September 10,1891. ] 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
223 
- Turerous Begonias.—M r. F. Geeson, Cowdray Gardens 
writes :—“ I enclose a few blooms of seedling Begonias for you to see, 
though they are not quite at their best. I have raised many 
hundreds of plants from my own seed and grown them out of doors, 
lifting the best as they bloom. I have doubles with perfectly upright 
■stems, but not many of the largest ; but they improve in that respect 
•every year. They have not done so well outside with me this year, and 
are much later than usual, although at planting time our plants were 
larger/’ [The blooms referred to are the finest which have been sent 
to us by a private gardener. In form, substance, and colour they are 
alike excellent, and such examples would have been thought impossible 
a very few years ago.] 
- A profitable industry, little heard of, is carried on among 
the hills of Connecticut (Sci. Am.). It is the Manufacture of 
Birch Oil, which is used largely for confectionery, and gives a perfect 
Wintergreen flavour. There are eight mills in the State—the first built 
only ten years ago. Birch brush without foliage, and not over 24 inches 
in diameter from the Black Mountain or Sugar Birch (not the yellow or 
white), is chopped up and boiled with water in tanks. The steam, 
passing through an iron pipe near the top, is condensed in a coil im¬ 
mersed in running water, and drops into a glass jar. The oil is much 
heavier than water, and in the crude state is of copper hue. The mills 
work only from October to April. A good deal of adulterated birch 
oil is used in tanning leather to imitate Russia leather. 
- Tobacco Fermentation.—A very essential process is brought 
about by firmly packing ripe tobacco in large quantities. It had been 
•generally supposed that the fermentation is of purely chemical nature, 
hut Herr Suchsland, of the German Botanical Society, finds that a 
fungus is concerned in it. In all the tobaccos he examined, he found 
large quantities of fungi, though of only two or three species. Bac- 
teriacem were predominant, but Coccacere also occurred. When they 
were taken and increased by pure cultivation, and added to other kinds 
of tobacco, they produced changes of taste and smell which recalled 
those of their original nutritive base. In cultivation of tobacco in 
"Germany it has been sought to get a good quality, chiefly by ground 
cultivation and introduction of the best kinds of tobacco. But it is 
pointed out that failure of the best success may be due to the fact 
that the more active fermenting fungi of the original country are not 
brought with the seeds, and the ferments here cannot give such good 
results. Experiments made with a view to improvement on the lines 
•suggested have apparently proved successful.— {Nature.} 
- Walnuts. —The approach of the Walnut season, says a daily 
contemporary, ha3 prompted Mr. P. L. Simmonds to publish a few 
notes on this popular fruit. Few Kentish village greens are without 
(their spreading Walnut tree, but we have an impression that Walnut 
planting has of late years suffered a considerable decline, and this is 
confirmed by Mr. Simmonds’s statement that the greater part of the 
Walnuts consumed in England nowadays are of foreign growth. They 
average in quantity about a quarter of a million of bushels, and come 
chiefly from France and Belgium, Germany, Holland, and Italy con¬ 
tributing also in a less degree. In large market towns, where they are 
bought at first in the husks by the sack or bushel, they command a 
sready sale. When the nuts are fully ripe—that is, in September and 
October—the pickling and ketchup-making period is for the most part 
at an end, and the “ wine and Walnut ” time—somewhat injured by the 
decline of port in public estimation—may be said to have set in. We 
are bidden to beware of dry Walnuts. It is only when the skin can be 
•easily removed that Walnuts are digestible and wholesome. 
- A London daily paper is responsible for the following “ One 
of those things that Lord Dundreary would declare ‘ no fellow can 
understand ’ is that the four or five millions of people residing in the 
British metropolis are not capable of consuming the fruit which grows 
in their immediate vicinity, while they import hundreds of thousands of 
pounds’ worth from distant lands. ‘ A Fruit Grower’ writes :—‘I have 
-some 5 or 6 bushels of Morello Cherries absolutely rotting on the trees in 
consequence of the very low price offered by the middleman. Foreign 
fruit commands a higher price than English, simply because greater 
facilities are offered them by the railway companies. For instance, a 
sack of Potatoes weighing 168 lbs. can be sent from Jersey to London 
for Is., but I was charged by the railway company 3s. 5d. for a distance 
of seven and a half miles only. I have the company’s receipt in my 
possession. The Potatoes were sold for 6s., and after paying expenses Is. 
was all I had left. Some Morello Cherries I sent up to Covent Gardem 
after paying expense of carriage, left me the sum of Id. a pound, which 
did not pay me for the growing. As the Lord Mayor and Fruiterers’ 
Company have interested themselves in the production of fruit perhaps 
they would kindly show the small producer how to sell his produce. 
The only way I see is by causing markets to be formed at different 
centres, where fruit could be sent with the hope of a fair profit.’ In 
this question the people of London have a deep interest. There seems 
to be a ‘ missing link ’ somewhere between the producer and consumer. 
In there being too much home-grown fruit we do not believe.” 
FIG. 87.— MR. A. KIRK, NORWOOD. 
- Summary of Meteorological Observations at IIodsock 
Priory, Worksop, Notts, 56 feet above mean sea level, for August.— 
Mean temperature of the month, 58-2°. Maximum on the 14th, 72-5° ; 
minimum on the 5th, 40 0°. Maximum in the sun on the 20th, 128'7° ; 
minimum on the grass on the 5th, 32 4°. Mean temperature of the air 
at 9 a.m., 58'5°. Mean temperature of the soil 1 foot deep, 58 - l°. Total 
duration of sunshine in the month, ninety-five hours, or 21 per cent, of 
possible duration ; we had two sunless days. Total rainfall, 311 inches ; 
rain fell on twenty days. Average velocity of wind, 9 9 miles per hour. 
The velocity exceeded 400 miles on three days, and fell short of 100 miles 
on three days. Approximate averages for August:—Mean tempera¬ 
ture, 60 - 2° ; rainfall, 2 52 inches ; sunshine, 149 hours. A very dull, 
rather cold, showery, windy month. The nights were mild, but there 
were no hot days. Much less sunshine than in any of the previous ten 
years, except 1885.—J. Mallender. 
- Onion Show at Banbury. —On September 3rd the valuable 
prizes offered annually by Mr. H. Deverill, Corn Hill, Banbury, were 
competed for at his seed stores, the display being open for the inspection 
of seed growers, the trade, and those interested in horticulture. 
Hundreds of fine specimens were shown of the types known as Deverill’s 
Pedigree kinds, and weighing 16, 17, 18, 20, and 22 lbs. per dozen bulbs, 
and this is all the more remarkable considering the adverse season we 
have experienced. The most successful exhibitor was Mr. T. Wilkins, 
gardener to Lady Guest, Inwood House, Blandford, Dorset, his 144 bulbs 
being considered to be the finest lot ever staged by one grower. Other 
successful competitors in the classes devoted to gardeners were Mr. 
Bowerman, gardener to C. Hoare, Esq., Hackwood Park, Basingstoke, 
whose magnificent examples of Ailsa Craig were very noteworthy. Mr. 
Pope, gardener to the Earl of Carnarvon, Highclere Castle, Newbury ; 
Mr. Wiles, Edgcote Park Gardens, Banbury ; Mr. Lye, Sydmonton 
Court Gardens, Newbury ; Mr. Kneller, Malshanger Park Gardens, 
Basingstoke, and others also exhibited. The competition in the class 
set apart for artisans, allotment holders, and cottage gardeners produced 
an interesting display of bulbs. 
-The Weather at Ripley, Yorks, during August, 1891.— 
In common with other parts of the county we suffered from an 
excessively wet Augus f , but we had no such terrific downpour that we 
learn from press reports visited some districts. Our greatest fall in 
twenty-four hours occurred on the 17th, when 0 60 inch was registered. 
The total rainfall for the month was 3 75 inches, which fell upon 
twenty-four days. Mean reading of barometer 29 83°; mean max. 
temperature 64 5°; mean min. temperature 4b CP; mean temperature 
of month 55-2°. On the evening of the 25th, continuing to mid-day 
26tli, we were visited by a heavy gale, which played sad havoc 
among the plants in herbaceous borders, also thinning the Apple crop 
to an alarming extent. Not having an opportunity before, on beplember 
3rd and 4th we lifted our early Potatoes for seed purposes and found 
