July r, 1894. 
THE GARDENING WORLD 
711 
three. Award of Merit. Exhibited by Mr. H. Herbst 
Stanmore, Kew Road, Richmond. 
Carnation James O’Brien. —This tree Carna¬ 
tion grows about 3 ft. high and bears huge flowers 
that are fully double, and of a rich scarlet-red. The 
petals are very numerous, and more or less incurved 
at the edges, ft is a vigorous grower, and produces 
young shoots in abundance. 
Strawberry Collis’ May Queen. —The fruit of 
this Strawberry is of good average size, comparable 
to that of Noble, conical, or sometimes more or less 
compressed like a cockscomb, and deep crimson-red. 
The surface is rather deeply pitted with the so-called 
seeds inserted at the bottom of the cavity. The 
flesh is firm, juicy, and of a somewhat brisk but 
agreeable flavour. Award of Merit. Exhibited by 
Mr. J. Collis, Chiswick. 
--- 
FRENCH CUCUMBER CULTURE. 
Cucumber cultiva'ion constitutes a very impor¬ 
tant garden industry in France, for it is a vegetable 
much in request on all tables whether rich or poor. 
The Cucumber which is the common name for the 
Cucumis sativus, is supposed by V. A. De Candolle, 
to be a native of North Western India. In any case 
it became widely known from a very early date, by 
cultivation in all warm and temperate climates. Its 
varieties are very numerous. Benfey derives the 
name from the Sanscrit word to be curved or bent. 
It is an annual and climbing plant. The most pre¬ 
cocious is considered to be the Russian variety; the 
white is often the latest, and is that most in request 
by manufacturers of perfumery. The Greeks and 
Romans cultivated the Cucumber extensively, and 
so do their descendants to the present day. In 
France, as a comestible, the Cucumber is gathered 
either when young, when it is salted, and preserved 
in vinegar, and known under the name of cornichons 
or Gherkins, or it is employed when fully developed, 
and consumed either cooked or raw, or mixed as a 
salad. 
Over all France, the Cucumber can be cultivated 
in the open air, but in the northern part of the 
country, the plants often receive a start, by being 
raised under glass, to be in due time planted out. 
There are gardeners who specially force Cucumbers 
in order to obtain a higher price in the market for 
them as primeurs. Care must be taken to preserve 
the plants against the slightest frost, which is fatal 
to them. At the end of May around Paris, the 
Cucumber may be sown in the open air, without any 
apprehension of frost. Two or three seeds or as 
many plants if they have been started in pots, are 
placed about 48 inches apart. In time the plant is 
pruned, by cutting the stem above the first two or 
three leaves, then pinch each of the stalks when 
20 in. in length. These operations secure a more 
precocious and abundant yield. During all the 
period of vegetation the Cucumber will require 
not so much copious as frequent waterings, 
and the soil, if coated with straw, will be 
maintained in a more humid condition. The culture 
of early Cucumbers, raised on hot beds, is very 
special, and very profitable. The plant when 
intended for Gherkins is rarely pruned. It is liable 
to a disease called grise, caused by a bug, belonging 
to one of the 900 species of Acarians. In the open 
air culture of the Cucumber, a plot of ground, with 
a southern aspect is chosen; a trench is made at 
spaces already indicated, filled with half rotted farm 
manure, over which a little soil is scattered, and then 
the seed sown, or the plants if already forced, dibbled 
in. Often a little guano, or barn door fowl manure, 
is dissolved in the waterings periodically sprinkled 
over the plants. 
The seed and the pulp of the Cucumber are em¬ 
ployed in France as medicaments. Among the 
ancients the seed was classed as a primary remedial 
agent. However, the diuretic and laxative properties 
of the Cucumber, are not much resorted to at present. 
The flesh of the Cucumber has the reputation of cool¬ 
ing ardent passions, but is rarely prescribed for that 
end. In the pulp form. Cucumber makes an excellent 
poultice for cooling skin irritations, while the juice 
pressed out by machinery is in request for the pre¬ 
paration of toilet accessories as pomatums, cold 
creams and toilet vinegars. French ladies, undoubt¬ 
edly, patronize preparations of Cucumbers, as pro¬ 
tecting the face from being tanned by the sun, in 
removing the effects of sun burning. The pomatum 
is a capital assuager of pain resulting from a fiery 
skin after shaving. It is favourably accepted as re¬ 
moving " brandy blossoms,” especially when the 
patient relinquishes the brandy. 
To have Cucumbers throughout the winter they 
are gathered when green, cut into thin slices, and 
placed in jars, in alternate layers with salt, the whole 
being kept well covered with water. When required 
for use the slices ought to be washed to remove the 
salt. The Cucumber is not nutritive, and is difficult 
of digestion. Cooked it is more appreciated, 
especially when served with a rich sauce. It is an 
agreeable vegetable in the raw state if its insipid 
flavour be corrected by appropriate seasoning. In 
this case the Cucumber is cut into thin slices, 
dredged with salt, and left to bleed for two hours, 
then the liquid is drained OS', the slices are next 
dried by being shaken in a clean linen cloth, and, 
served with pepper—red preferred—oil, and vinegar 
to be eaten with boiled beef. But in the ordinary 
restaurant the slices, generally of the white variety, 
are served quite fresh. Cucumber is not eaten with 
salmon in France as in England. Cucumbers are 
also served baked, the Cucumber is peeled, cut in 
two, lengthways,the seeds taken out, and part of the 
interior pulp scraped away and replaced by a cooked 
stuffing ; they are next placed in a saucepan with a 
morsel of butter and baked till soft. Or after being 
peeled, the Cucumber is cut in four lengthways, 
freed of its seeds, washed, placed in boiling water 
during five minutes, and then in fresh boiling water 
to finish ; it is then served in white bechamel or some 
other sauce. In the south of France, Italy, and 
Algeria, Cucumbers enter largely into the daily food 
of the people. Balzac relates, that the wife of the 
famous treasurer of the navy. Saint James, who 
failed for fourteen millions of francs never received 
any persons in her salon who was not titled or who 
had not graduated at the Palace of Versailles. One 
evening, as the famous diamond necklace trial 
reveals, a young gentleman, but a stranger, appeared 
in her salon, he belonged to the Rohan family, one 
of the most noble and the most ancient of France, 
she explained to an inquiring guest, who was sur¬ 
prised at the presence of the new and unknown-to- 
him arrival, not that he was a prince, which he was, 
but a gentleman who had rendered her the greatest 
service that could be paid to a lady ; he had removed 
the red blotches from her face by means of a 
Cucumber pomatum. At present Cucumbers sell in 
Paris from six to tenpence each.— E. C. 
--i-- 
A VEGETABLE WITH A 
PEDIGREE. 
Of all the plants used for food, there is none which 
has been so long known, or has had, so to say, so 
distinguished a lineage as Asparagus. Its record, in 
fact, reaches back to almost the commencement of 
authentic history, as it is mentioned by the comic 
poet Cratinus, who died about 425 b.c , and was a 
contemporary of, though slightly older than, Aristo¬ 
phanes. Among the Romans also, the tasty vege¬ 
table was held in high esteem. Cato the Elder—not‘‘ 
the gentleman who was of opinion that Plato 
reasoned well, but his great-grandfather, who 
insisted upon the destruction of Carthage, and who 
was born 234 b.c. —wrote a work, which is still ex¬ 
tant, " De Re Rustica,” and in it he treats at length 
of the virtues and proper cultivation of Asparagus. 
Pliny also in his Natural History (about 60 a.d.) 
has much to say on the subject. ‘ Of all the pro¬ 
ductions of your garden,’ he feelingly observes, 
' your chief care will be your Asparagus ’; and he 
devotes several chapters and parts of chapters to its 
many beneficient qualities and the best modes of 
raising it. He asserts that, even in his day, the soil 
about Ravenna was so favourable to its production, 
that three heads grown in that district had been 
known to weigh a Roman pound. As, however, 
this pound seems to have been equal to only about 
eleven of our ounces, it would apparently have re¬ 
quired four of the stalks to reach a pound of our 
weight; but this result, considering the state of 
horticulture in those days, may be looked upoji as 
wonderful enough, and has, in point of fact,only been 
equalled in our own times. 
It is possible, however, that Asparagus being 
essentially a southern plant, the original stock found 
in Italy was of a more vigorous growth than that of 
more northern climes. It occurs all round the shores 
of the Mediterranean, and branches off into four or 
five distinct species besides the one ordinarily used 
for edible purposes. In Britain we have in a wild 
stite only the latter, and even that is confined to a 
few favoured districts. 'With us, it is never found 
away from the sea-coast ; and although, according 
to old botanical books, it extended in former times 
all along the Channel, and even up to the latitude of 
London, Cornwall and Devonshire seem to be now 
the only counties where it can be met with. Wither¬ 
ing declares that in his day (1812) it grew not only 
at Harwich, but also at Gravesend, and even at 
Greenwich. It is needless to say that at present it 
would scarcely repay a botanist to look for wild 
Asparagus at Greenwich, nor would Harwich or 
Gravesend be much more likely places. Probably 
the only remaining spots where it could now be 
discovered with any certainty would be about the 
Lizard and one or two other places in Cornwall. 
Opposite Kynans Cove, in the latter county, the so- 
called Asparagus Island is yet covered with it, and 
offers a pretty spectacle as the tall feathery stalks 
wave to and fro in the breeze. 
In France and Germany, however, the plant is 
much more common ; nor is it confined entirely to 
the coasts. Gillet says that it grows also in woods 
and sandy meadows ; and with regard to Germany, 
Wagner gives as its habitat, ■ hedges, bushy places, 
and fertile mountain meadows.’ In some parts of 
the Russian steppes it is said to grow so abundantly 
that the cattle eat it like grass ; but it must be re¬ 
membered that in all these countries more than one 
kind of Asparagus is found—sometimes three or 
four different kinds—and it is quite possible that 
some of them may be occasionally mistaken for the 
veritable or edible article. 
Of late years, the cultivation of Asparagus has, 
especially in France, arrived at great perfection. In 
England, its headquarters are still, as they have 
been for years, about Mortlake, Richmond, and 
along the valley of the Thames, the alluvial soil of 
which—probably mixed with a good deal of sand— 
seems to suit the plant admirably. The English 
growers, however, can scarcely compete with the 
French as regards the size and flavour of the heads 
produced. In France, one of the chief centres of the 
trade is at Argenteuil, a village on the Seine, near 
Paris, and which formerly had a reputation for pro¬ 
ducing an extremely formidable wine, and much 
dreaded by the gourmets and frequenters of the 
Parisian restaurants. This wine, it was alleged, was 
always served when entertainments extended to a 
late hour, no matter what especial crfc had been 
ordered. Large quantities of it are still produced ; 
but some years ago the proprietors of the 
vineyards came upon the idea of increasing 
their revenues by planting Asparagus between 
the vines. This succeeded so well, that at 
present large tracts of ground, exceeding 
altogether a thousand acres, are given up entirely 
to the cultivation of the vegetable, and the Paris 
market draws the best, or at least the most highly 
esteemed, portion of its supplies from there. If the 
accounts given by some of the gentlemen engaged in 
this occupation are to be believed, the speculation 
must be extremely profitable, for it is said that the 
average returns of the thousand acres more or less 
exceed a million francs or forty thousand pounds. 
Some growers indeed estimate their ‘ takings ’ at even 
a higher figure. One firm gives the cost of planting, 
keeping in order, and all the expenses of labour, at 
about thirty pounds an acre, and the average annual 
value of the crop at something like one hundred and 
twenty pounds. Against this, however, as he says, 
he has to reckon the loss of his capital for some 
years. An Asparagus bed, newly laid, produces nc- 
thing whatever until the third year, and then only a 
very small amount, systematic cutting not being 
commenced before the fifth year after planting. It 
is estimated that after this age each stock, or root, 
will give about ten heads every year, and that this yield 
will continue under favourable conditions, for some 
twenty or five-and-twenty years. 
Asparagus is raised from seed, which is generally 
sown in spring ; and the plant thrives best in a rich, 
fresh, and sandy soil—such as the sandy meadows in 
which it is found wild. In England it is usually 
planted in rows,at distances varying from one to two- 
and-a-half feet apart, in beds that have been pre¬ 
viously prepared by deep trenching and rich 
manuring. 
Such kinds of French Asparagus have, within the 
present decade, reached a perfectly abnormal size. 
■We have seen that Pliny was much impressed by 
