566 
THE GARDENING WORLD. 
May 6, 1899. 
Chestnuts. A Tribute to the Trade.—At a recent 
meeting of the Richmond Board of Guardians, a 
member, in speakiDg of the actions of another, said : 
"I am truly sorry for the distinguished member, and 
can only attribute his actions to the fact that he is a 
market gardener, and therefore knows no better.” 
Flower fashion.—"Fickle fashion" we say, but 
yet fashion means change, and change means new 
enterprise. Among flowers the Hydrangea is the 
chosen blossom this season, and its delicate rosy and 
pale lavender tints assert themselves even amid all 
the detractions of silk, feathers, and cambric. Keep 
your eyes open then, ye commercial men. 
He Got the Appointment.—Meeting two or three 
of the candidates for the post of park superintendent, 
a few evenings after the election, I remarked that 
the Parks’ Committee would wonder where the 
schoolmaster had been when they read the applica¬ 
tions. "Ah!” said one, " I took good care that 
lye’s was right; it was well got up, I can tell you.” 
That was the successful one.— IV. 
An Excellent Example.—Indiana now has a law 
providing for the inspection of all nursery stock sold 
within the state, and making it a finable offence for 
nurserymen and dealers outside the state, to ship 
stock into the state unless it is accompanied by a 
certificate signed by the state entomologist. The 
law also provides for the appointment of a state en¬ 
tomologist by a governor .—American Gardening. 
A Lecture on Daffodils. — The initiative step in a 
highly commendable movement was taken on April 
i8tb, when the first lecture provided to the public by 
the Dumfries and Galloway Horticultural Society, 
was delivered in Grey Friars’ Hall, Dumfries. The 
committee some time ago decided to provide at 
different seasons, lectures on the flowers of these 
seasons. And the first of them was by that able 
expert in hardy plants of all kinds, Mr. E. Arnott, 
Carsethorn, his subject being "Daffodils.” Some 
250 bunches of seasonable flowers were staged, quotas 
being sent from trade firms in London aad Dublin, 
and from gardeners all around the south of Scotland. 
Mr. Arnott quoted tributes from poets to the 
Daffodils, gave the classification of the genus, and 
advocated grouping when planting. Votes of thanks 
were given to the lecturer and others. 
A New Source of Nitrate of Soda.—Sir William 
Crooke’s statement with regard to the world's store of 
nitrates has led to a great deal of discussion in one 
way and another. An addition to the store of the 
fertiliser has lately been discovered or re-discovered 
on the banks of the Nile, in the form of a kind of 
marl, which it is said has been used by native 
cultivators for centuries, and which yields about 15 
per cent, of nitrate of soda. Experiments that have 
been carried out show that this marl can so be manip¬ 
ulated as to form a reliable source of the much 
prized nitrate. Whether it will pay to purify the 
salt and send it to those countries that now import 
nitrate from South America is another matter, at 
least as long as prices remain where they are at 
present. At any rate " Nitrate from the Nile ” would 
be a catchy heading for the new brand, and there is 
something in a title even in these prosaic days. 
Rain.—There are some few spots on the surface of 
the earth where rain never falls, others where it falls 
only at particular times, and others where it is not 
confined, though more abundant, in some particular 
months. In June, July, August, September, and 
October, the greatest amount of rain falls at 
Bombay; but on the Coromandel coast the wet 
season occurs at the opposite period of the year. 
Although we, who live in a humid atmosphere, are 
apt to complain of our gloomy and wet days, inter¬ 
mixed with the fine open atmosphere at other times 
enjoyed, how dreary must be the desolation of the 
Sahara and coast of Caraccas, on which the sun 
ever shines, but a drop of rain does not fall. But 
when rain falls in very large quantities, it may 
become a destroying instead of an enriching agent. 
In the years 553 and 918, it rained violently in Scot¬ 
land for five months. From Midsummer to Christ¬ 
mas, 1338, there was not a single dry day or night; 
in September, 1752, 10,000 sheep were destroyed by 
the rain ; and on June 21st, 1791, the island of Cuba 
suffered so much from a heavy rain that 3,000 
persons and 11,700 cattle were swept away by the 
torrents. 
If Flowers Possessed any Religion what would it 
naturally be ? Buddhism .—The Florists' Exchange. 
"Middlesex” Again —Lady from Australia, in sur¬ 
prise, " Hi! Hi! Hi! you !! What are you, boy or 
girl ? ” Gardener : " Please, madam, I’m a ‘ lady 
gardener.’ ” Lady from Australia goes away, ex¬ 
claiming in apparent disgust, she " had seen nothing 
of the sort even at Barnum’s.” 
Scholarships in Horticulture. —It may interest 
many of our readers to know of five scholarships 
which the Technical Education Board of the 
London County Council offers for competition to the 
youth of the county of London. These are—for young 
men and women, aged from sixteen to twenty, two 
scholarships tenable at Swanley Horticultural College 
and giving free board and tuition, (equal to £60 a 
year) ; and three junior scholarships in practical 
gardening, tenable at the School of Practical 
Gardening, conducted by the Royal Botanic Society, 
at Regent’s Park. These three scholarships are 
confined to boys from fourteen to sixteen, and repre¬ 
sent a grant of £20 or £25, besides free tuition. 
The modest Violet has long been extolled for its 
sweetness and its beauty, but our forefathers credited 
it with more utilitarian virtues. An old writer 
speaking of Violets has it that " their properties are 
sufficiently knowne to all, to coole and moisten, yet 
I shall forbeare to recite their manie virtues that 
might be set downe." It is further said that their 
roots “ boyled in syrup ” formed “ a sureantedoteor 
consarve given against poison.” Amatory youths 
and maidens used to seek the aid of the Violet to 
make love philters. These to be efficacious had to 
be made of the flowers gathered under the full moon. 
At any rate these philters were not calculated to do 
any harm whatever their powers for good may have 
been. 
Slow Progress. —Herodotus in 480B.C., states that 
the Babylonians placed the male inflorescence on to 
the female flowers in order to obtain a crop of dates. 
This, of course, can only be said to be a side issue of 
the great question of hybrids. But how much has 
been found out since the time of the vanished 
Babylonians of old ? Very little, indeed, considering 
the vast amount of time elapsed. This may seem 
strange to some, but to those who practise the art 
of hybridisation, it is far from being so. Now, how¬ 
ever, at last we are about to start the research on a 
definite and sure foundation, for at the coming 
“ Hybrid Conference ” of the Royal Horticultural 
Society, all the scattered knowledge of this most 
important subject will be gathered together. Any 
one who has attempted to write the subject up, 
will be greatly impressed with the scattered and 
scanty literature on this branch of horticulture. It is 
to be hoped that in the report of the conference a 
list will be published of garden hybrids, parentage 
and any other available particulars. A very heavy 
task, some will say. Of course it will be, but it is 
required, and by whom should it be done but by the 
R.H.S. ?— M. C. C. 
Co-operation in tha West Indies. —The distressed 
West Indian Colonies are about to try the remedy of 
co-operation. A Co-operative Union is in process of 
formation, having a capital of £10,000, for the 
purpose of organising the sale of West Indian pro¬ 
duce, and thus developing and assisting the much 
harassed industries. The Irish Agricultural Organis¬ 
ation Society has served as the model upon which 
the work is to be conducted, and the services of Dr. 
Llewellyn Reece, of Barbados, have been obtained. 
As Dr. Reece is a man of wide and varied experience 
he should prove the right man in the right place. 
The headquarters of the Society will be in the 
islands, and branches will be opened at Trinidad, 
Antigua and Jamaica. For the last two centuries the 
West Indies have been struggling against a burden 
which has ultimately proved unbearable. Favoured 
by Nature with fertile soil and tropical climate, all 
sorts of tropical fruits might be grown with advan¬ 
tage. Up to the present sugar has been the mainstay 
of the planters, and that alone is not sufficient to 
support the colonies. The development of other 
crops which shall be more remunerative with careful 
and scientific cultivation should be a great power for 
good, and an efficient organisation by means of 
which the produce can be placed on the market to 
the utmost advantage will probably prove an even 
greater blessiDg. 
Good Kitchen Soot—contains ninety pounds of 
nitrogen and about twenty-five pounds each of potash 
and phosphoric acid per ton. There is also a small 
proportion of ammonia salts. If good it weighs 
under twenty pounds per bushel, but the weight is 
usually a good deal more than this for there is 
generally an admixture of ashes, sand, and other 
foreign matter. The value of soot, not only as a 
manure but also as a protector of crops from slugs 
and other pests, is well known. 
Sisal in Mexico.—The production of Sisal Grass 
or " Ixtle ” has largely increased in Mexico, and 
while the exports in 1894-5 were 4,342,621 kilograms, 
valued at £72,820, those in 1896-7 were estimated at 
9,635,000 kilograms, valued at £179,200 silver. The 
traffic is monopolised by a few commercial houses 
chiefly settled in San Lius, Potosi, and Cerritos. 
These houses send their products to New York, 
Hamburgh, and Havre, and small quantities are 
sent to Antwerp.— Journal of the Society of Arts. 
Orchids! £ 1,333 6s. 8d. each!!—Sensations are 
what we live for; at least it sometimes seems so. A 
telegram from Brussels conveys the news that an 
enthusiastic amateur orchidist paid £4,000 for three 
Orchids he had seen at the Antwerp Horticultural 
Exposition. Either the owner of the Odonto- 
glossums—for such they were—was too honest a 
man to rob his infatuated friend or the senders of the 
telegram wanted to strangle the story they put forth, 
for the additional news comes that the grower 
refused to sell them for this sum. 
Bristol & District Gardeners’ Mutual Improvement 
Association.—The Annual Meeting of the society was 
held at St. John’s Parish Room, Redland, on Thurs¬ 
day, Mr. W. A. Garaway presiding over a large 
attendance. In his opening remarks he congratu¬ 
lated the society upon its position. Though started 
only a year ago it now numbers over one hundred 
members. There have been held eighteen meetings, 
lectures being given on subjects of interest to lovers 
of horticulture, the average attendance being seventy. 
The balance sheet showed a small balance due to 
the treasurer, which it is hoped will soon be wiped 
off. Mr. Percy Batten again kindly consented to be 
the president for the year. The other officers elected 
were as follows —Chairman, Mr. C. Lock, Keynsham; 
Vice-CbairmaD, Mr. G. Brooks, Clifton; Hon. 
Secretary and Treasurer, Mr. W. E. Groves, 
re-elected.— W. E. Groves. 
Cranberry Growing in Nova Scotia.—Attention has 
been called from time to time to the suitability of 
Cranberries as a crop for bog lands in this country, 
which at present are lying waste, and to the remun¬ 
erative character of the crop. This has probably 
been brought about by the fact that fruit growers in 
the New World have for some time had their eye upon 
the Cranberry as a possible crop, and that in some 
parts of the American continent where the experiment 
has been made very successful results have attended 
it. A stretch of bog land in the Annapolis Valley in 
Nova Scotia has been turned to good account in this 
direction, and, from reports to hand, the industry 
appears to have a promising future. In Nova Scotia 
these results are chiefly due to one or two enter¬ 
prising fruit growers. It is said that the first car 
load of Cranberries was shipped from Aylesford in 
that country in 1892. In 1894 the industry had 
grown to 1,400 barrels, and in 1896 to 3,000, and since 
then there has been a steady increase not only in the 
quantity of fruit exported, but also in the area of land 
reclaimed and cropped. The cost of clearing and 
preparing stretches of marsh for Cranberries varies, 
of course, according to the character of the bog. A 
thick coating of sand has in any case to be always 
laid on. In Nova Scotia from $60 to $100 per acre is 
estimated to be a fair price, but even this includes 
$10 to cover the cost of plants, so that the expendi¬ 
ture is well within reasonable bounds. Three species 
are to be found naturally in the country—viz , Vacci- 
nium macrocarpum, which is rather rare ; V.Oxyococ- 
cus, which is very common; and Vitis-Idaea. Anumber 
of cultivated forms have sprung up, for the cultivator 
is ever on the look-out for improved types. Bell, 
Cherry, Neville, and Shaw are the favourites. It 
will be noticed that the names at least are short and 
handy enough, and in this respect rather different to 
the long and cumbrous names which European 
fruit raisers will persist in bestowing upon their 
varieties. 
