May  10,  1900. 
JOURNAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER, 
399 
An  Obnoxious  Weed. — It  is  said  that  Mr.  Monk,  M.P.  for 
Gloucester,  intends  calling  the  attention  of  the  First  Commissioner  of 
Works  and  the  House  of  Commons  to  the  fact  that  there  is  a  continual 
growth  of  some  tiresome  weed  in  the  lake  in  St.  James’  Park,  which, 
rising  to  the  surface,  gives  forth  an  offensive  odour.  Visitors  to  the 
park  have  often  noted  this  unpleasantness.  The  lake  is  periodically 
emptied  and  thoroughly  cleaned  out,  but  the  weed  never  fails  to  spring 
up  again  in  obnoxious  luxuriance.  Its  growth  is  something  of  a 
mystery,  because  the  bed  of  the  lake  is  of  concrete. 
Deutzla  Iiemolnel. — In  March,  1896,  a  first-class  certificate  was 
awarded  for  this  handsome  shrub  by  the  Royal  Horticultural  Society, 
and  that  the  distinction  was  well  merited  is  evident  from  the  way  it  has 
risen  to  the  foremost  ranks  of  flowering  shrubs.  It  is  a  hybrid  between 
D.  gracilis  and  the  rare  D.  parviflora,  and  partakes  of  the  good  qualities 
of  both  plants.  The  flowers  (fig.  108,  page  401)  are  white  and  produced 
with  great  freedom  from  almost  every  bud  on  the  previous  year’s  wood. 
They  are  borne  in  large  upright  panicles,. and  last  well.  For  cutting 
it  is  superior  to  D.  gracilis,  and  the  fiowers  are  seen  to  greater 
advantage.  Although  perfectly  hardy  it  will  never  be  so  popular  for 
outdoors  as  it  is  for  forcing,  the  flowers  opening  early  and  being  liable 
to  damage  from  cold  winds  or  frost.  Good  plants  may  be  obtained  in  two 
years  from  cuttings,  which  should  be  established  in  pots  in  autumn  to 
force  in  an  intermediate  temperature  during  wint  er  and  spring. — D. 
Preserved  Pine  Apples.  —  Quantities  of  canned  Pines,  as  they 
are  called  in  the  trade,  have  recently  been  unloaded  in  our  docksj 
and  many  hundreds  of  thousands  of  tins  containing  this  fruit  preserved 
in  syrup  are  in  the  hands  of  dealers.  Something  like  5,000,000  Pines 
are  exported  annually  from  Singapore,  the  bulk  coming  to  the  United 
Kingdom.  The  cultivation  and  exportation  of  this  fruit  are  mostly 
carried  on  by  Chinese.  It  is  nothing  for  the  Arms  engaged  in  the 
trade  to  prepare  10,000  Pines  in  a  day.  The  fruits  are  partially  pared, 
and  the  juice  with  which  they  are  surrounded  is  made  from  partly 
ripened  Pines,  sweetened  with  white  Java  sugar.  When  the  tins  have 
been  tested  they  are  put  up  in  cases  carrying  twenty-four  each.  Some 
retail  traders  in  this  country,  says  a  contemporary,  take  the  Pines  out 
of  their  tins,  and  by  a  simple  process  turn  them  into  a  preserve,  which 
is  sold  at  about  double  the  price  of  the  canned  fruit.  Put  up  in  glass 
jars,  the  preserve  obtains  a  ready  sale. 
Dahlias,  —  To  what  is  due  the  remarkable  popularity  of  the 
Dahlia  seen  to-day  ?  Is  it  the  result  of  the  work  of  the  National 
Dahlia  Society,  or  the  introduction  of  the  Cactus  section,  or  have 
both  these  things  operated  in  the  direction  named  ?  Certainly 
Dahlias  are  grown  now  in  immense  quantities,  and  are  a  most  impor¬ 
tant  article  of  commerce  to  florists.  I  was  in  a  Dahlia  florist’s 
place  recently  and  saw  young  plants  propagated  from  cuttings  by 
apparently  tens  of  thousands.  They  seemed  to  have  been  nearly  all 
ordered,  and  were  in  process  of  being  sent  out ;  yet  this  is  only  one 
such  nursery  out  of  fifty  perhaps,  possibly  several  fifties,  that  make 
Dahlias  a  speciality,  and  put  their  tens  of  thousands  into  commerce 
annually.  It  would  be  interesting  to  learn  from  some  of  the  Dahlia 
traders  as  to  which  section  of  these  flowers  is  in  greatest  demand  ; 
no  doubt  it  is  the  Cactus  section,  for  these  seem  now  to  be  more 
widely  grown  than  any  others,  and  that  is  perhaps  no  cause  for 
surprise,  seeing  that  whilst  all  other  sections  increase  in  variety 
slowly  these  Cactus  forms  come  on  yearly  by  leaps  and  bounds,  and 
private  growers  find  it  difficult  to  keep  pace  with  the  raisers  who 
put  several  dozens  of  new  ones  into  commerce  each  year.  Yet  is  it 
interesting  to  find  that  Shows,  Fancies,  and  Pompons  are  in  great 
demand  relatively,  as  also  are  the  garden  or  decorative  forms,  which 
seem  largely  now  to  consist  of  rejected  Cactus  varieties.  We  must  give 
to  the  National  Society  and  its  shows  some  credit  for  the  Dahlia’s 
present  popularity,  for  much  has  been  accomplished  through  its  agency. 
Many  of  the  provincial  horticultural  societies,  too,  have  done  very  much 
to  popularise  the  Dahlia  through  the  establishment  of  various  classes* 
Evidently  the  Dahlia  is  in  for  a  long  innings  of  floral  popularity. — A.  D. 
French  Scent  Farms.— The  work  of  picking  some  of  the  flowers 
on  the  French  scent  farms  has  begun.  The  flowers  mostly  cultivated 
are  the  Violet,  the  Jonquil,  and  Mignonette,  which  are  picked  in 
February,  March,  and  April.  Roses,  Orange  blossom.  Thyme,  and 
Rosemary  are  gathered  in  May  and  June,  Tuberoses  and  Jasmine  in  July 
and  August,  Lavender  in  September,  and  Acacias  in  October  and 
November.  Bnc  the  most  important  crops  of  flowers  are  the  Roses  and 
Orange  blossoms,  the  others  being  mostly  grown  by  small  cultivators  in 
the  rural  districts  among  their  Vines  and  Olives.  One  of  the  largest 
flower  farms  is  at  Seillans,  about  2000  feet  above  the  level  of  the  sea, 
and  twenty  miles  from  the  coast,  upon  the  southern  elope  of  the 
Alpes-Maritimes. 
The  Use  of  N'ettle  Fibre. — The  American  Consul  at  Glauchau 
(Germany)  reports  that  Nettle  fibre  has  of  late  come  greatly  into 
favour  in  the  manufacture  of  fine  yarns  and  tissues.  In  Germany, 
there  are  factories  which  use  these  fibres  both  in  spinning  and  also  for 
ulterior  purposes.  In  Nettle  spinning  alone  over  10,000  spindles  and 
some  hundred  workmen  are  employed.  The  raw  material  is  imported 
almost  exclusively  from  China,  whence  661,500  to  802,000  lbs.  are 
annually  sent  to  Germany.  Nettle  fibre  produces  one  of  the  finest 
tissues  obtainable  from  any  known  kind  of  vegetable  fibre,  and  in  view 
of  the  importance  which  this  seems  likely  to  attain  in  connection  with 
the  weaving  industries,  it  is  intended  to  introduce  the  cultivation  of 
Nettles,  if  possible,  into  the  Cameroons.  The  idea  is  to  prepare  the 
products  of  this  experimental  culture  at  the  place  where  they  are 
obtained,  and  test  them  in  German  factories.  Should  favourable  results 
follow  from  these  experiments,  it  is  intended  to  organise  Nettle 
growing  enterprises  on  an  extensive  scale. — (“  Indian  Review.”) 
The  Wild  Arum. — This  interesting  plant  is  now  unfolding  glossy, 
spotted  leaves  by  the  wayside,  and  shortly  the  pale  green  spathe  will  be 
conspicuous.  The  curious,  brown,  club-shaped  column,  on  cutting  open 
the  neck  of  the  spathe,  will  not  have  completed  its  growth,  but  one 
may  see,  says  a  writer  in  “  The  Echo,”  the  separate  parts  of  it  in  three 
groups.  Below  are  the  female  blossoms,  each  consisting  of  a  single 
ovary.  Above  these  are  the  male  flowers,  each  with  a  single  stamen. 
Then  a  ring  of  slender  pointed  leaves,  or  flowers.  The  latter  resemble 
hairs  pointing  downwards.  They  appear  to  guard  the  narrow  entrance, 
where  they  form  a  kind  of  trap,  like  the  old-fashioned  mousetrap — • 
insects  can  creep  down  them,  but  cannot  return.  These  tiny  flies  may 
be  found  within,  creeping  about,  and  their  coats  dusted  with  pollen 
from  another  plant  of  the  species.  But  they  find  no  pollen,  as  the 
female  flowers  ripen  first.  Having  made  a  discovery  they  endeavour 
to  escape,  but  in  vain,  the  pointed  hairs  bar  the  passage.  Then  after 
the  female  flowers  have  been  fertilised  the  males  begin  to  ripen  and 
shower  the  golden  pollen  on  the  insects  below.  Presently  the  hairs 
wither  away,  and  the  road  is  open  for  escape.  Such  is  a  brief  history 
of  Cuckoo  Pint.  If  the  spathe  is  cut  open  later  in  the  season,  small 
midgets  are  found  who  seem  to  have  ate  ravenously  and  perished. 
Border  Polyantliuses. — Persons  who  gathered  their  notions  of 
what  were  good  or  prize  border  Polyanthuses  from  the  plants  seen  at 
the  Drill  Hall  on  the  24th  ult.,  those  from  Mr.  Bennett  Poe’s  garden 
being  an  exception,  could  they  have  seen  the  huge  bed  of  these 
Polyanthuses  I  saw  a  day  or  two  since  at  the  Swiss  Nursery,  Farnham, 
would  have  realised  the  great  difference  there  is  between  poor 
strains  and  good  ones,  and  between  plants  shown  under  somewhat 
artificial  conditions  and  those  growing  outdoors  in  pure  air  and  in 
broad  sunshine.  I  went  all  the  way  to  Farnham  the  other  day  on 
purpose  to  see  these  beautiful  spring  flowers.  It  is  really  surprising 
to  find  how  wonderfully  well  they  thrive  fully  exposed  to  frosts  or  hot 
sunshine  on  a  somewhat  thin,  sandy,  and  stony  soil  taken  out  of  the 
starved  heathland  of  the  locality.  There  were  plants  of  brilliant 
yellows,  whites,  mauves,  reds,  crimsons,  and  purples  that  I  should  as 
seed  stock  plants  have  regarded  as  worth  half  a  guinea  each,  because  it 
is  only  by  saving  seed  from  such  and  sowing  from  year  to  year,  that 
stock  can  be  improved.  The  entire  collection  formed  in  the  declining 
sunlight  of  a  May  afternoon  a  most  beautiful  picture.  Already  several 
thousands  of  strong  seedling  plants  had  been  put  out  for  next  year’s 
flowering.  Mr.  Mortimer  finds  on  his  sand,  as  I  used  to  find  on 
the  Middlesex  clay,  that  sowing  seed  at  the  end  of  August  and 
wintering  the  plants  as  he  did  in  boxes  in  a  cold  house,  or  as  I  used  to 
do  in  beds  outdoors  all  the  winter,  and  then  planf  ing  out  in  April,  to  be 
the  very  best  plan.  All  these  seedlings  will  be  large  clumps  next 
April,  and  give  a  glorious  profusion  of  bloom. — Observer. 
