312 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[March 28 . 
It is but right in this closing number of our third 
volume, that we should apprize our readers that the 
increased and increasing support we have received 
enables us to incur still greater expense for their 
benefit. By a judicious lengthening and widening 
of our columns, without altering the size of our pages, 
and by giving up occasionally two of the pages at 
present devoted to advertisements, we shall find 
space for several new departments intimately con¬ 
nected with our objects. Among these will be direc¬ 
tions for the management of the Aviary, certain por¬ 
tions of Rural and Domestic Economy, and the Treat¬ 
ment of Domestic Animals. We shall be able to 
include these without diminishing a line from our 
gardening columns, and without adding to the price 
of our paper. So far shall we be from diminishing 
our amount of gardening information, that we shall 
add to it several new features, the most important of 
which, perhaps, is a series of drawings and essays, 
illustrative of the points of excellence which should 
characterise Florists’ Flowers, and the attainment 
of which points should be aimed at by their culti¬ 
vators. 
Since we wrote (see page 249) upon the subject of 
the Orobanche infesting the parsnip in the Isle of 
Jersey, we have received several communications 
upon the subject, and although they do not afford 
much relative information, yet they all add in some 
way or other to our store of interesting knowledge. 
Dr. Macreight, writing from Jersey, says :— 
“ I have just heard from Mr. Bichard, that the manure 
used for the parsnips and carrots was farm-yard manure, 
and the preceding crop was turnips. The carrots and 
parsnips were sowed in alternate rows, and the farmer 
attributes their both suffering to the high winds, which 
mixed the seeds ; of course, carrying the seeds of Oro¬ 
banche with it, if it did not exist in the ground previously. 
“We grow the Veronica, an evergreen shrub with 
broad leaves, I think speciosa, out of doors in Jersey, and 
it appears to withstand frost as well as a laurel.”* 
Of course, the farmer’s idea that the seeds of the 
Orohanclie were carried to his crop by the high wind 
needs no refutation. We have no hesitation in con¬ 
cluding, that the seeds were in the soil ever since 
clover was last grown upon the same soil; for it is 
quite certain that these seeds will remain in the earth 
without vegetating, until some plant adapted for their 
parasitical growth is presented to them. A fact some¬ 
what bearing upon this phenomenon occurs in the 
following extract from a letter we lately received 
from Mr. Beaton:— 
“ I can tell you one curious tiling I observed of the 
Orobanche minor two years since. A new addition to the 
pai’k here was made lately; the ground was put under a 
course of crop culture, to get it into a condition for per¬ 
manent pasture; and, in due time, a crop of mixed grasses 
was sown from a London house, and along with the grass 
appeared thousands and thousands of the O. minor. All 
* All the New Zealand Veronicas would live out of doors in Jersey, 
such as V. salicifolia, Lindleyana, and others. Your Veronica is the 
rpeciosa with the broad leaves.— Ed. C. G. 
over a field of some twenty acres immense quantities of 
the seeds ripened; but none, either of them or of the old 
plants, appeared last season or the one before; at least I 
could see none, although I walk to church every dry 
Sunday through this field.” 
Another correspondent (L. 8. B.) writes thus:— 
“While residing in Jersey, in 1844, I met with the 
Orobanche carulea plentifully parasitical on a vetch. This 
was in the parish of St. Clement’s, in a field joining the 
Witches Bock. Also the Cuscuta epithymiim (another 
parasite) in great plenty in the same field. I should, 
therefore, be of your opinion, that that upon the parsnip, 
&c., is not likely to be of English importation. Should 
your Jersey correspondent be interested in Jersey botany, 
he will find in the fields (next the sea), half-way between 
the field above named and Havre de Pas, that beautiful 
wild flower the Centaurea isuardi, or Star Thistle.” 
Himalayah Pumpkin Seed. —We have now a good 
supply of the seed of this most serviceable vegetable. 
Any one sending us an envelope, ready directed, and 
containing two postage stamps, any time before the 
15 th of April, shall have three seeds sent free of 
postage. _ 
THE ERUIT-GARDEN. 
Culture of tile Passifloras for the Dessert.-- 
There are two, at the least, of this most interesting 
family, the fruit of which is not only eatable, but, 
when properly ripened, possesses a very rich, though 
slightly acid pulp, particularly agreeable to some 
palates. We have cultivated one kind extensively, 
and we have always found that the fruit was highly 
esteemed by first-rate judges as a valuable adjunct 
to the dessert; its splendid rich plum-colour and 
neat form, of themselves rendering it a desideratum 
on the first table. We here allude to the Passiflora 
edulis, or incarnata ; the other kind to which we 
would draw some attention also, is the Passiflora 
quadrangularis, although the former is to our mind 
superior in richness and pungency of flavour. They 
are both natives of the West Indies, whence the 
quadrangularis was introduced to this country about 
the year 1768; but the date of the introduction of 
edulis is not quite certain. They may, therefore, be 
considered stove plants in their true character; and 
they certainly delight in a high temperature, espe¬ 
cially the P. quadrangularis; nevertheless, they can 
he grown in a comfortable vinery, and the P. edulis 
in a lower temperature than the other. 
To those who wish to try their hand at either, we 
would say, commence with the P. edulis. The first 
thing to be considered is the situation. They are 
both plants of rambling habit, the edulis amazingly 
so; and its habit of growth may be compared to one 
of the wandering Ipomeas, or, indeed, to the common 
passion flower {P. ccerulea ) when thriving under fortu¬ 
nate circumstances, in a warm summer. Our practice 
was, when we cultivated it, to train it at the back of 
vineries which contained a tan-pit for pines. The 
houses had been newly built, and until the Hues 
were thoroughly established, and occupied most of the 
roof, the passifloras of course had it all their own 
way; and the roof being metallic, the light was 
intense, and this it appeared in the sequel was the 
great secret of success; for as soon as the vines were 
permitted to cover the roof, we had to bid adieu to 
.passiflora culture in that situation. Now, it being 
some seven feet from the back kerb of the tan-pit to 
