490 
JOURNAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  AND  ,  COTTA  UE  GARDENER. 
November  27,  1902. 
Wasps  in  Winter, 
Yesterday,  the  23rd  inst.,  I  was  passing  a  spot  in  a  meadow 
where  in  summer  I  found  myself  standing  on  the  entrance  to  a 
strong  colony  of  wasps,  and  soon  found  out  the  reason  of  so 
many  around  me  requiring  to  obtain  admission  to  the  nest.  The 
hole  was  covered  with  Oak  leaves,  and  I  brushed  them  away, 
and  with  the  aid  of  a  strong  stake  from  the  hedge  I  worked 
away  the  soil  a  good  distance  round,  and  took  out  the  nest, 
complete,  about  the  size  of  an  ordinary  football.  I  was  surprised 
to  find  still  a  large  quantity  of  ordinary  workers  in  the  nest 
somewhat  benumbed  from  cold  and  wet,  but  on  being  placed  in 
a  newspaper  they  by  degrees  assumed  their  normal  character 
and  flew  away,  but  did  not  attack  me  as  would  have  been  the 
case  earlier  in  the  season.  I  did  not  notice  any  queens  or  male 
wasps,  which  have  no  doubt  deserted  their  home',  the  queens  no 
doubt  hybernating  in  the  vicinity.  I  find  that  their  favourite 
resort  for  winter  quarters  is  under  dead  bark  on  trees,  suffi¬ 
ciently  loose  to  crawl  under.  I  found  about  a  dozen  on  a  tree 
some  five  or  six  weeks  ago,  and  on  the  same  tree  last  winter  a 
youth  killed  about  two  dozen.  On  another  tree  I  took  about 
a  score  of  queens  from  under  loose  bark. — James  Hiam,  Astwood 
Bank. 
Illegal  Showing. 
It  will  surely  seem  pretty  plain  to  most  readers  of  the  Journal 
what  is  to  be  done  to  stop  the'  dishonest  practices  of .  which  “A 
Yorkshire  Grower”  complains,  page  472.  In  most  cases  of  fraud 
the  difficulty  is  to  catch  the  perpetrator;  but  there  is  rarely 
any  trouble  in  knowing  how  to  deal  with  him  when  caught. 
Now,  two  or  three  such  people  “A  Yorkshire  Grower”  actually 
knows  of,  and  of  course  lie  is  prepared  to  prove  it,  or  he  would 
not  say  so.  Well,  it  will  seem  to  a  good  many  of  us  “living 
down  South  ”  that  if  he  does  not  expose-  these  persons  and  bring 
them  to  justice  a  considerable  and  weighty  responsibility  at 
least  will  lie  upon  him.  He  thinks  “  the  time  has  come  when  all 
such  practices  should  be  put  a  stop  to  ” ;  but,  according  to  his 
letter,  he  ought  to  have  thought  so  for  a  year  or  so,  at  least. 
This  is  not  the  first  time  that  exhibitors  “  living  down  South  ” 
have  heard  whispers  of  lax  proceedings  in  the  North,  and  even 
that  they  are  winked  at  and  condoned.  Indeed  it  is,  as  was  the 
case  with  an  example  brought  before  the  Journal  some  time 
ago,  entirely  a  matter  of  schedule.  Each  show  or  society  makes 
its  own  laws  and  rules,  and  it  is  impossible  for  any  outsider 
to  dogmatise  about  law-breaking  till  he  knows  what  the  rules, 
written  or  unwritten,  may  be.  But  if  anyone  knows  of,  and  is 
able  to  prove,  any  showing  which  is  illegal  and  contrary  to  the 
rules,  it  seems  odd  that  he  should  have  any  doubt  about  what 
his  duty  may  be. — W.  R.  Raillem. 
A  Dissertation  on  Pears. 
At  the  recent  exhibition  of  the  National  Chrysanthemum 
Society  it  was  a  great  pleasure^  to  note  how  well-filled  ■  were 
the  three  classes  for  hardy  fruits.  Perhaps  when  the  Royal 
Horticultural  Society  possesses  a  hall  of  its  own  it  may  then 
arrange  to  hold  a  late  exhibition  of  hardy  fruits.  The  exhibition 
held  at  the  Crystal  Palace  is  not  enough,  as  it  does  not  repre¬ 
sent  our  home-grown  fruit  in  all  its  possibilities,  and  London 
as  a  centre  is  much  more  convenient  than  Sydenham.  With  a 
proper  place  in  London,  the  Royal  Horticultural  Society  could 
give  the  public  an  exhibition  of  hardy  fruits  early  in  Septem¬ 
ber  and  another  early  in  November.  The  first  would  bring  out 
the  early  varieties,  and  the  later  exhibition  would  prove  the 
quality  of  fruits  in  season.  It  must  be  gratefully  acknowledged 
that  this  Society  has  done  much  for  the  enhancement  of  hardy 
fruit  culture,  and  it  can  do  more,  which,  judging  by  the  past, 
it  will.  It  has  drawn  up  a  list  of  the  most  suitable  Apples  for 
dessert,  and  another  for  cooking.  These  may  not  find  favour 
with  everybody’s  choice,  but  it  is  a  great  aid  to  exhibitors,  and 
it  would  be  almost  a  blessing  if  the  Society  could,  or  would, 
arrange  like  lists  for  Pears  and  Plums. 
Pears  especially  require  defining,  for  with  the  present  selec¬ 
tion  of  choice  dessert  Pears  nobody  would  think  of  sending 
General  Todleben  in  for  dessert,  yet  it  is  allowed  for  exhibition 
amongst  fruits  defined  as  follows: — “Dessert  Pears,  fit  for 
table.”  General  Todleben  is  essentially  a  stewing  Pear,  and  as 
such  it  should  be  exhibited.  With  Pears  as  a  topic  it  is  difficult 
to  stay  one’s  pen;  as  a  subject,  there  so  much  to  say  about 
them,  and  so  much  more  to  know!  Several  years  ago  I  made 
the  acquaintance  of  the  Pear  Madame  Treyve,  and  every  year 
since  have  wondered,  and  wondered  hard,  why  Madame  Treyve 
is  not  more  generally  grown  for  market.  Experience  proves  that 
there  is  room  for  such  a  first-rat*  early  Pear,  and  if  it  pays  to 
grow  such  rubbish  as  Beurre  de  Capiaumont,  surely  it  will  pay 
to  grow  a  fruit  which  everyone  can  enjoy.  I  have  such  faith 
in  the  Pear  that  I  am  sure  when  it  becomes  better  known  it  will 
be  a  leading  early  market  Pear.  Properly  graded,  it  is  quite* 
capable  of  holding  its  own  against  anything  in  its  season. 
Madame  Treyve  does  not  grow  to  a  large  size,  but,  size  extra¬ 
ordinary  is  not  a  market  requirement. 
That  brings  me  to  another  point.  At  exhibitions  we  find 
Pitmaston  Duchess  always  takes  a  prominent  position  in  all  its 
ponderosity.  Now,  it  is  not  of  the  first  quality,  and  its  great 
size  does  not  make-  it  a  desirable  fruit  for  dessert.  In  a  class 
devoted  to  the  variety  it  is  well  and  good,  but  amongst  first- 
class  dessert  Pears  truly  there  are  many  which  beat  it.  Could 
not  the  same  body  of  men  who  arranged  the  size  for  dessert 
Apples  arrange  and  make  law,  a  fitting  size  for  dessert  Pears? 
It  would  greatly  benefit  the  exhibitor,  and  would  make  popular 
some  most  deserving  varieties. — H.  A.  B.  Johns. 
Apple,  Tamplin. 
Apple  Tamplin,  or  Cissy,  was  raised  about  150  years  ago  by 
a  Mr.  Tamplin,  who  lived  at  Malpas,  a  small  village  about  three 
miles  from  Newport,  Mon.  Evidently  he  knew  the  value  of  it, 
as  during  his  lifetime  lie  distributed  grafts  amongst  his  many 
friends,  and  after  his  death  his  sister,  or  daughter,  I  am  not 
quite  certain,  but  am  inclined  to  believe  it  was  a  sister,  named 
Cissy,  continued  to  distribute  grafts,  and  thus  it  came  into 
general  cultivation  in  the  Newport,  Chepstow,  and  Monmouth 
districts.  Unfortunately,  there  are  no  young  trees  to  be  found 
now  ;  in  fact,  the  greater  part  of  what  is  left  are  very  old  trees, 
but  I  hope  to  be  able  to  again  bring  it  into  general  cultivation. 
I  may  say  reference  is  made  to  Tamplin’s  house  in  Cox’s  “  History 
of  Monmouthshire,”  a  book  written  about  100  years  ago,  which 
points  to  the  truth  of  my  statement  as  to  the  time  of  its  being 
raised.  I  am  making  further  inquiries  in  the  parish  in  which  he 
lived,  but  unfortunately  the  parish  register  only  dates  back  to 
1813 ;  but  I  intend  to  carefully  examine  the  tombstones  to  see 
if  I  can  find  any  record  of  his  death.  I  may  say  I  have  collected 
twenty  or  more  old  seedling  Apples,  which  I  am  propagating, 
some  of  which  have  a  history  which  will  have  to  be  told  a  little 
later. — John  Basham,  Bassaleg. 
Cankered  Apple  Trees. 
I  hasten  to  tender  my  best  thanks  to  “  J.  E.  A.”  for  his  kind 
reply  to  my  query  about  the  above  subject.  The  information 
given  is  so  clear  and  convincing  that  I  have  no  douht  many 
besides  myself  will  speedily  tackle  any  cankered  trees  they  have 
control  over.  In  one  respect  “  J.  E.  A.”  bears  out  a  point  I  have 
noticed,  viz.,  that  cankered  trees  do  generally  bear,  but  then  it 
seems  that  the  fruit  is  “  mere  rubbish  ”  when  compared  with 
that  gathered  from  healthy  trees.  Ah !  I  see,  there  is  the  point. 
England  has  enough  “rubbish”  already,  but  she  wants  more 
good  Apples.  The  cankered  trees  ought  to  be  cured  then  quickly. 
The  next  time  I  meet  my  gardening  friends,  or  I  should  say 
gardening-loving  friends,  we  will  try  and  stir  to  action  the 
owners  of  cankered  trees  in  our  village.  By-the-by,  a  newcomer 
has  arrived  at  a  small  farm  just  outside  the  village,  and  he 
seems  like  stirring  us  up  a  bit  by  the  way  he  is  going  to  work. 
He  has  been  digging  and  delving  ahd  ploughing  and  harrowing 
with  a  vengeance  during  the  last  few  weeks  in  order  to  get  a 
good  stretch  of  land  ready  for  planting  fruit  trees.  Sime  of 
the  villagers  look  on  askance,  and  tell  him  that  fruit  trees  won’t 
do  in  our  neighbourhood  because  it  is  not  a  fruit-growing 
district ;  but  he  only  laughs,  and  says  he  knows  what  lie  is  about ; 
all  fruit-growing  districts  were  without  fruit  trees  at  one  time, 
and  that  there  are  still  as  good  fish  in  the  sea  as  ever  were 
caught.  Some  day,  he  tells  us,  our  village  will  be  reckoned 
among  the  fruit-growing  districts.  One  old  man  shook  his  head 
suspiciously  at  the  latter  remark,  and  asked  the  newcomer  what 
he  was  going  to  do  with  all  the  fruit  when  the  trees  came  into 
bearing,  because  he  said  they  had  too  much  fruit  in  some  places 
now,  and  had  a  job  to  sell  it.  The  busy  man  smiled  again,  and 
replied,  “  We  have  never  yet  had  too  many  good  Apples  in  this 
country.  Why,  man,”  said  he  to  the  old  unbeliever,  “  do  you 
know  that  last  month  over  640,000  cwts  of  Apples  were  sent 
to  England  from  foreign  countries  ?  And  yet  I  think  I  can 
grow  Apples  quite  as  good  as  any  of  them  on  this  land.  And  I 
expect  before  long  some  of  the  rest  of  ye  will  want  to  plant 
too.  Anyhow,  as  long  as  Apples  sell  as  well  as  they  do.  I  shall 
keep  planting  as  fast  as  I  can  get  the  money.”  I  have  thought, 
of  the  newcomer’s  words  a  good  many  times  since,  and  there 
seems  to  me  to  be  a  good  deal  of  sense  in  his  method  of  reason¬ 
ing.  I  shall  try  and  cultivate  his  acquaintance,  and  wh»  knows, 
perhaps  I  shall  blossom  into  a  big  Apple  grower  yet,  though  at 
present  I  am  only  picking  up  such  crumbs  of  knowledge  as 
fall  in  the  path  of  an — Ignoramus. 
