104 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
August S, 1894. 
- A Statue op M. Alphand. —It is stated that the National 
Horticultural Society of France has a movement on foot for the 
purpose of erecting a statue to M. Alphand, who did much to embellish 
Paris. 
- Tomatoes in Ameeica. —Mississippi is the great Tomato¬ 
shipping State of America. Not only does that State furnish this 
vegetable to St. Louis, Cincinnati and Chicago, but Mississippi Tomatoes 
are on sale in Philadelphia, New York, and even in Boston. 
- A Fine Mushhoom.—A northern contemporary records the 
fact that a few days ago, while Mr. James Graham, of Great Broughton, 
was passing through some grazing fields a little below Buckhill Colliery, 
he came across an extraordinary large Mushroom. The fungus measured 
9| inches in diameter and 31 inches in circumference, and brought 
down the scales at a little over 1 lb. 
- Italian Botanical Society, — According to “ Nature ” the 
next annual meeting of the Italian Botanical Society will take plaee at 
Palermo in 1895. For the present year a botanical excursion is arranged 
on September 25th and the three following days to the Island of Giglio, 
the largest of the Tuscan Archipelago except Elba, the flora of which 
has been but imperfectly explored. Botanists desirous of taking part in 
the expedition should communicate, not later than September 15th, 
with the President, Professor Arcangeli, 19, Via Romans, Florence. 
- Gkass-Destroying Catebpillaes. —Miss Ormerod, writing 
to the “ Times ” recently, mentions that bad attacks of the grass- 
destroying caterpillars of the antler moth are now occurring in some 
localities in Scotland. She says that in 1884 these caterpillars 
devastated an area of about ten miles in extent of the mountainous 
parts of Glamorganshire, and in 1885 spread over an area of about 
seven by five miles in Selkirkshire, N.B. The district infested at 
present is that in which the voles not long ago did so much damage, 
and Prof. Wallaee reports that the caterpillars are doing even more 
mischief than the voles. 
- Herbaceous Plants. —It appears that more interest is now 
being taken in herbaceous plants than was the case a few years since, 
and a eorrespondent lately gave an interesting article (page 50) on the 
gigantic specimens at Kew. In my garden at present is the serrated¬ 
leaved Scabious, 11 feet high, and in a few days its pretty lemon- 
coloured double flowers will be expanded. By the side of this is the 
Cow Parsnip, another gigantic specimen of growth, which when faced 
with less tall Delphiniums and Foxgloves forms an interesting group. 
Amongst my wild flowers in bloom are white and coloured Scabious; a 
very profuse flowering Senecio, with lance-shaped leaves ; Heather, 
whites and purples; and a pretty flower, supposed to be a Lobelia, the 
flowers being greenish, with yellow and ruby spots.—W. T. 
-London Parks and Open Spaces,—R eferring to the parks 
in his annual address to the London County Council recently. Sir John 
Hutton said :—“ The work of the Parks and Open Spaces Committee 
has not diminished either in quantity or importance. It is quite 
embarrassing even to glance at the list of our parks and open spaces, so 
numerous have they become. In 1889 the grand total was forty ; at 
the end of our last financial year it was seventy-eight. The acreage in 
the first case was 2656, with a permanent staff of 333 ; and in 1893 the 
acreage was 3665, with a staff of 700. The erection of band stands, 
cricket shelters, refreshment houses, park lodges, and seated shelters has, 
in the opinion of some members of the Council, exceeded the reasonable 
requirements of the public. I do not think so. I have upon numerous 
occasions watched with great interest the delight and satisfaction that 
these things give to the thousands of persons of all ages who frequent 
our parks and open spaces.” 
-A New Zealand Fruit Tree Pest. — A colonial paper 
asserts that orchardists in New Zealand are much disturbed about what 
they call a brown beetle—scientific name not given—that causes much 
injury to fruit trees as well as others. It is said to produce the same 
evil results as brown beetles common to the northern parts of Europe, 
which destroy the leaves of the fruit trees and deciduous forest trees as 
well. The following method was found eflScacious in their destruction, 
which perhaps might be found useful for some of the noxious insects 
prevalent here :—A man was provided with an old pan, to which was 
fixed a temporary handle 4 feet long. The pan was filled with coal tar, 
and a live coal dropped in the tar set fire to it. The man walked from 
tree to tree, holding the pan under each tree for about three seconds ; 
this was sufiScient to envelop the tree in a thick fetid smoke sufficient to 
kill the insect. Two boys followed with buekets of water and syringes 
to wash the trees clean of soot and dead insects. 
- Gardening Appointment.—M r. John Morris, for the past 
twenty-three years gardener to the late Mrs. Measure, Sherwoods, 
Winchfield, has taken charge of the Gardens, Hungerford Park, Berks. 
- Supports for Carnations. —Have any of your readers ever 
tried bell-wire staples pushed into the stakes for these and other flowers 1 
Pierce holes in the stakes beforehand for the staples, or if preferred one 
hole for lead or other soft wire ; push a piece of wire through the hole, 
then around the stem, and a twist secures it.—T. 
- A friend of Harvard University, whose name is withheld, is 
said to have recently given £2000 to its Botanical Department for 
immediate expenditure. One-quarter of the sum, says an American 
contemporary, will be used for the Gray Herbarium, while one-quarter 
will be devoted to the Botanic Garden, and the remaining half to the 
Botanical Museum for the completion of some of its collections. 
- Hyde Park. —The flowers in Hyde Park are now in fullest 
beauty. The rain has not impaired their colouring, but has served to 
help them to retain their freshness. The Fuchsias, planted in groups 
between the flower beds, are admirably ornamental, being of various 
sorts, and all in luxuriant blossom. Violas occupy some of the beds, 
while others are fllled with Pansies. The borders are very effective. 
Some are arranged with white Lobelia, the deep-tinted velvet leaves of 
the Begonia, and the bright Golden Pyrethrum. 
-The Weather and the Crops. — Reports for Yorkshire 
say that the very unsettled weather for the past three weeks has 
considerably retarded haymaking. Wheat, Barley, and Oats are 
promising well; indeed, in some favourably situated and well-managed 
farms the crops are looking better than for some years past. Potatoes 
are promising well. Turnips and Mangels, particularly early sown 
ones, also look very healthy and promising, the weather having been 
suitable for them. Fruit seems almost a failure, the result of the keen 
frost in May. 
- Allotment Gardens in London.—A t a meeting of the 
London County Council last week the chairman stated that the 
experiment of establishing allotment gardens at the Millmeads, adjoin¬ 
ing the main drainage pumping-station at Abbey Mills, has resulted in a 
sub-division of that land into 100 plots, each consisting of about 
one-tenth of an acre, the rent being flxed at Ss. per plot per annum. At 
East Ham about 2 acres of land have been laid out in twenty-one 
allotments. These plots are in the occupation of men residing in the 
vicinity, and are in excellent cultivation. Two acres of land in Anchor 
and Hope Lane, Charlton, have been rented by the Council for the 
purpose of allotments, and this has been divided into sixteen plots. 
Petitions for small holdings have been received, signed by about 680 
persons, principally labouring people, but great difficulty is experienced 
in finding land at a moderate rental. 
- Abistolochia Goldieana. — Writing to the “ Garden and 
Forest,” Mr. Watson of Kew says, “ Aristolochia Goldieana is still one 
of the most wonderful of all flowers, although the advent of A. gigas 
Sturtevanti has familiarised us with big-flowered Birthworts. There 
is, however, a wide difference between these two, for, while the latter 
is a robust, free growing, free flowering vine, with the limb of the 
enormous flower flattened out, suggestive of a very broad-brimmed hat, 
A. Goldieana sends up its stems annually from a tuberous rootstock, 
and flowers only on the very young shoots. The buds are formed before 
the shoot is a foot long, and then a struggle takes place between bud 
and growing shoot. If the bud gets the upper hand it develops rapidly, 
and the shoot grows slowly, but if the shoot wins in the struggle, then 
it grows as fast as a Bean, and the bud falls off. At Kew, A. Goldieana 
is flowered almost every year. It is grown in a pot in the hottest house, 
where during summer it receives liberal treatment till the shoots ripen. 
It is then forced to rest and kept quite dry till the following spring, 
when it is shaken out of the old soil, repotted in peat and loam, and 
kept in a perpetual steam almost till the buds are well advanced. Unless 
this treatment is carefully followed out A. Goldieana will not flower. 
And what a flower it does produce ! a succulent funnel 2 feet long, con- 
traeted and bent over in the middle, and then widening upward, till at 
the mouth it is over a foot in diameter, with three short tails. The 
colour of the lower part of the tube is pale yellow, the upper being 
green-yellow, with purple reticulating veins ; inside the mouth is 
orange, with a thick network of purple lines running into a blotch of 
purple at the apex of the hairy trap-like throat. A. Goldieana is a 
native of Old Calabar, where it grows in woods, the flowers resting on 
the ground. It can easily be tracked from a long distance when in 
flower by its powerful and disagreeable odour.” 
