JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
April 11, 189S. 
- The People’s Palace and East London Horticdltueal 
Society. —This Society recently held its first spring show. In order to 
place the exhibitors on an equality, the schedule of prizes was divided 
into two sections, one including all exhibitors, some of whom, living 
on the confines of the Victoria Park, cultivate under much more 
favourable conditions than those in thickly populated districts, and 
those living in the latter or congested districts, such as Mile End, 
Limehouse, and Stepney. These divisions were found to work well. The 
exhibitors were woiking people, and several entries were made in all of 
the classes. 
- Manuring Hops.—D uring 1894 several experiments in the 
manuring of Hops were carried out by Mr. Monson, F.C.S., and from 
the results obtained he is of the opinion that by applying 3 cwt. of 
kainit per acre, at a cost of 63 ., an increase of 2 cwt. of Hops may be 
expected. He warns growers, however, that this manure should be 
applied quite early in the season, for it increases the colouring matter in 
the Hops if put on late. Another conclusion brought out by the experi¬ 
ments is that 10 cwt. of gypsum will take the place of a ton of lime, so 
that the former may be used to advantage where the more bulky fertiliser 
would have to be brought from a long distance. Mr. Monson also 
dwells on the importance of using phosphates with nitrogenous 
manures, as the latter, when used freely alone, deteriorate the quality 
of Hops. 
-Wolverhampton Gardeners’ Improvement Society.— 
On Tuesday, April 2nd, Mr. Yarty of Moseley Court gave a lecture to 
the members of the above Society on British Ferns. The lecturer stated 
that of all plants British Ferns were perhaps the most neglected 
generally, though some of them were among the most beautiful plants 
in existence, and pleaded for a more extended interest to be taken in 
them. The lecturer had a magnificent collection of dried specimens, 
some of them almost unique, and he greatly interested and amused the 
members present by recounting his difficulties and adventures in search 
of them. He specially mentioned old Mr. Stansfield of Todmorden as a 
most noted collector of British Ferns, and urged young gardeners to take 
up the study and collection of these plants. Needless to say Mr. Varty 
had the hearty thanks of the meeting for his most instructive paper. 
- Mushroom Spawn. —It may be that “ D.” is right in his esti¬ 
mate of the spawn as supplied to the first-class garden of which he 
speaks. Still, I should like to point out that with different methods of 
treating, manure, and with soils of various staples. Mushrooms may be 
produced of totally distinct qualities ; so much so, in fact, as to appear 
of more than one variety; yet all from the same box of spawn. 
Given a properly prepared bed of manure, surfaced with soil of good 
sound texture, beaten down firmly ; then, it the spawn works well, as it 
should do, generally speaking, there will be found in due time Mush¬ 
rooms large, firm, and fleshy. It is well known that too much fire heat 
will cause a crop of small weak Mushrooms. I cannot understand that 
it is necessary to bear such a disappointment as “ D.” speaks of in 
silence. My experience of “ leading houses” hag been such that I think 
no gardener need be deterred by fear of a “row” from making any 
just and reasonable complaint.— John Wright, Kelston Knoll Gardens, 
Bath. 
- New Method of Preserving Fruit.—M. Petit has noticed 
that by preserving fruits—Grapes, for instance—in a sealed vessel, filled 
with the vapour of alcohol, the said fruits keep well. On October 31st, 
1894, that is, at a very late season, some Chasselas Grapes were cut and 
placed in a cellar, closed as firmly as possibly by a wooden door ; in the 
cellar was a jar containing 100 cubic centimetres of alcohol; the Grapes 
were placed on wooden frames. In two other similar cellars, one closed, 
the other open, but where there was no alcohol, the Grapes were similarly 
arranged. The temperature of the caves ranged from 8 ° to 10° C. 
(50° F ). On November 20th, in the open and in the closed cellar, where 
where there was no alcoholic vapour the Grapes were spoilt and rotten, 
whilst in the cellar in which the alcohol was placed the Grapes were in 
perfect condition, and free from mouldiness. On December 7th the 
Grapes were in still finer condition ; tasted by critical connoisseurs, 
they were found excellent and of perfect flavour. In laying these 
notes before the Societe d’Agriculture, M. Tisserand drew attention to 
the simplicity of this mode of preserving fruit; it can be practised any¬ 
where, and needs no special apparatus. In every place where a 
uniform low temperature can be assured. Grapes can be stored in closed 
compartments, adding alcohol either in a jir, or even, according to 
M. Tisserand, saturating with it the wooden framework which support 
the Grapes. The cost of the alcohol is, it appears, very small.—(“Eevue 
Scientifique.”) 
- Pine Cones. — Occasionally vesiels from the south of Europe 
bring over small numbers of what are called nut cones. They are really 
the cones of Pinus pinea, in shape and general colour resembling some¬ 
what a small Pine Apple. When brought into some warm place, as, 
for example, near a steam radiator, the scales quickly begin to reflex, 
commencing at the base, and turning back release the pinons or edible 
seeds. The motion of the scales as they open is so rapid as to be plainly 
visible, and is quite interesting to people who have never seen the 
spectacle, and this exhibition gives a value to the cone apart from the 
nuts which it contains.—(“Garden and Forest.”) 
- Museum d’Histoire Naturelle, Paris.—A meeting of the 
professors and assistants has been held, under the presidency of Mr. 
Milne Edwards, whereat it was decided that periodic meetings of a 
similar kind should be held, and a bulletin published. The object of 
these meetings is to promote co-operation between the several depart¬ 
ments, and to multiply the points of contact between specialists who 
each in their department contribute to the advancement of science. 
The relations between the correspondents, collectors, and travellers for 
the museum, and the officials will, it is hoped, be cemented. At the 
meeting an account of the work done in each department will be given, 
and collectors will thus be enabled to appreciate the value of their 
collections, become witnesses of the use made of them, and better 
enabled to judge of the requirements of science. At the same time they 
will contribute information as to the localities and the conditions under 
which the collections were made. Six Secretaries were nominated, 
Mons. Poisson undertaking the duties on the part of the Botanical 
Department. 
-PoLYEMBRYONY.—The phenomenon of polyembryony, or the 
development of two or more embryos in a single seed, has been the 
subject of several investigations. It has been shown that it may be due 
to the division of the nucellus, or to the fusion of two ovules, or to the 
presence of several embryo-sacs in one ovule. Further, Strasburger has 
found that it is often to be accounted for by the ingrowth of some cells 
of the nucellus into the embryo-sac, which there develop into adventi¬ 
tious embryos; in other cases he ascer’ained that two egg-cells are 
normally present in the embryo-sac, which on fertilisation give rise to 
two embryos. Finally, Dodel and Overton showed that it was possible 
for the synergidse to develop into embryos. More recently, M. Tretjakow, 
in a short but interesting paper (^Ber. a. Beutsch. Bot. Gesell., 
February, 1895), describes yet another cause of polyembryony. Is 
Allium odorum, in addition to the normal embryo formed from the egg¬ 
cell, not infrequently the antipodal cells also give origin to embryos. 
Sometimes only one of these develops, but M. I'retjakow has observed 
all three antipodal cells start into growth and give rise to three embryos. 
These antipodal embryos commence their development immediately 
after the fertilisation of the egg-cell, and the cell divisions, at least in 
the earlier stages, correspond exactly with those in the embryo formed 
from that cell. The Russian author, accepting the view that the 
antipodal cells are homologous to the vegetative cells of the prothallia 
of Ferns, compares these antipodal embryos with those arising by 
apogamy on Fern prothallia.—(“ Nature.”) 
- SciLLY Flowers.—I f the man who makes a blade of grass 
grow where none grew before deserves well of his country, the late Mr. 
Augustus Smith and his nephew. Captain Dorrien Smith, should be held 
in immemorial regard by the Scilly islanders. Between them they have, 
as Lords of Scilly, established an industry whose profits fully make up 
for the loss consequent on the suppression of smuggling and wrecking, 
and the ruin of the local shipbuilding trade. Wh en “ King Augus us” 
became autocrat of all the Scillies, he found the inhabitants in a most 
deplorable condition ; so acute was the general poverty that the Im¬ 
perial Government abandoned the collection of taxes, and even granted 
subsidies to keep the population alive. The happy idea then occurred 
to Mr. Smith to try the experiment of raising early flowers for the 
London market. Having imported a cargo of good bulbs from Hol¬ 
land, he established a garden at Tresco, the island where he had built 
a lordly mansion, and the venture proving profitable, the Scillonians in 
St. Mary, the biggest island, abandoned agriculture for the cultivation 
of the beautiful Narcissi. From that date to this the industry has 
thriven wonderfully, in spite of Continental competition. But the late 
terrible frost extended to Scilly, and not only delayed the flower 
harvest, but largely diminished the yield. We learn, however, that 
on two days last week the exportation of Narcissi from St. Mary’s 
amounted to 26 tons, all being intended for the London market. It 
says much for the Smith dynasty that although the land is many 
hundred per cent, more profitable to its cultivators than before the 
introduction of flower farming, rents have not been raised.—(“ Globe.”) 
