March 8,1894 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
183 
-A New Use for Microbes. —The economic nse of natural 
resources has not yet reached its limit, if we may judge by the latest 
suggestion, which is to extract and make use of the colouring matter in 
microbes. Supposing this idea to be developed, gardeners will be well 
content to see it adapted to such familiar pests as red spider and green 
fly. If insect extract can be made to take the place of aniline dyes the 
heart of the horticulturist will be glad.— Wanderer. 
-Sheffield Botanical and Horticultural Society.— 
The fiftieth annual report of this Society has been received. According 
to the Treasurer’s account for the year 1893, which is embodied therein, 
progress generally may be deemed satisfactory. Daring the year 
interesting collections of plants and birds have been presented to 
the gardens, particulars of which, with the names of the donors, are 
given in the report now before us. 
- Chemical Manures. —In sending us Messrs. Proctor and 
Ryland’s catalogue of manures, Messrs. Edward Webb & Son8> 
Wordsley, direct our attention to the following reminder :—“ The 
Fertilisers and Feeding Stuffs Act of 1893, which came into force on 
January 1st of the present year, makes it imperative for all manu¬ 
facturers or dealers to state the analysis of the fertilisers upon the 
invoice, and the invoice is to have the effect of a warranty. In common 
with all honest and respectable manufacturers of chemical manures, we 
hail the advent of this measure with great satisfaction.” 
-National Carnation and Picotee Society.—T he southern 
section of the above Society have issued their seventeenth annual 
report, and it is, on the whole, a very satisfactory one. It containg 
allusion to the publication of the " Carnation Growers’ Manual ” last 
year. All members entitled to copies have had them sent free of charge, 
and BO far the sale has been very satisfactory, upwards of 1000 copies 
having been disposed of. Through the kindness of the President, 
Mr. Martin R. Smith, packets of Carnation seed, saved from the best 
fertilised varieties, have been distributed to all members who have 
applied for them upon the forms distributed for the purpose. Prizes 
will be offered in 1895 for the best plants raised from this seed. 
- Digging amongst Raspberries.—N umerous as are the 
times when this practice has been condemned it still exists, and is, in 
fact, practised widely. There is great probability of its being encouraged 
by the practice of the market growers, who run a plough through the 
line.s of stools ; but it should be remembered that in connection with a 
fruit containing so marked a stay-at-home root system as the Raspberry, 
there is all the difference in the world between running a plough 
down the centre of lines 3 or 4 feet apart, and digging close to the 
stems. In the former case, few if any of the roots are torn away, for 
the reason that the majority of them do not run far afield, but in the 
latter case the implement is brought much nearer home, and does 
damage.—W. 
- Market Gardening versus Literature. —A weekly con¬ 
temporary, in dealing with a biography of the poet Coleridge, recalls 
the passion for gardening possessed by that eminent writer. Coleridge, 
it is related, proposed to himself a course of life which was simplicity 
itself ; he was going to pass his days in gardening and his evenings in 
literature, estimating his probable income from the latter at £40 a year. 
He is contrasted with Alphonse Karr and R. D. Blackmore, the latter 
of whom is credited with making as good an income out of market 
gardening as he does out of his books, which is, to say the least of it, 
very doubtful. The French writer undoubtedly achieved a modest 
success out of market gardening, but, on the whole, the results are not 
so encouraging that literary men can be counselled to turn to it whole¬ 
sale as a means of eking out a precarious income.—S. W. 
- American Oranges. — The American Orange industry 
evidently has a bright future. Fruit of American growth has been 
recently introduced into England, and if the experiment is a financial 
success, shipments will also be made to Holland and Belgium, and perhaps 
also to Northern Germany. According to the “ National Hotel Eeporter,’j 
the first shipment from Jacksonville, Fla., was made September 21st, 
and the Oranges were sold in Liverpool, October 6th, at prices ranging 
from lls. to 103. per box, the average price being 13s.—about 3.15 dols. 
The culture of Oranges has grown enormously in Florida since 1835, 
when the yield was less than 1,000,000 boxes. This year’s crop is 
estimated at 4,500,000 boxes, an increase of 500 per cent, in eight years. 
If this rate is kept up for another eight years, Florida will be able to 
supply all Europe with Oranges, and have enough left for home 
consumption. 
- A Good Early Carrot.—A mong Carrots of the Horn type 
Early Nantes has held the place only to be won by oft-proved merit in 
the minds of many gardeners, but independent report speaks highly of 
the claims of Sutton’s Early Gtm, and pronounces it to be a distinct 
advance on the valued old sort which has been esteemed for so long.—R. 
- Sussex Rainfall in February. — The total rainfall at 
Abbots Leigh, Haywards Heath, Sussex, for February was 1-80 inch, 
being 0 60 inch below the average. The heaviest fall was 0 44 inch on 
the 17th ; rain fell on fifteen days. The maximum temperature was 
52° on 11th and 27th, the minimum 22° on 21st and 22nd ; mean 
maximum, 4611° ; mean minimum, 34 04° ; mean temperature, 40 07°, 
about 2° above the average. Vegetation is very forward for the time 
of year.—R. 1. 
-Weather During February in South Wales. — The 
following is a summary of the weather here for the past month 
Total rainfall 6-68 inches; rain has fallen on eighteen days; snow on one 
day, snow and rain on one day. Maximum in any twenty-four hours 
0'94 on the 17th. Number of hours sunshine fifty-seven and a half 
hours. Maximum amount on the 19th and 28th. Number of days on 
which the sun shone, eleven. Frost was registered on nine days, sharp 
from the 19th to the 23rd. Very strong winds at intervals throughout 
the month. Total rainfall for the same period, 1893, 8 88 inches.— 
W. Mabbott, T/i 0 Gardens, Gwernllvoyn House, Dowlais, Glamorgan, 
S. Wales. 
- February Weather in Hertfordshire. —The past month 
will be noted for the succession of gales which we had, and with the 
exception of a lighter rainfall, has in other ways resembled the corre¬ 
sponding month of 1893. Some very sharp frosts occurred between 
the 18th and 26th, but on the whole the weather has been remarkably 
mild and open, with almost a total absence of snow. Rain and snow 
has fallen on fourteen days during the past month. Maximum in any 
twenty-four hours was 0'43 on the 17th, minimum 0 01 on the 12th, total 
during the whole month 1-71, against 2‘78 of 1893. The dry weather of 
1893 set in on March 5th, and those who suffered through the drought 
of last year will now be looking anxiously forward in order to try to 
ascertain whether they may expect weather like that of 1893.— 
E. Wallis, Ihe Gardens, Hamels Park, Buntingford, Herts, 
- Summary op Meteorological Observations at Hodsoc 
Priory, Worksop, Notts, February. —Mean temperature of month, 
39‘8‘’. Maximum on the 7th, 59 9° ; minimum on the 19th, 8'8°. Maxi¬ 
mum in the sun on the 27tb, 104°. Minimum on the grass on 19th, 
— 1‘5°. Mean temperature of air at 9 A.M., 38'3° Mean temperature 
of soil 1 foot deep, 38-9°. Nights below 32° in shade ten, on grass 
seventeen. Total duration of sunshine in month, seventy hours, or 
26 per cent, of possible duration. We had nine sunless days. Total 
rainfall, 2'48 inches. Rain fell on fifteen days. Average velocity of 
wind, 156 miles per hour ; velocity exceeded 400 miles on fourteen 
days ; velocity fell short of 100 miles on seven days. Approximate 
averages for February :—Mean temperature, 39‘5° ; sunshine, fifty-six 
hours. Rainfall, 1-58 inch. The greater part of the month was mild 
and open, with very strong west winds. One week, however, was quite 
the reverse, with very sharp frost following on a heavy fall of rain and 
snow, which covered the ground to a depth of 3 or 4 inches. Vegetation 
very forward, but the blossom buds on fruit trees, Tea Rose trees, and 
shrubs are very badly cut with the frost.— J. Mallender. 
- The Midland Carnation and Picotee Society.—T he 
annual Show of this Society, except under unforeseen circumstances, will 
be held at the Botanical Gardens, Edgbaston, on Saturday, August 4th. 
Upwards of £125 are offered in prizes and medals, and the classes 
enumerated in the schedule are so varied as to permit of everyone who 
grows these plants competing if they wish to do so. A premier prize 
will be awarded to the best bloom in seven different sections, and 
special certificates will be awarded for varieties not in commerce, but 
w'hich the judges consider worthy of such honour. Several friends of 
the Society offer special prizes, not alone for Carnations and Picotees, 
but for bouquets, sprays, and various plants. At the last Exhibition 
exceptional interest was centred in the display of Carnation and 
Picotee blooms staged in their natural habit of growth, and in considera¬ 
tion of which the Committee has decided to increase the amount of 
prizes for this class, and has introduced a new one, which will allow the 
smallest growers to enter. That excellent florist, Mr. Wm. Dean, 
Dolphin Road, Sparkhill, Birmingham, is the Hon. Secretary, and will 
forward any information required. 
