302 
THE GARDENING WORLD 
January 8 , 1898. 
whit as noticeable, although a rarity. At the 
present time it is flowering in the Temperate House 
at Kew, and amidst the generally gloomy surroundings 
of a foggy January day, its spikes of bright primrose- 
yellow flowers are conspicuous enough. The leaves 
are about 2 ft. long, and f in. in width, with a heavy 
prominent midrib, and arch gracefully over. The 
flower scapes with the flower spikes are some 3 ft. in 
height. The plant in question is a stray from 
somewhere, nobody seems to know how cr from 
whence it came to its present abode, but at any rate 
it is a vastly pretty stray. If this is normally a 
winter-flowering species it cannot fafl to prove of 
great value. 
APPLE DIRECTEUR RODIGAS. 
A coloured plate of this Apple in the Bulletin 
d'Arboriculture, de Floriculture, &c., shows it to be of 
medium size, with the shape of Beauty of Bath, and 
the rich colouring of Hoary Morning. The fruit is 
globular, slightly flattened, with a dark yellow 
ground, is heavily suffused with dark red all over, 
splashed and striped with crimson-red on the ex¬ 
posed side, and spotted elsewhere with the same hue. 
The flesh is white, somewhat tender, crisp, juicy, 
sugary, acidulated and agreeably perfumed. The 
quality is good, and if the fruit is not very bulky, the 
tree is very fertile and the fruiting regular. The tree, 
if left alone, takes a globular, slightly flattened form. 
The wood is strong and the branches numerous. The 
variety is a seedling obtained by selection from the 
cultureof M. Victor Biebuyck, who strives to improve 
his products by selecting according to the quality 
of the fruit, the fertility of the tree, and its merits 
generally for open air culture. He expressed a 
desire to dedicate his Apple to M. Em. Rodigas, the 
director of the School of Horticulture of the State of 
Ghent. After tasting the fruits on February nth, 
1896, the Committee of the Cercled’arboriculture de 
Belgique considered the variety deserved to be pro¬ 
pagated. 
-- 
Questions Ann snsroens 
Sowing Fern Spores.— T. H. : — If left to them¬ 
selves the spores would naturally sow themselves as 
soon as ripe ; but out of the thousands or perhaps 
millions that are shed in an ordinary fernery, very 
few ever germinate and fewer still grow into plants. 
By sowing then as soon as they are ripe you 
will succeed in proportion to the period that elapses 
before the approach of winter, in any given year. 
The chief or practically the only difficulty attaching 
to late sowing is the liability of theprothalli or early 
stage of the plants to damp off during the dull days 
of early and mid-winter. Your better plan now 
would be to wait till the days lengthen out a bit, say 
towards the middle or end of next month, and then 
sow the spores. They would then have the whole of 
the growing season before them, with less danger of 
damping. 
Batter Tree. — A. C. : There is nothing im¬ 
probable about the story so far as you give it. 
Butter from a tree would simply be vegetable 
butter, also spoken of as vegetable fat. The Indian 
Butter tree is Bassia butyracea, from the seeds of 
which the white buttery substance is obtained by 
bruising or squeezing. Other species of Bassia also 
yield fatty matter used for making soap, for burning 
and other purposes. 
Gas Lime and Cabbage Ground. — IV. Can : You 
may safelytapply a good dressing just now without 
any fear of the safety of the crops that may be 
planted in spring arising from the use of the lime. 
Give a sufficiently thick dressing to show white all 
over the surface of the ground. Before proceeding 
to scatter it over the ground you should first remove 
all roots of the Cabbage tribe, particularly the thick 
nodules or tubercles which might be too large for the 
lime to have any effect upon the same. Take them 
to the rubbish heap and have them burnt when you 
light a fire, or bury them deeply in some out-of-the- 
way corner where they are not likely to be dug up 
for a year or more until the spores have perished. 
Sowing Maize Seed. — Western : There is plenty of 
time yet, as you need not sow the seed for the next 
seven or eight weeks. The plants will then be 
sufficiently early to insure their fruiting provided you 
sow only early kinds which generally give most 
satisfaction in this country. If you son too early 
you would have to repot the plants once or twice to 
keep them growing and prevent the roots getting pot- 
bound before it would be safe to plant in the open 
ground about the end of May. A sunny, fully 
exposed position is the best situation, and most 
likely to bring the cobs to a useful size. They can¬ 
not have too much sun heat in this country. 
Grafts of Fruit Trees — Henry Drew : The prun- 
ings of your fruit trees will keep perfectly well till 
grafting time ; indeed, they will be all the better for 
being cut off now to prevent them from pushing into 
growth before they are required in the event of the 
present mild weather continuing for any length of 
time. Take out a trench behind a north wall, where 
they will be cool and not exposed to sunshine. Lay 
in the cuttings thickly, but not so that they will 
form heaps, otherwise some of them may get dried 
up before the time arrives for using them. Cover 
them for more than half their length, and tread the 
soil firmly against them. 
Aubergine and Egg Plant — R. Wood : Both of 
these Dames are applied to Solanum esculentum, 
also known as S. Melongena. For garden purposes 
they may be regarded as representing two well marked 
groups of varieties of the plant. The name Auber¬ 
gine is generally applied to the elongated and purple 
forms, resembling Marrows in form, but only 3 in. to 
4 in. long or thereby. The fruits of the Egg plant 
proper are white, much smaller than those of the 
Aubergine, and in shape like a hen’s egg. All require 
similar treatment in a pit or stove, at least during 
their earlier stages. 
Names of Plants. —A. J. : 1, Aspidium falcatum ; 
2, Aspidium caryotideum ; 3, Sparmannia africana. 
— W. K. : 1, Oncidium pulvinatum ; 2, Oncidium 
crispum ; 3, Eucomis punctata ; 4, Pelargonium 
denticulatum.— R. Milne : x, Mentha Requieni, not a 
species of Thymus ; 2, Nephrodium molle corymbi- 
ferum ; 3, Pteris tremula Smithii ; 4, Tsuga cana¬ 
densis ; 5, Camellia japonica var. ; 6, Eranthemum 
nervosum ; 7, Goldfussia isophylla. 
Communications Received.—A. D. W—A. P.— 
J. R.—McDougall Brothers.—A. O. — Examination. 
— A. V. S. — E. Jackson. — Diosma. — Robert 
Sydenham. — Sutton & Sons. — R. H. S.—J. G. H.— 
G. T. — R. Mearns.—Aloe.—P. P.—S., Waltham¬ 
stow.—Diantnus.—Peaches. 
-►*.- 
TRADE CATALOGUES RECEIVED. 
Webb & Sons, The Royal Seed Establishment, 
Wordsley, Stourbridge.—Webb’s Spring Catalogue. 
R. B. Laird & Sons, Edinburgh.—Vegetable and 
Flower Seeds. 
Dickson’s, Ltd., Chester.—Select Vegetable and 
Flower Seeds, Seed Potatos, Garden Requisites, &c. 
Robert Veitch & Son, 54, High Street, Exeter. — 
Catalogue of Kitchen Garden and Flower Seeds. 
Kelway & Son, Langport, Somerset.—Wholesale 
Catalogue of Seeds. 
Toogood & Sons, Southampton. — Toogood’s 
Garden Seeds 
Charles Sharpe & Co., Limited, Sleaford.— 
Standard Seeds. 
John Laing & Sons, Stanstead, Rutland, and 
Southend Parks, Forest Hill, London. S.E.— 
Catalogue of Vegetable and Flower Seeds, Begonias, 
Novelties, &c. 
S. F. Richmond, Ossett, Yorks. —Descriptive 
Catalogue of Chrysanthemums including all the 
Latest Novelties of the season. 
F. Simmonds & Son, Mambead Park Gardens, 
near Exeter. — List of Best New and Old Varieties of 
Chrysanthemums. 
W. Drummond & Sons, Ltd., Stirling.—Garden 
Seed Catalogue. 
W. J. Godfrey, F.R.H.S., F N.C.S., Exmouth, 
Devon.—Catalogue of Choice Chrysanthemums. 
THE GARDENERS’ 
ROYAL BENEVOLENT INSTITUTION. 
Notice is hereby given, that a SPECIAL 
GENERAL MEETING 01 the Members of the Gar¬ 
deners’ Royal Benevolent Institution will be held at 
“ SIMPSON’S," 101, STRAND, in the County of 
Middlesex, on THURSDAY, the 20 th day of JANUARY, 
1898 , at 2 50 p.m., for the purpose of electing Two 
Trustees to fill the vacancies caused by the death of 
Robert Hogg, LL D., and the resignation of John 
Lee. And the FIFTY-NINTH ANNUAL 
GENERAL MEETING of the Members of this In¬ 
stitution will be held, at the same place and on the 
same date at 3 p.m , to receive the Report of the 
Committee and the Accounts of the Institution (as 
audited) for the year 1897; to elect Officers for the 
year 1898, and other affairs; and also for the purpose 
of placing NINETEEN Pensioners on the Funds ; 
Ten to be recommended to be placed on the Pen¬ 
sion List without the trouble or expense of an 
Election in accordance with Rule III. 5 ; and nine to 
be elected by votes from an approved list of 44 can¬ 
didates. 
The Chair will be taken by Harry J. Veitch, 
Esq , Treasurer and Chairman of Committee, at 
THREE o'clock. 
The Poll will be open at THREE FIFTEEN 
o'clock and close at FOUR THIRTY o’clock pre¬ 
cisely, after which hour no VotiDg Papers can be re¬ 
ceived. 
The Voting Papers have been issued, and any Sub¬ 
scriber who has not received a copy is requested to 
communicate with the Secretary 
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