November 27, 18.3. ] JODBNAL OP HOETICULT0RE AND COTTAGE GAKDENEB. 



419 



cuanha in the Eame country from seeds sent from Kew, and 

 under the care of Kew gardeners, is another fact which cannot 

 he dwelt upon with too much pride by Dr. Hool^er. It was 

 made known as early as 164S by the physician Piso that this 

 powder was a cure for dysentery, but this linowledge seems to ■ 

 have been forgotten until the present time, when it was found 

 to be really a specific for the disease when taken in large 

 doses. The value of such a drug as this and the Cinchona 

 bark to Europeans in the East is certainly incalculable ; but 

 the Director of Kew Gardens, with the largo view he has taken 

 of the true value of such a botanical centre as he directs, has 

 made efforts to disseminate throughout our wide domains 

 many other valuable plants, valuable in a commercial as well 

 as in a medical sense. He has recognised in the reports that 

 he annually issues the remarkable fact that, notwithstanding 

 the extent of our colonies in tropical countries, not one of 

 them produces tobacco ! To meet this great want he has sent 

 gardeners to cultivate this invaluable herb in Jamaica, and 

 wo hear that the produce is equal to the best grown in Cuba. 

 In Xatal, through his instrumentality, plantations have sprung 

 np, and now, we hear, they are sufficient to supply the demands 

 of the gold-diggers in their neighbourhood. The island of 

 Bermuda has, by his direction, been planted with valuable 

 products. In short, the nursing mother at Kew has done 

 good service in enriching our colonies with valuable plantations, 

 which will conduce to the welfare of their inhabitants for all 

 future generations. 



The method of transferring plants where it is necessary to 

 do so, is by means of the convenient Wardian cases, in which 

 the most tender plants can be conveyed safely and in good 

 condition. Before these were invented plants were conveyed 

 in a ship's hold, subject to all the impurities of salt water and 

 air that such places of carriage are liable to, which rendered 

 the safety of transport of delicate trees and shrubs very pro- 

 blematical. Now, with a httle care, the most delicate growths 

 are conveyed from one hemisphere to another quite safely. 

 For years the exchange of floras has been going on ; trees as 

 well as settlers are migrating to our colonies, and the vege- 

 table world of the far distant temperate zone is slowly making 

 a footing in our fields and pastures. Of this imperial work 

 the public know nothing ; it is carried on systematically and 

 in silence, and the mere holiday folk who throng to these 

 Gardens, imagining that the beauty they see is merely for 

 their gratification, would be astonished to find that from this 

 heart, so to speak, every dependency of the empire is nourished 

 and supplied with the plants and vegetation that is useful to it. 

 And not only our colonies are so supplied, but the home 

 demand is also considerable. From the nurseries of Kew 

 Gardens Battersea, Hyde, and the Victoria Parks have been 

 planted and renewed with trees. One of the best testimonies 

 to the smooth working and the beneficial action of this public 

 establishment under the present directorship is the harmony 

 that exists between it and the proprietors of different private 

 nurseries in the country. The profusion of gifts of rare 

 flowers and shrubs constantly flowing in from them not only 

 shows the high estimation in which Kew is regarded as a 

 botanical garden, but the liberal manner in which its resources 

 have been judiciously dispensed among themselves. Of the 

 estimation in which the gardens are held by the pubUc it is 

 scarcely necessary to speak. The crowded steamers that pass 

 up the river on every hohday, and on Sundays and Mondays, 

 are a sufficient answer. A few figures, however, will suftlce to 

 show the boon the opening of these gardens has been to the 

 pabUc as a mere pleasure-ground to all classes of the people, 

 for we scarcely know which class seems the most thoroughly 

 to enjoy them. During the first year, 1841, after the grounds 

 were opened to the public, the number entering the gates was 

 9174. A gradual increase took place year by year until 18.50, 

 when 179,627 passed the gates. The next year, the Groat 

 Exhibition year, saw the number increased to .■i27,900. Even 

 this large number very speedily became surpassed by the 

 visitors of ordinary years, the number during 1872 being 

 5.53,219. No doubt the figures for the entire present year 

 will give the largest number of visitors Kew Gardens has yet 

 received. The Director, thoroughly taken up as he is with 

 the scientific character of the gardens, j'et has not neglected 

 their popular character. The broad avenue leading towards 

 the Palm house, during the early spring and summer months 

 is a triumph of floriculture as regards mere masses of colour. 

 The Khododendron beds, when in bloom, are perfectly match- 

 less, and the turf beside them a carpet of the most brilliant 

 dyes. Howeyer ardent a botanist, this much Dr. Hooker 



wisely concedes to the vast crowds who come here merely 

 to enjoy the delights of a glorious garden, set in a still more 

 glorious pleasure-ground and park. We heartily rejoice to 

 think that the temporary differences which had arisen between 

 this truly eminent man and one of the departments of Govern- 

 ment are now entirely at an end, by the transfer to another 

 office of the person who had occasioned them. But however 

 trying it may have been to Dr. Hooker to be engaged in so un- 

 worthy a contest, he was backed in it by the strenuous support 

 of the whole scientific world, and he received the strongest 

 assurances of the confidence and gratitude of the public. — 

 {Edinburgh liei'iew.) 



SOLANUM CAPSICASTRUM BERKIES NOT 



POISONOUS. 



In answer to your correspondent. "W. S.," I can state a 

 little incident that occurred this summer. I planted out about 

 fifty plants of this Solauum in the spring, with the intention 

 of Hftiug them again in the autumn, as by this plan I find 

 their berries very much better. Several times during the 

 summer I saw my children eating the green berries, and I was 

 rather frightened the first time, but as no evil consequences 

 ensued I took no further notice. On many occasions since, I 

 have seen them eating the berries, and last week I saw them 

 eating some ripe berries which they had picked from some 

 plants that had come within their reach. — William Goldey, 

 Tlie Niirseri/, ilalvern Street, Sparlcbrooh, Birmingham. 



In reply to your correspondent, " W. S.," in No. 6G0, I can 

 state that the berries of Solanum Capsicastrum are not poison- 

 ous, at least [not to mice, as, in defiance of cats and traps, I 

 lost every berry last winter. I believe they did not eat the 

 seeds, but only the fleshy part of the berry.— Thos. Prossbb, 

 Gardener, Bridge Hill, Canterbury. 



MOLES. 

 We have plenty of practice, moles being plentiful here. 

 Wherever moles "rise" (as it is here called) in gardens or 

 pleasure grounds, the best plan is to find the main run if 

 possible ; this can be done by treading the soU that the mole 

 has raised to the point where the run makes an entry into the 

 garden or grounds ; hero we place the trap. The soil must be 

 cleared, so as to leave sufficient space to put the trap in the 

 run. All loose soil should be taken out of the run, and the 

 same made quite smooth, as if a mole had just passed along 

 it ; then insert the trap. Now take some of the soil around, 

 press it together in small lumps; put these over the run 

 around the trap to prevent the fine soil from falling into the 

 smooth run. After all holes round the trap are stopped finish 

 off with fine soU, covering trap and all, thus lea\'ing the run 

 quite dark. The kind of trap used here is the old wooden 

 trap common in many parts of the country, but without the 

 sticks to keep it in its position and to form the spring. Instead 

 of the sticks we have a piece of wire about the thickness of a 

 drawing pencil bent in four coils, so as to form a spring — thus, 



O The lower end is fitted to the centre of the trap on 



the upper side ; the top wire receives the string which is to 

 strangle the mole. Traps with these springs require no pegs 

 to keep them in position in the run. Good places to set traps 

 are where the run crosses a path, or where the surface of the 

 soil is soUd. We have also caught a good many at the foot 

 of the garden walls. The months in which we catch most 

 moles are .July and August, when they seem to run more at 

 the surface of the ground, especially after heavy rains. — 

 G. H. Cooke, Petiiarth. 



Polyanthus. — I read with pleasure the observations of 

 " Philanthos," but find it difficult to cultivate the Polyanthus, 

 because of slugs and birds. The former are kept at bay by a 

 rim of lime, but this is so hideous that I would rather dispense 

 with the plants. " Piiilantiios" is fortunate to have had such 

 success near a Holly hedge. With respect to thrum-eyed 

 seedlings, I have found that when planted in rich soil some 

 have become pin-eyed. I have never seen this noticed in any 

 work. — G. S. 



[Old Furber, who wrote in Queen Anne's time, alludes to 

 this fact. He says, " Only this I can assure them, that I havo 

 had several of them that havo been what they call thrum-eyed 



