880 
THE GARDENING WORLD 
October 17. 1903. 
NEWS OF THE WEEK. 
Ripe Strawberries.— Fine ripe Strawberries grown in the 
open are still being offered for sale in Yarmouth market. 
* * * 
Plum Crop at Newburgh, Fife.— The recent wet weather is 
spoiling the Newburgh fruit crop, particularly Plums, which 
are about ripe. 
* * * 
Big Vegetable Marrow.— -A large white Marrow, weighing 
2 st. and measuring 30 in. in length, was cut the other week 
from a garden in Gladstone Street, Peterborough. 
* ■* * 
Value of Blackberries.— As showing the scarcity of wild 
fruit this year, Blackberries were selling at Honiton at 4d. and 
8d. per quart. The usual price has been lJ>d. and 2d. 
* * * 
Raspberries Fruiting a Second Time. —The recent mild and 
moist weather has given vegetation a fresh start. Raspberry 
canes are again bearing ripe fruit, and the Apple trees are 
putting on blossom in Fife. 
* * -* 
Trees for Nrw Cemetery near Cottpar Angus. —The Auch- 
termuchty Parish Council have accepted the offer of Mr. Watt, 
nurseryman, Coupar, for laying out the new cemetery with 
shrutbery and trees. 
* * * 
Curious Behav.ox r of Plum Trees. —As showing the peculiar 
nature of the season, some Plum trees at Kelso are bearing 
fruit at two distinct stages—one lot quite ripe and the other 
only half developed, and some have even a little blossom as 
well. 
* * ■* 
Price of Pears.- —Foreign-grown Pears are selling at un¬ 
usually high prices. The Doyenne du Comice, which in a 
normal season would bring 3d. or 4d., are being retailed in 
Covent Garden at Is. 6d. each. Other varieties fetch 3d. and 4d. 
apiece. English Apples, though few in number, are of good 
quality, and are selling at 4d. per lb. 
* * * 
Stapelta variegata. — It may interest some of the horti¬ 
culturists to know that there are two plants of Stapelia 
variegata in flower in the Vicarage greenhouses at Stagsden. 
Each plant has produced several fine flowers. The Rose beds 
in the garden are full of autumn bloom, and the Cactus Dahlias 
are now at their best. 
* * * 
Honours to Distinguished Horticulturists. —At the Quin¬ 
quennial Exhibition at Ghent in April last it pleased His 
Majesty the King of the Belgians to name as Officier dans l’Ordre 
de Leopold, M. Pee ter?, horticulturist at St. Gilles ; and as 
chevaliers MM. Armand de Meulenaere, Louis de Smet-Duvivier, 
Adolphe Vanden Heede, and C. van Kerckvoorde. 
* * * 
Edible Dahlia Roots.— Nobody ever thinks now of the 
Dahlia root as an article of food, though when it was introduced 
to Europe it was expected to be a competitor with the Potato. 
France tried for a long time to popularise the tuber of the 
Dahlia as an edible root, but it diet not “ catch on.” 
* * * 
Strange Behaviour of Apple Tree. —Mr. F. Home, of Nor¬ 
wood, London, has a tree with three crops of Apples and one 
of blossom. It has the first and ordinary fruit; then, having 
bloomed again, there is a crop of Apples about the size of 
bantams’ eggs ; once more it bloomed, and there is now a third 
crop, with fruit about the size of a marble. Since then it 
has bloomed again. 
* * * 
An Unwelcome Guest. —The current volume of the “ Trans¬ 
actions of the Entomological Society,” according to “Know¬ 
ledge,” contains an interesting account of the life-history of 
the beetle Drilus flavescens as observed in Surrey during the 
last three years. The larvae have the curious habit of preying 
upon various smallsnails. A larva captures a snail and pushes 
it to some convenient, hidden spot; then it creeps within the 
shell and slowly devours the mollusc. If the snail, when the 
shell is seized by the beetle-larva, comes out and tries to 
escape or to drive the assailant away, the latter attacks it 
fiercely with its mandibles. Larval life may last for two or 
three years, and the insect passes the winter in a passive and 
somewhat pupa-like condition. 
Another Monster Potato. —Mr. Jno. Marvin, Ratby, dug 
from his garden a monster Potato, a fine specimen of Up-to-Date 
variety. It is most perfect in saaye, measures 12g in. round, 
and weighs 2 lbs. 2 ozs. 
* * ■* 
A Park Nursery. —The experiment made by the Halifax Cor¬ 
poration of establishing a nursery near Ogden Reservoir, from 
which to supply the parks of the town with flowers, promises 
to prove a success. 
* * * 
New and Costly Potato. —Mr. A. Findlay, the introducer of 
the famous new Potato Northern Star, has produced a new 
variety and named it Eldorado. A Wisbech grower who tried 
to purchase some seed was informed that none will be sold this 
season, and that an offer of £10 per lb. for a quarter of a hun¬ 
dredweight had already been refused. This is at the rate of 
over £ 22,000 per ton. 
* * * 
Onions from the Sea. —Large quantities of Onions are being 
washed ashore along the Fife coast, almost all the way from the 
East Neuk to Dysart, where, on the 29th and 30th ult., many 
inhabitants were busy with clothes baskets and bags col¬ 
lecting and carrying away the stranded vegetables, which formed 
the cargo of the vessel which went down at the mouth of the 
Forth some eight or ten days before. 
* * * 
“ A Fortrait Flower. —Suspended from the roof in one of the 
Orchid houses at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, a curious 
plant is to be seen in flower. The flowers are very large, mea¬ 
suring 6 in. from tip to tip, but it is the lip which is specially 
noticeable and remarkable. On this lip, by a series of furrows 
and marks, it is that a resemblance to the well-known face of 
‘ Punch ’ is noticeable, the eyes, nose, cheek furrows, and chin 
being so clearly depicted that they are immediately recognised 
by all beholders.” The above is the story given by a daily con¬ 
temporary concerning an Orchid which seems to have been 
Corvanthes macrantha, which flowered lately. 
* * * 
The spongy moisture of our marshlands and meadows this 
season explains the abnormal abundance of Mushrooms. The 
sight of children hawking this edible fungus in the streets of 
Leighton Buzzard is quite a common sight just now. Mush¬ 
room growers know that the rapid development of the “ buttons ” 
is proverbial, and under favourable circumstances the suc¬ 
cessive crop appears for weeks, but the too saturated condition 
iof the soil may check their growth for a time. Despite the 
favourable season, the entire absence of the edible Mushroom 
(Agaricus campestris) from some grass land is quite striking ; 
even in some pastures that have been grazed off for a number 
of years not one is to be found. This certainly proves that 
some soils are quite unsuitable for the mycelium to run in, 
but there are numbe s of fields where the spawn should be intro¬ 
duced, and this would make a happy hunting ground for die 
Agaric when once it became established. 
* * * 
Fig Harvest of Southern Italy. —Some interesting details 
concerning the Fig harvest in Southern Italy are given by Mr. 
Neville-Rolfe in a recent consular report. So important is the 
Fig as an article of diet among the poorer classes that a failure 
of the crop wculd be a grave national disaster, and regret is ex¬ 
pressed that its merits are not better appreciated in England, 
it being, perhaps, the most nourishing of all fruits. Of the 
various Fig-growing districts of the world, South Italy may 
be considered one of the most important. The sun-dried Figs 
are sent not only all over Italy, but form a large item of 
export to France, though few reach the British market, which 
chiefly takes the Smyrna packing. The Italian Fig is inferior 
to its Levant rival, though it excels those of Spain, Portugal, 
and France, and is especially rich in albuminoids, upon the 
presence of which its nutrient qualities depend. In this re¬ 
spect it again takes second place, and Smyrna first. Much of 
the export, however, is not used directly for food, but is em¬ 
ployed in the adulteration of coffee and other articles. The 
fruit of the wild Fig is hung upon the trees of the cultivated 
species, and the special Fig wasp (Blastophaga), which is 
hatched in the former, cuts its way out, and, entering the fruc¬ 
tification of the edible Fig, pollinates it, If an unfavourable 
season has affected the supply of these insects, the Fig grower 
has to obtain some caprifigs from some other locality. Thus, 
when they fail in Asia Minor, shiploads are imported from 
Greece, and in all the Fig-growing countries of the South 
they may be purchased in their season in the open market. 
