December 10, 1904. 
THE GARDENING WORLD, 
ion 
New Sugar Plant. —Those who are acquainted with the 
species of Eupatorium under cultivation would be more likely 
to imagine that fibres for textile purposes could be produced 
from them rather than sugar. A species named E. rebandium 
has been discovered in South America, and a Berlin chemist 
finds that it contains a large percentage of saccharine matter 
which he thinks could be turned to excellent account for com¬ 
mercial purposes. The sugar is stated to be twenty or thirty 
times as sweet as cane sugar. In that case we presume its value 
would lie in the fact that less of it would be required for sweeten¬ 
ing purpose®. 
* * * 
Another Garden City in View. —While Mr. Northcote, secre¬ 
tary of the Garden Cities Association, was giving a lecture at a 
moating of the Literary and Philotsophicaflj Society, ho stated 
that existing cities could not be turned into garden cities, but 
in the oase of all projected new cities they could be carried out 
on lines similar to that being projected at Hitchin. He also 
said that there was a strong hope that the Admiralty in the 
building of their new naval depot on the Firth of Forth would 
adopt a plan similar to that by which the new garden city w T as 
defined. Several country districts were adopting similar plans 
as far as lay in their power. 
* * * 
Professor \ hies Theory of Evolution. —It, is now pretty 
well known that Darwin’is idea of tire origin of species was that; new 
forms deserving to; rank asi species required many generations 
tor their development. Even then the intermediate ‘forms were 
supposed to possess minor differences which accumulate duriim 
each successive; generation. Professor Hugo de Vries, director 
of the Botanical Gardens, Amsterdam, hais ai new theory which he 
bases on actual experiment. He has been working' upon the 
Evening Primrose (Oenothera), and has derived twelve new 
species from it which he described at length by means of coloured 
plates and lantern slides at a lecture which he gave in the New 
York Botanical Garden. His view is that a species of plant 
may develop at once from the parent plant by a sort of saltatory 
evolution. His belief is tlrat rapid changes are brought about 
by changes m the conditions and environment under which the 
plants find themselves. 
* * * 
Bose Richmond. -Mr. E. G. Hill, of Richmond, Indiana 
exhibited what is considered a very fine new Rose at the 
World’s Fair, St. Louis. This he at first named Etna and w 
the result of much cross fertilisation. The seed parent of that 
from which the variety directly came was Lady Battersea The 
briabt °l T f eWC T er 18 deSC # as rich crimson, tinted with 
blight scarlet, producing a red shade, for which we have no 
proper descriptive term. The unopened buds are long and 
siVL^bl Aft ® r 1 ex P' al 1 lslon tlle bloom keeps its colour for a con¬ 
siderable period m the cut state without changing to the purple 
some t metThe\ da L k ?" SeS W ^ expand^t? 
, The bush flowers freely and continuously while it 
is of strong growth and branching habit. The blooms have the 
rectii hardy Judging from the parentage and the descrmtinn 
of this va.neity it would be a, Hybrid Tea. aescnption 
sitv°of I Lee°rR POT t T v 7 Professors at the Univer¬ 
sity of Leeds and Yorkshire Agricultural College have been 
making some experiments with regard to the rotting of Potato® 
Aw ’ al \ d haVe publlslled j tJle ' re sults in pamphlet form The 
Umtl C0 T e 1 nCed 1 in 1902 ’ wh *u ground lime at the 
Pototnl i ' P hundredweight was used for dusting unsound 
ftored\ftwT T °°™fun C ating disease to sound tubers 
J? th them ' w as, found that such tubers grew very 
j i ° 7 'l 1 s Pr ln g, and as far as can be ascertained the unsound 
ubers had not affected the sound ones. They did' not find tW 
diseased haulm did any harm if used for coveH A f ube *s o, 
experTme^ 10d Last yea %h 
experiments were continued, some of the tubers beini treated 
brto y 011 ™ 1 llme and 0<dlers with slaked lime. The results in 
by comparison 6 with Xset ArKSF' ° f diBWUW 
swaps** 
Readers’ Competition _PartiVnLt-c, n 
centre page. Particulars of weekly prize; see 
QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS. 
The Editor invites enquiries for reply in this column. These 
enquiries may cover any branch of gardening. Questions should be put 
as briefly as possible, and written on one side of the paper only ; a 
separate sheet of paper should be used for each question. 
Readers are also invited to give their fellow gardeners the benefit 
of their experience by sending supplementary replies. 
Replies cannot he sent by post, even if a stamped, addressed 
enve ope is enclosed, and the return of specimens cannot be undertaken. 
Anonymous communications are treated in the usual editorial manner. 
Address letters: The Editor, “The Gardening World,” 37 and 
38, Shoe Lane, London, E.C. 
Chrysanthemums from Seed. 
How can I grow Chrysanthemums from seed? Will they 
bloom the same year the seed is sown ? I want to take my own 
seed. (M. J. P.) J 
Chrysanthemums can be, and usually are, flowered the first 
year from seed by those engaged in this occupation. It is neces- 
sary, however, to sow the seeds about the end of January, or in 
February, solas to give them t, i met to m ake steady progress from, the 
seedling to the flowering stage. This would mean that you should 
have a temperature of 60'deg. for germinating the seed freely, after 
which the seedlings must be placed under cooler conditions to 
prevent them from getting drawn, and shifted into larger pots 
from time to time as they require it. Your initial difficulty will 
be m getting the seed, owing to the liability of the heads to 
damp off during the damp weather which we experience in 
November and December. When the plants are in full bloom 
they have to be carefully fertilised or dusted with pollen from 
those kinds which you regard as suitable. Soon after this the 
end of the petals or florets must be clipped away to prevent 
damping as far as possible. When this, is accomplished tire heads 
will present the appearance of a stiff round ball about the size 
of a hen s egg or less, according to the variety. In cutting away 
the ends of the florets it is necessary to avoid injury to the 
seed vessels by leaving at least the tube of the flower intact. All 
the while that these flower heads are progressing it is neces- 
sary to keep the plants in a dry, airy atmosphere by means of fire 
heat to prevent damping. After the seeds are thoroughly ripe 
they require to he picked and laid on sheets of paper or in 
boxes near hot-water pipes, so as to, thoroughly mature them and 
get n< of the excess of moisture. All this requires a deal of care 
and close observation, so that you need not be disheartened 
ir the results do not at first meet your expectations. 
Names of Potatos. 
AV Till 
, - . —j LKyLL tiuio-iign nne medium or 1 he Gaedex- 
ing World if Duchess of York and Duchess, of Cornwall Potatos 
are one and the same ? (E. T. L.) 
The name Duchess of York does not occur in any of the 
lists of Potatos to hand, and we fear it, is merely a mistake or 
slip of the pen in mating the name. Kerr’s Duchess of Corn- 
waii is now a well-known variety, and ais there is a Duke of 
oik, an early kidney variety, it is just possible that the two 
names have been confused in this way. There is, however, 
nf VmL f ° f Bu< i c euc u and T° sslbl Y there might be a Duchess 
of 1 oik for we fear that m tne course of twelve months or so 
there will be great difficulty in finding suitable names for the 
vast number of seedling Potatos that have been raised and 
placed under trial, or already being put into commerce. 
“ Horticultural Directory.” 
Kindly let me know through the medium of your paper the 
r>ivectoflyis iK 
StrirSd§°E^ e, | re • * Wtr - <*.»*•». ru* 
Sport of Chrysanthemum. 
How can I tell which shoot is a sport from a Chrysanthemum 
plant? Explain the process. (M. J. P.) ’ ™ 
If you have a variety which normally bears white flowers and 
af toA t + fr0m ft!| lle ° f ? lants were to § ive rise to yellow flowers 
to A ^ 0lu d , bei rei g’ ai ' d © d ais a sport. ' If you want 
to fix tins sport the only method of doing so would be to c t 
a. ttir Pi £ 
W or, os soma would say, they sport book to t he JaS* 
