THE GARDENING WORLD: ! ' 
August 29, 1903. 
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EDITORIAL NOTES. 
ic New Garden at Wislcy. 
daily comments, amusing and otherwise, 
■ 7 e been made by different people in con- 
tion with the garden at Wisley which has 
t been gifted to the Royal Horticultural 
:iety. We suppose, however, that they 
r e' been made in real earnest. As far a,s 
have observed, “ The Spectator ” makes 
1 most serious comment touching the 
iety and what it, is expected to do. Our 
temporary thinks that the Fellows of the 
iety will treat the garden as “ something 
re than merely a, 60-acre property 
ipted for the growing of rare plants.” 
'be Spectator ” hopes that, the general 
Idic will he allowed free access to the' 
■den, which should become a sort of 
tional Gallery for live plants', the property 
of the nation. It is said to- he near enough to 
London to make it ea.sy of access for those 
who desire to see something beautiful, and 
yet, far enough away to prevent the garden, 
becoming a mere resort for the idlei and care¬ 
less. We doubt this very much, because we 
believe the garden is much more easy of 
access to the mere pleasure seeker in his 
motor than it is to the Fellows of the Royal 
Horticultural Society. Anyone can, see this 
for himself who takes up a position on, the 
Portsmouth road on Sunday anywhere be- 
tween Kingston and Ripley. The garden 
indeed isi very near the Portsmouth road, 
although from three to six miles from the 
various railway stations. Another point we 
should mention, is that in the absence of 
walks the grass would very soon he destroyed 
by the number of people that would flock 
there whenever it became known that a 
garden of rare and beautiful plants was open 
free to the public. 
-O'— 
A Stone’ess Plum. 
We have long been accustomed to hear of 
seedless Bananas and Pineapples—so long 
that we have almost unconsciously assumed 
that they should not bear seeds. Seedless 
Grapes we have recently been discussing in 
the case of the Sultana, Grape (Sultanieh), 
and the black Monukka. Grape, the latter of 
which has long been cultivated at Chiswick. 
The Wizard of California, (Mr. Luther Bur¬ 
bank) has raised a stoneless variety of Plum 
which he names Miracle. It, has a, firm flesh 
and the stone is reduced to a few chips; of 
shell, leaving the kernel naked when the 
fruit is cut open. The flavour is described as 
all right, both flesh and kernel, so that we 
might describe it as Plum and Almond in one, 
which should be a boon for culinary purposes. 
Mr. Burbank says that the tree is a vigorous 
grower, bears enormously, and is in every way 
satisfactory. “ American Gardening” has an 
illustration of this; stoneless; Plum reproduced 
from a, photograph, and we hope that the 
kernel will have something of the true 
Almond flavour, though that might be too 
much to expect from a. Plum. If the new 
variety is of any value we have no doubt, it 
will soon, find its way here. 
-O'— 
A New Use for the Meteorological 
Office. 
While addressing a, large gathering of fruit 
growers under tire auspices of the National 
Fruit Growers’ Federation at Maidstone, 
recently, Lord Onslow said we ought to make 
ourselves mere acquainted with the vagaries 
cf the weather. The Meteorological Office, 
he said, blight be under the administration, 
of some Government Department, but he had 
some difficulty in fixing upon, any depart¬ 
ment that wonld take it. He thought that 
the Postmaster-General was the most likely 
person to take control of it because he had 
command of the telegraph wires, and was, 
he believed, in communication with Mr. 
Marconi for the use of his system. If we 
had a rock in the middle of the Atlantic from 
which we could get signals; we should be able 
to' gauge more accurately what, was going to 
happen in, this country. It seems to us that 
knowing what is going to. happen, in the 
matter of weather would enable us to take 
some precautions or make preparations before 
the advent of a storm, but the real difficulty 
lies 1 in the fact that we are unable to control 
the weather itself in. any important parti¬ 
cular. 
May-Apple Jelly. 
We are familiar with Podophyllum Emodi 
and P. peltatum, otherwise known as May 
Apple and Ducksfoot, but. our estimate of 
them lias been chiefly in the light of orna¬ 
mental plants. One is a native of America, 
and P. Emodi came from the Himalayas. 
Both belong to the Barberry family, and the 
last named produces a bright red fruit about 
the size of a pigeon’s egg, and this ripens 
fairly freely in this country, but, we should 
not have thought the quantity sufficient to 
turn to' economic account. A correspondent 
in, the “ American Botanist ” speaks of mak¬ 
ing these fruits into jelly. No doubt the 
writer refers to- the American specie®, which 
does not seem to fruit readily in this country 7 . 
The jelly isi said to he of a, light' amber colour 
and the flavour delicate and delicious. It is 
said to lxave no medicinal qualities, but it 
adds one more fruit for scarce years. 
—o— 
Use of Plant Secretions. 
Some time ago the editor of the “ American 
Botanist ” raised a question about the use of 
plant secretions in the economy of the plant. 
A writer now says that students of physio¬ 
logical botany will have work to keep them 
out, of mischief for the next century or two in 
trying to discover why and how the primary, 
secondary, and tertiary products of plants are 
evolved, used, or turned out of the plant. The 
mischief into which botanists fall, according 
to this writer’s idea, is the making of new 
names of plants and reducing the others to 
the condition of synonyms. 
—o— 
Origin of Vincent Square. 
Better times were in store for these fields 
than those enumerated in last week’s issue, 
when Dr. Vincent, the head master of 
Westminster, conceived the idea of form¬ 
ing a playground for his pupils. The square, 
then, takes its name from the founder of 
the school adjoining the square. He was 
also; Dean of the Abbey from 1802 to 1815, 
at a tune when the society was still very 
young. For fifty years the square was open 
to' the children of anybody, but since then it 
has been surrounded by lofty iron palings. 
