December  11,  1902. 
JOURNAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER. 
537 
even  of  Japanese  varieties,  than  formerly,  with  a  view,  of  course, 
to  display  brilliancy  of  colouring,  which  is  partly  hidden  in  some 
varieties  under  various  forms  of  culture.  For  instance,  W.  R. 
Church,  Mrs.  Barkley,  Mrs.  G.  Mileham,  Pride  of  Madford,  and 
sundry  others  have  been  assiduously  operated  upon  by  thei 
dexterous  manipulator,  and  not  always  with  disadvantage  to 
himself  in  close  competition.  Those  who  are  not  exhibitors,  and 
who  have  no  connection  with  such  beyond  that  of  an  admirer  of 
Chrysanthemums,  generally  condemn  the  practice  of  “  turning  ” 
the  petals.  Whether  the  habit  of  making  the  most  of  a  flower 
by  such  a  method  is  to  continue  remains  to  be  seen,  but  certainly 
we  get  a  much  brighter-looking  stand  of  blooms  than  formerly. 
Better  methods  of  staging  the  blooms  upon  the'  orthodox 
stands  have  been  more  general.  Exhibitors  appear  to  realise 
that  a,  medium  height,  of  raising  the  blooms  is  more  conducive 
to  perfection  than  setting  them  either  too  high  or  too  low.  All 
round  deeper  inquiries  are  made  for  vase  classes.  Even  those 
societies  who  have  not  yet  adopted  this  principle  of  staging  large 
Japanese  blooms  are  inquiring  how  they  look  and  where  suitable 
vases  are  to  be  obtained,  which  is  a  sign  of  the  times  that  they 
too  must  shortly  adopt  the  method,  even  if  it  be  but  in  a  small 
way  at  the  start.  There  is  no  doubt  whatever  but  that  in  the 
near  future  every  society,  large  or  small,  will  insert  one  or  more 
vase  classes  in  their  schedule,  and  rightly  so. 
The  present  has  been  a  bad  season  for  Anemone,  reflexed,  and 
pompon  varieties.  I  have  seen  but  one  instance  of  a  meritorious 
stand  of  the  former — that  at  Manchester.  Even  the  single- 
flowered  varieties  and  what  are  known  as  decorative  Japanese, 
like  Source  d’Or,  Elaine,  and  many  others,  have  been  sparsely 
contributed.  In  the  last  two.  instances  the  season  is  account¬ 
able  for  much  of  their  barrenness.  In  the  former  three  sections, 
I  fear,  a  loss  of  interest  has  much  to  do  with  the  falling  off  in 
the  number  and  quality  of  the  exhibits.  It  does  seem  a  little 
strange  that  those  known  as  decorative  kinds  have  been  so 
limited  when  we  never  had  a  better  display  of  what  are  known 
as  “border”  Chrysanthemums  in  the  open.  Even  now  many 
varieties  are  quite  creditable  to  look  upon  after  8deg  frost  having 
passed  over  them. 
Briefly  summing  up  the  result  of  the  season,  I  cannot  but  say 
it  has  been  quite  satisfactory  taking  all  things  into  consideration. 
There  has  been  no  jarring  notes  heard,  and  but  few  causes  for 
dissatisfaction.  On  the  whole,  I  regard  it  as  a  good  season, 
weather  taken  into  consideration. — E.  Molyneux. 
The  Height  in  Growth  of  Some  Novelties. 
Mr.  G.  Foster  asks,  on  pagei  519,  to  what  height  Chrys.  S.  T. 
W right  will  grow.  When  stopped  and  second  crown  are  secured, 
the  height  from  pot  to  flowers  measured  exactly  5ft  with  us.  Mrs. 
C.  J.  Salter  is  only  5^ft  this  year,  and  last  year  it  was  5ft.  Mr. 
Foster  says  that  the  varieties  Henry  Barnes,  T.  Humphreys,  and 
Mrs.  C.  J.  Salter  were  catalogued  as  growing  5,1ft,  but  certainly 
this  was  not  by  us.  I  should  prefer  Mr.  Foster  to  call  at  Earls- 
wood  and  see  the  collection,  because  it  is  not  fair  to  measure 
such  flowers  as  Mrs.  T.  W.  Pockett,  which  Mr.  Godfrey  had  at 
the  Aquarium  Show,  for  instance,  by  the  side  of  those  which 
Mr.  Pulling  had  in  his  first  prize  vase,  not  six  yards  from  them ; 
or  those  which  we  have  shown  at  the  Royal  Horticultural  Society’s 
shows.  We  have  plants  of  Henry  Barnes  this  year  quite  10ft 
high.  I  have  had  Vicar  of  Leatherhead  lift,  Mafeking  Hero 
10ft,  and  Aiistralie  would  go  quite  12ft  this  year  if  left  to  natural 
second  crown  buds  or  terminals.  Mr.  Cal  vat’s  new  Madame 
Waldeck-Rousseau  was  a  foot  taller  than  Australia.  But,  at  the 
same  time,  Lord  Alverstone  was  only  4ft,  and  Mr.  Godfrey  says 
this  is  the  best  Mum  Mr.  Pockett  has  ever  raised.  Mr.  Foster 
could  not  have  seen  this.  Lastly,  let  me  add,  in  reference  to 
“  Viator’s  ”  notes  on  pages  518  and  519,  that  Durban’s  Pride  is 
not  an  American  variety  at  all  (as  per  his  report  of  the  Exmouth 
collection),  but  one  which  I  got  from  Australia  and  distributed 
last  spring  (not  one  of  Mr.  Pockett’s  varieties),  but  raised  by 
Mr.  Durban,  of  Tasmania.— W.  Wells,  Earlswood,  Surrey. 
Culture  of  Japanese  Varieties. 
If  we  wish  to  grow  the  Japanese  Chrysanthemums  as  bush 
plants,  the  general  treatment  will  not  differ  from  that  accorded 
to  incurved,  Anemone,  pompon,  or  reflexed  and  other  kinds  of 
Chrysanthemums ;  but,  if  we  wish  to  produce  large'  blooms,  the 
procedure  is  somewhat  different.  Chrysanthemums  as  a  class 
are  cultivated  in  numerous  ways — as  bush  plants,  dwarf  trained, 
small  plants  in  “  32  ”  and  “  48  ”  pots,  cut-down  plants,  and, 
others  solely  for  large  blooms.  We  will  take  first  the  plant  that 
is  required  to  produce  large  blooms  fit  for  exhibiting.  In  order 
to  start  well,  strong  cuttings  should  be  inserted  by  the  end  of 
November  or  early  in  December.  They  should  be  placed  singly 
in  small  pots  (thumbs),  three  or  four  in  a  larger  pot,  or  in  a  bed| 
prepared  for  them.  An  intermediate  temperature  should  be 
maintained,  and  they  may  be  kept  quite  close  until  they  have 
rooted.  Air  should  then  be  admitted,  slightly  at  first,  but  more 
freely  as  the  plants  become  stronger.  When  the  cuttings  are 
well  rooted,  they  should  be  potted  into  small  and  large  “GO” 
pots,  and,  if  possible,  they  should  then  be  put  into  a  frame 
where  they  can  be  kept  rather  close  for  a  few  days,  so  that  no 
check  takes  place. 
After  a  start  has  been  made — weather  permitting — the 
amount  of  air  should  be  gradually  increased,  and  when  well 
established  the  lights  should  be  removed  altogether  on  fine  days. 
The  next  shift  required  will  be  from  the  large  60’s  (3in)  to  32’s 
(5in),  and  from  the  small  60’s  to  48’s.  The  plants  should  be 
replaced  in  the  frame,  kept  close  until  they  have  recovered  from 
the  shift,  and  then  be  given  all  the  air  possible.  I  do  not  con¬ 
sider  it  safe  to  place  the  plants  outside  until  the  middle  of  May. 
The  position  chosen  for  them  should  be  as  sunny  as  possible 
and,  at  the  same  time,  be  sheltered  from  cold  winds.  Plants 
removed  from  the  protection  of  a  frame  and  suddenly  exposed 
to  cold  winds,  suffer  a  great  deal,  and  often  lose  many  of  their 
leaves. 
All  plants  should  now  be  staked,  not  finally,  but  with  a  stick 
sufficiently  long  to  prevent  them  being  broken  off  by  the  wind 
or  by  birds.  During  the  month  of  June  the  plants  will  require 
their  final  potting.  The  pots  generally  used  are  16in  and  12in, 
or  Sin  and  lOin,  and  the  plants  should  be  potted  very  firmly. — 
G.  Carpenter. 
- - 
Notes  on  Apples. 
Mr.  L.  Castle  told  me  some  years  since  that  experience  would 
show  that  Apples  vary  much  in  all  respects  from  climate  and  soil. 
Ho  foretold  correctly.  I  don’t  think  I  have  missed  reading  one 
issue  of  the  Journal  since  1875.  I  have  observed  your  practice 
is  to  be  liberal  to  all  of  us  with  your  space,  yet  it  is  not  often 
that  culturists  relate  results  not  concordant  with  accepted 
generalities.  Few  of  us  to-day  care  for  unclassified  facts.  We 
assume  they  are  facts;  but  life  in  a.  garden  leads  to  what  we  call 
variations  in  the  things  we  observe.  Hence  we  are,  and  ever  will 
be,  empirical.  How  advisable,  therefore,  to  collect  all  the 
“experiments”  or  “variations”  we  can.  Everyone  can  do  a 
little.  I  send  you  Apples  Mere  de  Menage,  Flanders  Pippin, 
and  Belle  de  Pontoise.  They  are  not  of  the  “select”  lists,  but 
they  are  good.  The  trees  and  fruits  have  much  in  common. 
They  grow  freely,  with  shoots  far  apart,  are  fair  fruiting,  and 
the  Apples  of  good  size.  Cut  out  cross  branches,  but  let  the 
others  alone ;  same  pruning  suits  such  as  Tower  of  Glamis 
and  Brabant  de  Bellefleur.  No  Apple  trees  sooner  show  a  lack  of 
phosphates  than  these.  Mere  de  Menage  is  slow  to  fruit,  earlier 
on  Paradise.  Along  the  east  coast  it  does  well ;  in  the  Midlands 
it  cracks,  casts,  cankers,  and  commits  all  manner  of  wrongs. 
Flanders  Pippin  is  not  in  fashion  ;  its  home  is  in  Worcester  and 
Hereford,  lit.  is  preferable  to  Mere  de  Menage,  because  it  keeps 
longer,  is  nicer  in  shape,  and  the  tree  bears  earlier.  The  None¬ 
such  stock  does  not  thrive  in  many  districts;  it  does  here.  Flan¬ 
ders  Pippin  grafted  upon  ft.  is  successful.  Probably  few  have  thus 
experimented,  but  a  trial  by  the  many  is  advisable,  for  of  all 
cooked  Apples  none  exceeds  in  digestibility  with  aged  persons 
this  and  Betty  Geeson.  This  may  seem  a  petty  remark  ;  it  is 
made  because  many  private  gardeners  can  increase  the  esti¬ 
mation  with  their  employers  when  they  supply  them  with  fruit 
they  like  and  can  digest.  Such  men  as  Mr.  W.  Crump  and  Mr. 
W.  Coleman  knew  this. 
Belle  de  Pontoise  has  not  met  with  the  approval  it  deserves. 
It  grows  and  fruits  well  here.  Mr.  Francis  Rivers  got  it  from 
France,  and  distributed  it  shortly  before  he  made  his  cooking 
tests,  which  were  related  in  the  Journal,  February  25.  1892. 
Cockle;s  Pippin  is  worthless  here — no  juice,  no  aroma.  It  does 
not  improve  with  late  keeping,  as  I  expected  it  would  do.  To¬ 
day,  December  1,  I  pulled  from  a  bush  tree,  and  ate,  the  American 
Apple  Jonathan,  which  I  had  purposely  left.  It  was  luscious. 
I  ate  another  in  the  store,  but  it  was  not  so  grateful  to  the 
palate.  My  inferences  from  Jonathan  are  that  some  Apples  will 
improve  if  left  on  the  tree  until  almost  winter,  that  often  it  is 
fallacious  to  say  the  quality  is  not  so  good  in  the  north  as  in 
the  south.  Anent  this,  I  instance  the  Melon  Apple.  I  have  it 
on  a  wall,  and  as  a  low  bush.  The  latter  produces  the  best  fruit 
freely;  the  former  is  a  sad  victim  to  scale.  If  you  want  a  soft, 
melting  flesh,  rich  with  aroma,  and  a  very  digestible  dessert  fruit, 
then  grow  the  Melon  Apple.  It  is  deficient  in  phloem  in  the  fruit 
stalk.  It  has  ripened  this  year,  and  Cox’s  Pomona  has  not. 
Whilst  I  am  on  eating  Apples,  which  are  excellent  and  can  be  well 
grown  on  and  near  a  line  drawn  eastwards  from  Cheshire,  I  must 
not  leave  out  James  Grieve.  I  cannot  write  too  much  in  its 
praise.  It  is  especially  useful  in  small  gardens. 
I  am  of  opinion  that  when  dessert  Apples,  which  are  digestible, 
soft  fleshed,  juicy,  and  rich  in  aromatic  flavour,  are  wanted  from 
July  to  January,  the  best  are  Irish  Peach,  Lady  Sudeley,  James 
Grieve,  Melon,  and  Cox’s  Orange  Pippin. — R.  C.  Appleton, 
F.L.S..  Beverley,  East  Yorks. 
