March 12, 1890.] 



Garden and Forest. 



125 



certainty, but there appear to be amongst them several 

 different kinds, probably five or six at least." A description 

 of these six seedling varieties has lately been published in the 

 Demerara Garden, Field and Forest, and they are spoken of 

 as very promising. The Director of Kew has recommended 

 the whole subject to the consideration of the Colonial govern- 

 ment, suggesting that experimental cultures of the Sugar 

 Cane should at once be started in Demerara, Jamaica and 

 other sugar-producing colonies. The belief that the Sugar 

 Cane never produced seeds also exists with respect to several 

 other cultivated plants, two of them being natives of New 

 Zealand, namely, Convolvulus chrysorrhizns, the Kumara of the 

 Maories, the tubers of which are a staple food with them, and 

 the Ti plant, a species of Cordyline. The former plant used 

 to be in cultivation at Kew, and one year it produced tubers 



English market. The French apples in the market now are 

 remarkable for their bright, attractive colors, and they fetch 

 about from twelve to sixteen shillings per hundred-weight, 

 wholesale. The American samples vary in quality, the poor- 

 est selling for twelve shillings, the best for about twenty- 

 five shillings per barrel. They are chiefly Greenings and 

 Russets, the latter commanding the highest prices. Good 

 grapes sell for as much as five shillings per pound. Oranges 

 are abundant and cheap. Pecan-nuts from America have 

 lately appeared in the London shops, and they promise to 

 become almost if not quite as popular as their allies, the Wal- 

 nuts. They are, however, not yet much known. The Shell- 

 bark Hickory-nut also has been tried, but it is a very inferior 

 nut and scarcely likely to find favor here. 



Vegetables are abundant and good, the mildness of the win- 



Fig. 26. — Viburnum pubescens. — See page 124. 



which were quite as good as Parsnips, when cooked. They 

 are, however, difficult to keep through the winter, and they 

 were consequently lost. 



Fruit and Vegetables in the Lo7idon Market. — A few notes on 

 these at the present critical season of the year may be of inter- 

 est to some of your readers for purposes of comparison. With 

 regard to fruit the supply is unusually poor, even for Febru- 

 ary. Pears are not to be had, while apples are rather scarce, 

 what we have being either American or French, a few only 

 being English, principally of Dumelow's Seedling, an Apple 

 of first-rate quality and usually plentiful at this time of year. 

 It and Bramley's Seedling, a very similar kind, are placed in 

 the first rank and strongly recommended for orchard planting, 

 the last named being spoken of by one of our first authorities, 

 Mr. Wright, as superior to most of the apples grown for the 



ter having been in the favor of growers, although the abund- 

 ance tends to keep the prices exceptionally low. We have- 

 still Brussels Sprouts ; Broccoli, chiefly from Cornwall, is plen- 

 tiful and sells for about five shillings per crate. Kale and 

 Sprouting Broccoli are also good and cheap, the last named 

 being obtainable for one shilling per sack, the price of Turnip- 

 tops, a popular vegetable here with the poorer classes. 

 Savoys, bunched greens and Spinach are almost given away, 

 the last named not commanding more than one shilling six 

 pence per bushel. Potatoes are mostly of the following kinds: 

 Beauty of Hebron, an excellent potato both for early and late 

 purposes; Magnum Boiium, Early Rose, Regents, Scotch 

 Champion and Imperator. These are more or less abundant, 

 and vary in price according to quality from forty to seventy- 

 five shillings per ton, a few specially good samples of Magnum 



