178 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
August 23,1894. 
- The Papaw Tree—H aving noticed the article on the Papaw 
tree, on page 129, I should like to know if it can be fruited under glass. 
I have a fine plant (raised from seed this spring) about 3 feet high, 
growing in a Cattleya house. I should like very much to fruit it. Any 
note on the culture and temperature it requires will be appreciated, 
also information if it has been fruited in this country. Will some of 
your correspondents kindly oblige 1 —J. L. 
-Birmingham Amateur Gardeners’ Association.—T here 
was a good exhibition of cut blooms and pot plants at the meeting of the 
Birmingham Amateur Gardeners’Association on the 15 th inst. Carnations, 
Dahlias, Hollyhocks, and herbaceous flowers were well shown. Special 
certificates were awarded to Mr. Bliss, Balsall Heath, for Onions and 
Shalotts, and to Mr. W. H. Peake, Ilandsworth, for three greenhouse 
plants, which included a very well grown Stephanotis. Mr. A. Stanford 
was first and Mr. Groves second in the competition for the prizes offered 
by Mr. W. B. Child for twelve varieties of herbaceous blooms. An 
excellent collection of hardy Phloxes was shown by Mr. W. B. Child, 
Acock’s Green, but not for competition. 
- Verbena Aubletia. —This Eose Vervain, from Missouri, is a 
hardy species, very vigorous in g-owth, forming broad mats of many 
branching stems furnished with numerous flattened terminal clusters of 
deep reddish purple flowers. Verbenas of recent years, says an American 
contemporary, probably from over-forcing and propagation, have been 
so much diseased that the florists have largely discarded them, and the 
florists’ varieties are seldom seen in gardens. When well grown they 
are so useful and effective that their loss is much felt. It would seem 
that an infusion of the blood of such a vigorous spec'es as V. Aubletia 
might be helpful in restoring the more showy varieties to health. Here 
is a suggestion for experimenters in hybridising. 
- The “ Botanical Magazine.” —The following is an abstract 
from the interesting notes of Sir Joseph Hooker upon the subjects of 
illustration in the “ Botanical Magazine ” for August. Leptactina 
Manni.—This is a genus originated by Sir Joseph Hooker, and standing 
midway between those of Eandia and Gardenia of the Eubiacese. It 
was discovered by Mr. G. Mason, in 1862, when exploring Western 
Africa. Neuwiedia Lindleyi.—This Orchidaceous plant forms one of five 
known species of a genus flourishing in the Malayan Peninsula, and 
founded in 1834 by Blume. The present specimen was received from 
Singapore at Kew in 1887, and flowered there during last winter. 
Dermatobotrys Saundersi.—This is a unique genus, which Professor Oliver 
assigns to the tribe Chelonem of the Scrophularinefe, while Mr. Bolus 
holds that it is a Solanaceous plant closely allied to Cestrinese. It is a 
native of Natal, and first flowered from seed at Kew in last December. 
Veronica amplexicaulis.—This is a hardy New Zealand Speedwell, found 
on the Southern Alps in the Canterbury province, and which has for 
some years flowered during June in the Botanical Gardens at Edinburgh. 
Dendrobium atro-violaceum.—A peculiarly beautiful and uncommon 
species of this well-known genus of the Orchidaceas, with a purple 
coloured, auricula-shaped labellum, coming from New Guinea, and 
closely related to D. macrophyllum. 
- Preparing Fruit for Preserving. —A seasonable question 
was recently asked by Sir H. Maxwell in the House of Commons, when 
he inquired whether the Home Secretary had power to make an order 
exempting certain industries from some of the provisions of the Factory 
Acts ; whether such an exemption had been made affecting the neces¬ 
sary Sunday labour of women and boys dealing with fruit at factories 
during the months of June, July, August, and September ; whether he 
would consider if a similar exemption might be extended to creameries 
during the summer months, seeing that in them a commodity more 
perishable than fruit had to be handled; and, if this proposal com¬ 
mended itself to his judgment, if he would direct the suspension of the 
prosecutions now pending against the managers of certain creameries in 
Scotland. The reply he obtained was that the Secretary of State has no 
power to grant such an exemption as suggested in the question. The 
process of cleaning and preparing fruit so far as was necessary to 
prevent the spoiling of the fruit on its arrival at a factory or work¬ 
shop during the months of June, July, August, and September was 
exempted by the Factory Act, 1891, and not by an order of the 
Secretary of State. He could not, therefore, discontinue the prose¬ 
cutions to which the hon. baronet referred. However, he was making 
inquiries as to the arrangements in respect of Sunday labour in all the 
creameries in the kingdom, and we would see whether legislation on the 
question was required. 
- Cultivation op Cotton in Corea. —Most persons will 
agree with “Nature” that anything respecting Corea is of special 
interest at the present time, and the short article on the “ Cultivation 
of Cotton ” in that little-known country, which a recent number of the 
“ Journal of the Society of Arts ” contains, is certain to have many 
readers. According to this article, which is based upon a report of the 
Commissioner of Corean Customs at Fusan, the total area under the 
cultivation of cotton in Corea is roughly computed to be 872,000 acres, 
the yield of seed cotton from which per annum is put at 1,200,000,000 lbs. 
The yearly consumption of “ cleaned ” or raw cotton is estimated at 
300,000,000 lbs. 
- Mr. Gladstone on Horticulture. — Speaking at the 
annual show of the Buckley and Hawarden Horticultural Society on 
the 14th inst., Mr. Gladstone saidAlthough we call this a flower 
show, and although flowers are a great ornament to this world of 
ours, and a great comfort and blessing to us all, yet it is an inade¬ 
quate description. We look not only to flowers but fruit, and not 
only to fruits but roots. Nay, we go beyond products of the earth in 
vegetable form. The whole of the care of poultry, the production of eggs, 
the care of bees, the manufacture of butter—of itself a most important 
branch of commerce—are really included within the purposes of this 
little institution. The French have long been given in a much greater 
degree than we are to what they call la 'petite the small 
culture—that is the culture of minor and secondary objects connected 
with agricultural pursuits. It may appear as if these were in themselves 
unimportant. The transactions in a little garden cannot be upon a 
very large scale, but when the aggregate of these branches of the small 
culture comes to be made up it is a vast aggregate, and you may 
depend upon it that even the commerce of this country may derive 
serious and important extension from the extension of those branches 
of the smaller cultivations, and that nothing is more likely to bring 
about the extension than the multiplication of institutions such as that 
of the Society which is responsible for the present flower show. It 
certainly is my belief that much may be done in many branches of 
cultivation outside what have hitherto been considered the principal 
pursuits of the farmer ; much may be done for bettering the position 
of the agricultural classes.” 
BEGONIA RAJAH. 
At the meeting of the Eoyal Horticultural Society, held at the Drill 
Hall, Westminster, on the 14th inst., Messrs. F. Sander & Co., St. Albans, 
exhibited a plant of a new ornamental foliaged Begonia, named Eajah, 
and for which a first-class certificate was awarded. As depicted in the 
illustration (fig. 26) the plant is apparently of a dwarf habit, and very 
distinct. The leaves are about 4 inches across, and correspondingly 
long. The front surface of each is shining and reddish brown, veined 
with bright green ; at the back the foliage is red. It is a charming 
Begonia, and will doubtless be extensively grown when better known. 
INSECT PESTS AND DISEASES. 
So far as I can see by the article contributed by “ A. D.,” page 74, 
he would have us trouble ourselves about nothing, but when an insect 
or fungus becomes numerous leave it to Nature, and trust that it will 
go away again in a few years. He goes on to say that last year every¬ 
one thought the maggot was going to reign triumphant over our Onion 
crops, but that this year Nature has provided the true remedy against 
it, by drowning it with cold water ; also that the Potato fungus has no 
terror for us now. I venture to say that in spite of all that Nature has 
brought about in her own good time and ways to help u* against our 
enemies in the garden, and in the face of all that scientific and 
practical men have done by unremitting energy and perseverance, there 
are still many insect pests and diseases that puzzle the best of men how 
to eradicate them. It would seem to me from the various repoits that 
I hear, that if the Onion maggot has not been so troublesome this year, 
the Onion mildew has been ; and further that the Potato fungus in 
rural districts is also very bad indeed. 
We know that a great deal has been done for us, and that remedies 
have been found which if applied in time will check the progress of these 
diseases if not entirely eradicate them ; but how has all this come about? 
Has someone sat himself down quietly and accidentally thonsht of a 
remedy ? Certainly not. I think it would not be prudent to f Alow the 
advice of “ A. D.,” and wait patiently for Nature to furnish us with 
an antidote against all her banes, but to thoroughly ventilate the sub¬ 
ject and see if there is not a remedy at hand that will do the thing for 
us at once. There are always numbers of willing hands ready and 
waiting whenever the necessity occurs, to do their utmost to find a 
remedy, and I generally notice that if they succeed they are ever willing 
to disclose, for the benefit of everyone interested, their valuable infor- 
mation. ,, , . , . 
I see, too, from various articles that have been published of late, 
