THE TROt^JCAL AQntCiJLTVRiST. 



fjUNE I, iS86, 



followed as au additional safe-guard against seed mer- 

 chants say— accidentally dishonest. A few preliminary sif t- 

 ings of the seed having been made, the steep is prepared : 

 the stronger, relatively, the brine is, thu more it will 

 allow only the plumper and heavier seeds to tall to the 

 bottom. On the latter is placed a fine sieve, which 

 receives the sinking seed. The contents of the sioyo 

 are next spread out on a sheet and rapidly dried in 

 the air, when the seed can be immediately sown by 

 hand or machine. 



Potato-culture is likely to receive a new impetus, 

 since the plan of solliug them peeled, sliced and dried 

 like certain fruits, scums to hit the tastes of the 

 export market. Thu drying of the potatoes can follow 

 the period of the dessication of fruits. The method 

 obviates decay and germination of the tuber, and oc- 

 cupying a less voUune, transport will be cheaper anil 

 less difficult. The potatoes are peeled by machinery : 

 next carefully washed, sliced into rounds, and left for 

 20 minutes in a strong solution of kitchen salt. The 

 brine induces firmness in the slices and prevents their 

 changing color — thus securing what sulphur does for 

 fruits. Later, the cuttings are left to drain, placed in 

 the drying apparatus on hurdle shelves, aud submitted 

 to a temperature varying from 176 to 194 degrees 

 Fah. They must remain a little longer in this hot 

 air bath than fruit. Before using, the slices have to 

 be steeped twelve to fifteen hours in water, when they 

 will become as] fresh and as fiavoury as new pota- 

 toes. 



Professor Schribaux draws attention to the scarcity 

 of good beet seed this year, and the fraudulent pro- 

 cesses of merchants of drying inferior seeds, as well 

 as steeps, to deceive the unwary. Tlie real gram of 

 seed of the beet is contained in a capsule, but at 

 least these capsules ought to give from 70 to 80 

 sprouts of germs. If this percentage be realized, by 

 a test germination, the seed may be accepted. 



Strawberry Gkowino in ENOtiND.— Strawberry 

 growing by the hundred acres was surely an American 

 invention, but our English cou.sins are fast following in 

 our wake. Oardeninr) lUnslrutcd says that If. E. 

 Vinson & Co., of Swanlcy in Kent, liave 500 acres, 

 which yielded about l,0(iO tons last year. They 

 employ about 1,000 hands in the marketing season, 

 300 being pickers. These live in tents, scattered over 

 the fruit farm. The worst fruit is not sent to 

 market, but is made hito jam on the spot. — Gardeners' 

 Monthly. 



Gekman Method to Gimss a . Bank.— For each 

 square rod to be planted take half a pound of la\vn- 

 gross seed and mix it intimately and thoro\ighly with 

 6 cubic feet of good dry garden earth and loam. This 

 should be placed in a tub, and liq\ud manure diluted 

 with about two-thirds of water added aud well stirred 

 in, so as to bring the whole to the consisteucy of 

 mortar. The slope must be cleaned and made per- 

 fectly smooth, and then well watered, after which the 

 paste just mentioned should be applied with a trowel, 

 and made as even and thin as possible. Should it 

 crack from exposure to the air, it must be again 

 watered aud smoothed up day by day until the grass 

 makes its appearance, which will be in from eight to 

 fourteen days, when the whole declivity will soon be 

 covered with a close carpet of green.— Onjrfoirr.s' 

 Ghrtmicle. 



CocONiiT.s IN New Jersey.— The following is from a 

 Philadelphia paper:— "It will no doubt surprise our 

 readers to learn that successful efforts have been made 

 by English capitalists to domesticate in Euglaml cer- 

 tain species of coconut palm that is iiuw growing 

 there at all seasons aud producing fruit, which, it 

 it be true, we shall have efforts made to domesticate 

 the .same tree on the Jersey coast, so that the seaside 

 resorts along that shore may in due time assume a 

 tropical aspect with palm trees growing in the open air." 

 The original paragraph was of courses intended, as 

 the English say, asa " rig" on the ignoramuses who do 

 not know that tropical hoat, aud a tempurature ucver 



lower than 45 * , is necessary to grow a coconut palm of 

 any " species." Our Philadelphia friend had better get 

 out of the bole by asseverating that he was simply 

 })layiug a game oa the Jerseymen. Still, with the 

 dense popular ignorance of the simplest facts in garden- 

 ing which so thoroughly prevails, the nurserymen aud 

 seedsmen will soon, as in the case of the famous 

 Eucalyptus, be run down with orders for coconuts of 

 "a certain species" for planting along the cost from 

 New iTersey to Labra<Ior, and they had better provide 

 themselves with something, even though they be 

 Osage Orange balls, for the silly people who will have 

 something or deem you " one-horse coucerns, not up to 

 the times," it you have not what they ask for.— 

 Gat'dcners' Mtyiithhj. 



Many Si'ECies of Australian native trees are known 

 to be extremely rich in tannin, notably several kiiiils of 

 wattle; but in many cases much the same difticulty is 

 experienced in economically extracting the valu.able 

 ingrcdit-nts as has so long frustrated the efforts of iron 

 smelters to extract iron from the Tarauaki sands. An 

 Adelaide firm has, however, lately patented ^ a new 

 process of their own invention for extracting the 

 tanning material from the wattle tree — a process in 

 which the whole of the tree is used, and an enormous 

 waste thereby prevented. If this process can be applied 

 to other trees containing tannin a double economy will 

 be effected — first, of the wood which is consiuueil in 

 the extriiction of the tannin; and, secondly, in the 

 increased facilities for preparing Australian bides. 

 The discovery of a new tannin-yielding plant lends 

 additional interest to the iuveution, and at the saine 

 time affords another illustratiou of the value of scientific 

 botany as applied to the stvuly and eouservution of the 

 tlora of the Colonies. The Conservator offForests in 

 South Australia bus fouud a new species of .Vcaeia, to 

 which he has giving the name of Acacia Spillcriana, 

 and the bark of which contains 1.5 per cent of tannic 

 acid. It was discovered in the Ifundrpd of Bright, but 

 has since been found in the Wirrabara Forest. It 

 seldom exceeds 8 feet in height, but is occasionally met 

 with as high as 10 feet. The bush forms a handsome 

 evergreen shrub, is well brauched, comparatively dense 

 in foliage, and when in flower is a pleasing feature in 

 the scrub vegefcition where it abounds. — Colonies and 

 India. 



Seedlinc FEiiNS.- It you want Ferns to lu.\uriate, 

 and seedlings to .spring up by hundreds, you must 

 keep the water- pot in use winter and summer; the 

 very life of Ferns is water, as .anyone may prove by the 

 luxuriance of our hardy native Ferns, as well as tho 

 great variety that are naturalized i n localities where 

 the moisture is excessive, and their almost total absence 

 in dry, arid districts. Look at the healthy, luxuriant 

 specimens that one finds hanging to the bricks or 

 stones at the top of wells, where they arc daily 

 drenched with water winter and summer, and compare 

 them with the same varieties under a glass r.iof where 

 the water-pot and hose are put by for mouths during 

 winter. I know many very successful amateur Feru 

 cultivators who keep their plants in robust health 

 with but very limited accommodation, for, unliko 

 flowering plants, they do not re.iuire strong light, but 

 do best in the sh.ide ; and as to soil, they will grow i_u 

 nearly any kind if the drainage is good, ami when this 

 is perfect' they can hardly be overdone with water. To 

 anyone anxious to try the raising of seedling I'Vrns who 

 may not have a glass-house of their own, I would advise 

 the half-filling of a shallow box with rough, porous 

 material with a little fine soil worked amongst it, and 

 on this lay auy old Fern fronds that have the seed- 

 spores visible on the backs of them. Keep constantly 

 moist by means of a very fiuo-rosed water-iiol^or 

 syringe, and cover with a large .sheet of glass to prevent 

 evaporatiiiii, set in any Harm position, and await the 

 result; if successful, the surface-oil will soon be covered 

 with green scale-like growths, aud then the various 

 forms of leaves will spring up ; let them make two or 

 three good leaves, and then carefully lift with all the 

 roofs that can be got. and pot in I! inch pnts in light, 

 sandy soil. A mixture of turf that is partly decayed, 

 peat, aud saud, will grow any of the ordinary kind of 

 I'trui to perfuctiou.— tf«)v/<?iin? lUuitrated. 



