November 4, 1896.] 



Garden and Forest. 



443 



Hicks has a large fruit of excellent quality, containing but 

 few seeds. Early Bearing also produces a fruit of good 

 quality. Generally speaking, the fruit is improved by the 

 action of frost, which seems to destroy the astringency. 



A special study of the composition of the fruit has been 

 made by Messrs. Huston & Barrett in our chemical labora- 

 tory, and the published analyses in Bulletin 60 of the 

 Indiana Station are the only ones extant, so far as we 

 know, showing the composition of persimmons. Five 

 samples of wild fruit and one of Golden Gem were ana- 

 lyzed. It was found that the amount of dry matter in this 

 fruit was greatly in excess of that in other fruits. Grapes 

 contain from 8 to 24 per cent, while in the persimmons 

 analyzed, the dry matter ranged from 29 to 48 per cent. A 

 special study of the pulp showed about 71 per cent, mois- 

 ture, 14 per cent, sugar and over 5% per cent, albuminous 

 substances and hydro-cellulose. This indicates a food of 

 greater nutritive value than is found in our other table 

 fruits. The persimmon pulp resembles the date somewhat, 

 and was dried with difficulty. The seeds are very hard 

 and flinty, so that the work of preparation for analysis was 

 more difficult than with other American fruits. 



The average number of seeds in one fruit varied from 

 1.74 to 5.07, these figures being the averages from many 

 fruits used. The per cent, of pulp ranged from 82 to 88^. 



Persimmons may be budded or grafted in the spring. 

 The seed does not produce true from its kind, hence it is 

 necessary to bud or graft. As a rule, in southern Indiana the 

 trees grow on hilly clay soils, in neglected and worn- 

 out land. It will grow, however, on the lower, richer 

 soils. 



Through the process of selection and hybridization, 

 eventually, without doubt, the persimmon will be devel- 

 oped to a degree that will place it among the more desira- 

 ble of the fruits native to North America. These more 

 improved varieties will be free from astringency of skin, 

 more or less seedless, and, besides having a rich, sweet 

 flesh, will possess good shipping qualities. 



Attention is now being directed toward this fruit. Nur- 

 serymen are handling the trees, and many letters have 

 been received at this station from both at home and abroad, 

 asking for more information concerning it. The further 

 development of this fruit offers an attractive field for the 

 horticulturists of the lower Mississippi valley. 



Purdue University, Lafayette, Ind. (■•■ o. JrlUtHU. 



Foreign Correspondence. 

 Cambridge Botanic Gardens. 



IT 1 



V HE Botanic Gardens attached to Cambridge University 

 X are second only to Kew among the public gardens 

 of England, if judged by the extent and interest of the col- 

 lections of plants they contain. Although only some 

 seventeen acres in area, they are so cleverly laid out as to 

 appear to be at least twice that size. The houses and 

 frames cover an area of 13,850 square feet, and as they are 

 mostly modern in structure they afford accommodation for 

 a large and varied collection of tender plants of all kinds. 

 The houses are all new, having been built in 1 888-91 at a 

 cost of .£6,000. They consist of a handsome corridor 270 

 feet long, sixteen feet high and ten feet wide. On the south 

 side of this corridor there are eight handsome houses, and 

 on the north side are the sheds, laboratories, propagating- 

 houses, garden library, stokehole, etc. These all commu- 

 nicate with each other through the corridor, an arrangement 

 of the greatest convenience, both for students and gardeners. 

 The history of the Cambridge Botanic Gardens is not with- 

 out interest. It was first proposed to form a " physic 

 garden" as an adjunct to the University in 1696, when 

 the ground was selected and plans made, but no further 

 steps were taken until 1761, when about five acres of ground 

 on the site of the monastery of the Austin Friars was 

 secured at a cost of .£1,600. Philip Miller, the curator of 

 the Chelsea Botanic Gardens, the Kew of that period, was 



consulted with regard to the plans, and a relative of his, 

 Charles Miller, was appointed first curator, Thomas Mar- 

 tyn, the editor of an edition of Miller's Dictionary q/Plafi/s, 

 being then Professor of Botany. Other curators of these 

 gardens were J. Clarke, P. Salton, J. Don (author of Hortus 

 Canlabrigensis), A. Biggs Murray, Mudd, and the present 

 curator, R. J. Lynch, A. L. S., who has held that post since 

 1879, after having served about twelve years at Kew. The 

 Professors of Botany have been R. Bradley, J. Martyn, 

 T. Martyn, J. S. Henslow, C. C. Babington and Marshall 

 Ward, the present professor, who has only recently been 

 appointed. In 1847, the then gardens were too small and 

 ill-suited for the work they had to do, and a piece of land 

 on the south side of the town, about thirty acres in extent, 

 was secured at a cost of .£2,200, to which the collections 

 were transferred. Thirteen acres of this is let as allotments, 

 so that it can be added to the Botanic Garden as required. 

 The gardens were remodeled by Murray, the curator in 

 1847, who performed the work most creditably. 



The main object of the gardens is for the scientific ser- 

 vice of the University. This means the cultivation of 

 collections of all kinds of plants representative of the 

 world's flora, grouped for convenience of study and avail- 

 able for use in the dissecting-room and laboratory. In 

 addition to this, large quantities of seedlings, flowers and 

 fruits have to be supplied daily during term time for class- 

 room and other purposes. This entails considerable labor 

 for the garden staff, as on some days a thousand or more 

 specimens have to be prepared for the botany classes. 

 Material for original research by the professor and other 

 botanists attached to the University has also to be kept in 

 readiness. The ordinary show botanic garden knows noth- 

 ing, or very little, of the latter duties. Although these gar- 

 dens are the sole property of the University, the public are 

 admitted every week-day, subject to certain regulations. 



That the public avail themselves of this privilege is seen 

 in the fact that between two and three thousand visitors 

 enter the gardens on Bank holidays. The gardens are 

 managed by a syndicate composed of the Vice-Chancellor, 

 various head-masters of colleges, the Professor of Botany 

 and several others, but the practical management is vested 

 in the curator in consultation with the Professor of Botany. 



During a recent visit to the gardens I noted the follow- 

 ing interesting plants flourishing there : Stove-plants — 

 Erythrina Sandersoni, a thick-stemmed, large-leaved spe- 

 cies similar to one I have seen under the name of E. Na- 

 talensis ; Kendrickia Walkeri, a new and beautiful climbing 

 Melastomad, recently introduced from Ceylon, but not yet 

 flowered in Europe ; Utricularia longifolia and U. Endresii ; 

 Heliamphora nutans, the Roraima Side-saddle plant, Medi- 

 nilla Curtisii, Jasminum lineare, Bauhinia Galpini, in flower ; 

 Saintpaulia ionantha, used as an edging on gravel-covered 

 stages, for which it is perfectly adapted ; Aloe plicatilis, an 

 enormous specimen, a century or more old, and probably 

 the most noteworthy example in Europe. Greenhouse 

 plants : Cobsea macrostemma, an old garden plant long 

 lost to cultivation, but recently reintroduced. It has 

 greenish yellow flowers, and while it is quite distinct from 

 the familiar C. scandens, it serves the same purpose as a 

 quick-growing screen or curtain-plant : Polygonum equisi- 

 tiforme, so very like a Mare's-tail that even botanists have 

 been deceived by it ; Mentzelia bartonioides, a beautiful 

 annual as grown here in pots for the conservator)', the 

 seeds being sown in February, and the seedlings pricked 

 six in a four-inch pot, the whole being again shifted into 

 eight-inch pots and kept in a cool house. Thus treated 

 they form a compact, bushy specimen a font or so in diam- 

 eter, and produce their large, bright yellow flowers in pro- 

 fusion until winter. Grammatocarpus volubilis is grown 

 in the same way. Begonia gracilis (Martiana) is grown 

 exceptionally well here both inside and out, a bed of it in 

 a sheltered position on a lawn being a beautiful picture 

 even in October. Ferns and their allies are strongly rep- 

 resented and exceedingly well grown, from Tree Ferns 

 to Mosses and Hepatic^, the latter being a special feature. 



