April 25, 1872. ] 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTUBE AND COTTAGE GABDENEE. 



349 



iug the makesbilts often scan at country exhibitions, such as I Hawlcesyard Park a number of years, having been a pupil of 

 temporary ooverings of mats over an orJinarv spring waggon ; I one of the best plant-growers of his day, Mr. May, whose name 

 at Hawkesyard there is a set of proper plant-vans built to pass , often appeared in the prize lists of the horticultural shows of 

 along the radway, and with wheels so low that tall plants I twenty years ago. When I was at Hawkesyard the good eon- 

 could be carried, j ditiou of the whole collection, whether in flower or not, was 

 The kitchen gai-deu was small, but all was in such order as I such as would be appreciated by all who are judges in such 

 to reflect great credit on Mr. Chapman, who has been at | matters. — .J. Eobson. 



HEEACLEUM GIGANTEUM. 

 This genus derives its name from Hercules, in reference to | of the scene. The usual height which it attains in good soil 



the size of many of the species ; one of them (H. Sphondylium), | is 12 

 i< well knowni bv its 



13 feet. As the illustration shows, it forms a bold, 

 distinct, and hand- 



EugUsh name Cow- 

 Parsnip. There is 

 a goodly number of 

 species, but on ac- 

 count of the simi- 

 larity of form many 

 of them are diffi- 

 cult to distinguish ; 

 indeed, I suspect 

 that the fraits are 

 the most certain 

 means of identifi- 

 cation. The mem- 

 bers of this genus 

 are widely scatttr- 

 ed over the glole, 

 some occurring in 

 Em-ope, some in 

 -America, others in 

 India. A few of 

 them are turned to 

 economic purposes 

 by the inhabitants 

 of the particular lo- 

 calities in which 

 they are found. 



Heracleums have 

 not found much fa- 

 vour in a general 

 way with the ma- 

 jority of pi ant - 

 growers , but now 

 tliat beauty of form 

 ill plants for the 

 pleasure ground is 

 beginning to be ap- 

 preciated, those re- 

 markable for thtir 

 distinctiveness and 

 commanding ap- 

 pearance canuot 

 faU to become fa- 

 vourites. Heracle- 

 um giganteum, of 

 which the accom- 

 panying represen- 

 tation appeared in 

 M.Alphand's'>P.o- 

 menades de Paris," 

 is a native of Si- 

 beria. It is very 

 easily raised from 

 seed, and usually I unlcuu 



attains its full di- 

 mensions the second year; it flourishes in rough, rich, deep 

 sod, such as loam, or even clay, and if in the vicinity of water 



somegi'oup, the fo- 

 liage yielding in 

 eft'ect to none of 

 the tropical plants 

 that can be used. 

 This, in conjunc- 

 tion with the fact 

 that the plant can 

 be raised from seed 

 with the greatest 

 ease, as well as in- 

 creased by the divi- 

 sion of tiie crowns 

 in spring, renders 

 it specially useful 

 to amateurs baring 

 but little accommo- 

 dation for tender 

 plants. It must, 

 however, be im- 

 prcf?ed upon the 

 minds of these who 

 use these plants, 

 that something 

 must be growing 

 near them to take 

 their place in au- 

 tumn, for they will 

 not continue to 

 adorn the pleasure 

 grounds much later 

 than the beginning 

 of August, by which 

 time their growth 

 will be matured , and 

 they then rapidly 

 decay. If it is re- 

 quisite that the 

 blank left should 

 l,e filled up, some 

 other strong-grow- 

 ing plant should 

 be held in reserve, 

 such as Castor Oil, 

 Cani.a, or whatever 

 may best please the 

 taste of the ama- 

 tiiir ; f.r if a prc-per 

 situation has been 

 selected, the sur- 

 rounding vegeta- 

 tion may have as- 

 n lu crnn sumed such propor- 



tions that no assist- 

 ance wiU be necessary. This is a point which must always 

 be kept in view by those using herbaceous plants in the sub- 



it not only grows stronger, biit adds materially to the beauty | tropical style of gai-dening.— Expeeto Cfepe. 



HONEYDEW— WHAT IS IT? 



Professor Dyer, in a lecture recently delivered before the 

 Royal Horticultural Society, made the following obsen-ations : — 



It has been supposed that aphides, after h.aving drawn the 

 boneydew from the parenchyma, discharged it again scarcely 

 altered ; but it is contrai-y to the results of analysis to assign it 

 a composition similar to that of leaf sap. It is, however, ad- 

 mitted that certain insects possess the faculty of deter minin g 

 the production of inanna. Thus it is to the punctures of a 



Coccus that Ehrenberg and Heimprich attribute the formation 

 of the manna which is still found on the mountams of Smai. 

 ■ The manna falls to the ground from the air— that is to say, 

 from the summit of a tree, and not from the sky. The Arabs 

 call it man, and they, as weU as the Greek monks, coUec_t it to 

 eat upon bread in the same way as honey. I have myself seen 

 it fall, coUeeted it, and brought it to Berlin with the plant and 

 the remains of the insect. This species of manna is produced 



