April 10, 1391. ] 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
305 
the boiler ? I have thought that the mains and centre pipes could be 
made to take the steam at higher pressure, letting it into 3 or 4-inch 
hot-water pipes near Vines or idants from these mains, on the principle 
of the steam going from the high pressure to the low press cylinder in 
the triple expansion engine.— Omega. 
- Early Potatoes in Ireland, this Year’s Crop.—O ne of 
the finest samples of early Potatoes we have ever seen at this period of 
the season have been sent us by Mr. K. Allison, gardener to Mr. Ilume 
Babington, Creevagh. They are of the variety known as Sutton’s Early 
Kegent, and are exceedingly healthy and well grown. They were planted 
in December in the garden, and only covered during the night.— {The 
Londonderry Sentinel.') 
-Summary op Meteorological Observations at Hodsock 
Priory, Worksop, Notts, for March, 1891, 56 feet above mean sea 
level.—Mean temperature of month, 40‘0°. Maximum on the 1st, 
58'5°; minimum on the 9th, 22-6°. Maximum in the sun on the 26th, 
110'3° ; minimum on the grass on the 13th, 14-4°. Mean temperature 
of the air at 9 A.M. 39'4° ; mean temperature of the soil 1 foot deep 
39'7°. Nights below 32°, in shade thirteen; on grass, twenty-two, 
Total duration of sunshine in month ninety-nine hours, or 27 per cent, 
of possible duration. We had five sunless days. Total rainfall, 
1'31 inch. Eain fell on nineteen days. Average velocity of wind, 
13’8 miles per hour.. Velocity exceeded 400 miles on nine days, and 
fell short of 100 miles on three days. Approximate averages for March : — 
Mean temperature, 41-8° ; sunshine, ninety-eight hours. Rainfall 
1‘61 inch. A rather cold, dry, and windy month with average sunshine ; 
a few snow showers at times, but none to lay on the ground. Vegeta¬ 
tion very late ; no signs of spring growth at the end of the mouth, 
Some rain and warm weather much wanted.— Joseph Mallender. 
- The Cotton Plant in the United States. —The Director 
of the Agricultural Experiment , Station of the Agricultural and 
Mechanical College for the State of Alabama has issued his Bulletin 
No. 13, which is devoted to an exhaustive account of the different 
varieties of Cotton growm in the State, by Mr. P. H. Mell, the 
Botanist and Meteorologist to the station. According to Mr. Mell. 
says Nature, only three species of Gossypium are of special com¬ 
mercial importance—viz., (1) G. Bahma, or Egyptian Cotton ; (2) 
G. barbadense or nigrum, Sea-Island Cotton, or Long Staple, or Black- 
seed Cotton ; (3) G. herbaceum or album. Short Staple or Upland, or 
Green-seed Cotton. These three species have been multiplied into 
twenty or thirty so-called varieties, by eertain kinds of cultivation and 
careful selection. G. Bahma is supposed to be originally a hybrid 
between the native Egyptian Cotton Plant and a species of Hibiscus, 
The “Sea-Island Cotton” requires a salt atmosphere, and is mainly 
used in the manufacture of lace. Mr. Mell gives the microscopic 
characteristics of twenty-five varieties of Cotton, and his descriptions 
are accompanied by iihotograifiiic illustrations made with a photo-micro 
camera and micrometer. The Bulletins arc supplied free on application 
to any citizen of the State. 
- Bothwell Bank and President Strawberries. —In the 
Journal of Horticulture recently Mr. G. McDougall asks. Is Bothwell 
Bank Strawberry President under another name ? As far as my experi¬ 
ence guides me I say certainly not. When I came here I bad a few 
runners of Bothwell Bank, and I planted two rows by the side of 
President. My plan is to plant half the quantity required here one year 
and half the next, so that we only take two crops from the plants before 
they are destroyed, and during the last eight years the above named 
have always been grown side by side as succession varieties. President 
coming in from six to eight days before Bothw'cll Bank. The fruit of 
the latter with us is paler in colour, much more cockscomb-shaped, and 
nearly as large again as President, and equal in flavour to anything we 
grow; in fact it is the favourite Strawberry here. The foliage, too, is 
paler, and is easily distinguished from President. It also forces well. I 
might add that many well-known first-class Strawberries will not do 
well with us—for instance. Dr. Hogg, British Queen, Sir J. Paxton, and 
several others. Our best are President, Bothwell Bank, Sir Charles 
• Napier, and Helena Gloede. Noble we only planted last autumn, and 
therefore have no experience of it on our soil, which is a heavy marly 
loam resting upon a subsoil of sandy clay. The natural soil does 
not contain more than 1 per cent, of lime, which probably accounts for 
some varieties not doing so well as others. It is the same with Peas. 
Such excellent varieties as Vcitch’s Perfection and Stratagem are not 
satisfactory here, and it will be easily understood how well Rhododen¬ 
drons thrive here in the natural soil with this absence of lime.— 
J. Doughty, Anylcy Park, Cranhrooli, 
—— The Common Yellow-Coltsfoot as an Aquatic. —I saw 
this plant in full bloom and growing luxuriantly at the sides of an 
ornamental pool of water, some of the plants being quite immeroed, 
and seemingly thoroughly at home in this perpetual bath; and it was 
growing freely in the immediate locality of the pool, and as a spring¬ 
blooming plant I thought that if it was not so common and so very 
difficult to exterminate when getting beyond bounds how much we 
should value it as one of our harbingers of spring. Useful as it is for 
making a delicious wine from, our yellow-tlowered friend will not be 
received with open arms for garden work.—D. 
- United Horticultural Benefit and Provident Society. 
—The quarterly meeting of this Society was held on Monday evening 
last at the Caledonian Hotel, Mr. Nathan Cole in the chair. Six new 
members were elected, making a total of twenty-five in the three 
months. Two members have died during tlie quarter, Mr. J. W. Vine of 
Oak Park, Tralee, and Mr. R. H. Bard of Forest Hill. The amount 
standing to the credit of the late Mr. Vine, £13 4s. 3d., was paid to his 
widow at the March meeting, and the Committee has also granted £5 
from the Benevolent Fund, Mrs. Vine being left -with four young 
children. The sum standing to the credit of the late Mr. Bard 
(£39 8s. 5d.) was also paid to his widow. A general meeting was held 
after the Committee meeting for the purpose of altering rule 20 respect¬ 
ing the date of the annual meeting. The rule will now read “ second 
Monday in March,” instead of second Monday in February. 
- Comte Brazza’s Violet. — I can quite endorse all that Mr. 
Oliver writes in praise of this charming variety. For winter and early 
spring gathering it is unsurpasscl, and has given a far greater per-centage 
of blooms than cither The Czar or Marie Louise, when grown and 
treated in precisely the same manner. Another great point in its 
favour as a winter frame Violet is, that it is less liable to damp than any 
other variety, and will when necessity occurs, as during the past winter, 
when the frames had to be kept closed with heavy covering to exclude 
frost for weeks together, keep fresh and green with scarcely a damped 
leaf. I notice that some of your correspondents take exception to this 
variety as not being a pure white, and also to its having a green centre. 
This may be true to a certain extent, but it only happens in the autumn, 
after the plants have been lifted and before they become re-established, 
or through the plants being weakly and worn out. Under proper 
management and treatment the flowers produced should be pure 
white, double, and very fragrant. It seems highly essential that this 
variety to succeed well should have the protection of a cold frame. 
Plants that are allowed to remain in the open all winter suffer to such 
an extent that they arc unable to produce their flowers at the proper 
time.— John Austen, Witley Court Gardens, Stourport. 
- Allium neapolitanum. —This i)lant is so useful in pots that 
no garden should be without a few dozen bulbs. The pure white 
flowers w’ith stalks 18 inches long are well suited for vases with other 
flowers and some greenery, it also keeps well in a cut state. A pretty 
arrangement I once saw consistel of a groundwork of Pelargonium 
Henry Jacoby, from which rose flower heads of this Allium, the pure 
white of which contrasted so well with the dark velvety red of the 
Pelargonium. The culture of this bulb is a simple matter. Early in 
October place four bulbs in a 3^-inch pot in fai-ly good soil, plunge 
them for a time in cocoa-nut fibre refuse until new growth has started, 
afterwards stand them in a cold frame close to the glass to.prevent 
the foliage being drawn w’eakly. Protect the plants from frost, and 
admit plenty of air to the frame on all favourable occasions. Here 
they may remain until the flower spikes are coming, when a light 
position in thejgrcenhousc will suit them. Abundance of water at the 
roots, alternating it with liquid manure, will be of much service in 
encouraging strong flower spikes and ample foliage. If larger potfuls 
are required put about six bulbs in a 5-inch pot.—E. M. 
_ The “Flora of British India” has reached the seventeenth 
part, and Sir Joseph Hooker may be congratulated on having so nearly 
accomplished his great task. Since his retirement from the Director¬ 
ship of Kew Gardens, Sir Joseph has worked single-handed, and 
several large families yet remain to be done, notably the Gra.sses, 
which are very numerous, and, in some respects, more difficult than 
the Pctaloid Monocots, and mainly so because the majority of the 
species have a much wider area of distribution, thus entailing more 
literary research. The last published part of the “Flora of British 
India ” is of more than ordinary interest, inasmuch as it contains the 
conclusion of the descriptive account of the Orchids of India. About 
1'400 species are described; they are referred to upwards of a hundred 
