66 
THF GARDENING WORLD 
October 1, 1892. 
FLORICULTURE. 
Auriculas at Reading. 
Quite a cluster of amateur cultivators of the Auri¬ 
cula reside at Reading, and of late years their 
culture has been so good that they take high places 
in the annual competition at the show held in London 
by the National Auricula Society. One of the most 
enthusiastic cultivators, and almost the father of the 
Auricula family at Reading, is Mr. Thomas Fife, of 
Southern Hill. Mr. Fife does not compete at the 
annual show at the Drill Hall because his plants 
being entirely grown in cold frames are never forward 
enough, and the bulk of the plants now staged for 
competition have to be brought on by means of the 
help of artificial heat so as to be well in flower by 
the third week in April. 
Mr. Fife began cultivating Auriculas about 1872, 
growing the Alpine varieties first, but he now 
confines himself to the show varieties, of which he 
has a good selection; and he also raises seedlings 
from crosses made with the best varieties. 
I called upon Mr. Fife last spring when his seed¬ 
lings were just coming into bloom. Some seedling 
green edges appeared to be full of promise, and they 
were obtained from various parentages. One ex¬ 
tremely promising variety was from a large seedling 
green edge and Ashton’s Prince of Wales ; this was 
of fine form, stout, with a strong tube, and black 
body colour. From Prince of Greens and Prince of 
Wales has been obtained a seedling following the 
character of Prince of Greens, but with a decidedly 
better tube. A highly promising flower has come 
from another green seedling and Prince of Wales. 
Other seedlings have been derived mainly from Prince 
of Greens and other flowers, Mr. Fife's great aim 
being to improve the green-edged varieties. From a 
cross made between John Simonite, white edge, and 
a heavy grey-edged seedling, Mr. Fife obtained 
thirty-two plants, among them some highly promising 
greys and several seifs, for no matter what cross is 
made seifs are sure to appear, which we may perhaps 
take as evidence the Auricula harks back to some 
primal form. 
Selfs too are being obtained by Mr. Fife. He has 
made a seed parent of Mrs. Potts, and crossing it 
with one or two good seedlings he has obtained 
capital types. 1 ndeed so much is Mr. Fife charmed 
with the work of raising seedlings that I should not 
be surprised if he reduced his named varieties of show 
Auriculas to a few cracks, and employed them as 
seed producers. Unfortunately the lateness of the 
blooming season with Mr. Fife prevents him from 
showing his seedlings at the Auricula show in 
London when in bloom ; but that he has secured 
some good things there can be no doubt.— R. D. 
-- ' 
ABOUT SEDGES AND 
GRASSES. 
“After the Grasses, the most widely distributed 
order of plants in the world is that of the Sedges,” 
says a botanist to a Washington Stay writer. 
“ Whereas the former are the most useful of all 
vegetable products to mankind the latter are much 
less useful. Whether found in marshes, ditches, or 
by running streams, flourishing in meadow's and 
forests, or on naked rocks, growing on the loose sand 
of the seashore, or elsewhere, they are almost 
uniformly of small value. Nevertheless, some few 
members of the family serve one purpose or another. 
In ancient times the ‘ Papyrus,’ likewise belonging to 
the order, was a very precious plant indeed, affording 
material for writing upon. Our word ‘paper’ is 
derived from it, as every one knows. 
“ The Egyptian name for Papyrus was ‘ biblion,’ 
from which our term ‘ bible ’ comes. Ordinarily the 
the plant grows in stagnant pools and lakes, but it 
will flourish in rapid streams, the angles of its three- 
cornered stem adapting themselves to break the force 
of the current. Although the material used for writing 
on is commonly supposed to have been obtained 
from the leaves such was not the case. It was got 
by separating into thin plates the cellular tissue which 
lies just beneath the outer coat of the stem. These 
were trimmed at their edges so as to meet equally 
and were laid side by side upon a flat table. Other 
pieces, similarly cut, were laid across them at right 
angles. They thus formed a sheet of many pieces, 
which w'ere made into one united substance and so 
transformed into a single sheet by simply sprinkling 
them with water, the gummy matter in them dis* 
solving and causing them to mutually adhere. 
“ The ancient Egyptians produced in this manner 
Papyrus sheets of a prodigious length One obtained 
by the famous traveller Belzoni was 23 ft. long by 
18 in. wide. From Egypt this primitive paper was 
for centuries exported in great quantities, 
especially to Greece and Rome. Until the invention 
of parchment — about 250 b.c. — it was employed 
exclusively for writings which were destined to be 
preserved. However, parchment did not for a long 
time supersede Papyrus, the demand for which at 
Rome continued for a considerable period after the 
beginning of the Christian era. The supply was 
interrupted by the invasion of Egypt by the Saracens 
in the seventh century, and from that time parch¬ 
ment was employed almost exclusively as a substi¬ 
tute. Nevertheless, its manufacture was continued 
as late as the eleventh century. 
“ The quantity made by the Egyptians of old must 
have been enormous, judging by the number of rolls 
of it found in the tombs and in mummy cases. In 
the museum of Naples there are nearly 1,800 manu¬ 
scripts written on Papyrus, which were dug out of a 
small part of the buried city of Herculaneum. From 
these the number that must have existed in the 
Roman empire at the time of the famous volcano 
eruption can be feebly guessed at. Papyrus, save in 
the quality of durability, seems to have been inferior 
to the paper now manufactured from rags of linen 
and cotton, judging from the specimens which have 
been preserved. The plant had many other uses 
anciently in Egypt and Ethiopia. People,chewed 
the roots for their pleasant juice, and the stalks were 
roasted, their soft, pulpy contents being afterward 
eaten. The stalks also afforded materials for ropes 
and cables, and the leaves were utilised, as they are 
at the present day, for making small boats, in which 
the inhabitants of the banks of theNile venture upon 
its waters.” 
- •*— -- 
SCOTTISH NOTES. 
The Weather in the North of Scotland.— 
Writing under date Saturday, 24th Sept., our Aber¬ 
deenshire correspondent says :—Severe frosts of quite 
abnormal intensity have prevailed in the North of 
Scotland during the past few days. On Tuesday night, 
Wednesday morning, Thursday morning, and again 
yesterday morning strong frosts prevailed, and 
reports from various districts are to the effect that 
considerable damage has been done to vegetation. 
The Potato tops over a wide area have been 
blackened ; and it is to be feared a large proportion 
of the crop has been seriously injured. On Wednes¬ 
day morning in the country, icicles were hanging 
from the eaves of outhouses, and from the Vale of 
Alford district it is reported that the ice on pools of 
was a quarter of an inch thick. In Aberdeen the 
city gardeners have had to rush in the more delicate 
plants to prevent their utter ruin. Away in the up¬ 
lands about Braemar the weather experienced during 
the past few days has been more like mid-winter 
rather than in the month of September. At Castle- 
ton Observatory (Braemar), the record made by Mr. 
James Aiken, Bank House, was 22 0 Fah., or io° of 
frost in the shade ; and the self-registering thermometer 
on the grass was down to 15 0 Fah., or I7 P of actual 
frost. Flower plots and shrubberies, wherever there 
happened to be anything exotic or of a delicate type, 
have been badly blasted. On Wednesday and Thurs¬ 
day the night frosts were followed by splendid sun¬ 
shine, the heat being almost oppressive. The baro¬ 
meter is both high and steady, and general appearances 
point to a likely spell of hard, dry weather. 
North of Scotland Horticultural and Ar- 
boricultural Association.— The members of this 
association held their annual meeting in Aberdeen on 
Wednesday evening, 22nd of September, Mr. C. S. 
France, president, in the chair. The secretary’s and 
treasurer’s reports were read and adopted. From 
the accounts it appeared that there was a balance to 
the credit of the association of £17 16s. ioAd. The 
following gentlemen were appointed office-bearers for 
the ensuing year:—President, Mr. C. S. France; 
vice-president, Mr. George Ross, Cranford ; joint 
secretaries, Mr. William Reid, Hadden Street, and 
Mr. J. Minty, Canal Road, Aberdeen ; treasurer, 
Mr. Wyllie. A motion anent alteration of rules 1, 
3, and 3 of the constitution of the association 
was then brought forward. Regarding rule 
1, the name of the association was altered to 
the “ North of Scotland Horticultural and 
Arboricultural Association ” ; to rule 3, the following 
addendum was made:—“ Amongst means for ex¬ 
tending the objects of the association we are to grant 
awards for essays on, and for collections of, native 
Herbaria and woods.” Rule 5 w r as altered to admit 
apprentices at a subscription of is. per annum. 
Three silver medals were offered as awards for the 
subjects mentioned above—a maximum sum of £3 3s. 
being voted for the purpose. The usual votes of 
thanks terminated the proceedings. 
Instruction for Practical Foresters and 
Gardeners.— By arrangement between the Commis¬ 
sioners of Her Majesty’s Works and the Board of 
Agriculture, a course of study in the sciences under¬ 
lying the practice and in the principles of forestry 
and horticulture is to be instituted in October next, 
at the Royal Botanic Garden, Edinburgh, for 
practical foresters and gardeners. The scheme is 
that which has been promoted by Professor Bayley 
Balfour, Regius Professor of Botany, and which was 
mentioned in August last at the annual meeting of the 
Royal Scottish Arboricultural Society. A circular just 
issued gives, however, details of the curriculum and 
the manner in which applicants for the benefit of the 
education which is to be imparted must enter for it. 
The curriculum is to extend over two and a half 
years, and will include the following subjects:—- 
Chemistry, physics, meteorology, geology, surveying 
and mensuration, entomology, botany, forestry, and 
horticulture, and these will be taught practically as 
far as is possible. The curriculum .is to be free of 
charge to those who are admitted to it, and the times 
of the classes are to be arranged so as not to inter¬ 
fere with the usual hours of labour. No one is to be 
admitted who has not had at least three years of 
practical experience in forestry or gardening, and ap¬ 
plicants have to submit a recommendation and cer¬ 
tificate of character from their employer. Under the 
scheme the difficulty of young working foresters 
coming into Edinburgh to receive scientific training 
in their profession is surmounted. A certain number 
of the men will be employed as members of the 
working staff of the Royal Botanic Garden, Edin¬ 
burgh, during the period of the curriculum, and, 
serving under all the regulations in force in the 
Garden, will receive the current wages of their 
grade. 
Through the co-operation of the nurserymen in 
Edinburgh, arrangements will be made for the em¬ 
ployment ot others in the nurseries about Edinburgh 
during the period of the curriculum. Those who are 
admitted to the curriculum are to be examined from 
time to time upon the subjects of study, and any one 
who does not show satisfactory progress may be de¬ 
barred from continuing the curriculum. If there are 
too many applicants some method of selection may 
be adopted. In an accompanying letter which 
Professor Bayley Balfour has sent out asking for the 
co-operation of all interested in forestry and garden¬ 
ing, he says :— “ I would specially invite your atten¬ 
tion to that feature of the scheme by which it is pro¬ 
posed to find employment in and about Edinburgh 
for young men from a distance desirous of taking 
advantage of the instruction offered, and in this way 
to enable them to support themselves during the 
period of study. The wage obtainable w'ould be 17s. 
per week in the Botanic Garden, and about 2s. 6d. 
per day in nurseries. The advantages of the oppor¬ 
tunities of study afforded by the scheme are so evident 
that they will probably be sufficient to induce good 
men to accept employment in Edinburgh at the rates 
mentioned, even although some diminution in their 
earnings is thereby involved. There is, however, the 
possibility that a deserving man might be called upon 
to make a pecuniary sacrifice in taking such employ¬ 
ment which circumstances would not allow him to 
contemplate, and he might thus be precluded from 
attending the course. To meet such cases, and to 
supplement the wage obtainable, it has been sug¬ 
gested that the County Councils and other bodies 
having control of the administration of funds which 
could be allocated to such a purpose might, in 
different localities, see their way to making small 
grants in the form of bursaries to aid men desirous of 
working through the curriculum, and that many 
individual proprietors would be glad to give some 
additional pecuniary help to young men from their 
neighbourhood who wish to reap the benefit of the 
education offered.” — Scotsman. 
