April 11th, 1885. 
THE GARDENING WORLD. 
503 
doing so. I am thinking of the Auricula Exhibition 
on the 21st inst., and wishing it were a week or two 
later. How fortunate are those exhibitors who can 
give their plants a little fire-heat by which to lend 
them a helping hand at this juncture. Not only does a 
little genial warmth accelerate blooming, but, j udiciously 
applied, it materially aids the development of the 
pips, imparting to them form and substance. A low 
temperature has the opposite effect to this. It is only 
in the case of a very early warm spring that under 
present circumstances I could get Auriculas into 
flower by the third week in April. As far as personal 
enjoyment is concerned, I am able to enjoy them a 
good deal later in the season, as my plants are at their 
best about the middle of May. 
Later on I will say something about varieties. The 
earliest to flower this year is the late Tom Mellor’s 
Cymbeline, a self of a distinct and pleasing bright 
plum colour, a good tube and circular paste, but 
lacking in density; the pip is circular and flat, and 
. whoever grows this variety cannot fail to be pleased 
with it, though I can scarcely imagine it will be 
regarded as a First-Class Exhibition flower. The 
new golden self Hetty Dean came into flower at the 
same time. It is such a free grower, and so quick 
to flower, that it turns in quite early, but I hope to 
have it in pretty good condition on the 21st. Seed¬ 
lings, both Show and Alpine, are becoming very in¬ 
teresting. In both classes, and especially in the Alpine 
Section, something very good is necessary to compete 
with, much less excel, Mr. Turner’s splendid strain. 
But there is an all-absorbing and something akin to 
a fascinating interest in looking for the opening of 
seedling flowers—there is so much uncertainty about 
the characters they will exhibit. Who can tell in 
what forms they will reveal themselves ? 
It is not well to be troubled with too many seed¬ 
lings. I like to grow a few every year, and those 
raised from a good cross. The raising of first-rate 
varieties will always be in the hands of the few, and 
those who, like the Bev. Mr. Horner and Mr. Douglas, 
have obtained seedlings of a high class character, 
have in their hands valuable, we might say the 
very best, material to work upon. A grower on a 
lower level may, perhaps, obtain a chance seedling 
that shall make a great reputation, but the chances 
are against him. Still, the pleasure of raising seed¬ 
lings is so great that the proprietor of the humblest 
collection should attempt this ; if he draws all blanks 
and no prizes, the interest with which he watched 
the expansion of his seedling flowers will more than 
have repaid him for any labour bestowed upon them, 
—R. D. 
THE VICAR’S GARDEN. 
With the kind permission of our Vicar, and the 
consent of the Editor, I propose to take the readers of 
The Gardening World for an occasional stroll through 
his garden, which it will suffice to say is of moderate 
extent and under his own supervision, our Vicar being 
an enthusiastic amateur gardener, whose one aim in 
connection with it is to get as great an amount of 
enjoyment from it as he can, at a reasonable cost. It is 
no part of my object to describe in full its soil, situa¬ 
tion, or aspect, there being nothing particular to say 
on these subjects. My remarks, on the contrary, will be 
generally directed more to the occupants of the garden, 
and whatever there is of interest in it will come under 
notice in due course. I can promise your readers that 
there will be much in the Vicar’s garden to engage 
the attention of all true lovers of flowers, the collection 
of plants comprising many gems of the first water 
among hardy herbaceous plants, though not by any 
means restricted to these. 
It has often occurred to me that one of the causes 
which has led to the present depressed condition of 
the gardening interest was the rage for bedding out, 
which led to the exclusion, to a large extent, from cul¬ 
tivation of many plants with greater claims to real 
beauty and interest than mere bedding-plants, and 
which made gardening, in the estimation of many, a 
mere matter of buying or growing some half-dozen 
kinds of Pelargoniums and a few coloured-leaved 
plants, and the capacity to mow grass and keep the 
place tidy the sum total of accomplishments required 
o constitute anyone a gardener—a poor, meagre concep- 
ion, it must be confessed, but only too true. No wonder 
gardeners often find themselves the worst paid and 
worst treated individuals in many establishments. 
Gardeners should, so far as opportunity affords, 
encourage in the minds of the younger members of the 
families they serve a genuine love for flowers for their 
own individual merits, and certainly it is one of the 
first duties of the horticultural press to foster and en¬ 
courage the taste of the community at large for flowers, 
It will be with a view to fostering this good work 
that this series of papers will be written, calling atten¬ 
tion to subjects which are really worth growing, and 
giving hints at times when thought desirable. The 
collection to be commented on consists mainly of 
those plants which, when once procured, will cost but 
little to renew, and which are easily obtained by those 
of moderate means, and includes, besides hardy her¬ 
baceous plants, Eoses and hardy shrubs, and an 
occasional comment will be made on the fruit and 
kitchen garden, so that we hope to give experiences 
which will be of interest and value to all amateur 
gardeners, should their domains consist of only a few 
rods, or extend, as this does, to an acre or two. In 
our next we will review in detail some of the good 
things which have been and are now in flower, and 
hope to infuse into others a passion for flowers, which 
is one of the most elevating and refining influences 
which can be brought to bear on any community, 
speaking to the lost ones tender memories of child¬ 
hood’s innocence and purity, and kindling in us hopes 
of a resurrection to still more fairy-like forms of 
elegance and beauty.—T7. B. G. 
— f*' _ c — 
NEW PLANTS. 
A New Aroid. —A new species of this remarkable 
family is figured in the April number of The Botanical 
Magazine, under the name of Dracontium fcecundum. 
The leaf has a grand appearance, the stalk attaining 
6 ft. in height and the blade 4 ft. in diameter. The 
latter is much cut up into variously shaped drooping 
leaflets. The peduncle is pale purplish-brown, and 
2 ft. to 3 ft. high ; the spadix bluish-brown, and the 
spathe, which is 5 ins. long, is dull brown outside and 
inside deep vinous-purple. It is remarkable for the 
profusion of bulbils produced on the tuber, which 
completely surround it with a dense girdle of brown 
egg-like bodies, with dark acute tips. It is a native of 
British Guiana, and was obtained during an expedi¬ 
tion to the Corentyn Elver in 1880, and the tubers 
were sent to Kew and flowered in March, 1882, but 
the leaves did not appear until the following January. 
It is a noble plant, requiring a large stove for its 
cultivation. 
Anthericuji echeandioldes. —This is a deep yellow 
flowered Anthericum, native, probably, of Mexico, 
figured and described for the first time in the April 
number of The Botanical Magazine. It flowered at 
Kew in November, 1883. The flowers are borne in an 
erect raceme over 1 ft. long, and the five or six leaves 
are bright green, with wavy margins, and narrowly 
lanceolate. 
The Hanging Gardens or Babylon were built by 
Nebuchadnezzar to gratify his wife Amytis. The 
gardens were over 400 ft. square, built terrace above 
terrace until they were 27 ft. higher than the walls, 
or 400 ft. The top was sustained by a series of 
arches one above the other, and each terrace was 
bound by a solid wall 22 ft. thick. On the top arches 
were first laid flat stones 16 ft. by 4 ft., over these 
weeds and bitumen ; then two rows of cemented brick 
covered by sheet lead, upon which was laid earth 
sufficiently thick to nourish large trees. The gardeng 
were filled with the blooming plants and shrubs which 
were admired by Queen Amytis in her native Media. 
The different terraces and groves contained fountains, 
parterres, seats, and banqueting rooms; in fact, all 
the splendour and magnificence of Eastern art seem 
to have been lavished upon these gardens by King 
Nebuchadnezzar in order that his Median bride 
should be happy in her new home. Pen cannot 
picture the grandeur of the conception or the perfec¬ 
tion of the execution of these gardens, which have 
been and are the wonder of all ages. The greatest 
hanging structure now in existence is the Brooklyn 
Suspension Bridge, costing 15,000,000 dols. The 
whole length is 3,475 ft., and it connects New York 
and Brooklyn by a clear span of 1,595 it.—Building 
and Engineering Times. 
THE COCO-NUT PALM. 
Of the many important, economic lessons taught 
us by the late International Forestry Exhibition held 
in Edinburgh, not the least was that appertaining 
to the numberless uses to which that family of 
the vegetable kingdom denominated Palms can be 
applied. Humboldt gives as the produce of this 
tribe,^ fibre, oil, wax, flour, sugar, and salt, and Von 
Martius, the great illustrator of this noble family of 
plants, adds thread, utensils, weapons, food, and 
habitations. The habit of growth and remarkable 
height, as well as its longevity and great fecundity, 
have been remarked upon by Xenophon Strabo, 
Plutarch,Aulus Gellius, and other early writers. Again, 
some have expatiated upon their majestic appear¬ 
ance and the character of grandeur they impress 
upon the landscape of the countries they inhabit. 
In addition to all this, they are, in economic impor¬ 
tance, the most interesting of the vegetable world. 
Of the Coco-nut Palm, in particular, an exhibitor, 
Mi. J. Alexander (who furnished one of the features 
of the International Forestry Exhibition with the 
products from Ceylon), showed numerous uses to 
which this member of the noble family could be 
supplied—truly multifarious ! From this gentleman 
we learned the fact that the market value of the area 
covered with this Palm alone in Ceylon is upwards 
of twenty millions sterling. The Cinghalese native 
with twelve Coco-nut trees and two Jaca trees (Arto- 
carpus integrifolia) in his garden, considers himself 
independent. The Coco-nut tree furnishes him with 
food, thatch for his house, oil for his lamp, utensils 
for his kitchen, charcoal for his fire, sugar for his 
board, baskets to hold his fruit, buckets for his well, 
mat for his bed, pouch for his betel leaf, leaves for 
his books, fences for his garden, and brooms to sweep 
and clean up his house. We may safely say that no 
other tree could furnish such a supply of home 
comforts. It may be interesting to some readers if we 
give the various portions of the tree which provide 
these useful articles. 
The following are only a few of the countless uses 
for which the various portions of this valuable tree 
can be utilized :—The leaves for roofing, mats, 
baskets, torches, fuel, brooms, fodder for cattle; 
midrib of leaf, fences, yokes, fishing rods, and many 
domestic articles; the Cabbage or unexpanded cluster 
of leaves, when very young as a vegetable, afterwards 
for pickles and preserves ; the sap for toddy, arrack, 
vinegar, sugar; the unformed nut, medicine and 
sweetmeats ; the young nut and its milk, for drinking 
and dessert ; the green husk, preserves ; the nut and 
milk, for eating, curry, milk, and cooking; the oil, for 
rheumatism, soap, candles, light; koppara, or refuse 
of the nut after expressing the oil, for cattle and 
poultry; the shell of the nut, for drinking cups, 
charcoal, tooth powder, spoons, medicine, hookahs, 
beads, bottles, and knife handles ; the coir or fibre 
within the outer husk, fuel, mattresses, cushions, 
ropes, cables, cordage, canvas, fishing nets, brushes, 
oakum, and floor mats ; the trunk or stem, for rafters, 
laths, boats, troughs, firewood, Ac., &c. 
Tennent says with a Cinghalese enthusiast there is 
an interminable narrative of the uses and qualities of 
this his favourite tree. He also notices a claim in a 
case in a Ceylon Court for the 2,520 th part of ten 
Coco-nut trees. In Ceylon alone 480,000 acres are 
under cultivation of this Pahn, the average value of 
the exported products of which amount to £500,000. 
The value of that locally consumed is estimated to be 
at least £2,000,000. 
An approximate estimate of the area eultivated in 
the various countries where Coco-nuts are produced is 
3,375,000 acres, of the enormous value of upwards of 
£15,000,000. The annual export value of the products 
amounts to £2,500,000. The following represent some 
of the annual exports as taken from the Government 
Blue Books:— 
Exports from India .... £700,000 
„ „ Ceylon .... 500,000 
„ „ Australasia . . . 200,000 
„ „ Central and S. America 700,000 
,, ,, West Indies . . . 100,000 
„ „ Eastern Archipelago . 300,000 
,, Miscellaneous , . . 100,000 
Of the Palmyra and other Palms of Ceylon, I may 
be induced to give some information on a future 
occasion.— JEdipus. 
