October 23 , 1 391, ] 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
8G7 
-Excellent arrangements have been made for the establishment 
of a good system of technical instruction in Essex. An organising 
joint committee of the County Council and the Essex Field Club was 
lately appointed to deal with the question, and funds were placed at its 
■disposal. This body has now issued a preliminary schedule of subjects 
to be taught. Local technical instruction committees are invited to 
select from the list one or more subjects which they may deem specially 
suitable for their respective neighbourhoods. When several such bodies, 
representing adjacent districts, have chosen a particular subject the 
■organising committee will select a teacher or lecturer, and endeavour to 
arrange a circuit for him comprising the centres needing his services, 
apparatus and illustrations being provided by means of the fund for 
that purpose. By this means the aid of thoroughly qualified and 
equipped instructors may be obtained by the local committees at a cost 
considerably less than would be incurred if each centre were to act 
independently. 
- Some Potatoes. —Tour correspondent “ B.” (page 323) under 
the above heading calls attention to the good qualities of the Bruce 
Potato, and I am pleased to endorse his opinion of the same. In a new 
orchard we have recently made I planted half a ton, and I have had the 
produce lately lifted, which was 6 tons 3 cwts.—good eatiDg Potatoes, 
free from disease ; 16 cwts. good seed ; 5 cwts. of small for pigs—in fact, 
the Bruce seems to be an improved form of Magnum Bonum, with all its 
disease-resisting properties.—E. Maher, Yattendon Court, Newbury. 
- Note on tw'o Hardy Daphnes.—A t page 344 last week Mr. 
Dunkin, in his excellent paper on flowering shrubs, recommends Daphne 
iaureola to be planted for the sake of its sweetly scented flowers. The 
plant grows wild in this neighbourhood, and so far as my observation 
goes the flowers do not emit any perfume. It is, however, a pretty ever¬ 
green shrub, and thrives well under the shade of trees ; but D. pontica, 
which perhaps resembles it somewhat, is, I think, a much more hand¬ 
some plant, and is moreover exceedingly fragrant in the evening. I 
doubt not it is the one to which he intended to call attention.— Thomas 
Smith, Henbury Hill, Westbury-on-Trym. 
- Pinus Pyrenaica. — A correspondent in a former issue 
■(October 8th) writes, that a young tree of this Pine had been kided 
by frost during the past winter. Was the tree newly planted, and not 
■established ? If so this might account for the loss, otherwise it is 
quite hardy, at least in southern and midland counties. Trees here, in 
South Bucks, have attained a height of nearly a hundred feet, and 
•withstand the sharpest frost without injury. The heavy and wet con¬ 
dition of the soil had most probably something to do with the loss of 
the tree in this instance.—H. D. 
- A Seedling Anemone japonica alba. — Mr. Andrew 
Campbell, Ashford Gardens, Cong, Co. Galway, Ireland, writes : —“ I am 
sending for your inspection and opinion blooms and foliage of a seedling 
Anemone japonica alba. The plants are stout, robust growers, not re¬ 
quiring supports of any kind, and are most profuse bloomers, continuing 
in flower much later than the old variety. Each flower is replaced by 
a large head of seed, which is brought to perfection. Seeds sown when 
ripe flower freely the following autumn. Some of the plants arc now 
four years old, and still retain their vigorous habit of growth, with full 
size and substance of flower.” [The specimens sent were very strong, 
with large flowers, but they had suffered in transit, and did not present 
any remarkable characters.] 
-Lima Beans in California.— Whatever California under 
takes is usually done on a gigantic scale, and this is not less true of her 
:aeed crops than of other enterprises there. A few details as to the 
■cultivation of Lima Beans in the Santa Barbara district may interest the 
seed trade. The quantity of seed used per acre is from 25 to 35 lbs., 
planted 3 feet apart, from which a yield may be expected of from 1000 
to 2500 lbs. per acre. The crop of 1890 was estimated at 1000 car 
loads of 20,000 lbs. per car. The crop of 1891 is estimated at 2000 car 
loads, one grower having planted this year in one piece 1300 acres. This 
crop is estimated at over 100 car loads. Of course these Beans are not 
trained but allowed to run over the ground, and when in full growth 
form a waving sea of foliage standing 3 to 4 feet high. In harvesting 
the crop a Y-shaped implement is used, consisting of two boards about 
£> feet long and 12 inches wide, shod with steel shear runners and a 
rolling coulter made from a circular saw is set in the front end of this 
V. This coulter cuts the Vines, and the two side runners separate them 
into winrows. The rear of each runner has projecting iron arms with 
five teeth to shake off the dirt from the Vines. 
- The alleged power of camphor to awaken seeds or stimu¬ 
late their germination has been shown by the experiments of M. Henry 
de Varigny to have no real existence. Various kinds of seed were sown 
in sand saturated with water containing camphor, as advised by horti¬ 
culturists, and the germination of all was slower instead of more 
rapid than that of similar seeds in water without camphor. Germina¬ 
tion was even retarded by camphor vapour in the air, the water 
having no camphor. 
- The Use and Abuse of Water.—T he admission I made at 
page 331, at having been incorrectly reported upon one or more points 
raised by “Yorkshire Bite,” was intended to convey ample justification 
for the letter at page 305, though the reference made to my opinion of 
young gardeners, or how much they will profit, I consider were quite 
unnecessary, especially so w T hen the fact remains that the primary points 
your correspondent alluded to w r ere not my preaching; therefore I 
cannot admit that allusion as a basis of justification. I should be truly 
sorry if the Journal ever closed its columns to short controversial 
subjects, as it affords an excellent incentive, as well as a means by which 
we may all endeavour to put ourselves right, as my courteous friend 
observes. But unfortunately for me I had not seen the extract referred 
to at page 305 until after the letter by “Yorkshire Bite” had appeared. 
This, I trust, he will consider a full and pardonable excuse. It appears 
to me somewhat strange that “ Yorkshire Bite” should doubt the flavour 
of Peaches from 8 to 11 ozs. while he himself exults in growing 
Grosse Mignonne at 9 and 10 ozs. Methinks he has lost a “bite’’ 
here.— A. Waters. 
- Nitrate of Soda as a Stimulant.—I was pleased to see 
a note on this subject from Mr. E. Molyneux, who has given us a 
clear statement of the benefits attending the application of this stimu¬ 
lant to fruit trees. 1 believe that nitrate of soda has a great future 
before it, and that the opinion formed of its usefulness has hitherto been 
greatly underrated by forming hasty conclusions before having given 
it a fair trial, and by supporting their views by random tests. There 
are gardeners w r ho would be horrified at the idea of giving nitrate of 
soda to fruit trees ; their active imagination would speedily conjure up 
in their mind’s eye visions of strong shoots, rich green leaves, but no 
fruit as the result, but they forget that the whole thing may be regulated 
at will by the amount given and by applying it at the proper season. 
Trees heavily ladened with fruit are in no danger of making too strong 
a growth however well they may be fed ; what they want at such times 
is a stimulant which will enable them to derive the fullest possible 
amount of nourishment from the soil, to bemonverted into an increased 
weight of fruit. And again, in cases where plants get into a stunted 
condition nothing seems to give them increased vigour so quickly as 
nitrate. Its action in such cases is to a great extent explained by recent 
scientific research, but it seems also to possess a power of recouping the 
energies of plant life, as yet unexplained. Professor Paul Wagner has 
published several works on the use of nitrogenous manures, which may 
with advantage be studied by both gardeners and farmers.—H. Dunkin- 
- Lilium Harrisi.— Those who have not been successful in 
flowering in a satisfactory way this fine Lily will do well to depart from 
the orthodox method of culture, which is to dry off the bulbs after 
flowering, and then repot them. I was surprised to see some fine plants 
in flower in the Castle Lane Nursery, Warwick, the other day, and 
others coming on to succeed them, some with the flower stems a foot 
long and others just peeping through the soil. These will supply a 
succession of their fine flowers up till Christmas, after which time the 
newly imported bulbs will begin to yield flowers. The treatment the 
plants have received to have them in flower as above stated is as 
follows :—After flowering in April and May last the supply of water 
given was slightly reduced till the flower stems died down. From that 
time the soil in which the bulbs were grown received an occasional 
watering to prevent the fleshy roots (which it was noticed were still in 
a growing state) from being injured, this treatment being continued 
through the early part of the summer, and in due time young flower 
stems began to make their appearance from the base of the old ones. 
The supply of water was then gradually increased, and when these 
shoots had grown a few inches in length a rich top-dressing was given, 
and with no further trouble except the necessary attention in watering 
a fine crop of useful flowers was the result, a type of flowers which are 
very acceptable at all times, but which are rarely met with during the 
autumn months. It may thus be seen from the above notes that it is 
possible and indeed easy to flower bulbs of Lilium Harrisi twice within 
twelve months, and Mr. Kitley has certainly hit upon a simple method 
of accomplishing this feat.—D. 
