May 11, 1896. 
THE GARDENING WORLD 
583 
THE VEGETABLE GARDEN, 
The warm sun, combined with the rather chilly 
drying winds that it has fallen to our lot to experience 
during the past few days, are exercis : ng a very 
parching effect upon vegetation generally, and on 
light soils particularly the want of rain is beginning 
to be severely felt. But this time of partial drought 
is not without its advantages, for there will be no 
excuse this season for the presence of the large 
quantities of weeds which a wet springtime invariably 
calls into existence. By the frequent use of the 
Dutch hoe they may be destroyed as soon as seen, 
for in the presence of the bright sun they will have 
but a short shrift once they are cut through at the 
root. 
Celery. —The making of the trenches for the 
earlier crop must be put in hand as soon as possible 
now. They should be marked out before a spit of 
earth is turned, so that the workmen may see at a 
glance what is required. A distance of at least 3J ft. 
must be allowed between the trenches, which them¬ 
selves should be. 18 in. in width and 1 ft. in depth. 
The soil taken out must be neatly stacked in the 
intervening spaces. A good dressing of well-rotted 
manure must then be spread in the trench and this 
dug in, thoroughly incorporating it with the soil. 
It is very necessary that a dry time should be chosen 
for the making of these trenches, more particularly 
on heavy soils, for during wet weather the necessary 
trampling will cause the soil to become worked 
almost into mud. Every advantage, therefore, 
should be taken of the present favourable oppor¬ 
tunity for forwarding work of this class. On the 
mounds of soil between the trenches may be planted 
rows of Lettuces, early Cauliflowers, or any crop 
that will be off the ground by the time that the soil 
is wanted for the earthing up of the Celery. 
Runner Beans. —The time has now arrived when 
the first sowing of these must be made. With a 
view to their accommodation a piece of vacant land 
will have been well manured and trenched during 
the past autumn, the surface soil being left in rough 
ridges through the winter. These, if not already 
done, should be levelled done and the seed sown in 
rows. The distance between these rows will vary 
according to the ideas of the cultivator. Some 
gardeners prefer to allow plenty of room, and to crop 
the intervening spaces with other vegetables. At 
any rate 6 ft. should be allowed between the rows. 
Beetroot.— In most establishments this useful 
vegetable is in more or less request, and steps must 
now be taken to sow the seed. Although the best 
will grow almost anywhere, a light open position 
unshaded by trees, and a free rich soil will always 
produce the best roots. The usual method is to sow 
the seed in drills about one foot apart, afterwards 
thinning out the seedlings as required; and for 
ordinary purposes this plan answers very well indeed. 
If extra fine roots are required instead of sowing in 
this way holes may be made with the crowbar as for 
Carrots and Parsnips, filled up with light rich soil 
with which a small quantity of wood-ashes has been 
mixed. On the top of these holes several seeds may 
be sown, and all the seedlings but one resulting, 
subsequently removed as soon as it can be decided 
which is the best to leave. 
Spinach.— As the earlier sown rows of the round 
or summer Spinach becomes sufficiently advanced 
to pick from, the plantation of the winter Spinach 
which will have done such good service should be 
dug in. The spade should be well plied and the 
plants thoroughly chopped up before they are dug 
in, for when treated thus they form a valuable 
manure. Successional sowings of summer Spinach 
must be made at intervals according to the demand 
as it does not remain long in condition but soon 
commences to run to seed. 
Herbs. —These are always in request, and atten¬ 
tion must now be paid in order that the supply of 
none of them falls short. Parsley is among the most 
important of them all, and sowings of this should be 
made without delay along the edges of the paths, or 
indeed anywhere that a little room can be found for 
it. Chervil although not much sought after is some¬ 
times called for. A little of it should therefore be 
kept in stock and a few pinches of seed sown now 
will furnish a sufficiency of plants from which to 
pick the required leaves. Sage may be propagated 
by means of cuttings which strike readily enough at 
this season of the year. Young plants of Sweet 
Marjoram and Sweet Basil which have been raised 
from seed sown in under glass may now be planted 
out on prepared borders, watering them well in and 
shading if required.- K. G. 
Odontoglossum crispum.— The cool houses are 
becoming gay with this the finest of all the Odonto- 
glossums, and I might say the Queen of Orchids. 
When we consider the ease with which they can be 
grown and the variability of the species, for it is 
very rare that we get two alike, makes it very 
interesting to watch them opening their flowers for 
the first time in this country. We have, at present, 
numerous spikes in various stages on plants which 
have not flowered over here before. Again, what a 
large quantity can be put into a comparatively small 
house as compared with most other Orchids, to say 
nothing of the small cost of the fuel required to keep 
the temperature up during the winter months. 
The principal work in this department now 
will be to keep the plants well supplied with mois¬ 
ture. This may be done by a free use of the syringe ; 
we syringe our plants overhead in the morning and 
again in the afternoon on bright days, and this 
treatment with plenty of air on at top and bottom is 
just what they like, for without air no Orchids will 
keep in good health for any length of time. Yellow 
and sickly-looking foliage denotes too much heat and 
not enough air, but with heat, moisture, air, and 
shade nicfely balanced, the plants and moss will grow 
and do well year after year. 
Plants in Flower should be arranged at one 
end if possible so that when the syringing is done 
it will not extend to them or the flowers will become 
spotted. Just enough warmth should be maintained 
in the pipes at night to keep the temperature from 
falling lower than 50°, for although the sun is 
powerful in the daytime the nights are still cold, and 
with a little warmth in the pipes the bottom 
ventilators can be left open. The foliage will then 
again become dry by the morning, which is, I think, 
an advantage, though contrary to what they are used to 
in their native homes. But then circumstances alter 
cases. 
Insects.— Yellow thrips are partial to Odonto- 
glossums, and if left to themselves will soon do a lot 
of damage, not only to the foliage but to the spikes 
as well by crippling the flowers. But there is 
no excuse now, I think, for their presence, with such 
an excellent preventative as the XL All Vaporising 
Fumigator available. Since using this we have not 
been troubled with either green fly or thrips of any 
kind. 
Slugs. —These are now our worst enemies. There 
seems this year to be a plague of them, so numerous 
are they. The only thing to do is to keep a constant 
watch for them. A piece of cotton-wool placed 
round the base of the spike retards their progress 
somewhat, and enables one to perhaps catch them 
before they get to the spikes.— C. 
* 
Apricots on Walls.— The thinning of the fruit 
must be commenced as soon as it has reached the 
size of small marbles, but it is very necessary that 
too many should not be removed until a later period, 
for, like Peaches, the fruits may drop wholesale as 
they approach the stoning stage. It is imperative 
that the coverings should be removed as far as 
possible, for growth has now so far advanced that to 
keep branches of evergreen on now would be to 
seriously affect the health of the foliage and thus of 
the tree. 
Strawberries. —Plantations of these should now 
receive a thorough watering if they are at all in¬ 
clined to become dry. If a supply of liquid farm¬ 
yard manure is available so much the better, as a 
liberal application of this in a weak state will be of 
the utmost service to the plants. If the beds have 
not been attended to for mulching they must be 
looked after at once, in order that the fruit may not 
come in direct contact with the soil when they are 
extremely liable to be spoilt by rain washing the 
earth over them. Clean straw is, of course, the best 
material to use, but where this cannot be had in 
sufficient quantities long stable litter may be made 
to serVe the same purpose. 
(Meanings fuum 
af Science 
Proliflcation of the Flowers of Mignonette. 
—A very curious case of prolification occurs in the 
flowers of a variety of Reseda odorata, named the 
Bush Hill White Mignonette. The growth and 
habit of the plant appears quite normal, and the 
development of the flowers appears to be so up to a 
certain stage. They expand in succession all along 
the main stem as well as upon lateral branches; the 
small petals drop, and the young capsules appear as 
if they intended to ripen a crop of seeds. Instead of 
this the capsule is carried beyond the calyx a little 
way by the lengthening of the internodes there, and 
the axis from the centre of the open capsule elon¬ 
gates and actually forms a short branch bearing a 
fresh crop of flowers, and making the plant more 
floriferous and of greater decorative value than it 
was at first. The primary flowers may be seen still 
opening on the top of the leading stems, while the 
older ones have developed into the flowering fruits 
just mentioned. Both sets of flowers are contem¬ 
poraneous upon the same plants and the same stems, 
so that the flowering period of this variety of 
Mignonette is very much extended. Owing to this 
peculiar behaviour the Bush Hill White Mignonette 
is perfectly barren and has to be propagated from 
cuttings. 
Phyllody of the calyx of Trifolium pratense. 
—This frequently occurs in the White Clover (T. 
repens), and instances of it may be detected in 
different localities by interested observers. It is a 
case of abnormal growth or development of the 
calyx whereby the sepals come to resemble the true 
leaves of the plant in form, texture and colour, 
though it may be and usually is on a smaller scale. 
Hitherto I have frequently met with T. repens in 
this condition, but had not observed T. pratense 
behaving in this erratic way till September last. It 
did not occur as an isolated specimen, but in vigorous 
plants here and there all over a cultivated field n-ar 
Beachy Head and at a considerable altitude above 
sea level. The sepals formed leaflets of some con¬ 
siderable size, and collectively made the flower heads 
conspicuous, though quite green. The corollas were 
poorly developed and conspicuous. The question 
arises whether this Clover field was the product of a 
particular strain of seed having this tendency, or 
whether the soil was responsible for this particular 
behaviour of the plants. The elevation could hardly 
be accountable for it seeing that Clover and Clover 
fields may be seen at higher altitudes inland without 
anything abnormal being observable. 
A Sacred Bean in the Thames.—While some 
writers entertain very grave doubt whether the 
SacredtBean or Egyptian Bean ever grew wild or 
was indigenous to the Nile, and others deny that 
there is any evidence of it whatever, it may be some 
consolation to us to know that a species of Nelum- 
bium once grew in the Thames, under conditions 
that prelude any idea of their having ever been 
planted there by man. It has long been known that 
many tropical and other fruits have been unearthed 
from the London clay at the mouth of the Thames, 
to wit, in the island of Sheppy. Several Palms, or 
the fruit of them, have been discovered in the same 
locality, under conditions, apparently, that argue 
that the fruits have be?n conveyed by water and 
deposited there unknown ages ago. The Thames a 
that time was in all probability a tributary, and 
Britain itself formed a part of the continent. The 
fruits in question are not impressions and casts, such 
as occur for instance in the earliest of geological 
times, like the mythical eozoon which modern re¬ 
searches reduce to mere crystallisations. They are 
the actual fruits, blackened, of course, but which 
have retained their natural shape, somewhat 
shrunk it may be. Nevertheless, the Sacred Bean in 
question has been named Nelumbium microcarpum, 
which signifies a small fruited species. The fruit 
might measure from J in. to 1 in. across the top 
and the holes in the receptacle for the carpels or 
real fruits are very small. Specimens in spirits or pre¬ 
servative fluid may be seen in the room of the New 
Natural History Museum, South Kensington, where 
the fossil plants are arranged. The Nelumbium 
constitutes part of Dr. Bowerbank’s collection.—r 
Chrysanthemums and their Culture. By Edwin 
Molyneux. Eighth Edition. By far the best practical work j et 
written on this subject. Price, is.; post free, is. ad. Publisher, 
Gsrpeniho World, i, Clement's Inn, Strand, London, W.C, 
