Jamiary 5, 1893. ] 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. - 
9 
- Devon and Exeter Horticultural Society, —We under¬ 
stand that the Shows of this Society for the ensuing year are to be held 
as follows :—Summer Exhibition, August 18th ; autumn, November 
10th. Both Shows will be held at Exeter, 
- English Grapes in America. —Some months ago we re¬ 
ferred to the fact that English grown Grapes were being exported to 
America with satisfactory results. Now we learn from the Garden 
and Forest that Black Hamburgh Grapes grown in England were 
recently sold in New York at 10s. per pound. 
- Farringdon Street Market Tolls.—I t has been decided 
by the Markets Committee of the Corporation of London that the 
■exaction of tolls for produce sold in Farringdon Street new market 
■shall be suspended for a year from January 2nd. 
- Poppies in the Arctic Regions.—A botanist reports that 
in the northern part of Greenland the Arctic Poppy forms one of the 
most beautiful features in the floral scenery. The flowers grow in 
immense sheets, giving a golden character to the country, that would, 
it is said, scarcely be equalled by a large field of Buttercups or Dande¬ 
lions. Pure white blossoms are not infrequent among the yellow ones. 
-The Medicinal Properties of Cereus grandiflorus.— 
An American paper states that an extract obtained from Cereus grandi¬ 
florus is considered by physicians as an almost infallible agent for heart 
disease, they claiming it to be superior either to Digitalis or Belladonna. 
Two hundred pounds of this plant were recently shipped from the 
mountain country of Mexico to a well-known manufacturing druggist of 
New York city. 
- Rainfall at Cuckfield, Sussex, During December.— 
The rainfall during the past month was 2 60 inches, being 0 14 below 
the average. The heaviest fall was 0-51 inch on the Ist ; rain fell on 
twelve days. Total for the year 27 05 inches, which is 3 60 inches below 
the average. Maximum temperature 53° on 15th ; minimum 26° on 
26th and 30th ; mean maximum 42 2°; mean minimum 30°; mean 
temperature 36.6°. Partial shade readings 2° below the average. 
-A Large Tree. —The section from one of the big California 
Redwood trees, which the United States Government will exhibit in its 
building at the World’s Fair, has arrived at the Fair grounds. Eleven 
freight cars were required to convey it across the continent. It 
measures 30 feet long by 23 feet in diameter. The section is hollowed 
out, and when placed on end, divided into two storeys and lighted, as it 
will be, it will form a rustic house large enough for a family to live in. 
- Sulphate of Iron for Fruit Trees.—A correspondent 
writes “ Apropos of your reply regarding sulphate of iron for Apple 
trees on page 573, December 29th, the following extract from a foreign 
contemporary might be of interest:—‘ It used to be thought beneficial 
to put the cinders and iron scales from the blacksmith’s shop around 
fruit trees. Now the Australian fruit growers are digging trenches 
around the tree, and turning in a solution of sulphate of iron, made by 
dissolving the sulphate in water. For a large tree the trench should 
be 6 or 6 feet from the trunk,’ ” 
- Messrs. Foster & Pearson’s Sheet Almanack. — We 
are favoured with the roll of twelve sheets, one for each month, in 
which the days and dates of the year are set forth with admirable 
clearness. Bach sheet is margined with brief seasonable reminders on 
gardening operations, and on each is also displayed some of the speciali¬ 
ties of the firm that have proved so useful in many gardens; and if 
gardeners could have their way, and amateurs do what they wish, the 
great Notts firm would have what we hope and feel sure will be their 
experience—a prosperous year. 
- Field Voles in Scotland. —The Committee appointed by 
the Board of Agriculture to inquire into the plague of field voles in 
Scotland have declined for the present to recommend the adoption of 
the plan lately carried out in Thessaly by Prof. Loeffler, who claims to 
have got rid of voles in that district by feeding them with prepared 
bait containing the germs of mouse typhus. It is thought that Prof. 
Lofcffier may not have attached sufficient weight to other causes which 
have doubtless operated to reduce the swarms of voles in Thessaly, such 
as the heavy rains which on the low ground would flood the holes and 
runs of the mice. The Chairman of the Committee, S’r Herbert Maxwell, 
and the Secretary, Mr. J. B. Harting, with the sanction of the Board of 
Agriculture and of the Treasury, are, says “ Nature,” about to proceed 
to Thessaly for the purpose of taking evidence there and reporting. 
- Silver Medal Essay. —We have the pleasure to announce 
that one of the silver medals of the Journal of Horticulture has been 
awarded to Mr. G. A, Bishop, gardener to S. T, Mander, Esq., B.A., 
Wightwick Manor, Wolverhampton, for an essay on “ Manures and their 
Application.” The essay will be published in our columns when space 
becomes available. 
-A New Horticultural Industry in California.— 
There is a prospect that California may have a new horticultural 
industry. A Frenchman has discovered that the California Roses 
possess 20 per cent, more volatile oil than the French Roses. If so we 
may expect attar of Rose and Rose extracts from that State soon. Are 
English Roses less productive in this respect ? 
- Garden Scholarships. —This is the title of a small pamphlet 
issued from the Missouri Botanical Garden, U.S.A. It is the fourth 
announcement concerning garden pupils, and is published with a view 
to encourage young men to take greater interest in gardening. The 
pupils sit for an examination, and those who pass are regarded as 
apprentices in the above-mentioned botanical garden. 
- Outdoor Roses at Christmas.— “ Walking on Christmas 
Day from Hastings to Battle,” writes a correspondent, “ I saw several 
Roses in bloom on a small cottage, and in a wood close by were many 
Primroses in full flower. I was informed by a woodcutter that he had 
that morning seen a thrush sitting on three eggs.” Surely a striking 
contrast to the weather experienced in London and the North at 
Christmas 1 
- Frost in Stirlingshire.—F or three days in the beginning 
of last week the frost here was most intense. The maximum and 
minimum were, 25th ult., 26°, 12’6° ; 26th, 22°, 11° ; 27th, 29-6° 10-2° ; a 
mean temperature for the seventy-two hours of 18'5°. After the 27th 
ult. it got rather milder, but yesterday and to-day (January 2nd) the 
frost has again set in more severe with a slight fall of snow. The mean 
maxima for the week 3P9°, and mean minima 19 2°.—G. McDougall, 
Stirling. 
-National Amateur Gardeners’ Association.—A meeting 
of this Association was held at the Memorial Hall, Farringdon Street, 
on Tuesday, January 3rd, under the presidency of Mr. T. W. Sanders. 
Mr. J. B. Riding, Chingford, read a practical paper on “ Gloxinias,” 
which excited some interest amongst those present, a lengthy discussion 
following. Twelve new members were .elected, and the Honorary 
Secretary, Mr. D. B. Crane, announced that an excellent syllabus for 
the ensuing year had been prepared. 
- Habits of Birds.—B irds vary in their habits in various 
localities. I never have a Crocus, Hepatica, or a Primrose touched by 
the birds, while not much more than a mile away Hepaticas and Prim¬ 
roses are destroyed annually in one large garden. Sparrows build in 
the Roses on the front of my house and in a Hawthorn arch in my 
garden, but not even the yellow Crocus is touched. They sometimes 
pull a few flowers of Saxifraga Wallace! to mingle with their building 
materials, but it is plentiful enough, and I can spare the few blooms 
they take.—S. Abnott. 
- Lectures on Manures. —A course of a dozen lectures on the 
“Action of Manures” has been delivered at Aldbrough, Hull, by Dr. 
J. Clark, of the Yorkshire College, Leeds, under the auspices of the 
Bast Riding County Council. On Thursday, the 22nd ult., the lecture 
was devoted to the action of manures on garden vegetables. The 
lecturer dealt more particularly on the action of farmyard and artificial 
manures upon Peas, Beans, Cabbages, and their allies—Onions and 
Leeks, The lecture was illustrated by limelight, and there was an 
attendance of eighty-six. Mr. J. W. Fell acted as Honorary Secretary. 
- A Boom in Bananas,— We have no information on the 
subject from fruit merchants in this country, but in the Eastern States 
of the Union there is, says a daily contemporary, an outcry that the 
rapid development of the trade in Bananas is seriously hurting the 
Grape market—that is, for Grapes as fruit, and not for the wine vat. It 
is certainly now quite a familiar fruit in this country, whereas a very 
few years ago it was almost unknown ; but it is still rather high in 
price to reach the masses of the people. An American paper alleges 
that during August and September the Bananas imported into the 
United States aggregate 70,000 tons. We should think that if such an 
importation to this country were possible Bananas would soon be as 
cheap as Oranges or Apples. They are said to be very sustaining, and 
are very portable. 
