Seftemkek 1, 1888.] 



THE GARDENERS' CHRONICLE. 



243 



Fruit Growing. — A conference on fruits suit- 

 able for market purposes will be held at the Corn 

 Exchange, St. Albans, on September 4, chair to be 

 taken at 7.30 p.m., by the ex-Mayor of St. Albans, 

 H. P. Smith, Esq., J.P. The following gentlemen 

 and horticulturists will contribute papers : — Mr. T. 

 Mobgan (author of How to Make the Most of the 

 Land) ; Mr. S. T. Wbioht, Glewston Court ; Mr. T. 

 Hobday : Mr. J. Cheal, cf Crawley, Sussex ; and 

 Mr. W. F. Emptage, of St. Albans. Admission will 

 be free. 



The Pine-like Fruit of the Assyrian 

 MONUMENTS.— Those who have seen the Nineveh 

 marbles in the British Museum must have noticed 

 the cone-shaped fruit covered with knobs which are 

 to be seen in the hands of some of the figures who 

 are apparently making offerings to the king. The 

 figure might pass for a conventional representation 

 of the Stone Pine, Pinus pinea. Dr. Bonayia, in 

 recent numbers of the Babylonian and Oriental 

 Record, offers some ingenious arguments in support 

 of the hypothesis that the fruit in question is a 

 Citron. The Orientals still attach great value to 

 the powerful fragrance of these fruits. 



Origin of Botanic Gardens.— In France, in 

 the 16th century, the fashion was all " in favour of 

 brocades and brocatelles, stuffs of flowery patterns, 

 the designs for which gave birth to the use of Pome- 

 granates and other fruits with fine foliage. The 

 designers sought inspiration from plants blooming 

 in luxuriant fulness. An intelligent horticulturist 

 (Jean Robin) set himself to meet the demand in 

 this respect by opening a garden with conservatories, 

 in which he cultivated strange varieties of plants 

 then but little known in our latitudes. This proved 

 an immense success. In a short time the king 

 (Henry IV.) purchased Jean Robin's horticultural 

 establishment, which, under the name of Jardin du 

 Roi, became crown property. The learned Guy de 

 la Bbosse in 1626 propounded the suggestion that 

 medical students might study the plants without 

 interference with the designers for embroideries and 

 tapestries; whence the first Jardin des Plantes 

 (botanical gardenl, with its natural history museum, 

 came into being. This institution seemed so excel- 

 lent that every country adopted it as an example, 

 and founded similar ones. Who would have thought 

 it possible for embroidery thus to have come to the 

 aid of science ? " We copy this extract from Mr. 

 Alan Cole's translation of M. Lefebyre's Embroidery 

 anil Lace. The Jardin des Plantes, however, was 

 founded by Louis XIII. in 1610, and finished in 

 1634, and it would seem that the embroiderers 

 availed themselves, as they ought to, of the resources 

 of science, rather than aided it themselves. 



Hybrid Conifers.— Dr. Richard Wettstein, 



in the Proceedings of the Imperial Academy of 

 Science of Vienna, has published the results of his 

 observations on the leaf-structure of various reputed 

 hybrids, such as Pinus rhoeticaX.a hybrid between 

 P. montana and P. silvestris ; P. Neilreichianax, 

 between P. nigricans and silvestris ; and also various 

 Junipers. The anatomical characters of the foliage 

 of the hybrids in every case are intermediate between 

 those of the reputed parents, and hence lend con- 

 firmation to the opinion that the forms examined 

 arp really of hybrid origin. 



Forest Management in Germany.— We 

 hear much of the excellent system of management in 

 German forests, and the value of the forests and 

 forest schools as training institutes for those destined 

 to enter the forest service of India. Some notes on 

 the subject, therefore, from the pen of Sir Dietrich 

 Bkandis, the late Inspector-General of Forests of 

 the Government of India, will be welcomed by all 

 interested in forest matters. Sir Dietrich shows 

 that modern forestry, so far from being unduly 

 a matter of routine, treats each portion of a forest 

 with special regard to the peculiar conditions of the 

 locality and the requirements of the growing stock, 

 while due attention is constantly paid to the 



systematic arrangements on the entire forest range. 

 While the system is thus elastic on the one side, due 

 care is taken to prevent it becoming confused 

 on the other. British foresters may, it is pointed 

 out, be startled at the mass of what they 

 may consider needless minutioc and superfluous 

 figures, but these details constitute the essence of 

 methodical forestry. "The forester's success is based 

 upon close observation of numberless minute details 

 in the development of the trees and shrubs of which 

 his forests are composed. The observations and 

 measurements made by him, combined with the 

 results obtained by the researches of others, enable 

 him to understand the complex problems which 

 every forest presents, and to shape his treatment in 

 the right manner. The fundamental principles 

 underlying the forester's profession are simple 

 enough, but their application is difficult. This must 

 be learnt by study and by actual experience, as in 

 every other profession." The work before us is 

 entitled Xotes, and its author expressly says that it 

 is not to be considered as a complete treatise, 

 but is simply meant to draw attention to a few essential 

 points which may be useful to Indian foresters. We 

 have, in fact, an account of the forests in the 

 Grand Duchy of Baden, including the Black Forest 

 together with notes of forests in other portions 

 of Germany. Of special interest are the notes on 

 the rotation of forest and cereal crops in some dis- 

 tricts, where the coppice belongs to certain public 

 corporations exercising a common proprietorship 

 over a definite tract of ground cultivating the 

 domain on a common system and sustaining itself 

 by the produce. The coppice is cut after seventeen 

 to nineteen years, the bark peeled, the sods burned, 

 the ashes spread over the cleared land, and a crop, 

 of Rye sown. The shareholders have the right to 

 grow this Rye crop for their individual benefit, but 

 having gathered in this crop the plot relapses into 

 the state of undivided or common property when the 

 coppice is allowed to grow up again. The appendices 

 contain tables for the conversion of the methodical 

 metrical system to the stupid and confused system 

 still in use in this country, and an explanation of 

 the more important German technical terms. 



The " Fruit " of Grasses.— In the fruit or 



" grain " of grasses, according to the commonly re- 

 ceived notion, the wall of the ovary (pericarp) 

 becomes inseparably united with the testa of the 

 contained seed. M. Henri Jumelle, however, in 

 a recent communication to the Academie des 

 Sciences, maintains that no such fusion ever takes 

 place, but that what happens is the partial obliter- 

 ation of the pericarp and the complete disappearance 

 of the seed-coat. The fruit of grasses is thus 

 botanically an achene, containing a seed destitute of 

 testa. 



HONG KONG. — The superintendent of the 

 Botanic Gardens complains of the loss of shrubs and 

 trees of great beaut\ r and of twenty years' growth, in 

 order to provide a site for a statue. We can of 

 course offer no opinion on this special case, but we 

 heartily endorse Mr. Ford's opinion, that the 

 Superintendent of the garden should be consulted in 

 all such cases, and his judgment preferred to lay 

 opinion. Mr. Fobs has made an excursion into the 

 province of KwangTung, bringing back with him no 

 fewer than 800 livingplants, chiefly of an ornamental 

 character, so that we may hope in due season to see 

 some of these novelties. Mr. Ford incidentally 

 mentions that the timber of Cunninghamia sinensis 

 is much more valuable than that of Pinus sinensis. 



Bulbs for the Royal Parks. — We are 



informed that the whole of the bulbs required by the 

 First Commissioner of Works, and also the Metro- 

 politan Board of Works, for planting in the royal 

 parks, are being supplied by Messrs. James Carter 

 & Co., the Queen's seedsmen. 



Shropshire Floral and Horticultural 

 SOCIETY. — Regarding the exhibition of this pros- 

 perous Society at Shrewsbury, of which a report was 



given in our last issue, it may be noted that it was a 

 complete success, 14,200 people visiting the show on 

 the second day, the receipts from all sources reaching 

 the respectable figure of £2700. An excellent display 

 of Begonias of the tuberous section, both double and 

 single-flowered, was made by Messrs. J. Laing & 

 Sons, of Forest Hill, S.E., at the above show. These 

 plants would demonstrate to the Salopians the 

 floriferousness of a species of Begonias which has 

 afforded so much satisfaction when bedded out this 

 dripping summer, whereas the zonal Pelargoniums 

 have been almost flowerless. Hollyhock blooms of 

 good quality, and plants of Saxifraga sarmentosa 

 tricolor superba were likewise shown by Messrs. 

 Laing. 



DEVIZES CASTLE.— We are informed that the 



purchaser of this picturesque and valuable property 

 is Sir Charles Henry S. Rich, Bart., of Shirley 

 House, Hampshire. It is a very compact property; 

 the fruit and kitchen gardens are situated on the 

 sunny slopes of the castle mound, and the arrange- 

 ments are very convenient, the houses being in good 

 repair, and water laid on at all points. Under the 

 management of Mr. Thomas King, who has now had 

 charge of the gardens for a large number of years, 

 they are in a high state of efficiency. Whether Mr. 

 King will remain in charge under the new owner is 

 not yet settled. 



Testimonial to Mr. James Huntley — 



This gentleman, who has been actively connected 

 with the Trowbridge Horticultural Society since its 

 establishment thirty-six years ago, has this season 

 also completed a term of twenty-five years' service 

 as the Secretary of the Society. It is not too much 

 to say that it is mainly owing to Mr. Huntley's 

 exertions, not only that the Society holds so success- 

 ful a show each year, but that it also has a reserve fund 

 of £245. In recognition of Mr. Huntley's services 

 during this long time, a committee has been formed 

 which is engaged in raising a fund to present Mr. 

 Huntley with a suitable testimonial during the 

 autumn. As the idea is being warmly taken up by 

 the Trowbridge people, it is expected that a hand- 

 some sum will be realised. The honorary secretaries 

 to the fund are Mr. T. S. Hill and J. Howard 

 Foley, both of Trowbridge. 



Flower Show at Burnley.— The twelfth 



annual exhibition of plants, flowers, fruit, and vege- 

 tables, under the auspices of the Burnley Floral and 

 Horticultural Society, was held at Turf Moor on 

 Saturday, the 2.5th ult., under the patronage of Sir 

 John Thursby. The day was fine, and there was 

 a large attendance of visitors. The past season has 

 not been very favourable for the cultivation of fruit 

 or flowers, and this was shown particularly in the 

 classes reserved to professional gardeners. In some 

 of the open classes there was little or no competi- 

 tion owing to the small number of entries. F'uchsias 

 were a good class, and the Picotees and Carnations 

 were above the average, whilst fruit, generally speak- 

 ing, was a good show considering the season. The 

 principal prize-winner was Sir John Thursby's 

 gardener. 



ARBOR Day. — The following note, under the 

 above heading, occurs in a recent report on the agri- 

 culture of Chicago for the year 1887. After refer- 

 ring to the arid regions of Dakota, Nebraska, and 

 Kansas, the report says : — " In the above-mentioned 

 districts there is an almost total absence of trees, 

 which accounts for the deficiency of moisture, while 

 in the timber regions and in the mountains the 

 reckless cutting, especially of young trees, has led to 

 a serious decrease in timber and firewood. Various 

 Acts have been passed checking and restraining the 

 unlimited waste which formerly prevailed, and the 

 disposal of land under the Timber Culture Law will, 

 no doubt, have a beneficial effect. It was in the 

 State of Nebraska, fifteen years ago, that a voluntary 

 movement first originated to set apart one day in the 

 year, called ' Arbor Day,' for the purpose of 



