Septembor S, 1874. ] 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER, 



209 



noble 'Wiga.aaia-like leaves moasarinf; some 16 inches by 14 

 inches, and having purplish midribs — a fine subject for sub-tro- 

 pical gardening ; and for Begonia Model, producing an abaud- 

 ance of large, verv deep rose-coloured flowers. Tbey sent in 

 addition a nice collection of Saccolal>iura'i and other Orchids. 

 Mr. Shields, gardener to the Rev. J. B. Norman, exhibited 

 Odontogtossum maxillare, white, yellow at the base of the lip, 

 spotted at the base of tho sepals and petals with brown. A first- 

 class certificate was awarded. Botanical certificates were given 

 to Mr. Bull, of Chelsea, for Drosera Menziesii and D. glaudu- 

 ligera, the latter a pretty little white-flowered species. 



From Messrs. E. G. Henderson & Son, St. John's Wood, came 

 the true Resurrection Plant, Selagiuella lepidophylla, for which 

 a first-class certificate was granted, and a lilte award was made 

 to the same firm for an estrera'?ly pretty deep rose-coloured 

 Oleander called New Red Nerium. With this were white and 

 pale yellow varieties. Mr. Bull had likewise a first-class certifi- 

 cate for CEcooclades guineiiusis, a rosy purple Orchid of toler- 

 ably showy appearance. 



Mr. A. Barr, 10, New Road, Lower Tooting, contributed a 

 group of cut Lilies, chiefly of the speciosum and tigrinum 

 varieties. From Messrs. Veitoh came a group of Boltze's Dwarf 

 "Bouquet Asters, a first-rate strain. Mr. Keynes, of Salisbury, 

 had first-class certificates for Dahlias Countess of Pembroke, 

 iarge pale yellow, delicately tipped in the centre with Ulac 

 purple; and for John McPherson, rich crimson purple self. 

 Messrs. Kelway, of Langport, had a first-class certificate for 

 Gladiolus Duchess of Edinburgh, rosy lilac, lower divisions pure 

 white with violet stripes; also for James Kelway, scarlet, lip 

 white with a violet stripe, and a white line in each petal. 

 Antocles is also a fine red with a purple tinge, maroon flake, and 

 a violet stripe in the lower divisions. 



DESTROYING WASPS. 



In the answers to correspondents in your last, yon inform 

 •as that " G. W. H." recommends boiling water to be poured 

 into the nest ; " but," you add, " the nest and its entrance 

 must be peculiarly situated." Not so, I can assure you : I 

 have now practised this method for upwards of forty years, 

 sometimes destroying several nests the same season, and the 

 only peculiarity of situation I have ever met with was one' into 

 which I could not pour water, being in a hollow tree, and the 

 entrance quite at the bottom. Some boys, however, more 

 clever than I, lighted a fire in the entrance, and destroyed 

 both the nest and the tree. — Octoqenarius. 



[Your statement corroborates our observation, and boiling 

 water is not readily obtainable when the nest is far from a 

 iiouse. We have published so many efficient and portable 

 remedies that they meet all contingencies. — Eds.] 



CALIFORNIAN FRUIT. 



Any industrious person who has the right kind of Grapes 

 can make raisins ; and raisin-making, which in 1871 had still 

 a very uncertain future in this State, may now safely be called 

 one of the established and most promising industries here. 



In 1872 I ate excellent raisins in Los Angeles, and tolerable 

 ones in Visalia ; but they sell very commonly in the shops 

 what they call " dried Grapes," which ai-e not raisins at all, but 

 damp, stickv, disagreeable things, not good even in puddings. 

 This year, however, I have seen in several places good native 

 raisins ; and the head of the largest fruit-importing house in 

 San Francisco told me that one raisin-maker last fall sold the 

 whole of his crop there at $2 per box of 2.5 lbs., Malagas of 

 the same quality bringing at the same time but ^2.37J. There 

 is a market for all well-made raisins that can be produced in 

 the State, he said, and they are preferred to the foreign 

 product. 



At Folsom, Mr. Bugby told me he had made last year 1700 

 boxes of raisins, and he was satisfied with the pecuniary 

 return ; and I judge from the testimony of different persons 

 that at 7 cents per pound raisins will pay the farmer very well. 

 The Malaga and the White Muscat are the Grapes which 

 appear here to make the best raisins. Nobody has yet tried 

 the Seedless Sultana, which, however, bears well here, and 

 would make, I should think, an excellent cooking raisin. 



For making raisins they wait until the Grape is fully ripe, 

 and then carefully cut off the bunches, and lay them either on 

 a hard clay floor, formed in the open air, or on brown paper 

 laid between the Vine rows. They do not trim out poor Grapes 

 from the bunches, because, as they assert, there are none ; 

 but I expect this will have to be done for the very finest 

 raisins, such as would tempt a reluctant buyer. The bunches 



require from eighteen to twenty-four days of exposure in the 

 sun to be cured. During that time they are gently tamed 

 from time to time, and such as are earliest cured are at once 

 removed to a raisin house. 



This is fitted with shelves, on which the raisins are laid 

 about a foot thick, and here they are allowed to sweat a little. 

 If they sweat too much the sugar candies on the outside, and 

 this deteriorates the quality of the raisin. It is an object to 

 keep the bloom on the berries. They are kept in the raisin 

 house, I was told, five or six weeks, when they are dry enough 

 to box. It is as yet customary to put them in 25-Ib. boxes, 

 but, no doubt, as more experience is gained, farmers will con- 

 trive other parcels. Chinese do all the work in raisin-making, 

 and are paid $1 a-day, they supplying themselves with food. 

 There is no rain during the raisin-making season, and, con- 

 sequently, the whole outdoor work may be done securely as 

 well as cheaply. 



Enormous quantities of fruit are now put up in tin cans in 

 this State; and you will be surprised, perhaps — -as I was the 

 other day — to hear of an orchard of Peaches and Apricot trees, 

 which bears this year (1873) its first full crop, and for one 

 hundred acres of which the owners have received $10,000 cash, 

 gold, selling the fruit on the trees without risk of ripening or 

 trouble of picking. 



Yet Peaches and Apricots are not the most profitable fruits 

 in this State, for the Cherry — the most delicious Cherries in 

 the world grow here — is worth even more ; and I suspect that 

 the few farmers who have orchards of Plums, and carefully 

 dry the fruit, make as much money as the Cherry owners. 

 There has sprung up a very lively demand for Californiau 

 dried Plums. They bring from 20 to 22 cents per pound at 

 wholesale in San Francisco, and even as high as 30 cents for 

 the best quality. 



The Plum bears heavily and constantly north of Saeramento, 

 and does not suffer from the Curoulio, and the dried fruit is 

 delicious and wholesome. 



Some day the farmers, who are now experimenting with Figs, 

 will, I do not doubt, produce also a marketable dried Fig in 

 large quantities. At San Francisco in October, 1873, I found 

 in the shops delicious dried Figs, but not in great quantities, 

 nor so thoroughly dried as to bear shipment to a distance. 

 The tree flourishes in almost all parts of the State. Usually it 

 bears two, and often three crops a-year, and it grows into a 

 noble and stately tree. 



I am told that when Smyrna Figs sell for 20 to 30 cents per 

 pound, Californiau Figs bring but from 5 to 10 cents. The 

 tree comes into full bearing, where its location is favourable, 

 in its third or fourth year; and ought to yield then about 

 60 lbs. of dried Figs. I suspect the cost of labour will control 

 the drying of Figs, for they must be picked by hand. If they 

 fall to the ground they are easily bruised, and the bruised parts 

 turn sour. 



They are dried in the shade, and on straw, which lets the 

 air get to every part. Irrigation is not good after the tree 

 bears, as the Figs do not dry so readily. Birds and ants are 

 fond of the fruit ; and in one place I was told the birds took 

 almost the whole of the first crop. There are many varieties 

 of the Fig grown in this state, but the White Smyrna is, I 

 believe, thought to be the best for market. — {Nordhoff's 

 Northern California.) 



GINGER (ZINGIBER OFFICINALE). 



This popular aromatic, Ginger, is a native of the East Indies, 

 and was described by Gerarde in his " Herbal," in 1537. His 

 notice of it deserves to be published without abridgement. 



" Ginger is most impatient of the coldnesse of these our 

 northerne regions, as my selfe haue found by proofe, for that 

 there haue beene brought vnto me at seuerall times sundry 

 plants thereof, fresh, greeue, and full of juyce, as well from the 

 West Indies, as from Barbary and other places ; which haue 

 sprouted and budded forth greone leaues in my garden in the 

 heate of sommer, but as soone as it hath been but touched 

 with the first sharp blast of winter, it hath presently perished 

 both blade and root. The true forme or picture hath not before 

 this time beene set forth by any that hath written ; but the world 

 hath beene deceiued by a counterfeit figure, which the reuerend 

 and learned herbarist Matthias Lobell did set forth in his ob- 

 seruations. The forme whereof notwithstanding I haue here 

 expressed, with the true and vndoubted picture also, which I 

 reoeiued from Lpbelius his owne hands at the impression 

 hereof. The cause of whose former erronr, as also the meanes 



