December 24, 1904. 
THE GARDENING WORLD. 
) 035 
he (Jardenin^W/brid. 
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EDITORIAL NOTES. 
List of Seeds at Kew. 
A very extensive collection of seeds is 
made annually at Kew, embracing hardy her¬ 
baceous plants, hardy trees and shrubs 
which have ripened during the year. The 
intention is to exchange seeds with botanic 
gardens and other correspondents of Kew. 
As might be expected, the annual and per¬ 
ennial herbaceous plants are by far the most, 
numerous, and include many things of no 
special interest to gardeners, though for 
botanical and scientific purposes they have 
their uses as representing orders and types 
of vegetation. Many of the annuals are suit- 
able for cultivation in private gardens, 
though, as a rule, these are common enough. 
Nevertheless many interesting and even 
pretty things are grown there which deserve 
more extended cultivation. For instance, 
amongst perennials are several species of 
Aeonitum and Delphinium of high orna¬ 
mental value, though in private gardens this 
lias largely been discounted by the numerous 
improvements of the florist now available. 
The species of Allium include some very 
handsome species, and were it not for their 
peculiar and strong odour they would find 
many more admirers than they do. Some of 
them are very striking subjects, however, 
such as A. karataviense for the sake of its 
foliage, A. narcissutiorum and A. albo-pilo- 
sum for the sake of their flowers, the last 
named being a new species with a most im¬ 
posing head of flowers. Other handsome 
subjects are Geum chiloense, G. Heldreichii, 
Glaucium flavum fulvum, Pentsteinon liete- 
rophyllus, Ononis rotundifolia, Papaver 
pavonium, and many others of which gar¬ 
deners may avail themselves who have any¬ 
thing to exchange. Trees and shrubs occupy 
about five pages of this list, which is issued 
as Appendix I. of the “ Bulletin of Miscella¬ 
neous Information,” published from the 
Royal Gardens, Kew. 
—o— 
London, Old and New. 
Mr. John Burns, L.C.C., M.P., discourses 
very pleasantly upon some features of by¬ 
gone London, particularly in the Strand 
and the adjacent portions on the northern 
side which for some time past have been 
undergoing demolition in order to make way 
for the grand new streets, namely, Kings- 
way and Aldwych. His article on this sub¬ 
ject appears in the January number of the 
“ Pall Mall Magazine,” which contains some 
well-executed illustrations of bygone features 
of London, as well as some of the new ones 
which are taking the place of those abutting 
upon some very densely populated slums of 
that part of London which existed until re¬ 
cently. There is not much in the matter of 
gardening in this particular part of London, 
though we are promised some tine avenues of 
trees. Mr. Burns speaks of it as a har¬ 
monious “tout ensemble of road, street, 
building and greenery,” which, he says, is 
evolving itself. He thinks that it is proper 
that this portion of London should be hand¬ 
somely treated with a dignity befitting its 
ancient past. Concerning the ideal Strand 
which lie had pictured to himself in his early 
days, we may as well give it in his own 
words as follows:—“It was my youthful 
dream as a London apprentice, and later as 
one of its aediles, to try to revert to the ideal 
Strand, and from Northumberland Avenue to 
Somerset House have a 150 ft. Strand with 
nothing between the north side and the Em¬ 
bankment ; terrace gardens in three tiers 
dropping to the river, with Somerset House 
and Waterloo Bridge on the eastern side, and 
on its west, the eastern side of Northumber¬ 
land Avenue. But it was only a dream that 
fifty years ago could have been realised for 
no greater cost than is now being expended 
on the Holborn to Strand improvement.” 
—o— 
History of the Potato. 
At a recent meeting of the Wakefield 
Paxton Society, Mr. L. Dobinson took for 
the subject of his paper the question of 
Potatos. Concerning the history of the noble 
tuber he said that it was a native of South 
Mexico, and was also cultivated in Peru 
before the discovery of America by the 
Europeans. It was introduced to Europe by 
the Spaniards, but at what date is uncertain. 
The tradition that Sir Walter Raleigh intro¬ 
duced it to England was incorrect, as the 
Potato was not a native of Virginia. He 
thought that some of the colonists of the 
latter State brought it back with them when 
the expedition under Sir Francis Drake re¬ 
turned to England in 1386. The early 
settlers had obtained it through intercourse 
with flic Spaniards. It was introduced to 
Scotland as recently as 1725, but it was not 
for fifty or sixty years afterwards that it was 
grown as a general field crop in Scotland and 
England. He admits that Ireland took the 
lead of all Europe in cultivating the plant at 
a much earlier period. Even after these re¬ 
marks the history of the Potato would seem 
rather lost in obscurity, leaving it much 
where it was before. 
-—o— 
The Government Gardens at Hobart. 
Our cousins at the Antipodes have been 
complaining that until recently the Govern¬ 
ment Gardens at Hobart were kept as 
though they were in a glass case, and people 
who entered them could not feel at home. 
Recently, however, that has passed away 
under the changes made by the present man¬ 
agement, and now the people are happy. A 
visitor says that he was surprised the other 
day to find scores of happy groups of picnic 
parties boiling their “ billies ” on splendid 
new fireplaces, while others were eating at 
little tables. It seems, however, that there 
is no common restaurant, though everyone 
are able to bring their own food and cook it. 
It seems that there was some fear of the 
people going there to commit depredations, 
but now that the gardens are open, all that 
is now regarded as moonshine. 
