Aagast 8, IMT. ] 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GAJIDENER. 



99 



appeared to be Tall Green Mammoth ; and the Committee recommended 

 that they be sent to ("biswick and proved. l'"rom Mr. J. \Vil80u, gar- 

 dener to Sir Kalph Howard, Fulham, came two large Cucumbere of 

 the variety called Lord Harris. 



Genkral Meeting. — Ilev. Joshna Dix in the chair. The bnaineas 

 was confined to thn election of tun new Fellows and the announce- 

 mont of tho Committee awards. 



THE SUGAR CANK. 



The Sugar Cane is one of a genus of many species of tall 

 Grasses. Like most cultivated plants, it consists of several 

 permanent varieties, differing in size, in tho colour of the 

 epidermis, and in the proportion of saccharine matter they 

 contain. Like most of the cereals, the Sugar Cane has not 

 been traced to its wild state. In its cultivated state it has 

 been found in many independent places, often remote from 

 each other, and bearing independent names. Its geographical 

 limits are nearly the same as those of Cotton — that is, extending 

 from the equator to about the 30tU degree of latitude. Like 

 Cotton, its culture has been pushed up to the 40th degree but 

 even with less success, for the cane takes a year to arrive at 

 maturity, and is therefore liable to be cut off by severe frosts. 



In what country the Sugar Cane was first cultivated it is out 

 of our power to discover; but, as far as we know, it has been 

 immemorially cultivated in the tropical and subtropical parts 

 of Hindustan, in the nindu-Chinese countries, in the tropical 

 and subtropical parts of China and Japan, in the Malay and 

 Philippine Archipelagos, and in the tropical islands of the 

 Pacitic. There is no evidence of its having been cultivated in 

 any country west of the Indus. It was unknown as a wild plant 

 in Australia and New Zealand, and is unquestionably an exotic 

 in America. The Greeks and Romans knew nothing of sugar 

 but as an article of trade. They were uncertain about the 

 cotmtry which produced it, and ignorant of the plant which 

 yielded it. The Arabs, on the contrary, brought the plant 

 itself from India, with the Indian name of its produce, cultivated 

 it in Syria, in Egypt, in Greece, in North Africa, in Spain, in 

 Sicily, and in Southern Italy, manufacturing sugar from it in 

 all these jlices. 



At what time the Arabs introduced the culture of tho cane 

 and the manufacture of sugar into Syria and Egypt is unknown, 

 but it is ascertained that sugar was imported into Venice from 

 the countries enumerated at the end of the tenth century. The 

 Crusaders found the cane cultivated in Syria as early as the 

 beginning of the twelfth century. In the year 1120, or seventy- 

 two years before the discovery of America, the Portuguese carried 

 the Sugar Cane to Madeira. In the fifteenth century the 

 Spaniards carried Ihe cane and manufacture of sugar to the 

 Canary Islands, from whence they were conveyed to tropical 

 America and its islands. In 1503, or about eleven years after 

 its discovery, the culture and manufacture were fully established 

 in Hispaniola. Sugar was, however, an article of consumption 

 in Western Europe long before the discovery of America. 

 England was supplied from the emporia of Venice and Antwerp, 

 and in the time of Shakspeare the name of the article was so 

 familiar as already to have its secondary or figurative meaning, 

 as in the expression, " sugared words." — (Mr. Graufurd on the 

 Migration of Plunts.) 



NEW PEAS. 



Mr. H. A. Stephens, of Ealing, has reported so favourably 

 on Taber's Early Perfection Pea, that it is scarcely necessary 

 to add anything to what he has so well stated. It certainly 

 produces more haulm than either Dillistone's, Ringleader, or 

 Dickson's First .and Best, probably on account of the superior 

 strength of constitution and hardiness which it undoubtedly 

 possesses. Now this is an important point, and it deserves 

 recognition from the market gardener who grows a quantity of 

 etu-ly Peas under field culture, both for the yield and for the 

 straw. Tho latter is of considerable value to the market gar- 

 dener, and 1 have no hesitation in saying that while Taber's 

 Perfection Pea will produce a crop as early as any variety of 

 a similar character, it also yields a larger quantity of straw, 

 perhaps to the enhanced value of some £2 or £3 per acre. 



Taber's No. 68 must not be too rudely dismissed as identical 

 with Dickson's Favourite. With me, on stiff strong land, it 

 grows from 12 to 18 inches high — dwarfer than Dickson's Fa- 

 vourite : the pods are larger, it crops plentifully, and it is of 

 • rich flavour when served for table. 

 .Last year Messrs. Stuart & Mein, of Kelso, sent me a large, 



white, wrinkled Marrow Pea, containing some seeds sligbtlj 

 olive, which they called The Prince. I was much pleased with 

 it last year, but wished to try it against Mr. Turner's Premier, 

 a variety very similar in character. In height (about 2 J feet), 

 and in habit they are very similar, but The Prince is the 

 earlier by a few days. Both are a little later, perhaps, than 

 Veitcli's Perfection, but more robust and hardy in the habit. 

 The Piinco has a smaller pod than Premier, but it is literally 

 crowded with fine Peas ; in fact, some of the pods burst open, 

 there not being room enough for the Peas. Doth are very fine 

 varieties, and for a main crop one or the other should be grown. 

 They bear profusely, literally from top to bottom. — RiCHAitD 

 Dean, Ealing. 



PARIS UNIVERSAL EXHIBITION. 

 nEroRT as fruits and veoktaisles, dried or preserved. 



BY ROBERT HOGG, IJ..D., F.L.S. 



Tms class (71), embraces all .sncb frnits and vegetables as are in 

 their natural condition, or are dried or presened otherwise than with 

 sugar. 



Those who are interested in the stndy of these subjects will find 

 throughout the various departments of the Exhibition ample oppor- 

 tunities of gratifying their taste and of extendinR their information ; 

 but it is much to be regretted that in too many cases the collections of 

 foreign countries are not so useful and instrnctive as they might other- 

 wise have been if the objects had been more generally named, and 

 pains bad been taken to furnish such information as would ha^ 

 enal)Iod visitors to distinguish between the various objects exhibited. 

 In the Portuguese and Italian departments, for example, there are 

 immense collections of Haricots, many of which are not generally 

 known ; but each variety is simply labelled " Haricots," and no means 

 are available for ascertaining the names by which to distinguish one 

 from another. This is also particularly the case in the Algerian de- 

 partment, where there are collections of Oranges and dried Figs, not 

 any of which are distinguished by names by which they might be 

 identified. 



Of the Fruits in their natural condition the collection which is the 

 most attractive and interesting will be found in the Greek department. 

 It consists of fifty-three distinct varieties of Oranges, many of which 

 are of great size and beauty, while others are peculiar either from their 

 form or colour. The cultivation of Oranges having of late years be- 

 come a prominent feature iu English horticulture, and the facility 

 with which they may be ripened in the cheap glass houses now so 

 general in the country, a description of the leading varieties in this 

 collection will prove hijjhly useful, as there are few if any of them 

 that already exist in onr gardens. 



The different Irinds of Oranges are divided into, 1, Sweet Oranges, 

 or those of which the St. Michael's may be taken as the type ; 2, Bitter 

 Oranges, called by the French Bigaradier, and of which the Seville 

 Orange is an illustration ; 3, Lemons ; 4, Citrons ; 5. Bergnmottes or 

 Limes ; ti. Shaddocks or Pampelmons ; and 7, Forbidden Fruit. 

 Among the Sweet Oranges there are the St. Michael's, the Blood 

 Orauge of Malta, and the Elliptic or Egg-shaped Orange, all of which 

 are familiar varieties. But there is a variety which surpasses them 

 all, and is called China Orange, or jirotokaUinn tr.i lallamatan, a large 

 handsome fruit, 3 J inches in diameter, of a deep orange colour in the 

 skin, which is smooth, like that of the St. Michael's. In flavour this 

 is the finest of all. Then there are the Genoa, a variety similar to 

 the St. Michael's, but with a coarser surface, and the Sweet Orange 

 Candia, both which are very excellent varieties. There is also a 

 variety with a singular bossed surface, from which circumstance it is 

 called gibbosom. The small flat variety which we call in the frnitercra' 

 shops in London the Tangierine, is here called the Mandorine or 

 Manr/arinion. 



There is n great variety of the Bigaradiers, or Bitter Oranges, many 

 of which are singularly curious and ornamental. Of these the most 

 striking are one called Krrtihn nerma. in Chios ; Phakoyra, in Candy; 

 and /-* /trop<mcra>v:o, in Peloponnesus. It is from 4 to 6 inches in 

 diameter, of a rich deep orauge colour, and has a very rough, warted 

 surface. The other is called umbilicata, and is also of a large size, 

 being from 3* to 4 inches in diameter, of the flat shape of the Man- 

 derine, and with the stalk aud the apex deeply indented. A ve:y 

 beautiful variety of this class is a medium-sized fruit, finely striped, 

 some being of a pale lemon colour, with deep orange longitudinal 

 bands ; and others of a deep orange ground, with pale lemon-coloured 

 stripes. This is called '* Hermaphrodite do Genois." There is a 

 curious variety, called corniculata, or Homed Orange, from horns 

 growing out all round tho upper part of tho fruit. These boms are 

 the points of tho carpels, or *' the quarters," of the fruit which have 

 become detached aud grown out, and. departing from the normal form, 

 assume this singular appearance. There is a large fruit which, though 

 it belongs to tlie class of Bitter Oranges, bos a sweet flesh, and is 

 called Gli/hmeran::ia and ..Vtru/t^iVi tcs h>s ; but one of the most re- 

 markable is a very largo Pear-shaped variety, (> to 8 inches long, with 

 a rough warted surface and uneven outline. It is called Bigaradier 

 a gros fruit. 



Of Lemons there arc not so many varieties ; and those most worthy 



