tHE O ARDEN I NO WORLD. January 9, 1904. 
prizes annually for the best kept plot- It may also be decided 
to award a small trophy annually to the school which has the 
most and best kept gardens. This should serve to keep the 
scholars usefully employed during the evenings, and to keep 
them out of mischief. 
«• * * 
Tile Largest Gladiolus Nursery. —Arthur Cowee, the well- 
known Gladiolus specialist of Berlin, N.Y., is pleased with the 
showing made the last season both in the growths of bulbs and 
the dowers. Mr. Cowee reports many new, magnificent, and 
striking varieties among the seedlings. The stock of bulbs was 
the largest and finest he ever harvested, and orders are coming 
in so freely he feels encouraged to increase his acreage the 
coming season. In the spring of 1902 Mr. Oowee planted 75 
acres of his favourite bulb, and at that time the amount was 
the largest in the world devoted exclusively to Gladioli, dhc 
American Florist. 
x- * * 
Miniature Oak Forests.— Various curious devices are re¬ 
sorted to by the inmates of dwelling-houses to grow plants under 
unusual conditions. Few possess the reputed patience of the 
Japanese in growing miniature trees and forests of them for 
periods varying from 10 to 200 years, and placing a value upon 
them in proportion to their age. A recent device—it may not be 
new—i s to get a shallow dish and cover it with moss an inch 
thick. Acorns are then stuck into this, 2 in. apart each way, 
and the moss kept continually moist. In the spring these acorns 
begin to sprout when the dish is placed near the window or 
where the young trees will get the benefit of light. During the 
course of the summer these seedlings develop into a miniature 
forest of Oaks. Of course, this might be seen on a much larger 
scale in any nursery devoted to the raising of forest trees, where 
they would be divested of all curiosity and simply termed one 
year seedling Oaks. 
J ° * x- * 
Raw Atples as Food.—I t- is surprising how many persons 
fancy raw Apples are indigestible. Never was a greater error ; 
even at night they are a wholesome and satisfying food. But 
to be really beneficial they should be eaten as children eat them, 
rind and all, and in sufficient quantities to be satisfying. The 
man who, first paring off the skin and with it the best part of 
the flesh, dallies with the residue of an Apple after dinner is 
no true Apple lover. The ferment germs which reside on the 
skin of the, fruit, and play the most prominent part in the con¬ 
version of the expressed juice of the vintage varieties into cider, 
are themselves aids to digestion. Certain is it that to those who 
are accustomed to them and who eat them, skin and all, no 
fruits are so easy of digestion as Apples.— Health. 
* * * 
The First Garden City.— The first Garden City seems to be 
in a fair way to becoming an accomplished fact. From the 
chairman’s statement at the company s statutory meeting the 
other week it appears that the estate acquired has cost £142,712, 
of which £88,833 has been left on mortgage at 4 per cent. ; 
that a plan of the proposed town should very shortly be ready, 
that a temporary railway station has been already provided, 
and that such questions as those of water, light, and power are 
under consideration. Furthermore, it seems that a large number 
of applications for sites of different kinds—manufacturing, resi¬ 
dential, and agricultural—have been already received. It seems 
to be undecided at present on what terms leases will be granted 
on the estate, but it will be, of course, the object of the board 
to ^et the whole of the unearned increment into the hands of 
the inhabitants of the city. When the city is started we can 
conceive some difficult problems arising on certain points of 
administration ; but those are still in the future. 
* * * 
Vegetable Gardening in the Antarctic Regions. —No one 
yet has ever been able to prove that when the North Pole is 
discovered a Scotchman will be found seated on a Gooseberry 
bush but it is evident that vegetables have been raised m 
Antarctic regions. When the s.s. Discovery was takeh to the 
Antarctic regions by Captain Scott, Messrs. James Carter and 
Co. Hffih Ilolborn, London, conceived the idea of sending som? 
seeds to supply the sailors with something green while passing 
the time, frozen up within the regions of the Antarctic circle 
An intimation of this, given in the Daily Telegraph on May 11th 
last, was that “ the only bit of green vege table seen on The Dis¬ 
covery was a crop of Mustard and Cress grown by the officers on 
a wet blanket. This information was brought back to Lngiand 
by the relief ship Morning, and although the information was 
me a "re it shows that the officers had been successful m grow¬ 
ing a little bit of green, by following the instructions given by 
the Messrs. Carter, while passing the time in that dreary though 
temporary abode. Another communication came through 
Admiral Sir Clements Markham, K.C.B., F.R.S., who heard 
that the Mustard and Cress supplied to Captain Scott was a 
great success and much appreciated. A further consignment of 
seeds, specially treated by an original process and packed in air 
exhausted receptacles, has been sent out in the relief ship 
Terra Nova. 
- * * * 
Best Kept Railway Gardens. —Amongst those who have been 
awarded prizes for the best kept gardens at stations on the 
Great Western Railway are the following: —Mr. Rainford, 
Wrexham; Mr. T. H. Lewis, Whittington ; Mr. Grigg, 
Gobowen ; Mr. Garbett, Redhal ; Mr. AVillis, Leaton ; Mr. 
Meeson, Gresford ; Mr. Lovett, Brymbo ; Mr. Richards, 
Corwen ; and Mr. Read, Dolgelly. 
* * * 
A Gardener’s Wife Burnt by a Lamp.— Last week Mr. W. 
Wynn Evans, the East Denbighshire Coroner, held an inquest 
at Wrexham on the body of Elizabeth Davies, 29, wife of John 
Davies, gardener at Brynmally Hall, near Wrexham. The 
evidence showed that early on Tuesday screams were heard 
coming from the house, and on neighbours rushing in they found 
the deceased enveloped in flames, and a bedroom, in which three 
children were sleeping, on fire. It was with difficulty that the 
children were rescued, and when they were got out they were 
nearly suffocated. The deceased .sustained terrible burns, and 
succumbed at the infirmary. She told her husband that the 
lamp flared up. The jury returned a verdict of “ Death from 
burns.” 
x * * 
Fruit Culture. —The President of the Board of Agriculture 
and Fisheries has appointed a departmental committee to inquire 
into and report upon the present position of fruit culture in 
Great Britain, and to consider whether any further measures 
might with advantage be taken for its promotion and encourage¬ 
ment. The committee is constituted as follows, viz. :—Mr- 
A. G. Bosoawen, M.P., chairman ; Mr. C. W. Radcliffe Cooke, 
Mr. J. M. Hodge, Colonel Charles W. Long, M.P., Mr. George 
Munro, Mr. P. Spencer Pickering, M.A., F.R. S., Dr. W. Somer¬ 
ville, an assistant secretary of the Board of Agriculture and 
Fisheries ; Mr. Edwin Vinson, and Rev. W. Wilks, M.A., secre¬ 
tary of the Royal Horticultural Society. Mr. Ernest Garnsey, 
of the Board of Agriculture ancl Fisheries, will act as secretary 
to the committee. 
x- * * 
The Seed Potato Boom. —The boom in the seed Potato trade 
shows no sign of abatement in Lincolnshire, where big prices 
continue to" be made. A Spalding seed merchant (Mr. G. 
Massey) has been disposing of a number of small Eldorado 
Potatos, about the size of a pullet’s egg, at £10 each, which 
works out at about £200 per lb. It is calculated that in expert 
hands, and cultivated under modern conditions, each will 
grow from 10 to 20 plants, and a yield of from 1 lb. to 2 lb. may 
be expected from each plant; thus, under careful cultivation, 
a single small Potato, weighing about 11, oz., will produce pos¬ 
sibly 24 lbs., or two hundred and forty-fold- A grower at Old 
Leake, near Boston, obtained 37 cwt. of Potatos from a single 
stone, which shows that the Potato is capable of growing prac¬ 
tically 300 times its own weight in a single season. For autumn 
delivery, Eldorados are now being sold at £250 per cwt., £5 5s. 
per lb. 
■x -x- * 
Potatos at Portsmouth. —On December 30th Mr. T. A. 
Weston, of Hythe, Kent, gave a lecture on Potatos before the 
Portsmouth Allotment Holders’ Association, the members of 
which greatly appreciated the kindness, and in return held a 
social supper in his honour. Mr. Weston, who spoke for up¬ 
wards of an hour, delighted his hearers by lus plain-spokenness 
on the Potato boom and the much talked of varieties. Com¬ 
mencing with the history of the noble tuber, the speaker passed 
on to the wondrous crops of Ejirope, from thence to culture, 
especially dealing with artificial growing, his audience being 
astounded by the marvellous yields in the early clays, which 
completely outshone anything done by Northern Star and the 
like. Various diseases were dealt with, the lecture being con¬ 
cluded by the exhibition and details of fifty varieties, including 
Northern Star, Discovery, Evergood, Sir Walter Raleigh, Ver¬ 
mont Gold Coin, Extra Early, Sir John Llewellyn, Delicacy, 
Pride of Ochils, Empress Queen, King Edward VII., Derby¬ 
shire Success, Early Queen, and Bugbeater, several of these 
being just out on the market. Many of the tubers were ex¬ 
tremely fine, and elicited much praise. Finally the lecturer 
presented each of his hearers (about fifty) with a tuber of King 
Edward VII., and offered a small prize for the finest dish grown 
from it.—H. J. L’- 
