October 22, lb98. 
THE GARDENING WORLD 
117 
ft Hospital for Trees is established on the banks of 
the Seine in Paris. Weakly trees from the bou¬ 
levards are taken there to recover. 
International Congress of Chrysanthemophiles at 
Lille.—This event is to take place on the roth 
November next. The subjects for discussion will be 
" Soil and compost best suited for the Chrysanthe¬ 
mum ”; “ The best insecticides and fungicides 
proper for the Chrysanthemum ” ; " the influence of 
climate upon the varieties of Chrysanthemums ” ; 
and " the sporting of Chrysanthemums : what are 
the causes that induce the changes.” Further in¬ 
formation may be obtained from M. Lefebvre, pre¬ 
sident of the society of Chrysanthemophiles of the 
North of France, 237, Rue Nationale, Lille. 
The Sclerotium Disease in Potat03.—The Myco- 
logical Society recently paid a visit to DubliD, and 
Dr. McWeeny delivered an address on the Sclerotium 
Disease of Potatos, a disease that is widely spread 
in the west and north-west districts of Ireland. The 
lecturer said there were two distinct forms of sclero¬ 
tium. One was characterised by large fungal masses 
(sclerotia) hanging loosely in the pith cavity of the 
potato plant. On starting into growth these masses 
give rise to one or more stalks, each supporting a 
saucer-shaped body known as a Peziza. This is one 
of the spore-bearing forms of the fungus, for the 
upper surface of this body is densely covered with 
asci, each containing eight ascospores, the favourite 
number for all allied fungi of the group to which 
Peziza belongs. These ascospores, if sown on a 
Potato, give rise to a mycelium or mass of threads 
permeating the Potato. The central portion of this 
fungoid development becomes compacted and black, 
forming the sclerotium again. Needless to say, the 
Potato is destroyed by this fungus. The other fungus 
consists of small, crumpled masses or sclerotia adher¬ 
ing to the skin of the leaves and stem ; and when it 
germinates it produces a grey mould known as 
Botrytis, and apparently capable of attacking living 
Potato plants and killing them. It again forms 
sclerotia, but not a Peziza. Dr. McWeeny had 
determined, by his experiments in the laboratory of 
the Albert Model Farm, that these two fungi con¬ 
stituted two diseases distinct from the well-known 
Potato murrain or blight. He recommended deep 
cultivation to bury the sclerotia, the burning of all 
withered remains of the Potato crop, and not to grow 
Potatos on the same ground again for several years. 
The Bladderwort and its Relatives.—-The common 
Bladderwort (Utricularia vulgaris) is an interesting 
inhabitant of some of our ponds, ditches, slow- 
running streams and pools. Since its carnivorous 
propensities have been established it has been raised 
from the status of a curious though insignificant 
water weed to a plant of scientific and popular 
interest. During summer the branching, rootless 
stems float in the water just under the surface, and 
are furnished with much divided leaves and 
bladders, each cf the latter being a modified leaflet 
or segment of a leaf. In the October number of 
Knowledge, Felix Oswald, B.A., B.Sc., discusses the 
general character and properties of the Bladderwort 
and its relatives. There are three British species of 
Utricularia and three of Pinguicula, which constitute 
the whole of the order Lentibulariaceae, as far as 
Britsh plants are concerned ; but there are 
numerous exotic congeners. The common species 
of Utricularia is of fairly frequent occurrence, but it 
has to be looked for by the trained eye in order to 
detect it. The flowers are less seldom seen, though 
they rise above the water where they do occur, 
thereby calling attention to the plant. The author 
in question makes the orders Gesneriaceae, Scrophu- 
lariaceae and Solan aceae to be relatives of the Blad- 
derworts.the closest connecting link beiDg the Gesner¬ 
iaceae. That order again may be divided into the Cyr- 
tandreae and the Gesnerieae. The Cyrtandreae on the 
one hand branches towards the Orobanchaceae, 
which are a family of parasites; and on the other 
hand towards the Lentibulariaceae, the insectivorous 
family, including the Bladderworts. Streptocarpus, 
belonging to the Cyrtandreae, agrees with Utricu¬ 
laria in having no primary root; and there are many 
other points in common between the Bladderworts 
and their nearest relatives amongst the Cyrtandreae. 
The embryo of Utricularia is an undifferentiated 
cellular mass, and in this it also agrees with the 
embryo of the Broomrapes (Orobanche). 
Rider Haggard, the author of '• She,” is describing 
farm life in East Anglia, under the title of “ A 
Farmer’s Year,” which is running serially through 
Longman's Magazine. He tells his story with humour 
and pathos, and by word-paiating makes the com¬ 
monest things interesting. 
The Itinerant Gardener is one of the productions of 
these degenerate days. Suburban residents know 
him well and fear him not a little. His tricks are 
many and his *' cheek ” astounding. He seems to 
regard all the owners of small gardens as his legiti¬ 
mate prey, and many an inoffensive villa bolder has had 
reason to dread him, and the marvellous expressive¬ 
ness of his language, which rivals that of the London 
cabby. One of this horticultural trickster’s many 
tricks is to “ cut the bit of grass and put the garden 
in order ” for a certain sum. Once let the house¬ 
holder assent, and the fun commences. Our man 
takes out his tools from a capacious basket, and is on 
the job next instant. Presently he invites the house¬ 
holder to come and have a look, and the "look” 
reveals that a number of choice (sic) bedding plants 
has been put in. For these he invites extra payment. 
Of course, he will go on to say to his victim, you 
needn't pay for them, they can be pulled up in a 
minute, but, ** see how nice they look.” This gener¬ 
ally works and the money is handed over, but a few 
days afterwards the "plants ” are all dead, and ex¬ 
amination reveals that they were never " plants ” at 
all, but only cuttings, stolen, probably, from other 
quarters visited by the oily-tongued scoundrel. A 
very promising specimen of this hocus-pocus gar¬ 
dener, named Stephen King, aged forty-five, and 
hailing from Campbell Road, Holloway, was on 
Saturday last mulcted by Mr. Bros at the North 
London Police Court in the sum of 40s., the alterna¬ 
tive of a month’s hard labour being given, for 
disorderly conduct and using bad language towards 
a gentleman who had employed him to do up his 
garden. It appears that King contracted to do up 
the front and back gardens for 3s. 6d., but after the 
work was done he demanded a sovereign and pro¬ 
ceeded to support this demand by bullying and 
blackguarding the ladies of the household. The fine 
imposed is exemplary and will, we trust, induce King 
and other "horticultural Hooligans ” to see the error 
of their wayti and to amend them. 
The Buying and Ho me-testing of Seeds —In a pam¬ 
phlet before us of sojne sixteen pages, Mr, William 
Toogood, of Messrs. TToogood & Sons, Southampton, 
discusses the cognate subjects of buying and home¬ 
testing of seeds. Purity and germinating power are 
taken as standards from which the real value of any 
given quantity of seeds may be estimated. While 
costly apparatus are necessary for the testing of 
seeds with absolute accuracy, Mr. Toogood thinks 
that the purity and germinating power of seeds may 
be inexpensively tested at home, with sufficient ex¬ 
actitude to make the ex periment advisable in order 
to safeguard the interests of the buyers themselves 
and that the results’woulid be a sufficient recompense 
for the trouble incurred and the sacrifice of time 
necessary to accomplish the task. By impurity of 
seeds, he means the see> Is of weeds and other plants 
thiai always accompany t Jie desired article and are at 
all times prejudicial to th e best interests of the culti¬ 
vator. In the same cat egory of impurities he also 
places sand, chaff, sto aes, earth, and even badly 
damaged seeds of the p lant or plants required for 
sowing. The purity of s eeds is generally ascertained 
by means of samples tak en from the bulk and placed 
under a magnifying-glas-j. To prove what species 
the impurities consist of* it would be necessary in 
many cases to germinate the seeds in a greenhouse or 
in the open. The vario us simple instruments neces¬ 
sary for carrying out home tests of seeds are illus¬ 
trated and their uses explained. In like manner the 
cultivator is informed 1 low he may germinate seeds 
on a small scale by 1 neans of home-made germina- 
tors, which may quick 1 ly be improvised as occasion 
may require. This may be done by means of a 
couple of soup plates* one inverted over the other 
and containing some pieces of woollen cloth or flan¬ 
nel to be kept moist and at a certain temperature to 
induce germination. For the rest those concerned 
may consult the pamphlet, where everything is ex¬ 
plained in the simplest and most easily understood 
manner. Mr. Toogood sht >ws how the cultivator may 
safeguard and help himself in a perfectly legitimate 
and commendable way. 
Bitten Honey.—The honey harvest has not been a 
good one this year, but in some districts in the south 
of Scotland it has been particularly bad. What has 
been obtained is said to be very dark, nearly black in 
colour, and very bitter to the taste, in fact, quite un¬ 
fit to eat. The generally accepted idea is that 
owing to the dry summer there has been very little 
honey secreted by the flowers, and that the bees have 
thus been driven to the resinous exudations of the 
Larch and other Conifers, whence the bitterness 
complained of. 
Buc leuch Bowling Club, Hawick.—The members of 
this club have been somewhat disturbed by the pre¬ 
sence of a weed on the green. Experts were called 
in to examine the same and have reported on the 
matter. Mr. Malcolm Dunn, Dalkeith, writes :—" I 
am in receipt of your favour of yesterday along with 
a sample of the turf from the Hawick Working 
Men’s Bowling Green. It is badly infested with 
Plantago major (the smaller variety of it), and under 
the circumstances which you describe suspicion 
naturally points to the seed having been sown by 
some malicious person. That, however, would be 
most difficult to prove, unless the person was caught 
in the act. It is, unfortunately, easily done, and it 
can be done in the darkest night about as easily as 
in broad daylight; and the seed being small and of a 
dirty brown-black colour it would not be easily seen 
or found after being sown, even by an expert. The 
best remedy is to go over the plantain-infested 
ground with a heavy wooden ‘lamp’—made like a 
pavior’s tamper or ’ram ’—-and with a sharp stamp 
of it smash the plants of the plantain. This admits 
the sand to the tender parts and allows it to do its 
work more effectively.” Mr. George Wood, Hawick, 
writes:—" Enclosed find letter I had from Mr. 
Dunn, of Dalkeith Gardena, who is a man of great 
experience in lawns. For myself, I have no hesita¬ 
tion in saying the seed of the weed has been sown 
recently. Both the times that I have heard any¬ 
thing of it, it has always been in the autumn of the 
year, just immediately after that seed is ripe and 
ready to gather. If the seed had been there at any 
other time of the year there is no doubt but it would 
have started sooner. In fact, the thing has been 
sown.” Mr. John Forbes, Hawick, writes Hav¬ 
ing examined your bowling green, and considering 
that the present turf was laid on it in 1872, and that 
it remained perfectly clean till two years ago, I can 
arrive at no other conclusion than that the seeds 
now growing so profusely over its surface have been 
sown over it, how, when, or by whom I am unable to 
say. They are not of the kind that carry with the 
wind, and could not in their myriads be carried and 
accidently dropped by birds. As, however, the 
same weed grows and seeds freely on our highway 
sides, it would be a comparatively easy matter for 
anyone so disposed to possess themselves of a 
quantity." A reward of £20 is offered by the club 
for information as to who is the offender. 
Hardening ||iscellany. 
THE QUARRY, SEVENOAKS. 
Not only has the Chrysanthemum Rust been a 
thorn in the side of trade growers, but the collections 
in many private gardens have been attacked. Mr. 
Hatton, the gardener at The Quarry, Sevenoaks, who 
is one of the Chrysanthemum experts of the district, 
has noticed it on some of his plants, although it has 
not yet done much harm amongst his collection. 
Mr. Hatton brought a leaf from one of the affected 
plants to the National Chrysanthemum Society's 
Conference at the Royal Aquarium, on the evening 
of the nthinst. There was no mistaking the blisters 
or pustules which appeared on both surfaces of the 
leaf, and the dusting of snuff-coloured spores emitted 
from the ruptured blisters. We hope Mr. Hatton 
will be successful in his attempts to keep the parasite 
under. 
PELARGONIUM RASPAIL IMPROVED. 
A large bed of this was to my mind a long way the 
best among the many beds of flowering Pelargon¬ 
iums I have met with this past summer, nothing 
else in the way of a scarlet Pelargonium coming 
anywhere near it. Henry Jacoby is evidently a 
more general favourite, but then it is not scarlet, and 
