5 



GARDENERS' MAGAZINE 



August 



Grapes were received in smaller quanti- 



July, 1897, the imports amounting to 51,509 

 ,£27,276, against 167,529 bushels, of the value of .£66 



Forcing Foxgloves. 



fying our woodlands and tl 



that many of our readers will probably learn with 



seeing 



pleasu 



ovt beiati- 

 pound 



year, 



1 ^27,^70, agauibi iu/o-v me vdiuc ui x,uu,z 4 ^ 1^1 — s — r-^uiy -earn with surprise that in ♦l ^* 1 



It is of some interest to observe that in the seven months ending France the r are forced for lnd «» decoration early in the year, a 7 ^ * 



with July the imports of grapes were 65,459 bushels, consequently only ' me practlce of forcing the varipH,. °* 



14,000 bushels were received in the first half of the current year. Pears P ur P ur ^ <^*f W« Van der Daele, chief of the CaS c!F* 



show a remarkable drop, the total imports amounting to 13,621 bushels f^?^ V^^^totZ^* 



* 1 1 .L 1 e .i- f • /-^ o flower show held in r» ice in March last a collerri™ n f ~a • , , ° exnib « « tit 



only, against 114,107 bushels, the values for the two years being £6,082 . . , . . a wrv . , *™ l[ectlon of admirably flowerednk* 



^44 



.60 



£ 



£6 



Notwithstanding 



9 iuucq admired hv ' * 



appears that the foxgloves are potted up in September or October in-?' 1 

 three plants in each, and a very rich soil is used. After the pott J ** 



nlarpd in snme convenient nncirirm tvt i r b lQ c Wa.:_. i: , 



this immense falling off in foreign supplies, and the substantial prices 

 obtained for home-grown fruit, the market growers are grumbling about 

 the competition of the foreign plum orchards with which they have to 

 contend. There is, of course, some justification for grumbling from the 

 growers' standpoint, for were we wholly dependent upon the produce from 



~, — j — liic u.sMsiance oi a temDerahina M ^ 



55 to 60 degrees Fahr. When the plants begin to make new gromh 

 to place them near the glass, if they were in the first instance «orre distalfcl 

 it, to ensure a short, firm growth and well-furnished spikes of flowers thThT 

 making their appearance in from twenty to twentv-five Our coJtem 



our own orchards, plums would probably be worth a guinea a bushel ^est s tha t forced foxgloves are deserving of the attention of thegroXS 

 in the market, and consequently be beyond the reach of a large propor- 

 tion of the community. As a set-off to these large decreases mentioned, 

 we have an increase in the imports of cherries of 98,000 bushels, of the 



£57 



£89 



nports for the month being 190,878 

 Unenumerated fruits were also more 



largely imported, the quantities being 455,159 bushels, against 398,156 

 bushels last year, of the value of .£183,366 and £141,487 respectively. 

 Potatos again show an increase, the imports amounting to 588,969 cwt., 



and of this immense quantity we received 290,952 cwt. from France, 



— 3,577 cwt. from the Channel Islands, and 73,395 cwt. from countries past ten years, both as regards quantity and price. 



expresses 



«- . — — ifumu una a rata? 



sale at a good price. . ' 



Bishop s Park, Fulham, would cost, it was estimated, £35,24- *> 

 acquire and lay out. Towards that cost the London County Council m 

 ^5,000, and promised a further ,£7,500 toward the extension and complcdoflof 

 the park. The Parks and Open Spaces Committee recently proposed, and Ae 

 Council agreed, to add ^5,000 to the already promised amount, thus makiq 



a total of ,£17,500 paid to the Fulham Vestry for the provision of this 

 space. 



The Jersey Potato Crop has this year fallen below the average of 



not specified. The value of the potatos imported during the month was 

 £164,185, and of the imports of potatos in the six months £1,828,534, or 

 nearly £1,000,000 in excess of the sum paid for potatos from abroad in 

 the corresponding period in each of the two preceding years. On the 



A statement made by 



Philip Barbier, Notary Public of St. Heliers, shows that the total output 

 56,227 tons, realizing £338,269, or an average of £6 os. 4d. per ton. The 

 prices were naturally obtained for the earliest shipment— thus, the 160 "t 



during 



other hand, the imports of onions show"a material decrease, the aggre- week endin g May 28, 3,667 tons were dispatched from S. Heliers, and 

 gate being 367,133 bushels, against 415,677 bushels last year, but in the fetched £ 12 per ton ; the 550 tons sent away during the week ending Job 



seven months nearly 3,000,000 bushels, of the value of ,£417,780, were 

 imported, which is by no means an inconsiderable quantity of a vegetable 

 that can be cultivated with success in this country. 



The old 



Changes at Kew.— Several changes.have been made at the Royal Gardens, 

 Kew, of late, one of the most important being the removal of the Curator's 

 office. For many years this has been attached to Mr. Nicholson's house, just 

 outside the Curator's Gate, but it has been pulled down, and a more commodious 

 office made at Descanso Lodge, a large house, close to the fire station and at the 

 junction of the Mortlake and Richmond Roads. This house is Crown property, 

 but has hitherto been leased privately; now, however, it has been very largely 

 altered inside, and contains the new Curator's office, the Garden Library for the 

 young gardeners— removed from over the Director's office— and also affords ex- 

 cellent accommodation for the Assistant Curator, Mr. W. Watson, who has moved 

 from his residence by Kew Green, where he has been succeeded by Mr. F. 



Oarrett, foreman of the Greenhouse and Ornamental Department. 



entrance to the Melon Yard, for workmen only, has been closed and built up for 

 some time past, a new gate between Descanso House and the fire station having 

 t>een opened. With the exception of Mr. W. Irving, foreman of the Herbaceous 

 ■Department, all the departmental overseers now live practically in the gardens. 



Tomato Up-to-Date.-Mr. W. Allan, the able head of the Gunton Park 

 oardens, who is cot less successful in the cultivation of tomatos than of grapes, 

 pears, and other of our principal fruits, regards Up-to-Date tomato with much 

 lavour. He has full justification for the high opinion he has of the variety in the 

 remarkably heavy crops in the several houses that are devoted to tomato culture 

 at Gunton. The plants are grown as single cordons, and when we were at 

 Gunton a short time since the plants that were just coming into bearing were 

 regularly furnished with fruit from within a few inches of the base to the apex, and 



Th T*- WCight ° f frUU that WiH be P roduced b y them wiU be sim p!y prodigious, 

 the fruits of Up-to-Date are smooth, brilliant red, and produced in clusters of 



from six to nine each, the weight of the individual fruits ranging from four to five 

 ounces each, and are consequently of the size so much appreciated on the table. 



he variety has a hardy constitution, as proved by the fact that last autumn the 

 p ants that were grown in an unheated structure with other varieties were in no 

 way injured by a severe attack of disease which did much damage to the plants of 

 Nor W h f ° ther Varielies « Up-to-Date originated in the neighbourhood of 

 tfc. c ? a yea " SmCe ' and has been g rown at Cunton somewhat largely from 

 the his., consequently Mr. Allan has had plenty of time in which to formulate the 

 high opinion he has of the variety. 



bee?!^ rVe f I°° d 0< P,ants ln Winter. -A most interesting study has 

 certin 7 i WmtCr C ° ndition of the reserve food substances in the stems of 



A^tZtTs ? Mr c E - M ' WiIcox ' and the resuks given in the 



'were found h ° iUnc ^ Specimens of liriodendron collected in October 



the cells cf ° f Starch in the CelIs ° f the COrtex > but none 



Parenchyma and medullar^ Zf ' ^ t W Eft "J" J" * - S? 

 of the stem contained n t ' immediately below the growing point 



* gradual increase in th° ^ time * November and December showed 



marked decrease in th am ° Unt of the starch in the medullary sheath, but a 

 starch began to apnea/ present in lhe * cortex - At th « end of February 



diately below the growi^ " ^ ^ COrtex ' but more es P ecialI y ™ the cells irame- 



only realized £2 17s. 6d. per ton. The largest output for one week was 12,1 

 tons, shipped from July 11 to July 18. The shipments commerced Utcr 

 usual, for those of 1897 began on April 19, and in 1896 on April 3. Thchli 

 affected the starting price, as the Scilly Isles and the coast of Cornwall were ika4 

 of Jersey to a considerable extent this season. They are ahead in the majority 

 of years for outdoor potatos ; but when they are sending large quantities of tab* 

 to market at the time of the start in Jersey, prices begin comparatively btdly fcr 

 Jersey growers, and fall quickly. The earliest price was only a few shilliap f* 

 ton lower than it was in 1897, but in 1896 it was £32 a ton, and in 1895 it •* 

 .£45. The average price per ton in recent years was £7 10s. 3d. in 1*/. i,* 



14s. gd. in 1896, £6 12s. 7d. in 1895, and £>7 I2S - 9<** in l8 94' ^ 

 potato crop of 189; was grown on 8,076 acres, and if the area was about tin 

 this year, the quantity shipped was nearly seven tons per acre, and the retflT 

 ^■41 ; besides which there was the home consumption in the island for 

 seed. But in 1897 the return from shipments averaged nearly ,£50 an aci* 

 in 1896 over £58. Many Jersey growers have to pay £10 per acre for Ua 

 early potatos, and labour and manure brings up the cost to about ^3°Pf 

 In many instances, however, forage crop is obtained in the same year tff 

 potatos. 



Presentation to a Distinguished Scotch Gardener. ~A to 



since Mr. William Henderson, the able gardener at Balbirnie, M £™ 

 was presented by the officials of the Markinch Cottage Gardening SoadJ 

 beautiful gold keyless stop watch and albert, for himself, and an elegiw 

 cake-basket for Mrs. Henderson. This presentation was made by the 



years, and such is the assistance given that, whereas 



last tweorf 

 iking* cfi * 



expend in prizes and management the sum of £200, and this 

 inhabitants and a thinly populated adjacent neighbourhood. ^ 

 (Provost Dixon), in making the presentation, alluded in culc^tic ^^ 

 Henderson's ability, more especially as a superintendent in t ^ S Z^^i | 

 and those who have been associated with him fully endorsed _ 



In expressing his thanks, Mr. Henderson said his sew ^ 



at their command, and, while thanking them 



remarks. in PYnmccmrr hie rnanirs. ivir- iicuuwm — 



_ for the magnificent g«». 



was justly proud of, he' more highly appreciated their confidence and ^ 



The Cultivation of Beet in Denmark both for **** ^ k il 



increased wonderfully of late years, until now the W» "W t l T fc 



161,601 tonder, a tonder being equal to 1*363 Englisfi acrw. c 

 for sugar production an area of about 34,000 acres is under ^ ^ 



increase has led to the establishment of a sugar factory at M ^ 

 area under beet cultivation in Denmark has increased by oa P» .^1 

 During the past ten years or so woodlands have increasedu ^ 

 trees, principally in Jutland, the area has risen from 74. ^ ^ 



Uke Holland, Denmark has done a good deal oftec*™*™!* j^d 



lC reased its eultnatawe . 



sea 



and is now producing grain and grass. 



The Ceylon Botanic Garden 



useful during the past year, under the 

 number of experimental plots of econoi 

 for seeds of the Para rubber (ffevea /> 

 from a total crop in the gardens o 



been 



mad* 



been 



Tb< 



I 



000 seed* 



r: 



ill 



ie 



1 v 1 



ottsdurifll 



