September 21, 1893. ] 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
267 
- Ramsg-ATE Public Park. —In the most beautiful weather a 
•ceremony in connection with the Ramsgate Public Park took place 
recently. As far back as September 29[h of last year a somewhat 
similar ceremony occurred, marking the transfer of the property from 
the trustees of the former owner to the representatives of the ratepayers. 
The present occasion, however, simply marked the close of the operations 
of beautifying and laying out the grounds, operations carried out most 
eflSciently by Messrs. Cheal & Sons of Crawley, Sussex, Among the 
main features of the Park the finest piece of constructive work is the 
handsomely designed Doulton-ware terrace, 246 feet in length, 25 feet 
wide at the narrowest, and 75 feet at the widest part. 
- The Botany op Tibet. —A recent issue of the “ Chemist and 
Druggist ” remarked that Dr. Thorold, who, in 1890-91 accompanied 
Captain Bower’s expedition through Tibet as a scientist, collected 
specimens of all the plants he saw during his journey across the 
country from west to east. The collection contains only 115 species, 
all told, showing the poverty of the Tibetan flora in the district 
traversed ; a poverty which, however, is not astonishing considering that 
the greater part of the route lay over a country as high above sea-level 
as is the top of Mont Blanc. The 115 species belonged to no fewer than 
twenty-eight natural orders, and only about half a dozen species were 
quite unknown at Kew. One flowering plant was collected at an altitude 
of 19,000 feet—probably the highest point on record in the history of 
botany. 
- Liquorice. —The inhabitants of Elizabethpol and Baku in the 
Caucasus derive considerable benefit from Liquorice (Glycyrrhiza 
glabra), which grows wild, needs no cultivation, and multiplies spon¬ 
taneously. In 1878 two Greeks turned their attention to the large 
quantities of Liquorice in Caucasia ; in 1886 they erected a large factory 
for drying and pressing the Liquorice, which they annually exported to 
America. The remunerative trade soon attracted others, and to-day 
there exist four prominent commercial houses which carry on a wholesale 
trade in Liquorice, and two of which have erected extract factories in 
this country. Annually there are produced about 108,339,000 pounds of 
raw Liquorice, which, after drying, yields 36,113,000 pounds of market¬ 
able merchandise. For raw Liquorice the factories pay on the average 
fivepence halfpenny per 100 pounds. 
- Reclaimed Land in Holland. —In the year 1886 a society 
was organised in Holland to make plans for the draining of the Zuyder 
Zee. It now officially reports that three-fourths of the soil covered by 
these 900,000 acres of water is as fertile as surrounding districts, and 
proposes a scheme of drainage which will leave 300,000 acres in the 
centre as a lake, while the rest will be redeemed at a rate that will 
annually render from 12,000 to 15,000 acres habitable. According to 
the “ Garden and Forest ” the cost of the entire work is estimated at 
£15,250,000. The largest enterprise of the same sort hitherto carried 
out has been the draining of the Haarlem Lake, which, after thirty-nine 
months of labour, added 46,000 acres to the solid soil of Holland. When 
the Zuyder Zee was formed by an inundation, in the thirteenth century, 
some 80,000 lives are believed to have been lost. 
- The Wasp Plague. —Mr. J. Lloyd Bozward, Worcester, 
writes to the last issue of “ Nature ” as follows :—“ Of late much has 
been written about the seasonal prevalence of wasps, and the mischief, 
in several places, wrought by them. May not, however, their use in 
keeping down many forms of insect pests be set off as some sort of 
palliative? Wasps are exterminators of aphides, and although the 
season has been favourable to insect life, next to no damage has been 
done to the Hop bines or the corn or pulse crops of Worcestershire or 
Herefordshire by these latter pests—frequent destroyers of crops. Is it 
suggestible that the excessive wasp prevalence is attributable in some 
measure to the abundance of their insect prey, just as has recently 
happened in Scotland, in the instance of the multiplication of the 
short-eared or ‘ woodcock ’ owl, owing to the plague of field voles ? 
The owl is a winter immigrant, usually leaving in spring. ‘ Nests in 
ordinary seasons are of rare occurrence in Great Britain, but owing to 
the vast increase of their favourite food—the field vole—these owls 
have not only arrived in increased numbers, but have remained and 
bred in Scotland all over the affected districts, laying from eight to 
thirteen eggs, and rearing large broods,’ instead of the few eggs these 
owls have hitherto been accredited with laying. I am a fruit grower. 
Much damage has this year been done to the fruit; not, however, by 
the wasp tribe, but by hungry birds, the fruit having even been attacked 
in an unripe state. According to my experience wasps do not become 
household pests till the falling off of insect prey towards autumn.” 
- Spirits from Mulberries. —The production of spirits from 
Mulberries, Pears, Cherries, and other fruits depends upon the yearly 
result of the vintage, as the producers seek to repair the eventual loss 
in wine and wine-spirits by substituting the above-named fruits. The 
production from fruits grown in the Caucasus during the last five years 
averaged about 65,000 vedros (211,185,000 gallons) of Mulberry spirits 
free from water. The other fruits are used for this purpose only in 
inconsiderable quantities. 
-Fruit Culture in New Zealand.—T he latest papers from 
Auckland, New Zealand, describe the cultivation of the Orange on the 
peninsula to the north of that town as taking a marked development, 
and superseding the cultivation of the Apple and stone fruits. It 
is not generally known in England that this northern portion of New 
Zealand, whilst being asi green and well watered as Devonshire, can 
grow all the fruits of Sicily and Devonshire combined. The Lemon, 
the Seville Orange, the Loquat, together with Peaches, Nectarines, 
Apricots, and Apples, flourish exceedingly in every garden about 
Auckland ; but the Sweet Orange requires the rather higher tempera¬ 
ture some seventy miles to the north to bring it to perfection. Slowly 
the people are becoming aware of the unbounded possibilities of fruit 
growing awaiting them in the future, and it merely requires accessi¬ 
bility to a large market to convert this part of New Zealand into a 
paradise for small fruit farmers. 
- Begonias at Henbury Hill.—M r. W. Strugnell writes:— 
For some years past the gardens at Henbury Hill have acquired a local 
fame in respect to Tuberous Begonias, which are well and extensively 
grown both indoors and in the open air. I made a call recently, and I 
was agreeably surprised to find such a wealth of bloom and variety after 
such a prolonged period of drought. Two large semi-circular beds are 
filled with Begonias and subtropical plants, having a background of tall 
evergreen shrubs. This shows up the Begonias in splendid contrast to 
the sombre tints of the evergreens, and being in direct view of the house 
must give an immense amount of satisfaction to their owner, A. E. 
George, Esq., during the summer. The site now occupied with the 
Begonias was once a portion of the line of shrubs extended forward by 
Mr. Smith to suit the object under notice, and being well trenched and 
manured each year, the plants grow with unusual vigour. The green¬ 
house and subtropical plants used include Ricinus Gibsoni, R. communis, 
Grevillea robusta, tall Acacias, Wigandias, Fuchsias, Brugmansias, and 
Gannas in variety. These grow well, and are interesting almost to the 
same extent as the Begonias. Mr. Smith devises a fresh plan for each 
year, but as this has been carried on several years the difficulty now is 
to find something original. Begonias embrace many colours and inter¬ 
mediary shades, and a course of crossing and intercrossing produces a 
strain of marked excellence both in habit of plant, size, and shape of 
blooms. Some of the flowers are massive and erect, others drooping and 
of medium size, but all are good. None but singles are grown, double 
flowers finding no favour at Henbury Hill. The plants are raised from 
home-saved seeds each year. 
- Sending Fruit to Covent Garden 180 Years Ago.— 
A correspondent sends us the following extract from the “ Spectator ” of 
1712. The writer appears to have been taking a holiday in August. He 
gays :—“ I lay one night last week at Richmond, and being restless, not 
out of dissatisfaction, but a certain busy inclination one sometimes has, 
I rose at four in the morning, and took boat for London, with a 
resolution to rove by boat and coach for the next four-and-twenty 
hours. When we first put off from shore we soon fell in with a 
fleet of gardeners bound for the several market ports of London ; and 
it was the most pleasing scene imaginable to see the cheerfulness with 
which those industrious people ply’d their way to a certain sale of 
their goods. The banks on each side are as well peopled, and beauti¬ 
fied with as agreeable plantations as any spot on the earth ; but the 
Thames itself, loaded with the product of each shore, added very much 
to the landskip. It was very easy to observe by their sailing, and the 
countenances of the ruddy virgins, who were supercargoes, the parts 
of the town to which they were bound. There was an air in the 
purveyors for Covent Garden, who frequently converse with morning 
rakes, very unlike the seemly sobriety of those bound for Stocks’ 
market. Nothing remarkable happened in our voyage ; but I landed 
with ten-sail of Apricoc boats at Strand Bridge, after having put in 
at Nine Elms, and taken in Melons, consigned by Mr. Cuffe of that 
place, to Sarah Sewell & Company, at their stall in Covent Garden. 
We arrived at Strand Bridge at six of the clock, and were unloading 
when the hackney coachmen of the foregoing night took their leave 
of each other at the Dark House to go to bed before the day was too 
