August 9,1894. 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
129 
to another 6d., the Peas only yielded about half what it had cost to 
pick and market them, and the poor farmer not only sacrificed his crop 
altogether, but lost £125 by the endeavour to market it. Very probably 
these Peas were sold to consumers at not less than fid. per peck, very few 
having been sold under that price by costermongers, while lOd. and 
even Is. per peck have been realised by costermongers in many cases. 
Supposing that these 2500 bags of Peas were retailed at fid. per peck, 
the magnificent profit of £700 was shared by the salesmen and the 
greengrocers or costermongers who retailed the Peas to the public.” 
—— Pears at Hook. —If all over the kingdom Pear trees are 
fruiting in anything like the quantity they are fruiting in the parish of 
Hook, just beyond Surbiton, Surrey, then must the Pear crop of the 
kingdom be an enormous one. Hook seems to have a soil that is 
specially suited for Pears, for many of the trees there are not only very 
old, but very large and in splendid health. There are trees of Autumn 
Bergamot, Crawford’s, Hessle, and similar varieties that must have on 
them from 20 to 25 bushels each. Marie Louise, Louise Bonne, Williams’ 
Bon Chretien, and other good Pears are also seen on fine trees in the 
orchards. Crawford forms both for dark foliage and form the hand¬ 
somest large Pear tree to be found; one huge tree is very handsome, 
quite so without its fine crop of fruit. Judged by these results Hook 
seems to offer specially favourable soil for Pear culture, and an orchard 
of better sorts would doubtless do well, for not merely are the trees 
fruiting heavily, but they are in such robust health.—A. D, 
- Grapes at Coombe Bank. —When Mr. Griffin, the gardener at 
Coombe Bank, Kingston-on-Thames, told me that from out of his one 
vinery he had during the nine years he had been in charge taken fifty 
prizes for Grapes, I thought the house had a remarkably good record. 
It is not a big house, perhaps about 35 feet by 20 feet, and a span. The 
present crop of Grapes is a capital one, the bulk of the fruit being just 
now in the process of colouring, but some, such as Hamburghs and 
Alicantes, are most advanced. For a mixed house it can hardly be 
excelled, especially considering that the Vines are chiefly growing in 
the natural soil, and have but little in the way of made border for the 
roots to fine food in. The varieties of Grapes grown are Black Ham¬ 
burgh, Alicante, Madresfield Court, Gros Colman, and Muscat of 
Alexandria—an odd assortment, but that all seem to like the com¬ 
mingling. Gros Colman on Black Hamburgh has rather the finest 
bunches, but then it is the stronger rod ; whilst the bunches on the rod 
worked on to Gros Maroc shows the earliest colour ; indeed, seem to be 
fully a fortnight earlier. That is a result worth knowing, especially 
where Gros Colman colours badly. Madresfield Court worked on to 
Alicante colours better than when on own roots. Mr. Griffin seems to 
be a disciple of the extension or long rod system, but in a modified way, 
hence, perhaps, the great success which has attended his Grape culture, 
for he is well known as a successful exhibitor. His practice is to cut 
out fruiting rods after they are some four or five years old and replace 
with new ones specially provided. He even runs out strong growths 
from the base of the main stems to help stimulate root action. The 
wires are fixed rather close to the glass, but the rods are loosely tied, so 
that the foliage has plenty of room, light, and air.—A. D. 
- The Papaw Tree.—A correspondent sends us the following 
paragraph taken from a foreign contemporary :—“ Some thirteen years 
ago we planted a large number of Papaw trees at our station at Masasi 
in the Rovumo district. As these began to grow many proved to be 
males, and not wishing to occupy our plantation with what we con¬ 
sidered to be useless trees, we proceeded to root up and throw away the 
male trees. Our native deacon who had lived many years in Zanzibar 
asked us why we did this, since if we wished it, he said we could pro¬ 
bably obtain fruit from all or most of the trees we were destroying. 
Asked how that was to be done he replied, ‘ By breaking off all the 
upper part of the tree, and allowing the tree to sprout again from the 
bare trunk.’ We were incredulous, but he persisted that it was a thing 
commonly done in Zanzibar on the Arab plantations, and induced us at 
length to make the experiment. It was quite successful. We broke off 
the entire upper part of all the male trees at a point below all the leaves 
and flowers. In due time they sprouted again, when we discovered 
that many of them, though by no means all, put forth this time the 
characteristic female flower, the ‘ squat blossom growing close to the 
trunk of the tree,’ which in course of time set, and then the fruit formed 
in the ordinary manner, and was developed, in no way differing from 
that of a tree that is, so to speak, a born female. With regard to the 
others that sprouted again with male flowers, we broke them off again, 
when a proportion of them on the second occasion would turn out 
females. Others we tried three or four times in the same way without 
succeeding in changing the sex. In all cases where male trees changed 
into female in this way, female trees were growing in close proximity 
to them. We would like to ask experts whether what we are now 
describing is known to them, and in what way it is to be accounted for P 
So little did we see a good reason for the tree on being broken off, 
sprouting again of the opposite sex, that until the phenomenon really 
occurred we felt that we were behaving in a manner worthy of the 
pork-butcher, who, noticing that the Asters in his garden were more 
than usually streaky, attributed the fact to his having buried a side of 
bacon in their vicinity the year before. After all though, and for 
aught we know, it may be as well known to naturalists as to others, 
that by the means we have been describing Papaw trees may be induced 
to change their sex.” 
-JEschynanthus Hildebrandi. —This is a new species, and 
one that is likely to become a favourite with those cultivators who are 
interested in pretty little tropical plants. Mr. W. Watson in the 
“ Garden and Forest ” some weeks since said it had lately been intro¬ 
duced to Kew by Mr. Hildebrand of Fort Stedman, Shan States, Burma, 
where it is epiphytic on the trunks of large trees, the roots finding 
nourishment in the crevices of the bark. Several little specimens of it 
have been established in teak baskets, and they are planted in sphagnum 
moss, the treatment being such as is given to Phalaenopsis. Although 
the stems are barely 3 inches high, they bear a considerable number of 
bright scarlet tubular flowers with orange and black-purple blotches in 
the throat; the leaves are sub-rotund, petioled, and covered with fine 
hairs. It appears to be nearest M. gracilis, also Indian. The charm of 
the plant is in the erect habit of the short stems, the rich green of the 
leaves, and its elegant brilliantly coloured fiowers. 
- SIR Joseph Paxton Strawberry. —All that “ H. D.” (p. 98) 
has written about this fine variety is perfectly true, but still its fine 
leafing qualities has not saved the crop about London, for it is of all 
sorts the most widely grown for the metropolitan market. How poor 
relatively seems to be our newer varieties when this really old sort still 
stands as a national fruiter at the top of the tree. That such calamities as 
that referred to seldom affect Strawberries is happily the case. Still, it 
is a calamity that should be as far as practicable provided against. The 
danger, if it comes, is always just about the third week in May, when 
the plants are in full bloom. Could not considerable breadths be saved 
from harm if there were ready to hand a good quantity of straw or 
ordinary long litter, such as is used to mulch the breadths, and so soon 
as the thermometer gave warning of a fall in temperature to have all 
bands set to work to strew the litter over the plants 1 How greatly in 
such case would the bloom be saved. After danger was passed the litter 
could be drawn in between the rows and be employed as mulch.—D. 
-The Flower Trade of the Riviera.—F or many years 
German gardeners have complained of the immense competition offered 
by the flower trade of the Riviera, and lately some statistics have been 
published which show the extent of the cultivation in that favoured 
region. The cultivation of flowers only began in Nice, Cannes, and 
Antibes in 1871. During the last ten years it had become exceedingly 
profitable, and within the last three years has increased to an astonish¬ 
ing extent. In Cannes and Antibes Roses are extensively cultivated ; 
in Hy5res and Fr^jus only Violets ; and in Grasse, Pinks, Narcissus, 
Tuberoses, and Jasmine. Nice has 220 hectares of land under this 
cultivation, the other places mentioned each 100 hectares, and in the 
Gulf of St. Juan 60 hectares. The Violet culture in Grasse, which was 
unknown twenty years ago, now yields 80,000 kilogrammes of flowers 
per annum. In Nice, a single garden has 400,000 Rose trees. 
In bad weather the blooming plants are covered with glass windows, 
and it may be reckoned that 400,000 square metres of land are thus 
covered at such times. There are besides all the hothouses, and a 
single garden in Antibes has about 550,000 blooming plants, and 1,800 
square metres of other culture under about 2,500 square metres of glass. 
The export of these products may be roughly calculated in the follow¬ 
ing proportions. Taking Sweden as the place which imports least, 
Austria imports 4, Belgium 10, Switzerland 16, England 24, Germany 
32, and France 64 times as much as Sweden. South France takes for 
its winter festival alone as much as all the other countries put together. 
In the Boulanger period not enough red Carnations could be provided 
for the Paris maiket, so great was the demand ; while the year after no 
one wanted any. A single perfume factory on the Riviera uses every 
May 33,000 to 44,000 lbs. of Orange flowers daily ; 2,000 to 30,000 lbs. Rose 
leaves, and 4,400 lbs of Jasmine flowers. That factory works up during 
the season 1,100,000 lbs. of Mint, 220,000 lbs. Peppermint, and 
