September 24, 1898 
THE GARDENING WORLD 
53 
would, doubtless, produce an adequate return for 
those who desire to make every department of a well 
ordered farm remunerative.— Irish Farming World. 
A Big Cabbage.—Mr. George Home, forester to the 
Duke of Buccleucb, Newmill-on-Teviot, Hawick, 
cut a Cabbage on September 12th weighing seventy- 
one pounds, being a considerably higher record than 
he made last year. The variety was Cuthbertson’s 
Drumhead Cabbage. It was about 6£ ft. in diame¬ 
ter, and fully 3 ft. high. 
Popular Names.— Apart from the great revolution 
made in plant names by those in high quarters, 
there seems to be going on a change in popular 
names. For instance the other day Musa Basju, the 
Japanese one, was claimed to be a Fern. Probably 
they meant that it was an elongated form of the 
Bird's Nest, Asplenium Nidus.— Patterson. 
He Didn’t Keep His Job.—The lady of a large house 
one day said to her gardener: " Man Tammas, I 
wonder you don’t get married. You’ve got a nice 
house, and all you want to complete it is a wife. 
You know, the first gardener that ever lived had a 
wife?” “ Quite richt, missus,” said Tammas, 
11 quite richt, but he didn't keep his job long after he 
got the wife ” 
Free Seeds in America.—A brisk debate took 
place in the United States Senate recently over 
the question of government distribution of seeds, 
and some lively communications were read, their 
writers evidently being against such distribution. 
One was : 
" John’s influence cannot be gotten with 15 
cents’ worth of free seeds, but if you'll send me 
a box of hairpins I’ll look after him. 
His wife. 
"P.S.—I’d rather not have crooked ones.” 
Canadian Fruit for this Country.—During the past 
summer the Canadian Commissioner of Agriculture 
paid a visit to our shores, and the outcome of the 
visit is that Canada is now sending us Peaches, 
Apples, Grapes, and other fruits which will soon 
reach such ports as Bristol, Liverpool, Glasgow and 
other great distributing centres. Cold stores have 
been erected so that the fruit will be refrigerated be¬ 
fore it leaves Canadian shores. As a result of last 
year's experiment the fruit growers and shippers of 
Canada are better prepared to convey the fruit to our 
shores under conditions that will enable it to travel 
and arrive in a state of good preservation. 
The Nitrate Fields of Chili.—The chief shipping 
port for the nitrate fields of Chili, the most impor¬ 
tant for this particular salt in the world, is 
Iquique. The pampa of Tamrugal contains sixty 
miles of nitrate fields, and a railway has been con¬ 
structed through it to carry the nitrate to the ship¬ 
ping port, Iquique. Towns of corrugated iron huts 
have sprung up upon it, as well as fast factories for 
the precious fertilising salt. Tens of thousands of 
workmen are employed upon it, and are housed there 
as well as the wealthy Europeans who are directing 
the operations. The railway from Iquique carries 
the vistor up the hills to the nitrate fields, and very 
soon he is on a plain twenty miles wide, with low 
hills rising on every side. Everywhere the ground 
appears to have been ploughed by giants, the result 
of the operations of mining the nitrate. The land 
everywhere is bleak and bare without a sign of vege- 
tion. All is sand, rock salt and nitrate rock, known 
as caliche. This rock is soluble, and of various 
colours owing to the material with which it is stained 
or dyed, beiDg now nearly white like rock salt, or 
again lemon, greeD, violet, yellow, green and of vari¬ 
ous gray tints. The nitrate is covered with about 
2 ft. of conglomerate or rock salt. The method of 
getting at it is to make a hole about 1 ft. in diameter, 
pissing down into the soft earth. Into this a boy is 
put to scoop out a hollow for the blasting powder, 
and to fix the fuse. The boy gets out, the fuse is 
lighted and an explosion sends a great cloud cf yellow 
smoke and dust in the air, as it tears up the ground 
for a radius of 30 ft. The nitrate rock is now broken 
up with picks and crowbars, and loaded into carts 
that will hold three tons. The carts are drawn to 
the factory by three mules, one of which carries the 
driver. 
Cupressus macrocarpa is the Conifer from which 
the hedges of the maze at Hotel del Monte, Monterey, 
California, are constructed. The free growing quali¬ 
ties and vigorous constitution of this tree are well 
known on both sides of the Atlantic. 
Sakoura lhara (literally Cherry Rose) is the 
Japanese name for a Rose which appears to be ident¬ 
ical with our Crimson Rambler, according to the 
journal des Roses. It appears that among some illus¬ 
trations of Japanese Roses sent out in 1889 is one of 
this Sakoura lhara. 
The Plant with the Greatest Number of Seeds —The 
total number of seeds produced by some plants each 
year is extraordinary, says Pearson's Weekly. The 
Sago Palm produces 8,000, the common Spear 
Thistle 24,000, the Oriental Poppy 32,000, the 
Tobacco plant 40,000, the common red-field Poppy 
(Papaver Rheas) 50,000, and the allied P. dubium 
60,000. The last-named is the plant which produces 
the greatest number of seeds in a single seed-vessel, 
the number, on the average, in each of the 100 
seed-vessels being 600. Next comes the common 
red Poppy already referred to. It has about a 
xoo seed-vessels, and in each of them 500 seeds 
The wild Camomile has 150 seed-vessels, each con¬ 
taining 300 seeds. The common Sow Thistle has 
100 seed-vessels with 250 seeds in each. The Bur¬ 
dock has 613 seed-vessels with 40 seeds in each. 
The blunt-leaved Dock has 13,000 separate seed- 
vessels, with one seed in each. 
Shirley Gardeners’s Mutual Improvement Association. 
—The monthly meeting of above society was held at 
the Parish Room, Shirley, Southampton,on Monday, 
19th inst., Mr. B. Ladham.F.R.H.S., presiding overa 
fair attendance of the members. The lecture was on 
” Vegetable Culture,” and was given by Mr. George 
Garner, The Gardens, Cailland Park, Hythe, 
Southampton. It was a sound practical lecture on 
the best methods of treating all the high class vege¬ 
tables, necessarily much condensed, but still noting 
the chief points of good culture. In such a dry 
season as the present the gardener who mulches 
much has provided himself with the best assistance 
he could have had, and Mr. Garner, who is one of 
those who believes in mulching, made a great point 
of this fact. There was a brief discussion at the 
close of the lecture, chiefly in reference to the value 
or otherwise of seaweed as a manure. A hearty vote 
of thanks to Mr. Garner closed the business of the 
meeting. There was a small competition for prizes, 
C. G. Stuart Menteth, Esq., J.P. (gardener, Mr. W. 
Risbridger), scoring first for six sorts of vegetables 
and the president, W. L. G. Spranger, Esq. (gar¬ 
dener, Mr. H. Curtis), being awarded second. For 
four sorts of vegetables, open to cottagers, Mr. J. R. 
Cole was first, and Mr. C- Curtis second. Other 
exhibits included Cannas, Cockscombs and Dahlias 
by Mr. E. J. Wilcox; Dahlias and seedling Perlar- 
goniums by Mr. F. Cozens ; and herbaceous plants, 
Mr. B. Ladhams. 
Visit of the British Mycological Society to Dublin.— 
On the invitation of the Dublin Naturalists’Field 
Club, the members of the British Mycological 
Society are spending the week from the 19th to the 
26th inst., at Dublin. Amongst the visitors are Mr. 
G. Massee, author of the British Fungus Flora, and 
Doctor Plowright. Arrangements have been made 
to explore the woods of the Countess of Dublin and 
Wicklow. The Botanical Laboratory and its appara¬ 
tus in the Royal College of Science, Stephen’s 
Green, as well as the botanical rooms and collections 
in the Science and Art Museum have been placed by 
the Department of Science and Art at the service of 
the guests. No doubt large additions will be made 
to the fungus collections in the museum, as well as 
to our knowledge of the fungus flora of that part of 
Ireland. Excepting for the counties of Dublin and 
Wicklow little is known of the fungi of Ireland, and 
yet as long ago as 1878 Mr. Greenwood Pim pub¬ 
lished a list of the fungi of those counties. This list 
he now has, with the assistance of Dr. McWeeney, 
revised and brought up to date. The lectures at 8 
p.m. in the Royal College of Science open to the 
public, which were given on the Tuesday, Wednes¬ 
day and Thursday evenings were concluded on Fri¬ 
day. We hope that this opportunity has not been 
lost by farmers and gardeners whose crops may be 
suffering from various fungoid diseases to learn 
something of the nature and life history, as well as of 
the means of combating these pests. 
Gardening Miscellany. 
Cjt> 
TO PRESERVE CRAB APPLES. 
Like everything else this operation occasions a cer¬ 
tain amount of trouble, but the “ Crabs,” when pre¬ 
served, are a great delicacy. The method of pre¬ 
serving is as follows:—Wipe the fruits carefully, 
and then prick them all over with a needle. Make 
a syrup, allowing a pound of loaf sugar to a pint of 
cold water. Skim it until clear, and then place the 
Apples in it. Place over a slow fire, and cook until 
the Apples have commenced to crack slightly. Take 
them out carefully with a spoon, and put them in 
wide-mouthed bottles. Re-boil the syrup in which 
the Apples have been cooked, allow it to cool, and 
then pour it over the fruit until the bottles are full. 
Cover the mouths of the latter with pieces of bladder 
in the usual way, and store in a cool, dry place. 
Fruit thus preserved will keep for a great length of 
time. 
APPLE ALLINGTON PIPPIN. 
This fine dessert Apple which was sent out by 
Messrs. Geo. Bunyard & Co., of Maidstone, in the 
season 1896—97, and which we have already figured 
in our columns is giving incontestable proof of its 
excellent fruiting qualities on some small trees in the 
gardens of the Royal Horticultural Society at Chis¬ 
wick. The trees, which are only three years old, 
are dwarf and sturdy little specimens on the Para¬ 
dise stock, and they are weighted up to the point of 
breaking down with shapely fruit. In appearance 
this Apple recalls Cox’s Orange Pippin, but it has 
the merit of cropping regularly when that variety 
fails. There is little to choose between the flavour 
of the two. This variety should be in all gardens, 
and it will prove of especial service to the occupier 
of small gardens. 
CARNATIONS AND BEGONIAS FROM 
WRAWBY, BRIGG. 
I send you a few blooms of seedling Carnations 
raised from home-saved seed. None are bursters, 
and all of good size, but as the flowers sent are from 
side shoots they are rather small. The singular 
thing about the varieties Mrs. Robert Glover and 
Mrs. Chris. Leeson is that the latter, a white ground, 
is a sport from the former—a 5 ellow ground with 
similar markings. A week ago both could be seen 
on one plant. Is it not unusual for a yellow ground 
to sport to a white ? Chris. Leeson. 
[It is unusual. Perhaps, however, some others of 
our readers may know of other cases where it has 
occurred. The blooms sent were very good, both in 
form and colour, and the substance of the calyces 
was remarkable. Mr. Leesoa has evidently a nice 
lot of Carnations. The double-flowered, tuberous 
Begonias were likewise well up to the mark.— Ed.] 
A CURIOUS BEGONIA. 
Mr. David Colthorpe, The Gardens, Summerville, 
Waterford, sends us a curiously formed flower of a 
single tuberous Begonia, which he observed growing 
upon one of the plants filling a bed in the flower 
garden. The said flower has the margins of the seg¬ 
ments cut in the same way as the margins of the 
leaves. This is only another proof of the view as to 
the identity of origin of flower and foliage leaves 
held by scientists. Freaks amongst flowers of 
tuberous Begonias are very common, and we have 
noticed the one under discussion several times, but it 
is interesting nevertheless. 
CYPHOMANDRA BETACEA. 
A sturdy young specimen of Cyphomandra 
betacea, the Tree Tomato, which is growing 
at the southern end of the new wing of 
the Temperate House at Kew, is just now a very 
conspicuous subject. It has developed a large and 
spreading head, and moreover carries a very heavy 
crop of the egg-shaped frufts which are just 
approaching the ripening stage. This plant is some¬ 
what of a curiosity in this country, and it is not 
often that we see it cultivated. It was introduced to 
this country from South Brazil as far back as the 
year 1836. The name, Tree Tomato, is owing to the 
resemblance which the fruits bear in point of flavour 
to the popular Tomato. 
