586 



GARDENERS' CHRONICLE 



Euialypli are best raised from seed in a gentle heat in early Sprmg. 

 as they then grow away freely and soon form effective plants. 



The 



Pineapple Scented Salvia is remarkable for the scent given 

 off by the leaves when they are slightly agitated, but if they are 

 at all bruised the pleasing fragrance is superseded by a stronger 

 and less pleasant one. A very old plant with scented leaves is the 



Balm of Gilead, which used to" be known as Dracoccphalum 

 canariciisc, but now known as Cedronella Iriphylla. It is valuable 

 in the greenhouse, and used to be much grown, but is now rarely 

 met with. — Gardening lUustralcd. 



SIZE IN VEGETABLES 



It is probable that much discussion will be evoked by the 

 announcement made that the Royal Horticultural Society had 

 decided to place quality before size in judging vegetables. Ihere 

 will naturally be on all hands a good deal of sympathy with the 

 proposal which, after all, is only an extension of a practice intro- 

 duced some years ago with respect to the trials of potatoes at 

 Wisley But although everyone will agree that unless vegetables 

 are of good flavor mere size is no recommendation, yet those 

 who know most of the art of cultivation will foresee grave dif- 

 ficulties in the general and consistent application of the cooking 

 test. For example, the length of time which elapses between 

 picking and exhibiting— which necessarily varies with the clis- 

 tance of the exhibitor from Vincent Square— makes a large de- 

 ference in flavor between two vegetables of the same kind and 

 varietv. Moreover, although large size is in some cases an un- 

 desirable qualitv— in carrots and turnips, for instance; in the 

 case of other vegetables it may be the best possible guarantee ot 

 good quality. Who, for example, would eat small leeks when 

 he could get large ones, or who would not prefer the mside 

 stalks of a large-grown head of celery to those from a small- 

 grown head? Little brussels sprouts have, unless we are mis- 

 Taken, a stronger dose of the objectionable cabbage flavor than 

 have large sprouts. But behind these questions of individual 

 taste there remain larger and more important ones. The main 

 purposes of exhibitions are to demonstrate and encourage horti- 

 cultural skill and to spread knowledge of gardening. It is easier 

 to grow a thing of moderate size than of maximum size, and 

 hence in default of a better method, size has come to be one of 

 the chief criteria of excellence. Needless to say, it has never 

 been among good judges the only or the chief criterion, for the 

 somewhat indefinable but very real question of quality has al- 

 ways been insisted upon by them. Everyone knows that among 

 fruits size beyond a certain point means often a decrease in flavor; 

 but, on the other hand, commercial horticulture, the interests of 

 which must not be forgotten, has to consider the marketing 

 quality of the fruit no less— and we fear sometimes more— than 

 its flavor. The best-flavored strawberries, for instance, rarely 

 reach the market, either because they are relatively poor doers 

 or because they do not travel well. Hence, it looks as though it 

 would be necessary for the Royal Horticuluiral Society to create, 

 in some cases, new classes and to distinguish between those of 

 fruit and vegetables which are best for private and for com- 

 mercial use. It is certainly a praiseworthy work to endeavor to 

 improve popular taste but, unless we are mistaken, it will prove 

 very difficult. If successful, this work will lead in a much 

 desired direction, namely, towards improvement of flavor instead 

 of mere augmentation of size. It will, we hope, lead yet further- 

 namely, to the improvement of the feeding-value of vegetables. 

 Work in this direction was initiated some years ago at Wisley. 

 Even so far as it has gone this work has shown that marked 

 differences of feeding-value exist between different varieties 

 of potato, and there is little doubt but that' similar dift'erences 

 exist between varieties of other vegetables. Even there the room 

 for research does not cease ; for vegetables provide, as is now 

 well known, accessory food bodies which play important parts in 

 maintaining health. Indeed, it is probably no exaggeration to say 

 that it is iVpon the amounts and kinds of these vitamines .that the 

 food values of vegetables chiefly depend. To test these, however, 

 is beyond the powers even of a chef, and we must at present 

 admit our ignorance as to whether different varieties of vegetables 

 have dift'erent vitamine values. — The Gardeners' Chronicle (Brit- 

 ish). 



soil is lacing turned up it seems highly prolable that a dressing 

 of lime will be valuable; where, however, only the surface soil 

 is being dealt with, the need for lime must depend on the crop. 

 The cabbage tribe, swedes, etc., are usually the first to suffer 

 from shortage of lime, and they show the effect by the well-known 

 finger-and-toe or club-root, which is not to be confused with the 

 club-root of tomatoes, or the galls produced by certain insects on 

 swedes. — South African Gardening and Country Life. 



FLOWERS FOR AN EDGING 



Aubrietia and dwarf Campanula are to my mind extremely suit- 

 able for edgings. Snails and slugs harbor everywhere, but we 

 might as well have flowers for an edging as stiff clipped Box, 

 and we can grow Spring-flowering bulbs in such edgings as Au- 

 bretia and Campanula jnuralis. — The Garden. 



Grafting Wa.r or Tree Styptic. — The very best grafting wax 

 I have used is made as follows : — Melt together in a glue pot or 

 similar vessel 16 oz. of common rosin or resin (powdered), 8 

 oz. of methylated spirit and 1^ oz. of olive oil. Apply with a 

 small brush. In a few days it will set hard on the grafted part. 

 The melted wax keeps in a liquid state for several days, and 

 can always be re-melted. It is cheap and good. — The Gardeners' 

 Chronicle (British). 



Leaf -Mould. — It is not wise to use decayed leaves of Walnut, 

 Horse Chestnut and Sycamore in quantity for pot plants, though 

 they can be used safely out of doors. The reason they are un- 

 suitable for pot plants is a mechanical one, for they do not exert 

 the same opening effect upon the soil as leaves like Oak or 

 Beech. The leaves of Oak and Beech form better leaf-mould 

 than the leaves of other trees. — The Garden. 



WITHHOLDING LIME 



Some crops, like potatoes and rhubarb, grow better with- 

 out lime than with it ; both of these prefer a rather acid soil, 

 and in the case of potatoes, one of the pests — the well-known 

 potato scab — can flourish in a limed, but not in an unlimed. 

 soil. Both on account of its manner of growth and to avoid 

 this pest therefore, the potato crop is better without a direct 

 application of lime than with it. Again, in the few ex- 

 periments that have been made, tomatoes have done better with- 

 out than with additional lime, but in these cases there was al- 

 ready a certain proportion of lime in the soil. Where raw sub- 



I DEPARTMENT OF BOOK REVIEWS 



Science of Plant Life, by Edgar Nelson Transeau; World 

 Book Company, Yonkers-on-Hudson, New York. 



As a high school botany this polished little work seeins to be, 

 in plan and in execution, without a flaw. Its accuracy, thorough- 

 ness and workability are testified to by the fact that before it 

 was issued it was carefully examined and tried by not only 

 able scholars but persons actually teaching the subject in various 

 parts of the country. It is a work valuable to all students of 

 plant life, theoretical and practical, for it shows "full appreci- 

 tion of the fact that the fundamental reason for giving botany 

 a place in our general scheme of education is that it is the 

 natural scientific background for the great plant-producing arts." 

 The author is "one of those who think that our work in botany 

 should serve as a basis for agriculture, horticulture and forestry, 

 just as physics and chemistry form the natural background of 

 our industrial and manufacturing life." "The fundamental aim 

 of this text is to give the pupil understanding of how a plant 

 lives and is affected by its environment." Gardeners in general 

 should be glad that there is available a book like this to quicken, 

 in the developing minds of the young people, appreciation of the 

 things, and love for them, that immediately not only maintain 

 all physical life but also foster to so great an extent the things 

 that are above and beyond "bread alone." 



The -\merican Rose Annual — 1921, edited by Horace Mc- 

 Farland ; published at the Editorial Office of the American Rose 

 Society, Harrisburg, Pa. 



The new handbook, which goes, with a hearty welcome of 

 course, into the hands of the more than 2,200 members of the 

 society drawn together by worship of the Queen of Flowers, is 

 again an example of perfect editing. The many pithy articles 

 include the usual valuable record of Doctor Van Fleet's work, 

 the results of practical experiments, under the many varying con- 

 ditions that surrounded the culture of a flower so universally 

 cherished, and the usual lists, becoming yearly more interesting, 

 of varieties new and old. Four articles are of outstanding note- 

 worthiness. One is a splendid account of Roses in .\ntiquity. 

 The second, composed with similar scholarly skill, is entitled 

 Roses — Clergy — Churches. The third tells how "the desirability 

 of using our native roses, commonly called wild roses, for 

 various purposes in landscape design, as well as a cover for 

 unsightly places, embankments and the like, is being gradually 

 recognized by our landscape gardeners and rosarians." It goes 

 on to tell how "if the habits and beauty of the wild roses had 

 long since been realized, they would have been extensively availed 

 of." There follow well thought out lists of the various species 

 for different regions, sites, soils and purposes. A fourth reveals 

 how few are the roses offered by traveling agents, and how 

 inferior the varieties; every one who reads must feel impelled 

 to urge the nurseries that sell through brightly colored pictures 

 carried about the country, to mend their ways, in justice to the 

 rose and to people who are not informed by such a medium 

 as the Rose .-Xniuial. 



