March 6, 1884. ] 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
193 
Durham Mustard obtained a name it has kept to this day. 
When Mustard, the white more particularly, began to be appre¬ 
ciated by farmers the seeds were largely sown in the fenny 
districts of Cambridgeshire and Lincolnshire. Essex and Kent 
are also counties where Mustard fields frequently greet the eye. 
The Garden Cress (Lepidium sativum) is a native of Greece, 
a fact only verified at a comparatively recent date. But it was 
well known before then that the Greeks in early times grew the 
plant freely, believing it answered the double purpose of food 
and medicine. Xenophon is reported to have advised the 
Asiatics to cultivate it, because it would help them to overcome 
the languor caused by an eastern climate. If the name “cress ” 
or “ kers ” is found, as some say, in most primitive European 
languages we should conclude it was grown, or at least gathered, 
throughout Europe many centuries ago. Pliny believed that 
even insanity could be cured by an abundance of Cress; and 
Cogan, soon after it had attained to popularity in England, 
advised persons to eat it who wished to have their wits 
sharpened ! For, however common it may have been in gardens 
on the Continent, Gerard assures us it was hardly known here 
until the middle of the sixteenth century, the seed coming from 
France. From the copious directions contained in books of 
instruction in gardening compiled last century as to how best to 
cultivate Mustard and Cress, it is evident this small salad was 
much in demand and freely groun in the open air, as also in 
frames, to supply the market from autumn to spring. 
The spring, again, has been considered to be the season when 
the Watercress should be eaten as a purifier of the blood, and 
in the olden time children were physicked with a drink made 
by boiling its tops with those of the Scurvy Grass (Coclilearia 
officinalis) in spring water. According to Mr. Glasspoole, it was 
not until 1808 that this plant (Nasturtium officinale) was grown 
in beds as it is now, yet the street girls had cried bunches of 
the vegetable at least a hundred jrnars before that date. They 
obtained them (or others did) from the rivulets and ditches of 
the suburbs. We read of their being picked about Tothill 
Fields, and the actual banks of the Thames west of London. 
Hackney also produced its wild Watercresses, and they are still 
cultivated in that neighbourhood. At a little nursery garden in 
the Wandsworth Road, near Vauxhall, called Springfield, there 
was a Waterci*ess ground a few yeai-s ago, where once the plant 
may have grown wild. The celebrated gardens at Springhead 
near Gravesend were formed about seventy years ago by a 
Mr. Bradbery, who afterwards had several acres of land planted 
with Watercresses near Rickmansworth. Another memorable 
Watercress ground is also in Hertfordshire, near the Rye House, 
the scene of a memorable intended plot, and beside the Lea and 
the New River; while Watercresses are extensively grown near 
Croydon, and supported by the sewage of that town, but the 
method is not considered by all persons unobjectionable.— 
J. R. S. C. 
ROYAL METEOROLOGICAL SOCIETY. 
The usual monthly meeting of this Society was held on Wednesday even¬ 
ing, the 20th ult., Mr. R. H. Scott, M.A., F.R.S., President, in the chair. 
T. G. Benn, Capt. C. F. Cooke, Francis Galton, M.A., F.R.S., Prof. S. A. Hill, 
B.Sc., Capt. A. W. Jeffery, G. Paul, F.G.S., F.R.H.S., R. Yeevers, H. T. 
Wakelam, and E. Wells were balloted for and elected Fellows of the Society. 
The following papers were read :— 
(1.) “ The Great Storm of January 20th, 1884,” by William Marriott, 
F.R.Met.Soc. This storm was remarkable for its violence and large area, 
as well as for the unprecedentedly low barometer reading at its centre. The 
author has prepared isobaric charts for each hour from noon on the 26th to 
3 A.M. on the 27th, and by this means has tracked the storm across the British 
Isles. The centre of the depression appears to have first reached the north¬ 
west coast of Ireland at noon, and passed in a north-easterly direction over 
the north of Ireland and across the middle of Scotland, reaching Aberdeen 
about midnight. Its rate of progress was therefore about 30 miles an hour. 
A violent gale was experienced all over the British Isles, the greatest hourly 
velocity of the wind being 68 miles at Valencia at 11 A.M., 70 miles at 
Holyhead at 2 P.M., 63 miles at Falmouth at 3 P.M., 60 miles at Armagh, 
and'59 miles at Aberdeen at 5 P.M., 58 miles at Greenwich from 5 to 7 P.H., 
and 76 miles at Alnwick at midnight. Thunderstorms occurred on the south¬ 
eastern side of the depression, and travelled across the south of Ireland and 
England at the rate of about 30 miles an hour. The lowest readings of the 
barometer (reduced to sea level) yet reported were 27‘32 ins. at Kilcreggan at 
8.30 P.M., and 27'332 ins. at Ochtertyre, near Crieff, at 9.45 P.M. In the 
southern part of England, directly after the minimum had occurred, there 
was a very sudden rise in the reading of the barometer, in some cases 
amounting to 0 08 inch in five minutes. From an examination of previous 
records it appears that there has never before been so low a barometer read¬ 
ing as 27'32 ins., so that this storm may be considered as one of the most 
remarkable that has occurred in the British Islands. 
(2.) “ The Height of the Neutral Plane of Pressure and Depth of Monsoon 
Currents in India,” by Prof. E. D. Archibald, M.A., F.R.Met.Soc. 
(3.) “The Sunrises and Sunsets of November and December, 1883, and 
January, 1884,” by Hon. F. A. Rollo Russell, M.A., F.R.Met.Soc. The 
author gives a very interesting account of all the special features of the 
remarkable sunrises and sunsets which have been observed from November 8th 
to February 2nd. The following are stated to be the marks distinguishing 
the peculiar sky-haze from cirrus :— 
1, It is commonly much more evenly spread over the sky than cirrus 
2, It is visible (except when very dense or in the neighbourhood of the sun) 
only about time of sunrise and sunset. During the day not the faintest trace 
obscures the clear azure, whereas cirrus becomes more distinct with more 
daylight. 3, When actually glowing with bright colour it loses its wavy 
appearance. 4, It has no perceptible motion, unless perhaps when watched 
through a long period. 5, It does not interfere with the clear definition of 
the moon or brilliancy of the stars. 6, It lies almost without exception in 
long streaks, stretching from between south-south-west and west-south-west 
to between north-north-east and east-north-east. 7, Its radiant point lies 
not on the horizon, but far below it. 8, If both cirrus and sky-haze be- 
present, the sky-haze begins to shine with a red light soon after the cirrus 
has ceased to glow above the western horizon. When cirrus is present, how¬ 
ever, there is m general a reaction of effects. 9, The sky-haze is destitute 
of the fibrous twists and angular branches of cirrus, and, since the sunlight 
leaves it in regular progression, it must be stratified at the same uniform level. 
10, It has always been visible on every clear day for more than two months,, 
and has been quite independent of wind and weather. 
SOIL FOR NEPENTHES—A DEPARTURE. 
“ What everybody recommends must be right ” is an axiom 
not to be lightly disregarded; but it maybe well to remember 
that everybody recommended peat for Ferns once, but now the 
most healthy and vigorous are grown in loam. Everybody also 
not long ago recommended porous pots for all kinds of plants, 
whereas it is now found they will flourish equally well, if not 
better, in pots that are glazed. Everybody now appears to 
recommend a rough, porous, almost soil-less compost for Nepen¬ 
thes ; even Mr. Abbey’s advice is given on the follow-my-leader 
principle. No doubt good plants have been grown and are now 
produced in the fluffy medium recommended on page 163; but 
will they not grow better, hardier, sturdier, healthier, and pro¬ 
duce more, finer, and better-coloured pitchers when grown in a 
more substantial medium ? 
Not many years ago one of the most healthy stocks of 
Nepenthes ever seen produced in the same limited time was. 
raised and grown by Mr. Bause in the Melbourne Nursery, 
Anerley, for Mr. Wills.. The plants were not of the largest, but 
for texture and colour of foliage, with proliferousness of pitchers, 
they equalled the best of their age and excelled most. In his 
experiments in growing Pitcher Plants the cultivator found that 
he could depart from the orthodox compost with advantage, and 
just as he receded from the flutf and treated the plants to a 
“ bit of loam ” so did their strength increase. This led him to- 
adopt the same compost as he employed for Dracaenas, or what 
most persons would consider excellent for Fuchsias. So satis¬ 
factory was the experiment that practically the whole of the 
plants, and there were several hundreds in 5 and 6-inch pots, 
were potted as if they required something more than air and 
water to feed on. The newer and more expensive kinds were 
without hesitation potted in the manner indicated, the pots, of 
the size mentioned not containing more than 2 inches of drain¬ 
age—in fact, not so much. They rooted in the soil with the 
greatest freedom, the fibres multiplying and coiling round the 
pots just as freely as those of a Pelargonium. There is no 
mistake about this, for I turned out many of the plants and 
examined them carefully. In every case those were in better* 
condition that were growing in good soil than the few others, 
that were left in the orthodox medium; indeed, if this had not 
been so, nothing is more certain than that the new practice 
would have been abandoned 
Although I am unable to state with exactitude the compost 
employed for the plants, yet it will be near enough for practical 
purposes to describe it as consisting of from one-half to two- 
thirds of sound turfy loam, the remaining portion of peat and 
leaf soil, with a liberal addition of sand and a 7-inch potful of 
horn shavings to a bushel of soil. When the compost was used 
it was pressed down with the same degree of firmness as in 
potting Dracamas. 
If any error has been made in describing the method of 
culture, Mr. Bause. who is now established in the Portland. 
Nurseries, South Norwood, will be able to correct it; also to 
indicate, if needed, any varieties that are not so amenable as 
others to the treatment in question.— Experientia Docet. 
A NEW GARDEN. 
THE KITCHEN GARDEN. 
Enclosures .—Boarded fences, glass, stone, and brick walls have aT 
been tried for enclosing kitchen gardens, the use of either material, 
except bricks, being more frequently influenced by certain local cir¬ 
cumstances than from any decided superiority. For example, at 
Crowborough Cross on the forest ridge in Mid-bussex there are exten¬ 
sive beds of thin sandstone so easily excavated and prepared for 
building as to cost less than any other material, and as this stone is 
