May 7, 1892. 
THE GARDENING WORLD 
503 
grower expects to realize five cents apiece for the 
fruit after transportation rates, cost of package, and 
commissions have been deducted, i his means $500 
per acre, but some of the choicest varieties sell 
for much higher prices, so that from $700 to $1,000 
is realiied. 
In 1881, 30,000 dozens of Pine-apples were shipped 
from Key Largo, and six years later over 300,000 dozens 
sent North. The present season will probably exceed 
that of any other, and the Pine-apple shipments will 
almost equal those of the Oranges. The Largo Pines 
have already established a name in the markets for 
superior merit, and they frequently bring higher 
prices than the Cuban or Bahaman pines. 
There are different grades of soil in Florida, and 
some of the expensive lands will not produce a paying 
crop of Pines The high hummock lands of the 
State are generally considered the richest. The best 
varieties that are planted are Egyptian Queen, Ceylon, 
Rea Spanish, and Puerto Rico. But all of these 
established varieties are being improved by crosses 
with new ones imported from different parts of the 
world. 
The suckers are planted in rows three feet apart 
either way during the rainy season in August, and 
during June and July the crops are harvested. The 
Pine-apples are cut off close to the main stalk with a 
sharp knife, and the thick, pointed leaves are trimmed 
so that the fruits can be packed easily. They are 
generally packed in barrels, from twenty-five to 
thirty “ extras" in a barrel, or forty to sixty'small 
ones. Almost any kind of barrel will answer the 
purpose, but the large sugar-barrels are the best, as 
they do not cost any more for transportation. After 
the Pines begin to come into the market the supply 
is steady, although some dealers attempt to hold 
back their fruit until the bulk is disposed of. Florida 
cannot compete in the early market, for the Cuban 
Pines are always ahead of it, but it is gradually 
monopolizing the trade in June and July. With the 
rapid increase in the cultivation of the fruit Florida 
will in time supply all of the home trade, driving out 
the imported fruits. 
THE CULTURE OF 
CYCLAMENS. 
When is the best time to sow Cyclamen seed ? I 
find even our able market growers difter on this 
matter, as some select June, others August or 
September. Still it does happen that somehow 
notwithstanding this divergence it is found that 
equally good results follow, so that it may be taken 
for granted that no rule of thumb can be laid down 
as to the best time for seed sowing, but that every 
one sows just as experience shows to be for his 
purpose the best. 
Just now plants are everywhere developing seed 
pods. If we look over the reserved seed stock of 
any considerable growers we shall see scores of 
plants the which have the stems of the seed vessels 
tied with diverse coloured wool, each colour indica¬ 
ting some distinct cross, which has been made in the 
hope of producing some desired results. The 
Cyclamen is a fairly facile flower in the hands of the 
fertiliser, and it is because of that we now have such 
fine strains, and such variety of colours, including 
the purest of whites and the most intense of 
crimsons. 
Very soon will the seed be ripe, and then when 
gathered very likely the plant which produced it 
will be thrown away. It is not the rule for large 
growers to encumber themselves with old corms, for 
when twenty thousand are raised from seed, there 
comes such a wealth of quality that old plants are 
barely worth taking trouble over. We cannot get 
the Cyclamen to bloom the following spring from 
summer sown seed. It will have a longer season, 
ordinarily some 14 to 15 months, from sowing to 
blooming, hence it is needful to have one crop of 
plants coming on whilst the old crop is dying off, or 
in other words it is essential that two distinct crops 
be always in hand, as when the previous year’s plants 
are about to bloom, those to flower the following 
year should be stout seedlings fit to dibble out into 
other pans or pots. 
A special desideratum of the summer culture of 
Cyclamen is that the plants be kept fairly moist in 
soil and in atmosphere. A good vaporous saturation 
of the leafage is most valuable as tending to check 
the advances of aphis, whilst frequent fumigations 
also are essential when insects are in evidence. 
Cyclamens are such very useful as well as beautiful 
winter blooming plants that too much of care 
cannot be bestowed on their cultivation.— A. D. 
Broccoli. 
Notwithstanding all care, the breadths of Broccoli 
nearly every winter get sadly thinned out. Those 
who have light, gravelly, and sandy, or even chalky, 
soil, are placed under more favourable circumstances 
in the cultivation of crops which have to stand the 
winter in the open ground, than are those whose 
garden ground is of a heavy, compact or clayey 
nature. The crops may be heavier in soil of the 
latter class, but they are more liable to be destroyed 
in stormy or severe winters, so that there is some 
compensation, looking at it either way. 
Several varieties of Broccoli are grown in the rich 
brick earth soils at Dibdin House, Ealing, the 
residence of F. G. Tautz, Esq., and now that the 
winter is fairly over, a comparison can be made as to 
the relative hardiness of the several varieties grown 
there. The hardiness of the Late Purple Sprouting 
is well known to most cultivators, and it is satisfactory 
-to note that it is still fit for use and plentiful. This 
is a true Broccoli because a sprouting one. The 
origin of the race is still obscure, and likely to remain 
so, but there can be little doubt of the source from 
whence we originally obtained it, since the name 
comes from the Italian bvoccolo, a sprout. The race 
of close-headed and white Broccoli now so high in 
popular esteem more resemble Cauliflowers than the 
original Broccoli, and differs from Cauliflower chiefly 
in hardiness and the length of time it requires to 
become fit for use. Sutton's Safeguard belongs to 
the latter type, but suffers considerably from frost 
and wet, even when heeled over in heavy, rich soils. 
Veitch's Model Late White has stood much better, 
and some fine heads will be obtained from it in the 
course of the present month. 
Sutton’s Late Queen has also stood well, in fact 
rather better than the last, but no variety has done 
better than Veitch’s Main Crop, which may be con¬ 
sidered as giving a fairly remunerative return for the 
year’s labour and ground devoted to it. The rich 
soil will ensure good heads in all cases to the plants 
now left standing. There can be no question that a 
proper system of drainage where the nature of the 
ground requires it, and deep culture in the case of 
all winter crops, are matters of the greatest import¬ 
ance. Surface water then readily drains away so 
that the ground speedily acquires its accustomed 
warmth ; and in spring more especially, the soil 
sooner gets warmed up by the heat of the sun, 
because the rain water in passing through the soil is 
closely followed by warm air, made such through the 
effects of the reflected rays of the sun on the surface. 
Vegetation accordingly makes an earlier start on soils 
well drained and deeply tilled. 
Two useful early Cabbages. 
In every garden, large or small, the stock of vegetables, 
other than roots, to be used in a fresh state has been 
greatly reduced by the alternation of frost and thaw, 
so that the first crops of anything from the open 
ground will be eagerly looked forward to. Large 
breadths of autumn sown Cabbages are now 
proceeding apace notwithstanding the frequently 
recurring frosty nights. A short time ago autumn 
sown Cabbages in the open ground appeared getting 
visibly smaller than otherwise ; but the recent rain 
and bright sunshine during the day are bringing the 
crops forward apace. We noted a breadth of 
London Market and Enfield Market about a week 
ago at Dibdin House, Ealing, many of the plants of 
which were quite firm, of a suitable size for table 
use and fit to cut. Being dwarf and stocky, they 
testified that they had been properly treated by Mr. 
Cowley while yet in the seed bed, and planted out 
before getting crowded and drawn. 
The seeds were sown in August, and planted out 
about the end of September or the beginning of 
October in a fresh piece of kitchen garden ground 
that had recently been a field lying in pasture. The 
soil is still full of fibre and well adapted for growing 
vegetables. It is a rich reddish loam, inclined to 
clay, and evidently old alluvium, which readily 
crumbles when roughly dug or ridged so as to expose 
it to frost. The Cabbages in question are selected 
stocks of the old Early Battersea know under a host 
of names which are little or no better than synonyms. 
The original stock can be traced back to 1776, or 
more than a hundred years ago. It is notable for its 
dwarf compact habit, and rounded outline with the 
lower leaves forming a rosette upon the ground. 
The heart is conical, relatively short compared with 
such as Winningstadt, very compact, and not liable 
to split like Early York and others of that kind. 7 he 
ribs boil soft and tender, while the quality is good. 
There is very little waste of outer leaves, and when 
cut, three or four sprouts are produced by the old 
stem, and which in due course form useful little 
Cabbages for table purposes. — F. 
Autumn-sown Peas. 
I have proved over again that little is gained by 
sowing Peas during the autumn even though they 
stand well (and that is only in favoured localities and 
not where the ground is low and damp). Even with 
those raised in boxes or pots and thoroughly 
hardened off before they are transplanted, the 
gain is more nominal than real. Seed sown during 
the early part of February, on a warm border, and 
covered with dry soil give a supply of pods larger 
and finer and only a few 7 days later than the earlier 
sowings or those transplanted. This has been one of 
the most difficult seasons I have experienced to raise 
seeds in, April having been onecf the coldest months 
I have ever known. Though we cannot record such 
severe frost as is reported from some southern 
parts of England and Yorkshire we could match 
most of the southern counties for cold easterly winds. 
We have not had so much snow either as in the 
south, but more than usual.— Stirling. 
-- 
(Meanings front i\\t l^orlit 
of Srionco. 
A microbe of farmyard manure. —A paper 
on this subject has been contributed to the current 
number of Annalcs Agronomiques by M. Breal, who 
has given some attention to this subject. He states 
that a microbe or ferment exists on straw or other 
dead vegetable matter, and which decomposes nitric 
acid, causing the formation of organic nitrogen, but 
also at the same time liberating a considerable 
quantity of free nitrogen, which escapes into the 
atmosphere and is thereby lost as far as living 
vegetation is concerned. This explains one of the 
means of loss to farmyard manure w 7 hen exposed to 
the atmosphere, but particularly in damp, low-lying 
situations, where the loss is always greater than 
when on dry soil. Manure that is fermenting 
violently and is in too dry a state loses nitrogen in 
the form of carbonite of ammonia, which is very 
volatile and escapes into the air. This of course is 
brought back to the earth by rain and is still in a 
combined state, while the loss caused by the above 
mentioned microbe is more absolute. To obviate 
this loss, farmyard manure should not be placed or 
spread upon the land until it is about to be ploughed 
in, so as to obviate as much as possible any loss from 
it. The microbe, however, according to M. Breal, 
does not exist or is inoperative on dry land, as it 
requires the medium of moist meadow or forest 
land for its development. It has been known for 
some time that there is always a scarcity of nitric 
acid in bog or marsh land as well as that which is 
temporarily submerged by the flooding of land from 
heavy rain, the overflowing of rivers, and other 
causes. Altogether it is a point worthy of serious 
consideration on the part of all those w 7 ho are 
interested in the culture of farm and garden crops. 
Club-root fungus. —This is variously known in 
this country as anbury, ambury, fingers-and-toes, 
and is known to be particularly destructive to 
Cabbages, Cauliflowers, Brussel Sprouts, Turnips, 
and others of the Brassica tribe. It has, however, 
been detected on the Radish, and in Russia upon the 
roots of Stocks and Candytuft. In all cases it 
confines its attacks to the roots ; but the supplies of 
food and moisture being thus cut off from the aerial 
part of the plant, the leaves soon indicate the 
presence of the malady by flagging and losing their 
wonted dark green-colour. The disease was first 
detected in Scotland as long ago as 17S0, but since 
then has made its appearance in England, Ireland, 
various continental countries, and in America, where 
it is now spreading widely over that great tract of 
country. A description of the fungus (Plasmo- 
diophora Brassicae) and some figures have been 
given by A. C. Eycleshymer in the Journal of Mycology 
of the U.S. Department of Agriculture. 
