378 



THE 



GARDENERS' MAGAZINE. 



Me 



„ ant . Piovincial and Dominion) from one end of 

 communities. « gove "SfSJSg along this good work. While we 



the country to the other are < 0 f horticulture advancement which we 



rannnt e*nect soon to reacn inai uc{^i« ^ _ 



New Plants. 



Allium Schuberti. 



cannot expect soon to reach uui a k comrnunit ie S like your own, we This is a remarkable album . from Western Asia, product . u_ 



see and admire so -much a ™ nob]e e le and to profit by the generous from one to two hundred bright rose-red flowers on arcane \ h T tf 



"1 ,tn S. l ° °J ^ readv to rive. 'Your A?nold Arboretum has aided our is a species , of considerab e horticultural value. A. SchX^'^*;i 



r; """u- u o« »lu, a v5 readv to eive. -Your Arnold Arboretum has aided our 

 help which you are always ready » g» welcome publications 



experimental farm ^^^S^J^ S?quite under the same form of 



•^J^^^^^^^^CiSe., and the love for and apprecia- 



Sther we acknowledge as our ruler a worthy president or a matchless queen. 

 Hor kulture is bounded by no political lines, but in every community where the 

 Morucuii / to appreciate the wonderful beauties with which the 



wo d s S ^eTeK trees and shrubs and flowers, whic^btoejj 

 much of grace ana beauty, become a perennial source of quiet delight. They are but 

 exprLions of the thoughts of the great Creator, who established and sustains the laws 

 SSchSSJm heir growth and development. Some love for the beautiful inNature is 

 found fn a most ev£y breast, and companionship with such charming objects tends 

 to deepen and enlarge that feeling of admiration, to elevate our thoughts and lead 

 them from Nature up to Nature's God. 



Old Gardening Books. 



OLD Gardening Books are rapidly increasing in popularity and value, as a 

 natural sequence of the more intelligent appreciation of the labours of those authors 

 who, in bygone days, laboured assiduously, according to their lights, in diffusing 

 information on the art of garden management, and the strong desire of large 

 numbers of horticulturists to become acquainted with the changes that have taken 

 place in the practice that has obtained in the several departments during the past 

 Three or four centuries. To those who are interested in the bibliography of horti- 

 culture these old works have a fascination that is irresistible, and a list of any 

 considerable proportion of the gardening classics is highly entertaining. It is a 

 rare occurrence to find a large number of the early works on horticulture in any 

 one catalogue ; hence that recently issued by Mr. Bernard Quantch, 15, Piccadilly, 

 W., is of so high a degree of importance as to justify a brief reference to its con- 

 tents. Altogether* between eight and nine hundred works are enumerated, but 

 these include several hundred modern works, such as Andrews "Heaths," 

 Batemans "Orcbidaca of Mexico, " Forbes' " Salictum Woburnensis,' 5 Curtis s 

 u Flora Londinensis" and Botanical Magazine, Siebold's "Flora Japonica," 

 Lawson's " Pinetum Britannicum," Lambert's " Genus Pinus," Hogg and Bull s 

 14 Herefordshire Pomona," and Elwes' 44 Monograph of the Genus Lihum." 

 There are, however, several hundred early gardening books, and the catalogue 

 has a value as containing the most complete list that has yet been published. 

 One of the first of the old books to arrest attention is William Lawson's 

 11 A New Orchard and Garden " (1623), a small and exceedingly rare quarto, in 

 which the author tells us that 41 fruit trees well ordered, may live and live 1,000 

 ycep s and lieare fruit, and the longer, the more, the greater, and the better, because 

 his vigour is proud and stronger when his yeeres are many " ; and, in dwelling 

 upon the delights of the orchard/asks, 44 What is greedy gain without delight but 

 moyling and turmoyling slavery ? " Fitzherbert's 14 The Boke of Husbandry " 

 (1537 '') is still more rare than the foregoing, and marvellously interesting; 

 S. Hartlib's 44 Legacie, or an Enlargement of the Discourse of Husbandry 

 (165 1), wherein we are told on the title-page are 44 bequeathed to the 

 Commonwealth of England more outlandish and domestick experiments and 

 secrets in reference to Universal Husbandry. It is stated in the 44 Philosophical 

 Society's Transactions" that 44 England profited in agriculture to the amount 

 of many millions in consequence of the Flanders industry having been made 

 known by this little treatise." Markharn's 44 Maison Rvstique, or the Covntrey 

 Farm * (1606), 44 Way to Wealth " (1631), and the 44 English Husbandman " (1635) 

 arc three interesting quartos by this author, who appears to have written several 

 books on widely different subjects, and he evidently had a high opinion of 

 gardening, for in the last named of the three books he asserts that 44 A garden is 

 so profitable, necessary, and such an ornament and grace to every house and 

 housekeeper that the dwelling place is lame and maimed if it want that goodly 

 limbe." Mascall's 44 A Booke of the Art and Maner How to Plante and Graffe 

 AH Sorts of Trees" (1550), and 44 The Countryman's Recreation " (1560) are the 

 two most important of the several works of the old author included in the 

 catalogue, and they are both intensely interesting for the light they shed upon the 

 practice of the period. Hugh Platte's 44 The Jewell House of Art and Nature" 

 (I594)t and ** Divers New Sorts of Soyle Not Yet Brought Into Any Publique 

 Use " (1594) are two of the most entertaining of the works of this author, who was 

 described by Weston as 44 The most ingenious husbandman of his age," and 

 withal exceedingly modest. Barnaby Googe's 44 Whole Art and Trade in Hus- 

 bandry " is a small black letter quarto, in which he states he 44 put into English " 

 the 44 foure bookes of husbandry collected and set forth by Master Conrade 

 Heresbatch," but notwithstanding that he altered and increased the work, he 

 did not think it proper 44 to take from him the honour and glory of his owne 

 trauatle." In this respect Googe differed materially from some of the old authors. 

 Thomas Hill's 44 The Profitable Arte of Gardening " is by no means the least 

 interesting of the works mentioned, for Hill devoted attention to bees as well as 

 gardening, and gave in this work 44 Pleasant Instruction of the Perfect Orderinge 

 of Bees,' To those who are not well acquainted with other than modern garden 

 literature the catalogue will be a veritable surprise, and it is not without consider- 

 able regret that the pressure on our space will not permit even the briefest mention 

 of other of these old and and interesting works. 



Doronicum caucasicum. —Some very fine masses in beds of the above 

 » ere seen in full bloom during the past month, in the fine nurseries of Messrs. 

 Metnvcn and Sons, Edinburgh, under the able management of Mr. McKenzie 



rticultural value. 



M 



Palestine, in the Plain of Jezreel, by Mr. Schubert ^ 1 w ^<kco3'£ 

 introduced to cultivation by Messrs. Herb and Wulle of K 10 bv « h» 



is large and entirely underground ; the leaves twelve inth 1 Thcov oidS 

 broad, acuminate, light green, with slightly darker striates V* tWo 1 

 unequal in length, varying from two to ten inches ; the perianth ? f oL 

 quarters or two thirds of an inch across. This soecies 1 • * ***** tW 



at Kew in June, 1897. Bol. Mag., t. 7,587 8. P * fl ° Wered ln a 1 



bo* 



Myosotis dissitiflora Dyer.k. 



During a long period 01 cultivation, a fail ly common Wet.m* • lr 

 dissitiflora, has improved^ considerably, and there is a very wide difft- 



exceptionally strong growing and handsome form raised bv Mr* 

 F.R.S., Shirenewton Hal], Chepstow, and named in comnlinJnf £\u! fe ^ 



UIMWW** ( - — ^.y j MUU LUCIC 



between the wild type and the variety under notice. 



■01 



1 named m compliment to the Wfc d*L 



Director of the Royal Gardens, Kew. 



each flower measuring nearly or about half an inch "acrosT brilhTwl 

 corona, lobes rounded. Bot. Mag., t. 7,589. ' ght bluc ' 



Crocus Malyi. 



A beautiful March flowering species, having large, spreading white fl 

 with yellow throat. Crocus Malyi is a native of the Dalmatian Mountain 

 was discovered at an altitude of 7,260 feet by Herr Maly fifty years 

 The perianth tube is three inches long, while the six spreading lobes areeiehti* 

 and a-half inches in length. In addition to the yellow colouring of the btastf 

 the segments, forming a throat, there are numerous yellow hairs atthebwetf 

 orange-yellow filaments. This is a perfectly hardy crocus, and flowers rmWW 



Bot. Mag., t. 7,590. ^ Jafly 



or so ip, 



at Kew in March. 



Rheum ribes. 



A handsome rhubarb from Western Asia, notable for its undulated leafier 

 faces and for its profusion of inch-long blood-red fruits. R. ribes has low bot 

 cultivated in botanic gardens, but is little known to horticulturists, though tppr 

 rently cultivated by Sherard at Eltham in 1724. It was discovered a huodrcdoJ 

 fifty years previously by Rauwolf, an Austrian physician and traveller. Ik 

 species grows to a height of three to five feet ; the leaves are ten to twelve i 

 broad, orbicular cordaie, bullate between the deeply sunk nerves and veins. Tk 

 erect panicle of green flowers is not particularly handsome, but the small blow 

 give place to large oblong-cordate achenes of a bright blood-red hue. /► 



t. 7.59L 



Erythronium Hartwkgi. 



A very pretty Dog's Tooth violet, with white tipped and yellow based 

 to the flowers, and having leaves of a dark green hue, marked with paler green, k 

 is a Cahfornian species, where it was discovered by Hartwegi. It mike 1 nq 

 ,pretty plant, from four to six inches high, suitable alike for cultivation in pott m 

 in the open border. Under the latter conditions it flowers during March, vfci 

 flowers of all kinds are greatly appreciated. Each flower is three inches tarn 

 and has recurved perianth segments. Bot. Mag. 9 t. 7,583. 



Drac^na Godseffiana. 



A novel dracaena, with rambling, branching stems and handsome ipotid 

 leaves. It is a very useful and decorative plant, now becoming well know to 

 horticulturists. It was described and figured in these columns May 25, \Sf)> 

 305 and 316. It has a bamboo-like habit, with ternately wborled, elliptic ktn* 

 bright green, freely strewn with irregular white spots. The pie green torn* 

 are borne in ascending racemes at the tips of drooping branches. These art m 

 effective, but they are' followed by brilliant red, globose berries, half an tack tf 

 more across. This dracsena was discovered by Mr. Henry Miller, curator * 

 the Lagos Botanic Garden, who sent it to Kew in 1892. At a later date lUii 

 imported by Messrs. Sander and Co., St. Albans, and named after their mtm|«. 

 Bot. Mag. j t. 7,584. 



Preparation of Manila Hemp. 



Of late years experiments have been made in British North Borneo in 

 vation and preparation of Manila hemp Musa textihs. 



_ thee* 



Mr. W. B. *J* 



tot* 



who is engaged in this enterprise, has communicated some interesting , nw 

 Kew Bulletin, wherein he states that the best fibre yielding jorm 01 . iu-^ 



is that known to the natives as " Sayung Lanut pula. When once 

 the plantation requires little attention as the suckers provide a ^ 



A stem is at its best, so far as fibre production is concerned, wnen ■ 

 months old. Such a stem is composed of overlapping ayers ot idc _ 

 somewhat similar to a stick of celery, but firmly bound ^"""^ 



Theft«» 



found just below the surface on the outer side of these sjdkfc . 

 from fifty to eighty pounds. No machine that I am acquainted WW 7 

 discovered that will extract it to pay. The native method » a v 

 The stem is cut down and each leaf stalk detached rom ^ tk>n n^e* 



pie md 



x nc aicm is tut uuwu a.uu cacii ica-i iji«»n. • u* 1 h*» the 



the operator sits down with the end of a stalk in his lap, ne 



rne operator sus aown witn tne enu ui u aw* • • t „.: tc h brier**^' 



incision just beneath the fibre at the end, and giving a smart i» , 

 strin nr rihhnn nf th P rnHrl^ ujJth the fibre in it, from inc 



strip or ribbon of the cuticle with the 

 stalk, much in the same way that the fibrous part ot 



rhubarb fUlk » 



T* 



a. Tw 7 • . r T "" UUUI S n » u»Kier tne able management of Mr. McKenzie. "'" F cumv C cuaracier. a Diuni « — fai h a coam^-r 



At that period «C the year such a free spread of fine fellow blooms, nearly two end of il ' throu g h which a string is P^^^ b T oC k of softttb w«A*J 



mches across form a welcome contrast to the large plantations of the white stones are tied - The knife is then attached .to a J 1 ^" ? e we ight of *• *. 



narcissus that have enlivened these nurseries for soL time ? Hardiy hav? the of it pressing on the wood against which it is held by^ -r« ^ ^ . 



tbp winrlc \/f U .„M. 1 t 1 _ j • RtnnPQ- . Annf^Pr rvl^ ^ rnnP Or String 1 S " eU V. Y 



goldeo datTodils-that •« Take the winds of March with beauty "-faded in part 



vaned variety of colour and profusion of blossoming. 



when preparing it for cooking. This operation is best per ( 

 itself, as the discarded portions of the stem remain as manur u9t9U _ 

 number of ribbons are obtained they arc earned t0 f the most pri«to** 

 appliances used for the actual extraction of the fibre are 01 ^ j, * t wm 

 inexpensive character. A blunt knife is obtained and^noi ^ ^ Jle** 



limit t< 

 I). T. 



stones. Another piece of thin rope or string is WjJ ff £ rked ^ tbefc* 

 knife, running over a bit of wood above it, to a trea ribbon* , 



is now complete. The operator twists the end ot one the knifca^^ 



piece of wood so as to get a firmer hold, and ^f fi 1 ^ e 1 un U dcr neathtbeta*. #, T 

 blade to descend upon it ; a steady pull drags the nore ^ ^ & 

 holds back all the pith, weak fibre, and other useless broke o * 

 hf> n w !t mnctitnJ - 1 fi«t nil the fibre that is . niat tm 



"S^ffi U &^ft™*J r whole year is the "Gardening Year Book,' 



■w ^ iTl *na i-anc, London*— [Ad vt.3 



heavy, it constitutes a guarantee that U% V w* can clea* j°*Ti** f 



strength, and the result is pure strong fibre- a j piece of w? ?V' ^ 

 the few inches of the end which was wrapped if [ t is a m *»• 



fibre is then hung over a pole to dry. This 1S s 

 hemp is then ready for market* 



A 



