224 



THE GARDENERS 1 CHRONICLE 



[April 6, 1912. 



" — 



North of England Horticultural 

 Society's Medal. — in fig. 100 is reproduced 



many 

 office. 



important works during his 

 It is proposed to grant Mr. 



period of 

 Barnes a 



the medal of the North of England Horticultural retiring allowance of £220 3s. lid. a year as 



Society, designed by Mr. F. Ransom, and manu- 

 factured by Messrs. Fattorini & Sons, of Brad- 

 ford. On the side shown in the illustration is a 

 figure of Demeter, a Greek divinity, emblematical 

 of Mother Earth. The goddess is bearing in her 

 right hand a bunch of Poppies, and in her left a 

 basket of assorted fruit. 



from July next. 



Prizes for Leedsii Daffodils. 



From 



remarks made at the R.H.S. Show on Tuesday 

 last, it was evident that some Daffodil growers 

 have overlooked the announcement made in our 

 issue for March 2 that Mr. Chester J. Hunt, of 

 America, has offered prizes to be awarded in an 

 open class for six distinct varieties of Leedsii Daf- 

 fodils at the R.H.S. Daffodil Show to be held on 

 the 16th and 17th inst. Three stems must be 

 shown of each variety, and no variety must be 

 included that cannot be purchased as cheaply as 

 two guineas for 100 bulbs. 



Drying Potatos. — A sis well known Germany 

 produces an enormous annual crop of Potatos. 

 After the sales for human consumption, for cattle 

 feeding, seed purposes, and the starch and alcohol 

 industries, there remains a large surplus. The 

 problem of the profitable utilisation of this sur- 

 plus has recently been solved to a great extent. 

 No doubt inspired by Colonial and American 

 methods of preserving Apples, the Germans have 

 adopted similar plans with their surplus Potatos. 

 There are many systems in vogue, but only two 

 of them are in general use. The tubers are either 

 sliced or flaked, and are usually dried by steam; 

 hot air is used in some of the factories. It is 

 claimed that these dried Potatos form excellent 

 feeding stuff for all kinds of stock, and are de- 

 cidedly superior to raw tubers which have lost 

 value by sprouting. 



Association of Economic Biologists. 



The eleventh general meeting of the Association 

 of Economic Biologists was held at Dublin on 

 March 28, 29, under the presidency of Prof. 

 G. H. Carpenter. Among the subjects of 

 papers read and discussed were : — Biological 

 Training for Agricultural Students; Partheno- 

 genesis ; Methods of Testing Grass Seeds ; The 

 Culture of Phytophthora infestans (fungus 

 causing Potato blight) ; The Food of Birds \ The 

 Pollination of Hardy Plants; and Cereal Breed- 

 ing. 



Maize Crop in Argentina.— The Board of 

 Agriculture and Fisheries have been informed by 

 telegram from the International Agricultural In- 

 stitute that the production of Maize in Argentina 

 is estimated at 147,927,000 cwts. 



THE WEST INDIES. 



HIPPEASTRUMS IN JAMAICA. 



Considerable success can be accomplished in 

 the cultivation of hybrid Hippeastrums in 

 Jamaica, as the following notes on the plants in 

 the Botanical Gaidens clearly show. 



In November, 1909, one bulb of each of the 

 following varieties was obtained from Messrs. 

 Veitch, Chelsea : — Surprise, Bala, Eclipse, Horsa, 

 Gamos, Enid, Estella, and Regina. 



As an example of what can be done, our ex- 

 perience with the variety Surprise is of interest. 

 On January 19, 1910, this bulb bloomed, and the 

 two flowers were crossed with the pollen of one 

 of the flowers of Bala, which bloomed on the 

 same dav. The cross was successful, and on 

 February 25, 190 seeds were sown. As a result 

 of this sowing, 167 seedlings were raised, and 

 these were planted out on July 26 following in 



w 



Fig. ioo. — medal of the north of 



ENGLAND HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



a bed shaded by Guango trees. The plants 

 grew very rapidly, and built up bulbs so 

 quickly that by the end of the year 1911 the 

 majority of them were fully 8 inches in circum- 

 ference, while each was surrounded by six or 

 eight offsets or smaller bulbs. 



On January 9, 1912, all were taken out, and 

 after the earth had been shaken from the 

 roots, the bulbs were placed in the sun to dry 

 and ripen. A week was allowed to insure com- 

 plete ripening, after which the smaller bulbs 

 were separated, and then they were counted 

 up. It was discovered that there were 163 large 

 or flowering bulbs, and 280 smaller bulbs, making 

 a total of 443 plants obtained from a single bulb 

 in less than two years. The 163 large bulbs, 

 when quite matured, were planted in a carefully 

 prepared bed, where a little shade could be 

 afforded from the hot sun, and on February 25 

 the first flowers commenced to open. 



The result of this cross is a very fine hybrid, 

 superior in both form and colour to either parent. 

 The flowers are large and of a rich, velvety red, 

 faintly marked with yellow. They are borne on 

 stouter flower-spikes, and in many cases there 

 are two spikes to a bulb. 



It is easy to see that of the two parents, Sur- 

 prise and Bala, the latter is prepotent, as the 

 flowers of this most closely resemble those of the 

 hybrid, and are of the same colour. 



The 280 small bulbs have been planted in beds 

 adjoining the above, and after a year's growth 

 should be ready to flower. 



Similar experiments are being conducted with 

 the other varieties, while in the same plot are 

 over 1,000 young plants, which were raised in 

 1911 from 36 hybrids received from Kew in 1910. 

 he h?.s designed and supervised the execution of A. H.. Botanical Gardens, Jamaica. 



Retirement of a London Park Officer. 

 In March, 1911, the London County Council 

 authorised the retention for one year as from 

 April 15 last of the services of Mr. G. F. 

 Barnes, second officer of the London Parks 

 Department, who attained the age of 65 years 

 on the latter date. It is now proposed that Mr. 

 Barnes should be retired from the service as 

 from the end of next June. Mr. Barnes, who 

 is in receipt of a salary of £500 a year, has com- 

 pleted 24 years' service. He is one of 42 officers 

 who, when the Council came into existence, had 

 been for varying periods in the service of the 

 Metropolitan Board of Works, but had not been 

 placed on the permanent staff He entered the 

 service in 1888 with a wide technical knowledge 

 which, the Establishment Committee report, has 

 proved very valuable to the Council. The 

 technical work of the Parks Department has 

 been done under his supervision since 1892, and 



AUSTRALIA. 



HOURS AND WAGES OF GARDENERS. 



An immigrant gardener who called on me re- 

 cently related how disappointed he was with the 

 conditions of gardening here. He informed me 

 that a Government representative in London 

 told him and others about to come to this coun- 

 try that gardeners in Victoria could easily get 

 situations with wages from £3 to £5 per week. 



I do not wish to dishearten gardeners who 

 would like to come to Victoria, or, for that 

 matter, to any part of this rich and fertile con- 

 tinent, for there is no better in the world; 

 but if such a statement was made to induce 

 gardeners to come here, it should be contra- 

 dicted. I have been over 20 years in the 

 colony, and know I am safe in saying that the 

 number of private gardeners who are in receipt 

 of a salary of £3 per week may easily be counted 

 on the fingers of one hand. I do not know of 

 one who receives £4 per week, much less £5. 



Gardening has improved during the last few 

 years here, but only as regards wages in Govern 

 ment or Town Council appointments. In these 

 cases, Members of Parliament and Municipal 

 Councillors see to it that garden and other em- 

 ployees are paid proper* wages, and it is only 

 necessary to work the 48 hours per week to fulfil 

 the conditions of their employment. The emigrant 

 gardener who is employed by either of these 

 powers on his first landing here may consider 

 himself fortunate. Up to the present, there i 

 no legislation that stipulates what wages a pri- 

 vate gardener should get or what hours he 

 should work. His profession is a happy hunting 

 ground for the wasters from other trades or pro- 

 fessions. 



It was no uncommon thing, a few years ago, 

 during scarcity of labour among tradesmen, to 

 find carpenters, bricklayers, and plasterers keep- 

 ing the wolf from their doors by working a 

 gardeners for low wages, the same men who, at 

 the present time, would scorn any wages offered 

 as low as 10s. per day. Even at the present time 

 many who were coachmen or cabmen are filhn 

 situations as gardeners in Melbourne and district. 

 This fact throws light on the chances a genuine 

 gardener has of commanding good wages. Round 

 Melbourne, the average wages for a gardener vary 

 from £1 16s. to £2 5s. per week, or from £1 to 

 £1 5s. or £1 10s., with maintenance. If the 

 place is single-handed, he may have to milk, 

 clean boots and knives, besides growing vege- 

 tables and flowers, and generally keeping the 

 garden in order. His hours may be 8 or 10 per 

 day, with extra work in dry weather, such 

 as watering in the evenings or at night, if 

 the garden he is employed in is not blessed 

 with a good pressure of water. For these 

 extra hours I have never heard of payment 

 having been given. In the country the same 

 conditions obtain. Many of the wealthy land- 

 owners have good gardens, but, in most cases, 

 the labour for working the garden is stinted. 

 After my experience in this colony, I consider 

 there are not 20 head gardeners' positions ID 

 private places comparable with good situations in 

 Britain. ,. 



I have endeavoured to describe the condi- 

 tions a private gardener may expect * 

 he comes here. Although the description to 

 not as bright as the picture drawn for him i 

 Britain, there is no reason why this letter shew 

 discourage him from coming here, where e 

 are so many other avenues that lead to emp J 

 ment, where the man who is willing to *° 

 may be sure of wages that are better tnan 

 paid to the average gardener. /. H • " laC 

 Gardener to the Hon. T. H. Payne, Leu t 



Toorafc, Melbourne. 



