January 2, 1897. 
THE GARDENING WORLD. 
285 
we can readily comprehend, because the reader may 
recognise a symptom or partly so, yet be unable to 
give it that diagnosis which the physician with his 
extensive practice, and the acquired skill of his pro¬ 
fession, can readily do. Travellers going abroad, and 
those in the immediate district of civilisation, will 
derive advantage by consulting the pages of this 
guide. This aspect of the question is maintained 
throughout the book, and in carefully reading over 
the articles relating to various diseases and ailments, 
we fail to find any attempt to mislead, or give the 
impression of quackery. On the contrary, the direc¬ 
tions given, whereby to discern from symptoms what 
is the matter, are very simple, and the advice 
is reliable. In cases involving danger, arising either 
from the medicine recommended, or from the nature 
of the patients’ illness, the latter is always advised to 
consult a physician, before taking further action. 
Otherwise, however, the advice given in the book 
may be acted upon, and in this respect lies the 
advantage of having such a guide at hand for 
reference, in cases of emergency more especially. 
Many maladies to which the human race is subject 
may be warded offby judicious eating and drinking, 
as well as by frequent exercise in the open air, and 
advice in such cases is frequently given. The 
number of maladies mentioned here and prescribed 
for is astounding. U seful chapters are also given 
furnishing " Suggestions for the Maintenance of 
Health,” ‘‘Laws Relating to Infectious Diseases,” 
"Invalid Dietary.” " Drinks for Invalids,” "London 
Medical Fees.” &c. 
-•$«- 
Hardening ||iscellany. 
A WELL-ARRANGED GROUP OF CHRYSAN¬ 
THEMUMS. 
The king of winter flowers is the Chrysanthemum. 
What should we do without it ? It would indeed make 
a gap for the florist and decorator. One of the beSt 
and most varied groups I have seen for some time is 
that well-arranged in the conservatory at Park Vale, 
Birmingham; and as seen from the drawing room it 
is a most charming sight. All the leading sorts, 
"incurves ” and Japanese are well represented. Some 
well-flowered dwarf plants about 18 in. high finish 
off this group to perfection. Most of these dwarf 
plants are furnished with flowers right to the pots, 
forming a natural and well-clothed finish. I was 
likewise charmed with a house of Primulas here, 
including the Queen Type; and Sutton's best 
varieties, double and single, and their Star Primula 
are all well represented by well-grown and profusely- 
flowered, grand examples of cultivation. A grand 
batch of Calceolarias and another of Cinerarias are 
worthy of the same remarks. The credit of which is 
due to Mr. Showell's gardener, Mr. W. H. West- 
bury.— Rusticus. 
SOLANUM MACROCARPUM. 
This most interesting plant has recently been 
fruiting in the Temperate House at Kew. The 
stems are furnished with stout sharp spines from £ 
to | of an inch in length. The persistent sepals are 
also spiny, although the spines here are not so long 
nor so stout as those of the stem. The fruit is 
globular, hard, thick-skinned, and free from any 
corrugations. In colour they are a dull orange 
scarlet, and from one to one and a half inches in 
diameter. 
SKIMMIA JAPON1CA. 
The splendid batch of this pretty plant exhibited at 
the last Drill Hall meeting by Messrs. Cutbush & 
Son, Highgate, N., was an excellent reminder of its 
value during the winter months. The berried 
plants that are amenable to cultivation in the green¬ 
house are all too few, and it seems a pity that we do 
not see Skimmia japonica given a more favoured 
place in private establishments. It is not over com¬ 
pact in habit, perhaps, but still the bright red 
berries more than compensate for supposed 
deficiencies in this respect. When in flower, too, 
the plant is attractive, for the Holly-like blooms emit 
a very fragrant perfume. Small specimens in six 
inch pots come in very useful for decorative pur¬ 
poses throughout the winter months. 
ACACIA PLATYPTERA. 
Several plants of this Acacia have been flowering 
of late both in the Temperate House and green¬ 
house No. IV. at Kew. Like most of the Acacias 
the flowers are bright yellow. They are produced 
in single heads, borne on short peduncles. The 
phyllodes, or modified leaf stalks are broad, obliquely 
truncate, mucronate, and clothed with stiff hairs. 
The branches are broadly winged, and the whole 
plant is of rather straggling habit, Acacia platyptera 
is a native of the Swan River, from whence it was 
introduced about the year 1840. 
A BUNCH OF VIOLETS. 
Violets at Christmas are welcome flowers, partic¬ 
ularly when^as sweetly scented as we should expect 
them in March. A large bunch reached us the 
other week from Mr. James Mayne, gardener to the 
Hon. Mark Rolle, Bicton, Devon, accompanied 
with the note “ the good old Marie Louise.” The 
flowers were of a much darker hue than usual, with 
a white centre, and delightfully fragrant. Mr. 
Mayne makes a point of having plenty of Viole's 
during the autumn and winter months, by making up 
some hotbeds, on which lights a: e placed. Some soil 
is put into them, in which the Violets are planted. 
Little further care is necessary beyond attention to 
ventilation, and keeping the plants clean, including 
the removal of decaying leaves, which might cause 
damping amongst the flowers in the moisture-laden 
atmosphere of Devon. The old Marie Louise still 
remains a favourite with growers, not only in this 
country but on the other side of the Atlantic, where 
our cousins continue to hold the variety in the 
highest estimation. 
HOW TO COOK POTATOS. 
Although we have made great advances in our 
cultivation of the Potato it is to be feared that the 
way in which the tubers are cooked is not always 
satisfactory. There comes to us an account of how 
Potatos used to be cooked many years ago at a then 
famous restaurant in Covent Garden. The Potatos 
were first washed carefully, and then placed, un¬ 
peeled, in a sand bath. Here they were subjected 
to a high temperature until they were well cooked 
and mealy—usually two or three hours. An 
eminent physician has expressed his opinion that all 
starchy foods, including, of course, the Potato, are 
far easier of digestion and assimilation when pre¬ 
pared at a high temperature than they are when 
cooked by a lower one. By boiling we can only give 
a temperature of iiz^Fahr., whereas by baking, 300° 
and higher can be obtained. The sand bath is not 
an absolute essential, as a hot oven will answer 
nearly as well. The skin of the tubers should first 
be punctured in several places to admit of the escape 
of the steam. The most important point is to watch 
for the exact moment when the Potato are baked 
dry, when they will turn out of their skins quite 
mealy. 
RHODODENDRON LORD WOLSELEY. 
A good specimen of this Veitchian hybrid is now in 
flower at Berrow Court, Birmingham, the residence 
of Arthur Kenrick, Esq. The plant is growing in a 
14-in. pot, and has seventeen expanded trusses of its 
beautiful bright orange-coloured flowers, averaging 
eight flowers to each truss. There are ten buds yet 
to open. This is a good example of cultivation. 
Plants and flowers are well done here. There is also 
a good house of well-grown Cyclamen of Sutton’s 
superb strains, now in perfection. Examples of 
these were shown at the late Birmingham Chrysan¬ 
themum Show, and obtained a leading place amongst 
several exhibits of Primulas. Bouvardias are equally 
well done, proving themselves most useful for 
cutting purposes. Several Cattleya labiata and 
Dendrobes are likewise in flower there, and many 
other novelties are exceedingly well done under the 
fostering care of Mr. Alfred Cryer, the gardener-in¬ 
chief.— Rusticus. 
SALVIA SPLENDENS. 
Considerable use is made at Kew of Salvia 
splendens, and in greenhouse No. IV. some capital 
specimens in eight inch pots are to be seen each 
year during the earlier part of the winter. The 
species in question has the great merit of holding its 
flowers longer than most of its congeners, and the 
racemes of bright scarlet are most effective. Like all 
the Salvias, S. splendens needs rich soil, and good 
feeding, for if starved at all the lower leaves soon go, 
and half the beauty of the plant with them. The 
variety S. s. grandiflora, which received an award 
of merit at the hands of the floral committee of the 
Royal Horticultural Society during the past autumn, 
is an improvement upon the type, in that it is said to 
travel better, and to stand more knocking about. 
The flowers, too, are a little longer, and the racemes 
are more compact, although this latter can 
scarcely be termed an improvement, as it does not 
add to the effect, and imparts rather more than a 
suspicion of stiffness. 
DIOSPYROS KAKI. 
The succulent house at Kew contains two fine speci¬ 
mens of the Date Plum that recently carried good 
crops of fruit. Each fruit is as large as a medium¬ 
sized dessert Apple, spherical, and bright orange in 
colour. They are said to make fairly pleasant eating 
The plant requires the shelter of a house where it 
can be protected from frost in this country—those 
at Kew are placed in the cool end of the succulent 
house to which very little fire heat is applied. In 
the extreme south of England and in the Channel 
Islands it may be grown outside. It was introduced 
from China as far back as the year 1789. 
VIBURNUM TINUS. 
Our flower gardens and pleasure grounds throughout 
the country contain numerous plants of this well- 
known favourite, but it seldom gets any farther than 
the outdoor garden. It is such a success there that 
it seems as if it has performed all the duties that 
could possibly be expected of it. It is a plant of 
several parts, however, and does splendidly when 
grown in pots for the decoration of the cool conser¬ 
vatory. Not only does it flower , freely at a time 
when flowering plants are none too numerous, but it 
readily takes on the trim, shapely dwarf bush form 
that plant growers love. Considerable use is made 
of it at Kew in this direction, and greenhouse No. 
IV. contains some symmetrical little plants in 6-in. 
pots, full of health and vigour as well as of flower 
buds. 
LAPORTEA MOROIDES. 
The Poison Tree, as Laportea moroides is popularly 
called in its Queensland home, might be classed 
amongst the plants that are more curious and 
interesting than pretty. It belongs to a suspicious 
natural order, viz., the Urticaceae, and so far bears 
out the habits of its kind as to need very careful 
handling, if the operator would escape having his 
hands blistered by the stinging hairs with which the 
leaves, stem, and fruits are covered. More than one 
inquisitive plant lover has been tempted to smell the 
luscious looking fruits that look not unlike half ripe 
Mulberries, and the consequences of such temerity 
are usually painful enough. A plant in the Begonia 
house at Kew is carrying several of the drooping 
panicles of fruit. The leaves are large, and cordate, 
or nearly orbicular in shape. The plant is rather 
ornamental, but from its unsociable tendencies is 
not likely to become a great favourite in our stoves. 
-- 
Questions add AnsroeKs 
*.* Will our friends who send us newspapers he so good 
as to mark the paragraphs or articles they wish us to see. 
We shall be greatly obliged by their so doing. 
[Correspondents, please note that we cannot undertake to 
name florists' flowers such as Carnations, Pelargoniums, 
Chrysanthemums, Roses, nor such as are mere garden 
varieties, differing only in the colour of the flower. 
Florists' flowers, as a rule, can only be named by those who 
grow collections of them.] 
Araucaria imbricata. — Sigma : The books do 
record that this tree was introduced in 1796. The 
oldest tree in this country was that which died at 
Kew in 1893. The seed from which this was raised 
was brought home by Archibald Menzies, the 
surgeon of Vancouver's expedition to the Pacific and 
the north-west coast of America, in 1791-95. 
Though introduced so early it is more than probable 
that the Kew tree was the only specimen of its kind 
in this country for some years. It can hardly be 
said to have died of old age, because it never was a 
thriving specimen owing to the treatment it received 
in its early days in protecting it, owing to the belief 
that it was not quite hardy in our climate. The soil 
also in all probability was unsuitable to its welfare, 
for it never reached a greater height than 30 ft., if so 
tall as that. The oldest tree of an Araucaria need 
not necessarily be the largest. The species was still 
rare in this country in 1836, for King William IV. 
considered it a choice gift when he presented Lady 
Granville with one of the Kew specimens for her 
grounds at Dropmore. The tree in question was 5 ft. 
high at that time but now measures something like 
