312 



Garden and Forest. 



(June 26, 1889, 



Notes. 



The Veitch Memorial Medal, a much-coveted honor in Eng- 

 land among gardeners, has just been bestowed upon Mr. A. 

 F. Barron, the well-known superintendent ef the Royal Hor- 

 ticultural Society's garden at Chiswick. In his special branch, 

 pomology, Mr. IBarron has no superior, and his latest book, 

 "Vines and Vine Culture," in a measure supersedes all English 

 books on the sul)ject. 



A correspondent of a foreign journal notes that in the Jar- 

 din des Plantes, in Paris, may be seen two or three old Chin- 

 ese Peach-trees which, as a rule, bear double white flowers; 

 but among these are some flowers of a rich, deep crimson, 

 wholly free from white markings. From a long distance, he 

 says, these crimson flowers are conspicuous, especially when 

 a single one appears, like a brilliant little rosette, on a twig 

 otherwise entirely white. 



In reply to Mr. Orpet's enquiry whether any one has tested 

 the hardiness of Heuchera sanguinea, Mr. J. N. Gerard 

 writes that he tried several young plants last winter in his 

 garden, at Elizabeth, New Jersey, and all perished. It is per- 

 fectly hardy in England, and the horticultural papers there all 

 speak of its abundant bloom this year. Mr. C. G. Pringle 

 notes the fact (Garden & Forest, i., 153) that along the 

 northern limit of its distribution this plant is exposed to many 

 degrees of frost. 



According to an ancient superstition the Beech is never 

 struck by lightning ; and so general has been this belief that a 

 gentleman recently thought it worth while to write to an Eng- 

 lish journal that he had been told of a lightning-shattered 

 Beech in Ireland. Beliefs of this sort are rarely without some 

 degree of justification in fact, and it would be interesting to 

 know whether in this country the Beech has been observed to 

 possess any greater immunity from electrical dangers than 

 trees of other sorts. 



A recent number of Le Jardin,^ French horticultural paper, 

 contained some curious pictures of large human figures, rudely 

 carved out of Tree-fern stems by the natives of the New 

 Hebrides. They are similar in type to the grotesque colossal 

 figures carved in stone by the Easter Islanders, which have 

 long been familiar to all students of barbaric art. In the mu- 

 seum connected with the Messrs. Veitchs' great horticultural 

 establishment in Chelsea there have been for some years past 

 a series of vases carved from Tree-fern stems; but figures in 

 the same material are a greater novelty. 



Recent trade-reports explain that the culdvation of Tobacco 

 has been largely introduced of late years in Borneo, and that 

 large profits are already realized from a special kind that is 

 known as " wrap " Tobacco, and is used for the external cov- 

 erings of cigars. The production of this article in the East 

 Indies has hitherto been entirely in the hands of the Dutch ; 

 but as it is so profitable that dividends of 100 per cent, have 

 not been uncommon, while one company has paid as much 

 as 152 per cent., it is not strange that English colonists should 

 now have taken it up. 



An International Horticultural Congress will be held on the 

 19th, 2oth and 21st of August in connection with the Paris Ex- 

 hibition. The main subjects which will be discussed are the 

 following: i. Is it possible to obtain, designedly, by artificial 

 fertilization, certain wished-for characteristics in plants culti- 

 vated for market purposes, or in floriculture generally? 2. Is 

 it needful, in order to obtain flowers with striped corollas, that 

 flowers with white corollas should first be obtained ? 3. Con- 

 sideration of rates on railroads. 4. Revision of the Phylloxera 

 Convention of Berne. 5. The use of chemical manures in 

 horticulture. 6. Methods to destroy the enemies of culfivated 

 plants (fungi, insects, etc.). 



The Gardeners' Chronicle says that the Ginkgo is proving 

 itself one of the best trees for street-plandng in smoky cities, 

 thriving in the most impure atmospheres and having as yet 

 been attacked by no insect or fungus disease. In this country, 

 so faras we have learned, no extensive use has been made of 

 the Ginkgo as a street tree except in Washington, where of 

 course it is not subjected to the test of an atmosphere impreg- 

 nated with smoke. If it is, indeed, able to withstand the most 

 unfavorable conditions it might be more generally adopted for it 

 grows rapidly, its shape well adapts it for association with 

 architectural forms, and the peculiar character of its foliage 

 always makes it interesting to the popular eye. 



The true eating Banana, or "Madura" is said to be un- 

 known in northern countries, the varieties we import being 

 simply those which are used in the land of their growth for 

 cooking purposes. Many varieties of the Madura are recogni- 



zed, each of which is distinct in flavor ; the smaller are the 

 more delicious and the smallest of all, the so-called " Lady- 

 finger Banana " with a skin hardly thicker than paper, is the 

 most highly prized. Green cooking-bananas are peeled and 

 roasted in the ashes and eaten with butter ; partially 

 ripe ones are boiled for a few minutes with the skin on and 

 eaten with syrup or honey ; and ripe ones are sliced length- 

 wise and fried in Olive-oil or butter. 



Mr. J. M. White, who owns a Peach-orchard of several hun- 

 dred trees near New Brunswick, New Jersey, reported last 

 week to the experiment station that one of his trees was badly 

 diseased. Professor B. D. Halsted visited the orchard and 

 found the sick tree readily distinguishable from its healthy 

 neighbors. There were three main branches to the top, and 

 the smallest of them had nearly every leaf badly distorted by 

 " leaf-curl" {exoasctis deformans). The whole branch was, of 

 course, cut away and the leaves disposed of, leaving the re- 

 mainder of the foliage of the tree in apparent health. After 

 prolonged search no other tree was found in the whole or- 

 chard with a single leaf exhibiting any signs of disease. This 

 is certainly a striking instance of an isolated case of a con- 

 spicuous and widespread fungus disease, and it naturally sug- 

 gests the unanswered question how the " curl " first obtained 

 a foothold in the orchard. 



The gold medal of the Linnasan Society of London has been 

 awarded this year to M. Alphonse De CandoUe, of Geneva, in 

 recognition of his important services to botany. This medal, 

 having on the obverse a portrait bust of Linnseus, and on the 

 reverse the arms of the Society, was established last year to 

 commemorate the centennial armiversary of the founding of 

 the Society, and is to be bestowed alternately upon a botanist 

 and a zoologist for distinguished service to biological science, 

 although Sir Richard Owen and Sir Joseph Hooker both re- 

 ceived it the first year. An interesting feature of the cere- 

 mony the other day was the presence of a young grandson 

 of De CandoUe to receive the gift made to the grandfather — • 

 a future botanist, it is to be hoped, and the worthy successor 

 in the direct line of distinguished men who for a century have 

 made the name of De CandoUe illustrious by their lives and 

 by their service in increasing the knowledge of plants. 



According to a correspondent of the 'Hew Yovh Evening Post, 

 3,200,000 bushels of Peanuts are consumed in this country' 

 every year. They come chiefly from Virginia and North Caro- 

 lina, although Tennessee also produces a small crop. " Pea- 

 nuts are planted at corn-planting time ; each kernel produces 

 a running vine, like crab grass, and each root produces about 

 twenty pods. When ripe, the plough is run through the loamy 

 soil, on a dry day, just before frost. The nuts are dried and 

 shocked up like corn to keep dry before housing. When 

 marketed, they go to a cleaner, where they are put through 

 steam-power machines and polished, after which they are 

 graded according to size and variety. This year there is but 

 two-thirds of a crop, and they are higher in price than since 

 1884. The crop begins to come into the market aboutthe first 

 of September. The Virginia nut is the largest and finest. 

 The Wilmington is a smaller sort, and the Spanish nut, a still 

 smaller variety, is one whose kernels peel perfectly clean, thus 

 making it valuable for confectionery." 



It will be new to some Americans, even though they know 

 that Peaches are commonly cultivated under glass in England, 

 to be told that Cherries are also grown in this manner. A cor- 

 respondent of the Gardeners' Chronicle recently described the 

 Cherry-house at Gunnersbury Park, where many different 

 varieties afford fruit at different times during the season. 

 "When the trees are started into growth," he says, "a tem- 

 perature of 45° by day and 40" by night is maintained. When 

 they are in flower plenty of air is given, and the bees are 

 encouraged to work among the blossoms as much as possible. 

 Scarcely any fire-heat is employed ; indeed it had been em- 

 ployed only once or twice in order to keep out frost. At the 

 time of flowering plenty of ventilation is given top and bot- 

 tom. As soon as the fnnt has set, the house is closed up 

 somewhat, and the temperature kept quite cool until the 

 stoning process is over, then it is kept a little closer, as when 

 the fruit has stoned it ripens quickly. It is a little difficult to 

 thin out the fruit previous to the stoning stage, as it is uncertain 

 which fruit will mature and which fail. A good watering is 

 given to the trees before they get into flower, and then water 

 is applied with moderation until the fruit has set. Cherries 

 appear to do best, and set their fruit more freely when some- 

 what dry at the roots, whether the trees are planted out or in 

 pots, and it appears to be quite certain that all flower more 

 freely when worked on the Mahaleb than when on the Cherry 

 stock." 



