442 
THE GARDENING WORLD 
March 14:, 1891. 
Cauliflowers. — “Moderate-sized heads of 
Cauliflowers are 6(7. apiece.” Such is 
the statement of a leading London paper of a 
few days since. That is a price of which it 
may he said that it is “ eating money.” Cauli¬ 
flowers are of necessity scarce at this time of 
the year, hut the high figure at which they are 
now quoted is largely due to the exceptional 
scarcity of all the Brassica family, and of these 
Broccolis have suffered not least. We may 
not hope to see many British-grown Broccoli 
on our tables during the coming spring, and 
very little indeed of any other of the usual 
hardy green stuffs. 
What we have will probably be sent us 
from the south of Europe, from Algiers or the 
Channel Islands—favoured spots of earth, 
Avhero such severe weather as we -have passed 
through is comparatively unknown. We 
realise our own incapacity to do much to miti¬ 
gate the evils from which, in relation to scarcity 
of vegetables, we are suffering. We must wait 
upon Nature, for even with Cauliflowers it is 
hardly possible to do much in the direction of 
accelerating production. We cannot very well 
force Cauliflowers to any appreciable extent ; 
but, of course, in a small way a few scores may 
be pushed on in pots, in early vineries or 
Peach houses, or in frames planted out. Still, 
it is not exactly the use to which gardeners, 
who are usually driven for room, care to put 
their houses and frames. 
Those who have a quantity of plants of any 
of the very dwarf early section already up, and 
even in small pots singly, will be in a favour¬ 
able position presently, and if the plants be got 
out under hand-lights on a warm border, or be 
planted up thickly in cold frames, they will 
soon begin to produce heads of medium size 
and of snowy whiteness, which will be invalu¬ 
able. Too many of these early Cardiflowers 
can hardly he produced between now and that 
yet distant time when Peas and other summer 
green c:ops will be abundant. 
©haven Faces in the Garden.— A good deal 
of amusement was recently created at the 
expense of a certain Buckinghamshire lady, 
who, it seems, compelled her coachman to shave 
off his moustache, because the wearing of it 
was contrary to her notion of true jarvey 
dependence. Ladies, however, are not singular 
in this antipathy to the hirsute appendage of 
the upper lip, nor are coachmen the only 
victims of such antipathy. We have just heard 
of the case of a young man who, when about 
to enter the service of a local tradesman as 
gardener, was gravely but sternly told that 
while in his—the tradesman’s--employ he 
must always have a clean shaved face. 
It would seem as if in the estimation of 
certain possibly well-intentioned, but un¬ 
doubtedly very autocratic people, that the 
clean shaven face is evidence of servility, which 
all who serve as coachmen, gardeners, or 
domestic servants should wear ; whilst the 
moustache is indicative of breeding and inde¬ 
pendence which only those having money may 
aspire to. There is much that is amusing, if 
pitiful, about this assumption. Happily it 
exists only in a limited area and amongst 
people of the uncultivated or unrefined order. 
Gardeners who serve gentlemen or ladies of 
the true “gentle” type, find due respect paid 
to their desire to wear the hirsute covering 
which Nature has with such liberality placed 
on the faces of the lords of creation, and they 
rejoice also in the emancipation at once from 
wearing the servile badge of a clean shaven 
face, as also from the use of that abomination 
of the toilet—the razor. 
We should have been very glad to have 
learned that the young -man in question had 
shown courage enough to have refused the 
tempting bait of a single-handed place at a 
very low wage, or to gratify the autocratic 
tastes of a trading parvenu . 
The Horticultural Club.—The monthly meeting of 
this club, held on the 10th inst., was presided over by 
Sir John Lewellyn, Bart., of Penllergare, and the com¬ 
mittee are to be congratulated on securing the services of 
such an ardent lover of horticulture. After the dinner 
a paper was read by Mr. George Bunyard, of Maidstone, 
on “Curiosities in the germination, vitality, and dis¬ 
tribution of seeds,” which provoked a lively discussion, 
in which most of the members took part. Mr. Harry 
Veitch was unanimously elected as vice-president. 
Effects of the Winter on the South Coast.—A 
correspondent writes : —I am sorry to see that many of 
the fine exotics which are such conspicuous objects to a 
plant lover, about the towns on the South Coast, have 
suffered so much through the severe weather—Dracfena 
australis and the Eucalypti especially. I felt much 
grieved to see so many cut down in Torquay, which 
have been to me most interesting objects. The 
Dracsenas will doubtless break again, but I fear the Gum 
trees cannot recover. 
Died at Fulham on the 6tli inst., aged thirty-seven 
years, John James, second son of the late Mr. John 
Dominy, of Chelsea. 
Gardening Engagements.—Mr. George Lewis, who 
has been principal foreman at Madresfield Court for 
the past seven years, as gardener to the Hon. G. H. 
Allsopp, M.P., Foston Hall, Derby. Mr. James 
Ralph, who for some time past has filled the appoint¬ 
ment of gardener to Colonel Heathcote, M.P., 
Apedale Hall, Newcastle-under-Lyne, retains his ap¬ 
pointment for Colonel Heathcote’s new property at 
Mersham Lahatch, Ashford, Kent. 
Lawn Sand.—It has been pointed out to us that 
our notice last week of Messrs. Corry, Soper, Fowler 
& Co.’s stand at the Crystal Palace show requires cor¬ 
rection as regards the reference to Watson’s Lawn Sand, 
what was exhibited being Fowler’s Sand, and not the 
well-known Watson’s. We regret the error, which 
must be attributed to our ignorance of there being two 
Richmonds in the field. 
The Whitsuntide Show at Old Trafford.—Mr. 
Bruce Findlay has just issued his schedule of prizes for 
the great "Whitsuntide Horticultural Exhibition to be 
opened in the Manchester Botanical and Horticultural 
Society’s Gardens, on May 15th. The awards offered 
amount to about £750 in all, and the largest sums as 
usual go to the groups of miscellaneous plants arranged 
to produce the best effect, and open respectively to 
amateurs and nurserymen, the prizes being £20, £12, 
and £8 in each class. Liberal prizes are also offered as 
before for Orchids, stove and greenhouse plants, Ferns, 
florists’ flowers and fruits. 
The Royal Aquarium Shows.—The opening exhi¬ 
bitions of the season organised by the Royal Aquarium 
Summer and Winter Garden Society took place on 
Wednesday and Thursday, and arrangements have 
been made for the following shows to be held at the 
same place—all under the management of Mr. R. Dean, 
EalingApril 29, 30, Second Spring Exhibition; 
May £0, 21, Early Summer Exhibition ; June 24, 25, 
Grand Rose Show and Fete ; September 9, 10, Early 
Autumn Show of the National Chrysanthemum Society ; 
October 14, 15, 16, Great Autumn Fruit Show ; 
November 10, 11, 12, Annual Festival of the National 
Chrysanthemum Society ; December 9, 10, Early 
Winter Exhibition of the National Chrysanthemum 
Society. 
Death of Mr. James Murray Garden, Aberdeen. 
—Horticulture in Aberdeen and the north of Scotland 
has lost in the decease of Mr. James Murray Garden, 
Advocate, a true and steadfast friend. A few years 
ago, when its finances were at a very low ebb, Mr. 
Garden became president of the Royal Horticultural 
Society of Aberdeen. His enthusiasm and business 
capacity inspired into it the new life and vigour in 
which it continues to flourish, thanks in large measure 
to his personal influence and his happy tact, which was 
especially marked in connection with the little internal 
differences that will inevitably arise in connection with 
such undertakings, but for which a solution was always 
found by Mr. Murray Garden’s combined good feeling 
and common sense. 
Mr. Edward Kemp, the well-known aud much re¬ 
spected superintendent of Birkenhead Park, we regret 
to say, died on the 2nd inst. Mr. Kemp was a land¬ 
scape gardener of much ability, and was the author of 
“ How to Lay Out a Garden,” a most useful guide in 
such matters, but now unfortunately out of print. 
ORANGE CULTURE IN FLORIDA. 
I ah on my way to Montserrat, and have come down 
through Florida. I have spent a day with Mr. 
Hubbard, a great authority on Citrus questions, and 
think you may like a few notes about the Orange 
culture, which apply only to the neighbourhood of 
Crescent City. The soil is excessively light and sandy, 
almost like the sea-shore. Besides the Cypress swamps, 
there are two kinds of land—hummock land, which 
has carried live Oak, and Pine land ; both are suitable 
for Orange cultivation. The sand is underlaid by a clay 
bed at varying depths. 
Many young Englishmen have bought an absolutely 
worthless desert waste, but fair land round Crescent 
City can still be bought for from S20 an acre upwards. 
Orchards in full bearing are worth SI,000 an acre, on 
which their returns show a good profit for the present. 
A gentleman told me he had just sold his crop of about 
1,600 boxes off fifteen acres, at S2 a box, on the trees. 
A box measures 27 ins. by 12 ins. by 12 ins., and holds 
from 90 to 200 fruit. 
The trees are all budded, as budded trees bear much 
sooner than seedling trees. The budder, generally a 
native FloridaD, is paid 1 cent, a bud for each bud that 
grows, and 2 cents, for Tangerines. A good hand will 
succeed with ninety per cent, of his buds, and will earn 
$4 or §5 a day. Ground bones and sulphate of potash 
are used as manure, and brushwood is put over the 
roots of the trees to prevent evaporation. An enor¬ 
mous exteat of new orchards is coming into bearin'*. 
The market gardening does not appear to have paid 
on a considerable scale, on account of the distance from 
market and uncertainty of prices. It was 82 D in the 
shade on February 10th, but last year there were serious 
frosts in March at Crescent City.— Joseph Sturge, 
Jamaica, February, 1891. 
-- 
HORTICULTURE IN AMERICA. 
Mr. James H. Laing, of the Forest Hill Nurseries, 
London, made a visit to America last summer, and 
at the request of the committee of the Birmingham 
Gardeners’ Association, read a paper, on the eve of 
the 8th inst., giving a brief summary of his experiences 
in the United States during a hurried visit, from which 
we give the following extract :— 
“The Americans are a wide-awake people, and do 
not like to be behind in anything. The majority of 
those engaged in the horticultural trade are smart 
business men, quick of perception, not niggardly in 
their commercial functions, though keeping a keen eye 
all the same on turning the dollar to as big a profit as 
possible. There seems "to me to be also more fraternal 
intercourse with each other, and this feeling was 
particularly noticeable at the Boston Convention. 
Social meetings, lectures, conferences, and all other 
things pertaining to the advancement of horticulture are 
done to encourage and educate the masses. Labour 
is the great detriment, even an ordinary boy receiving 
about 20s. a week. The situation in America is 
simply this: If an experienced gardener, worthy of the 
name, goes to America, obtains a situation, and is 
determined to please his employer in all ways, he will 
very soon go from £10 to £20 a month, and a good 
house to live in, but on leaving the old country he 
must leave his ideas of caste or rank behind him. He 
must not think that because he is rated A1 at home 
that he will take equally high rank at once in the 
United States. His ability will soon be fully apprecia¬ 
ted if he possesses it, but that alone will not lead to 
success. He must be a man as well as a gardener, then 
success is assured, and in the States a man who spends 
his evenings at home and in study is far more apprecia¬ 
ted than the gardener who spends much of his time at 
a beer-shop. It is practically useless now for aDy 
gardener or agriculturist to go abroad who has failed 
for want of energy at home.” 
Mr. Laing spoke in the warmest terms of the generous 
hospitality shown by all whom he visited, and of the 
high state of cultivation now so generally found in all 
the leading establishments. A great deal of information 
is to be gained from his excellent paper, and Mr. May’s 
system of growing Roses so successfully at his celebrated 
Rose-growing establishment at Sumnit, New Jersey, 
was given. "We may state that Mr. John May was, 
many years ago, an apprentice to the late Mr. Whiting, 
for many years so well known and esteemed at Deep- 
dene, Dorking. Mr. Laing spoke of thirty acres of 
Gladioli in Mr. Allen’s nursery in Long Island ; the 
famous collection of Orchids at Mr. F. J. Ames’; of 
Mr. C. F. Evans’ great Rose-growing establishment, 
and gave particulars of heating by steam in place of hot 
