IO 



mcnt of the flowers. When, however, they are produced, as is generally 

 the case, early enough to escape the frosts and rains usually experienced 

 during the latter part of the autumn well-developed specimens produce 

 an exceedingly beautiful effect throughout the period they are in bloom. 

 The branched panicles rise to a height ranging from three to five feet, 

 bearing many hundreds of the large, goblet-shaped, creamy white 

 flowers. Small groups, consisting of five or six plants of varying sizes 

 are remarkably effective when arranged on knolls in prominent positions. 

 The variety known as Y. gloriosa superba is dvvarfer in growth than the 

 type, flowers freely in a small state, and is so exceedingly beautiful as to 

 merit attention. Yucca accuminata is similar in character to Y. gloriosa, 

 and is decidedly handsome ; the leaves range from eighteen inches to two 

 feet in length, and are about two inches in breadth, and deep glaucous 

 green. The flowers are greenish white, and produced in panicles rising 



to a height of four or five feet. , 



Hardly less valuable than the preceding species is Yucca recurvifolia, 

 an elegant form known also in gardens as Y. japonica, Y. pendula, Y. 

 recurva, and Y. reflexa. This desirable species has a rather short stem 

 and leaves ranging from two to three feet long, deep green, glaucous green 

 when young, less stout in texture than are those of Y. gloriosa, and 

 elegantly recurving. This peculiarity renders the species highly attrac- 

 tive when grown as a single specimen upon the lawn, or m suitable posi- 

 tions in geometric flower gardens ; and of special value for rustic and 

 other \ases. It is free in blooming, producing large, handsome panicles 

 of flowers and is perfectly hardy. Y. recurvifolia has been m cultivation 

 rather more than one hundred years, having been introduced to this 

 country in 1794 from the coast of Georgia. Yucca glauca is a North 

 American species, with leaves ranging from fifteen to eighteen inches 

 long and one and a-half inches broad, and producing much-branched 

 panicles of whitish flowers. It is not, perhaps, so hardy as the foregoing 

 species, but it will thrive out of doors in the southern and western counties 



in well-drained soil. 



Especially desirable also, in the smallest collection is the Silk Grass 

 {Yucca filamentosa), which has long been in cultivation, having been 

 introduced from North America in 1675. This species is almost stemless, 

 and produces dense rosettes, consisting of from forty to fifty leaves, which 

 have an average ilength of twenty inches and breadth of one and three- 

 quarter inches, and are bright green, with thread-like filaments along the 

 margins. The flowers are white, suffused with green on the outside, and 

 borne in an elegant panicle on a slender stem rising to a height of five 

 or six feet. There are several handsome varieties of this distinct species ; 

 the form variously known asgrandiflora, major and nrnximajbeing remark- 

 able for the large size of the flowers ; and aureo-variegata is one of the 

 most beautiful of hardy plants with yafiegated foliage, the leaves being 

 marked with longitudinal bands of rich golden yellow. Although usually 

 described in the books as a greenhouse plant, and frequently so grown, 

 the last-named is quite hardy and may be successfully cultivated out of 

 doors in well-drained soil. Y. filamentosa is quite hardy, but it is less 

 able to resist the injurious effects of an excess of moisture about it than 

 the other species mentioned, and it is therefore important to plant it and 

 the several varieties in well-drained soil. Planted on mounds and the 

 lower ledges of the rockery, it will grow freely and present a highly 

 attractive appearance at all stages of growth. 



The cultivation of the hardy yuccas is of the simplest, and can be 

 descnlx-d in very few words. They can all be multiplied by means of 

 sue kers, side growths, and root cuttings, and they all thrive in a deep 

 sandy loam. The two essential points in their cultivation are to provide 

 a liberal quantity of soil for the roots, whether on the level on mounds or 

 on rockeries, and thoroughly efficient drainage. On naturally cold and 



above 



and when the soil is very light they should receive during the se; 

 growth, two or three liberal supplies of water. 



of 



Coxs Orange Pippin Apple. 



THIS is one of the best, if not actually the best, dessert apple in culti- 

 vation. It is indispensable to a select collection of dessert varieties, and 

 it does well and bears freely enjoung bush trees on the English paradise 



stock. 



good ci 



southern di>tih ts nt l.n^Iand. 



Lime and Liming. 



ACCORDING to early Roman writers, lime and gypsum were employed 

 for agricultural purposes more than two thousand years ago In England 

 liming has long been resorted to with great profit upon certain soils. It 

 is stated that the soils of more than one-fifth of the entire area of France 

 are derived from granite, and when the phosphoric acid and lime, which 

 they lack, are applied, a complete transformation results, the character 

 of the vegetation being so changed, that good crops are obtainable where 

 only meagre ones were grown before. 



In the course of a series of experiments, more than one hundred 

 varieties of plants have been tested to find out what effect lime has upon 

 their growth, and while a few were injured by it, particularly if they are 

 grown the same season that the lime is applied, most of the plants were 

 either uninjured by liming, or else benefited in a greater or less 

 degree. 



The experiments showed that lime, to be of the greatest possible use, 

 must be applied to the land in the form of air or water slaked lime, or of 

 carbonate of lime (chalk). 



Lime unites with acid substances in the soil, by which the soil is 

 sweetened, or its natural sourness overcome or reduced. 



In case certain injurious iron compounds are present in the soil, these 

 are so transformed by lime as to be rendered harmless. It also acts 

 upon potash compounds in the soil in such a way that the lime takes the 

 place of the potash, setting the latter free for the use of plants. 



If lime is present in a soil to which ordinary commercial fertilisers, 

 such as superphosphates have been added, it is probable that some of 

 the soluble phosphoric acid will further combine with lime, in which 

 condition it would be expected to be more readily available to plants 

 than would have been the case had lime been absent, and a more 

 favourable opportunity been given for all of the phosphoric acid not 

 quickly utilised by the plants, to combine with the other minerals present 

 in the soil. 



The presence of lime in soils further favours the decomposition of 

 the organic matter which they contain, and in this process carbonic acid 

 is produced, which in turn acts upon the ingredients of the soils in such 

 a way as to render the natural plant food much more readily assimilable. 

 It plays, likewise, an important part in facilitating the changes of 

 ammonia into nitric acid, or, in other words, in placing at the disposal of 

 plants the stored-up nitrogen of the soil, as well as that applied to or 

 left in it, in the form of animal or vegetable refuse. 



It should be stated as a caution, that it is probable excessive 

 amounts of caustic lime might prove injurious to certain plants which 

 are ordinarily helped by it, particularly if the soil were but slightly or 

 not at all acid. It has been found that even moderate dressings of lime 

 favour the growth of the potato scab fungus, a minute organism which, 

 by its development upon the surface of potato tubers, causes them to 

 become scabbed or covered with rough and more or less deep 

 excrescences. On this account, liming in a garden rotation which 

 includes potatos, should be indulged in but moderately, and the applica- 

 tion should follow the potato crop immediately, and never applied direct 

 for the potato crop. 



Lime applied to stiff clays causes them to become more friable, more 

 permeable to the air, easier of working,* and better capable of supplying 

 water to plants as needed. Sandy soils, on the other hand, are rendered 

 by it more compact and more retentive of water and manurial substances. 

 On very dry, sandy soils, smaller applications of lime must be made than 

 upon moist soils, and the use of large quantities of lime upon such soils 

 in single applications is not advisable. 



If the lime is thoroughly worked into the soil it may be applied in the 

 spring, for certain plants, with little or no risk, and usually with great 

 advantage. This seems to hold true of beets and turnips of all kinds, 

 lettuce, spinach, cauliflower, cabbage, onions, and many other plants. If 

 the soil is very sour, as in some very old kitchen gardens, then the use 

 of lime immediately before the crops are sown in spring, may prove 

 of great service, for the reason that the lime facilitates the transformation 



-ven ami uaui iicciy unuuny Uubn irecs un wie rung iibn paradise c lu • /• . »« i • t i i t i i 



During the summer of 1897, when apples were unusually scarce, of the nilro 8 en lnto a f °rm immediately assimilable by the plant. 



rpenden 



j 



I his is a much older apple in point of time than is generally supposed, 

 for it was in 1830 the late Mr. Cox, of Colnbrook Lawn, Bucks, raised it 

 from a pip of the Ribston 1'ippin, and from a pip of several which were 

 sown at the time Cox's Pomona was obtained ; and thus two standard 

 apple s of very opposite character resulted from 



seeds. This was in remarkable contrast to the 



Sugars in Beetroot. 



Ilerr F. Strohmer gives some interesting partic- 



* " * nn tht* Kiihiect. He 



Mr. Small, when 



the sowing of nine 

 experience of Mr. T. A. 



Knight some years before, who planted thousands of seedlings, out 01 

 which the Downton Pippin was the only variety worthy of note. 



Cox's Orange Pippin was first propagated by 

 proprietor of the Colnbrook Nursery, but was not disseminated further 

 than the locality where it was raised. It was not until something like 

 twenty-four years after it had been raised that it attracted the attention 

 of the late Mr. Charles Turner, Royal Nursery, Slough, by whom it was 

 largely distributed. So high an opinion had Mr. Turner of the apple, 

 that he grew it mach for his own eating, and seemed to be never without 

 some in his pocket while the supply lasted. 



The fruit may be briefly described as very handsome in appearance, 

 with a firm yellow flesh, very tender, juicy and saccharine, with a rich 

 aromatic flavour, more so than the Klhrtton Pippin possesses, and the 

 riebh is rarely so hard and tough as is sometimes the case with the latter. 

 Its season for use is from October till January, but it will often keep 

 m good condition until a later period. It is generally thought to be a 

 small-sued fiuit, but qmte large ones have been met *ith. I remember 

 some many years ago which averaged eleven inches in circumference. 



R. Dean. 



wujvitw . a iic views 10 wnicn expression was given unity ycaia "J " — 



Schachtj that the quality of beetroots depends on the number of developed leaves 

 and the length of life of the plant, are now found to be free from objections. 

 Sugar is produced in the leaves, either directly as reducing sugar, or from starch 

 or other carbohydrate, and migrates through the leaf stems to the root. The pro- 

 duction of sugar depends on the amount of light, and the form and position of the 



of importance. When the sunlight passed through white or yellow 

 ^iass, icai production was vigorous, but with blue or red glass feeble ; and the 

 weight of roots under the influence of yellow light was nearly twice as great as 

 when blue and red light were employed. The percentage of sugar under the 

 different conditions was 7-4— 8-1 with yellow, 6-4—7-4 with red, and 8 # o— 8'4 

 with blue light. For producing total organic substance in beetroot, rays of medium 

 wave-length are the most favourable, but for converting the products of assimila- 

 tion into sugar, the so-called chemical rays seem to have a prominent r61e. The 

 results of field experiments showed that sugar production begins at an early stage 

 in the leaves, but is greatest from the beginning of August to the middle of Sep- 

 tember. Under favourable conditions, there may be a not inconsiderable accu- 

 mulation of sugar even later. From the beginning of July, the sum of the 

 percentages of water and sugar in the roots is constant. This, and the fact that 

 the percentage of sugar in the roots increases until the leaves die, indicates that 

 the sugar, once stored in the roots, remains there. It is only when the roots are 

 taken out of the soil and the leaves cut off that the sugar begins to be used up 

 in maintaining the life of the plant and in preparation for following 



paper 



leaves are 



growth. 



year 



