February 26, 1898. 



GARDENERS 



MAGAZINE. 



"5 



The National Poultry Test is, we are pleased to learn, likely to prove 

 cessful Writing from Burbage Hall, Leicestershire, on the 14th inst., Mr. K. 

 S "° B h ot de la Bere says : Many of your readers may be interested to know that 

 me one hundred and fifty landowners, tenant farmers, and others have signified 



Women Gardeners at Swanley.— The annual report of the Women's 



Branch of the Horticultural College, Swanley, shows that during the year 1896 

 many of the students have received professional appointments, and altogether there 

 are twenty-eight women, who, after a Swanley training, now hold positions asnead 



their intention to take part in the national poultry test to which you called atten- gardeners, horticultural lecturers, &c. Of course, many go to Swanley simply 



" " * ' — i>--- ~ W ith a view to managing their own establishments subsequently, and not in the 



hope of gaining professional appointments. Among the college successes it is 

 pointed out that Miss Gulvin, one of the students fbst employed at Kew, has 

 now undertaken a responsible post with several gardeners under her, among 

 whom is Miss Groome, also from Swanley. Miss Hutchings remains at Kew, 

 and is now a regular gardener on the staff. Two others are also now in training. 

 Two students are at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Edinburgh. Miss Smith is still 

 those which conform to the six test rules. I may mention that considerably over at Lady Henry Somerset's industrial farm colony ar Duxhurst, where she organises 

 one million copies of the " Poultry Test Circular * have been distributed through and directs all the horticultural work. Miss Prior is directing and instructing in 



tion a short time since ; and as these are widely distributed over Great Britain, we 

 may reasonably hope, twelve months hence, to be able conclusively to determine 

 as to whether egg production can or cannot be made a profitable branch of our 

 agricultural industry. Apart from the above test scheme, I shall be pleased to 

 receive a balance-sheet from any poultry-keeper who will keep strict accounts for 

 twelve months commencing March 1 next. These returns should prove interest- 

 ing as well as instructive, although they cannot be considered of the same value as 



the post and Press columns. 



Essential Oils of Value are produced by a considerable number of plants 

 indigenous to New South Wales. The oil obtained from the Native Sassafras 

 resembles, in odour, ordinary sassafras oil, with an admixture of oil of caraways, 



gardening the patients of the convalescent home at Hale. Miss Agar is employed 

 by Miss Dove at the Wycombe Abbey School as head gardener and teacher of 

 practical gardening. Miss Clark has been teaching botany at the Princess Helena 

 College, Ealing Miss Morison has been employed by Miss Wilkinson in the lay- 



resemDieb, 1 , / ' CMCg > c m h,*hU ing out of gardens in London under the Metropolitan Public Gardens Association, 



and is used for median* purposes. Eucalyptus oil possesses many valuab e ^ ^ been Mrs> G J iett . AndeTSon> M<D in ]anti 



qualities, and »s saxd to possess the power of destroying bacteria. Its antiseptic ^ ^ orch J^g^ MUc win(WmAr ^M™, rL, w„ u± 



powers have been fully recognised by the medical profession, and by many it is 

 preferred to carbolic acid in the treatment of wounds. The leaves of the various 

 kinds of eucalyptus are found useful in preventing or removing scale in boilers. 



appointed to lecture on beekeeping and on London trees respectively. 



National Chrysanthemum Society. — A meeting of the General Com- 



The oil of the Mountain Ash, a common species of eucalyptus, dissolves gutta mittee was held on Monday evening, and, in consequence of the length of the 



percha readily, and can be used, like kerosene, for lamps, having; a greater illumi- 

 nating power, a pleasant odour, and absence of liability to explosion. Three 



agenda paper, the members were busily engaged Tor upwards of three hours. 

 Among the numerous items on the agenda were the annual report and the balance- 



ounces of the oil have been found sufficient to scent eight pounds of soap at a cost sheet, which are, as usual, of a satisfactory character, 

 of one farthing per pound. The oil obtained from the Stringy Bark is found to be 

 more efficacious, in many complaints, than the ordinary English peppermint, 

 being less pungent and more aromatic. The oil of the White Gum has been sug- 

 gested as a soap perfume^ The Woolly Butt oil possesses the remarkable property 

 of imparting an indelible stain to paper, but at present it has not been utilised for 

 commercial or industrial purposes. The oil of the Grey Gum possesses a delicious 

 citronelle odour, and makes an excellent soap perfume. Several varieties of the 

 Tea Tree furnish an oil possessing most, if not all, of the properties of cajuput, so 

 largely used in India as a remedy for rheumatism. Practically, the number of 



The Pruning of Roses. 



Looking through many beds and borders of roses at the close of last 

 week it was impossible to note their vigorous growths, ranging from two 

 to six inches, without an uneasy feeling of fear for the safety of our fast- 

 growing and dangerously early budding roses. 



Some growers advocate early and close pruning as their antidote to 



. , . . . «* c , nM ul ru . ... ... . early growth. A long lifetime of watchful experience among the roses 



native shrubs and trees in New South Wales capable of being utilised in the manu- * Q tQ t £ e th Qr practice of ea rly pruning as a mode of 



modifying or preventing the evils and'dangers of early growth ; so long as 

 we can retain plentiful reserves of dormant buds our rose harvest is 



facture of perfumes and essential oils is without limit, and when the large 

 quantities of either product, obtainable from comparatively small proportions of 

 bark or leaves, is taken into consideration, it will be seen that in this direction tolerably safe. 



New South Wales possesses exceptional advantages for those possessing the 



With all the abnormal warm 



a hitherto winterless winter 



requisite^capital and experience to establish large and remunerative productive 

 industries. The essential oil of the Red Gum has been found a good remedy for 

 chronic dysentery, and that of the Moreton Bay Ash makes an excellent furniture 



polish. It may also be mentioned that the olive, castor oil plant, and linseed, burst or break into growth first. The old rosarians used to say that was 



summoning our roses into vigorous growth, they will— they must grow 

 — prune then when or how we may. 



It must be admitted that the buds on the extremities of the shoots 



grow luxuriantly in the colony, and are easily cultivated. 



The Temple Gardens.— Under the Inner Temple Buildings (King's Walk) 

 Bill, which is being introduced to the House of Commons, the Honourable Society 

 of the Inner Temple seeks power to build upon a portion of these gardens. Mr. 



because they were nearer to the sun, and therefore the first to see and 

 feel his quickening power Be that as it may, the upper buds still break 

 first, and, in breaking, these growing buds blow off as well vital force or 

 steam from the lower ones, and in doing so hold the late roses back 

 for the enrichment of our gardens— or the furnishing of our rose shows. 



Basil Holmes, secretary of the Metropolitan Public Gardens Association, in calling So that rosarians gain infinitely more by allowing the top ends to run 



attention to the Bill, writes : By the Thames Embankment Act, 1862, the Metro- 



Works 



Embankment from Westminster Bridge to the eastern boundary of the Inner 

 Temple, and it was provided that all the land reclaimed from the Thames, and 

 lying in front of the then southern boundary of the Temple, should belong to the 



Inner and Middle Temples respectively. But the Act also pro- 



societies 



vided that no building should be erected on this reclaimed land other than certain 

 keepers or gardeners' lodges, of one storey only, of which the First Commissioner 

 of Works might approve. The present Bill seeks to give power to the Inner 

 Temple to appropriate for building purposes so much of the reclaimed land as lies 

 between the former southern boundary of the Temple and the District Railway 

 tunnel, with a width of about eighty feet measured westwards from the eastern 

 boundary of the Inner Temple. To this extent the Thames Embankment Act, 

 1S62, would be set aside, if the Bill passes, nor is any provision made for 

 compensation to the public. The frontage land was not created by the Metro- 

 politan Board of Works with money provided by the Inner Temple, and, if the 

 land had been sold for building purposes by the Board it would have realised a 

 arge sum, which would have been some set-off against the cost of the Embank- 

 ment. One would have thought that the land should have been retained by the 

 J*»rd of Works as a public garden in extension of the existing Embankment 



had* f V6ry IeaSt Parliament could do > in g ivin S the land into the 



tlTt S h th ° Se Wh ° 0311 exclude the P ublic therefrom, was to impose a condition 

 think fi W alWayS remain as an °P en s P ace * If Parlia ment in its wisdom now 

 should! >1 t0 all ° W thiS 0peD SpaCC t0 be built ° n ' then clearI y the Inner Temple 

 obtain d T ade t0 k at itS market P rice 88 a bui,din g site, and the money so 

 will defi ^ devoted to 0 Pen-space purposes. But I trust that Parliament 



the fo ° • decline to allow our noble Embankment to be seriously injured by 

 attemptST ° f * buiIdin S fron tage so close to the public thoroughfare. If this 

 will onl hi InnCr Tem P le to ob tain building land on the cheap is successful, it 



remainder fl? UeSti0n ° f time bef ° re they and the MiddIe Tem ple secure the 

 when of* ° ° pen Space ^ a most P rofit able building site without payment, 

 Embank C ° UrSe ' . tbe Tem pte Gardens, which add so much to the beauty of the 

 ^ ent, will be much curtailed, and will be shut out from public view. 



President B f 0ta " Ical Society of France has elected Mons. Franchet as its 



^ce-presidem enSUbg yCar ' MM * Boudier » Rose > and Clos > 35 



to waste than by pruning them back to the dormant buds in winter 

 or early spring. I do not say that winter pruning may not lessen the 

 volume, or modify or put back the time, of the dangerous flood-time of 

 spring sap in our roses. No, close winter or spring pruning does both m 

 degree and to a certain extent. But it is abundantly proved that it creates 

 new dangers of more far-reaching import to rosarians. We all admit that 

 the abnormal and premature growth of our roses, in January and February 

 especially, is attended with many serious risks and dangers. We can also, 

 in a certain measure, afford to be almost indifferent to the loss of many 

 top buds on our rose shoots. But ultimate results often prove to rosarians 

 that these do not suffer alone. It is as true of roses as of our 

 own bodies, if one member suffers other members suffer with it. 

 It is not needful to carry the analogy too far, nor to run it too 

 closely to feel or see its truth among our roses. Those who can 

 vividly recall their losses among the roses will - all too readily 

 remember how unexpected or inscrutable many of the wo«t them 

 seemed. Were a zero frost to hit our roses now, we should all be pre- 

 pared to find our growing branches as black as our ^ But the 

 unexpected often happens among roses. It is when the seventies of 

 w?nter and the sudden and erratic changes of our volatile springs are 

 o^er and gone that oTr roses begin to droop and die. There may be 

 over ana gone, wax u be ij eve on e of the most powerful is winter 

 many causes for this but I ° ° he reserve b P uds at the base of 



JS fto ?he killing gripof the frost, The grow* of the top bud 

 ™o,r ™* rrrAativ effect the reserve buds at their base but it too long 

 contin ^ d^ven Ve ba ebuds may be reached by a process of exhaustion, 

 and the whole plant be rendered abnormally tender through unseasonable 

 excitement We have but one mode of preventing the consequences of 

 such unna ural conditions-that is by preserving a masterly inactivity 

 with the knife among the roses until the chief dangers from spring frost 

 are over, and the time for safe growth has come Then in ' ™»? <g£ 

 it may be found little or no pruning will be needed. \\ e will only have 

 to cut back to the best dormant bud, or cut out any weakly woo<L 

 Neither have the e early shoots been wasted. Already they have served 

 three useful purposes-key have reserved a stock of semi-dormant buds 

 at the base of the shoots, afforded considerable shade or protection to 

 the same and quickened the roots into abnormal vigour and activity for 

 the supply of all the wants the coming rose season. 



