\PRIL 13, 1912. 



THE GARDENERS 



MAGAZINE 



293 



.>oot Raisin Blanc, Barbarossa, Gros Col- 

 mar ' and Waltham Cross. The pears com- 

 prised Beurre Bosc, Benrre Hardy, Doy- 

 enne du Cornice, and Winter Nelis. The 

 plums consisted of the variety known as 

 Kelsey. The grapes realised from 2s. to 

 8s per box, Kelsey plums (28's to 32\s) 

 from OS. to 6s. per box. Pears of ordinary 

 Qualitv realised from 3s. to 5s. per box 

 of 101b., while trays of Doyenne du Cornice 

 containing from 18 to 28 fruit, realised 

 from 10s. to 14s. per tray. It was in- 

 teresting to find among the grapes from 

 South Africa the variety Waltham Cross, 

 which was introduced by Mr. W. Paul, of 

 Waltham Cross, and received a first- 

 class certifi-cate from the Royal Horticul- 

 tural Society in 1871. Waltham Cross is 

 a large and handsome grape, with long 

 tapering bunches and large amber-coloured 

 berries, and of excellent flavour. The 

 variety has not of late years been regarded 

 with much favour by cultivators in this 

 country, but in South Africa it is evi- 

 dently' popular for culture for the British 



markets. 



American Gooseberry Mildew. 



The Board of Agriculture and Fisheries 

 have issued an order dated March 30, en- 

 titled The American Gooseberry Mildew 

 (Fruit) Order of 1912," to England and 

 Wales, rnder the Order the sale or ex- 

 posure for sale of diseased gooseberries is 

 prohibited, and any person who knowingly 

 sells or exposes for sale diseased goose- 

 berries, or causes or permits any such sale 

 or exposure, shall be liable on convi-ction to 

 a penalty uot exceeding £10. The landing 

 in England or Wales of any gooseberries 

 brought from any place outside Great Bri- 

 tain (except the' Channel Islands) is pro- 

 hibited, except where there is attached to 

 the package in which the fruit is imported 

 a label bearing the words ''Imported goose- 

 berries,'* and stating the name of the con- 

 signor and the country and district in which 

 the fruit was produced. Otlier clauses of 

 the Order deal with Information to be 

 Given as to Imported Gooseberries, 

 Cleansing of Packages containing Diseased 

 Gooseberries, Powers of Inspectors to En- 

 - force Cleansing of Packages, Powers of 

 Entry, and OfTences. 



Botany of a Hedgerow. — Before 



the members of the Sheffield Naturalists' 

 Club on the 23rd ult., Dr. T. W. Wood- 

 head, of the Huddersfield Technical College, 

 gave a highly interesting lecture on the 

 botanical aspects of the hedgerow. Hedge- 

 rows, it was pointed out, are artificial 

 structures which folloAved in the wake of 

 man, and were quite unknown as natural 

 features in the vegetation of the country. 

 Although the dominant one, the hawthorn 

 was by no means the only tree or shrub of 

 the hedgerow. Large trees occupied an 

 important place in the landscape, and their 

 ^ippearance in the hedgerow was largely due 

 to the fact that frequently they had been 

 introduced by man so as to afi^ord shelter 

 for cattle. Nearly all the British shrubs 

 might also be found in the hedgerows, while 

 another interesting group of plants were 

 the climbers, among which all gradations 

 and modifications of the climbing liabit 

 might be found. Beferring to the ))ioloo;i<'al 

 aspect of the hedgerow flowers. Dr. Wood- 

 head stated tliat iuvsects and these flowers 

 ■^V(^ro intimatelv assooiativl , niul tliat thore 

 ^^'J^s nuich evidence in favour of the view 

 tnat they had developed side by side, and 

 that modifications of the one had been av^- 

 ^^'mipanied by parallel mmlifications of the 

 other. Hedgerows and hedgebanks. he said, 

 ■^ere doubtless used on a small .scale neai- 

 ^iwellino;s long before thev extended to the 

 Y^'^ro distant cultivated plots, but the cus- 

 •^^^1 of leavincr a dividincr line of un- 



ploughed turf, on which trees and shrubs 

 often grew, would suggest and would long 

 serve as the forerunners of the hedgerows 

 which to-day added so much to the beauty 

 of the country. 



Royal International Horticul- 

 tural Exhibition. ^ Through the 



courtesy of the executive we are able to 

 give herewith an illustration of the hand- 

 some diploma that will be awarded at the 

 Royal International Horticultural Exhibi- 

 tion to be held at Chelsea next month. 

 A description of the diploma is unneces- 

 sary, but it may be mentioned with much 

 satisfaction that the international charac- 

 ter of the gathering is admirably shown in 

 the design, which has the merit of combin- 

 ing boldness with elegance. 



Practical Instruction in 



Forestry. — As an essential part of the 

 first course in forestry at the Edinburgh 

 University, the students have ten days' 

 practical work at Baith, the finely-wooded 

 estate of Mr. Munro Ferguson, M.P., who 

 has kindly placed his woods at the dis- 

 posal of the students. The first contin- 



long had special attention given to them 

 as evidenced by the fact that records ot 

 them extending over nearly two centuries 

 are in possession of Mr. Munro Ferguson- 

 Influence of Magnesia on 



Roses.— In a contribution to the issue of 

 the Journal des Roses " for February last 

 M. Cochet-Cochets gives the results ob- 

 tained from h*s experiments with magnesia 

 as a manure for roses. He states that the 

 experiments were carefully conducted with 

 a large numl^er of roses in pots, and some 

 1,800 plants of niultiflora roses growing in 

 the open ground, and that the magnesia 

 exercised a distinct effect on the growth of 

 the roses. Used in the form known as car- 

 bonate of magnesia as a dressing to the 

 ground in which the multiflora roses were 

 growing, it increased the develo})ment of 

 the growth, which continued until late in 

 the autumn, and caused the leaves to retain 

 their freshness until a much later period 

 than usual. 



Sewage Sickness in Soil. — Dr. 



E. J. Russell and Mr. J. (folding, of the 

 Rotlrunsted Experiment Station, Harpen- 



DIPLOMA OF THl-: x.^ 



i\L INTEENATIONAL HORTICULTURAL EXHIBITION. 



gent of students numbered 26, and, leav- 

 ing Edinburgh early in the morning of 

 March 21, they reached Raith in the fore- 

 noon, and were soon at work in accord- 

 ance 'with a well-devised plan. They com- 

 menced operations in the nursery under the 

 supervision of Mr. Grant, the head fores- 

 ter, and his assistants, and throughout the 

 ten days the whole of the manual work was 

 done by the students except carrying out 

 the trees when engaged in thinning. The 

 programme of work comprised planting, 

 thinning, nursery operations, measuring 

 the volume of standing woods, testing the 

 soil of an area to ascertain tlio most use- 

 ful trees to plant therein, inspecting ttMices 

 i)Y the purpose of making estimates of 

 cost and btx'oming acquainted with the 

 method of formation. Work commenced 

 each day at 8.30 a.m., and concluded at 

 5 p.m., with an interval for lunch, and 

 akhough much of it was decidedly arduous 

 the students applied themselves with 

 energy to the operations, and proved to 

 demonstration that they had been fully 

 impressed with the importance of a 

 thorough acquaintance with practical work. 

 The woods and plantations of Raith have 



f 



den, have made an investigation of the state 

 into which the soil of sewage farms arrives 

 after the continued application of sewage, 

 whereby it is so far injured Ix^th in its 

 physical and biological conditions tliat it 

 Avill no longer either let the sewage per- 

 colate or purify what passes through. In 

 the course of ' their investigations they 

 found that sewage-sick soil possesse<i a very 

 limited bacterial activity, and was excep- 

 tionally rich in those protozoan organ isn^s 

 which Russell and Hutchinson have re- 

 gardeil as tlu^ limiting factor in the de- 

 velopment of bacteria in soiU. Partial 

 tiM-ilisation of the soil, either by treat- 

 ment with antiseptics or by heating, was 

 followed by a yvvy large increase in the 

 number of '^bacteria ; in one case they rose 

 from about 40 millions to over 400 millions 

 per gram of the soil. Accompanying this 

 increase in bacterial activity there was a 

 renewal of the ])nrifying effect of the soil 

 upon the sewage. an<l it was found possible 

 to restore the sewage-sick soil and make it 

 l>ecome an c\en more effective filter than 

 before, either by lieating the soil sufficiently 

 to char it slightly or by treating it with the 

 vapour of toluene. 



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