THE GARDENERS' 



MAGAZINE. 



February 



5» 1898. 



Experimental Potato Culture has received a large share of attention 



Mat 



the varieties of recent introduction have been R rown with a view to determine 



m_-4 ■ w w w« < 



the Dalmeny estates, and a considerable success has been achieved. Man 



y of 



such plants must emit a pleasant odour, and probably possess an 

 attractive flavour, since repeated clearings simply make room for fresh 

 immigrants to renew the depredations. Other plants, apparently iden- 

 tical, remain unscathed, though actually intermingled with the sufferers. 

 Other factors, of course, may be present in such cases, and doubtless, 

 just as our appetites are whetted or blunted by the apparition of a tender 

 or tough steak, and our teeth are more or less set at defiance by the latter 

 quality, so many of our tiny marauders are tempted or baffled in like 

 fashion by tendernesses or toughnesses beyond our coarser appreciation ; 

 which fact lies doubtless at the root of another, viz., that if we have a 



particular pet plant, of which we take extreme protective care, we are are natura lly rich in potash; but it in no way affects the advice that ^ 



their usefulness for market, and a series of experiments have been made f or - 

 purpose of ascertaining the fertilisers best adapted to the requirements of potaj 

 The comparative merits of sulphate of ammonia and nitrate of soda werep utto 

 the test, and the results obtained were decidedly in favour of the arotnori 

 salrs. As in 1896, it was demonstrated that where the land received a libe^ 

 dressing of farmyard manure and is consequently in good 

 potash salts, as supplied for example in kainit, are not required. Th- 

 is as might have been expected, for the soils in the Dalmeny distrr 



condition 



bound, sooner or later, to find a "worm i' the bud," fattening itself up 

 cosily in the precious leafage our coddling has rendered an extra tooth- 



usually given for the application of potassic manures to light soils when W 

 prepared for potatos. Some experiments were also made with regard to the u* 



some morsel. Did we know more of these likes and dislikes, tastes and of tfhole and cut sets, and the conclusions derived from them were to the tk 

 distastes we might be the better able to protect our plants by masking that good-sized whole tubers were better than those which had been cut, and tha- 

 attractive flavour and odour with repugnant ones ; but when we find the sets of early varieties should on no occasion be cut. 



omnivorous slug making a hearty meal off the tobacco leaves placed as a Patriarchial Maple.— Mr. G. II. Beighton writes : " It will probably be 

 deterrent, and flocking in shoals to them and the plant they were in- 0 f interest to your readers to know that there is in Richmond Park a tree of Acs 

 tended to protect, with disastrous results, we feel that full knowledge lies campestre of quite extraordinary dimensions, as it is much larger than any of those 

 still in the womb of the future, and that the old proverb, "there's no discovered by the researches of Loudon. The tree is fifteen feet in circumference 

 accounting for taste," is still as true as ever it was. two feet from the ground, about five feet in diameter, but only some twenty fee: 



of its stature now remain. At its prime, perhaps two hundred years ago, itmnj 

 have been a magnificent specimen. Each recurring spring it still spreads forth 

 mass of delicate and lovely foliage. It would be of great interest to ascertaiua 



FLOWER SHOW ARRANGEMENTS. 



A good method for a secretary of a horticultural society to adopt in any of your readers have cognisance or records of any maple of similar magnitude, 



making arrangements for the annual or other exhibition is to have an Further, it might be of benefit to generations to come if, in the very admirali 



index book lettered from A to Z, in which the exhibitor's name, and full forestry operations here, a few maples were included in the new plantations, ft 



address are entered, and the number of classes in which he enters be tree referred to is the only one of its kind that I have noticed in Richmond Park 



put in a perpendicular column, in their sequence ; next, a class book, in F^per, ^ugh there are one or two well-grown ones in the neighbourhood. 



which the classes are set forth in their regular order, a page or half-a- 



Teaching Practical Botany.— As we have already informed our reader 



page being allotted to each according to the number of entries expected. a committee of the London County Council has been considering the practical*, 



As each person enters in a class his name is entered in due order, then a * * \ 5 , , : , . , r A 



j -u ul • 11 • f *Vi 1 K tf tli will afford assistance to scholars at elementary and secondary schools in the slri| 



card should be previously printed leaving room for the class to be set forth 



of practical botany. The committee has reported on the queition, and the folloi 



in writing, and should be written with the name and address of the ing suggestions have bee n made : (1) That a very valuable experiment could k 



exhibitor on it m full, one for every entry, the class number being put on conducted on a scale sufficie ntly wide if, in each of three parks, about twenty m 



the back of each card, and these cards are given to the exhibitors on the 0 f groun( i we re devoted to the cultivation for school purposes of hardy typb 



morning of the show, and he is expected to place them in their proper p]ants belonging to twenty natural orders. (2) The beds should be arrangedw 



order, with the backs of the cards upwards. The judges having made their tne pa ths, one bed being devoted to each order. They should differ in size, tk 



awards, mark the backs of the cards ; an attendant reverses them, places largest being a little under five hundred feet square, and the smallest about m 



on the front the aw r ard in the form of a gummed slip, the award is entered hundred feet square in area, so that the average of the twenty beds would k 



on a card by the judges or by an attendant in the class book, and the approximately one rod. (3) The specimens selected should be such as arefrs 



work is done. This method necessitates more work on the day or two in growth, and each should be labelled with its common name and its LstiM 



preceding the show, but when it can be done with greater comfort, and systematic name. (4) Labels giving the names and natural orders shouldk 

 reduces it to a minimum on the show day. All the cards of exhibits to 

 which no prizes have been awarded are also turned upwards by the 



attached to the more important trees, shrubs, and plants throughout the prt 



_ selected. (5) A botanical guide to the parks selected should be published uA 



attendant, anT thus \very exhlbrtor has his name and address set the superintendence of the Technical Education Board and the Parks ComW 

 forth on his stand, though he may not win a prize. It is difficult to < 6 > Teacheis holdin S P' inted orders from the Technical Education Board, shj 

 improve upon this simple method. Further, the awards made are set ^le to obtain from the superintendent in each park such " "J, 



c^Slu *ul il-t— \ v 4 a. :iUliU , ^ m _ required for botanical study in the schools, so far as they could be supplied w» 



~ " A — — ~ detriment to the specimens. The Parks and Open Spaces Committee, in po* 



these suggestions in the form of recommendations, point out that some mm 

 suggestions were considered, but they thought it would be better in the 

 instance to deal with the subject quite in the sense of an experiment ; and it, , 



iudging by number, we have known hours consumed in obtaining a on> it should prove to be resulting advantageously to the schools, posabjj 

 reliable list of awards, and not without considerable difficulty, some of arrangements might be extended to the cultivation of important types of the 

 the winning exhibitors' cards not being placed on their exhibits until the orders of plants, such as fun^i, mosses, ferns, &c, and facilities might be aW* 



forth in the index book, together withithe amount of prize-money won in 

 each class, which also becomes a ledger. As soon as the judging is 

 completed an accurate list of prizes can be compiled from the class book, 

 which proves a great boon to reporters. Under the old system of 



afternoon was considerably advanced. 



Magnolia Campbelli, a splendid Himalayan species, and one that is only 



for the study of aquatic plants. The chief officer of the Parks Department rtg 

 the proposed arrangements as quite practicable at any of the larger P* rks ' ^ 

 some expenditure would be necessary. Upon that point the chief officer 

 instructed to submit a report. It is proposed that the experimental beds 



hardy in the most favoured parts of the British Isles, such as Devon, Cornwall, formed at Battersea Park, Ravenscourt Park, and Finsbury Park 

 and the south of Ireland, has recently flowered in the open air at Messrs. R. The Royal Horticultural Society holds its annual general me^ 



Veitch and Son's nursery, Exeter. The specimen has occupied its present position the Lind] ~ ' 



for twelve years, and though it has previously produced buds it has now perfected o'clock. 



its large purple flowers for the first time. In the south of Ireland M. Campbelli has 



A fine specimen at Kew occupies a 



occasions 



position 



February 



'J , 11/, * L^LKJUO. KJllV,^*., w » v^»* - — J * . 



The various committees will meet as usual at twelve o'clock in 



Hall to inspect novelties and groups. a rei\t^ 



Commercial Camphor is chiefly obtained from the oil produc ^ 



r . . r A lar g e > freely-flowered specimen would be a distillation of the leaves, growths, and wood of Cinnamomum camphora, * J 



fine sight, for the flowers measure from six to ten inches across, and are of a rosy - ' - - - - - ■ - - — t**™ 



or purple colour outside, shaded with crimson, and white or pale rose on the inner 

 side of the segments. In addition to their fine appearance, the flowers are slightly 

 fragrant. Sir Joseph Hooker, who is so well acquainted with Himalayan plants, 



says of M Campbelli that it " forms an immense, but very ugly, black-barked, aromatica . Quite recent , some experiment's have been made in New 



spnnngly branched tree, leafless m wmter, and also dunng the flowering season, by Mr . R> T< Baker & / onnection with Cinnamomum Oliveri, an 



t " P"l f ° rt ^ / r 7 lhe k end * & b I a " che u S rose-purple, cup-shaped were iven before ^ Linnean Societ of that col T he yield was 



less, especially m its native forests, Sir Joseph icrAmnniiari rA.f,, a .h«* << tvt~ ^ \ _ r 



Campbelli is the most superb species known." 



tree. It is most largely manufactured in the island of Formosa, fro 

 is sent to Canton for exportation. In addition to this source there are ^ 

 other plants that yield camphor ; indeed, many members of the order 

 secrete it. For instance, the Bornean Camphor Oil is obtained from Dry 

 aromatica. Ouite rerenrlv some exoeriments have been made in New^ ^ 



.boat 



ical 



Botanic 



agricultural matters will be dealt with, especially in a , 



with the work of the Gardens. The first three issues are devoted to the considera- 

 tion of a canker that attacks the cacao tree, and this is particularly interesting 

 owing to the correspondence upon the subject which has taken place with the Kew 



authorities. The CaUSe Of the r»nlr#»r nnrl rkrr»fviV>1<» rpm^iflc *ro 



a slightly lower melting point. _ g M 



Magnetism in Fern Life,— In the course of a most interes ^ 



being issued a small period- upon the Conditions of Life of the Simplest Living Things, Professor Ray 

 Botanical, horticultural and stated that it formerly appeared that the antherozoid cells in fern ^ F 

 *~ ~ Av " * * moved toward the egg cells (archegonia), which they fertilise, without ^ 



But recently a German professor found that the antherozoi 



' ' gnet, by malic acid, ano 



reason. 



investigation showed that the egg cells were coated with a sug 



this acid. 



