  much  of  this,  and  one 
almost  wonders,  when  reflection  is  made  on  the  absent  sun¬ 
shine,  that  vegetation  has  responded  so  well  as  it  has  done. 
There  mav  or  there  may  not,  be  a  shred  of  consolation  in 
the  fact  that  these  alternate  elevations  and  depressions 
of  spirit  have  prevailed  universally.  In  some  seasons  one 
hears  of  bounteous  crops  in  one  county  or  district,  while  in 
others  a  frost  visitation,  or  some  other  local  terror,  annihilated 
both  hope  and  prospect,  which  up  to  a  certain  period  had 
been  so  favourable.  This  season  the  whole  community 
have  occasion  for  mutual  sympathy,  as  it  is  not  a  common 
experience  to  find  instances  of  the  exemption  of  trouble  in 
some  form  or  other.  Thus  the  man  of  commerce,  the  pro¬ 
fessional,  and  the  cottage  gardener  find  themselves  on  the 
same  platform,  and  are  in  mutual  agreement  as  to  the 
results  of  his  season’s  labour  and  corresponding  returns. 
It  might  be  possible  to  fill  a  great  space  by  the  recounting 
of  endless  troubles  and  losses  consequent  on  the  trying 
season  ;  one  of  which  it  is  very  difficult  to  match  the  record, 
for,  from  its  early  inception,  it  has  dealt  in  reverse  rather 
than  favourable  traits,  and  who  can  say  what  are  the 
winter’s  prospects  in  regard  to  Potatoes  and  the  corn 
harvests  1  At  the  time  of  writing,  certainly,  idols  of  the  past 
are  not  advancing  towards  that  desirable,  rosy-hued  ideal.  Hope 
has  always  been,  and  still  remains,  a  great  factor  in  the 
horticultural  mind,  though  often  so  hopelessly  shatteied. 
W.  Strugnell. 
Town  Trees. 
( Continued  from  page  236.) 
Species  of  Ash. 
Common  Ash  (Fraxinus  excelsior)  often  springs  up  from  seeds 
in  town  backyards,  and  even  obtains  a  footing  on  old  walls, 
often  giving  rise  to  the  thought,  How  do  the  seeds  get  there  ? 
The  seedlings  grow  with  astonishing  vigour,  and  battle  bravely 
and  successfully  with  the  impurities  of  the  atmosphere  and 
stifling  heat  of  the  confined  spaces.  The  saplings  are  very 
healthy,  and  do  splendidly  until  they  reach  the  height  of  the 
first  floor  windows,  or  even  higher.  For  some  reason — perhaps 
they  think  their  work  is  done: — they  then  begin  to  go  back, 
“smaller  by  degrees  and  beautifully  less,”  age  fast,  lose  leaves 
early  in  late  summer,  and  are  now,  as  tho  ladies  say,  not  nice 
to  look  at  on  the  trees  nor  tread  upon  on  blue  bricks.  An 
aged  town  Ash  tree,  with  its  stem  swollen  yet  not  large  in  size, 
holed  by  black  fungus,  and  tops  dying  back,  with  excrescences 
on  the  twigs  and  limbs,  even  holes  in  the  trunks,  of  which 
billybiters  and  high-up  starlings  take  advantage  for  nesting,  is 
about  one  of  the  wierdest  things  in  Nature. 
The  weeping  Ash  (F.  e.  pendula)  never  plays  such  like 
pranks,  and  is  nowhere  as  regards  affording  delight  to  lovers 
of  the  grotesque.  The  variegated  Ashes  appear  all  too  tender 
for  windy  places,  though  this  certainly  does  not  arise  from 
dislike  of  smoke  and  fumes,  as  the  disguised  chlorophyll  appears 
to  confer  resistant  power  on  the  possessors. 
The  Manna,  or  flowering  Ash  (F.  ornatus)  has  borne  the 
drought  and  heat  more  satisfactorily  than  the  common  Ash, 
excepting  young  trees  of  the  latter,  and  as  a  low  tree  has 
claims  on  the  town  planter,  especially  the  country,  far  too  little 
requisitioned.  Its  greenish-white  catkin-like  clustered  flowers 
are  very  beautiful,  and  the  whole  tree  handsome.  The  drought 
and  heat  has  been  too  much  for  it  this  season  in  densely  packed 
places,  the  foliage  being  the  reverse  of  handsome  at  the 
beginning  of  September. 
Of  the  other  Ashes,  the  green  Ash  (F.  viridis)  lias  still 
bright  green  leafage,  not  only  in  country  towns,  but  in  very 
smoky  districts.  It.  and  the  black  Ash  (F.  sambucifolia)  form 
fine  heads,  half  balls,  as  standards,  but  with  broad  tops,  and 
are  more  leafy  than  the  common  Ash.  These  species  appear  not 
to  suffer  from  the  vegetable  and  animal  parasites  which  beset 
our  native  one. 
The  Stately  Beech. 
Coming  to  the  hard-leaved  trees,  the  Beech  (Fagus  sylvatiea) 
has  contracted  less  Beech  suckers  (Chernies  fagi)  than  usual, 
which  often  causes  the  leaves  to  have  a  very  unsightly  appear¬ 
ance  and  fall  in  showers  during  September.  The  purple-leaved 
Beech  (F.  s.  purpurea),  though  liable,  is  less  subject  to  fly 
attack  than  the  common,  but  both  are  losing  the.  leafage 
rapidly.  The  common  Beech  makes  a  good  screen  or  high  hedge 
in  smoky  towns,  and  thrives  according  to  the  winter,  not 
summer,  cutting  in.  But  of  all  the  Beeches  for  smoky  towuis, 
and  even  exposed  situations,  the  copper  Beech  (F.  s.  cuprea)  is 
the  cleanest,  and  stands  heat-reflected  influences  the  best,  the 
foliage  not  giving  way  until  autumn  is  well  advanced,  especially 
on  chalky  soils.  Still,  not  any  of  the  Beeches  are  commend¬ 
able  for  street  planting  as  their  roots  run  on  the  surface,  thus 
rendering  the  ground  very  uneven. 
The  Spanish  Chestnut  (Castanea  sativa  or  vesca  or  vulgaris) 
grows  slowly  at  start,  and  surely,  particularly  on  cold,  heavy 
soils,  and  its  foliage  resists  reflected  heat  influences  remarkably 
well.  The  prickly  involucres  which  enclose  the  fruits  or  nuts, 
and  the  rootstock  swelling  out  are  fatal  objections  to  the  Sweet 
Chestnut  as  a  town  street  tree. — G.  A. 
(To  be  concluded.) 
