•August 18, 1887. ] 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER 
139 
"Vegetable Pear. The Arracacha, a Parsnip-like plant, with a fleshy 
tuber, the leaves also being blanched and eaten ; and the Cherimoyer, a 
fruit-bearing tree of the genus Anona, common in the mountains in 
Jamaica and fairly abundant in Madeira, whence fruit are sent in the 
autumn to the English market. 
- The Daily Telegraph reports a great storm having occurred 
in France. It began on Saturday night. Large hailstones fell with 
such fury that the crops were almost totally destroyed. At Ilomps 
houses were demolished, roofs were torn open, the Vines were cut to 
pieces, and large trees were uprooted and broken. 
- The monthly meeting of Belgian Horticulturists and 
the Royal Agricultural and Botanical Society of Ghent was held in that 
town on August 10th, when the following were present:—M.M. Jules 
Decock, Charles Spae, Ernest Delaruye, Baudu, Francois Desbois, and 
Moens ; M. Charles Van Geert, of Antwerp, presiding; and M. Jules 
Hye was Secretary. Certificates of merit were awarded for Stanhopea 
Legeriana, from M. Auguste Van Geert; for Cattleya Eldorado splen- 
dens (by acclamation), from M. Jules Hye ; and Cirrhopetalum species, 
from MM. Edm. Vervaet et Cic. Honourable mention was accorded to 
Adiantum species, from M. L. Spae-Vandermeulen ; and to Microlepia 
hirta cristata, from M. Licvin Spae-Vandermeulen. 
Mr. S. L. Board.ua n, Secretary of the Maine Pomological 
Society (U.S.A.), writes as follows in Vick's Magazine respecting 
the Cold Storage of Apples :—“ Cold storage cellars, or refrige¬ 
rating houses, are coming to be an absolute necessity with our 
orchardists who are to make commercial Apple growing a business. 
When in Nova Scotia, two summers ago, I visited the great Apple 
storage house of Knill & Grant, built on the wharf of the Acadia 
Steamship Company—a building 100 by 150 feet, built of brick, and 
having a capacity for storing 40,000 barrels of Apples. The foundation 
wall was of stone, the cellar bottom being 6 feet below high water mark, 
the walls of the elevation being" 1 foot in thickness. The bottom was 
very moist, a flooring of loose boards resting on joist 4 inches above 
the earth. The temperature of this house was kept throughout the 
winter at 35°. On June 5th, 1884, Apples were repacked in that house 
which had been in there for six months, with a loss of only two barrels 
in 100, and the Apples sold in Boston at 5 dollars per barrel. Mr. 
Augur, State Pomologist of Connecticut, says there are several retard¬ 
ing or refrigerating houses in that State, used for the storage of Apples; 
and he strongly recommends the co-operative plan for their further 
erection among the fruit growers of that State.” 
- Attention has been previously called to the scheme promoted 
by the officials at the Royal Gardens, Kew, for the establishment of 
minor Botanical Gardens in the West Indian Islands. The 
gardens of the Windward Islands are to be in correspondence, as far 
as relates to the supply of useful plants, and information concerning 
them, with the chief Botanical Department in Jamaica. The Island of 
Grenada has been the first to take advantage of the new scheme. Its 
newly established Botanic Garden was opened to the public on 
July 18th. Barbadoes has recently recorded its adhesion, but the 
members of the group of Leeward Islands decline at present to take 
any part in the scheme. 
- The following summary of Meteorological Observations 
at Hodsock Priory, Worksop, Notts, has been sent to us by Mr, 
Joseph Mallender. During July the mean temperature was 63 - 8°. 
Maximum on the 3rd, 85-0° ; minimum on the 6th, 37 - 7°. Maximum 
in sun on the 15th, 139-2° ; minimum on grass on the 18th, 31-5°. 
Mean temperature of air at 9 A.M., 66-7°. Mean temperature of the 
soil 1 foot deep, 63'5°. Total duration of sunshine in month, 228 hours, 
or 44 per cent, of possible duration ; no sunless day. Total rainfall 
1’46 inch. Rain fell on ten days. Average velocity of wind 8 - 3 miles 
per hour. Velocity e xcecded 400 miles on one day, and fell short of 
100 miles on five days. Approximate averages for July—Mean tem¬ 
perature 61-2° ; rainfall, 2'36 inches. Sunshine (ten years) 163 hours. 
A very bright, warm, and rather dry month. The mean temperature is 
higher than any previous year since 1876. Sunshine more than any of 
the previous six years. Rainfall small, but not exceptionally so ; 
coming, however, after a very dry June the deficiency was more 
noticeable. During the past six months only 6 inches of rain have 
fallen as compared with an average for the period of 11 \ inches. 
- We regret to learn of the death of Mrs. Swan, wife of Mr. W. 
Swan, the well known gardener at Howick House, Preston. Mrs. Swan 
died after much suffering, patiently borne, on the 10th inst., aged forty- 
nine years, and many friends of Mr. Swan will join us in an expression 
of sympathy towards him in his great bereavement. 
■- Short Comments.—A correspondent writes:—-“I was very 
pleased with Mr. Iggulden’s letter on Grapes. Mr. Abbey gave his oppo¬ 
nent a very good reply. A little argument is just what is wanted. 1 
think there is much to be learnt from such articles.” So do we, and our 
correspondent can teach sound doctrine when he is so inclined. 
-- Mrs. Reynolds Hole Carnation. —Messrs. James Dickson 
and Sons, Newton Nurseries, Chester, in sending us blooms of the very 
distinct Carnation that was certificated at Manchester under the name 
of Mrs. Reynolds Hole, and subsequently at London and Liverpool as 
Gravetye Gem, state that they have decided to adopt the name first 
given to it. This is unquestionably the right course to adopt, and we 
think this very distinct variety will become highly popular in gardens. 
- In the course of some recent proceedings taken by Mr. Edwin 
Andrews of Temple Mills Lane, Stratford New Town, against the Great 
Eastern Railway Company for compensation for damage caused to his 
plants by smoke from the Company’s engines, it was stated that in a 
previous action Mr. Andrews had recovered damages to the amount of 
£500, but the nuisance being still continued, and his business suffering 
in consequence, he brought a further claim, which was submitted to the 
arbitration of Mr. Christopher Oakley in the Royal Courts of Justice. 
The ground is also to be valued with a view to the Company purchasing 
it. The claimant stated in his evidence that he took two acres of land 
in 1872, starting with a capital of £50; he was very successful in the 
cultivation of Cucumbers and flowers for market, and by 1878 his net 
profits, after deducting some £150 for living, were £500 per annum 
He considered that he could have developed his business to the extent 
of £1000 a year, but he estimated the loss of stock spoiled by the smoke 
during the past three and a half years to be £200. The evidence of 
numerous scientific and practical witnesses was taken to prove the 
injury complained of, and the inquiry was adjourned. 
- Readers interested in meteorology may find something to 
suit them in the London Weather Chart for 1887, by Mr. B. G. 
Jenkins, F.R.A.S., published by Mr. R. Morgan, 33, Weston Street, 
Norwood, S.E. It is said to be based on the author's paper on 
“Forecasting the Weather,” recently published in the Bulletins of 
the Royal Academy of Belgium, and it gives in tabular form a forecast 
of the weather from June to December, 1887. It gives the supposed 
reading of barometer, thermometer, rainfall, and direction of wind. 
- The following note on the Irrigation Farms in Australia 
has been sent to us for publication :—“ Mr. J. E. Cracknell of 5, 
Westminster Chambers, Victoria Street, London, who recently travelled 
over the lands about to ibe irrigated from the river Murray in South 
Australia and Victoria, received on Monday last intelligence that 
6000 acres are now ready, and being offered for settlement, and that 
2000 persons have already made selections in the Mildura and Book¬ 
mark districts. Mr. Cracknell visited these places, and saw all kinds 
of fruit growing luxuriantly on portions of the land already irrigated 
by private enterprise, and brought homo a sample of the soil. Great 
public interest is awakened in Australia by this irrigation work, the 
success of which will lead to the adoption of similar plans in other 
parts where the absence of periodical rains occasions great loss.” 
THE MANRESA VINE. 
Many large Vines in different parts of the country are notable, and 
have been described in this and other Journals, but sufficient attention 
has scarcely been given to the example under notice, and designated the 
Manresa Vine, because it is growing in the gardens of Manresa House, 
Roehampton. It may not be the largest Vine in the kingdom, that dis¬ 
tinction, according to the records in Mr. Barron’s excellent work (a new 
edition of which we believe is in the press), being attributed to the 
Black Hamburgh at Kinnel House, Bredalbane, Scotland, which is said 
to cover 4275 superficial feet of roof space. According to the same 
authority the ce'ebrated Cumberland Lodge Vine fills a house 138 feet 
long and 24 feet wide, and he remarks is nearly twice the size of the 
Hampton Court Vine. Mr. Barron als® describes a celebrated Vine at 
Finchley, which when six years old entirely filled a house 90 feet in 
length and 18 feet in width, while the Sill wood Park Vine occupies a 
structure 128 feet by 12 feet. Those are all Black Hamburghs, and all 
remarkable. The Manresa Vine is also a Black Hamburgh, and quite 
