May 6, 1899. 
THE GARDENING WORLD 
567 
A Novel Hammock.—A new use for the Crimson 
Rambler Rose is indicated in a recent number of 
Holler's Deutsche Gartner Zeitung. A standard Apple 
and Pear tree stand in proximity to one another. 
Crimson Rambler Roses are planted at the foot of 
each, trained up the trunks, and then cover a ham¬ 
mock (we presume there is a hammock, but if so it is 
completely concealed by the flowering branches of 
the Rose) slung from tree to tree. A lady rests 
peacefully in the hammock, literally in a bed of 
Roses. 
Poisonous Plants.—There are in our British Flora 
several plants that are of a distinctly poisonous 
nature, and very dangerous to any cattle eating them. 
The Dog’s Mercury (Mercurialis perennis), a mem¬ 
ber of the Euphorbiaceae, a well-known dangerous 
family, is one of the commonest of these. It is to be 
found in quantities, shady places, and in hedge¬ 
rows in almost all parts of the country. In the fresh 
state it is not often eaten by cattle, for the animals 
seem to get to know that the plant is dangerous and 
avoid it, but now and again it is cut and ,dried with 
hay, and given to cattle in the dry state. It appears 
to be fully as harmful when dried as when in the 
normal green condition, and every now and then we 
hear of cases where the deaths of horses and cows 
have been traced to its agency. On a farm near 
Bristol last summer, several sheep and cows were 
attacked by a mysterious malady. They suffered 
from stupor and convulsions, which ultimately 
ended in death. In the ditches in the field in which 
the animals were feeding were quantities of the Water 
Hemlock, Oenanthe crocata, a very poisonous plant 
belonging to Umoelliferae, but one whose deadly 
qualitits are not so well known as those of the Dog’s 
Mercury. The symptoms observed in the afflicted 
cattle corresponded with symptoms that had been 
previously observed in cattle that had eaten of the 
Water Hemlock, and it was thought that this was 
probably the cause of the deaths in this case. 
What made the matter more curious was that the 
plant was fully as plentiful in the ditches in adjoin¬ 
ing fields, but the cattle there had refrained from 
eating the poison, as if their instinct had warned 
them not to do so. 
FREESIAS. 
It may interest many of your readers to know that 
these charming Cape bulbs are hardy with us, and 
flower regularly each spring, usually about the 
middle of April. The flowers sent are cut from a 
batch that has stood out since 1896. They are planted 
in a very sheltered nook at the foot of a south wall; 
and to judge by the quantity of foliage the bulbs 
have not increased much since they were first put 
there. Ixias, of sorts, too, thrive and flower 
abundantly, within a yard of the former, while a 
large plant of Agapanthus umbellatus carried five 
spikes of bloom last year. This also has stood out 
the past three winters.— J. Mayne, Bicton, Devon. 
[The flowers sent were scarcely, if anything, 
inferior to pot grown bulbs. If the tube of the 
flower was shorter, this was made up by the 
substance of the same. All the flowers were 
strongly inclined to yellow often tinted with purple 
on the outer face, but were creamy-white on the 
inner face and having a rich orange blotch on the lip. 
There were four and five flowers on the main stem 
and two of the plants were branched. They were 
also deliciously scented.— Ed.] 
SALTING ASPARAGUS. 
It is a common idea that this vegetable needs a big 
lot of salt. This depends on the nature of the soil. 
I believe a very large number of beds are severely 
injured through using this too heavily, or at the 
wrong time. For years I have been making observa¬ 
tions as to its effect, and I could show beds to wnich 
it had done more harm than good. 
In our own garden I use it with caution. As our 
land is strong and heavy we generally give our beds 
one application, a light one, just after cutting is 
finished, endeavouring to do this in showery 
weather. 
We keep a garden for growing rough vegetables 
away from the home garden. Here, the land is very 
heavy and cold,and when I took charge here some ten 
years ago I began to improve it by using burnt earth, 
&c. Some seven years ago I sowed some Asparagus 
seed. When it was two years old, the land becoming 
weedy, we dressed this with salt, both to keep down 
weeds and to assist growth. Evidently it was too 
strong, as it caused the land to become case-hardened 
on the top, and from that time it has never given 
satisfactory growth. 
When operating on a light soil in Hampshire I 
could use it far more advantageously, as it helped to 
keep the light soil moist. No doubt it is often used 
to keep down weeds, with injury to the Asparagus. 
Manure water is far better for it when growing.— 
J. C. F. A ., Chard. 
POOR GARDENER! 
I quite agree with A. K. that gardeners are poor in 
purse. I know I am, for one, and there are many 
skilled working gardeners who have to find their 
own dwellings. Workmen's houses here, at Black- 
heath, are very highly rented and scarce. I pay 13s. 
a week for a six-roomed house ; and I think it is 
quite time that the garden writers and lecturers had 
something to say about gardener's wages and house 
rent as well as the work. It is all very fine to go to 
horticultural society meetings and sing "He isa jolly 
good fellow.” I used to sing it myself, when I was 
a boy in the West; but I think we poor gardeners 
want something more than that, and I think 
that gardeners who have a good purse should 
be humble while in their prosperity, and try 
to make it better for others. I have not seen 
much else myself but a poor living for working 
gardeners. Is it worth learning ? I see nothing but 
young ones wanted. I am not very old myself, only 
forty-five years of age, but I do not see that a 
gardener stands much chance of getting a situation 
in a private place after he is forty ; and they will 
not take any one in the London parks after one is 
thirty. Is it worth learning ? Is not a man as good 
at forty or fifty years of age as at thirty ? I would 
gladly exchange places with a mechanic if I knew 
how to do his work; for it would be much better to 
take £2 10s. or more a week than it is to take 30s., 
but unfortunately I never learnt one of their trades. 
—W.G. 
THE FUTURE OF ORCHIDS. 
From inquiries made since reading my essay before 
the Chiswick Gardeners’ Mutual Improvement 
Association I learn that Orchid lovers are becoming 
more numerous week by week. This I learned from a 
reliable source. True, from time to time some more 
or less famous collection comes under the hammer; 
but where one gives up their cultivation there are 
two that take it up, not merely for mercenary 
motives, but purely for the love of them. Mr. S. 
T. Wright believes that the commercial aspect of 
Orchids would largely rule their destiny in the 
future,laying stress upon or emphasising cool Orchids 
for their relative cheapness. Take the price of 
Odontoglossum crispum as sold at the Sale Rooms. 
For a fairly good specimen one has to pay from a 
guinea upwards; and how many, I ask, are prepared 
to give that sum, solely for commercial purposes ? 
Very few, and, as stated in your leader, we hope the 
day is far distant when Orchids will be grown 
commercially. There is as great a future for the 
Orchid as in the past.— W. Walters. 
[We do not object to Orchids, cool or otherwise, 
being grown to any extent for commercial purposes, 
but we should be sorry to see that the be all and end 
all of Orchid culture, because it would greatly cur¬ 
tail the number of species and varieties at present 
grown. Variety and novelty are the life and soul 
of collections of garden plants of whatever kind.— 
Ed.] 
- I »- 
SCENT MAKING. 
Though there are intricate ways of abstracting and 
concentrating the essences from odorous flowers, 
there are yet some simple ways, a few of which are 
explained in Pearson’s April magazine. In Grasse, 
near Cannes (Kan.), of the Riviera, a whole batch 
of manufacturers are kept in operation preparing 
those liquid and pomade scents which “ ye fair 
ladies” and our dandies waft about. Jasmine and 
Tuberose pomades are made in an extremely easy 
way. A layer of pig's fat is spread upon plates of 
glass, and the petals of the flowers are scattered over 
the top. When the petals fade a new lot is put on 
until the fat is impregnated with their scent when it 
is stored as a white pomade. 
Roses, Orange blossoms, Cassia and Parma 
Violets are treated by a hot process. 
The flowers are put among melted fat and left to 
soak there until it grows cold, then it is placed in 
a hydraulic press, and the flowers are removed by 
means of sieves. This now forms the raw material 
used for the manufacture of essences. The pomade 
now ready, it is put into a copper turbine and stirred 
in alcohol, until after some days the alcohol has 
absorbed the perfume. 
Only a very few scents out of the many put forth 
are really what they profess to be. Though one 
may ask for and get something which recalls the 
scent of, say Lily-of-the-Valley, Cherry blossom, or 
new mown hay, yet the product is simply a union of 
essences and oriental spices and drugs. The 
flowers really used in scent making are Mignonette, 
Jonquils, Jasmine, Roses, Tuberose, Parma Violets, 
Orange blossom, and Cassia, of which wide fields or 
plots or hedges or groves are grown in the south-east 
of France. 
-—- 
ON KEEPING APPLES. 
Good late Apples are always in demand both in the 
market and for private consumption. When we 
come to note the price these realise from January 
onwards one is apt to ask why there is such a small 
supply of home-grown fruit. 
There rueht to be a continual supply of good, 
sound fruit in all good gardens from August till well 
into May, when they are not much wanted after, 
there being a good supply of Gooseberries, &c., 
after this date. 
Some may say,Can these late fruits be good ? Isay, 
Yes, providing suitable kinds are grown with 
proper gathering and cool storage. For several 
years our supply has lasted to this time, and I hope 
to do the same this year. 
I will name three kinds that can be had in good, 
plump, firm, and sound condition and with good 
flavour till the time above named. They are 
Sturmer’s Pippin, Wellington and Alfriston. It 
would answer no good purpose to name a lot of kinds 
for late keeping, as most growers know only too well 
that the greater portion of the kinds exhibited at 
late shows are worthless, and I consider it mislead¬ 
ing to show them. They are fair enough outside, but 
flavourless. 
I am convinced there are several reasons why we 
do not see more really good, sound and highly 
flavoured late fruits. The first, a very large quantity 
of these late keeping kinds are gathered much too 
soon. They should be allowed to hang on the trees 
as long as possible. 
It is clear all the higher properties are put into the 
fruit by the tree at the latter end of the season. It 
is these qualities that cause the fruit to keep and be 
good flavoured. 
Every observing person must have noticed the 
length of time a fruit will hang on a tree and not 
suffer. Bad handling in the gathering must be 
condemned; but this is not so often done as too early 
gathering. Frost Jn autumn is not often severe 
enough to injure these late hard kinds. 
What is most to be condemned is the place they 
are stored in, and I am convinced in many places we 
have gone back (instead of going forward), in the 
structures that have been put up to store fruit in. 
Many of the fine, dry fruit rooms, are useless for 
keeping fruit late. Shelves with open battens are 
about the worst place you can put them on to keep 
late, in nine fruit rooms out of ten. Recently a 
friend told me when he was in Kent (end of March) 
he went into a fruit room in a chalk pit under 
ground, and there he saw the best Apples he ever 
saw at that time of the year. 
The great thing is to store them where the air is 
not too dry or warm, and where there is but little 
change of temperature. It is not a question of smart 
or expensive places. In our own garden we store 
those late kinds in large cases from 3 ft. to 4 ft. deep 
and as much wide, and place them in our potting 
shed, and here we have no fire and often get several 
degrees of frost. These are put in cases at the 
end of October or the beginning of November and 
allowed to remain till the middle of March before they 
are looked over.— J. C. F. A., Chard. 
