85 



PAPTRIJS ANTIQUORIJM. 



SiNCB the article on Papyrus anti- 

 quorum was written, one of the last 

 new boots of travel lias fallen into the 

 hands of the writer, and he finds that 

 boats made of bundles of reeds are 

 still in use in Peru and Bolivia. This 

 primitive kind of boat is called a 

 " Bal>'a." At page 107 of " Mark- 

 ham's Travels in Peru and India" will 

 be found a woodcut, w hich will give a 

 very i!Ood idea of the manner in which 

 these boats are constructed. They 

 are bound together in bundles, and 



then fastened longitudinally, so that a 

 boat capable of carrying some four or 

 five persons is thus formed. The sail 

 is made of reeds fastened together in 

 small parallel bundles in the same 

 way. These boats are commonly 

 used in Lake Titicaca and in the 

 rivers of Peru. M. de Castelnau says 

 that these boats exactly resemble 

 those represented on the tomb of 

 Rameses III. at Thebes. This is 

 jiuother of those curious links con- 

 necting the new world with the old. 



YAEIEGATED COLTSFOOT {Tussilago farfara var.) 



This is a superb plant for people ginal colour ; but a chalky or peaty 



who have but small means of pre- soil will be most likely to keep it 



serving variegated bedders. The true. It spreads rapidly, and may be 



leaf is blotched with a yellowish divided every season for increase ; 



cream colour, with a very small pro- and for a front line or for a solid bed 



portion of green. The variety shows it is exquisitely beautiful. 

 no tendency to sport back to its ori- 



THE GAEDEN GUIDE EOE APEIL. 



The month of April is one wliich gene- 

 rally tests severely the cultural capa- 

 bilities of the gardener, as well as Lis 

 ways and means. The weather may be 

 summer one day, and winter the next ; 

 and inexperienced hands may easily be 

 led astray by the temptations of warm 

 showers and sunshine, to regret, after- 

 wards, the havoc caused by sudden frosis, 

 storms, and even snow and hail. In tlie 

 general work of the garden, many of the 

 directions — especially as to sowing — given 

 last mcinth, apply to this, and moie par- 

 ticularly to those who hve in exposed dis- 

 tricts. We write for a London climate, 

 and our directions are based on the genw- 

 ral practice of gardening in and about 

 Middlesex, Surrey, and Heitfordsliire 

 Those wlio live far south, in the almost 

 Italian climate of Devonsiiire, will ofien 

 have things up at the time we are in- 

 structing tiiem to sow ; while residents on 

 the bleak Northumberland coast, or in 

 the eastern parts of Scotland, will always 

 be a fortnight, sometimes a month, be- 

 hind us. 



Kitchen Garden. — Successional sow^- 

 ings may be made of all leading kitchen 

 crops, and where the work ot the last 

 month lias been delayed, seeds got in early 



will not be much behind those sown last 

 month. Sow Windsor, longpod, and John- 

 son's wonderful Beans ; mairow, Auvergne, 

 and dwarf mammoth Peas, and a few rows 

 of the earliest sorts, to come in before the 

 late peas are ready. In small gardens the 

 dwarf kinds are always to be preferred. 

 Sowinga should also be made of horn 

 Cariot, Savoy, Brussels' sprouts, Scotch 

 kale, Broccoli, Cauliflowers, and Cabbages, 

 for autumn use ; a succession of such 

 things being preferable to a glut all at 

 once for the private grower. Among cab- 

 bages, Atkins's Matchless, Shilling's 

 Queen, early York, and West Ham, are 

 good sorts to sow now, but the main crop 

 of cabbages should be up by this time, and 

 must be hoed between when the ground is 

 in a fit state. Beet should be sown in tha 

 second week in ground deeply dug, but 

 not manured ; the main crop of Celery 

 should be sown on a rich warm border, 

 the surface to be made light and fine ; 

 sow thin, and merely dust the seed over. 

 Sow also Onions, Lettuce, Eadish, t^mall 

 Salad, Sea-kale, and Asparajius ; the two 

 last in I rills, one foot apart, and one inch 

 deep for asparagus, and two inches for 

 sea-kale. Another moile of raising sea- 

 kale plants is to sov in four-feet beds, 



