50 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
January 18,18f4 
—— A BOTANIC garden and arboretum has been established at 
Buenos Ayres by M. C. Thays. 
- Professor G. Schweinfurth has started on his third botanical 
exploring visit to the Italian colony of Eritrea, on the Ked Sea. 
- Prop. F. Delpino, of Bologna, has been appointed Director of 
the Botanic Garden at Naples, and Professor of Botany in the University. 
- Presentation to Miss Sander.—O n the occasion of the 
marriage of Miss Sander, the staff of Messrs. F. Sander & Co., St. Albansi 
presented her with a handsome ornamental bronze-mounted clock, with 
the following inscription—“ Presented to Miss Sander on her marriage 
by the employes of F. Sander & Co., with hearty good wishes from all. 
Wednesday, January 17th, 1894.” 
- Brighton and Sussex Horticultural Society. —We 
are requested to announce that the dates of the Brighton and Sussex 
Horticultural Society for the current year are as follows :—Spring Show, 
April 3rd and 4th; summer Show, August 28th and 29th; Chrysan¬ 
themum Show, November Gth and 7th. Mr. M. Longhurst, 18, Church 
Road, Hove, is the Hon. Secretary. 
- English Vegetables in India.— An Indian paper says :— 
“We were astonished by the receipt of a cumbrous and weighty parcel 
by rail recently, which on being opened proved to be an immense 
Cabbage, the like of which we had never seen before. A letter received 
during the day explained matters. The Cabbage had been sent us by 
Mr. W. H. Hawkes, P.W.D , and grown in his garden in Nuwara Eliya. 
It was as well grown a specimen of the Cabbage tribe as we remember 
to have seen anywhere, weighing 21^ lbs., and having a splendid heart, 
and a stalk like the stem of a tree; No one can say after this that 
Cabbages cannot be grown to perfection in Nuwara Eliya, given such 
care and attention as Mr. Hawkes bestows upon his garden. The 
Cabbage was 49 inches in eircumference I ” 
- Cauliflowers. —Rarely have there been seen such an abund¬ 
ance of Cauliflowers right up to the very last days of the year as found 
this present winter. It may be that the somewhat sharp hoar frost of the 
morning of Dec. 31st settled effectually what plants still stood till then 
unharmed, but there could have been very few then uncut. We get 
Cauliflowers and Brocolis from some source or other all the year round, 
but to have an abundance of Autumn Giant, white heads as the market 
men term them, right up to the end of the year is indeed a novelty. We 
owe the autumn drought something for this result, as that kept the 
Cauliflower long in starting into growth ; and we also owe the wonder¬ 
fully open early winter something, as but for this mildness many 
of the plants would never have headed in at all. After all, autumn 
Cauliflowers have proved to be unusually good and profitable.—D. 
- Products of the British Honduras. —An exhaustive 
report on the present condition of the colony of British Honduras, pre¬ 
pared by the Governor, has recently been issued by the Colonial Office. 
In this it is stated that the products of cultural industries, still really 
in their infancy, are chiefly Bananas, Plantains, Cocoa-nuts, Coffee, 
Henequon, Indian Corn, Limes, Mangoes, Sour and Sweet Oranges, 
Pine Apples, Avocado Pears, Rubber, to which there should be added 
in time Annotto, Cacao, Coir, Ground Nut, Indigo, Jute, Pita,* Ramie, 
Spices, Vanilla, and doubtless other promising marketable commodities. 
To the small extent to which the Banana has been successful to the 
north of the frost line referred to, where it will always be a precarious 
crop at best, it has proved inferior in quality to the West Indian and 
Central American fruit. Whilst in 1879 it did not appear among our 
records its exports was represented by 72,436 bunches in 1891. The 
Plaintain is a staple of food over a large section of Negroland in West 
Africa. The descendants of its interesting people to the North of the 
Gulf of Mexico represent a consuming power of probably 9,000,000. 
Tons of this fruit from Cuba and elsewhere meet with a ready sale in 
Florida. This Colony’s shipments to New Orleans rose from 50,000 
Plaintains in 1879 to 1,580,200 in 1891. 
- Pine Products. —The native Pine is estimated to cover a 
third of the Colony, or 1,613,136 acres, and to average 100 trees per 
acre on our great southern Pine-ridge. Its wood is said to almost equal 
that of the Yellow Pine of the United States, which in the beginning of 
1888 was reported to have been nearly worked out, and might, in part, 
have to be replaced by the local Pine. The growth on the older 
Pine-ridges of the Colony may, when opened up, prove of sufficient age 
and diameter to make it worth while to have attention turned to adding 
this timber to our exports, as can doubtless be done with many other 
valuable woods as yet unknown. 
- A NEW PARK FOR SWANSEA.—We understand that the Earl of 
Jersey has presented a site for a public park to the town of Swansea. 
The land is estimated to be worth £10,000. 
- Sericographis Ghiesbrehgtiana. —“W. D.” remarks that 
this plant is worthy of notice and of easy culture, readily rooted from 
cuttings in an intermediate house. When coming into flower the plants 
should be removed to a cool house, or the flowers so soon drop. The 
colour is a bright rosy scarlet, and the plant can be grown year after 
year by keeping it cut back, 
-Linum flavum, our correspondent observes, is another excellent 
winter blooming plant, requiring similar treatment to the former, and 
blooming in a cool house. A number of plants of each may now be 
seen in bloom in the show house of the Birmingham Botanical Gardens 
at Edgbaston, and are most effective amongst Bouvardias, Cyclamens, 
Cinerarias, and many other plants in flower there, 
-The Devon and Exeter Gardeners’ Mutual Improve¬ 
ment Association. —There was a large attendance of the members of 
this Association at the Guildhall, Exeter, on the 10th inst., when Mr. G. 
Anning, gardener at Ford House, Alphington, read an interesting and 
practical paper on “ The Strawberry and its Culture.” Mr. Meyer 
presided, and the audience appreciated the essayist’s remarks. 
- Phrtnium variegatum. — The pretty little stove plant 
known by this name, and figured in the Journal of Horticulture 
(p. 27), is a variegated form of the well-known Arrowroot plant, and is 
called Maranta arundinacea variegata. Its history, so far as it is known, 
was given by Mr. Ridley, Director of the Gardens and Forest Depart¬ 
ment at Singapore, in the “Gardeners’ Chronicle”for 1891,volix., p. 73. 
True Phryniums are quite different in habit; they have no stem, and 
the leaves spring separately from a creeping rootstock.—W. W. 
- Salvia splendens Bruanti. — “ H. D.” writes : — “ Those 
on the look out for a really good plant capable of supplying beautiful 
spikes of scarlet flowers throughout November and December will do 
well to grow this fine Salvia, which is a decided improvement upon 
the older variety splendens, the flowers being brighter in colour and 
the habit of the plant much dwarfer, the latter feature rendering it 
especially suitable for use in small pots. I saw some fine plants of it 
in the conservatory at Haseley Manor Gardens a few days ago. Cuttings 
put in from the present time up till May may be grown into large 
plants by the autumn months. Those intended for flowering in 5 or 
6 -inch pots should not be inserted till .June.” 
-A Miniature Cabbage. —Our correspondent continues:—“ Mr. 
George Clements, the energetic gardener at Haseley Manor, like most of 
us, has his favourite miniature Cabbage. Now Cabbages have had a 
good time of late, so from the charms of a well-stocked conservatory we 
pressed onward to the Cabbage bed, where we found plenty of firm 
hearts (like cricket balls) just ready for use, all grown from seeds 
sown in August, the variety being St. John’s Day, which Mr. Clements 
speaks highly of for coming in quickly at all times of the year.” 
- From Haseley “ H. D.” remarks, “ We journeyed the most 
primitive method of locomotion to Wroxall Abbey Gardens, where Mr. 
G. T. Silver, the genial gardener, grows many plants extremely well. 
Here again the Cabbage tribe apparently force themselves to the front, 
for almost the first thing to take our eye in the kitchen garden was a 
fine bed of Rosette Colewort, in exactly the right condition for use. All 
who have not grown this old yet popular vegetable should do so at once. 
Near by stood frames filled with Marie Louise Violets, in the best of 
health and vigour, flowering splendidly. In the houses were many 
well grown Cinerarias and Primulas, highly coloured Crotons, large 
bracts of Poinsettias, luxuriant and well flowered Camellias, as well as 
excellent bunches of Alicante and Lady Downe’s Grapes.” 
- Potatoes in Ireland. —Mr. E. Molyneux writes:— A note 
on page 3 of the Journal^ “E. K.” commenting on the scarcity of 
the Potato patches in Ireland, reminds me of an experience that I 
encountered when at the Dalkey Chrysanthemum Show in November, 
and which was unique to me. Prizes were offered in several classes for 
collections of vegetables. In not one of them was a dish of Potatoes to 
be found. This to me was an extraordinary omission, and enough to 
lead to the loss of a prize in England, except under most exceptional 
circumstances of the good quality of the other exhibits in this particular 
class. The explanation given by the officials was that Potatoes in 
Ireland are not looked upon as a vegetable, but as part of the regular 
diet of the people. Strange as it may seem to an English exhibitor, the 
occurrence called for no comment there except by myself. 
