November 3, 1900. 
164 THE GARDENING WORLD. 
Passion-flower fruits are successfully grown. Queens¬ 
land is also a fine country for bees, as nearly all the 
forest trees bear conspicuous flowers and provide 
large supplies of honey and pollen. 
- - - 6 - - 
FRUIT AT BUCKLEBURY PLACE. 
Much of the heavy crops of fruit for which igoo 
will be remembered has now been safely garnered, 
and, according to report, a great deal has been 
allowed to go to waste on the ground, particularly 
Plums. This latter is only in market gardens where 
they have not yet learned to make provision against 
a glut which cannot find a ready sale in the market. 
In private gardens provision is generally made for 
storing those things not intended for immediate con¬ 
sumption. A fruit room, on modern principles, has 
been built at Bucklebury Place, Woolhampton, 
Berks, the residence of Arthur W. Sutton, Esq. It 
stands in a fully exposed position, yet is built so as 
to be cool in summer and warm in winter. Strong 
Fir posts support the roof, and the wooden sides are 
double walled so as to maintain an equable tempera¬ 
ture within. The roof is covered with straw to a 
great depth, and above this is a layer of heather. 
This will explain what we mean by keeping the house 
cool in summer and warm in winter. 
The Apples and Pears were mostly upon the trees 
when we saw them, but will by this time be stored 
with few, if any exceptions. There was a good crop 
of various kinds of fruit in the orchard, but we 
were particularly interested in the bush trees sur¬ 
rounding the vegetable quarters. Cov’s Orange 
Pippin and other Apples carried very good crops, but 
there was no comparison between them and the 
Pears, which, in many cases, were hanging like 
ropes of Onions and bearing down the branches 
with their weight. This was particularly the case 
with Beurre Clairgeau, a large and handsome Pear. 
Scarcely less heavily weighted were the trees of 
Baronne de Melo, General Todtleben, Pitmaston 
Duchess and Verulam. 
Handsome and bountiful crops were also borne by 
Marie Louise, Comte de Lamy, Fondante d'Autome, 
Josephine des Malines, Easter Beurre, Bergamotte 
d'Esperen, Chaumontel, Jersey Gratioli, Knight's 
Monarch, Beurre Diel, Deux Soeurs and others. 
Strange to say, a heavy crop was not so general upon 
the walls as on bush trees in the open; but there 
were well cropped wall trees of Zephirin Gregoire, 
Durondeau and Mdme. Treyve. 
The Vines, having received careful treatment and 
attention by Mr. A. Wright, the gardener, are now 
in clean, healthy, robust health and carry a heavy 
crop of Grapes. 
-« » - 
NOTES FROM NEWQUAY. 
(Continued from p. 124.) 
Having recovered from the effects of the perturbation 
recorded in the last chapter, we will continue our 
ramble along the seashore, but in an opposite direc¬ 
tion, and start where the River Gannel broadens 
out to sea, and meets the dancing, onward rush of 
the sunlit waves. Here we shall not require to 
search for some plants—they lie before us. Such 
are the Sea Blight (Suaeda maritima) and the Marsh 
Samphire, or Glasswort (Salicornia herbacea), for 
they occupy a considerable amount of space in the 
estuary. The former is a low, straggling plant, with 
short, fleshy, semi-cylindrical foliage and incon¬ 
spicuous flowers ; while the latter appears to have 
no foliage, but to be composed of jointed, fleshy, 
horn-shaped branches. It takes its name, in fact, 
from sal, salt, and cornu, a horn, and abounds in an 
alkaline salt, and is said to make a good pickle. Its 
flowers are also inconspicuous. Here, too, is the 
Oyster plant (Mertensia maritima), which has wan¬ 
dered away from its Arctic home and lost itself on 
Cornwall's rocky shores. Another interesting plant 
is the Sea Milkwort (Glaux maritima). It grows 
about 3 in. or 4 in. high, in thick patches, and has — 
like most marine plants — fleshy leaves. It has 
gmall pink flowers, which are destitute of calyx. 
The only British Aster, or Starwort (Aster Tripo- 
lium), is abundant here, not only in the salt marshes, 
but on the cliffs. This plant, also, has fleshy leaves, 
but is quite handsome in the matter of flowers, 
which are freely produced in corymbs of purple and 
yellow. It is, in many respects, the counterpart of 
our small, dwarf Michaelmas Daisies. Culinary 
plants are, also, pretty well distributed, and in 
sufficient quantity to set the vegetable gardener 
problem-making, for here— 
In economics he might win, 
Or trace the garden’s origin. 
The Fennel (Foeniculum vulgare) he could not mis¬ 
take. The Sea Carrot (Daucus maritimus) is not 
far removed from the wild one (D. Carota), which in 
flavour and scent resembles the garden one The 
Celery plant fApium graveolens), too, is not to be 
despised, for it is undoubtedly the origin of t,hose tasty 
" sticks ” which lend to bread and chee<e a flavour 
full and unmistakable. 
In the latter case, however, cultivation is a sine qua 
non, and renders a plant that is otherwise inedible a 
most wholesome vegetable. One other member of 
this great Umbelliferous order, viz , the Wild Parsley, 
or the Parsley wild (Pttroselinum sativum), for this 
plant is said not to be really indigenous, has here 
taken up its permanent abode; and, although it will 
not vie with, say, Dobbie’s Champion Moss-Curled, 
it possesses an odour and an individuality all its own. 
It is also rather curious, as a matter of derivation, 
that the Greek selinon should be the root word for 
Celery as well as Parsley. 
Beet and Thyme cannot be dispensed with in a 
well-ordered garden, and, although we are unable to 
beat time, we can at least time our Beet—for the 
exhibition table. Both grow here. One is known 
as Beta maritima, and the other as Thymus Serpyl- 
lum. One affects the seashore, the other the breezy 
sea-cliffs. Nepeta Cataria, the aromatic Catmint, 
affects the hedge-banks of the river. It is chronicled 
as peculiarly grateful to those feline creatures of 
suburban gardens. Would it were 1—they should 
have a bed all to themselves! The other Nepeta 
(N. Glechoma) is hardly recognisable on the Downs; 
it is no larger than the Cornish Moneywort, about 
which more anon. Erica cinerea, too, is so dwarf 
on those wind-swept Downs that it is with difficulty 
one can find a stalk to the flowers. And so 
with other subjects on Pentire Point—they have to 
adapt themselves to their ventilated environments or 
retire from the struggle. Notwithstanding the expo¬ 
sure, however, a good many plants still persist. 
Some of these are Arenaria rubra, the Purple Sand¬ 
wort; Sedum acre, the Biting Stonecrop; Gentiana 
campestris and G. Amarella, the field and the 
autumnal species respectively, the principal dis¬ 
tinction being the four cleft corolla in the one case 
and the five-cleft corolla in the other. The fact that 
both were fully expanded is sufficient to indicate the 
brilliance of the weather. To Erythraea Centaurium, 
the common Centaury, and E. littOFalis the same 
remarks apply. Ononis arvensis, the Rest Harrow ; 
Erodium cicutarium, the Hemlock Stork’s-bill, with 
white as well as lilac flowers ; Bartsia Odontites ; the 
curious little Neottia spiralis, or Lady’s Tresses ; the 
Antbyllis Vulneraria, or Lady’s Fingers, dwarf and 
stunted, but varying considerably in colour—white, 
cream, orange, rose, crimson or purple. With 
regard to the popular name—which is somewhat 
remote^-I could not help perpetrating a joke on my 
unsuspecting landlady. She was quite alarmed to hear 
that ladies’ fingers had been found on the cliffs—she 
had not heard of a catastrophe ! 
On Towan Head—a veritable wild garden as well 
as a rocky promontory -many interesting plants are 
to be found, as well as a number of common ones. 
The short, turfy covering seems to be full of them. 
Scilla verna and S. autumnalis must be classed 
among the former. I discovered the Vernal Squill 
—at least, I hope so—in digging for the autumnal 
one. Time will show. The Autumn Squill occurs 
here in large patches, is of a purple colour, but very 
dwarf owing to its exposure. I came across a white 
variety. Narcissus biflorus is said to be much in 
evidence in the spring. This alone would be worth 
a journey to Newquay at that interesting period. 
The fact, ho vever, of the two Squills being found in 
juxtaposition, and yet flowering at different seasons, 
shows how little we know ot the occult forces of 
Nature ! 
Say what impels the Vercal Squill to blow 
When spring’s aglow ; 
And keeps the other back till autumn's power 
Restores the flower ? 
For answer we get echo only ; but, although there 
are many problems unsolvable in our present state 
of knowledge, the lover of Nature, even if he cannot 
explain the reason why, can always admire the 
wonderful processes—the outward and visible signs 
—of Nature’s handiwork. 
As, however, there are other interesting plants in 
Cornwall to be noted, I must, perforce, suggest 
another chapter.— C. B. G. 
THE PRICES OF WHEAT. 
The subjoined diagram shows the weekly fluclua- 
tion in the price of wheat during the present year. 
The dates are given cn the left, and the price on the 
right, the figures at the top of the diagram being 
only the approximate price in shillings. 
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<L 
EXHIBITING TABLES OF PLANTS. 
The exhibiting of plants on tables of given size at 
flower shows is very common, and in the majority of 
cases is a leading feature of the exhibitions. How 
many exhibitors defeat the object in view by crowd¬ 
ing their plants together it is difficult to understand 
Schedules are, in the main, very definite on thi? 
point of arrangement being a speciality. Excellent 
plants in best of health are often huddled together 
as if they were on a stall for sale in the market. 
Dracaenas, for instance (plants always strong in 
evidence at exhibitions), are too often so cramped 
that their beautiful outlines cannot be seen The 
same may be said of Aralias (always telling on 
tables) placed so that their elegant foliage is hid by 
Palms, Ferns, Crotons and others. The finest tables 
seen at northern shows, and among the winning 
lots, have been arranged with graceful and richly- 
coloured foliage and flowering plants stood on a 
carpet of dwarf Ferns and others of suitable charac¬ 
ter for clothing the surface of the table. Tne pots 
are hid in the foliage; the sm ill specimens stand 
clear of each other. They are fairly balanced all 
over the table and quite free from the clipped and 
formal appearance of many, and such attract the 
censors.— M. T., Canon, N.B. 
