7 



GARDENERS' MA GAZINE 



March 



leave their bushes very thick with wood in case birds are troublesome, but it is not 

 a good plan. Gooseberries on walls are most useful for late supplies ; such trees 

 should have a good portion of old spur growth removed as they attain age or size, 

 as if all are left small fruits will follow. Gooseberries grown as cordons are most 

 profitable, and they are readily managed and protected. Doubtless this is the 

 best way to grow the large Lancashire varieties, as in the open their quality is 

 superior, and the fruits keep much longer than on bush trees. There are various 

 shapes, from the single to the four-stemmed cordon, and for the latter posts and 

 wire will make an efficient trellis. Now is a good time to give these trees good 

 surface dressing, and I find a liberal top-dressing of guano or fish manure now, 

 whilst the trees are bare, is soon washed to the surface roots, and does much good. 

 There is a saving of space when bush fruits of any kind can be grown as described, 

 and in some gardens such trees may with advantage form the division between the 

 fruit and kitchen gardens, or be made use of as a screen. Vines are often grown 

 against buildings, and with a favourable position fruit may be had of fair quality. 

 Now is a good time to thin out old growths and lay in new wood ; to obtain fruit, 

 there must be ample space. For the last few seasons we have had good fruit on 

 an east aspect. It is a good plan to cut out a fair portion of old spurs and bare 

 wood at this pruning, and, if possible, give the roots a dose of liquid manure. 



Raspberry canes may now be cut to the required length and made trim for 

 bearing, and the same remarks are applicable to blackberries. In the case of the 

 former avoid crowding, for, as a rule, far too many canes per stool are left. We 

 always give our bearing canes a good mulch of decayed manure at this season, 

 having a light soil to deal with. Newly-planted canes may now be cut to within 

 six inches of the soil, and it will be a mistake to let them bear fruit or flowers. 

 Canes for autumn fruiting, of such kinds as Belle de Fontenay and October 

 Yellow, should also be cut down to the soil, and depend on the new growth for 

 late fruit. We find Superlative will give very late fruit if grown on a north 

 border, and the canes cut much shorter than is the usual practice. Strawberry 

 quarters will now need cleansing, as they are often left from last September, or 

 even earlier, and weed growth will be troublesome. The plants started into 

 growth very early this season, and some of our summer-planted set, had pro- 

 minent «pikes, but fortunately frost has checked growth before it was too far 

 advanced. Give food to the old plantations, and prepare others for cropping. I 

 am not in favour of digging between the stools ; if it is necessary to reftiew the 

 surface, this is best done by using a fork, and just burying weed growth. With 

 |Oang plants in light soils, it may be well to tread round each previous to the 

 cleansing process, as loose plants will be the first to suffer from drought. Now is 

 a good time to give a mulch, as then the plants make new surface roots freely. 

 Royal Sovereign grown as an annual will not need food if the ground was prepared 

 well, and here a mulch of short litter will suffice, as this will be bleached and 

 cleansed by exposure, and in condition for the fruits to rest upon, and also be 

 useful to protect from frost and drought. Many growers being obliged to resort 

 to spring planting, and having secured late runners for the purpose, there 

 should be no delay in carefully planting them out. Should the weather be 

 dry, a little litter up each side of the rows will assist growth and arrest drought. 

 Now is a good time to raise alpine strawberries from seed sown in a warm frame ; 

 keeping close to the glass, and pricking out the seedlings in a few weeks' time in 

 good soil in a sheltered border. Many plant runners from last season's plants, 

 and by so doing obtain fruit in advance of those from seed.— G. Wythes, Syon 



Gantttfs\ 



Seaweed In the Garden.— Seaweed has many uses in the garden, and 



those who are near enough to the coast to secure it should not despise it because 

 U is common there. To begin with, it comes in very useful for throwing over 

 celery in winter in order to protect the tops from frost. Then it affords an 

 admirable top-dressing for asparagus beds, affording a little protection to the 

 crowns and likewise furnishing them with a little salt owing to the rain washing 

 through the weed, and salt is very good for asparagus. A covering of this in 

 w inter and a dressing of wood ashes early in spring will be found to do more good 

 than the rank manure often used, which has a tendency to cause the heads to come 

 crooked. Near the seaside a great deal of seaweed is carted on to the land. A 

 very good plan of dealing with it is to stack it in heaps like turf, but with a layer 

 01 old manure, garden refuse, or road scrapings between each six-inch layer of the 

 seaweed. This makes a very useful fertilising heap, which may be drawn upon 

 with advantage for most crops. The seaweed should not be kept too long, as 

 when quite black and decayed its odour is very offensive.— W. 



Economic Botany in the West Indies.-The West India Royal 



theTnrnv^ P ^ in Al d W™? ^ the SU g ar industr y and P ro P ose ™ans for 

 m^n^^T Cn S • f thC WeSt ^ dlan coIonies ' in their report that one of the 



botanv in S.W 5 Ta- "^tu* 5 C establishment of a department of economic 

 esfS T1 ! e . R ° yal Commission states that the botanical 



establishments in the larger colonies, such as Jamaica, Trinidad, and British 



£S£X hav * already rendered considerable assistance in improving agricultural 

 In S vt T ? ey , a T ° f bein S made increasingly useful in & respect 



notLnl I * slands and dadoes, small establishments called 



S "Tiu eStab ' lshed a f ™ years ago on the advice of the Director of 



ivew uardens, and the results, though not yet extensive, have been of a distinctly 

 promising chara^r. It fa evident that to grapple with the present circumstances^ 



L 



prominent attention 



lRAture of Plant m A m. 



T u c • > r r r b ANT Names. 



In the course of an interesting contribution to Th* r„„ 



* U ~ With ref — e to those VZt^Zt^ 



•— ^ dIU names reed* 



It is pleasant to note that among these many books those wriiu 

 authors hold a very promment place. From the time of Pi w E <tfi4 

 day there have been authors who have taken plant-nam^ • 10 «» <£■ 

 have written on them with much learning, and vert nit n*" sub J^. u? 

 taken by William Turner, who, in 1548, published "tK? 7 ' The leadi. 

 Greke. Latin. English, Duche, and Frenche, with tlL r™* of Hett * in 



potecaries use." This is a scarce little SlE? t£ 



, -~ £arly English Text Spciety, well edited bv Mr fiv ' epublis 5 



led an eventful and troubled life, and died Dean of Wells • he ten> Turner 

 and travelled much, and in all his travels and troubles his 'love ff^SfiS* 



was constant, and he was held in high esteem bv the pr«.t . natUf al maory 

 t »u j „,„„u „„„„„ir-j ... .. 3 Jt s ic ai ootanists nf tk. • ' 



Hebaries and Apot 



' ' The Names of Herbes " begins with Abies : 



danneo, 



*" »<• *.« w i-nycs naturally, and in cer'evm. j^ 1 



plated and set by mannes hands boeth in Englande and in Germaine " 6a "^ 



Gerard must be considered the second English author who did' anvth- t 

 plant-names, though the mam object of his great volume was the d I g • 



and cultivation of plants WitlTall his many^feultsTndbac^;^!^" 

 much to him (though still more to Johnson, the editor of the second erfW ^ 

 1636) for his diligent search for plants of all sorts, which he cultivated with L 

 skill. In his description of each plant there is a special section for the n 

 which are given in Greek, Latin, French, Italian, Dutch, Sec. At the end?"' 

 book is "A Table of such English Names as are attributed to the Herbes " W 

 lowed by " A Supplement or Appendix unto the General Table, and to the TaM 

 of English Names, gathered out of antient written and printed copies and hZ 

 the mouthes of plaine and simple country people," and by " A Catalogue of tV 

 British Names of Plants, sent me by Master Robert Dauyes, of Guissanev 



Flintshire." Bv British names he means \Vp1ch nom^e r%~A „l_ 



f 1 





1!. 









01 tne sixteenth century. In 1(329 Parkinson published his 1 ■ Paradisi n 

 sole Paradisus Terrestris," and paid special attention to the English otmw 

 About the same time John Ray, one of the most distinguished of Engliih 

 naturalists, who almost anticipated Linnaeus in his scientific arrangement of plants 

 (but the time was not ripe for it), published his list of plants growing in Grea: 

 Britain with a particular account of the names. In 1650 we have the "Etymo- 

 logicon Botanicum " of S. Skinner, forming an appendix to his " Etymologic* 

 Linguae Anglicanae." It is a full and interesting account of plant-names derive 

 from twelve languages ; but his derivations are fanciful and not trustworthy, is 

 when he says that stock-gilliflowers are so called because both root and stock are 

 as firm and hard as wood, which certainly they are not. A much better book, 

 though not by an English author, is MentzePs " Index Nominum Plantarum 

 Multilinguis," published at Berlin in 1682, which gives good information abort 

 the plants in a small compass and a copious list of names ; e.g., he gives the 

 names of crocus in Latin, Greek, Italian, Spanish, French, English, German, 

 Belgian, Danish, Bohemian, Polish, Lithuanian, Arabic, Indian. 



From the end of the seventeenth century till almost the middle of the 

 present century, there is no English book specially dealing with plant-namet 

 Now there are many books on this interesting subject, among which a higk 

 place of honour must be given to Dr. Prior's 11 Popular Names of British Plants.* 

 The first edition was published more than thirty years ago, and was soon followed 

 by new editions ; and the book is indispensable to any one who wishes for a 

 scientific account of the names, being far in advance of anything previously 

 published on the subject. The introduction is especially worthy of study, for it 

 contains a masterly account of the many different sources from which our plan 

 names have been derived. But it was confined chiefly to book names, and took 

 little or no notice of local names, and very little of any common names eiajtf 

 those of British plants ; and so something more was required, which was suppW 

 by Messrs. Holland and Britten's " English Plant Names," published in 1S86 If 

 the Early English Text Society. Too much can scarcely be said in praise of tb 

 care and labour spent on this book ; all local names have been collected and au 

 English names that have at any time appeared in books, except those which tre 

 only translations of Latin names and do not pretend to be more. Authorities a* 

 given for every statement, and occasional notices on the history of the names, neftf 

 lengthy and always to the point. In this respect it compares very fa 



ourably iw 

 *hedinlfc- 



has 



fc> — -* "a»»C3, auu Ulitl K5 ail 9 aiiuurwi; ^ 



that could be found anywhere ; no authorities are given, and many of the iam- 

 are in no sense accepted names, but are either bare translations of the Law 

 new inventions of the author and his friends. As a list of names it has some 

 value, but none beyond that. Professor Earle's little book, " English nm 

 Names," published in 1880, stands on a very different level. It is conhned w«j 

 there is Required for the *^SdT R^MUfe J^mSr^STS ST". I ¥* ° CCUr in tbe » 8»««ries to the end of the fifteenth centujryjjj 

 dealing with all questions connected wkh economic ffnts fflffi^SSk £ a ver y account and explanation, and the lists are ing*J 



tropical countries, and we «omm«d 0?Sfe£hSS? T^h^dS^^t by v preface ' which traces the his **? of En ^ lish ff* T? h £*5 



under wh ch should be placed the various l^^^iS^r^S^^ SSSfiS I ™ d } h ™&°* the little book Professor Earle's ^jg^ 



THp^p ,hh ft nc cu.,u _ , Tm y existence. knowledge is brought to bear on our English names in a way that makes ^ 



we can thoroughly trust him, and makes us wish that he had given us mor . 

 still later hook, Alcock's "Botanical Names for English Readers, « ^JTC 

 book, but it is not easy to say why it should be so. It is confined to tne 



names of British plants " ' f hut W 



really nothing in it 



especially in Hooker's 



Tk " ^ piacca me various botanic stations already in existence 



In the W,°fn, Sh r ld bC enk / ged in their SC °P* and character ' be organised 

 K&l? SUCCCSsful in J amaica - % the ^ter colony it is admitted 

 of indus- S h * nd L r ° gr f S1Ve actlon in the direction of encouraging a diversity 

 teiS2^«nSSte : £££ Mm °9 reSultS ' To SSRl result has! 



1 ci, iaKtn more than twentv vear? r»f r~~u*-~* a r> ? 



000 during that period on its botanical 



tne post othce, Government ro;i„ T ^ 11LO <XL i»«wa uy means ot 



information «ah^«^L^ coastal steam service I * has supplied 



Plants, and has £^53X c^? 08 ' rega : di ° g 5 e u CuItivation of economic 



Flori. 



7 1 ^ P re Paration of the produce by sending 



and advice. The spedal SLSSS" the island l ° ^ VC lectures ' demonstrations, 

 in the Windward and Leewffd Tl"i; eC ^ nded ^ trying on similar work 

 pctent Imperial officer, wh^edu vtr be under the charge of a corn- 



to all matters affecting S iStnJTS 5 l ° ^"f t* Pernors in regard 

 take part in epilS^w^. 1 ^^^* . of the He would 



colleges and schools, and of trainino ?Tf } m P I0 y in S agncultural teacaing in 

 attend to the preparation of suiS VI ^ m a S riculturaI pursuits, and would 

 mg tetanic stations shonldU^^^Jlf^^}^ Sub J e< ; ts ; T !* exist- 



:e of 



m>y 10 say wny it snouia ue su. ±<- " . t ^ 



mts, of which it professes to give an explanation ; du 

 that has not been already given in every good wn- 



"Student's Flora," and Syme's edition^ Sfi ^ 



logy is 



.... — am.iiurs are content to say 01 a u»uk "«»■■ -~ -~* r h : s jgpi- 

 ful or uncertain, Mr. Alcock has no doubt or uncertainty, and some of o ^ 

 tjons are marvels of boldness. When, for instance, an author attemp^ 



Latin names of plants and tells us that an a (a UreeK *m-^ 



our—* 

 as 



mtaining 



perial funds. 



. . . - _ grass or weed) - 



injurious effects ; that kippuris is from M Gk. hipp 

 and that hellebore is from A Gk. hele (At ton)— to take away or remove 

 food, we can onlv ratv th™^ him fnr a cmide. 



The. 



Combers etymology of Plant Names" (lS7°-7) » » "TZuA nbDt*," *"J 

 names of « fruits and edible berries, kitchen vegetables, and aWfJ 

 confined to these. Cameron's « Gaelic Names of Plants, Swtu»n rf ^ 

 (i»«3) is an interesting account of the native names given to tne p 



