May 6, lb93. 
THE GARDENING WORLD 
563 
clumps of Saxifraga peltata are flowering in advance 
of the foliage. 
Near the above are some elevated ground and 
rockwork facing the lake on one side. Here again 
many old acquaintances greet the visitor. We noted 
a fine piece of Erysimum ochroleucum, better known 
perhaps under the name of Cheiranthus. Anemone 
narcissi flora was bearing as many as seven blooms in 
an umbel. Numerous patches of Primula cortusoides 
are flowering beautifully. Paeonia anomala is 
already in bloom, and so is Polemonium reptans. 
The way in which Myosotis alpestris Victorias 
accommodates itself to the crevices amongst the 
stones is truly surprising as it is floriferous. The top 
of this mound is occupied with flowering and fine- 
foliaged trees and shrubs. 
Wild Garden and Lake. 
As already stated the wild garden occupies a piece 
of ground under and behind some tall trees at the 
Dulwich Common entrance. All kinds of spring and 
other flowers find a home here in masses and patches 
without any regard to regularity. The Winter 
Aconite came into bloom on the 24th of January, 
and the common Primrose has been flowering more 
or less ever since. Then followed Snowdrops, Daffo¬ 
dils, Scilas, including the forms of the English Blue 
Bell pow in bloom as well as the Spanish Squill. 
Others in various stages of bloom are Arabis, Wall¬ 
flowers, Silene pendula, Forget-me-nots, Woodruf, 
Anemone nemorosa and its double form, the Poet’s 
Narcissus, Tulipa fulgens, Clematis montana and a 
host of others. The Clematis is trained over some 
tree stumps in the back ground, where a large num¬ 
ber of such stumps are covered with Ivy, cut-leaved 
Brambles and other subjects. 
In winter, when frozen over, the lake is laid open 
to skaters, who come in their thousands and keep the 
place lively till 10 p.m. At present it is occupied 
with waterfowl, while the banks as well as those of 
the island, slope down to the water. The latter is 
planted with flowering trees and shrubs. On one 
side is a low waterfall, and the sides of the channel 
below it are planted with Acorus Calamus variegata, 
Gunnera scabra, and Marsh Marigolds, while yellow 
and white Water Lilies are submerged in the water. 
Sunk Garden and Shrubberies. 
Lying between the Court Lane entrance and the 
Salisbury Gate is a sunk garden where American 
and allied plants are grown in large beds upon the 
grass. Some of them are filled with hybrid Rhodo¬ 
dendrons of the R. ponticum type, and which will 
be in flower presently. Others are occupied with 
varieties of Azalea nudifiora, A. pontica and A' 
mollis. Numerous Lilies are planted about in them, 
such as L.auratum, L.speciosum rubrum (lancifolium) 
L.candidum and L.tigrinum, while seedlings or bulbils 
of the latter are forming little plants in multitudes. 
Daphne Cneorum planted as an edging to some of 
the beds is flowering grandly. 
The collection of trees and shrubs is very rich, and 
represent a feature of modern gardening not to be 
seen in any other of the London parks. The White 
Birch (Betula alba) is represented by the purple¬ 
leaved variety and Young’s Weeping Birch. Cerasus 
Watereri bears very large pinkish white flowers and 
those of the double C. Avium multiplex are very 
abundant and conspicuous- Very floriferous and 
showy are Prunus sinensis flore pleno, Elseagnus 
edulis, Cytisus albus and its sulphur yellow variety, 
known as Genista prsecox, Weigela rosawith a white 
variety,Pyrus Malus floribunda, the common Broom, 
Double Furze, Berberis Darwini, B. stenophylla, B. 
empetrifolia, Pyrus spectabilis, Paul’s Double Scarlet 
Thorn, Ribes sanguineum flore pleno, Acer fulgens, 
and many others too numerous to be mentioned in 
dstail here. Numerous Weeping Willows, Maples, 
Negundo aceroides variegata, Prunus Pissardi in 
endless variety, witness the many fine things at the 
planter's hand to beautify parks and gardens. The 
beds and borders are on undulating ground and form 
wide bays upon the grass producing wonderful effects 
to be copied or imitated to the advantage of other 
places. 
Near the College entrance, several blue and yellow 
Violas make a brave and wonderful display at this 
early period of the year. Mr. Moorman also has 
some glass houses and frames under his cafe, where 
his summer bedding plants in large numbers are 
being brought forward, including Violas, Pent- 
stemons, Dahlias, Pelargoniums, Acacias, Ficus 
elastica Eucalyptus globulus, 6 ft. to 8 ft. high, 
Abutilon Thompsoni, Ricinus, Cannas, and Begonias, 
including B. semperflorens atropurpurea, which is 
being raised in large numbers both from cuttings and 
seeds for bedding out purposes. Both foliage and 
flowers are handsome, and flowering is continuous. 
Henderson's White Plume Celery. 
This variety was seftt out by Messrs. Peter Hender¬ 
son & Co., 35 & 37, Cortland Street, New York, and 
being the earliest and easiest grown variety is a 
favorite both in the United States and Canada. To 
those who have never seen the White Plume Celery, 
I would state the peculiarity of the variety is that 
naturally its stalk and portions of its inner 
leaves and heart are white, so that by closing the 
stalks, either by tying them up with matting or by 
simply drawing up the soil up against the plant and 
pressing it together with the hands, and again draw¬ 
ing the soil with the hoe or plough so as to keep 
the soil that has been placed against the Celery in 
position, the work of blanching is completed. 
Another great merit of the White Plume is that it is 
the handsomest Celery grown, and far exceeds any 
known vegetable as an ornament for the table, the 
inner leaves being disposed somewhat like an ostrich 
feather, so as to suggest the name which the firm 
have given it of White Plume. In the near future, 
I may write you on wintering Celery in Ontario.— 
H. H , Ingersoll, Ontario, Canada. (Please do.—E d.) 
The Freeman Potato. 
In answer to “ B. L.'s” enquiries respecting this 
Potato I quote the raiser’s description of this wonder¬ 
ful new variety. The Freeman Potato is absolutely 
the strongest grower I know of or have ever seen 
and it has shown such unusual developments, both as 
to early ripening qualities, enormous productiveness 
and strong vigorous growth, that no praise, in my 
opinion, is too strong for its merits. The tuber is 
oval in shape, russet in colour, flesh, pure white, fine 
grained, and of best quality. I have frequently dug 
six to nine pounds from a single hill and in rich 
ground there are few small ones. It is not excelled 
as a keeper. Prices, 1 lb. for 35 cents, 4 lbs, $1. It 
was sent out by J. A. Bruce & Co., Seedsmen, King 
Street, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada.— H. H., Ingersoll, 
Ontario, Canada. 
Americen Wonder Pea. 
Half a peck of this Pea was picked last week in the 
garden of W. Pope, Esq., Hopefield, North Devon. So 
far as I know this beats the record for the open ground 
in the West of England, excepting in the warmer parts 
of Cornwall. To be able to gather Peas in April— 
even in Devonshire—speaks volumes for the kind of 
season we are having. Two of my friends near 
Exeter will have Exonian fit to pick by the 8th of 
May, this new wrinkled variety running a neck and 
neck race with Veitch’s First Early and Eclipse, 
William Hurst and Chelsea Gem following hard on 
these greyhounds of the Pea-world.— Devoniensis. 
Globe Artichokes. 
A new plantation of this vegetable should be made 
every year to give heads in the autumn, when the 
supply from the old-established plants is over. 
Now is a good time to do this, and the side shoot or 
sucker broken off the old stools make the best plants 
to use as they grow away so freely. The ground 
should be well manured and deeply dug, and 4 ft. 
apart between the rows and 3 ft. from plant to plant 
is a good distance to plant them. As the plants get 
established a little manure water will benefit them, 
and if some is given now to the old plants it will be 
a great help to them.— G. 11 . S. 
Sewage for Kitchen Garden. 
It may be of interest to some to hear a little about 
my experience with ordinary sewage from a noble¬ 
man’s establishment, as used in a kitchen garden. 
Some four years ago we drained all the sewage from 
the mansion, laundry, stables, etc. into a large tank 
made for the purpose underground. From this tank 
4-in. pipes are laid to various points in the garden, 
and near the tank is a small engine which, is supplied 
with steam from the large boiler which works the 
engines that supply the establishment with electric 
light. When the electric light engines are running, 
which is about four times a week when the family 
are at home and twice a week at other times, the 
sewage is pumped out. To distribute it about the 
ground we have large canvas pipes and a number of 
V-shaped troughs. I may mention that we have it 
also laid into a meadow, so that we are not obliged 
to run it in the garden unless it is wanted. I find it 
of much use during a dry time such as the present, 
particularly for Cabbages or Peas. Strawberries 
I think it helps, and all soft-growing things, but I 
have found that it is of no use to depend upon 
sewage to grow anything by itself. When the 
ground has had ordinary farmyard manure dug into 
it, the sewage does help it Asparagus (as far as my 
experience goes) does not like it. Two years ago I 
used a lot on the Asparagus beds, and I feel sure it 
did more harm than good. It is certainly useful for 
some crops, but I scarcely think it is worth the ex¬ 
pense of laying on to a kitchen garden. Of course 
the sewage from a town is another thing altogether. 
My remarks simply refer to that from an ordinary¬ 
sized establishment.— G. H. S. 
-—j—- 
(Bluntings from 
of Science 
Formation of nitrous acid and ozone. — Pro¬ 
fessor Dewar while lecturing on the " Atmosphere,” 
at the Royal Institution on the 27th ult., made some 
reference to the phenomenon of phosphorescence in 
the atmosphere after the passage of meteorites, but 
whether this was due to secondary electrical effects 
or heat was not exactly known. He then suggested 
the question as to whether the oxygen or the nitro¬ 
gen of the atmosphere was the element that pro¬ 
duced this condition of luminosity under electrical 
discharge. He proceeded to demonstrate by a series 
of experiments which of the two it was. A stream 
of air was made to pass two conductors of an electrical 
current producing a pale phosphorescent light. 
Hydrogen gas, nitrous oxide and nitrogen were in 
turn made to pass the conductors with a partial or 
complete absence of luminosity. The conclusion 
was that the luminous effects were produced by the 
stimulus of the electricity on the molecules of oxygen, 
resulting in the formation of ozone and nitrous acid. 
Both of these are important agents in the formation 
of nitric acid which is carried to the earth by rain, 
there to undergo the process of nitrification, and thus 
supply plants with combined nitrogen. The nitrous 
acid and finally the nitric acid produced as the result 
of electrical discharges during thunderstorms, is the 
only original source of combined nitrogen available 
to the great majority of plants, whether wild or culti¬ 
vated, excluding of course, leguminous plants. 
A New Celery Culture.—This is the title applied 
to the cultivation of Celery in closely planted beds, 
with the view of blanching the leqf stalks by the 
density of their own foliage. The idea itself is not a 
new one, as explained by T. Greiner in his little book 
on “ Celery for Profit,” published by W. Atlee,Burpee 
& Co., Philadelphia, but he says that little attention 
was paid to the plan till the introduction to commerce 
of the varieties of Celery known as White Plume 
and Golden Self-blanching. The plan is to make 
beds of these varieties of convenient width for 
watering, with the plants 10 in. apart from row to 
row, and 5 in. between the plants in the rows. This 
is of course intensive cultivation, and if it is to suc¬ 
ceed, as much manure must be given to one acre as 
used to be given to four or five, and water must also 
be supplied in liberal quantity. Wood ashes, blood 
manure, and fish compost are special manures, while 
well-rottecf farmyard manure should form the staple 
to enrich the land. The above varieties of Celery 
are most suitable for late summer and autumn supply. 
We doubt if they would be of much service for 
winter work grown on the above principle. 
Weather Forecasts.—Inasmall pamphlet termed 
Weather Prediction No. 2, Hugh Clements says that 
it is a tenet of scientific and meteorological doctrine 
that the weather cannot be predicted for a longer 
period than forty-eight hours in England, owing to 
its position. By his own scheme he asserts that it 
is possible to foretell the nature of the weather with 
success, at any given place not only for two days in 
advance, but even for months and years. He has 
no doubt but that a few years hence farmers in all 
civilised countries of the world will be able to rely 
upon the weather forecasts at least a year ahead. The 
forecasts are based, he continues, upon the moon's 
motions, that affect every place differently according 
to its latitude, longitude and environment. To fore¬ 
tell this satisfactorily it is necessary to find a daty in 
the past year having the same relation to the phases, 
apsides, and nodes of the moon. His forecasts for 
the present year, so far, he affirms have been won¬ 
derfully accurate ; and he is now occupied in fore¬ 
casting the daily weatner in London for 1894. The 
certainty in the matter of weather will enable the 
farmer of the future and for the matter of that, let 
us say, the gardener to rotate his crops and rear 
his live stock in accordance with the weather, and 
farming wil become more a matter of scientific cer¬ 
tainty, to the benefit of all concerned. 
