February 4, 1899* 
THE GARDENING WORLD 
36 ‘J 
Musa Basjoo in Trient, Germany,—There is a noble 
specimen ot this Japanese Musa in the garden of 
Herren C. and Dr. G. Garbari, in Trient. For three 
years it remained as a small specimen, planted in the 
open ground ; but last year it shot up to a height of 
five metres, that is, about 16 feet. A figure of it in 
Moller’s Deutsche Gartner-Zeitung for January yth. 
shows a dense mass of many stems surmounted by a 
thicket of leaves of great size. 
The County Borough of Hanley Horticultural Fete is 
one of the most important provincial events of the 
horticultural year. The date fixed for the 1899 ex¬ 
hibition is July 5th and 6tb, and it will be held, as 
before, in the Hanley Park. Mr. J. Kent, the inde¬ 
fatigable secretary, is to be congratulated upon the 
complete and extensive schedule of classes which has 
been got up for the occasion There are in all 103 
classes devoted to plants, flowers, fruit, and vege¬ 
tables, and split up into sections according to the 
status of the exhibitor, whether professional gar¬ 
dener, nurseryman, or cottager. The zone system is 
also exemplified, for there is a section for cottagers 
living within six miles of Hanley Park, and one for 
gardeners and amateurs living within a radius of 
twelve miles of that point. The special prize list is 
a very long one, relative to the whole schedule, for 
no fewer than thirty-six classes are thus provided. 
Mr. Robert Sydenham, Birmingham ; Mr. H. lick- 
ford, Wem; Messrs. J. R. Pearson & Sons, Chil- 
well; Messrs. Sutton & Sons, Reading ; Messrs. 
Webb & Sons, Stourbridge ; and Messrs. J. Carter & 
Co., High Holborn, are a'l donors of special prizes. 
Agricultural Education in Essex.—During the last 
few years, the Essex Technical Instruction Com¬ 
mittee have done much to improve secondary and 
technical education in the rural districts, by grants 
in aid of the science teaching in the grammar schools 
and by training science teachers ; and young men in 
commencing practical farming are now undoubtedly 
much better equipped than formerly with a knowledge 
of the sciences upon which agricultural practice 
depends. But till recently there has been a gap in 
the educational curriculum between the course 
of pure science at school and the course of 
practical agriculture on the farm, for the pupil has 
never been shown the practical bearing of the one 
upon the other. This defect in the educational 
scheme, the Technical Instruction Committee have 
now endeavoured to remedy by the establishment of 
short courses of instruction at the County Technical 
Laboratories at Chelmsford. Three short courses 
each occupying three weeks are given in the County 
Laboratories during the year : the first deals with 
"The Soil: its Cultivation and Improvement" the 
second with “Farm Crops," the third with "Farm 
Stock." It is recommended that the three courses 
should be taken consecutively, but each is complete 
in itself and new students can be enrolled for each 
course. In each of the courses the mornings are 
occupied with lectures and practical laboratory work 
in agricultural chemistry, botany or zoology ; the 
afternoons are devoted to lectures in practical agri¬ 
culture usually followed by a field excursion, or by 
the examination of seeds, soils, manures, foods, 
implements etc.; the evenings to additional lectures, 
revision classes or discussions, time being always 
also allowed for private study. The first three weeks’ 
course was held last November. Twelve students 
were enrolled, and these all worked throughout the 
course with praiseworthy diligence, and never flagged 
in their interest and attention. The most notable 
field excursion was to Feering, where Mr. J. W. 
Moss bad very kindly arranged an exhibition of 
steam ploughing and mole ploughing, steam culti¬ 
vating and steam digging. In the examination at 
the end of the course, Mr. B. W. Bull gained the first 
place, and Mr. G. E. Brunwin the second. The 
next three weeks’ course commenced on January 16th, 
1S99. The mornings are devoted to the botany of 
agriculture and the afternoons to the practical con- 
sideration of com, root, and forage crops, while the 
classes in the chemistry of the subject will be held 
in the evenings, Among the field excursions arranged 
is one for the laying out of an experimental pasture, 
in order to afford practice in the proper application 
of manures. On Fridays Jan. 20th, Jan. 27th, and 
Feb. 3rd, the laboratories were open for inspection 
to farmers and others ; on each of these days, Mr. 
W. M. Tod, the lecturer in practical agriculture, 
commenced his lecture at one o’clock, and this was 
also open to farmers. 
Fresh Fruits are being poured into British ports in 
greater quantities than ever before. 
Cricket and Willows.—Cricket has fairly taken 
hold of the youth of India, so much so that the 
Government Forest Department of the Punjab has 
announced its proposal to plant Willows in order to 
supply the demand for wood to make cricket bats. 
Royal Botanic Society of London: Seed Testing Lec¬ 
tures.—The first of a course of lectures on seed test¬ 
ing with demonstrations was given on Monday, the 
23rd ult., in the lecture room of the society at the 
Gardens, Regent’s Park, by Mr. D. Finlayson. 
The lecturer deplored the fact that while all over the 
Continent and in America seed testing stations under 
Government control had been established, where 
farmers and agriculturists could have their seeds 
tested and obtain statistics and information, in Eng¬ 
land, where the need was greatest, these questions 
were left to a few private persons, or one or two 
societies whose researches were limited to their own 
members. Considering how great was the annual 
loss to agriculture in this country on account of seed 
adulteration, the selling of seed, which, owing to age 
or other causes, has lost its vitality, and the mis¬ 
chief done by noxious weeds sown with it, and how 
inefficient were the means for the dcection pos¬ 
sessed by farmers and others, it was a matter of sur¬ 
prise that the question of public testing stations had 
not been more generally taken up. The lecturer 
gave three simple rules—first, that good varieties 
only should be purchased; secondly, that the heavier 
it was in comparison with its bulk, the more likely it 
was to germinate; and, thirdly, that the impurities 
should be carefully studied—bits of dirt and debris 
were of far less consequence than the minute seeds 
of weeds. He instanced one apparently clean sam¬ 
ple he had tested, which contained enough weeds to 
produce over 5,000 of the worst kind for every acre 
sown. The lectures are to be continued every 
Monday afternoon, to March 27th. 
SOME GOOD APPLES. 
(Continued from p. 313.J 
Cox’s Orange Pippin is a household word amongst 
all fruit growers as one of the very best dessert 
Apples extant. The fruit is of medium size, hand¬ 
some in appearance, and the flavour pay excellence. 
In nine cases out of ten this variety takes the blue 
for the best flavoured Apple in the dessert class. 
The tree makes a good pyramid, also a good stan¬ 
dard, and is largely grown around this neighbour¬ 
hood. It is a grand market Apple, good fruit always 
commanding remunerative prices The fruit is in 
use from the end of October to February, and no 
collection should be without a few trees of this 
valuable variety. 
King of the Pippins is another excellent dessert 
kind, ready for use at the same time as the preceding 
one, and lasting quite as long. The fruit gets quite 
a golden colour after being stored in the fruit room 
a few weeks, and makes a very telling dish in a col¬ 
lection. The finest fruits that I have seen of this 
Apple were exhibited at the Exeter Chrysanthemum 
and fruit show in November last, several of the 
dishes being noteworthy. This variety is most pro¬ 
lific, forms a fine pyramid or standard, and can be 
easily spotted or pointed out on account of the up¬ 
right growth the tree makes. Certainly it is one of 
the very best Apples to grow for market. 
Kerry Pippin (is this a home ruler ?) is an old 
but still one of the best early Apples we have for the 
table; it is often ready by the end of August with 
us, and remains good and firm to the end of October. 
It is a most profuse bearer. Each year I have to 
thin heavily, as if allowed to be over-cropped the 
fruits are inclined to be small. The flavour is excel¬ 
lent with us trained as an espalier on the Paradise 
stock. 
Annie Elizabeth is a well known kind, and 
worthy of extended culture on account of its long 
keeping qualities and free bearing, and altogether is 
an excellent kind for the kitchen from December to 
June. It grows well as a standard. 
Lane’s Prince Albert has well merited the 
praise bestowed upon it when first sent out by the 
Messrs. H. Lane & Son, of Great Berkhamstead. It 
is a large, handsome Apple, often flushed with red, 
and a most prolific kind, in fact, it bears too freely at 
the expense of growth if not well looked after in this 
respect. The fruits are highly valued in the kitchen, 
and keep well up to March. 
Ribston Pippin is a dessert Apple of the first 
quality, forming a fine bush or pyramid, and bears 
well with us every year. As a cordon our warm soil 
no doubt suits this esteemed variety, as it is seldom 
we find any cankered wood. 
Margil is not despised as a dessert kind here, 
though Cox’s Orange is certainly well ahead, when 
flavour becomes a test ; but Margil grows and crops 
so well as an espalier with us in most years that we 
should be loth to discard it. The variety is most 
suitable for small gardens, as, generally speaking, it 
is a slow grower. The fruits are of medium size, 
and the flavour good, and th--y are in use from 
November to March .—James Mayne, Bicton, Devon. 
(To be continued.) 
Mr. A. Hatton, 
PEOPLE I HAVE MET. 
Mr. A, Hatton, The Gardens, The Quarry, 
Sevenoaks. 
A retrospect of the past few seasons of Cbrysanth 
emum culture discloses the prominent position 
Mr. Hatton has taken iu some of the principal 
provincial competitions. As a cultivator he has un¬ 
doubtedly attained these successes most meriiori 
ously. It so happens that the principal autumn 
gathering down Sevenoaks way is the show of the 
West Kent Chrysanthemum Society, and its most 
coveted prize is, or has been, the twenty guinea 
challenge cup, offered for the best group of Chrys¬ 
anthemums arranged for effect. A condition fairly 
interpolated was that for a competitor to absolutely 
own the cup in perpetuity it required to be won three 
times, not necessarily, however, in succession. In 
1895 Mr. Hatton first won it, in the capacity of head 
gardener to Mrs. Swanzy, a most liberal patroness 
of horticulture. In 1896 he just missed it, running 
second, but in 1897 and again in 1898 he attained 
first honours, and had the satisfaction not only of 
realising the object of his ambition, but of subse¬ 
quently receiving the cup itself from the hands of 
his employer as his own property, as a tribute to his 
prowess and hard work. This certainly was a most 
graceful act, and Mr. Hatton is to be doubly con¬ 
gratulated upon his good fortune. A photograph of 
the 1898 group was given in these pages last week. 
He is the holder also of the Tunbridge Amateur 
Society's Challenge Cup, offered for Chrysanth¬ 
emums grouped for effect, and he has an equally ex¬ 
cellent reputation as an exhibitor of groups of mis¬ 
cellaneous plants. At The Quarry Mr. Hatton has 
now been as head gardener to Mrs. Swanzy for the 
past sixteen years, having formerly been at Chip- 
stead Place, Sevenoaks, for six or seven years. Mr. 
Hatton graduated at Chatsworth, and bis early days, 
we may be sure, were passed in good hands there. 
It is a period upon which he doubtless looks back 
with every satisfaction.— Gyp. 
