10 



THE GARDENERS' CHRONICLE. 



[January 6, 1912. 



this Orchid are a metallic greenish-purple colour, 

 the large, multifid lip being greenish. The plant 

 U suitable as a gn-.-nhouse subject, and grows 

 well in a mixture of sand, peat, loam and char- 

 coal, but it is not easy to maintain in a good 

 condition after it has flowered. 



Calceolaria cany, tab. 8416.— All the 

 Calci larias, of which about 200 species are 

 recognised, are natives of America, but C. cana 

 is the only species found in Peru. The flowers 



Larch and Douglas Fir.— Tn the note on 

 forestry by Captain Rogers in the last issue, the 

 statement that Larches were planted near to a 

 tree of Douglas Fir " thirty years after " should 



read, as is obvious from the context, that, thirty ^ 



years after the planting of the Larches, Douglas ^fr. Robert Miller, seedsman*, Helensburgh. The 



SCOTLAND. 



FIRE AT A SEEDSMAN'S. 



Through a fire which broke out at an early 

 hour on the morning of December 31 consider- 

 able damage was done to the premises and stock 



Kir was planted amongst them. 

 London's Open Spaces. 



The London 



fire brigade succeeded in confining the fire prac- 

 tically to the saloon. 



posal to acquire the Shadwell Market site and to 

 are not so showy as some of the kinds grown in conver t it into a public park as a memorial to 

 gardens, but they have a Violet-like perfume, 

 and their season extends from June to October. 



County Council has decided to support the pro- THE HEATING OF THE WAVERLEY 



King Edward by capitalising ite liability for a 

 part of the estate which it holds from the City 



The scapes grow to a height of about 1 foot Corporation at a rent of £710 a year. The capital- 

 6 inches ; the flower-buds are yellow, but the j se( j va l ue which the Corporation is prepared to 

 open blooms are white, suffused with rose or acceD t is £14,000, and the Council has granted 

 purple; the throat being yellowish, marked with 

 purplish-brown. The leaves are covered with a 

 white tomentum, and the plant, when not in 



the necessary money, besides promising to main- 

 tain the park for the use of the public for ever. 

 The London County Council has now taken pos- 

 flower, has the appearance of a Stachys or a session of the Ironmonger*' almhouses and garden 



Gnaphalium. 



Old Garden Literature. — To those of our 

 readers who are interested in ancient horticul- 

 tural literature, we may draw attention to the 

 recently-issued Botanical Catalogues of Mr. 

 Bernard Quaritch. In these we notice such 

 bibliographical rarities as W. Cary's Herbal; 

 Lyte's Niewe Herb all) Fuch's De Historia 

 Stirpium; Le Grant Herbier; The Grete 

 Herbatt; Hortus Sanitatis; Gerarde's Herbal) 



Parkinson's Theabrum Botanicum ; Turner's 



Herbal; Hortus Florid us; Sowekby's Eng- 

 lish Botany; Andrew's Botanists Reposi- 

 tory; Edward's Botanical Register-, Flora 



Danica; Hooker's I cones Plantarum; Flora: 



Austria&B and many other rare works. 



The Causes Determining the Yield of 

 Strawberries. — The results of an investigation 



by Mr. J. Vercier into the causes which lead to 

 an increased yield of Strawberries are published 



in Le Progres Agricole et Yiticole, and sum- 

 marised in International Institute of Agricultural 

 Bulletin. From Mr. Vercier's trials and experi- 

 ments it is concluded : — (1) That the chief factor 

 in the yield consists in the variety grown. Thus 

 in a test of four varieties, the following results 

 were obtained : 



Laxton's Noble 



Sharpless 



Quatre Saisons Remontantes 



Red Pearl 



82.4 cwt. per acre 

 100 

 70 

 60 



99 



* * 



," 



99 



v> 



• ' 



(2) Varieties must be chosen with respect to 

 peculiarities of soil ; thus Sir Joseph Paxton 

 suffers from chlorosis on a chalky soil, and only 

 yields in such soils 27 cwt. per acre, whereas 

 when grown in good loam it averages about 

 82 cwt. (3) Watering may increase the yield 



at Shoreditch, and the garden is now open to the 

 public. It is proposed to call the open space 

 11 Geffreye's Garden/' after Sir Robert Geffreye, 

 the founder of the charity in connection with 

 which the almhouses were built. 



A New Use for London Parks. — The 



London County Council will consider early in 

 the New Year a proposal made by the Education 

 Committee that starting from next Easter school 

 classes shall be held in parks and open spaces. 

 The Committee feel that an extension of the 

 scheme of open-air classes will be of very great 

 benefit, and to meet the difficulty of those 

 ehools where the playgrounds are small and 

 overlooked by other buildings, it is proposed to 

 hold some classes in the parks and open spaces. 

 When the Parks Committee were approached, 

 they stated that the proposal to utilise parks and 

 open spaces for the provision of open-air classes 

 was one with which they were in sympathy, and 

 that so far as they were able they would be 

 pleased to assist the Education Committee in 

 carrying out any practicable scheme. The Parks 

 Committee, however, are not in a position to 

 sanction the erection of any permanent buildings 

 or enclosures. The cost of the new proposal is 

 estimated at £900. 



Automatic Watering (P. de Conde). 



Reported in Bulletin of Bureau of Agricultural 

 Intelligence (International Society of 

 ture), No. 6, June, 1911, as follows : 

 An ingenious system is in force in Lot-et- 

 Garonne. It consists of a raised reservoir with 



■ 



a principal pipe from which branch off, at right 

 angles, secondary pipes, each of the latter being 

 regulated by a tap, and having nozzles at cer- 

 tain intervals. The space between the secondary 

 pipes is the distance between the beds to be 

 watered. The watering is effected by the auto- 



Agricul- 



very considerably Thus with Royal Sovereign matic action of ^ tapg _ That q£ the first pipe 

 the following results were obtained : 



3.79 Jbs. per. 3.588 sq. yds. 



4.3C 

 5.16 

 5.29 



9 9 



99 





99 



'- 



99 



'• 



*' 



99 



• ■» 



99 



99 





" 



9 9 



without watering 

 with 1 



>j 



with 2 waterings 

 with 3 



>> 



(4) The use of fertilisers leads to an increase of 

 yield : — Basic slag alone, 5 kilograms to 100 

 square metres, costing 1.21 francs, little more 

 than paid for itself ; but basic slag 5 kilograms, 

 sulphate of potash 3 kilograms, and nitrate of 

 soda 2 kilograms (costing 1.80 francs) for 100 

 sq. metres increased the yield from 93 kilograms 

 to 109 kilograms, and the Strawberries of the 

 manured plot sold for 71 francs as against 

 60 francs on the unmanured control plot. 

 Whence it appears that a good complete manure 

 for Strawberries consists in the following : 



is opened, setting in action all the nozzles of that 

 line, which, working as a hydraulic tourniquet, 

 water the ground with a very regular fine spray. 

 To the pipe is affixed a tube which discharges 

 water into a bucket suspended by cables above 

 the soil; the weight of the water overcomes the 

 resistance caused by the friction of the sup- 

 porting cables, the bucket descends, closes the 

 tap automatically, and rises again, when a lever 

 opens the regulating tap of the next pipe. Thi 

 process is repeated every time. The speed of 

 watering is regulated by the speed of filling the 

 buckets which depends upon a tap. This 

 apparatus, which only needs setting in motion, 



allows of irrigation at night 



With a charge cf 



Basic slag 

 Sulphate of potash 

 Nitrate of soda ... 



18 oz. per 10 sq. yds 



*-V 99 99 39 99 99 



7 



99 



99 



99 



93 



water of 6-7 m. (19 feet 8 inches to 23 feet) 

 each nozzle irrigates a circle with a radius of 

 about 6 m. (19 feet 8 inches), therefore 140 to 

 150 nozzles are required per hectare (56 to 61 

 per acre), the entire cost of installation is about 

 4,000 fr. per hectare (about £64 10s. per acre). 



MARKET, EDINBURGH. 



The new heating apparatus which has been 

 fitted up in the Waverley Market, Edinburgh, 

 was used for the first time on December 13, and 

 worked very satisfactorily. A temperature of 

 about 53 degrees was maintained, and this could 

 have been increased. 



■ 



FORESTRY APPOINTMENT. 



Mr. J. D. Crozier, forester to Mr. Baird, of 

 Durris (near Aberdeen), has been appointed a 

 member of the staff of the Government Forestry 

 Department of Ireland. Mr. Crozier has for long 

 occupied a prominent position as an office-bearer 

 of the Royal Scottish Arboricultural Society. 



THE LATE ROBERT LAIRD. 



Among the inventories of estates of deceased 

 persons lodged in Edinburgh during December 

 was that of the late Mr. Robert Laird, of 

 Messrs. R. B. Laird & Sons, Ltd., Edinburgh, 

 the amount stated being £3,450. That of Mr. 

 Alfred M'Laren, fruit broker, Leith, is stated 



as £2,670. 



NEW PARK FOR PAISLEY. 



At the last meeting of the Town Council of 

 Paisley, the council agreed to adopt the report of 

 a committee appointed to consider the proposed 

 purchase of Barshaw estate, including the man- 

 sion house, for a public park. The estate com- 

 prises about 95 acres, but about 40 acres are let 

 for agricultural purposes with 13 years of the 

 lease still to run. The price of the whole will be 

 £24,000, or £252 per acre. The citizens of Pais- 

 ley will soon enter into possession of an important 

 addition to their public parks. 



AN EXPERIMENTAL GARDEN FOR 



EDINBURGH. 



At the last meeting of the governors of the 

 Edinburgh and East of Scotland College of Agri- 

 culture a report was given by a special committee 

 regarding the acquisition of an experimental 

 garden for the teaching of horticulture in con- 

 nection with the college. The committee re- 

 ported having negotiated for about three acres of 

 a field between Mayfield Road and Liberton 

 Road. The report was adopted, and it was 

 remitted back to the committee with powers, 

 to complete the lease and appoint a gardener. 



FORESTRY AT EDINBURGH UNIVERSITY. 



A new forestry building is to be erected at 

 Edinburgh University, towards which the 

 Development Commissioners will contribute 

 £4,500. The University Court will supply a 

 similar amount, and more if necessary. The 

 Commissioners will also contribute £2,000, to be 

 spread over five years, for the equipment of a 

 museum and laboratories. For a period of five 

 years the Development Commissioners also give 

 £2 ; 500 per annum for the salaries of an addi- 

 tional lecturer on forestry and an assistant. The 

 scheme will be rendered complete by the further 

 provision of a forest garden, and an experimental 

 plantation by the University and the College of 

 Agriculture. 



THE VALUATION OF PUBLIC PARKS. 

 The subject of the valuation of public parks 

 recently came before the Court of Session. 

 was raised by an appeal from the Edinburg 

 Parish Council from the entry of the Craigen- 

 tinny golf course, leased by the Leith Tov*i 

 Council for a public park and golf course, being 



