Ju'y 1, 1886. ] 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
11 
about a hundred different varieties are grown. These are a 
selection from much larger collections in which a great similarity 
of colouring and form are to be met with, and Dr. Hogg might 
advantageously reduce the number iu cases where the distinctions 
are so trivial as to be recognised only by the most critical. 
What are called German Irises have had their origin from 
various species, the chief being I. pallida, I. squalens, I. variegata, 
I. neglecta, I. Swerti or aphylla, I. amoena, I. germanica, and 
I. sambucina. Those that are derived from pallida have the 
standards pale lavender, tending to mauve, and of this section 
pallida dalmatica, Celeste, and Madame Pacquitte are very beauti¬ 
ful. In the T. neglecta section the standards are a decided blue 
or violet, without any yellow, and of these Cordelia, Yirginie, and 
Sultane are fine examples. In squalens section the standards are 
of a dingy brown, and among the best of these are Arnoldi, Dr. 
Bernice, Hericart de Thury, and Marchioness of Lome. In the 
variegata section the standards are yellow, varying from primrose 
to deep golden yellow Of these there is a great variety of very 
beautiful colours, as in Darius, Conqueror, Magnet, Ganymede, 
and a lovely variety called variegata alba or L’lnnooence. In 
aphylla and amoena sections the standards are white, but in the 
former both standards and falls are pencilled on the edges with 
shades of violet, as in Bridesmaid, Gazelle, and Madame 
Chereau ; while in the latter the falls are stained or reticulated, 
as in Juliette, Due de Cazas, and Unique. 
I learned a “wrinkle,” too, on planting, or rather the best 
time for the work. Immediately after flowering is the time for 
dividing and planting German irises. The divisions make good 
growth, become firmly established during the season, and flower 
■well next year. By this plan “ a season is gained,’’ remarked the 
Doctor, “ and that it is the best method there is no doubt.” All 
that is necessary to insure success is to keep the roots and 
rhizomes moist in transit, and to water them well when placed 
in the ground. 
Dr. Hogg, I may add, is not a gardener on paper merely; he 
is very much more than that, as the work he has accomplished 
on his beautiful Sussex estate during the past few years affords 
abundant testimony. He is also engaged in improving his 
pastures, which are extensive, and can show some striking results 
from the application of chemical manures. It is pitiable to see 
grass land so profitless in various districts that might be vastly 
improved by a little well-considered outlay in the direction 
indicated.— Experientia docet. 
SELF-SOWN ASPARAGUS. 
There are few vegetables in which more interest is taken than 
Asparagus. Raising young plants, as well as the culture required to 
bring the old ones to perfection, annually meet with a large share of 
attention from all garden owners, especially those who have a desire to 
secure choice vegetables. As a rule, young Asparagus plants are raised 
by buying seed and sowing it in beds or rows, allowing the plants to 
remain there for a time, and then transferring them to the permanent 
plantation. This plan is, no doubt, a good one where Asparagus is being 
introduced for the first time, but where there are plantations of full-grown 
seed-bearing plants, there is another way of securing young plants which 
will pay for attention. In good seasons, or indeed in almost all seasons, 
the old Asparagus plants flower and ripen seed. Late in the autumn, or 
at the time the old stems are cleared away, many of the berries open and 
the seeds fall on the ground. This is perfectly hardy, and when the spring 
comes many young plants grow from the self-sown seed. These, however, 
are generally either drawn up as “ weeds,” or hoed down to clear the 
ground, and while hundreds of young plants are being destroyed in this 
way, attempts are often being made to induce seed to germinate and plants 
to grow elsewhere. Now self-sown plants are just as good as any that 
can be raised, indeed they are often the best, and it would be better if 
they were preserved and used more than they are. Many of them need 
never be transplanted, but allowed to grow where the seed fell, to 
replace the roots which die; and where roots are lifted for forcing, self- 
sown seedlings will always keep up the supply of roots with very little 
trouble. Self-sown plants, too, have one great advantage over those 
bought in or transplanted, as they need never be moved, and, being left 
alone, the roots develope faster and much finer than when cut up and 
checked by transplanting.— Kitchen Gardener. 
THE INDIAN AND COLONIAL EXHIBITION. 
VEGETABLE PRODUCTS OP INDIA. 
(Continued from page 384 last vol.) 
The fibre products constitute a highly important portion of the Indian 
home and foreign trade, and consequently numerous samples both of the 
raw materials and some of the uses to which they are applied are included 
in the Exhibition. The Indian flora is particularly rich in fibre-yielding 
plants. Over 300 species have been tried for this purpose, and a good 
proportion of these have been found to afford strong useful fibre 
when properly treated, The “ coir ” or fibre obtained from the Cocoanut 
husk is well known, and the uses to which this is applied are innumerable. 
For mats and ropes it is, however, largely employed, and the manufacture 
has largely extended in recent years, the refuse from such work being 
now very extensively used in gardens for a variety of purposes, especially 
as a plunging material for plants. Commercially, however, perhaps the 
production of Cotton is the most valuable branch of the Indian fibre 
trade. There are fourteen million acres under cultivation with this plant, 
exclusive of large extents in Bengal and Assam, “ of which no returns are 
published, and the exports for the year 1884-5 amounted to over 5 millions 
of hundredweights, valued at 13 million pounds sterling.” Nearly half 
of this came to England and a good proportion was re-exported to the 
Continent. Jute (Corchorus capsularis and C. olitorius) is largely grown 
in Bengal ; Calcutta is the great centre of the trade, and the value of the 
exports has increased from £62 in 1828 to £6,241,000 in 1885-6. Much 
of the raw jute is exported to Dundee, where its manufacture has 
assumed considerable importance in recent years, being employed for bags, 
carpets, and various other fabrics. Rhea fibre has received some attention, 
but the difficulties in the preparation of the fibre has checked the develop¬ 
ment of the trade. 
Among the extracts and inspissated saps first comes the catechu or 
cutch of commerce. This resinous extract, which is prepared by boiling 
down a decoction from chips of the wood of the Acacia catechu, figures 
variously as a condiment, or spice, or as a medicine. It is used as an 
astringent in medicine, and also in dyeing and tanning. The value of the 
catechu exported from India has materially decreased in the last five 
years from £426,641 in 1880-1881 to £282,078. The bulk of these 
exports consisted of Burma or Pego cutch. The cutch or kath of the 
North-West Provinces is principally prepared in Kumaon. Instead of 
being boiled down to a solid consistence, and then cast into large masses, 
as is the case in Burma and Bombay, twigs are placed in the concentrated 
decoction, and the kath is allowed to crystallise. The substance thus 
obtained is formed into cubes of about one-half inch in size. This is a 
much purer article, and, though not exported, is largely consumed in India 
as an accompaniment of pin. The ordinary cutch of commerce is a deep 
reddish-brown with a glassy fracture. In India a solution of catechu 
by the addition of lime or alum, is used as a dull red dye, largely 
employed by the calico-printers to produce metallic shades. Many trees 
and shrubs yield camphor, caoutchouc, and gutta-percha, foremost among 
which is the true Indiarubber tree, Ficus elastica, which grows freely in 
the North-Eastern Himalayas, eastward of Assam and Aracan. Although 
the Government has established a large plantation in Assam, the only 
source of supply hitherto is the trade with the hill tribes, who prepare 
the substance and carry it into the valley of Assam for sale. Much atten¬ 
tion has been paid to the rubber-yielding plants by the authorities at 
Kew, and considerable information on the subject will be found in the 
reports issued from the Royal Gardens. 
An important Indian extract is the medicinal assafeetida. Ferula 
Narthex, F. Scorodosma, and others supply the assafeetida, which is most 
used by the natives of India, and in which Bombay does a large trade. 
The thick fleshy roots of the assafcetida-yielding plants are cut or scraped, 
when a milky juice exudes. This hardening forms the gum resin, which 
is known as evil-smelling but useful medicine, and in Eastern countries 
has been from time immemorial employed as a flavouring spice. 
Indigo, which is obtained from species of Indigofera, not only received 
its name from Europeans, but as Mr. O’Conor says:—“The manufacture 
of indigo is, of all forms of enterprise now known in India, that which 
was first taken up by Europeans, who still retain the monopoly of the 
manufacture of this article, at any rate so far as concerns the better kinds 
exported to foreign markets. European marks of indigo are guarantees 
of quality, and the exports from India have hitherto consisted almost 
exclusively of such marks, though lately there has been some extension 
of cultivation in the North-West Provinces under native supervision, the 
produce of the plantation being supplied to Europe. Practically, how¬ 
ever, as yet the whole quantity produced from year to year in European 
factories is shipped from India, the inferior qualities of native manu¬ 
facture being retained for consumption in the country.” There are 197 
factories working in Bengal, 1963 in the North-West Provinces and Oudh, 
and 1254 in the Madras Presidency, of which the larger number are 
under European management. The dye is obtained from the plants by 
steeping them in tanks of water, and after the plants are removed a blue 
sediment settles to the bottom, which, when the water is drawn off, is 
dried and prepared for exportation. 
THOUGHTS ON CURRENT TOPICS. 
It has taken Mr. Abbey a very long time to formulate a reply to some 
observations of mine on the subject of the ripening of the wood of fruit 
trees, and this he has done in a very able contribution on page 458. It is 
so long since I recorded my reflections on this subject that I have not the 
paragraphs in mind to which your correspondent refers, but I will take it 
f r granted that he has quoted me correctly. In asking the question 
“ Does not wood ripen after the leaves are off, and in subsequent seasons ? ” 
I had in view an aspect of the case on which Mr. Abbey appears to lack 
experience, for he says the “ buds of fruit trees are perfect in the year of 
their formation, and do not change after the foliage falls from the trees, ’ 
and he goes on to say he has “ never known an instance of trees with no 
blossom buds, when the foliage fell, forming them in winter. ’ His 
reasoning on the subject of the formation of fruit buds is sound as far 
as it goes, but I sus: ect he stops too soon. In this view I may possibly 
be at issue with scientific authorities, but that does not matter, and 
especially since they are constantly at issue amongst themselves. 
