October 17, 1896. 
THE GARDENING WORLD. 
101 
Mushrooms in greater abundance than has occurred 
for many years has been gathered in the vicinity of 
Ashby, Leicester, since the accession of the rains. 
So plentiful were they that they were selling at 2d. 
a pound retail. Large quantities were bought at 
one penny per pound, yet were of excellent quality. 
The Ceylon Botanic Gardens.—Mr. J. C. Willis, the 
newly-appointed Director of the Ceylon Botanic 
Gardens arrived safely at the close of last month and 
has now assumed office at Peradeniya. The retiring 
Director, Dr. H. Trimen, is reported to be in a 
precarious state of health, and his numerous friends 
are full of anxiety on his behalf. 
A gigantic Specimen of Pumpkin (French " Potiron’’) 
is now being exhibited by Messrs. Ruhmann Bros., 
Importers of Foreign Provisions'and Vegetables, at 
32, Tottenham Court Road, W. It is supposed to 
be the biggest “ Potiron ” ever grown, and measures 
about 2 ft. 9 in. in diameter, 1 ft. 5 in. in depth, while 
its weight is not less than 198 lbs. 
A Smoking Concert is in course of organisation in 
aid of the Jubilee Festival Funds of the National 
Chrysanthemum Society. We understand that Mr. 
A. E. Stubbs undertakes the arrangement of it, and 
the secretary and treasurer to the function is Mr. E. 
Ellis Abrabamson, 290, Dashwood House, E.C , who 
will be glad to hear from any one willing to take part. 
He knew it.—Two sons of Erin were walking along 
a road one day, and one was loitering behind. The 
two in front came upon a big toadstool, and one of 
them asked his mate what it was, when he got for a 
reply, “ Wait till Mike comes up, he knows every¬ 
thing. "Mike came up and looked at it in silence for a 
minute, then exclaimed " Begorra! it’s a what-you- 
may-call-it.” "There now,’’ said the adviser, “I 
told you he would know it.” 
Early Chrysanthemums.—Two varieties appeared 
on the New York markets as early as September 
18th. One of these with pink beads about 4 in. in 
diameter, and named Madame Marie Masse, is not 
unknown in this country. It is well adapted for 
flowering in the open and made its appearance at a 
meeting of the National Chrysanthemum Society 
last autumn, but did not get honoured with a certifi¬ 
cate. The other variety was Madame Gastellier, a 
white bloom about 4^ in. in diameter, and a fort¬ 
night earlier than Madame Bergman. 
Farm and Garden Produce.—The Midland and the 
Great Northern Railway Companies, where their 
lines are in combination, have agreed to reduce the 
tariff considerably for farm and garden produce. 
In this respect they have followed up the example 
set them last year by the Great Eastern. Many new 
railway vans on the Midland line may be noticed 
labelled 11 For Fruit and Milk.” Fruit growers and 
market gardeners generally will do well to lay aside 
their local jealousies, and co-operate in taking advan¬ 
tage of the privileges now offered them, 
The Torquay District Gardeners' Association opened 
its fifth session at the Abbey Road Lecture Hall on 
Wednesday, September 30th, when Dr. R. Hamilton, 
Ramsay, delivered bis presidential address. After 
congratulating the assembled members upon the con¬ 
tinued success of the society, Dr. Ramsay offered 
some interesting remarks on " the home garden, and 
some plants worthy to find a place therein.” The 
home garden, he said, belonged especially to a 
mansion where the owners lived for the greater part 
of the year. Many such gardens were the pride of 
designers in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, 
but too many of them had been ruthlessly swept 
away during the opening years of the nineteenth 
century, when the park had been brought right up to 
the door with a gravel sweep, and the garden proper 
had been banished to a distance from the house. 
The great point to remember in making a garden, 
continued the lecturer, was not to affect any particu¬ 
lar style, which might fetter too much the minds of 
the owner and the gardener, preventing those gleams 
of originality which might lend a charm to the 
design. By all means let him take from any style 
which might suit his purpose, as did the sculptor — 
To faultless nature true, he stole a grace 
From every fairer form, and sweeter face. 
Dr Ramsay also gave some excellent suggestions 
as to the most attractive way to contrast the home 
garden, to stock, and to shelter it. A hearty vote of 
thanks was accorded him at the close. 
The Bulbs of Roman Hyacinths are small, smooth 
skinned, and solid this year on account of the past 
season's growth. The great demand for the bulbs is 
partly accounted for by the fact that about 1,000,000 
of them will be sold west of the Ohio River, U.S.A., 
this year. 
Two Crops of Potatos.—Mr. William Whiteside, 
Preesall, Lancashire, has had two crops of Potatos 
from the same piece of land during the past season. 
The first crop was planted on April 12th, and lifted 
on June 25th. The second crop was planted on the 
latter date, and an excellent harvest was gathered 
recently. 
Potato Crop in Scotland —Some very heavy crops 
are talked about, but they are exceptional. From 
six tons to nine tons per acre are considered more 
likely as a general average. The tubers in some 
cases are of great size, but hollow in the centre. 
Early varieties have been more or less severely 
attacked by disease. 
Lord Winchilsea and others in the Eastern Counties 
are making great efforts to establish a system of 
depots for the fruit and other produce for the market. 
In this respect they are only copying our Continental 
neighbours, who find that by collecting the small lots 
from any one district to a depot, they may be shipped 
as one consignment at a relatively much smaller 
freight. 
The Fruiterers’ Company.- After a short fit of 
usefulness this company appears to have lapsed into 
its erstwhile state of inaction. With one exception, 
perhaps, the members have no direct interest in the 
welfare of the craft, and consequently the whole 
matter lies dormant. Will Mr. Brooks, of Regent 
Street signalise his accession to office by reviving the 
enterprise so ably conducted by Sir James White- 
head ? 
The Belladonna Lily.—As a pot plant the flowers of 
Amaryllis Belladonna would appear tame beside the 
best forms of the modern hybrids. Out of doors in 
the autumn, however, it has no rival ; yet a most 
striking thing is that so little of it is seen in gardens 
about. It has been flowering for weeks past in a 
narrow border close to the walls of the Orchid house 
at Kew. The individual flowers last but a short 
time, but each bulb carries a number of flowers which 
expand and die in succession. Some bulbs are early 
and others late, hence the duration of the flowering 
season. At first the blooms are pink with a white 
throat, but they gradually deepen with age until of a 
deep rose, throat and all. 
Devon and Exeter Gardeners’ Association.—The 
winter session of this society was recently opened at 
the Exeter Guild Hall, when Mr. W. Charley, 
gardener at Wonford house, read an instructive 
paper on soils. Mr. A. Hope presided over a full 
attendance. After dealing with the composition of 
soil the essayist observed that soils might well be 
spoken of as the graveyard of countless generations 
of animated nature, stocked with- plant food at once 
available, and fortified with further, as yet unpre¬ 
pared, material, which would be forthcoming when 
required. In order to possess proper fertility, a soil 
must afford ready ingress and egress to water, but at 
the same time must have sufficient retentive power 
to guard against protracted drought. Its texture 
must be at once firm and yielding so as to afford 
protection to root fibres, whilst it allowed of their 
free passage in search of nutriment. The essayist 
then went on to discuss the evil effects of a water¬ 
logged soil, also the beneficient action of lime upon 
sour torpid soils which exerted a powerful mechanical 
effect on sandy soils by imparting a certain amount 
of tenacity; on heavy soils by opening up and 
dividing them ; and on peaty soils by breaking down 
their fibrous vegetable tissues. Sand, full of humus, 
hitherto valueless, could be made fertile and pro- 
puctive by a judicious use of lime. A soil abounding 
in lime, said Mr. Charley, would grow legumes well, 
also Potatos. Clay soils, while excellent for agri¬ 
cultural products, require to be lightened for garden 
crops. This could be done by the addition of sand, 
lime, or woodashes. After referring to the manures 
necessary for several kinds of land, Mr. Charley 
dealt with the chemical composition of the soil, and 
concluded by saying that in order to thoroughly 
understand the texture or mechanical nature of the 
soils, their relations to heat and water had to be taken 
into account. 
A new Insecticide.—This is a substance made by 
dissolving 3 oz. of sodium arsenate in a quart of 
water, and 4I oz. of lead acetate in a like quantity of 
water. After this they should both be poured into a 
barrel containing forty-five gallons of water, stirring 
the mixture. The amorphous lead arsenate remains 
for a longer period in a state of suspension when 
thus treated than when concentrated solutions are 
mixed and afterwards diluted. The mixture is 
further diluted till the solution is made up to fifty 
gallons, after which it is ready for use. 
SMALL FRUIT CULTURE IN BELGIUM. 
Our contemporary The Dundee Advertiser is publishing 
a series of articles on Belgian gardens and other 
subjects in relation to fruit culture. The first 
article is illustrated with a sketch of a Belgian 
market cart, containing the owner, his wife, and 
some market baskets, not unlike the bushel baskets 
of our markets, but deeper and furnished with two 
handles. This load is drawn by two dogs. Ordinary 
agriculture has not been paying in Belgium, and the 
tendency is to extend the cultivation of small fruit, 
which is grown in gardens rather than extensive 
fields. Many of the gardens, both for fruit and 
hops, consist only of twenty to thirty poles of land. 
Much of the fruit shipped from Ostend is grown in 
the neighbourhood of Ghent. The land is generally 
held on a lease of nine years, and the rent is about 
240 francs per hectare, that is about £6 per acre. 
Strawberries are more profitable than Gooseberries. 
At Lede, between Ghent and Brussels, the school¬ 
master is also a fruit grower, and he considers that 
fruit culture is extending. 
No garden is entirely given up to the culture of 
any particular fruit, all or most of the kinds being 
represented. Vegetables are also grown in consider¬ 
able quantity. Onions and Carrots come in for a 
large share of attention, and one grower admitted 
that he had sold large quantities of Carrots to a jam 
maker in Scotland, but apologised for the jam maker 
by saying that if he put nothing worse in the jam it 
would do no harm. 
Produce is carried over the Belgian railways at 
lower rates than ordinary and less perishable 
commodities. Much of the Belgian fruits finds its 
way into British markets after it reaches Ghent, 
Ostend, and Antwerp, from whence it is conveyed to 
Britain by fast steamers at low rates. More fruit is 
shipped from Ghent than any other Belgian town. 
One shipper has two steamers sailing for Leith every 
week, three for London, two for Hull, and three for 
Goole. Most of the Strawberries shipped from 
Ghent are sent to Glasgow in baskets and sieves. 
The sea passage to Leith takes thirty-six hours, and 
the freight is 30s. per ton ; for London the charge is 
about 25s. 6d. per ton. If the fruit leaves the port 
of embarkation at 2 p.m. it is in London by 6 a m. 
next morning, so that perishable fruits can be 
gathered in Belgium one day and marketed in London 
the next. 
Although the distance from Antwerp to Hull is 
260 miles, the passage is made in twenty-six hcurs, 
and the charge per ton is 24s. From Hull to Man¬ 
chester the distance is ninety-one miles, and the 
railway freight 23s. gd., or practically double the 
long sea journey. Fruit leaving Antwerp can be 
placed upon the Manchester markets within thirty- 
four hours, the distance covered being 351 miles, at 
a total cost 47s. 9d. per ton. 
The Belgian Government has long recognised the 
value of technical education for the peasantry. 
There are schools for this purpose in various parts 
of the kingdom, and the most notable of them is that 
at Vilvorde, in the neighbourhood of Brussels, and 
which was founded about fifty years ago. About 
thirty to forty students attend it at the present 
time and are educated free of charge. The school is 
small but well equipped, and has about twenty acres 
of ground attached to it. Fruits, flowers and vege¬ 
tables are grown here, including Grapes and Tomatos 
for the culture of which there are glass houses. 
Vines are also trained to wires out of doors, and 
Strawberries planted between them. The Belgian 
Government also gives attention to the best methods 
of culture and the disposal of the produce. There 
is an Agricultural Information Department, where 
farmers and growers generally can get information 
free of charge concerning the best crops to grow, 
where the best markets are to be found, and other 
particulars relating thereto. 
