592 
THE GARDENING WORLD 
July 22, 1905. 
[By Rosecomb.] 
Those of my readers who are lovers of pigeons 
will possibly be thinking that I har e nevei 
riven them a thought, and that pigeons and 
The G xrdening World are not on the best of 
terms with each other. I can quite believe 
that some members of The Gardening W orld 
are not fond of pigeons. It is not calculated 
to produce feelings of the warmest friendship 
in one’s heart when, after having sown a 
selection of the finest and most improved kinds 
of Sweet Peas, one finds a neighbour’s pigeons 
have descended from the aerial regions and 
for a time have proved themselves most apt 
members of the gardening world by pulling up 
by the roots the whole of the expected crop 
one by one as each Pea has shot its sprout 
above the surface. Yet there are some who are 
most enthusiastic members of The Gardening 
World and at the same time keen lovers of 
the columbarian family. 
Myself I am very fond of a garden, but more 
fond of pigeons, and I have kept pigeons and 
a nice garden in close proximity the one with 
the other. If pigeons are properly attended 
to they will do little damage in the garden. 
Quite recently I was paying a visit to a friend 
in Warwickshire. His garden was a picture, 
quite the finest display of bloom I have seen 
anywhere this season, and although it was in 
June, he had masses and masses of Sweet Peas 
in bloom—and such blooms, too !—whilst his 
Roses, his Fuchsias, his Geraniums, his Pop¬ 
pies, his Calceolarias, his—but there, I could 
go on at great length with a lot of those jaw- 
breaking names of which modern - day gar* 
cleners are so fond. If it were not proverbial 
that all our best gardeners come from the land 
of Burns, I should say they came from Wales, 
for the blood-curdling names which gardeners 
give to the most beautiful of their productions 
is enough to turn my beautiful red comb quite 
white. 
To vet back to my Warwickshire friend and 
his beautiful garden. He is a lover of pigeons 
as well as flowers, and his garden, which is the 
envy of all beholders, is such as it is because 
he calls in the aid of his pigeons to assist him 
in producing such wonderful blooms as makes 
his garden unique amongst those of the dis¬ 
trict in which he lives. Week by week as his 
pigeon houses are cleaned out the manure is 
saved, put into a large tub with water, and 
every now and then his garden is treated to a 
dose' of this liquid fertiliser. His modus 
operandi is as follows :—One evening he gives 
the plants he intends treating with the pigeon 
manure a slight watering with ordinary water 
just to soften the top, then the next night 
he gives them a real good soaking with the 
liquid pigeon manure. The result is to be 
seen in the fact that his Sweet Peas were in 
full bloom in mid-June, and all the remainder 
of his flowers looked not only remarkably 
strong in growth, but were also on^ mass of 
blossom. As I stood at the dining-room 
window and looked out over the lawn at the 
flower-beds I do not think I have ever been 
more struck by a display of bloom. Then his 
outdoor Tomatos, under the house wall, are 
already 5ft. high and a mass of flower ; the 
same with his Marrow-bed—health, vigour, 
and strength on every hand, and all due to 
the pigeons, 
If I go on in this strain the Editor of The 
Gardening World will be pulling me up and 
telling me that when he engaged me to con¬ 
duct the poultry and pets columns it was with 
the idea of instructing his readers (and mine 
now) in the art of keeping their poultry, 
pigeons, cagebirds, and other indoor and out¬ 
door pets, and not with the idea of adding 
another to the already existing brilliant staff 
of contributors to the gardening section of 
The Gardening World. I must, however, 
this time crave his indulgence. It has been 
my purpose first of all to remove the enmity 
which some gardeners have to the columbarian 
tribe, and to further increase the love already 
possessed by some by showing them that 
pigeons can be really most valuable auxiliaries 
to the gardener who seeks to out-rival his 
fellows in the production of choice blooms and 
foliage; and this, in these strenuous days of 
competition, seems to be the spirit which 
animates all gardeners, even those who have 
only a small suburban plot and never think 
of entering for open competition, yet like to 
feel that their little plot possesses a greater 
wealth of bloom than that of Mr. Snooks on 
the one side and Mr. Timms on the other. 
Pigeons and gardens really go well together. 
Properly fed, properly housed, and properly 
watered, the pigeons will seldom damage the 
garden, whilst they can be (as the experience 
of my Warwickshire friend proves) most valu¬ 
able assistants in producing an early, gorgeous 
and healthy display of blossom and foliage. 
A HANDSOAE 
STOVE PLANT. 
(Jacaraiida mimosaefolia.) 
Many gardeners are familiar with the above 
subject as an ornamental, fine foliage plant 
to be grown in the stove. For this purpose 
only small plants are necessary, or even per¬ 
missible, consequently very few gardeners ever 
have an opportunity of seeing it in bloom. 
Being somewhat of the nature of a little tree, 
it requires to be planted out and allowed to 
attain its natural dimensions before it can 
flower. The usual height of it is described as 
10 ft., and certainly this would be necessary 
for such a strong-growing plant, to attain to 
flowering conditions. It has been successfully 
bloomed by Lady Plowden, Aston Rowant 
House, Wallingford, who exhibited a splendid 
panicle of it about- 2 ft. long at a recent meet¬ 
ing of the Royal Horticultural Society. The 
panicle was freely branched and bore an im¬ 
mense number of tubular five-lobed flowers, 
similar to those of a Pentstemon in shape, but 
of a soft blue. Portions of this panicle were 
produced from the axils of the upper leaves, 
the principal portion being terminal. The 
peculiar shade of soft blue is difficult to de¬ 
scribe. but something very similar may be 
found in a hardy herbaceous plant named Dra- 
cocephalum ruyschianum japonieum. The 
leaves of the Jacaranda are bi-pinnate and of 
large size with an immense number of leaflets 
to each leaf. 
The Wonderful Banana. —The Banana is 
not a tree, , a Palm, a bush, a shrub, nor a 
vegetable: it is simply a herbaceous plant 
with the structure of a tree, and is perennial. 
Although it sometimes attains a height of 
30ft., there is no woody fibre in any part of its 
structure. The Banana grows so rapidly that 
in less than six months after the suckers are 
planted the fruit begins to form, and is ready 
to cut from nine to twelve months from the 
date of planting. Each clump is capable of 
bearing three or four crops a year. The fruit 
is never out of season, 
Pats about People. 
tTTTTvrrr wt ww w t t t tttt tt tt wv t V 
One of America’s great railways, the Illinois 
Central, has just given Miss Maine, a lady 
gardener, an important appointment. She is 
to have charge of the landscape gardening and 
the remodelling of the railway precincts on 
both main and branch lines throughout nine 
States. She travels in a special railway car 
assigned to her for her use. 
* * * 
Mr. W. H. C. Nation has again decided on) 
building improved cottages for the accommo¬ 
dation of the agricultural labourers on his 
estates at Uplowman, near Tiverton. Two 
semi-detached cottages are to be named 
“ Wallflower Cottages,” after the poem, “ The 
Wallflower,” appearing in Mr. Nation’s work. 
“ Prickly Pear Blossoms,” a third edition of 
which has just been- published. The poem 
fancifully represents that flower as express¬ 
ing its attachment for the buildings in which 
it roots. 
* * * 
From Mr. Norman Davis’s nurseries, at 
Framfield, near Uckfield, whose glasshouses 
cover some two acres, London draws some of 
its earliest Peas. One house alone covers half 
an acre of ground, from which Mr. Davis 
usually obtains a yield of about a hundred 
bushels, and these command a fancy price. 
But it is as a Chrysanthemum grower that Mr. 
Davis has won fame in the horticultural world. 
Forty gold medals are ample testimony to his 
success as a grower of ’mums. For over thirty 
years he has been a leading judge of his 
favourite flower, and is now one of the largest 
and best-known growers. 
* * * 
One'of the head gardeners to the late Queen 
Victoria, who went to Canada ten years ago, 
is about to return to England. A Montreal 
newspaper gives the circumstances as related 
by the old man, which are as follows:—“I 
was working at a hotel when I thought I 
would write to the King and ask him to give 
me my old position. Here is the letter which 
his Majesty sent me, telling me to come home, 
and if not that another place would be given 
me. I was bom on the same day as the late 
Queen, and have nursed the present King 
hundreds of times. I was, as he grew up, 
practically his valet. You can see my pic¬ 
ture in Windsor Castle with the late Queen 
and our present King. And now I am going 
back to my dear garden at the Castle.” 
* * * 
Mr. William Fowler, who for the long 
period of forty-four years has occupied the 
position of head gardener at Mertoun, near 
Kelso, the residence of Lord and Lady Pol- 
warth, is about to retire. Mr. Fowler was 
one of the best-known gardeners in the Border 
district, and when in the full vigour of his 
strength was a frequent contributor to the 
Press on gardening subjects. He possessed 
a wide knowledge of horticulture, and was an 
expert grower and successful exhibitor. 
Ample proof of his taste and skill are to be 
found in the gardens and grounds at Mer- 
tcun. Lord and D?.dv Polwarth have gene¬ 
rously granted Mr. Fowler and his family 
the use of a villa at St. Boswells, with garden 
and grounds, rent free, in appreciation of 
his lengthened and valued services. 
