208 
i'HE GARDENING WORLD. 
December 3, 1892. 
planting to be so freely done, it has also 
been accompanied with such ample rains 
that, once planting is properly done, growth 
is inevitable. 
^he Condition of Agriculture.— 
“ Although we are not agriculturists in 
the ordinary acceptation of the term, yet 
is there a far closer alliance between hor¬ 
ticulture and agriculture than is generally 
supposed. Especially is it so in the matter 
of sympathy, for all who have to do with 
the produce of the soil have similar in¬ 
stincts and intimate associations. With 
the present very distressed condition of 
agriculture we have much of concern, pro¬ 
vided it be shown that the agitation now 
being promoted is not political, and de¬ 
vised to create difficulties for the new 
Government. 
We cannot but note that this agita¬ 
tion has taken a stronger hold of the 
agricultural mind since the General Elec¬ 
tion, and should it be shown that party 
wire-pullers are promoting it for the pur¬ 
pose of embarrassing the new Government 
then will the movement recoil on their own 
heads. But it may be, on the other hand, 
that the agricultural interest look for 
ameliorative measures in reladon to land 
that they could not obtain from the late 
Government and Parliament. The move¬ 
ment will have to be watched with some 
sympathy and some distrust. So far as 
regards agriculture generally, it is sur¬ 
prising to find what is its present condition, 
when (except Wheat) all other land produce 
is relatively higher than it was some twenty 
years ago. Whilst bad seasons, such as 
the past one, have done exceeding harm to 
farmers there is yet very much to be ex¬ 
plained. 
When we see on every hand market¬ 
gardening, and especially fruit culture, at 
home so relatively prosperous, and the 
culture of allotments and small holdings 
equally so, it is so very difficult to under¬ 
stand why large farms, if fairly rented, 
should not pay. Is it found in the too- 
evident fact that the modern farmer is 
more swell than worker, and thinks more 
of the contents of his stable and his cellar 
than of his personal labours. Certainly no 
man should embark in agriculture who is 
not prepared to undergo rough work and 
plenty of it, and to put his pride in his 
pocket. 
arket Gardening. —This term covers 
now a very wide range of production 
and of cultivation, and there are plenty of 
critics who rail at our indifference to the 
immensity of foreign importations of fruit 
and vegetables, who have reallv no concep¬ 
tion whatever of the amount of capital now 
invested in this class of enterprise, and how 
much is being done in myriads of ways and 
directions to grapple with the various trade 
problems that foreign competition creates. 
One thing which has to be carefully re¬ 
garded is the bent of the public taste for 
certain products, and that taste must be 
watched and catered for. 
Happily it is not so fluctuating an 
element as are articles of attire, but there is 
always some uncertainty hanging over the 
matter. For that reason the market gar¬ 
den trade or industry, although it must 
ultimately develop enormously, yet must 
do so tentatively, especially in relation to 
products which have yet to be made not 
only more popular, but to become perma¬ 
nently so. The fact is our great need is 
found in the ci eating of stronger tastes for 
fruit and vegetable produce. There is so 
much room tor such development in that 
direction, and the faster that development 
the more readily will market growers haste 
to meet it. 
When it is advised in reference to small 
holdings and allotments that it may be 
difficult to find proper markets for their 
produce, we reply that the needs of the 
families of the growers seem to be over¬ 
looked, and if these exist more largely upon 
the products o c the soil as grown at home, 
they will have less need to sell for the pur¬ 
chase of other and too often less healthful 
or nutritious articles of food. There can 
be absolutely no doubt but that presently 
the demand for the beautiful products of 
garden culture will enormously increase, 
and to supply that demand we may well 
hope to see presently thousands of acres of 
land agriculturally waste brought into 
higher and more profitable cultivation. 
5The Art of Cooking Vegetables. —Some 
^ time since, as we noted at the time, 
Messrs. Sutton & Sons, of Reading, pub¬ 
lished a most instructive book on the “ Art 
of Cooking Vegetables.” The object of the 
firm was to diffuse a wider knowledge re¬ 
specting vegetable cookery, less from the 
ordinary cook’s aspect than from that of a 
connoisseur in vegetables, and whose desire 
it was to preserve in the highest degree the 
flavour and quality of vegetables without 
drowning them, as is so commonly the case, 
in water. 
Generally we find the book to urge the 
cooking of vegetables entire rather than in 
a cut state. It seems hardly to matter 
whatever be the sort or kind, but there can 
be no doubt but that the more vegetables 
are divided and stewed or saturated 
rather than properly cooked, the less nutri¬ 
tious are they, and far less palatable. We 
very much doubt whether in connection 
with the instructionon cookerynow sogener- 
ally given in schools and classes, one half of 
the valuable information found in this book' 
is utilised. Tc secure in vegetables the 
highest flavour and quality when cooked 
seems to be in most cases of ordinary treat¬ 
ment rather a secondary consideration. 
The chief object of ordinary cookery 
seems less to make vegetables naturally 
palatable, than to render them so by the 
aid of condiments, gravies, &c. That 
is indeed a misfortune; vegetarianism ought 
to utilise such a book as that to which we 
refer, and it has to be said in relation to 
that movement that whilst it is trying to 
do much to popularise fruit and vegetables 
as articles of food, it yet does so very largely 
by serving them up as messes rather than 
as having strong natural attractions, which 
should always be regarded as the primary 
consideration. 
--— - 
The French Horticultural Society of London.—We 
are asked to state that the head-quarters of this 
society are now at the Hotel des Vrais Amis, 4. Old 
Compton Street, Soho Square, W.C. 
The Kingston and Surbiton Chrysanthemum Society's 
Show of 1893 will be held on November 7th and 8th. 
Gardening Engagements. —Mr. Hugh Crichton, for 
over twenty-five years gardener to the late James T. 
Caird, Esq., of Belleaire, has been appointed gar¬ 
dener to Dr. Cameron, M.P., Balclutha, Greenock. 
The Edinburgh Chrysanthemum Show. —It is re¬ 
ported that 26,000 persons visited this exhibition 
and that over £850 was taken at the turnstiles, a 
considerable increase over last year's receipts. 
Tree Planting in Com emara. —Messrs. Dicksons & 
Co., Waterloo Place, Edinburgh, have been entrusted 
by the Irish Land Commission with a very extensive 
order for young Larch trees, to be used in the 
Government scheme fore the afforestation of waste 
land in Connemara. 
Toope’s Patent Fog Purifier. —We regret to find 
that when discussing the merits of Mr. Toope’s 
patented system of purifying fog in our last issue we 
inadvertently did him an injustice in stating that he 
makes his piping and patent heating apparatuses of 
zinc, whereas we should have said the best lead 
coated sheet steel. 
Death of Mr John Downie—We very deeply 
regret to record the death, on Friday morning last 
of Mr. John Downie, of 144, Princes Street, Edin¬ 
burgh, and of Beechill Nursery, Murrayfield. For 
a lengthened period he had been more or less ailing ; 
hopes were entertained that he would again rally, 
but it was otherwise ordered. During the last half- 
century he has been one of the most prominent 
horticulturists in Scotland, and his influence and 
connections extend to all parts of Great Pritain. He 
was remarkable for his kindness, uprightness, 
shrewdness, energy and tact, distinctly a Scotchman 
of the old stamp, with a peculiar genuine richness 
(for his advanced age) of youthful buoyancy. He 
had great experience in landscape gardening, and his 
counsel and services were much requested. In the 
making and renovating of a large number of the 
principal gardens in Scotland he was consulted, and 
his services taken advantage of. He was the intro¬ 
ducer into Scotland of the fancy Pansy, and many 
other florists flowers have been greatly improved 
b/ him, and a mighty impetus given to their 
popularity. His own collections are well known to 
be exceptionally fine. Substantial proof has been 
given to him from time to time, his labours were 
appreciated, and at the principal shows he was fre¬ 
quently a judge. His well-known figure will be 
missed from amongst us, and many a gardener has 
lost a true friend in John Downie. We hope in our 
next to refer more at length to the valued services 
he rendered to horticulture. 
Shepton Mallet Gardeners' Association.—In conse¬ 
quence of the success which attended some meetings 
of the gardeners of the district last season, and which 
were promoted by a temporary committee, a regular 
association has now been formed, with Mr. John 
Higgins as secretary, and Mr. W. II. Morton as 
treasurer. 
The Root Show at Bingley Hall, Birmingham, which 
has been held during the present week has 
been a veritable triumph for the Duke of Port¬ 
land, whose produce, grown on the Clipstone Park 
Farm, Mansfield, secured no less than nine first 
prizes, besides several seconds and thirds.' In the 
Potato classes he had the best twelve, eight, six, and 
two varieties, and the most handsome dish of any 
variety in the show, which was of Sutton’s Satis¬ 
faction. This fine variety appears to becoming 
extremely popular, as it w-as shown here no less than 
twenty-six times, and appeared in the first-prize lots 
in six of the nine classes devoted to Potatos al¬ 
ready in commerce. Mr. A. V. Cross, Shutford, 
Banbury, was the next most successful exhibitor of 
Potatos, followed by Mr. J. Lye, Clyffe Hall, Market 
Lavington. Mr. A. V. Cross had also the best 
collection of British hardy outdoor fruits. 
Lectures on Horticultural Chemistry.—The first of 
a series of four lectures on the chemistry of plants 
was delivered on the 23rd ult. by Professor Ivison 
Macadam, at the Surgeons’ Hall, Edinburgh. The 
lectures form part of a scheme for technical educa¬ 
tion in horticulture which has been organised by the 
Scottish Horticultural Society, by the aid of a 
portion of the residue grant handed over to them by 
the Edinburgh Town Council for this purpose. 
There was a good attendance at the first night’s lecture. 
Mr. W. M. Welsh, president of the society, in 
introducing the lecturer, commented with satisfaction 
on the largeness of the audience as justifying the 
institution of this course of lectures by the society. 
Professor Macadam first showed that plants could be 
divided into a portion which was combustible and 
volatile, and into an ash or saline portion. The 
combustible and volatile portion partly consisted of 
water, and partly of various and often very complex 
substances, built up from the elementary or simple 
bodies—carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen, etc. 
The ash or saline matter was obtained mostly from 
the soil; whilst the organic or combustible portion 
was in origin partly derived from the soil, but also to 
a considerable extent from the atmosphere. The 
various proportions of these proximate constituents 
were then given, and it was shown that not only did 
the ingredients vary in different classes of plants, but 
that they varied also at different states of growth. 
It was also shown that the ingredients varied greatly 
in the various parts of the plant. The lecturer then 
showed the properties of the more common ash 
constituents, and illustrated his remarks by experi¬ 
ments and diagrams. 
