October 25, 1877. ] 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



33 



day before Christmas. Tulip bulbs are placed in shallow boxes, 

 in which they remain until flower-buds can be seen, when they 

 are lifted and potted four or five in 48-sized or 32-sized pots, 

 using good sandy loam for the purpose. The Biugle Due Van 

 Thol is the principal variety grown. Another market grower, 

 Mr. Reeves of Acton, imports and grows yearly as many as 

 160,000 Tulip bulbs. Mr. Smith, of Ealing Dean Nursery, 

 makes a speciality of Cyclamen culture, and yearly sends 10,000 

 or more to Covent Garden and other markets. A very large 

 house is devoted to the culture of Poinsettias, and a more bril- 

 liant sight than they present when in bloom can scarcely be 

 imagined, thousands of large scarlet bracts being open at one 

 time. These plants are grown in 48-sized pots, are about 12 or 

 IS inches high, and well clothed with large green foliage from 

 top to bottom. In addition to theBe several thousand Solanums 

 are grown, 10,000 Begonia Weltoniensis, 12,000 Cinerarias, and 

 as many Fuchsias. Some growers devote themselves to Migno- 

 nette, Heliotrope, Hydrangeas, and Asters ; while others make 

 a speciality of white Arum Lilies (Eicbardia athiopica), Pelar- 

 goniums, Fuchsias, and perhaps Chinese Primulas or Cinerarias. 



We can only at the present make one more extract from the 

 chapter on collateral industries of gardening. 



Directly and indirectly gardening industry is beneficial, as 

 affording employment to thousands of persons, head gardeners 

 and their assistants, labourers, artisans, and others, to say 

 nothing of an immense number of extra bands, principally 

 women and children, who are employed in gathering fruit and 

 vegetables during the summer months. In our best market 

 gardens we frequently find three to five haDds per acre, and in 

 nursery gardens of course the rate is much higher ; indeed, gar- 

 dening is, of all forms of land culture, that which affords the 

 best market for labour, whether Bkilled or otherwise. Messrs. 

 Crosse & Blackwell inform me they employ regularly over a 

 thousand hands, and from three to four hundred extra labourers, 

 chiefly women, during the fruit season, the annual amount of 

 wages paid by this one firm alone being £50,000 ; this expense 

 for labour is necessary to the due preparation and distribution 

 of 1500 tons of fruit, and 10,000 hogsheads (500,000 gallons) of 

 fruits and vegetables in a preBervea state, either as pickles or 

 sauces ; and among the ingredients necessary for this wholesale 

 conservation , we note 1200 tonsofsugar.andabout 500,000 gallons 

 of vinegar, the latter being prepared by the firm at their own 

 brewery. The consumption of corks, pepper, wire, paper, and 

 wood for packing cases, is proportionately great, to say nothing 

 of show-cards and the hundred little requisites of such an exten- 

 sive business. We are not told the sum paid for the glass bottles 

 and porcelain jars in which these preserved fruits and vegetables 

 are packed previous to their distribution, but it must be some- 

 thing considerable. 



Extensive as is the fruit-preserving and pickling industry in 

 this country, our American neighbours are ahead of us in the 

 matter, and, thanks to their rich and almost boundless tracts of 

 alluvial lands, they are enabled to supply half the world with 

 canned fruits and vegetables of excellent quality and at a cheap 

 rato. It has been estimated that of Cucumbers alone 100,000 

 barrels are pickled annually in the United States ; these, on the 

 average, being worth £4 per barrel ; if those put up in jars with 

 vinegar and spices be included, it gives a total value of £400,000 

 for this one product alone, to say nothing of Tomatoes, green 

 Corn, Cranberries, Bartlett Pears, Blackberries, Apples, and 

 other fruits, and the thousands of tons of Apples, Pears, Plums, 

 and vegetables now preserved by the Alden and other desicca- 

 ting processes. 



We commend this modest little volume to our readers, and 

 believe that not many of them will rest satisfied without 

 reading it through. 



SINGULAR TREES. 



There are many species of trees growing upon the earth's 

 surface of a very peculiar nature and entirely unknown in this 

 region of the world. For instance, the Brazilian Nut Tree, a 

 native of the country whose name it bears, affords a delicious 

 fruit and grows to an average height of 75 feet. The fruit re- 

 sembles a Cocoa-nut, and is about a third larger. Each ball 

 contains from twelve to twenty nuts, three-cornered in shape 

 and nicely packed together. During the season of their falling 

 it is dangerous to enter the forest without a shield, as the 

 force of their descent is sufficient to knock down the strongest 

 man. In Guinea they have the Cannon Ball Tree, growing to 

 the height of 60 and 70 feet, bearing a flower remarkable for 

 beauty and fragrance, being of a brilliant crimson ; the fruit 

 resembles large cannon balls. From the shell various kinds 

 of domestic utensils are made, while the pulp affords two kinds 

 o-f acids, sugar and gum, besides material for an excellent 

 drink in sickness. 



At Goa, near Bombay, they have what ia known there as the 



Sorrowful Tree, because it flourishes in the night only ; at sun- 

 set no flowers are seen, but in half an hour after the tree is 

 full of them. As soon as the sun shines on these blossoms 

 they close up again. The flower has a sweet smell and blos- 

 soms all the year. On the Bide of Mount Etna there is a 

 famous Chestnut tree, measuring nearly 200 feet in circum- 

 ference just above the surface of the ground. Its enormous 

 trunk is separated into five divisions, which gives it the ap- 

 pearance of several trees. In a circular space formed by these 

 large branches a hut has been erected for those who collect the 

 great yield of Chestnuts, which are four times the size of those 

 growing upon our New England Chestnut trees. A Bimilar 

 fruit is produced in the south of France, and is sometimes to 

 be Been for sale on the corners of the streets in our northern 

 cities under the name of Italian Chestnuts. In the country 

 where they are grown these Chestnuts form no inconsiderable 

 source of sustenance, being extremely palatable and nutritious 

 when roasted. 



There is a most curious dwarf tree, unknown, we believe, 

 except in the mountain region near Cape Horn, only about 

 3 inches in height, yet with regular branohes spread out 4 or 

 5 feet along the ground. In Bombay there is what is called 

 the Sack Tree, because from its trunk and branches may be 

 stripped a natural sack which resembles felt in appearance, 

 and which is in universal use among the inhabitants. The 

 Ivory Nut Tree is very common in South America. It is a 

 species of Palm, the nuts making choice buttons and small 

 ivory articles, while the broad and substantial leaves form a 

 covering for the huts of the natives. The Butter Tree is 

 found on the banks of the Niger in Africa, and from it excellent 

 butter is obtained. The tree is like our Massachusetts Oak, 

 and the fruit somewhat resembles the Spanish Olive. The 

 kernel of the fruit is boiled, and the butter thus obtained is 

 whiter, firmer, and of a richer flavour than is that from a cow, 

 besides which it will keep a year without salt. This brief 

 mention by no means exhausts a subject to which we may 

 again refer. — (American Cultivator.) 



DOINGS OP THE LAST AND WORK FOR 

 THE PRESENT WEEK. 



KITCHEN GARDEN. 



The weather is still fine, but too cold at night for Dwarf 

 Kidney Beans, Scarlet Runners, or even Peas, to do any good. 

 Indeed ours have been over for some time, and in no season 

 have Peas ever done well with us in the autumn. ■ Where Cauli- 

 flowers have formed heads these must be protected from the 

 frost. Some persons merely break or bend one or two of the 

 inner leaves over the heart, but a better way is to tie them 

 together over it with a strip of matting. Some gardeners lift the 

 plants where the heads are not yet formed and lay them in 

 deeply in a sheltered place rather close together with the heads 

 inclining to the north; the plants are then easily protected by 

 having a few light mats laid over them in frosty nights, or some 

 dry straw may be used for the same purpose. Endive should 

 also be tied-up to blanch, but this must be done when the leaves 

 are dry; so alBO should the Cauliflower leaves. The plants are 

 easily injured by damp at this season, and they may be kept 

 quite dry by having an 11-inch board placed ready to lay over 

 them ; it may be kept above the plants by having bricks laid on 

 the ground to support it. Lettuce and Cauliflower plants may 

 now be planted in frames to stand over the winter. We gene- 

 rally plant the Lettuce in the open ground, but the vicissitudes 

 of our winter sometimes make sad havoc amongBt them, and it 

 is well to have a small reserve to fall back upon. We shall soon 

 have the hand-lights filled with plants of Early London and 

 Walcheren Cauliflower. 



If the late Potatoes have not yet been lifted no time should be 

 lost in doing so, as they can only take harm now that the haulm 

 has been destroyed by frost. We have tried many plans to 

 keep them, but the most convenient next to a frost-proof shed 

 is to make a clamp or pit of them. This ia done by digging out 

 the ground to the depth of from 4 to 6 inches, and then care- 

 fully put in the Potatoes in the form of a cone or long ridge, 

 according to the quantity to be put in ; then thatch them with 

 dry Btraw of any sort, and cover the straw over with about 

 inches of soil; this will protect the Potatoes from any 

 amount of frost, and they may be taken for household use as 

 they are required in fine weather. 



As the weather is so fine and the ground dry, Carrots, Salsafy, 

 Scorzonera, Beet, and other roots should be lifted and stored, 

 as they keep well when lifted in such a dry state during a 

 fine dry day. If the ground between growing crops is close 

 and hard a good plan is to run the Dutch or draw hoe through 

 the ground; even if there are no weeds the crops are much 

 benefited by it. 



