3°8 
THE GARDENING WORLD 
May 2, 1908. 
“ Shefa.” 
A NEW MANURE. 
Under the above name Messrs. Valroff 
and Co., Horslevdown Lane, Tower 
Bridge Approach, London, are putting 
into commerce a new fertiliser. Of the 
ten elements of plant food that are abso¬ 
lutely essential most soils contain suffi¬ 
cient for the growth of plants, but at 
least three are most often deficient in soil-s 
generally, and these in some combination 
or other form the basis of all artificial 
manures. The composition of this one is 
exceptionally good, showing very high 
percentages of nitrogen, soluble phos¬ 
phates and potash. 
Seeing that this is completely soluble 
in water, it follows that it is a very power¬ 
ful fertiliser, as it comes in contact with 
roots of plants directly it is applied. A 
small teaspoonful is sutticient for a gallon 
of water, and that will be enough with 
which to water plants in pots. The same 
quantity applied to plants in the open 
ground is also sufficient, but the ground 
should previously be well watered if the 
ground is at all dry. This is to enable 
the manure to reach the roots, which it 
would not do if merely applied in suffi¬ 
cient quantity for the plants. With pot 
plants it is different. The manure has no 
unpleasant smell, and can, therefore, be 
used in dwelling rooms without any un¬ 
pleasantness. ‘ l Shefa ” is like a mixture 
of powder and granular matter, and is, 
therefore, perfectly clean to handle and 
colourless or white. Being so strong and 
immediately fit for use, it is only neces¬ 
sary to apply at the above rate once a 
week. Plants in full growth acquire good 
colour, and the vigour imparted to them 
enables them to overcome or avoid at¬ 
tack from insect and fungoid enemies. 
Fruits, vegetables and Ferns may all be 
treated with this fertiliser. Even Hya¬ 
cinths in glasses will be invigorated by 
its use, a small pinch between the finger 
and the thumb being sufficient for each 
glass. Growers should avoid applying it 
to newly germinated seedlings in the be¬ 
lief that it will invigorate them. Seed¬ 
lings are really very delicate in their 
early stages with few roots, and concen¬ 
trated manures very soon settle them. It 
may be applied to plants raised from 
seeds, however, with splendid effect after 
they are in full growth in their perma¬ 
nent situations. It is undesirable to use 
it oftener than once a week, as it would 
cause the plants to develop leafy growth 
at the expense of flowers. The manure 
must always be applied to the roots and 
foliage should not be wetted by it. This 
concentrated manure should prove very 
serviceable to those having window plants 
and small conservatories or greenhouses 
with little accommodation for the keep¬ 
ing of the coarser or more bulky manures. 
-- 
Good News for Lovers. 
A San Francisco Chinese gardener has 
produced an Onion devoid of smell. 
May was named after the Roman god¬ 
dess Maia. 
Mr. Joseph Cheai on his Travels. 
Not long since Mr. Joseph Cheai, prin¬ 
cipal of the well-known farm of nursery¬ 
men of Crawley, was in America making 
shrewd notes of men and things. His 
latest peregrinations in foreign parts have 
taken him to Morocco, and we find an in¬ 
teresting account of his impressions of 
that country given to an interviewer of 
the “Sussex and Surrey Courier,” and 
which fills over a column in the issue of 
that newspaper of April 1 Sth. 
On the trip out Mr. Cheai visited 
Gibraltar, Tangier, Casa Blanca, and 
Mogador, and on the return voyage he 
called at Teneriffe, Grand Canary, Ma¬ 
deira, Lisbon, Vigo, and thence to 
Southampton. 
“ Some parts of Morocco are very fer¬ 
tile,” said Mr. Cheai. “1 saw some really 
good gardens near Casa Blanca, where 
Dates, Figs, Pomegranates and Almonds 
were growing in profusion, with a few 
Oranges, but the country looked most fer¬ 
tile at the back of Saffi, where we 
anchored, but could not land on account 
of the surf. We could see that there were 
green fields and flourishing gardens at the 
back of the town. At Mogador, however, 
the ground is almost desert, and we went 
for a mule ride four or five miles inland, 
across the sandy rolling ground, partly 
covered with Broom and other scrub, but 
far too poor to cultivate. From the roof of 
. an old hotel on rising ground on that spot 
■we could see many miles inland of wild, 
uncultivated ground, with a fine view of 
the Atlas Range of mountains in the dis¬ 
tance. On riding bark into the town I 
saw large herds of cattle and goats being 
driven in home. The great industry here 
seems to be in goat skins, many barge 
loads of which we took on board. A great 
trade has also recently been opened in 
eggs, hundreds of cases of which we also 
took on board for London.” 
Mr. Cheai was struck with the natural 
beauties of Madeira. “Most of the 
houses,” he says, “are picturesque beyond 
what we can understand, and there are 
Palms, tree Ferns, Poinsettias, etc., every¬ 
where for foliage; masses of Geraniums 
of all colours growing over the rocks, 
whilst over the houses, verandahs and per¬ 
golas the most brilliant climbers ramble 
in profusion, such as Bougainvilleas, 
Allamandas, Passion Flowers, scarlet 
Tacsonias, Roses, Wistarias, etc.” 
Scottish Horticulture. 
In his inaugural address before the 
members of the Scottish Horticultural 
Association at Edinburgh on March 3rd, 
Mr. Whytock, gardener, Dalkeith, and 
president of the association, said, as they 
had to deal practically with it at the pre¬ 
sent time, it might be divided into four 
large, important and distinct sections, 
namely, nurserymen and seedsmen, mar¬ 
ket gardeners, city and town gardeners, 
■and the private gentleman’s gardener. 
Scottish gardeners were found the world 
over, and from that chief centre in Scot¬ 
land they might safely assert a large pro¬ 
portion of these men had gone forth. The 
highest excellence in the large private 
gardens in Britain was undoubtedly at- 
ta’nod between iRto and 1870, during 
which time if was said that at Drumlanrig 
was the finest in Europe. Nemophila, 
Cuphea, Verbenas of variorts colours, 
Stoct-s, Tom Thumb Geraniums, and 
Calceolarias which were used in Drum¬ 
mond Castle, Bothwell Castle, and Tul- 
liallan Castle gardens about i860 would 
be despised now. Mr. Whytock com¬ 
pared the improved lot of the young gar¬ 
dener at this time with his lot in those 
past years, when the journeyman’s wage 
was ns. weekly. By 1870, it was pointed 
out, the period of depression in trade had 
passed away. Horticulture began to be 
thoroughly democratised, and the market 
gardener and public gardens and pleasure 
grounds came into prominence. There 
was probably no city in the Kingdom that 
had been more favoured with winter gar¬ 
dens in their parks and gardens than 
Glasgow. 
American Gooseberry Mildew. 
Kent fruit growers have suffered very 
serious loss through the ravages of the 
Black Currant mite, and owners of Goosei 
berry plantations in that county are now 
growing anxious about the Gooseberry 
mildew. At present Kent is free from :his 
disease, but it is desired that every pos¬ 
sible step should be taken to stamp out 
the pest at once should it put in an ap¬ 
pearance. On the Sth ult. a deputation 
of Kent fruit growers was received by 
Lord Carrington. Their object was to 
support the action of the Kent County 
Council who had applied for an Order 
empowering the Council, in the event or 
any outbreak, to order the grower to im¬ 
mediately destroy the diseased bushes, 
and not to allow him the alternative of 
pruning, as at present permitted. The 
deputation also supported a further reso¬ 
lution of the Kent C.C. that in all cases 
of compulsory' destruction of diseased 
bushes the grower shall receive some com¬ 
pensation, to be paid out of the rates only 
if it cannot be obtained from the Board 
of Agriculture. Lord Carrington ex¬ 
pressed the desire to do all he could to 
keep Kent free from the disease. The 
payment of compensation from Treasury 
funds was not at present possible, but the 
whole matter was under consideration. If 
the means adopted should prove, during 
the course of the summer, to have been 
ineffectual to stop the disease from spread¬ 
ing in the various affected counties, the 
Boaid would be prepared to take more 
drastic steps. 
Soil Bacteriology. 
Lecturing before the West India Com¬ 
mittee on April qth on “The New Agri¬ 
culture,” Professor Bottomley stated that 
experiments carried out by him indicate 
that a mixed culture is capable of pro¬ 
ducing marked results in plants of a non- 
leguminous and non-nodule-forming 
type ; that, for instance, Cereals and To- 
mafos are. materially improved in growth 
and the soil enriched thereby. This 
mixed crdture includes a bacteria named 
Azotobacter, which is able to fix free 
nitrogen apart from the formation of no¬ 
dules on roots, and fixes it in far greater 
prooortion in alliance with the nitrogen¬ 
fixing bacteria of leguminous plants. It 
is honed eventually' to obtain a micro¬ 
organism culture that can be added to j 
any soil, and that the time will como ; 
when a culture of mixed bacteria will be I 
possible and irreparable, and when added: 
to any soil will fix the free nitrogen of the | 
atmosnhere and contribute nitrogenous I 
food for the roots of plants other than 
those of the leguminous family, and that, 
in this way the nitrogen problem, which 
has so troubled the chemists, will be 
solved. 
