AUGUST 6, 1898 



GARDENERS' 



MAGAZINE 



to try them, it may be predicted that there will be a large impracticable. The best mixture for spraying would be five pounds of soft soap 



and the extract of five pounds or six pounds of quassia chips to one hundred 

 gallons 01 water. 



, , orp anxious to try mem, it may De preaicieu lu<m. m»» ««• - 



^TJZ ZLJg of the Royal Horticultural Society, to be held 

 S£ next August 9, when M. Latour-Marliac is to read a paper on 



on 



Water 



bject with which none are more conversant than he. 



lilies," a su 



The Prune Orchards of Oregon are estimated to occupy about 40,000 



about half of them being in bearing. Fifteen thousand acres are situated 

 Mbe Willamette Valley, a similar area in Rogue River Valley, and six and a-half 

 Ooosand acres in U mpqua Valley. The good work of the Oregon State Board of 

 Agriculture in respect to insect pests is seen in the general cleanliness and good 

 orier of the trees. There was a heavy yield in 1897, but those who carefully 

 handled their produce did very well. Potatos grow well in Oregon, for the 1897 

 crop was about four and a-half million bushels ; the average price paid to farmers 

 wis 2s. per cental. It is stated that Oregon farmers can make a profit on potatos 

 at is. 2d. per cental. 



Messrs. Charles Sharpe and Co., Sleaford, recently took all the men 



employed in their various establishments to see the Lincoln Agricultural Show ; 

 the firm paid all expenses, and the men had a most enjoyable day. On the 21st 

 :., the Messrs. Sharpe treated their two hundred women and girl employes in a planted in large quantities. 



Flower Culture on the Riviera.-At San Remo the flower industry 



continues to increase, and more and more olives are cut down each year to make 

 way for carnations, roses, and to some extent, vines, especially where ground i 

 available within reach of the high road, so that water for irrigation can be obtained 

 from the mams of the water company. But the flower cultivators complained 

 that owing to the warm summer and continued fine weather of 1897, many of the 

 flowers were ready in advance of the market, and that, therefore, the prices 

 realised were too low to be thoroughly remunerative. At Bordighera the flower 

 trade suffered from enormous over-production, which was specially marked in the 

 autumn of 1897, when the continuous warm weather brought on the flowers very 

 rapidly. The record quantity of flowers sent away from Bordighera in one day 

 was on December 20, 1897, when 1,426 kilos, were despatched. Prices ruled 

 high m the winter, owing to the scarcity of roses caused by the trees being 



0 > — ~» «• 3i-a,n,iijf ui luacs utubcu uy me trees uemg ex- 

 hausted by the excessive flowering in the autumn. Carnations continue to be 



similarly kind manner, but this outing was to Skegness, where the firm made ample „ ... 



provision for the entertainment of this large party. Such outings as these do , ^elf-Irrigation In Plants is a matter more or less known to all observant 



Each to bind employers and employed, creating a sympathy that does not soon hort ^ c " Itunsts an d agriculturists, but not all have had opportunities of noting the 



methods by which self-irrigation is ensured over a large series of both native and 



. . ■ . _ „ . „ . ' , . , , , exotic P ,ants - In an interesting article on the subject in Knowledge, the Rev. A. 



Agriculture and Forestry in Bulgaria are being encouraged by the S . Wilson, M.A, observes that many must have noticed how on a wet day in 



Government. In the first place, much is being done to introduce a more reason- w i nt er the rain runs down the leafless branches and descends the trunks of trees • 



able system of cultivation, by showing the peasants the advantages to be gained the bark, in consequence of being kept constantly moist, assumes a green tint from 



by fertilising the soil, and by the use of machinery of the simpler kinds. Two the development of mosses and lichens. During summer, on the contrary, the 



agricultural schools are maintained at the expense of the Government, one at 

 Sadovo and the other near Roustchouk. 



surface of the trunks and branches of most of our trees is quite free from moisture, 



i^. . , . f M .. .„ Another school intended especially for and the ground underneath the branches is dry. The foliage, in fact, forms a kind 

 teoeuoa m fruit cultivation will, writes \ ice-Consul Jones, be established of thatch . the leaves slope outwards and overlap hke til< J on a roof> so that the 



during the present year at Kustendil. The wasteful destruction of the forests is 



water drips from the outer extremities of the branches, producing a moist zone on 



«m a punishable offence, and the steps taken by the authorities to preserve what the ground around the tree. Now, as the roots commonly extend in a horizontal 

 remains of the forests have been attended by beneficial results. The peasantry, 

 at first inclined to resist the curtailment of a liberty they had enjoyed under the 

 careless administration of their former rulers, have begun to appreciate the 

 advantages of the new system. The State owns forty per cent, of the forest 

 tads, fifty per cent, being communal property, and the remainder owned by 

 Wmdual proprietors. Nursery gardens belonging, some to the State and some 

 to toe various communes, have been established since 1889; they now number 

 ■ore than a thousand. Amongst the trees there cultivated appear the oak, elm, 



HE" -\ J', fir ' and the mulberr y. the latter for distribution among 

 •rumlturists. About two million mulberry trees were recently planted in the 



tad wJlelwf ' ^ iD l897 ' twent y five thousan <* o^ces of mulberry 



kfa£?i 18 RUb !* r iS Wn * Pr ° duced both in Fran « a nd Germanv. 

 ne rormer countrv rptmnim^ _: j . • ... * 



In the 



country resinoline is mixed with zinc, oxide of manganese 



Ti*^ ™* *en compressed. 



now mending, 



^,23!^^ lhi$ a V< * etabIe P rod «ct that^n be put to 



J me uses for which the true rubber is in demand. 



*t weT:h n en 0 endI 0ttenhan, QardenS * with a ™™ «* 



*»ima, kickers u7nT g t PtU / ea M ° n ^ to Dr ' Hu " on ' 



■j"** him Mr H J * " faCC ' brCakin g his J a * and 



* « 5 to be hoped t D hat h ^ UnCOnScious for several days, but is 



noped that his recovery will be speedy. 



^dTs^fl! 116 ^"S ^ J*?* t0 ° **** in ^sequence 



* P««o. are diffT cu to , f 'an^^ rCCent h0t Warth »' °° Stiff 

 -•"^natsnril.*^ tne presSUre of the baked earth upon the 



"» *■* except fa on 0 t T^T^ S ° **' the P ° tato disease h « no? been 

 ^lon Seed r ™ y dist " cts Devonshire. 



* *» *« occur S2S bvnf"* ^ ^ Fr " its are n <* exactly rare, 



P rince of Wat L T C ° mm ° D ' ^ A ' McKeU "' * ardener *° 

 J found to t fu 1" / S£nt a md ,° n t0 House, which 



* into the flesh of the m Ion Zf ? ° ^ quite 



Zlrr* in '^ons and el " a f/^ ^ SimUar S' OWths ha - 

 ^ ^ fleshy fruits> T nd ° ) as well as cucumbers, pumpkins, papaws, 



direction as far as the branches, it is quite obvious they must benefit by this 

 arrangement ; and on extending our observations we find this principle to be of 

 very general application. The relative positions of the foliage leaves and absorbent 



roots are in most cases such as to secure to a greater or less degree the 

 benefits of self-irrigation. The drainage of the foliage may be either cen- 

 tripetal or centrifugal. As examples of the latter, where the slope of the foliage 

 is outwards, may be mentioned the lime, birch, apple, pear, plane, maple, ash, 

 horse-chestnut, poplar, and alder. The needle like leaves of the pine and larch 

 are also so arranged that nearly all the rain is conducted outwards, the ground 

 underneath the branches remaining in consequence remarkably dry. The droop- 

 ing or weeping habit of many trees admits of a similar explanation. Palms, 

 bananas, tree-ferns ; bulbous monocotyledons like the tulip and hyacinth ; the 

 turnip and beetroot, and most plants with tufted foliage, have the drainage centri- 

 and petal. The radical leaves of the rhubarb, plantain, dandelion, thistle, and many 



others, are arranged like a rosette, and the rain flows dowh towards the central 



In these cases the stem is either prolonged downwards into a tap- 



With centri- 



root-stock. 



root, or the roots form a central mass of no great horizontal extent, 

 petal drainage several secondary adaptations usually appear. Where the inclina- 

 tion of the foliage is outwards, as a rule the leaf-stalk is not channelled; in 

 plants, on the other hand, which have central roots, there is usually a very 



The common cow- 



jaw and otherwise conspicuous groove on the upper surface of the petiole 



parsnip is an exceedingly good example of this ; its long petiole has a deep groove 

 above. The raised edges of the groove almost close over it, and practically 

 convert the leaf-stalk of heradeum into a pipe down which the rain flows towards 



An instructive contrast is seen on comparing an aroid, such as 



which has widely-spreading roots and leaves sloping 



the stem. 



calocasia or caladiu 



outwards, with the rhubarb, which has a central root-stock, grooved petioles, and 



inward-sloping leaves 



The destruction of charlock otherwise 



* J ^nn'atmolpher ^ t0 that the ^uit has been 



•^?? Ctive p w Pest. 



lBi2*" .^motive 



some 



The Board of Agriculture has 



taj been hZ^T" pest > the p ea Thrips ( Tkrz^Z ZT* tte ^ isSued to wet all the charlock, and 100 gallons more man was nc;^,. ~ * ^ 

 ^secTl d, T g the Seas °- of X896 \2 7L P 7 7C^ J C T solution (a lb. of sulphate of copper to 100 lb., or 10 gallons, of water), applied 



*f the rl l.° r ° ther ' In some cases the dal^L?^ d fT? e d ° nC t0 at the rate of 2 S to 50 gallons per acre m dry weather and at an early period in 



The Destruction of Charlock. 



than by the hoe has been the subject of experiment by the Essex Technical 

 Instruction Committee. A soludon of sulphate of copper was used, and in a 

 selected piece of barley, in which an abundance of charlock was making its 

 appearance, the committee last April sprayed it in strips-under various weather 

 conditions and in different stages of growth in order to note the effect-with I, 

 2, 4, and 6 per cent, solution of sulphate !of copper in quantities varying 

 from 10 to 100 gallons per acre, 



the strongest slightly damaged the barley ; while 10 gallons were found too little 

 to wet all the charlock, and 100 gallons more than was necessary. A 2 per cent. 



The weakest solution was found too weak, and 



! The'^ " S ° me Ktnt specimenssTm Th'e 



some cases the damage wa'sTundToT ^ at the iate of 2 * t0 5 ° ^ ^ T ? 7*?" m " 71 

 ^ tr . & c was tou nd to have been lf , -u„,wir was found comoletelv successful m destroying the 



evil was caused by 



^ ^ of an inch when mn The size of thrip is 



^ wit' bsCCt « grevUh Z r 7 g T D ' ^ U P OSSesses seven-jointed 



eye Thet g T d ; and lhe mouth 



oi^i me larvre come in seven or eight 



1 here are many 



WM , . recommended : 



not be sown in the following year near 

 peas are trained upon pea sticks it would 



the growth of the charlock, was found completely successful in destroying the 

 weed without injuring the barley. When the report was written the sprayed strips 



tirely free from charlock, while the rest of the field was yellow with it ; 



were en 



*** ^summr 3 T„ juiCCS ° f the Plant- ; 

 *> fc^^ of m £2?*. I**™ 0 ™* are the -medies 



^^^^^ , SL of a k r ack " mac ' h -,"bu7i;Yeirs 



f0,iage ^ OWS dens ^, this would be almost 



and the barley was flourishing better where the weed had been destroyed than 

 where it was left untouched, thus showing that the solution had in no way injured 



the cereal. 



Messrs. J. Peed and Sons, Norwood, have this season been exhibiting 



caladiums in especially fine condition at the leading London and provincial shows, 

 and have in lhe course of the summer gained many high awards that prove how 

 extensive, well developed, and highly coloured the various collections have been. 

 As our co'lumns have testified, the Messrs. Peed have shown many new varieties 

 of merit both their own and continental productions. At the Hanley Show, 

 held last month, the firm was awarded a gold medal for their caladium group, and 

 not a silver one as inadvertently stated in the report. 



