336 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[ Ap il 29, 188’. 
Bends us an extremely fine sample of Mushrooms, which he observes 
were “ from a bed that has come into bearing very quickly. It was made 
underneath the stage of a warm greenhouse, spawned on March 17ch 
with spawn I found in an exhausted hotbed. I gathered the first dish on 
April 14tb, and at the present time the bed is almost covered with Mush¬ 
rooms. I also send one of a very curious growth, which I thought might 
interest you.” 
- F. J. states that “ Queen Wasps are very numerous this spring. 
Fifty-one were killed to-day and five yesterday, several more escaped- 
All of them were killed among the Gooseberry trees, which are now in 
flower.” 
- Gardening Appointments. —Mr. E. Hunt, late foreman to 
Mr. Milford, Westree Hall Gardens, has been appointed gardener to Row¬ 
land Cotton, Esq., Etwall Hall, Derby; and Mr W. Thorpe of Allestree 
Hall, gardener to — Samuda, Esq., Shipton Court, Chipping Norton, 
Oxfordshire. 
- One of the most beautiful because informal arrangements Of 
plants and flowers we have recently had the pleasure of inspecting is in 
Mr. Larking’s Winter Garden at The Firs, Lee, Kent. The structure 
is large enough for the formation of large irregular mounds of soil and 
undulating borders, and in these Azileas with other flowering and fine- 
foliage plants are plunged, forming large free banks, interspersed by 
twisting gravel paths. The effect produced reminds us somewhat of a 
Belgian Flower Show in miniature, and> it far excels any arrangement 
that can be produced in straight lines and on elevated stages. Particularly 
fine near the margins of the borders are several plants of Primula 
obconica ; these, and in fact everything else in the structure, afford 
sufficient evidence of the cultural skill and taste displayed by the 
gardener, Mr. T. W. Sanders. If we mistake not, a useful lesson in Vine 
pruning will be afforded at The Firs during the current season, a full crop 
of Grapes succeeding a light one on very old Vines by a change in the 
system of pruning. 
- Dendrobium nobile.— Mr. C. Prinsep sends us the following 
note with specimens referred to :—“ Herewith I send you two growths of 
D. nobile taken from the plants I had in London last year, by which you 
will be able to judge how much the plants have deteriorated. You will 
notice that the longest pseudo-bulb has flowered from fifteen nodes ; from 
fourteen of the nodes each raceme contains three flowers, the other one 
has four blooms on it, making in all forty-six flowers on the one growth. 
The other growth you will notice has nearly all four flowers on a raceme, 
and no raceme with less than three flowers on. One of the growths had 
five flowers on a raceme, which is the largest number I bave seen of D. 
nobile. Having had to cut some hundreds of flowers of D. nobile 
this last three weeks to send away, I find cutting the growths 
with the flowers on them to be far preferable to those that have no 
growths attached to them. I send a spike of bloom of D. densiflorum 
taken from a growth made last year which had two such spikes on.” The 
specimens received are splendid. We have seen none that surpassed 
them, and few equal in merit from either pruned or unpruned plants. 
They represent, not deterioration, but invigoration, for they excel those 
produced by the plants last year. 
The “ American Gardeners’ Monthly ” has the following on 
“ Utilising the Earth’s Heat. —Natural gas has been utilised, and 
there seems some chance to heat our greenhouses by natural hea f . It is 
now tolerably certain that instead of fifty miles, the molten portion of 
the earth may be reached at ten. At Pesch in Hungary, a bore 951 
metres finds the water 161°. In some of our Colorado mines taken 
horizontally into the mountain sides the heat is so unbearable that men 
can scarcely work.” 
-Fresh Antipodean Fruit for the London Market.— 
The experiment of shipping fresh fruits to the English market is likely 
to be thoroughly tested during the Indian and Colonial Exhibition to be 
opened in London in May next. By request of the Victorian Commis¬ 
sioners the whole arrangements for securing and shipping the fruit have 
been undertaken by the Royal Horticultural Society, and in response to 
a circular sent out the growers have sent in some very fine samples. The 
first shipment left by the “John Elder ” a fortnight ago, and comprised 
over eighty cases, including Apples, Pears, and Grapes. The second 
shipment leaves to-day per steamer “Austral,” and will consist of over 
200 cases of Apples, Grapes, Filberts, Tears, and Tomatoe% All parts of 
the Cjlony will be represented in these collections, as Gippsland, Goul- 
burn Valley, Warrnambool, Sandhurst, Echuca, Yan Yean, and districts 
round Melbourne have responded in a liberal manner. One grower alone 
has forwarded seventy cases of Apples and Pears. Every care has been 
taken in picking and packing the fruit. Mr. C. Neilson, the Curator of 
the Royal Horticultural Society’s Gardens, Richmond, personally super¬ 
intends each shipment, and any grower desirous of full information will 
be supplied on applicati n to him. The whole cost of freight, &c., is 
borne by the Indian and Colonial Exhibition. The fruit is exhibited in 
the name of the growers, and sold in London on their account. The 
next shipment will leave per “Cuzco” on April 2nd, to be followed 
by four other collections of about four tons each .—(Melbourne Age.) 
SPRING TREATMENT OF MAIDENHAIR FERNS. 
There are few Ferns more generally grown than the Maidenhair, 
Adiantum cuneatum. It is one of the first to be selected by anyone 
beginning to grow plants in a glass house. In large gardens it is grown 
by the score, and those who have no garden, but make the most of their 
windows, always try to grow the Maidenhair. Two or three years ago in 
taking some plants to a charitable bazaar, I found that the Maidenhair 
Feins were the greatest in demand; they were sold first and realised 
double the money of any other plants, but it is not surprising that they 
should be such favourites, as they are so beautiful and delicate in form, 
pleasing in colour, and above all useful for all kinds of decorations. 
Those who have grown them well for years and know their value and 
treatment, need not read this note, but I find many who have only begun 
their culture and others who never fully understood it have much difficulty 
in knowing how to treat them in spring. As a rule they become shabby 
in autumn or by midwinter, and if not properly treated traces of this may 
rt main throughout the whole of the following season. When the old fronds 
become brown many are afraid to do anything to them, as they are afraid 
they might kill the plant, and when they remain the young growths spring 
up between in summer. They are rendered unsightly by a withered under¬ 
growth, but to al'ow the old fronds to remain is not the best mode of 
treating them, and no one can do better early in the season than cut 
every particle of top off their Maidenhair Ferns, and allow them to 
break into new growth altogether. They should be kept rather dry at 
the root some time before the operation, and the old fronds and stems 
should be cut in as close as possible to the crown. If watered after this 
and placed in a gentle heat a multitude of young fronds will soon appear. 
There is no better mode of securing a beautiful Maidenhair Fern than by 
submitting it without mercy to this treatment, and if every one of them 
were subjected to the cutting-over process annually none but fresh green 
plants would be seen anywhere. 
Some maybe inclined to think that this annual cutting would! pre¬ 
vent the plants becoming rapidly large, but it does not, as it is not a 
quantity of half-decayed fronds which forms a fine plant, but the size 
and vigour of the crown and roots, and the winter cutting does not disturb 
either of these. Respecting potting the Maidenhair Ferns, I do not 
approve of repotting annually, and if the pots are of a fair size and the 
roots in good condition, repotting should not be attempted oftener than 
every other year. 
Root-bound plants are greatly benefited by copious supplies of liquid 
manure in summer, and we would rather deal with a plant of this sort 
than with a small plant in a large pot, and with a large quantity of soil 
in it not possessed by the roots. We have found the best time to pot is 
not when cutting over is done, but Borne weeks afterwards, and when the 
young fronds are about 2 inches long. If carefully repotted then they 
will push on freely ; but we have found plants repotted at the same time 
as they were cut over often very shy in starting into growth. The best 
material we have ever used for potting consisted of rough fibrous loam 
mixed with a small quantity of horse droppings and silver sand. Perfect 
drainage is absolutely necessary to their successful culture.—J. Muir, 
Margam. 
THE NEW ZEALAND FORGET-ME-NOT. 
Quite a sensation was caused at the meeting of the Royal Horticul¬ 
tural Society on April 13th, when E. G. Loder, Esq., Floore, WeedoD, 
Northamptonshire, exhibited a group of the remarkable New Zealand 
Forget-me-not, Myosotidium nobile. Many of those present were familiar 
with the plant, and some had tried their skill in inducing it to flower, but 
very few have been able to record a success in this respect, although it is 
not difficult of culture so far as keeping the plant in health is concerned 
To what this shyness is due it is difficult to determine. The family to- 
which it belongs includes a number of the most flor ferous of our hardy 
plants, and from the vigorous habit of the plant we should expect an 
equally free-flowering character. It is probably due, however, to some 
local circumstances in its natural habitat with which we are not familiar^ 
or to some inherent peculiarity of the plant that is not yet understood 
Since Mr. Goldsmith has succeeded in flowering the plant so well this 
season we shall look with interest for another season ; and if he is equally 
successful, then it may be concluded that he has discovered the secret 
which has puzzled so many. 
