NOTES AND COMMENTS. 



Plant as large a variety as your space 

 will allow. There are some old favor- 

 ites that we want every year, but in ad- 

 dition to these it adds greatly to the 

 interest of our gardens to try some new 

 sorts each season, even though they do 

 not come up to the highest standard. 

 I would not like to be without Dian- 

 thus, Escholtzia, Poppy, Candytuft, 

 Mignonette, Phlox Drummodi, Schizan- 

 thus. Stock, Sweet Pea, Snap Dragon, 

 Salpiglossis, Aster, Scabiosa, Nastur- 

 tium, and Pansy. If I were limited to 

 fifteen kinds, these are what I would 

 grow ; they are all quite hardy, and will 

 give a great profusion of bloom all sum- 

 mer and fall, from seed planted in the 

 open air, without the assistance of the 

 hotbed or greenhouse. 



Ginseng.— Bull, 27, Dept. of Agric, 

 Pa., is devoted to the cultivation of this 

 plant. This is encouraged because such 

 quantities are annually shipped to China, 

 It grows wild in many places, and may 

 be cultivated quite easily. Not like our 

 fruits, its value is advancing instead of 

 declining, for in 1858 it was only count- 

 ed worth 52c. a lb., while in 1896 it had 

 reached a value of $3.86 per pound. 



Ginseng has no medicinal value here, 

 but the Chinese regard it as a panacea 

 for all weakness of mind or body. 



The London Exhibitions Limited, 

 is the title of the managers of the Great- 

 er Britain Exhibition, to be held in Lon- 

 don, Eng., from May to October, 1899. 

 The affair is an effort to encourage com- 

 mercial intercourse between the Colo- 

 nies and the Mother Country. All such 

 means of encouraging commerce should 

 be turned to the best account possible, 

 and should this project be worthy, we 

 trust our authorities will earnestly co- 

 operate in its success. 



The VVickson Plum. — In his Bulle- 

 tin 139, Prof. Bailey says : " I am im- 

 pressed with the Wickson, and expect 

 to find it an acquisition. The fruit is 

 very large, deep maroon red, firm and 

 long keeping, with an aromatic almond- 

 like quality, and deep dull yellow meaty 

 flesh. It has the habit of the Prunus 

 Simoni, being the narrowest grower of 

 all the Japanese plums we have tested. 



Potassium Sulphide is recommend- 

 ed in Bulletin 133, N. Y. Expert. Sta- 

 tion, as the best remedy for gooseberry 

 mildew. Very early treatments were 

 found to give the best results. Such 

 treatment with weak solution, i oz. to 

 3 gals, of potassium sulphide prevented 

 mildew on all but 5 per cent, of the 

 fruit, while the later treatments gave two 

 or three times as much mildew. With 

 the stronger solution, i oz. to 2 gallons, 

 the early treatment reduced the mil- 

 dewed fruit to 66 per cent, while with 

 later applications the injury was nearly 

 twice as much. The cost of this article 

 is 18 cents a pound, and it should be 

 first applied very early just as the buds 

 are swelling, at the rate of i ounce in 

 2 or 3 gallons of water, and the treat- 

 ment repeated every ten days or two 

 weeks. 



An inspection fee has been im- 

 posed by the Horticultural Board of 

 British Columbia, on all Nursery stock ; 

 on consignments of 100 trees the fee is 

 $2.50 ; 100 to 250 trees, $3.50; 250 to 

 500 trees, ^4.50. If found infected, a 

 charge of 50 per cent, is added for dis- 

 infection. On fruit the minimum fee is 

 $1.00 on any sum up to $33.00, and 3 

 per cent, on any sum over S33. 00 in 

 value. 



The Canadian Horticultural 

 Magazine of Montreal for March has 



211 



