February 8, 1894. 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
109 
- Herefoedshire Fruit and Chrysanthemum Society.— 
We understand that the Society’s Show for 1894 has been fixed for 7th 
and 8th November next. Mr. J. Ough, 7, Clifford Street, Hereford, is 
the Honorary Secretary. 
- Fruit Garden Appointment in Africa. —We are informed 
that Mr. Ernest Waller, of Messrs. Thomas Methven & Sons, has been 
appointed by Dr. Rowand Anderson, Superintendent of his Fruit 
Gardens in Tangier, Morocco, North Africa. 
- Potatoes Jeannie Deans and The Bruce. —In some cata¬ 
logues I see it mentioned that the Potato Jeannie Deans was raised by 
Mr. Findlay, the raiser of The Bruce. Is this correct 1 and was Mr. 
Findlay the raiser, or merely the introducer of The Bruce 1 —G. M. 
- Birkenhead Gardeners’ Soiree. — The gardeners of 
Claughton, Oxton and Birkenhead held a soiree at the Waverley Rooms, 
Oxton Road, last week. There were over 100 guests present, and 
Mr. Geo. Edwards presided. Mr. T. D. Smith of the Palm Grove 
Nurseries, urged upon all present the necessity of forming an Association 
for the benefit of the gardeners in the neighbourhood. Music was much 
enjoyed, and a pleasant evening was spent.—R. P. R. 
- Camellia Flowering Outdoors. —There is now at Kelston 
Knoll, Bath, the residence of H. 0. Wills, Esq., a good specimen of 
Camellia Donckelaari with a number of well developed flowers upon 
it. The plant is from 10 to 11 feet high, and is in a very sheltered 
position outside ; the flowers are clean and well marbled. There are 
some hundreds of buds yet to open. The late severe frosts do not 
appear to have retarded the opening 'of the flowers in the least. 
—J. W. T. 
- Earthworms in California.—M r. G. Eisen has commenced 
the description of the earthworms of California ; though a dry and 
rainless country for six months in the year, it still would seem to possess 
a worm fauna rich both in species and individuals. With the exception 
of two very imperfectly described species by Kinberg no true earth¬ 
worms have been recorded from this part of the world. While reserving 
a detailed account for the Transactions of the Californian Academy, Mr. 
Eisen gives diagnoses of Deltania, a new genus near Microscolex, with 
three new species : D. elegans, pretty widely diffused, and the largest 
species of the genus, being from 2 to 4 inches in length ; D. troyeri, 
from Golden Gate Park, Ban Francisco; and D. Benhami, Alameda 
County. Argilophilus is a new genus near Plutellus ; A. ornatus, n. sp., 
is the most common earthworm of the region, and A. papillifer, n. sp., is 
a more southern form. 
- The Value op Animal Food.— A Cornish paper is re¬ 
sponsible for the following amusing incident which is reported to have 
occurred last week:—“It is said of a certain man near St. Just that he 
was taken very ill one day, and accordingly sent for medical aid. The 
doctor arrived on the scene, and after the usual examination, pro¬ 
nounced his patient to be simply suffering from ■bodily weakness for 
want of proper nourishment. Plenty of animal food was ordered, 
of which the sufferer acknowledged that he was able to get plenty. 
The man, shortly after the doctor had left, sent and got an abundant 
supply of Turnips, Mangolds, and straw, this being his idea of what 
animals’ food was! A few days after the doctor called again and 
inquired into his condition, but the man was nothing better : in fact, 
worse. “ Have you eaten plenty of animal food?” “Well,” said the 
man, “ I got on weth tha Turnips an Mangels alright, but be blawed if 
if I cud get away weth the straw 1 ” 
- Pressure on Seed Germination.—A correspondent writing 
to “Nature” says he found that under a pressure of two and a half 
atmospheres Mustard seed germinated twenty-five hours earlier than 
under the ordinary pressure of the atmosphere ; but that the early 
development became permanently arrested during the eight days of the 
experiment, and the cotyledons of one that had escaped entirely from 
the seed coat remained as etiolated as if grown in absolute darkness, 
while those under ordinary pressure grew rapidly, and their cotyledons 
became of a deep green colour. The etiolated plants, when removed 
from the pressure, rapidly grew into vigorous young plants. An increased 
pressure would, therefore, seem to stimulate germination and prevent 
the formation of chlorophyll. The pressure was obtained by the use of 
a column of mercury. The seeds were sown on moist cotton wool, 
placed in a small bottle, which was then secured to the curved extremity 
of a glass tube, into the long arm of which mercury was poured until 
it reached a height _of 45 inches above the level of the metal in the 
short arm. 
- The Cyclamen Grub.—C an any reader give an account of 
the life of the Cyclamen grub ? Does it become a fly or moth, and at 
what season? Also the best means of destroying it.— Subscriber. 
- 73° OF Frost.—A cablegram states that an intensely cold wave 
is passing over the State of New York. At Saranac Lake the ther¬ 
mometer reached 41° below zero, or 73° of frost, on the 4th inst. ; and 
at Plattsburgh 18° below zero were registered. 
- Mushrooms and Blackberries. — We learn the Essex 
County Council has passed a resolution to the effect that Mushroomss 
Blackberries, and all other wild fruits belong to the farmer, and that an 
Act should be passed to prevent people taking them without permission. 
-Iron Doors for Greenhouses.—“E. K.” (page 65) in his 
interesting communication about horticultural buildings and their 
discrepancies suggests iron doors. If these acted in the same manner as 
wrought-iron gates do during the summer, I think he would quickly 
wish for a return to wood, with all its inconveniences. The objection to 
wrought-iron gates is the manner in which they expand during hot 
weather, so much so that sometimes they cannot be shut, and when shut 
cannot be opened. We have five gates made of stout wrought-iron 
leading into the kitchen garden, and during hot weather they are often 
a nuisance until the air grows cooler, when the metal recedes to its 
normal size. Cast-iron is not influenced ao much by extreme heat, but 
from the manner in which doors are often shut they would very often 
be found in several pieces if made of this metal.—E. M. 
- Poisonous Properties of Yew.—A dverting to the above 
subject discussed in your two previous issues (pages 30 and 89), I know 
of three cases where fatal results have happened to animals after eating 
Yew. The first case (1877) was of a donkey turned into a yard where 
the Yew and other evergreens that had been used fof church decoration 
at Christmas were thrown aside. Another of some sheep (six, I believe) 
turned into the churchyard to graze. The other case happened last 
year. A valuable mare belonging to a relation of mine was turned out 
to graze; the fence was bad and she got to some Yew trees. The post¬ 
mortem decided it as a plain case of Yew poisoning. I enclose a cutting 
from the past week’s “Evesham Journal,” in which Mr. Rimell says 
there were two or three shrubs near the churchyard at Mickleton, and 
cattle were found dead two or three yards away. There seems to be no 
doubt about the poisonous nature of the Yew.— Alfred G. Grove, 
Teioheshury. 
-Liverpool Horticultural Association.—O n Saturday 
evening last the annual meeting of this Association was held in the 
Wm. Brown Street Museum, there being about sixty members present. 
The Committee regretted to have to report a loss on the year’s working 
of £79 143. Id. The Lord Mayor of Liverpool, W. B. Bowring, Esq., 
was elected President for the current year, the following gentlemen 
being added to the list of Vice-Presidents—viz., G. G. Musson, Esq., 
H. B. Gilmour, Esq., and W. F. Lund, Esq. W. Fletcher Rogers, Esq., 
was re-elected Hon. Treasurer, Mr. G. Biackmore Sub-Treasurer, and 
Messrs. R. G. Waterman and John Peers Auditors; the new members 
added to the Committee being Messrs. W. and J. Harrison, John Jellicoe, 
and Edwin Bache. A proposition that Mr. Edward Bridge be appointed 
Secretary was carried by the Chairman’s casting vote. The spring Show 
is to be abandoned for this year, but the summer and autumn Shows are 
to be held, the dates being left with the Committee. The usual sums 
were ordered to be sent to the Gardeners’ Royal Benevolent Institution 
and to the Royal Gardeners’ Orphan Fund.—R. P. R. 
- Origin of Guano. —Mineral phosphates and guano are often 
confounded with each other. So much of these articles are used in 
gardening that it interests all to have an idea what it is, Navassa 
guano is frequently referred to. The “ Independent ” notices that the 
phosphate deposits of the island of Navassa in the West Indies, are 
represented by E. V. d’Invilliers, of Philadelphia, as occurring in two 
terraces ; the one, of grey phosphate, in a low terrace from 10 to 
70 feet high encircling the island; the other, of red phosphate, 
abounding in caves upon an upper flat, 230 feet above the sea. The 
mineral, “ Meehan’s Monthly ” remarks, “ occupies irregular fields or 
caves in a coral limestone, not extending deeper than 20 feet. This 
red variety contains over fifteen per cent, of iron and alumina, and 
probably some of the lime has been leached out. The island looks like 
a coral atoll. The phosphate must have been of organic origin and 
washed into the surface cavities, and partly or wholly derived from the 
droppings of birds. There are 130 acres of the grey variety, more than 
half worked out ; while the red phosphate, the less valuable, is much 
more abundant.” 
