October 3rd, 1903. 
THE GARDENING WORLD 
S'-'5 
OCTOBER 3 , *903- It he hardening W orlcL 
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EDITORIAL NOTES. 
Kite Blackberries. 
jThe above 1 heading is somewhat para,- 
xical in the contradictory appearance of 
J terms used, hut this comes of the practice 
applying the name that indicates the colour 
some plant or fruit which it is wished to 
ne from its characteristic colour. In 
e, red, purple, and violet flowers we are 
lost certain to find albinos even in a wild 
te, and, as a matter of fact, they do crop 
frequently. In like manner we find that 
its will vary to some extent in the same 
7- A species of shrub may normally have 
oi black fruits, and these will give rise 
i variety that has fruits of some paler hue. 
us m the red and black Currant we have 
ite varieties that might be regarded as 
mo,s in the sense that the fruits have lost 
their normal colouring matter, leaving the 
fruits white. The common Raspberry has 
normally a red fruit, but a pale yellow fruit¬ 
ing variety occasionally occurs in a wild 
state, and is as fruitful as the type, while 
the quality is excellent, the flavour being 
somewhat milder or less acid than in the ordi¬ 
nary form. Some writers are just now dis¬ 
covering that there is such a tiling as a white 
Blackberry—that is, a. white-fruited form of 
a Rubus or Bramble. This lias comei to us 
from America, apparently a,s the result of 
cultivation and altered conditions upon the 
constitution of the plant,, not, as a sport in 
the ordinary usage of the term, but, as a seed¬ 
ling variety. Brambles are very numerous 
in this country, both in number of varieties, 
species, and individual plants. It, is not un¬ 
likely that a white variety should occur 
amongst them if the hedges, heaths, and 
commons were well searched for the same. 
Probably an albino in the Bramble is not of 
so frequent occurrence a,s in the Raspberry, 
as we remember that the white Black Cur¬ 
rant is by no means so plentiful as white- 
fruited varieties of the red species. 
Edible Fungi. 
When Dr. M. C. Cook delivered his lecture 
on “ Edible Fungi,” at the meeting of the 
Royal Horticultural Society on the 15th 
ult., it was natural that he should have a 
number of questions addressed to him as to 
the nearest and most easy road to a know¬ 
ledge of edible fungi a,s distinguished from 
the poisonous ones. His reply was short and 
very much to the point, being the old adage 
that “ there is no royal road to learning ” ; 
the only way to distinguish between a 
poisonous and an edible fungus was to know 
them, just as we are able to distinguish the 
various species of plants and animals gener¬ 
ally by forming sufficient acquaintance with 
them to distinguish one' from the other. To 
each individual species or form we give a 
name by which it is to be known, and then 
the story of its characteristics can be written 
underneath the name, as is usual. Even 
among human beings there are some who 
have a large number of names or aliases, but, 
unfortunately, in the case of plants, a,number 
of names may indicate popularity and a use¬ 
ful subject, or, maybe, the reverse. One 
questioner believed that if a fungus was 
cooked with a, silver spoon, the latter would 
become black if the fungus was poisonous. 
Another test was that a true Mushroom could 
be freely peeled, but both of these statements 
were negatived as a true test of the distinc¬ 
tion between an edible and a poisonous 
fungus. 'Some of the poisonous, fungi may 
be peeled as readily as the common Mush¬ 
room (Agaricus campestris). Another im¬ 
portant announcement that the doctor made 
was that a. person might -eat, a good Mush¬ 
room with impunity at one time, but might. 
be injured by it at -another. It, depended 
very much on the constitution of the person 
either normally or for the time being. He 
himself had eaten .as many as eighty different 
species of Mushrooms, not by way of experi¬ 
ment, but merely on the recommendation of 
someone else, and he had not suffered 
thereby. 
—o— 
Fruits from the Argentine. 
Cultivators abroad seem determined to 
keep us supplied with fruit, and during the 
coming winter we have no doubt it will be 
wanted to a greater extent than ever owing 
to the almost universal failure of British- 
grown fruit, in so far a,s outdoor cultures are 
concerned. Mr. James Hope Hunter, a fruit 
grower, who has settled in the Argentine Re¬ 
public, has been in London recently, and 
arranging for the disposal of something like 
50,000 to 60,000 cases of fruit, including 
Peaches, Pears, Plums, and Apricots. The 
first consignment will arrive at Covent 
Garden in January, and be followed by suc¬ 
cessive consignments during the rest of the 
winter. This is not his first experiment, as 
he had a. large share in the trial shipments 
of Peaches and Apricots from Buenos Ayres 
last year. Arrangements have been made 
with the Buenos Ayres and Rosario Railway 
Company for the carriage of fruit to the 
capital, from whence it will be shipped to 
Southampton. Contracts have also been 
made with the Royal Mail Steam Packet 
Company for the erection of cold storage 
chambers on their steamers for carrying fruit 
to this country. 
—o— 
The most recent hobby amongst 
ladies. 
Many ladies have now taken to distilling 
their cwn scents from such slants as 
Lavender, Verbena, and Pelargonium leaves. 
Having purchased a. still, the next thing to do 
is to get flowers or leaves, as the case may 
be, from which to make or distil the scents 
for their oovn use. The quantity of' Lavender 
required to fill this still would be just suffi¬ 
cient, to fill an ordinary washhand basin. This 
lavender is rubber between the hands and 
dropped into the still, which is then tilled 
with, boiling water, and a spirit lamp lighted 
underneath it to keep the water at the re¬ 
quisite temperature. The liquid which rises 
to the' top of the still passes in the form of 
vapour through a pipe into a, condenser which 
contains a worm in which the vapour isl con¬ 
densed by means of cold water in the ordinary 
way adopted by distillers. Finally, the liquid 
scent is drawn off from a tap at the bottom 
of the condenser. The process of distillation 
from other kinds of flowers is, quite as s im ple 
The quantity obtained from such a still is. of 
course, very small, but if the process is care¬ 
fully conducted, so that the scent is pure, a 
little of it will go a long way. 
