170 
THE FLORIST AND POMOLOGIST. 
[November, 
— 5The following notes on the Medicinal 
Value of Vegetables, from the Medical' 
Record, may serve as useful reminders:— 
Asparagus is a strong diuretic, and forms part of the 
cure for rheumatic patients at such health resorts as 
Aix-les-Bains. Sorrel is cooling and forms the staple 
of that soupe aux herbes which a French lad y willorder 
for herself after a long and tiring journey. Carrots, 
as containing a quantity of sugar, are avoided by 
some people, while others complain of them as indi¬ 
gestible ; it may be remarked, in passing, that it is 
the yellow core of the carrot that is difficult of diges¬ 
tion, the outer, a red layer, is tender enough; in 
Savoy the peasants have recourse to an infusion of 
carrots as a specific for jaundice. The large, sweet 
Onion is very rich in those alkaline elements which 
counteract the poison of rheumatic gout; if slowly 
stewed in weak broth, and eaten with a little Nepal 
pepper, it will be found to be an admirable article of 
diet for patients of studious and sedentary habits. 
The stalks of Cauliflower have the same sort of 
value, only too often the stalk ot a cauliflower is so 
ill boiled and unpalatable that few persons would 
thank you for proposing to them to make part of 
their meal consist of so uninviting an article. Tur¬ 
nips, in the same way, are often thought to be indi¬ 
gestible, and better suited for cows and sheep than 
for delicate people; but here the fault lies with the 
cook quite as much as with the root; the cook boils 
the turnip badly, and then pours butter over it, and 
the eater of such a dish is sure to be the worse for 
it. Try a better way. 
— (IThe N. Chinese Clerodendron fceti- 
dum, and the Japanese C. trichotomwm are the 
only two members of a large and handsome 
genus which are hardy in this country. C. fcetidum 
was first discovered by Bunge, but the credit of its 
introduction is due to Robert Fortune. It has 
large compound corymbs of deep, bright lilac 
flowers, with dark purple aDthers. In the collection 
of the late G. C. Joad, Esq., at Wimbledon, we 
( Gardeners' Chronicle ) saw plants growing freely in 
the open border, and sending up numerous suckers 
at some distance from the parent stem, and in our 
columns, more than twenty years ago, an account is 
given of plants that had flourished, without pro¬ 
tection, for half a dozen years in the open air 
in the Canterbury nursery of the late Mr. Masters. 
Now that a love for hardy plants has been so 
largely developed C. fcetidum will probably be 
more commonly grown, as well as C. trichotomum, 
an equally desirable and perfectly hardy shrub. 
— 'Khe beautiful Campanula isophylla 
is well suited by its habit for planting on a 
rockery, as well as for a low bed, and in both 
situations it is most floriferous. The delicate blue 
flowers are about 1£ inch across, nearly flat, but 
deeply five-lobed. The white-flowered variety is 
equally if not more attractive. These are two Cam¬ 
panulas which every hardy plant cultivator should 
possess, and yet they are comparatively scarce, 
although there is no difficulty in increasing them by 
means of the young shoots in spring, which root 
freely in a cold frame. 
— Qlo renew the Bark of Hollies and 
other subjects which may have been acciden¬ 
tally stripped, and thus to save the life of a 
valuable tree, A. II., in the Journal of Horticulture, 
recommends grafting. He remarks that, “ during a 
severe winter, some valuable Hollies were so badly 
barked that it was feared the whole would die ; but, 
with the exception of one or two, the whole were 
saved by the following means. Being of considerable 
girth it was found easy to slit up the bark all round, 
as in crown grafting, and to insert long young rods, 
as in crown grafting, only inserting the grafts under 
the upper bark, as well as that below the base ring. 
From four to ten shoots were thus inserted according 
to the room for them round each bared stem, and 
after being carefully bandaged to exclude the earth, 
a mound was raised round each to keep out the air. 
On another occasion a large one in lifting had a large 
piece of the stem accidentally barked, but by 
grafting it in the manner described the damage was 
repaired, and an unsightly wound covered.” 
— £1 well-merited Presentation to Mr. 
Barron is one of the episodes of the recent 
Apple Exhibition. The promoters of the show 
dined together on October 18, and the opportunity 
was seized to recognise, in this way, the fact that 
on Mr. Barron had devolved the heaviest share of the 
labour attending the show, which must have besides 
severely taxed all who took a prominent part in it. 
The gift was a gold watch and chain, the watch 
bearing the following inscription :—“ Presented to 
Mr. A. F. Barron by a few pomological friends as a 
souvenir of the Apple Congress, held at the Royal 
Horticultural Gardens, Chiswick, October 1883.” 
in iilemonam. 
— JI^err Wilhelm Lauche, one of the 
Koyal Gardeners, died at Potsdam on Septem¬ 
ber 12, in his 57th year. He was buried in the 
Bornstedt churchyard, where also Lenne, Sello, and 
others lie, the Crown Princess sending an elegant 
wreath to be laid on his coffin by the Court-gardener, 
Ernst Sello. A long and appreciative memoir is 
printed in the Garten-Zeitung. His memory will 
be perpetuated in the handsome gold fern Gymno- 
gramma Laucheana, and in other jdants named after 
him. 
- JHb. Thomas Gellatly, gardener at 
the Mote Park, Maidstone, died quite suddenly 
on Oct. 1, aged 48 years. He had been for 
several years gardener to the Earl of Wemyss, at 
Gosford, East Lothian, and had only left that place 
about two months to take charge of the gardens at 
Mote Park, the residence of Lady Howard de 
Walden. 
— JftflR. Henry Hooper, of the Vine Nur¬ 
sery, Widcombe Hill, Bath, died recently. He 
was a noted grower of Pansies, Pinks, and other 
hardy florists’ flowers, and was a frequent exhibitor 
at the metropolitan show's. 
— Professor Oswald Heer died recently 
at Lucerne. He was born at St. Gallen in 
1816, and though destined by his parents for 
the pastorate, he paid more attention to the study 
of natural history than to the works of the Fathers, 
and he became so proficient that in 1836, though little 
over twenty years of age, he was appointed to the 
chair of botany and entomology in the University of 
Zurich. He made a special study of the fossil flora, 
and his monumental work. The Primeval World 
of Switzerland, has been translated into various 
languages. 
