534 



Garden and Forest. 



[Number 194. 



(not broadly winged) calyx-tubes, in the very numerous 

 stamens with clustered minute anthers, and in the spread- 

 ing- stigmas. 



Foreign Correspondence. 



London Letter. 



Horticultural Education. — A few weeks ago I men- 

 tioned a scheme which was being formulated by the Lon- 

 don Worshipful Company of Gardeners and a section of 

 the Royal Horticultural Society which had for its object 

 the establishment of a "School and College of Technical 

 Horticulture and Small Husbandry. " The scheme is pub- 

 lished to-day in The Standard. The aim is "to impart a 

 higher class of education in the principles and practice of 

 the cultivation of fruits, flowers, and vegetables than is at 

 present obtainable in Great Britain." Students will be ex- 

 pected to remain at the school at least two years, during 

 which period they will devote themselves to the manual as 

 well as to the scientific branches of the work. By this it 

 would appear that whatever is not manual in horticulture 

 is scientific, and everything manual is unscientific. Direct- 

 ors of cultivation and qualified lecturers are to superintend 

 and instruct. It is proposed that the gardens of the Royal 

 Horticultural Society at Chiswick should be utilized for this 

 purpose. Beside this scheme we have now actually at 

 work a number of lecturers who have been appointed by 

 several of the county councils in the south to lecture in 

 the towns and villages on the cultivation of the small farm, 

 the garden, and the allotment piece. These lectures, how- 

 ever, are intended for the uninformed in matters horticult- 

 ural rather than for professional men. It is also proposed 

 to introduce the subject of land culture into the curriculum 

 of schools. At present there appears to be some difficulty 

 in finding qualified men for all these new posts. The value 

 of these several well-intentioned schemes for the propaga- 

 tion of a knowledge of horticulture among the masses re- 

 mains to be proved. It is questionable if much real or 

 useful knowledge is ever imparted by lectures. The fancy 

 may be tickled or a wish for knowledge may be the out- 

 come of a lecture, but as a direct means of education this 

 popular form of teaching is open to doubt. The school- 

 room gardener is not likely to prove superior in cultural 

 skill to the man who has obtained his knowledge of his art. 

 by constant practice in the best gardens. 



Streptocarpus Galpini, Hook f. (n. s. ) — This is a new spe- 

 cies of Streptocarpus which is now flowering at Kew. It 

 belongs to the monophyllous group, of which 6". Dunnii, 

 figured in the -last volume of Garden and Forest, is the 

 most remarkable species. The new one has a prostrate 

 fleshy leaf, not so large as that of »S". Dunnii, the largest at 

 Kew being eight inches long and five inches wide; the nerves 

 are very prominent on the under side and are tinged with 

 purple; the whole leaf is covered with a soft silky pubes- 

 cence, which gives the upper surface a silvery appearance. 

 The plant now in flower has four erect racemes 

 springing from the base of the midrib of the leaf ; they are 

 six inches high, and bear each about twelve flowers, ar- 

 ranged in pairs and opening in slow succession, pedicels 

 one and a half' inches long and reddish ; calyx formed of 

 five small linear lobes ; corolla, with a short broad tube less 

 than half an in h long ; lobes spreading, orbicular, the 

 lower one projecting a little and forming a kind of labellum. 

 The flower is nearly one and a half inches across and col- 

 ored rich lavender-blue, with a clear white throat. The 

 general expression of the flower is not unlike that of Ra- 

 mondia Pyrenaica, but they are larger. Fourteen flowers 

 have been opened together on one plant. I consider this 

 by far the prettiest of all the species of Streptocarpus hith- 

 erto introduced. We have no in-door plant which flowers 

 at this time of year that will compare with it. In the short- 

 ness of its flowers it differs markedly from all other culti- 

 vated plants of this genus. Seeds of this plant were 

 sent from the Transvaal to- Kew last year by Mr. E. E. 



Galpin, of Barberton. A figure of it will shortly be pub- 

 lished in the Botanical Magazine. 



Bordeaux Mixture for Potato Disease. — Experiments 

 have been made in England this year to test the value of 

 Bouillie Bordelaise as a cure for Potato disease. In the 

 Kew Bulletin for 1889 there was published some interesting 

 correspondence on the extensive use in France of this sub- 

 stance, which is a mixture of sulphate of copper, slaked 

 lime and water, for the-prevention and cure of mildew and 

 other fungoid diseases of the vine. The possibility of its 

 proving equally efficacious with Potatoes induced the 

 Board of Agriculture to arrange for experiments to be made 

 with it in various parts of England. The reports on these 

 experiments so far are not conclusive, some cases showing 

 an improvement in the crop where the Bordeaux mixture 

 was used, others a falling off, and others absolutely no dif- 

 ference. The last published report is from the trial grounds 

 01 Messrs. Sutton & Sons, at Reading, from which it would 

 appear that, if anything, the use of this mixture is to be 

 deprecated. Experiments had been made on '278 kinds of 

 Potato, which were planted in 810 rows. Half of each 

 kind was dressed with the mixture, the other half left to 

 take its chance Here is the result : 



Tons. Cwts. Qis. Lbs. 



810 rows, dressed with the mixture, yielded 4 17 1 1 



810 rows, not dressed with the mixture, yielded.. 5 825 



Two of the varieties — namely, Sutton's Ringleader and 

 White Beauty of Hebron — were one-third more prolific with- 

 out the dressing than with it. 



By the side of this report from Messrs. Sutton may be 

 placed that from Mr. R. Fenn, well known as a raiser of 

 potatoes, from which it appears that where the dressing 

 was used the crop was about fifty per cent, better than 

 when no mixture was applied. Mr. Fenn attributes the 

 difference between the results he obtained and those ob- 

 tained by Messrs. Sutton & Sons to his using the mixture in 

 powder form instead of in the liquid, as recommended 

 by the Board of Agriculture, and to his applying the mixture 

 early. 



Kew. 



W. Watson. 



[Experiments in this country seem to have demonstrated 

 that the Bordeaux mixture is effective against potato rot 

 when the application is made early, and repeated several 

 times. The copper mixtures are preventives, and hence 

 the need of application before the spores of the rot have 

 started into growth. — Ed.] 



Cultural Department. 



Notes on Small Fruits. 



SEVERAL promising varieties of Raspberries are being- 

 tested at this station. Among them are the following 

 Black Caps : 



Lovett's Early is one of the earliest ; the plants made a 

 good growth last year, and gave a fine crop of fruit this sea- 

 son. The fruits are quite firm, of good size and appearance. 

 The canes make a very slender growth, but are well branched. 

 This will undoubtedly be a valuable acquisition. Carman has 

 been fruited here two years, and proves the earliest of all 

 Black Caps. The plants make a very vigorous growth, and 

 produce a fair crop of fruits of high flavor and showy appear- 

 ance, and firm enough to ship. This will, without doubt, be- 

 come a favorite early variety when better known. A seedling 

 sent out by G. C. Brackett, Secretary Kansas Horticultural So- 

 ciety, under the number 101, has proved itself a valuable va- 

 riety, being a vigorous grower and productive ; its fruits are 

 of the largest size, jet-black and firm ; it is in season about 

 with Gregg. Among the older varieties the Hilborn takes the 

 lead, with Smith's Prolific following close in regard to yield. 

 Both of these have fine showy fruit of good quality, and are 

 firm enough to bear shipment. For a late fruit nothing tested 

 here will equal the Ada, a variety of great vigor and produc- 

 tiveness. It is rarely met with, and I fail to find it catalogued, 

 but it should become better known. The Gregg through this 

 section is still the favorite, both for market and canning, but I 

 am of the opinion that either the Holborn or Smith's Prolific 

 will equal it in productiveness, and prove more hardy. 



