538 
THE GARDENING WORLD. 
April 25th, 1885. 
third, Mr. A. Spurling, The Nest, Blacklreath, fourth, 
and Mr. C. Orchard fifth. The best single Alpine with 
a gold centre was Mr. Turner’s Rosalind, and the same 
grower’s Philip Frost was the best white or cream- 
centred variety. In the first-named class, Lovebird, 
Lucretia, Minstrel, and Diadem were well represented; 
and Chastity and Ada Hartridge, among the white 
centres, also took prizes. For six dissimilar Gold-laced 
Polyanthuses the first prize went to Mr. Douglas, who 
had nicely-flowered examples of JohnjBright (Barlow 7 ), 
Prince Regent (Cox), George IV. (Buck), Formosa 
(Burnard), Lancer (Bullock), and Red Ground (Elliott). 
Mr. Brockbank was second, and Mr. R. Dean third. 
With three varieties Mr. Brockbank turned the tables 
on Mr. Douglas, Mr. R. Dean being again third. Mr. 
Douglas and Mr. Dean also had the best fancy 
Auriculas, the first-named staging nearly all yellow- 
ground flow r ers, and the latter laced varieties. With 
a dozen Fancy Polyanthuses Mr. R. Dean was well to 
the front, his plants being level in size and w r ell 
bloomed; and wfith an equally fine lot of double and 
single Primroses the same exhibitor was also first, 
Mr. Douglas in both cases being second. 
SUNLIGHT AND VEGETATION. 
Professor Schubeler of Christiania has found by 
investigation that the aroma as well as the colour of 
plants is greatly heightened by exposure to uninter¬ 
rupted sunlight. Thus the Norwegian Juniper has 
been found to yield a larger proportion of essential oil 
than more southern examples of the same shrub. 
This also has been shown to be the case with Lavender. 
With regard to such garden plants as common Celery, 
Garlic, and Onions, the flavour is said to have become 
so intensified as to render these vegetables no longer 
savoury to ordinary palates. This excess of aroma 
is found to be accompanied by a deficiency in sweet¬ 
ness. The Greengages, for example, of Christiania, 
although large and both finely-coloured and flavoured, 
are sour compared with those of France. Professor 
Schiibeler accordingly concludes that aroma is 
engendered by light, and sweetness by heat; and he 
finds this corroborated by the observations of Dr. 
Edmond Goze on the Strawberries grown at Coimbra, 
in Portugal, which are said to be exceedingly large 
and sweet, but very deficient in aroma and flavour. 
The most important result, how 7 ever, of these 
investigations is the discovery that seed raised under 
the continuous sunlight of Northern Scandinavia 
is superior to that grown further south, under the 
ordinary conditions of night and day. If seed taken 
from the south be planted as far north as it will grow 7 , 
the resulting seed is both larger and heavier than 
that sown ; and if it then be taken back and planted 
in its original home it gradually dwindles to its former 
dimensions. Still more remarkable is the fact that 
the seed from the southern locality ripens quicker in 
the far north, although the mean temperature may be 
lower; and this quality of speedy development also 
disappears gradually after the return of the seed to 
the south. The northern seeds have a thinner rind, 
germinate more rapidly, and have greater germinative 
power than those raised in the south. Numerous 
experiments on these points have been made by 
German and other agriculturists, and some of the 
results of these will be found in Forestry for February 
last. On comparing the w r eight of the rind with that 
of the core, Professor Haberlandt found that in a 
Norwegian sample of Oats the rind weighed 22-78 per¬ 
cent. of the entire seed, while the average of fourteen 
samples from other countries gave 27-15 per cent. 
In experiments with seeds of red Clover from various 
countries, while German seeds were found to possess 
an average germinative power of 60 to 70 per cent., it 
was frequently over 00 per cent, in the case of Swedish 
samples ; Swedish Wheat and other cereals were found 
to have an average germinative power of 93 to 95 per¬ 
cent. With regard to rapidity of germination, it w 7 as 
found that one hundred grains of German Barley 
developed one hundred and eighty-eight primordial 
roots in seventy-two hours after planting, while the 
Swedish seeds yielded nearly twice that number in the 
same time ; the total length of the roots in the latter 
beingtwo andahalf times that of the former. The seeds 
of trees belonging to the Fir and Pine tribes in Sweden 
were found to have a like superiority over those of more 
southern districts. Their greater vigour rendered 
them less liable to diseases arising from the attacks of 
fungi and insects; thus seeds of German and Swedish 
Pine were planted in alternate beds as an experiment 
in Denmark, with the result that while all the young 
plants were attacked by disease the Swedish specimens 
survived, while most of the German plants succumbed. 
The germinative power of German Pine seed is stated 
at from 30 to 40 per cent., while that of Sweden is 
said to be frequently 95 per cent. These facts seem 
to point to Northern Scandinavia as a source of seed 
for countries less favoured with summer sunlight, and 
already Swedish agriculturists in the southern districts 
of the peninsula are contracting for supplies of seed 
from their northern brethren. 
Great attention has of late years been paid by 
agriculturists and men of science in Sweden to this 
question of the comparative merits of seed grown in 
different latitudes, and the proof that has lately been 
afforded of the superiority of seed grown in high 
latitudes to all others is likely to lead to a gradual 
increase in the Swedish exports of this raw 7 product. 
The area of ground under cereal crops in Sweden has 
greatly increased of late years. There is ample room 
for extension of agriculture in this, one of the most 
thinly peopled countries of Europe, and Sweden may 
yet become, by virtue of its prolonged sunlight, one of 
the chief seed nurseries of the world.— Scotsman. 
. ■ ‘T^ C xiT -- 
Fruit Culture under Glass.— Melons : As soon 
as the rich aroma of the ripening fruits in the 
earliest house can be detected, a drier and more airy 
atmosphere should be maintained. Do not, however, 
withhold atmospheric moisture altogether. On the 
contrary, damp the floor of the house about eleven 
o’clock, and again about half-past three in the after¬ 
noon, w 7 hen reducing the air on bright days, and give 
sufficient clear water to the roots to prevent the 
plants from flagging. In order to impart high flavour 
to the fruit, leave the ventilators, top and bottom, open 
a little at night. 
Setting the Fkuits. —As the plants in successional 
houses come into flower the latter should be im¬ 
pregnated daily when the pollen is dry until the 
desired number of fruits are set pretty regularly over 
the plants, four or five of which, according to the 
condition of the plants and the size to which the 
respective varieties attain, will be sufficient to leave 
on each plant for a crop. 
The Atmosphere, which during the interval from 
the time the plants came into flower until they had 
set their fruit had been kept rather dry and airy day 
and night, should now be somewhat reversed ; that is 
to say, the houses and plants should be thoroughly 
syringed with tepid water first thing in the morning 
and again at closing time, half-past three in the 
afternoon during bright sunny weather. The houses, 
however, should be ventilated freely between the 
hours of opening (from half-past seven to eight 
in the morning, according to the aspect and 
character of the structure) and closing of the 
house, and water be distributed over the floor about 
eleven o’clock and again at one. Aim at a night 
temperature of 70 degs., and 15 degs. higher by sun- 
heat, and a free circulation of fresh air, and run it 
up to 90 degs. or 95 degs. at closing time, with, as 
already stated, plenty of atmospheric moisture, at 
the same time giving liberal supplies of tepid liquid 
manure to the roots when necessary. 
Successional Chops.- —Make successional plantings 
in houses, pits (vacated by Potatos), and frames, 
setting the plants on hillocks composed of rich fibry 
loam, with a little lime-rubble added, the same depth 
in the soil as they were in the pots. The hillocks, be 
it distinctly understood, should be made sufficiently 
high before setting the plants thereon to remain 3 ins. 
above the soil surrounding them after the necessary 
thickness of the latter to cover the roots protruding 
through the sides of the mound has been added 
thereto to prevent the lodgment of water, and 
consequently damp soil being about the stem of the 
individual plants, w 7 hich w-ould be likely to cause the 
latter to “canker” at the point of contact with the 
wet soil. 
In Planting, make the soil firm about the roots, 
and afterwards give sufficient tepid water to settle the 
former about the latter, and shade during the heat of 
the day until the roots have taken to the soil, after 
which it should be discontinued, and the plants 
exposed to the full force of the sun. 
Plants Swelling their Fruits in frames or hot¬ 
beds should have the fruit well exposed to the sun by 
elevating them on flower-pots after they have attained 
to the size of a bantam’s egg, for if exposed to the sun 
before they reached this size they w-ould probably 
turn yellow and fall off the plant. Keep the shoots 
w 7 ell thinned and pinched and the leaves clean, by 
making a judicious use of the syringe at closing time 
in the afternoon. Plants of such excellent varieties 
as Blenheim Orange and Cox’s Golden Gem should be 
prepared for taking the place of those from which the 
fruits have been cut by sowing seeds singly in 3-in. 
pots three parts filled with light mould a few weeks 
before the house is ready for them, shifting the young 
plants into larger pots, as they require more room 
at the roots prior to finally planting them on the 
mounds, which should have a little fresh soil added, 
and the glass and woodwork be thoroughly cleansed 
before planting takes place. 
Strawberries. —Keep Strawberry plants in every 
stage of growth well supplied -with water at the roots, 
giving those swelling then- fruit liberal supplies of 
weak tepid liquid manure until the berries begin to 
colour, w-hen clear water only should be given. Keep 
the fruit well thinned, leaving nine berries of uniform 
size to each plant, and the plants well syringed over¬ 
head twice a day, except those having ripe fruit on 
them, to keep down red-spider, and, with the same 
object in view, keep the roots and leaves of Fig 
trees -well supplied with moisture, and the shoots 
judiciously pinched.— H. IV. Ward, Longford Castle. 
The Fruit Room at Welford Park.—With 
regard to the system of keeping Apples here, alluded 
to in your last, I may say that the fruit-room is built 
with hollow walls and double roof, the under one being 
thatch, the outside tiles; there are two windows 
having shutters, which are generally kept closed, as 
light has a tendency to make fruit shrivel. The room 
is plastered, and in the middle of the ceiling there is a 
hatch about 18 ins. square ; there is a ventilator in 
each gable under the inner roof, which, with the hatch, 
are kept open for about six or eight weeks after the 
fruit is gathered, in order to carry off the moisture. 
When the fruit gets dry the ventilators are closed, and 
even when the weather is hot outside the room always 
feels cool. The shelves are made with spars 2J ins. 
broad, and between each there is an opening of f in. 
They are made'of Poplar, as all resinous woods are apt 
to give the fruit a bad flavour unless they are painted. 
But, besides a good fruit room, something else is 
required to keep fruit well. Apples should never be 
gathered till quite ripe, which is seldom the case, 
owing to the rough autumn winds; when put away 
they should all be lifted out of the basket by hand 
singly, not tumbled out anyhow, and those that are 
wanted for late use should have only one layer on a 
shelf; for the first supply they may be laid four or 
five deep. All decaying fruit should be taken away as 
soon as noticed, but the sound ones should not be 
touched till wanted; in short, it should be let alone 
and be kept cool and dark. In your notice of the 
Apples you say there were fifty-two; it should have 
been thirty-two varieties .—Charles Foss, Welford 
Park Gardens, April 20 th, 1885. 
-- ' - 
NEW GARDENING PATENTS. 
156. Boilers foe Heating Conservatories, Ac. (J. 
Watson, St. Albans).—The boiler is horizontal, and is 
constructed with its sides rising outward, then turning 
inward and upward, being joined above by the crown. 
The hot gases from the furnace below circulate out¬ 
side the boiler, and pass through an internal flue and 
pipes before escaping to the chimney. To increase 
the heating surface a w 7 edge-shaped water-way extends 
downward into the flue. 
1,036. Straw-Separating Apparatus (F. Barrett, 
Wisbeach).—The object is the more thorough separa¬ 
tion of the straw or haulm from the grain or seeds. 
For this purpose a series of adjustable ribrating-forks 
or blades are arranged upon a horizontal shaft over 
the shakers of a threshing machine. 
