202 
THE GARDENING WORLD. 
November 24, 1894. 
cup until the next exhibition. These groups had to be 
arranged in a space of ioo square feet, and inter¬ 
spersed with foliage plants, and the effect of arrange¬ 
ment throughout was wonderfully effective. Medium 
sized Palms stood out in bold relief here and there, 
and finely coloured Crotons, Eulalias and Coleus 
added colour and brightness to the whole, while the 
large and massive blooms of the Chrysanthemums 
stood out boldly, and in many cases the stem is so 
trained below the foliage plants as to give the ap¬ 
pearance of beautiful dwarf specimens. As each 
group is backed up by the walls of the building, 
advantage is taken to clothe the same with verdure, 
and with the exception of one group the arrange¬ 
ment in all was very much after the manner of 
rockwork with well-clothed and undulating hollows 
which might be said to imitate water below. The 
arrangement certainly was most telling and the Hull 
growers are to be congratulated on the pains and 
time that was given to make this marked effect. 
Of the six groups the first prize was awarded to 
Mr. George C. Coates, gardener to W. Wheatley, 
Esq., Anlaby Road, Hull; the second to Mr. Gled- 
hill Cottam, Alma Gardens, Cottingham ; the third 
to Mr. A. Pike, gardener to C. H. Wilson, Esq., M P., 
Warter Priory, Pocklington, and the Hull Corpora¬ 
tion Parks Committee was awarded the fourth 
prize. 
The groups of miscellaneous plants were also 
magnificently done, more especially that of Mr. 
Wilson, gardener to Sir J. Reckitt, and this was 
also an imitation arrangement of water and clothed 
rocks, in fact lichen covered cork bark was freely 
used to give the effect. Some lovely Crotons were 
here displayed on straight stems. C. Johannis, fully 
6 ft. high, was clothed with its highly-coloured 
foliage right down over the rim of the pot. Fine 
Cocos Weddeliana, variegated Eulalias, Pandanus, 
Cypripediums, Calanthes, and Asparagus tenuissi- 
muswere plentifully dispersed throughout this unique 
arrangement. A. Smith, Esq., was awarded the 
second prize, and Mr. H. Taylor the third. 
For a dessert table, 8 ft. x 4 ft., completely laid out 
for six persons, only Chrysanthemums with any kind 
of foliage to be used in its decoration, brought six 
competitors, the first prize being £4 4s. in money, 
and a piece of Challenge Plate value £5 5s. This 
was awarded to Miss Fanny Topham, Hotham Hall, 
Brough, for a tasteful arrangement of single flowers 
with Eulalia, Smilax, and Selaginellas plentifully 
used to add to the effect. Mrs. H. Leonard, 
Ivy House, Preston, was placed second; Source d'Or 
mixed with Smilax, Ferns, and Asparagus were the 
principle features in her arrangement. Mrs. T. F. 
Judge, Helmsley, Cottingham, was placed third, but 
exhibited heavier blooms. A plentiful display of 
bouquets, Epergnes, crosses, wreaths, &c., were also 
exhibited and much admired, and taken collectively 
the show throughout was a most excellent one. The 
Hon. Secretaries, Messrs. Harland and Dixon, are to 
be congratulated on their marked success. Everything 
that possibly could be done, both for the comfort of 
exhibitors, visitors, or judges, was done punctually 
to the moment, and the only drawback was the 
heavy rainfall on the opening May. We can only 
hope the executive did not suffer in consequence, for 
they richly deserved unqualified success. 
CHURCHTOWN WINTER GARDENS. 
Those of our gardening friends who may at any 
time pay a visit to Southport should not fail to run 
out to the Churchtown Winter Gardens, for they 
are remarkably well kept up, and the courteous 
superintendent, Mr. Bull, has at all seasons some¬ 
thing of interest to show to visitors. At the present 
time his display of Chrysanthemums is very fine 
in the grand winter garden. On either side of the 
entrance are some hundreds of plants, well flowered, 
and including all the popular sorts. The plants, 
too, are much dwarfer than they are usually seen. 
Most conspicuous among them is a gigantic bloom 
of Charles Davis, fully 22 in. in circumference and 
10 in. deep. There is also a bloom of Viviand 
Morel just under 9 in. deep and 22 in. in circum¬ 
ference, and better flowers than these I have not 
seen this season. Edwin Molyneux, Sunflower, 
William Holmes, Mdlle. Therese Rey, Stanstead 
White, W. H. Lincoln, Lord Brooke, Lord Alcester, 
the old Jardin des Plantes, and Anna Hartshorn are 
all extraordinarily well done. The groups are edged 
in front with well-grown Isolepsis gracilis, which 
makes a splendid finish. 
The fernery is now one of the most natural looking 
that I have seen, and the gigantic tree ferns and 
nobler specimens of Woodwardia radicans are in 
grand condition. The vineries have yielded 
enormous crops of fine fruit, and judging by the 
samples still hanging they would have done honour 
to their grower at any exhibition. Mr. Bull is 
certainly to be congratulated on the success of his 
efforts in all departments.— Rusticus. 
MUSHROOMS AT GUNNERSBURY 
HOUSE. 
Reference has been made in a previous issue of the 
Gardening World to various places in which the 
successful cultivation of the Mushroom, other than 
the regular Mushroom house has been conducted. 
Amongst other places allusion was made to an old 
wine cellar in the vicinity of London. Such a place 
is utilised with the best possible results at Gunners- 
bury House, which is the property of the Messrs. De 
Rothschild, the gardener, Mr. Hudson, being very 
well known in the horticultural world as an able 
and successful practitioner. Throughout the whole of 
the year abundant supplies of the coveted esculent are 
obtained from beds made upon the floor of the cellar 
in question. 
At the period of my visit, Saturday, November 
17th, several of the beds were in full bearing, and 
seldom, indeed, is it that one sees such a sight as 
these beds afforded. Countless numbers of Mush¬ 
rooms of all sizes and in all stages of development 
were thickly sprinkled over the surface of the beds, 
evidently guaranteeing sufficient supplies for some 
time to come, whilst other beds had been spawned 
or were in process of construction, to form suitable 
successions. Needless to say, the culture of the Mush¬ 
room here is conducted upon regular and systematic 
lines, each bed being furnished with a label bearing 
the date of spawning and other information of a like 
character. As there are no means of applying 
artificial heat to the cellar during the prevalence 
of severe frosts, it is supplemented by a regular 
Mushroom house furnished with such conveniences, 
so that between the two places there is but little fear 
of the supplies of this always appreciated article 
running short. We have seen Mushroom houses 
which have been constructed regardless of expense, 
and furnished with elaborate iron or slate beds 
where, from some cause or other, nothing like satis¬ 
factory crops have been obtained. Like many other 
things, Mushroom growing is a very simple and a 
very easy operation—when you know how to do it 
and at Gunnersbury House, at any rate, they are in 
possession of the secret of success.— Agaricus. 
-- 
FERTILISERS AND FEEDING STUFFS.* 
Although this small book is primarily intended for 
the use of farmers, it is full of information which 
would be equally suitable for the edification of 
gardeners, and wouid furnish plant cultivators 
generally with many a useful hint, particularly 
concerning the relative value of farmyard manure 
and artificial fertilisers, as well as certain crops 
which are benefited by special kinds of manure. In 
discussing the value of farmyard manure, the ques¬ 
tion of peat moss litter versus straw as absorbents of 
the fertilising matters in the stables of horses and 
cattle are discussed. The various classes of animals 
and what they are fed upon are also taken into 
account. Dung is merely dung with most gardeners, 
no matter what is its composition or how it is made. 
In many private establishments in rural districts the 
gardener is glad to get a moderate supply of manure 
of any kind from the stables, and very frequently he 
has no control over the making of it or the waste of 
the same when badly made or preserved. But on 
the other hand there are cases where he has the 
control of the same, and that opportunity should be 
utilised to the fullest extent. 
The value of manure from cattle fed on linseed 
and other cakes is compared, and the fact is stated 
that linseed cake contains three or four times as 
much nitrogen as certain of them. It is also well 
known to many good farmers that the manure from 
cows that are turned into the fields during the day 
in summer and housed at night is far richer in 
fertilising elements than that made from straw and 
turnips in winter. The author gives some valuable 
hints as to the prevention of the waste of the virtue 
* “ Fertilisers and Feeding Stuffs; their Properties and 
Uses," by Bernard Dyer, D.Sc. (Lond.) “Notes on the Act,” 
by Alex. J. David, B.A., LL.M. (Cantab) London : Crosby 
Lockwood & Son, 7, Stationers' Hall Court, Ludgate Hill, 1894. 
of manure by covering the heap with earth, thus 
saving the loss of 20 per cent., calculated by that of 
nitrogen, its most valuable constituent. Failing this 
precaution daring the process of making, the author 
considers that the sooner the manure is placed on 
the land the better. 
Farmyard manure must always constitute the 
most important means of recuperating the land, for 
various reasons which the reader should find out 
from the book itself; but the question of artificial 
manures will even then be of burning importance, 
because in returning the other to the land some of 
the constituents removed by plants must be with¬ 
held, however, well the manure is made. The 
chief or leading complaint against artificial fertilisers, 
perhaps, is their readily available character, so that 
their value is soon over. To this the writer replies 
that it means capital returned again in the first crop ; 
whereas in the case of long lasting manures the 
capital must lie idle in the land for a number of 
years. As an illustration of this fact the case of 
coarse crushed bones is compared with fine bone 
meal. So far as annual crops are concerned this 
argument is forcible ; but half inch bones for vines 
in the garden and hops in the field, furnish a supply 
of available plant food at hand for many years. It 
is true, however, that fresh applications are most 
effective the first year only, and that year by year 
they become less valuable as they lie in the soil. 
On the other hand it is claimed that artificial 
manures improve the value of the land inasmuch as 
the heavier the corn and turnip crops the greater 
the amount of manure to be made from them, while 
the increased forage crops, the leaves and roots of 
turnips, mangel, and others left on the land to be 
ploughed or dug in, must in the nature of things 
increase the fertility of the soil by so much. The 
various kinds of artificial manures are discussed and 
the observant can derive useful hints for their 
practical application according to the particular 
purpose they are intended to subserve. The large 
demand for artificial manures has encouraged the 
discovery of plant foods from what at first sight 
would seem unlikely sources. A chapter on the 
application of fertilisers discusses the plant foods 
which are more specially beneficial to particular 
crops. An Appendix to the book gives the substance 
of the Fertilisers and Feeding Stuffs Act, 1893, 
with notes thereon, and some may find it useful, and 
to others it may prove interesting. 
-- 
STRANGE TROPICAL PLANTS. 
Lecturing at the London Institution, on the 5th 
inst., on some vegetable curiosities that he or other 
botanists have tested and found to be genuine, Dr. 
Morris, the Assistant Director at Kew, said there is, 
for instance, the Cocoa-nut Pearl. More than a 
century ago an old Dutch botanist described large 
pearls which he asserted were found in the milk of 
the Cocoa-nut. But the statement was derided at 
the time and ultimately forgotten. The pearls, 
however, are what our American cousins would call 
a solid fact. The Cocoa Palm has a fondness for 
taking up lime salts in its sap, and occasionally 
seizes the opportunity to deposit some of the mineral 
in the milk cavity of the fruit precisely as does the 
oyster within his muscular coat. The Cocoa-nut 
pearls are a little duller than the mussel pearls, but 
otherwise their composition is identical. Pearls are 
reputed by ancient writers out of the buds of the 
Jasmin and Magnolia, but there is no confirmation 
of this yet. Concerning that industrious reed the 
Bamboo, Mr. Morris had a good deal to say. One 
of its eccentricities is that it deposits true opals in 
its joints. These vegetable opals are much prized by 
the natives of the Celebes for charms against disease. 
Other trees deposit their mineral matter in rougher 
and less elegant fashion. Sir F. Abel found a tree 
in India with a slab of naturally deposited limestone 
in its trunk 8 ft. in length. A good deal of the 
Indian teak which comes to this country has to be 
rejected on account of the stony matter it contains, 
which plays sad havoc with saw blades and edge 
tools. There are many tropical shrubs and 
herbaceous plants which possess medicinal and 
chemical properties that are still a puzzle to science. 
What, for instance, can be made of the Gymonemia 
or “taste-spoiling” plant of Southern India? If 
you chew the leaves there is a slightly sweet taste 
in the mouth. But the next moment you find that 
the palate has become absolutely dead to the taste 
of sugar or other sweet substances, while quinine 
