1877.] 
GARDEN GOSSIP. 
281 
has been fully worked up to the same standard as the other sections, so that the book 
may now be consulted with advantage in every department. The new matter has been 
provided by some of our most competent cultivators, whose names are a guarantee of the 
value of their contributions. The printers deserve full praise for their share of the work, 
and the publishers merit the highest commendations for the excellent style in which 
every part has been worked up. For obvious reasons, we say nothing of the editor’s share 
of the labour, but it is only just to those who have so ably seconded his endeavours, and 
to the original portions still retained, to say, that there is no better exposition of modern 
gardening extant. 
♦ 
- ^NDER tlie title of Multum-in-Parvo Gardening (Crosby Lockwood 
and Co.), Mr. S. Wood, the author of “ A Plain Guide to Good Gardening,” has 
just issued a small volume, explaining his ideas as to how to cultivate an acre of 
land, so as to realise an annual profit, which he estimates at £620. We do not find that 
he has filled an acre of ground in the manner he suggests, though he has undoubtedly 
had some experience, as he says, “ I started with one quarter of an acre, and proved with 
this quantity of ground that a great deal more could be done, by way of making every rod pay 
far better than is generally supposed,” which may readily be conceded, even though wo 
may consider the author over-sanguine in his estimate of produce. His plan is simply 
this :—To cover the land with 4 ft. walls at 6 ft. apart, and plant them with peaches, 
nectarines, and apricots on the southern aspect, and red currants on the northern. On 
the south borders, to grow early potatos and radishes, folloAved by dwarf kidney 
beaus, or in some cases by radishes and winter cos lettuces. On the north border, 
between the curi’ants, to plant a line of strawberries or to grow auriculas for seed, and 
between the peaches to grow tomatos. The brief instructions given for management 
of the peach-trees are good, and there arc some iiseful hints about straw'berries. The 
first outlay is eet down at £623. The annual expenses are computed at £129, and the 
receipts for produce, £753; leaving a nett profit of £624; but we find no mention of 
rent. The second part of the book shows how a person, with the aid of three green¬ 
houses, may realise a profit of £246 at a cost of £60, in addition to his labour. The 
first house is to bo filled first with pifimulas and then with pelargoniums, repeating these 
crops annually; the second is to be set aside for cinerarias, succeeded by calceolarias, 
and then by fuchsias; the third is to serve as a reserve or store for the young batches, 
and then to yield a crop of balsams. An appendix is devoted to insects injurious to 
plants, but we cannot say much for the author’s knowledge of natural history when he 
afiirms that aphides, for example, are “generated” by an unhealthy atmosphere. In other 
respects, the work contains hints which may be iiseful to amateurs. 
- PAMPHLET on the Colorado Potato Beetle^ by Dr. Andrew Wilson 
(W. and A. K. Johnston), may be usefully consulted by those who desire to be¬ 
come acquainted with the enemy which threatens to invade our shores and our 
potato crops. It gives the life-history of the beetle, and is illustrated by coloured figures 
of the potato plant, with the insect in its various stages in situ, and by a plate of the 
beetle itself, both natural size and very much magnified, “ sketched and coloured from 
nature,” and of Uropoda americana, a tiny mite, which of all its enemies, is stated to be 
the most powerful—a mere speck in size, but w'hich, by means of its long flexible sucker 
pierces the beetles, and subsists on their tissues and fluids. 
- ®HE Hydrangea as grown for Market Purposes is one of the decorative 
plants seen in greater perfection in London than in any other locality. Its 
large showy heads of flowers, grown in such small pots, are a surprise to country 
visitors. Like the other plants that the London grower takes in hand, it receives tho 
greatest attention in all its stages of growth. It is nearly hardy in most of the southern 
counties, but when grown for decorative purposes, it is treated as a half-hardy plant, and 
carefully protected from frost. Now that we have the fine white one added to the pink 
and blue, they give us three very useful colours for ordinary decoration, which any one 
can possess by striking a few plants every spring. The first batch of store and flowering 
plants are put into a moderate heat the beginning of January. As soon as tho cuttings 
arc ready, they are taken off and propagated. All the side shoots and suckers are taken 
BB 
