July 21, 1S88.] 



THE GABDENEBS' CHRONICLE. 



G7 



Lincolnshire and Nottinghamshire in the Midlands 

 also made a good appearance, while Scotch exhibits 

 were received from as far north as Forres. Three 

 lots were also forwarded from Parson's Town, Long- 

 ford, and Ballymeaua in the North of Ireland. The 

 bulk of the lots sent were well matured and generally 

 in good condition, and a number of them were 

 remarkably heavy. The judges were Mr. Waite, 

 nurseryman, Berwick-on-Tweed, and Mr. Elphick, 

 of Messrs. Hurst & Son, seed merchants, London. 

 After going carefully through all the exhibits, they 

 selected a number of the best specimens, and event- 

 ually three pairs were set apart, consigned by Mr. 

 W. II. Divers, Ketton Hall, Stamford, Lincolnshire; 

 Mr. James Lockie, Heatherslaw, Cornhill-on-Tweed; 

 and Mr. Feddon, gardener, Scotby, Carlisle. After 

 considering the respective merits of the lot, the 

 judges awarded the premium to Mr. Divers for a 

 pair of hearts of fine form and quality. Originally 

 they weighed 8' { lb. and 6J lb. each, but when 

 divested of their outer leaves, in which manner they 

 were judged, they together scaled 9 lb. Mr. Divers, 

 who enjoys a high reputation as a grower of Cab- 

 bages (having gained great experience in vegetable 

 culture while for many years foreman to Mr. Gil- 

 bert, of Burghley), when forwarding his exhibits, 

 wrote as follows to Messrs. Stuart & Mein : — "I 

 can honestly say your Cabbage is the best early one 

 I ever met with, and I am acquainted with all the 

 leading varieties." The hearts shown by Mr. Lockie 

 and Mr. Feddon were also of a meritorious descrip- 

 tion, but neither in form, compactness, nor quality, 

 were they equal to the first pair. Among the 

 heavier of the Cabbages shown were two sent by 

 Mr. E. Rilestone, Truro, Cornwall, which weighed 

 28 lb., and other two pairs scaled 22 lb. and 20 lb. 

 respectively. Such a competition as the one under 

 notice is singularly fitted to bring forward valuable 

 data as to the adaptability of the particular variety 

 of Cabbage represented to the varying climate and 

 soil of these islands. 



Florists' Flowers. 



THE CARNATION AND PICOTEE. 

 The Carnation usually comes into blocm out-of- 

 doors about the third week in July, but if we may 

 judge by the appearance of the plants now, it will be 

 August before we shall have much bloom. Those who 

 grow plants in pots can place them in a glass-house, 

 and if well exposed to the light they will be earlier 

 in bloom. When warm dry weather sets in, and 

 the colour of the flower begins to show at the mouth 

 of the calyx, the flowers are likely to be attacked by 

 thrips — at any rate, those which are in pots — and 

 that will sometimes spoil them by robbing the colour 

 of the flower, the flakes and bizarres suffering most. 

 When the plants are standing in a house fumiga- 

 tion with tobacco-smoke will destroy the insects, 

 and there need le no hesitation in adopting this 

 measure, even when the flowers are fully expanded. 

 It is needless to say that propagation by layering 

 is preferable, but any scarce variety may also be 

 propagated by cuttings — " pipings " as they are 

 termed by the fanciers. The smaller growths are 

 the best for this purpose, and those a little distance 

 up the stems, that cannot be brought down sufficiently 

 low to be layered. These pipings should be planted 

 firmly in pots of light sandy soil, and they must also 

 be covered with bell-glasses, or very close handlights, 

 to exclude air from them, else they will dry up 

 instead of rooting. The glasses should be taken off 

 daily, or at least on alternate days, and the con- 

 densed moisture removed with a cloth, replacing 

 them at once. 



Seedlings may also be planted out, if the ground 

 be ready for them, and they are large enough. As 

 the beds of last year's seedlings come into bloom, 

 the plants should be examined carefully, and those 

 flowers which are likely to be valuable marked to be 

 grown again. It is one of the most interesting 

 incidents in the life of the florist to watch the 



expanding of the blooms on the seedling] plants. 

 There are always plenty of blanks, even in the 

 best of seasons, and prizes few; but if care has been 

 taken in the saving of the seeds, some good and dis- 

 tinct varieties will certainly be found amongst them. 



The Auricola, &c. 



The seeds have mostly been gathered from the 

 plants that were set aside to save seeds from, and 

 this week the whole of the plants will be repotted. 

 Some of the large plants were not repotted last year 

 until the end of August, and this period we found 

 was too late. They did not form roots freely, and 

 as a consequence, the trusses produced the following 

 spring were not so strong, nor were the flowers so 

 well developed. It is during the period between 

 the time of flowering and that of ripening the seeds 

 that the Auricula aphis makes most havoc amongst 

 roots ; not that it does any appreciable harm, but 

 one cannot think it is good management to leave it 

 alone. I like to clear it off' the roots entirely, and 

 for that purpose all the soil is shaken off, by working 

 it off with one hand, while the plant is held in the 

 other, and its roots in a pail of water. The roots 

 are then dipped in soft-soapy water, and the plant 

 laid out to dry for an hour, and then dipped in clean 

 rain-water to remove the soap. If greenfly be found 

 on the leaves, the whole plant is dipped into the 

 soapy water. We are careful not to over-pot the 

 plants at this late period. A plant that we would 

 unhesitatingly place in a 48 in the spring would now 

 be more likely to do well in a large 60. 



Offsets of last year repotted in May should now have 

 a shift into larger-sized pots, the last shift of the 

 season. Those who have saved seeds should sow 

 them at once in pots or pans, placing them in hand- 

 lights in a partially shaded place. Seedling plants 

 should also be potted, so that they may produce 

 flowering plants for next year. 



The plants succeed best at this time of the year 

 in frames placed in a northern aspect behind a 

 fence, hedge, or walk. The lights are always removed 

 night and day, except during heavy rains, or when 

 such are expected at night. Alpine Auriculas anil 

 the whole of the hardy perennial family require 

 much the same treatment at this season, except that 

 they do well with more exposure. The whole of 

 our collection of these plants is fully exposed to the 

 north and east winds, and they do much better in 

 that way than when sheltered by trees, hedges, or 

 walls. They are not repotted yet, but will be seen 

 to as soon as we can find time to attend to them. I 

 may remark that the Auricula aphis is very partial to 

 the smaller species of alpine Primulas, and when it 

 once gets into a tuft of, say, P. minima it becomes 

 almost an impossibility to get it out from among 

 fibrous roots. The alpine Primulas and Auriculas 

 on elevated parts of the rock garden have succeeded 

 admirably this year, and have bPen greatly improved 

 by a rich surface-dressing where the roots were 

 exposed. •/. Doni/las. 



industry, and, at their request, I have asked for 

 information relative thereto from the Consul-General 

 at the Sandwich Islands, whence, I believe, Candle- 

 nut oil is exported in large quantities. 



The Candle-nut is very largely grown in the 

 Moluccas and most of the islands of the Indian 

 Archipelago, Malay Islands, Cochin China, as well 

 as in Lower Bengal and other parts of India, West 

 Indies, Mauritius, &c. In countries where the tree 

 is common the oily kernels are eaten alter being 

 roasted, the flavour, it is said, being similar to that 

 of the Walnut or Almond. It has been suggested 

 that the seeds would form a valuable ingredient in 

 cattle food if they could be deprived of their purgative 

 properties. Candle-nuts of the value of £700 were 

 exported from Tahiti, in 1870, while in 1876 and 

 1877 the value of the nuts sent to London from 

 Levuka, Fiji, amounted to £1562 and £30+0 

 respectively. 



ALEURITES MOLUCCANA. 



In a report on the trade of Tonga, Vice-Consul 

 Symonds says I have called the attention of mer- 

 chants to the very large quantity of Candle-nut trees 

 that flourish on these islands (Aleurites moluccana), 

 the fruit of which is allowed to rot on the ground. 

 Many years ago the German firm of Godeffroi 

 exported over 1000 tons of Candle-nuts in the shell, 

 but on the arrival of the cargoes in Europe they were 

 found to be useless, from the fact that the natives had 

 collected all the nuts under the trees, and thus the 

 majority were several years old and contained no 

 kernel. 



An analysis of this nut that I have received is as 

 follows; — Oil, 62 180 per cent.; water, o'OOO do.; 

 nitrogenous substances, 22'653 do. ; mineral matter, 

 &c, 10167 do. 



With proper management over 200 tons of this 

 nut could be bought annually from the natives. A 

 few local traders have interested themselves in this 



Book Notice. 



Report of Observations on injurious In- 

 sects. By Eleanor A. Ormerod, F.R. Met. Soc , 

 &c. London: Simpkin, Marshall & Co., 1888. 

 The issue of Miss E. A. Ormerod's Repor: 

 of Observations on Injurious Insects and Common 

 Farm Pests for the year 1887 has appeared, am. 

 forms a bulky pamphlet of 130 pages. In her 

 preface Miss Ormerod says that the season of 18.-7 

 was marked by prolonged heat and drought which 

 was accompanied" by an unusual amount of presence 

 of various kinds of crop-insects, and also by unusual 

 amount of damage from them." A considerable 

 advance was made during the year in lessening the 

 amount of insect attack and in increasing the know - 

 ledge of the habits of the insects and of the method 

 of treatment available. These reports have become 

 so important to market-gardeners and farmers that 

 their advent each year is looked forward to with 

 interest by the most intelligent of our growers of 

 vegetable crop3. The subjects treated of in the 

 present report, by Miss Ormerod, comprise Clover 

 sickness, caused by eel-worms, frit-fly (Oscinis frif, 

 L.), on Corn, the Hessian-fly (Cecidomyia de6tructor . 

 To this subject, as might be supposed, a great 

 deal of consideration is given. Several other Coru 

 pests are fully discussed. The black Currant gall- 

 mite (Phytoptus ribis) is stated to have been very 

 troublesome in many localities. As an experiment 

 in preventing the spread of this pest Miss Ormerod 

 sa y S: — "It does not appear that this Phytoptus or 

 gall-mite attacks red or white Currants ; therefore 

 (so far as we know) replacing the destroyed black 

 Currant bushes with the other kinds would be of 

 service. Likewise, as this attack spreads to such a 

 serioas extent where black Currant bushes are 

 grown together in large areas, as in fruit farming, ii 

 might be worth consideration whether growing the 

 different kinds in alternate rows or plots would not 

 be desirable.'' The concluding articles in the report 

 treat of the slug-worm, of Pear and Cherry sawfly, 

 small Pine sawfly, and Turnip grub. 



Vegetables. 



CAULIFLOWER CARTER'S DEFIANCE 

 EXTRA EARLY. 



Thanes are due to your correspondent "J. II." Tor 

 referring to late Broccolis (p. 47). If " J. H." pos- 

 sesses the above-named Cauliflower there will be no 

 gap between the season of Broccolis and that of 

 Cauliflowers — " J. H." having cut his last heads 

 of Broccoli on June 21, and I cut my first Cauli- 

 flower on June 28. The Cauliflower seed was sown 

 on February 8, 18S8, in boxes placed on the hoi- 

 water pipes of a vinery where the heat was mild, and 

 when the plants were sufficiently strong they were 

 pricked out in other boxes 2 to 3 inches apart, and h-H 

 on the pipes for two days longer, so that rooting into 



