February 20, 1904. 
the gardening world. 
155 
Plant and Seed Protector, 
Many schemes 1 have been devised for keeping birds away 
from garden Peas, Sweet Peas, Lettuces, and a host of other 
garden subjects, both flowers and vegetables. One of the 
plans formerly devised was by the use of wire-netting guards, 
which were very serviceable in their way, but required a. lot 
of house room to store them, and in the course of a few years 
were liable to become rusted, broken, and therefore useless. 
Mr. A. S. 'Corbett., Wellington, Shropshire, has devised a- 
very simple and effective means by the use of standards bent 
so as to form legs for fixing in the ground, with a flat top. 
These standards are perforated all round the portion above 
ground with holes to take in. thread, while the portion below 
ground is twisted so as to give rigidity and support the threads 
tightly. The machinery is therefore simple, the only perma¬ 
nent portion being two standards which may be set up at any 
required distance apart, from 3 ft. to' 30 ft. Should the rows 
be longer a third standard would be necessary to bridge over 
the intervening distance. 
These standards are then pushed in the ground to the re¬ 
quired depth, and black cotton threads inserted in the slots 
(open at the edge) of.the standards, and stretched 
from one standard to another. The threads are 
made to cover the sides, top, and ends 
of the spaces enclosed between these stan¬ 
dards, so that birds are effectually kept at 
bay. The thread used is specially manufac- 
factured, and the price of each set is very reason¬ 
able 1 , so that the cultivator in districts much fre¬ 
quented by birds, especially where trees are 
abundant in the vicinity, has a means of pn> 
tecting germinating seedlings until they are past 
danger. 
The special features that recommend this 
plan are the galvanised steel standards that 
last many years, require little space for storage, 
and the slots being open at the sides the thread 
can very quickly be put in place by the garden 
hoy. The accompanying illustration of this 
plant and seed protector will show at a. glance the special 
features of the contrivance, so that further description is un¬ 
necessary. 
Trade Notices. 
Webbs’ Farm Seeds, —The annual Catalogue of Farm Seeds 
sent out by Messrs. Ed. Webb and Sons, Wordsley, Stour¬ 
bridge, is well illustrated and furnished with information 
about the various farm crops, including Mangolds, Swedes, 
Thousand-headed Kale, Turnips, field Carrots, hayfields, pas¬ 
tures, clover, cow grass, etc. Many of the varieties have been 
selected and kept to the standard for a long period of years, 
and from having gained many prizes and produced heavy 
crops they are now' recognised ~y Messrs. Webbs’ customers as 
being reliable crops in the respective districts where they 
have been grown successfully. A new Swede is that named 
Webb’s new Arctic Swede, which is rather an elongated root, 
with a bronze top and exceedingly hardy constitution, so that 
it is capable of standing in the ground without injury from the 
severest frosts till snow disappears and the roots may be 1 pulled 
for use. The root is of that form described as'tankard-shaped, 
and stands well out of the ground. The flesh; is solid, yellow, 
and of excellent quality. Besides the various popular and 
w'ell-known forms of agricultural produce, several kinds of a 
special character are here mentioned, and which are now often 
grown in this country. Amongst these we should mention 
the Hungarian Forage Grass (Bromus inermis), Gorse, Kidney 
Vetch (Anthyllis Vulneraria), prickly Comfrey, Maize, 
Sorghum, Sheep’s Parsley, Lupins, Fenugreek, Burnet, 
Chicory, Serradella, and several other uncommon agricultural 
crops for this country. Towards the end of the book several 
monochrome pictures are given of various subjects, including 
Potatos and Hops of enormous height. 
A.$.CpRBEfr$ 
RAT £T NT 
Pea, Plant & Seed 
PROTECTOR. 
* ft Last 
Plant and Seed Catalogues. 
Sutton’s Farmers’ Year Book for 1904.— The above publi¬ 
cation sent out by Messrs. Sutton and Sons, Reading, contains 
i a large number of illustrations occupying from a quarter to 
a whole page', these in most oases being reproductions fiom 
photographs representing splendid groups of Lucerne 1 , Sain¬ 
foin, Hay, Mangels, Swedes, Kohl Rabi, -Cabbages, Thousand- 
headed Kale, Magnum Bonum, and Sutton’s Matchless White 
Carrot. There are also several coloured pictures representing 
- a hay-field, Sutton’s Magnum Bonum Swede, and prize-winner 
Yellow Globe 1 Mangel. Notwithstanding the unusually heavy 
rainfall of last- year, Messrs. Sutton assure us that they are in 
a position to' send out clovers, grasses, and pedigree root seeds 
quite up to the usual standard of high quality in germination. 
Clover lias been deficient in quantity -owing to- the imperfect- 
ripening of the seeds, but the 1 quality has been brought up to 
the standard by careful cleaning. Much information is given 
concerning the various species of grasses and clo-ver either for 
grazing or making into bay. The extraordinary rainfall o-f 
la'sfc year seems to have been beneficial to- many o-f the root- 
crops, as far as weight and size were 1 concerned at least, and 
the illustrations of these crops will show how fine they have 
been. The coloured illustrations, we may remark, are entered 
in the “ Farmers’ Year Book ” for the first time, and represent 
the natural colours of the varieties named. Tbo-se who have 
been accustomed to receiving t-he Year Book will find this one 
full of valuable information concerning all forms of farm 
crops. 
A Catalogue of Rare Seeds. —A very large number of 
American trees, shrubs, -and herbaceous plants are grown in 
this country, and some of them have reached the highest rung 
of popularity. We therefore turn with interest- to 1 a- catalogue 
of rare seeds comprising the best hardy ornamental subjects 
from the mountains o-f Colorado-, and other lands-, sent out by 
Mr. D. M. Andrews, seedsman, of Boulder, Colorado 1 , U.S.A. 
One can easily imagine the plants to be hardy, considering the 
nature of the country from which they are drawn.. Mr. 
Andrews’ nursery or seed'establishment is located more than 
a- mile above sea level, and therefore at a greater altitude than 
any similar institution, as far as we remember. That part o-f 
the country, if in lowlands 1 , would b-e sub-tropical in character, 
but at the elevation named th-ei soil isi good and water abundant 
from the streams which rush down. from higher grounds. 
Taking ai glance at the list- of hardy perennial plants, we notice 
numerous- species of Anemones, Aquilegias, Asters, Cam¬ 
panulas, Caltha rotundifolia, Calochortus Gunnisoni, many 
showy -species o-f Clematis, Delphiniums, Gentians, Heuchera®, 
Lathyrus, Oenotheras, many beautiful species of Pentstemon-s-, 
Polemcniums, Sidaloeiais, Solidago, Violas, including such in¬ 
teresting and pretty species as V. peda-tifida, V. Delphinifolia, 
and many others. . Hardy tree® and shrubs are also- numerous, 
and include, such beautiful things as Amelanchier alnifolia, 
James-ia americana, several species of Ceanothus, Amorpha, 
Ribes, Rubus, Prunus, Potent-ilia frutioesa, Crataegus, Honey¬ 
suckle, etc. The catalogue also describes each species sepa¬ 
rately, giving popular names where such exist, so that those 
