JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 857 
- Messrs. Cassell, Petter, & Galpin have sent us the 
following parts of several of their serial works. “ Paxton’s 
Flower Garden,” part 9, containing coloured plates of Rhododen¬ 
dron A. B. Mitford and Medinilla magnifica, the latter rather 
pale in tint, and woodcuts of Trichosachme lanata, Calanthe vestita, 
Steriphoma paradoxa, and Aspasia lunata, with accompanying 
descriptions. “ Familiar Garden Flowers,” part 27, gives coloured 
representations of a Zonal Pelargonium and Cuphea platycentra ; 
part 50 of “ Familiar Wild Flowers ” having similar plates of the 
common Tansy and the Hedge Stachys. The most satisfactory 
portion of both works being the cultural and historical particulars 
concerning the plants figured. 
- The annual report for the past year of the JAMAICA 
Public Gardens, by Mr. D. Morris, the new Director, is one of 
great interest. As the year has been the first under the new 
organisation the chief work has naturally been of a departmental 
character, but from the details given it is evident that important 
advances have been made in developing several industries which 
must have an important influence for good on the future of the 
island. From the variation in altitude of the different gardens 
under Mr. Morris’s charge excellent opportunities are afforded for 
experimenting on various kinds of cultivation, and these he is 
evidently prepared to take full advantage of. Among the various 
cultures, concerning which interesting information is contained 
in the report, are Cinchona, Liberian Coffee, Sugar Canes, Teak 
and Mahogany, Pine Apples, Jalap, Cacao, Tobacco, Indiarubber, 
various spices, Oranges, Banana fibre, &c. The best results may 
be looked for from Mr. Morris’s vigorous and intelligent director¬ 
ship. There is also a very satisfactory report of work for the year 
ending March 31st, 1880, from Mr. Duthie, Superintendent of 
the Government Botanical Gardens at Saharanpor and Mussooree 
As in Jamaica, experiments, some of them very successful, have 
been carried on in the rearing of various useful plants, including 
vegetable and medicinal plants. Much difficulty has been experi¬ 
enced by Mr. Duthie in training Mallies for work in the gardens, 
and he has some trials before him ere he is able to turn out a staff 
of properly trained natives.— (Nature.') 
- “Vick’s Monthly Magazine” gives this’description of 
a perfumery farm IN America: —“A flower farm has been 
started at Carpenteria, Santa Barbara county, California, with 
buildings suitably fitted up with laboratory and stills for the pur¬ 
pose of extracting the essential oils for the sake of the perfumes 
of the flowers. The fields are described as acres of Tuberoses, 
English Violets, Jessamines, and Orange blossoms. First on 
the list of perfume-bearers is the Provence Rose, our dear old 
* Cabbage,’ or Hundred-leaved, which has lost none of its ancient 
charms, yet has been supplanted by Roses of deeper and purer 
tints, or by the Tea Roses which are so inexhaustible in their 
variety and beauty. Mr. Hall obtains his stock of Roses and 
Jessamine, as well as the Bitter Orange, in the south of Europe ; 
of the latter he has several thousands of trees. Two weeks ago 
(January) the Tuberoses were still in perfection—a field of ten 
thousand ! ” 
- The “ Journal of Applied Science ” has the appended 
remarks upon Melon Culture in America :—“ Missouri boasts 
of possessing one of the largest and most productive Melon patches 
in the United States. It is situated on the borders of Scott and 
Mississippi counties, and equals if it does not exceed in size and 
adaptation of soil and climate the famous Melon patches of 
Georgia, Indiana, and the eastern shore of Maryland. It is de¬ 
scribed as a tract of sandy prairie, four miles wide and ten miles 
long, with a thin warm soil, just adapted to the cultivation of the 
Melon, and such Melons as are raised nowhere else in that region. 
There is much richer and deeper soil all around, but it is not 
adapted to Melon culture. This land is capable of producing one 
thousand Melons to the acre. As Diehlstadt, in Scott County, 
there were shipped the past season 439 carloads of 1000 to the 
car; and Bertrand, in Mississippi County, shipped 180 carloads, 
mostly to Chicago. The Melon county was visited by twenty- 
five commission merchants from Chicago, who paid as low as 
40 dols. and as high as 140 dols. per carload, being an average of 
70 dols. per car, the market price varying with the advance of the 
season and the number of Melons ripening at the same time. Most 
of these Melons were shipped over the Cairo and Vincennes and 
Illinois Central Railroads in fruit cars, properly ventilated for 
the purpose. Melons are becoming such a staple of production 
that the cultivators are asking for increased railroad facilities to 
move the product at the proper season, representing that they 
would plant 700 acres more next year if the railroad will give 
them a side track and station three miles north of Charleston, to 
be called Melon Station. It is estimated that 700 acres ought to 
produce 700 carloads, at the rate of 1000 Melons to the acre, 
making 700,000 Melons. One man can attend to 25 acres. The 
variety used is the Georgia Melon, which is very luscious and 
grows to a great size, some weighing 60 lbs. The hills are planted 
14 feet each way apart, and from three to four seeds are put in a 
hill. They commence shipping Melons about the 20th of July, 
and continue to the end of August.” 
WOODLAND WALKS. 
I read with great interest the articles on the above subject 
which appeared in your Journal last year. They were particularly 
attractive, not only because they were written by your corre¬ 
spondent “Wyld Savage,” but also because the subject was 
unusual and novel. The articles, which dealt mainly with the 
formation, &c., of walks and drives in woods, must have been 
beneficial to all the gardeners. Horticulturists may be in danger 
of becoming too much attached to straight lines and faultless 
curves, or they may allow the trained gracefulness of our gardens 
and conservatories to entirely eclipse in their minds the beauty 
of the modest plants which give a charm to our hedgerows. I 
think that a truly scientific horticulturist should pay some atten¬ 
tion to the decoration of our woodland walks and brook sides. 
Many walks and drives in parks and in various parts of our 
estates are almost destitute of flowers, either from the walks 
having been newly formed, or from the poverty of the flora of the 
neighbourhood. Can we not improve the flora of our districts ? 
This most desirable object may be attained by planting roots or 
by sowing seeds. Many kinds of bulbs are most suitable for this 
purpose. As simple instances I may mention Scilla siberica, Snow¬ 
drops, the various kinds of Narcissus, all of which if planted in 
favourable positions will increase and bloom year after year. 
Scores of other suitable plants will suggest themselves to every 
practical gardener. For stony rocky neighbourhoods many plants 
are suitable which can readily be obtained. 
My object, however, in writing is to advocate the plan of sowing 
seed of such annual, biennial, and perennial plants as are likely 
to reproduce themselves. Everyone should sow plenty of Myosotis 
alpestris, as it will grow almost anywhere, and will produce an 
abundance of its blue flowers year after year. Seedsmen now 
offer a mixture of the best varieties of annuals which are selected 
as suitable for improving the natural flora, the seeds to be sown 
broadcast in the most favourable positions. It is wise to avoid 
sowing under the dense shade of trees; if possible the position 
should be moderately moist, and have the benefit of moderate 
exposure to the sun. The seed should be sown without any pre¬ 
vious preparation of the ground in such places as the sides of 
streams, hedgerows, and sunny spots in the woods. If sown in 
showery weather in May it will be sure to succeed. Mixtures of 
suitable seeds may be obtained at very reasonable prices.— 
Vindex. 
Australian Plants in India. —Mr. G. Bidie of Madras 
recently communicated to Nature the following notes upon Aus¬ 
tralian plants in the district of the Nilgiri plateau, in South 
India, at elevations ranging from 5500 to nearly 8000 feet above 
sea level:—“ Acacias and Eucalypti in particular have found a 
congenial home in this region, and visitors from Australia who 
have seen them say that they appear even more vigorous than in 
their native soil. Hundreds of acres of Eucalyptus globulus and 
of Acacia melanoxylon and A. dealbata have been planted by 
