THE GARDENING WORLD 
March 4, 1899. 
423 
A New Use for Castor Oil.—That dread of child¬ 
hood, castor oil, is said to be very efficacious in 
removing warts from the hands. The excrescence 
should be touched with the oil once a day for a 
month. 
The Kew Guild.—The annual general meeting of 
this institution was held in the Library, Kew 
Gardens, on the evening of the 23rd ult. In the 
unavoidable absence of the chairman (Mr. G. 
Nicholson) and the vice-chairman (Mr. W. B. Hem- 
sley), Mr. J. Weathers was voted to the chair. 
About seventy of the members were present. 
Amongst those present were Messrs. W. Watson, R. 
A. Rolfe, C. H. Curtis, R. H. Pearson, G. B. Mallet, 
J. Aikman, Alex. Aikman, J. Gregory, and others, 
besides the Kewites still on the staff. The report 
and balance sheet were of a highly satisfactory 
character. The report was discussed by Messrs. 
Curtis, Pearson, J. Gregory, Chas. H. Girdham, and 
A. J. Jordan, and finally adopted. It was proposed 
to elect someone from the staff of the Kew Her¬ 
barium to serve on the committee, and Mr. R. A 
Rolfe was nominated and elected. Mr. Wm. N. 
Sands retired from the committee, as he is about to 
leave Kew, and Mr. Leo Gordon Godseff was elected 
to fill his post. It was proposed that the time and 
place where the annual general meeting is to beheld 
should be stated in the Journal of the Kew Guild, 
and that was agreed upon. 
Reading and District Gardeners’ Mutual Improve¬ 
ment Association — By the aid of limelight views and 
under the guidance of Mr. C H. Curtis (an old 
Kewite), of the editorial staff of the Gardtners’ 
Magazine, a large number of members of the above 
association spent a pleasant evening at the club 
room of the Old Abbey Restaurant in inspecting the 
houses and grounds of Kew Gardens. Before start¬ 
ing on the tour of the gardens the guide gave a short 
historical account of the same, which dated back to 
1551. From the Capel family it passed to George III., 
who enlarged and improved it. In 1841 the gardens 
became public property ; Sir William Hooker taking 
over the directorship at this time, and since then 
they have increased in extent, interest, and useful¬ 
ness. In imagination,the party entered the gates at the 
principal entrance, and first visited the house known 
as No. r, which is used chiefly for the cultivation of 
Aroids or air plants, then on to the timber museum, 
which proved to be exceedingly interesting. As time 
was limited, the party was only able to make but a 
hurried inspection of the various houses, viz , Kew 
Palace, which has only recently, by Her Majesty’s 
gracious permission, been thrown open to the public ; 
the Sun Temple; the Succulent House; the“T” 
range, in which is situated the tank containing the 
famous Victoria regia; the Lily House, used for 
Tropical Aquatics; the Palm House, one of the 
finest houses in this or any other country, and con¬ 
taining, with one exception, the best collection of 
Palms in the world ; the Bamboo Gardens ; Rhodo¬ 
dendron Dell; Azalea Garden; the Temperate 
House, which contains some magnificent specimens 
of Acacias and Araucarias ; The North Gallery, one 
of the finest sights in the garden, in which is'deposited 
the magnificent collection of pictures of the floral and 
vegetable kingdom painted, and presented to the 
nation, by Miss North, representing the work of 
thirteen years’ travel in all parts of the world. The 
Rockery next claimed attention, much interest being 
manifested in the various flowers shown, and after 
seeing various grassy mounds, planted with bulbous- 
flowering roots, the party finished the tour by 
inspecting the Herbarium, which, with the exception 
of the British Museum, contains the finest collec¬ 
tion of dried plants and the best collection 
of horticultural and botanical books in the world. 
Before separating, the president of the association, 
C. B. Stevens, Esq., proposed a hearty vote of thanks 
to Mr. Curtis for coming to Reading and giving the 
members an insight to Kew Gardens without having 
to go to Kew, and referred to the interesting way in 
which the ramble had been conducted, showing that 
their guide had a thorough grasp of the subject, and 
an excellent acquaintance with the ins and outs of 
this noted educational establishment. This was 
spoken to by Mr. Woolford, Chairman of the Associa¬ 
tion, Mr. G. Stanton, an old Kewite, and Mr. James 
Martin. A splendid exhibit of Dendrobium nobile 
was shown by Mr, Townsend, gardener to Sir 
William Farrer, Sandhurst Lodge, Wellington 
College Station. 
To keep Rats at Bay.—It is said that if a mixture 
of pounced glass and dry oatmeal be placed in a jar 
within reach of rats, it will banish them from the 
premises. 
Twelve Good Exhibition Annuals. —A correspondent 
to The Farming World gives a list of twelve of the 
most suitable annuals for exhibiting. There is such 
a wealth of variety from which to pick and choose i 
that it would be quite easy to mention many other 
subjects equally as good, but those named are cer¬ 
tainly very showy and useful subjects. They are 
Calliopsis Drummonai, Chrysanthemum burridg- 
eanum, Sweet Sultan, Clarkia pulchella, Centaurea 
Cyanus minor, Godetia Lady Albemarle and G. 
gloriosa, Linaria reticulata, Sanvitalia procumbens, 
Sweet Peas, Salpiglossis grandiflora, Nigelia his- 
panica, and Zinnia elegans. These are all easily 
grown and free flowering plants, and may thus be 
'grown as well in the cottage garden as in the sur¬ 
roundings of a mansion 
--f»- 
PHYSALIS FRANCHETI. 
There are many species of Physalis, mostly natives 
of Mexico and North America, though the so-called 
Cape Gooseberry comes from South America. The 
best known of all is P. Alkekengi, a native of South 
Europe that has long been an occupant of our her¬ 
baceous borders, being much hardier than any of 
the American ones and more showy than any of 
them that have come under our notice. P. Fran- 
■cbeti is easily the king of all of them, both for size, 
colour and decorative effect, whether grown in pots, 
in the open ground, or in the cut state. The 
bladder-like calyx attains a length of 2J in. to 3 in., 
and a width of 2 in. or more when the plants attain 
their full vigour. The calyx is really the showy 
part of the plant, the flowers being small, white, and 
inconspicuous. At first the calyx is green, and 
gradually swells to a great size, becoming of a 
brilliant orange-scarlet as it reaches maturity, and 
enclosing, but completely hiding, a berry of a richer 
scarlet, and about the size of a marble. These 
bladder-like structures have been very aptly com¬ 
pared to a Chinese lantern, and have a very striking 
effect in the open garden after they reach maturity 
and assume their permanent colour—we say per¬ 
manent, because the stems carrying them may be 
cut in this stage, hung up to dry in a cool, dry, airy 
place, and afterwards used for decorative purposes 
in dwelling houses, or at exhibitions in baskets of 
autumn foliage and berries, to which they impart a 
noble and telling appearance. In the dried state 
these bladders still attached to the siems may be 
used in the same way as everlastings, either alone or 
mixed with them. The species is of recent intro¬ 
Francheti. 
duction from Japan, and caused A sensation amongst 
lovers of hardy plants when exhibited by Messrs. J 
Veitch & Sons at the meeting of the Royal Horti¬ 
cultural Society, on October 15th, 1895, when a 
First-class Certificate was awarded it. The accom¬ 
panying illustration, put at our disposal by Messrs. 
J. Veitch & Sons, Ltd., Chelsea, shows the free 
fruiting character of the plant in the neighbourhood 
of London. The discussion carried on in our pages 
recently concerning this plant shows that its culture 
is easier than some are inclined to think, though 
experiences differ according to soil and locality. In 
cold, wet soils it would no doubt be an advantage to 
take out the natural material to a depth of 18 in., 
and replace it by any fairly rich and sufficiently 
sandy compost. This showy subject is worth the 
experiment. Any number of plants may be raised 
from seeds sown now and planted outside in May or 
June. The species is perfectly hardy. 
Physalis 
