AprU 1, 1875. ) 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



257 



and mashed np with some of the fat skimmed off the water. 

 When ripe the fruit can be made into pios, same as Apple pies, 

 or a pudding, by peeling them ; then place in a dish and pour 

 butter and sugar that baa been rubbed together over them, and 

 bake. They are very delicious done in this manner. Many 

 inquiries have been made to us about protecting the plants 

 from frost. We do not think that any Bananas wiU stand 

 the frost and cold ; the leaves are so thin that they are sus- 

 ceptible to any extreme, but some of the species may do better 

 than others liere. lu the West Indies when the stalk comes 

 up spindling and weak it is cut off just below the leaves; this 

 does not kill it, but has a beneficial effect in making it thicken 

 out and become stronger. We think that if this plan was 

 adopted with those that had been affected by frost it might 

 have the same tendency ; but it should not be done until the 

 cold weather has entirely passed away and the plants show an 

 inclination to grow. As the bunches are cut the stalk should 

 be cut down to within a foot of the ground, cut into pieces 

 and placed around the roots ; the same with the leaves. This 

 is returning to the laud a part of what has been taken away. 

 The juice of the stalk is good for clarifying sugar. The young 

 leaves of the spire are used for dressing blisters ; very cooling 

 and soothing when placed on after the blister is clipped. 



We would not advise flooding the roots in the winter, for 

 the frost is seldom severe enough to injure them ; it is the 

 leaf that suffers. When plants with young fruit are caught 

 by the frost before coming to perfection we think it is the best 

 plan to cut down the whole stalk at once and chop it up, 

 covering the roots with it. This will enable the plants that 

 are standing to receive the full nourishment on return of 

 spring, instead of wasting its strength on a part that will 

 never come to any good. In the West Indies if the Banana 

 plant is highly manured, tho stalk, or body as it is called there, 

 will grow very large and succulent, but at the expense of the 

 fruit, the bunches being small. Ashes have been found to be the 

 best manure that can be given, with an occasional spriakling 

 of salt. — [California Horticnlturif^t.) 



NOTES AND GLEANINGS. 



Mr. W. a. Lindsay, Secretary of the Royal Horticultural 

 Society, has represented to the Governor of the Fiji Islands the 

 desirability of obtaining their Plants new to horticulturists. 

 The Governor, Sir A H. Gordon, has courteously responded to 

 the representation. 



We find the following paragraph in the BriKe Herald 



(New Zealand) of January 5th : — " A new species of a vegetable- 

 devouring pest has lately been observed in Napier for the first 

 time. It is a very small black-red insect, like a beetle, and 

 can be seen on the bills in swarms. Through whatever pad- 

 pock or garden these insects travel they leave nothing green 

 behind them. From the country, also, we learn that grass- 

 hoppers are in myriads." 



A SCHEME, we understand, is in contemplation for the 



formation of Manley Hall, Manchester, with its conservatories 

 and grounds, into a Winter Gaeden, on a scale of magnitude 

 and completeness hitherto unattempted in this country. Manley 

 Hall and grounds comprise an area of eighty acres. 



The Linnean Society, like many another great in- 

 stitution, had its origin in an accident. The late Sir John E. 

 Smith, then a medical student, was breakfasting one day with 

 Sir .Joseph Banks, when the latter told him that he just had 



'an offer of the memoranda and botanical collections of the 

 great Linnfeusfor £1000, but that he had declined to buy them. 

 Young Smith, whose zeal for botany was great, begged his 

 father to advance to him the money, and at length persuaded 

 him to do so, though not without difficulty. It may appear 

 strange that Sweden should consent to part with the treasures 

 of her far-famed naturalist ; and indeed the king, Gustavua III., 

 who had been absent in Franco, was much displeased on his 

 return at hearing that a vessel had just eailed for England 

 with these collections. He immediately dispatched a vessel to 

 the Sound to intercept it, but was too late. The herbarium 

 books, MSS., ifcc, arrived safely in London in 1781, packed 

 in twenty-six eases, and cost tho purchaser £1088 5s. In the 

 following year Smith was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society, 

 and devoted himself more to botanical studies than to his 

 prufeEsiou as a physician. In 1792 he had the honour of being 

 engaged to teach botany to Queen Charlotte and the princesses, 

 and he was knighted by the Prince Regent in 1814. At his 

 death in 1828 the celebrated coUostion, with Sir J. E. Smith's 



additions, was purchased by the Linnean Society. — {CasseU't 

 Old and New London.) 



On the 23rd ult. the freehold estate well known as 



Meredith's Vineyard was ofiered for sale by public auction by 

 Messrs. Protheroe & Morris, auctioneers, London. The estate 

 comprises upwards of six acres of land applicable to Vine- 

 growing, or for tho purposes of building land. There was a 

 fair attendance, and amongst those present were several of the 

 leading horticulturists and florists connected with the district, 

 and others from a distance. In opening the sale the auctioneer 

 stated that he had gone carefully over the estate and made an 

 estimate of its value as a going concern, which he considered 

 should be about £21,000. He then went into particulars as 

 regarded the breaking-up of the estate, and stated that the 

 freehold land might be put down at £6500 ; 50,000 feet of 

 glass at £.3125; dwelling house, £1400; three miles of hot- 

 water pipes, £792; boilers, £100; brickwork, &c., £.S00 ; 

 stonework, sheds, tables, &c.,£250; making atotal of £12,500. 

 The bidding then proceeded, the first offer being £7500. This 

 amount was increased by £50 upon each offer up to £8650, 

 when the bidding rose to £9000. The advances then proceeded 

 by gradations of £50 until the amount reached £10,000, at 

 which sum the estate was knocked down to Mr. John Cowan 

 of London. The Cowan Patents Company, propose not only 

 to make use of the property as an exhibition of their patent 

 apparatus, where it can bo seen in full working order, but 

 will use their best endeavours to mnintain its well-earned 

 fame, and, if possible, increase its reputation. It was stated 

 by the auctioneer that there were certain plants, &o., which, 

 in accordance with the conditions of sale, did not go with the 

 estate ; and if not taken by the purchaser at a valuation they 

 would be sold by auction at a future day. 



INCREASED POWER IN PLANTS TO KESIST 



COLD. 

 At a meeting on February 9th Mr. Thomas Meehan referred 

 to a tuber of Solanum Fendleri, exhibited by him some mouths 

 ago, and which had taken a departure towards those of the 

 common Potato. He had oft'ered Eome suggestions in relation 

 to the possibility of a common origin of these two species, 

 but among the improbabilities he had classed the power of 

 resisting cold, as, while the common Potato was easily de- 

 stroyed by frost, Fendler's Potato endured without injury a 

 temperature of zero. He had been under the impression that 

 whatever changes plants might experience in the course of 

 ages, the adaptation to special temperatures was nearly if not 

 quite unchangeable. A recent experience, however, suggested 

 the possibility of more change than he had supposed. During 

 the very low temperature, with the high wind, of a week ago, 

 the frost to the extent of 2° or so, and for a short time, got 

 into a greenhouse with blooming plants, some of which were 

 injured by it. Among these were Calla tethiopica, Browallia 

 elata, Bouvardias, Begonias, and some others. The light 

 frost, in the case of all but the first-named, destroyed the 

 leaves, but left the flowers uninjured. The flowers in their 

 several parts are but metamorphosed leaves, and thus we sea 

 that with the morphological advance of the leaf to a petal 

 came an increased physiological power to resist cold. In the 

 case of tho Calla the flowers as well as the leaves were de- 

 stroyed, illustrating the same law, as the spathe of this flower 

 is but a leaf very slightly differentiated, and consequently 

 more subject to the laws regulating leaf life. There was 

 nothing quite new in these observations, as all must remember 

 that when the first light frost killed the Dahlias, Chrysanthe- 

 mums, and other tender plants, the petals would often remain 

 uninjured after the leaves had been blackened by frost; and 

 also the fact that when the leaves of plants become stUl more 

 highly metamorphosed and become seeds, those of the tenderest 

 plants would often endure considerable cold. Thus the seeds 

 of the common Convolvulus or Morning Glory, and of the 

 Balsam, or Lady's Slipper, as it is called in American gardens, 

 would live out in the earth wtth us and grow in the spring, 

 though the plants would be killed by a single degree of frost. — 

 [American Monthly.) 



Auriculas Growinq Tall. — I know Mr. Tjmous to be a 

 thoroughly practical and enthusiastic Auricula grower, but I 

 must only repeat that if the stem is cut off where there are no 

 rootlets I do not see the least chance of its rooting. I have 

 never — (but then it may be my bungling) — been able to root 



