678 



THE GARDENERS 1 CHRONICLE. 



[December 8, 1888. 



Laing & Co., Forest Hill, and Messrs. Henry Cannell 

 & Son, caine Japanese Etoile de Lyon, bright soft 

 pink, a very fine flower with broad petals, and 

 quite distinct : a First-class Certificate of Merit 

 was awarded. Mr. E. Owen, nurseryman, Maiden- 

 head, had blooms of some American varieties from 

 plants received in July last — J. Collins, salmon, 

 being new in colour ; a vote of thanks was 

 awarded. Also a dull deep pink sport from the 

 white Japanese, Mrs. Carey, named Lily Owen, 

 which was not in good character. Mr. H. Elliott, 

 Springfield Nursery, Jersey, sent some new varieties 

 of his own raising, and a First-class Certificate 

 was awarded to a large Anemone-flowered Caisar, 

 pale rosy-pink guard petals, with a citran- 

 coloured centre, very distinct. A yellow re- 

 flexed variety named Jersey Nugget, is identical 

 with sample of Solomon. Messrs. H. Cannell & Son 

 had incurved Perle Precieuse, pale rosy-pink with a 

 silvery reverse ; and a large-flowered Anemone 

 named Ruche Toulousiana, not in good character ; 

 also a sport from Hero of Stoke Newington (incurved) 

 named Lady Dorothy, which while promising, was 

 not in good form. A First-class Certificate of Merit 

 was awarded to Messrs. H. Cannell & Sons, for 

 Chinese Primrose Cannell's Pink, large, clear, deli- 

 cate cerise-pink ; — a finely formed flower of large size 

 and great beauty. Beauty of Kent, striped ; and 

 Bridesmaid, delicate blush-pink, were very fine also. 



Scotland. 



SCOTTISH HORTICULTURAL ASSO- 

 CIATION. 



The ordinary monthly meeting was held on the 

 4th inst. at 5, St. Andrew Square, Edinburgh, Mr. 

 M. Dunn, Dalkeith, in the chair. After the usual 

 preliminary business, a paper on the " Culture 

 of Asparagus " was read by Mr. Porter, gardener, 

 Lenchie, in which he contended that light soil, 

 liberally enriched, was necessary to success. The 

 French system of growing Asparagus was, he thought, 

 good, and his own did not differ much from it. 

 Asparagus culture was declining in England, and the 

 French were beating us, as imported Asparagus couid 

 be supplied cheaper. From a calculation he had 

 made, he believed that £126 per acre could be made 

 by Asparagus culture. 



Among exhibits there were Orchid blooms from 

 Dr. Paterson, Bridge of Allan ; Cattleya Gaskel- 

 liana, which, with growing experience of it, Dr. 

 Paterson is disposed to think is the old single 

 sheathed autumn flowering variety of C. labiata, 

 and he has some of the forms finer even than the 

 old double sheathed form. Cymbidium giganteum 

 was a fine exhibit from the same — a fine spike and 

 a splendid variety. Dr. Paterson also sent some 

 good samples of Tea Roses, as showing the mildness 

 of the season at Bridge of Allan. 



Messrs. Laird & Sons tabled thirty-six blooms of 

 Chrysanthemums, Japanese and incurved. 



Messrs. Munro & Ferguson exhibited a stand of 

 cut flowers in large bunches of tender and hardy 

 border flowers, as showing the mildness of the 

 season at Piers Hill, near Edinburgh, where their 

 nursery is situated. The stand contained very 

 presentable samples of Prunella grandiflora, double 

 and single Primroses, Carnations, Helleborus niger 

 augustifolia, H. olympicus albus, Veronica rupestris, 

 Dahlias, Chrysanthemums, Daisies, Roses, Trades- 

 cantia virginica, East Lothian Stocks, Hepatica 

 angulosa, Wallflower, Anemone japonica, Antirrhi- 

 nums, Pentstemons, Sweet Peas, Centaurea Cyanus, 

 Marguerites, Mignonette, Helianthus multiflorus, 

 Centaurea montana alba, Geum coccineum plenum, 

 Scabiosa caucasia, Chrysanthemum segetum, Pink, 

 and French Marigolds. 



Mr. Fairgreive exhibited his patent fruit tree 

 protector. 



Mr. Dunn, Dalkeith, had some seedling Japanese 

 Chrysanthemums, raised from seeds received from 

 New York, sown in March last ; the plants were in 

 5-inch pots, about 2 feet high, with several stems 

 bearing blooms of from 4 to 7 inches in diameter, 

 in various colours, which suggested to Chrysanthe- 

 mum growers present fresh possibilities in the 

 culture of this popular flower. 



THE CULTIVATION OF USEFUL 

 PLANTS IN HAINAN. 

 A very interesting report on agriculture in Hainan 

 (China) during the year 1887 has recently been 

 issued from the Foreign Office. The report deals in 

 detail with the principal articles of culture, especially 

 food plants, and is of a most practical and useful 

 nature. Naturally it commences with a considera- 

 tion of Rice, which is described as being grown in 

 low muddy ground near water, so that the fields can 

 be watered if the rainfall is insufficient. The weeds 

 and stubble of the last crop are ploughed up, and 

 when, after about ten days, these are rotted away, 

 the fields are watered either by rain or by hand. 

 After being made smooth the young plants are 

 planted out. Three months after planting the Rice 

 blossoms, and in four months it is fit for cutting. 

 The mode of sowing is as follows : — " The grain is 

 soaked for several days, and then sown in the finest 

 soil. The first crop is ready for planting out in 

 twenty days, and the second in about a month, when 

 the shoots are dug out with a trowel, a handful at a 

 time together with the earth, and planted in the 

 fields about 9 inches apart. In the second crop the 

 shoots, which are allowed to grow much longer 

 than in the first, are cut off at the top when 

 planted out." The fields are very freely manured 

 just before the blossoming period, and thoroughly 

 irrigated. " Threshing is done in the fields. 

 A large tub is taken, with an instrument 

 like a ladder of four rungs inside it, against which 

 the grain is beaten, being taken up in bundles with 

 both hands and threshed against it. Another plan 

 is to take the paddy into the village and beat it out 

 with flails. About SO lb. of Rice grain is used for 

 sowing 1 acre, and this yields, on an average, about 

 4000 lb. on the first crop, and 5000 lb. on the second. 

 In the most favourable years as much as 8000 lb. per 

 acre has been harvested, but this is the limit. In 

 bad years, again, the yield may be next to nothing." 



Sesamum (Sesamum indicum). 



This plant is grown best on high dry ground — 

 excess of moisture is very detrimental to it. It does 

 not require watering — the dew alone is sufficient to 

 nourish it. In making the beds, therefore, the 

 centres should be higher than the sides, so that the 

 water may run off. In the first month of every year 

 it is sown broadcast, not in lines, nor does it matter 

 whether thickly or sparingly sown. In about ten 

 days it begins to shoot, and in two and a half months 

 it blooms, and at the expiration of another two and 

 a half months it is ready for harvesting. The entire 

 plants, roots and all, are carefully taken out of the 

 ground, put on a cement floor, and threshed with a 

 flail. Two kinds are known — one with black, and 

 the other with white seeds. Sesamum does not 

 generally require manure, but in the poorest soils 

 ashes and ox-manure may be used. 



Ground Nuts (Aeachis hyfog^a). 



This plant is best growp in a soil of coarse sand 

 and mud. They should be set deep, and the ground 

 pressed down firmly over them. The ground is 

 ploughed about April, and trenches dug about 

 10 inches apart, into which ashes, lime, and rubbish, 

 are thrown. The seeds are sown about 10 inches 

 apart, and, as each is put in, the sides of the trench 

 are turned over it with the foot, and stamped down 

 firm. About every ten days the ground is weeded, 

 and in about two months the plants are sufficiently 

 grown to be sprinkled with liquid manure. In four 

 months they come into Hower ; the flower-stalk then 

 bends over, and as the flower falls off, the flower- 

 stalk buries itself in the ground, and produces the 

 pods, which ripen about the end of October, bearing 

 the well-known seeds known as Ground-nuts. The 

 harvest, however, takes place at a later date, when 

 the seeds yield more oil, and a better price can be 

 obtained for it. Ground-nuts are harvested by 

 ploughing them up with an ox-plough, when the 

 stalks and seeds clinging to the plough are gathered 



into heaps. For the remainder which are still left in 

 the ground, two men lift the earth with a large 

 Bamboo sieve. The pods are perfectly dried in the 

 sun until the thin skin which covers the seed can 

 be broken by rubbing, when they can be stored. 

 Great care has to be taken to thoroughly dry the 

 seeds to prevent their germination, in which case 

 they are useless. The residue of the seeds after the 

 expression of the oil is made into cakes, which are 

 used for manuring the land. 



Cocoa-nut (Cocos nucifera). 

 The Cocoa-nut does best near salt water. The 

 ground is ploughed up and the weeds removed, and 

 Cocoa-nuts which have already sprouted aje put in 

 several feet apart. Salt is put in with them, but no 

 manure. They bear fruit after ten years. If they 

 do not flourish salt is again put to the roots. For 

 the first few years after planting sweet Potatos are 

 sown on the ground, but when the trees grow tall 

 and the foliage shades the ground, this cultivation 

 is given up, and cattle are turned out to feed on the 

 ground. Each tree bears from seventy to eighty 

 nuts per annum. 



Indigo. 



This plant, it is stated, can be grown on the hill- 

 sides and in the poorest soil. It does not appear, 

 however, whether the plant referred to is Indigofera 

 or Polygonum, from which some of the Chinese 

 indigo is prepared. About July or August the 

 plants attain a height of 2 feet, when they are taken 

 up, root and all, and put into the vat, and soaked 

 together with stone lime. This is stirred several 

 times a day, and in ten days it is drawn off as liquid 

 indigo. J, R. J. 



PLANT PORTRAITS. 



Anthubium Chambeblaini, Illustration, Horticole, 

 t. 62, ex Mast., in Gardeners' Chronicle. 



Aristotelia eacemosa, Hetley, Native Flowers of 

 New Zealand, t. 26. 



Calanthe masuca, Orchid Album, t. 354. 



Calceolaria Sinclairii, Hetley, Flwers of New 

 Zealand, t. 27 (2). 



Cattleya Gaskelliana alba, Orchid Album, t. 

 353. 



Cypbipedium Ashburtoni.e X , Illustration Horti- 

 cole, t. 61. 



Disa eacemosa, Orchid Album, t. 356. 



Earina mucronata, Hetley, Flowers of New Zea- 

 land, t. 28. 



Euphrasia Monhoi, Hetley, Flowers of New Zea- 

 land, t. 27 (1). 



Feeycenetia Bank.su, Hetley, Flowers of New 

 Zealand, t. 36. 



Gnaphalium grandiceps, Hetley, Flowers of New 

 Zealand, t. 31 (2). 



Gnaphalium eellidioides, Hetley, Flowers of New 

 Zealand, t. 31 (1). 



Loranthus Colensoi, Hetley, Flowers of New Zea- 

 land, t. 30. 



Lycaste Skinneri alba, Lindenia, t. 153. — Said to 

 have been introduced into Belgium by Linden from 

 Mexico prior to its introduction to England by 

 Skinner, and to have been first exhibited as Maxil- 

 laria virginalis. If Lindley was right in putting the 

 plant in a new genus Lycaste, it was optional for 

 him to adopt a new specific name, even if the former 

 name had been authentically registered, and not 

 been a mere provisional name. 



Meryta Sinclairii, Mrs. Hetley, Native Flowers of 

 Neiv Zealand, t. 25. 



Metrosideeos tomentosa, Hetley, Flowers of New 

 Zealand, t. 29. 



Odontoglossum Eugenes, Orchid Album, t. 355. 



Olearia insignis, Hetley, Elowers of New Zealand, 

 t. 35. 



Phebalium nudum, Hetley, Flmcers of New Zealand, 

 t, 32. 



Plagianthus Lyalli, Hetley, Flowers of New Zea- 

 land, t. 34. 



Quintinia sereata, Hetley, Flowers of New Zealand, 

 t. 33. 



