276 
THE GARDENING WORLD 
December 31, 1898. 
many respects by modern books of much 
humbler pretensions. Much of the infor¬ 
mation it contains is as true to-day as when 
written; but those branches of botany 
which deal with the morphology and 
physiology of plants have been revolu¬ 
tionised since Lindley’s day. A large 
number of the books in the Lindley Library 
are chiefly important as works of reference 
in botanical matters or otherwise ; but they 
are books that seldom find their way into 
private libraries owing to their cost or 
rarity, or both combined. Others are 
purely botanical books; but all may at one 
time or another prove valuable works of 
reference. The value of the Catalogue, we 
think, would have been greatly increased if 
the publishers’ names of the various books 
recorded had been given ; but the defi¬ 
ciency may be felt only by a few. 
— - ■ — 
A Nursery of Date Palms has been established in 
the Salt River Valley of Arizona, U S. A 
The First Botanic Garden in the United States was 
formed by John Bartram, in Philadelphia, in 1728, 
and the plot still remains public ground. 
Common Lead Paint has been found by Professor 
F. W. Card (U S A.) to be the best dressing for 
wounds caused by pruning. 
Baked Chesnuts contain 8 1 per cent, of water; 
33 of nitrogen ; 741 of carbo-hydrates; 26 hydro¬ 
carbonate; and i g of mineral salts. About three 
hours and twenty minutes is the time required to 
digest them. 
A Job for Adam.—Professor Wagstaff in speaking 
about the counting of a billion, says that if Adam 
had commenced 6,000 years ago, and continued with¬ 
out dying, without sleeping, eating, drinking, &c., he 
would by this time only have counted 567,648,000,000, 
which is little more than half a billion. It is as well 
that the " grand old gardener ” died early at the age 
of one hundred or a hundred and fifty. 
Size of the American Apple Barrel.—The United 
States’ National Apple Shippers’ Association passed 
a resolution on August 6th, 1897, that — “ This 
Association recognizes as the standard barrel for 
Apples a barrel which is of the capacity of a flour 
barrel, which is 17J in. in diameter of head, and 28$ 
in. in length of stave, and bulge not less than 64 in. 
outside measurement.” This standard is the one 
now adopted by fruit exporters from America. 
Veltha! To Kill Fungoid Diseases.—For some time 
Messrs. Wm. Wood & Son, Ltd., of Wood Green, 
have been paying attention to the treatment of the 
fungoid diseases of plants, and as a result the 
specific "Veltha” has been introduced. It is 
claimed for Veltha that not only does it arrest the 
spread of fungoid diseases, but that it increases the 
productiveness of food-giving plants. If so, it will 
prove one of the greatest blessings to horticulturists 
and agriculturists alike, that has ever been dis¬ 
covered. Mr. F. E. Boyes, F.R.H.S., Public 
Lecturer on Botany, Agricultural Chemistry, etc., 
has experimented with “ Veltha,” and reports that 
it is a sure cure. 
The best American Chrysanthemums—A list of the 
favourite varieties of Chrysanthemums in the 
United States has been prepared, and appears in 
American Gardening for December 10th. This list 
has been prepared by analysing the reports of a 
number of the most important shows, and tabulat¬ 
ing the number of times each variety has appeared 
upon the show boards. Fifty-four varieties are in¬ 
cluded in the lists, Viviand Morel appearing at the 
top,having been shown twenty-six times. Mrs. Henry 
Robinson is second, with twenty-two appearances; 
Major Bonnaffon, third, with twenty; Frank Hardy, 
fourth, with nineteen ; and Golden Wedding, fifth, 
with sixteen. A considerable difference between this 
analysis and one prepared from British shows is 
manifest, for in the American list such varieties as 
G. J. Warren, Western King, and Niveus have only 
been shown three times. 
Birch Bark is nearly always used in tanning 
Russian leather, giving it a pleasant odour, and pro¬ 
tecting it from insects. 
Our Common Furze, Ulex europaeus, needs a little 
protection in the neighbourhood of Boston, U.S A., 
to enable it to withstand the long winter and the 
late spring frosts. 
The £ 16 , 000,000 per Annum waste of fertiliser 
through the loss of nitrogen by sewage, according to 
Sir William Crookes’ statement before the British 
Association, is a big waste indeed ; but if to this is 
added the loss of phosphoric acid and potash, both 
essential plant foods, in the same way, we get a value 
that cannot be far short of £20,000,000, which might 
be turned to good account upon our farms and 
gardens. 
Plaistow Horticulturists. — Mr. A. J. Foster, 
F.R.H.S., of New Cross, gave a lecture on ” Spring 
Flowering Plants,” on December 9th, to the mem¬ 
bers of the Plaistow and Upton Park Horticultural 
Society. The place of meeting was St. Mary’s 
Schoolrooms, Plaistow. Mr. W. A. Sturrock pre¬ 
sided, the audience, which mustered over seventy 
persons, being much interested. Mr. Foster’s lecture 
was both interesting and helpful throughout, 
especially to amateurs, who were present in great 
strength. The keen interest with which the lecture 
had been followed was demonstrated at the close by 
the number of questions which were asked. 
The Forest of Dean.—Those in charge of the 
Forest of Dean are not hampered by any restrictive 
Acts such as that which applies to the New Forest, 
and so the foresters are having a busy time of it. 
The whole of the it. 000 acres which belong to the 
Crown are to be gradually inclosed, for it has been 
decided to restore the natural aspect of the forest by 
planting Beech and Oak extensively, with a scatter¬ 
ing of Larch, Chestnut, Sycamores and other trees. 
This treatment has been recommended by Mr. Hill, 
conservator of Indian forests, and, as a result of its 
application, it is hoped that the fine Oak timber 
which used to be the feature of this forest may again 
be seen. An invitation has been extended to all of 
those interested in the practical management of 
woods to visit the place and note the working out of 
the scheme. We are hereby reminded that it would 
not be an inopportune moment to start the school of 
British Forestry which has become an urgent latter- 
day need. 
Prospects of Crops Abroad.—According to the 
latest reports the French Wheat fields are in 
excellent trim, although a lower temperature is said 
to be necessary in order to check the over-luxuriance 
of growth. Complaints come from Germany with 
regard to the unseasonable weather. High winds 
and mild weather have prevailed, and very little snow 
has fallen. Farmers in Italy are congratulating 
themselves upon the promising appearance of the 
grain crop. In Russia the weather is mild, and the 
temperature much above the average. In the 
south of Russia, indeed, the weather is quite spring¬ 
like, river navigation is still unimpeded, and corn is 
still being despatched via the Dnieper. This, at this 
time of the year is most unusual, such a state of 
affairs not having existed since 1883. Although the 
atmosphere is damp, there has been a shortage in 
the rainfall, and rain is wanted for the crops. In 
the United States the grain crops are everywhere 
looking first-rate. The Maize crop has been nearly 
all secured, except in Iowa and Kansas, where there 
is still a good deal of it out. 
Messrs. James Veitch and Sons, Limited.—We are 
in receipt ot the Seed Catalogue for 1899 sent out by 
this eminent firm. This catalogue is fully as well 
got up as any of its predecessors, and the various 
specialities of the firm are oflered in highly attrac¬ 
tive fashion for the consideration of readers. There 
are ninety-six pages of text, with numerous illustra¬ 
tions of both flowers and vegetables. These are all 
excellent, but we may make special mention of a 
half-page picture of a tennis lawn, with trees in the 
background and a summer house nestling beneath 
the shade of these trees as being particularly good, 
for every feature is reproduced with striking clear¬ 
ness. A full page illustration of a bunch of flowers 
of herbaceous Calceolarias demonstrates admirably 
the pitch of perfection to which these handsome 
flowers have been brought. The only coloured 
plate is a magnificently finished one of varieties of 
Cyclamen grandiflorum, the white, blush, rose, pink, 
crimson, and deep purple varieties being beautifully 
represented, as well as the pretty " marbling ” of the 
leaves. The covers are stout and substantial, 
French grey in colour. The front page is well set 
off with a bunch of single and semi-double Poppies 
in bud and full bloom. 
How to Preserve the Colours of Flowers.—The fol¬ 
lowing recipe for preserving the colours of flowers 
in all their natural brilliancy and freshness appears 
in the issue of The Farmers' Gazette for December 
10th:—" In a well-corked bottle dissolve 6 drachms 
of coarsely powdered clear gum copal; add the 
same quantity of broken glass, and ounces of 
pure rectified sulphuric acid. The flowers should 
be dipped in this varnishing fluid four or five times, 
allowing them to remain in a current of air after 
each immersion. 
Vines 800 Years Old.—There exists in the depart¬ 
ment of Loire Inferieure, France, in the neighbourhood 
of the ancient priory of St. Jean de Bere, in a suburb 
of Chateaubriant, founded in the 11 century by 
Briant, a number of venerable Grape Vines which 
have passed the allotted span of the life of their 
kind. These patriarchs were planted 800 years ago 
by the first monks who lived at the priory in ques¬ 
tion. These venerable plants thus date from a time 
when France was, to say the least of it, in the in¬ 
fancy of civilisation. 
Meaning of Orange Blossoms at Marriages.—Tradi¬ 
tion has it, says the Irish Farming World, that " a 
Moorish king sent a splendid Orange tree as a gift 
to a Spanish monarch ; never before had such a 
beautiful plant bloomed in the royal gardens. 
Everyone coveted a slip, but the king refused the 
boon to all. One day, a branch with its glossy 
leaves and starry blossoms was accidentally broken 
off, and the gardener gave it to his pretty daughter, 
who was the betrothed of a humble artisan. The 
girl had no dot, and the wedding seemed impossible. 
A foreign ambassador, who was promenading in the 
garden, noticed the spray, which the girl had stuck 
in her jetty tresses. In exchange for the coveted 
treasure, he offered her a sum sufficient for her 
dowry. Overjoyed, she acceded, and the marriage 
was celebrated. The fragrant, flowery ornament 
was so much admired that the custom of wearing 
Orange blossoms on nuptial occasions was inaugu¬ 
rated.” 
Birmingham Gardeners.—Mr. F. W. E. Shrivell, of 
Tonbridge, recently gave one of his interesting and 
instructive lectures upon manures before the mem¬ 
bers of the Birmingham Gardeners’ Association. 
The experiments at Golden Green, Tonbridge, were 
the basis of the lecture, and in placing these before 
his audience, together with the deductions from 
these experiments, Mr. Shrivell was listened to with 
great attention. The value of chemical manures 
mixed with dung had again, said the lecturer, been 
clearly demonstrated. With Asparagus it was found 
that on the plot on which dung alone had been used 
at the rate of twenty-five loads to the acre a better 
crop was obtained than on a plot which had been 
manured with dung at the rate of fifty loads to the 
acre. Where they had added chemicals to the 
twenty-five loads they had obtained a much heavier 
and larger crop ; in fact, by giving a light coating of 
dung to the beds in winter and a moderate dressing 
of chemicals in summer they bad nearly doubled the 
crop. Experiments with Onions gave similar results. 
It was found that when the ordinary dung was sup¬ 
plemented by chemicals the beds contained fewer 
unmarketable bulbs. In the case of Strawberries 
they had found that the best method was to give a 
light dressing of dung and chemicals every year. 
All the Cabbage tribe benefited greatly by the appli¬ 
cation of artificial manures. A Cauliflower plot 
dressed with 6 cwt. nitrate and 6 cwt. basic slag, or 
4 cwt. of superphosphate, per acre, at a cost of £3, 
had yielded 2 tons more produce per acre than 
another plot which for five years had had added to it 
twenty-five loads of dung at a cost of £5 per year. 
Mr. Shrivell also detailed the results of experiments 
with other crops. A lively discussion followed the 
delivery of the lecture, several members relating 
their experiences in the cultivation of vegetables 
and Strawberries in the neighbourhood of Birming¬ 
ham. 
