April 6, 1912.] 



THE GARDENERS CHRONICLE. 



223 



Popularity of School Gardens. — Remark- 

 able evidence of the growing popularity of school 



The Cost of the Royal Parks.— According 

 to the Estimates for Civil Services which were 



gardens ^is^ contained^ in ^the^ recently^ issued published as a Parliamentary paper last week, 



^ „_*_ r„_ ii- the net amount to be spent during the year 



report of the Board of Education for the year 

 1910-11. In the introduction the following 

 paragraph appears: — "Closely connected with 

 the growth of interest in nature study is the 



ending March 31, 1913, on the Royal parks and 

 pleasure gardens is £125,700. The gross ex- 

 penditure is estimated at £137,170, the appro- 



This 



subject of school gardens. How great has been priations in aid amounting to £11 470 



the increase in the number of schools where gar- amount compares with the following 'expenditure" kwtiveW-torf^cm trees in p^ts^f The Bob 



Trees and Road Tar. — Observations made 

 by M. C. L. Gatin (C. R. Acad. Sci., July, 

 1911) leave no doubt with respect to the injurious 

 effect of road tar on trees. M. Gatin's observa- 

 tions, which were made on trees of Catalpa big- 

 nonioides and Robinia Pseud-Acacia, &c, in the 

 Bois de Boulogne, show that the tarring affects 

 the number of leaves, their size and shape. The 



dening is taught since 1902 may be seen from 

 the following comparison. In 1902 gardening 



in previous years :-1902-3-4, £118,365; 1904-5, where the roads are tarred is just one-half of that 

 £103,219; 1905-6, £104,391; 1906-7, £108,150; on trees in parts the roads of which are not 



was taught in 387 schools, and the total number 1907-8, £139,972; 1908-9, £131,084; 1909-10, tarred, 

 of boys on whom grant was paid was 4,359. In £125,337; 1910-11, £125,938; while 'the 



the year 1909-10 the subject was taught in 2,014 

 schools, and grant was earned by 811 girls and 

 28,948 boys. The subject is taught in practically 

 every county area in England and in all but 

 two in Wales. In all school gardens with hardly 

 an exception the cultivation of vegetables is 



600 



grant 

 The estimate 



shows a decrease of £7,833. This includes a re- 

 vote of the amount needed for beginning the 

 second portion of the new laboratory in the 

 Edinburgh Royal Botanic Gardens, which has 



"The Modern Cultureof Sweet Peas." • 

 Tl e latest edition of Mr. Thomas Stevenson's 



book on Sweet Peas has been issued at a low price 



(Is.) in the hope that 



ula 



it may enjoy a large 



The author takes 



been delayed in consequence of a difficulty with his readers through the various details of Sweet 



Fig. 99. — magnolia salicifolta : flowers white. 



[Photograph by E. J. Wallis 



222 



These 



the main feature. Calculations as to quantities 

 of seeds and crops make admirable exercises in 

 arithmetic; children draw the gardens to scale, 

 and paint and model from the fruits and flowers 

 Jhich they have themselves grown. 



awm.gs and P ain tings form a useful record of 

 what has been done from year to year." In 

 another part of the report, the following in- 



n r Tp at T 1 appearS : -" Gard ening is now taught 

 a ^ of the 49 county areas in England and in 



u of the 13 in Wales. The number of schools 

 here this subject is taught and the number of 



scholars instructed show a considerable increase. 



^he complete returns for 1908-09 show that 



SSng'Soo^ fZ 24 ; 925 boys and ** girls - 



srWi yUy " 10 instruction was given in 1,872 



bovs and° U 7 r 5i S ' ??* ST* ™ paM f ° r 28 ' 948 

 was riv gl 1 3 - During 191 °- U instruction 



course? "^ W M Centres and 2 > 270 school 



the Corporation of Edinburgh on the question 

 of frontage. Provision is also made for the 

 better policing of Hyde Park and for improve- 

 ments in the bathing ground at the Serpentine. 



"The Carnation Year-book. 



* i 



The third 



number of the annual publication issued by the 

 Perpetual-flowering Carnation Society contains 

 much that is of interest to lovers of Carnations. 

 Besides accounts of the impressions of the 

 society's delegates who visited America on the 

 occasion of the American Carnation Society's 



in the spring of last year, there are 

 many portraits of members and exhibits. 

 A list of American Carnation names revised to 

 January, 1912, should prove useful, and there is 

 a record of the varieties, with descriptions and 



meeting 



Pea culture in plain, straightforward language, 

 and any garden-owner who wishes to grow first- 

 rate blooms can do so if the directions given are 

 followed in an intelligent manner. The author 

 advises his readers to confine their attention to 

 the cultivation of a few sterling varieties which 

 yield refined blooms, rather than to grow a num- 

 ber of sorts which bear larger, but looser flowers 

 of coarse texture. As a preventive from 

 the ravages of mice at the time of sowing 

 the seed, Mr. Stevenson questions the advis- 

 ability of soaking the seed in paraffin, and we 

 agree that it would not be wise to allow the seed 

 to remain in paraffin for more than a few 

 minutes; a much better plan is to place a thin 

 layer of fine cinders over the rows after the 

 seed has been sown, and to daily spray the 

 cinders with paraffin emulsion until the «eed- 



raisers' names, registered by the English Society Ungs are gafe from the attaq k s f mice. 



ill 1907 and onwards to last year. 



* The Carnation Year Book, price Is. 6d. 



* The Modem Culture of Sweet Peas, price Is. The Cable 

 Printing and Publishing Co., Ltd. 



