December 24, 1898. 



GARDENERS' 



MA GA ZINE . 



843 



Spalding, there were now some two thousand acres of land devoted to allotments 

 and small holdings. Of this quantity Earl Carrington had provided no less than 

 four hundred acres, The experiment had proved an unqualified success, and he 



Mildness of the Weather.— Mr. G. J. Symons, F R.S , states that he has 



had prepared abstracts of the meteorological observations made here during the 

 forty years 1858-97. From them it appears that the highest minimum (*#., the 



attributed it to the fact that they had found reliable working men who knew their warmest night) in December was that between December 27 and 28, 1882, when 

 business, who had been put on the land under ordinary conditions and left to work the temperature did not fall below 52-8 deg. This has been beaten on two 

 out their own salvation. Earl Carrington was present, and mentioned that when nights of the current month, the minimum of the <th being 52-9 dee., and on 



tnebtb 53*9 deg, or ro deg. above any other December night on record at 

 Camden Town. It has been hotter for a short period in December previously, 

 notably on December 5, 1888, when the maximum reached 58*9 deg., or r8 deg. 

 higher than on the 4th in 1898, but for uniformly high tempeiature he can find 



this movement was started in Buckinghamshire there were predictions of failure, 

 but these had been falsified. He did not take any credit to himself for providing 

 the land ; the thanks of the community were due to the holders for the way in 

 which they had worked out their own salvation. He believed that if one farm out of 



ten were devoted to small holdings, so that the people were enabled to live upon no parallel to the night temperatures of the 3rd, 4th, 5th, and 6th inst., which 

 the soil, a very serious labour question would be solved — namely, that farmers were 51*8, 55*1, 55*0, 50-3 deg. respectively, 

 would not have to complain of the scarcity of strong, willing, able, adult labour in 



rural districts. Just as they had solved the labourers question, so could the 

 tenant-farmers improve their position by working on co-operative principles. He 

 held (the Minister of Agriculture notwithstanding) that Parliament could do a 



Open Spaces and the Diamond Jubilee.— Lord Hobhouse, the chair. 



m%n of the Queen's Commemoration (Open Spaces) Committee, informs us that 

 during the two years of its existence the committee has accomplished much useful 

 work. The committee was formed by the four London societies which specially 



great deal for the tenant-farmer, and he urged the importance of the recommen- promo te the extension and improvement of open spaces for the purpose of suggest- 

 dations of the Royal Commission on Welsh Land that no tenant-farmer should be " ----- - 88 



ing to the public that one highly fitting mode of celebrating the sixtieth year of 



disturbed in his holding excepting for non-fulfilment of conditions and non-pay- her Majesty's reign would be by-dedications of parks and other open spaces to 

 ment of rent and also that in any rent dispute between landlord and tenant the public use. The committee confined itself to presenting the idea, stating reasons 



matter should be settled by an outside and independent party. 



Mr. J. Lazenby, who for the past quarter of a century has occupied the 



in its favour, and tendering offers of practical advice, which the experience of some 

 of the members enabled them to give. " In this sense," continues Lord Hobhouse, 



position of secretary to the Ancient Society of York Florists, is, we regret to learn, " we addressed local authorities throughout the kingdom. The great bulk of our 



retiring from the office in consequence of the duties having become so heavy as addresses went to authorities with a very small range of power, such as parish 



to unduly tax his time. During the secretaryship of Mr. Lazenby the list of councils, and from them comparatively few replies were received. In fact, we did 



members has shown an enormous increase, and the chrysanthemum show has not expect it to be otherwise, owing to the novelty of their existence, and seeing that 



become one of the leading exhibitions of its class in the United Kingdom, while the want of open spaces is little felt where people are not closely packed. So far 



the four minor shows have acquired considerable importance. The retirement of as we know, the villages mostly contented themselves with bonfires and suppers, 



Mr. Lazenby has created a desire among the members and friends of the society the oldest, simplest, and most universally acceptable form of jubilation, lacking 



to present him with a testimonial in recognition of the valuable services he has only in permanence, save perhaps for an indigestion here and there. The plan 



rendered, and steps are being taken to afford an opportunity for the gratification was more suited to larger communities, and, excluding London, there are sixty- 



of this desire. nine places known to us in which schemes of the kind suggested by us have been 



The Power of Nature Over the Arts of Man is exemplified in a carried into effect, most of them being dedications of some open space as con- 



remarkab!e degree in the Caroline Islands, especially in connection with the nected with the long reign of Queen Victoria. In London, for obvious reasons 



marvellous ruins of Nan-Matal which Mr. F. W. Christian has of late explored. which we stated publicly, we took the course of advocating special schemes and 



In a most interesting lecture given before the Geographical Society Mr. Christian appealing for money. Five schemes were placed by us before the London public, 



gave a graphic description of the manner in which the ruins at Nan-Tauach had of which one has failed, and the other four have taken, or will shortly take, effect, 



become overgrown by trees and climbers. Standing, he says, on the south-west and stand as permanent memorials of the Queen's reign. In addition to these 



there are also three other schemes <>f smaller dimensions that have been carried 



angle, where the wall is nearly forty feet in height, one looked down upon a green 



abyss of nodding woodland, with never a glimpse of the network of canals rippling through. We are not pietending that the committee has effected these results by 



below. The north-east angle is occupied by an enormous banyan tree, towering itself ; that has been done by the systematic efforts of the open space societies, the 



full fifty feet above the masonry in which it stands firm rooted, thrusting its public spirit of local authorities, and the open hands of private donors. What we 



bunches of thread-like root-fibre into every crevice. These as they swell exercise have done is to keep these matters before the public and the authorities, to support 



a constant and gradually increasing force, wrenching the blocks out of place. 



them with our machinery and our experience, and to urge the connection of these 



When a high wind blows the structure is rocked through and through in every operations with the great anniversary of 1897. Oa terminating the existence of 

 joint and keystone. Sooner or later, if nothing is done to remove the tree, this the committee, we find that the direct results of our action have been such as to 

 side of the wall will settle down into ruins. A tangle of weeds, grasses, and exceed our expectations." 



creepers thickly carpets the precinct. Beyond the two small cross-walls on the 



Weed Destruction.— With regard to the destruction of some of the most 



inner side of the great outer wall on the south-west side is a remarkable slab, common weeds, it seems to be more than probable that the time is near 

 inclining to a crescent shape, balanced on two solid shafts projecting out of the a t hand when the farmer will be in ft position to rid his crops of them without any 



f orm of mechanical aid more costly or troublesome to work than a simple spray. 

 The familiar charlock is the weed whose career is threatened by the recent dis- 



masonry. This, when tapped, gives a clear, ringing sound, and was probably used 

 for an alarum or for a sort of a bell in sacred ceremonies. Beneath, the terrace 



fronting the waterway is overgrown by a belt of young cocoa-palms of recent covery. A Frenchman seems to have been the first to make the discovery that 

 growth. News of the excavations, and of the havoc being made in the jungle in this weed, in its favourite haunts among corn crops, could be destroyed by spraying 

 clearing operations, finally reached the ears of King Paul, who at once put a the field with a solution of sulphate of copper without inflicting any material 



stop to the work. Most unfortunately, his superstitious terrors were confirmed by 

 a very severe epidemic of influenza that broke out in the tribe shortly after their 

 departure, and carried off many of the Metalanim people. Thus the work of 



injury on the cereals. Last spring the su^estfoB was put to the test in Essex and 

 Northumberland with encouraging results, and we learn that Professor Somerville, 

 of the Durham College of Science, Newcastle-on-Tyne, is planning an extensive 



exploring this wonderful Micronesian Venice has had to be abandoned for the and searching system of experimentation for the spring of 1899. The efficiency 



of the treatment is already established almost beyond doubt, but it will be well to 

 be sure as to the safety of the cereals before its general adoption is advised. No 



on 



time being. 



Palm Oil, Rubber, and Kola from the Gold Coast.— According to 



a Colonial Office Report just issued the trade of the Gold Coast Colony has 

 increased during the past year. The imports amounted in value to ^784) 188, 

 and the exports to ^857,793, the largest trade in any year since 1890 except 

 l %95> The imports are mainly cottons, woollens and silks, spirits, hardware, 

 rice, flour, provisions, tobacco, and building materials ; and the exports palm oil 

 and kernels, rubber, gold dust, timber, and minor products— such as coffee, cocoa, 

 monkey skins, and kola nuts. Of -the imports, over two-thirds are from the 

 United Kingdom, and about the same proportion of the exports is taken by this 

 country. The supply for exports of such staples as palm kernels and palm oil has 

 not been satisfactory, but the export of rubber has largely increased, and last year 

 amounted in value to ^419,813, and in quantity to nearly five million pounds 

 weight. The chief fear as regards the rubber industry, which is one of the chief 

 sources of wealth to the colony, is the destruction of the trees by the natives in 

 their improvident efforts to obtain as much sap as quickly as possible, and it may 



become necessary for the Government to intervene and issue licences in order to becomes almost ^J*"^ 

 save the trees. Unfortunately the rubber districts are those which are most * " ' ^ 



deadly to Europeans, and the cost of carriage on the heads of natives is consider- 

 able. Both these circumstances naturally retard the industry. 



doubt Dr. Somerville's theory that the charlock succumbs because of its rough 

 horizontal leaves retaining the poisonous dressing while the grain plants escape 

 _ account of the liquid being unable to settle on their smooth and erect stalks 

 and leaves is the correct explanation of the faculty of discrimination which the 

 results seem to attribute to the dressing. The results of the projected experiments 

 will be waited with widespread interest, for many thousand acres of land are 

 infested with charlock to the great injury of the useful crops. The hoe, however, 

 is the best weed destroyer. 



The Value of Leaf mould as a manure is not so generally recognised as it 

 hould be, and, with reference to the matter, a correspondent asks : 44 Can anyone 

 reasonably wonder at the destruction of trees which goes on in the Ixmdon parks 

 d elsewhere who notices that the fallen and dead leaves are promptly swept up 

 a °d carted away or burnt?" and then proceeds to observe : " Thus the natural 

 necessary nourishment of the soil is deliberately removed ; so that the earth 

 T comes almost as barren as the Desert of Sahara." The superintendents of the 

 blic parks are not wholly to blame in the matter, for were they to allow the 

 wves to remain for the purpose of enriching the till they would come in for 

 ch criticism from those who are ignorant of the fertilising properties of decaying 



Influence of Football on the Seed Market.— At first sight it is leaves 



difficult to conceive that football should have an influence, however remote, upon 

 the seed market, but it is evident there is some connection between the two. In 

 a recent report of the London seed market it is stated that there has been a 



Messrs. 



custom uidi no* — t 



Restaurant on Saturday evening. 



>loyees w»rc, in accordance with the 

 entertained at dinner at the Holbom 

 V. N. Sherwood, the head of the firm, 



steady decrease in the sale of canary and other seeds, and this has been traced to vtt$l ^ ta ^^ ^und^ and fifty. The function was eminently successful in 



the fact that huge numbers of people, especially in the North of England, who 

 u sed formerly to keep cage birds or devote their leisure to small gardens, now give 

 a11 their spare time and interest to football. 



pecial interest as showing the good 



this rreat seed house 



