34 
JOURNAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER. 
July  11,  1896. 
-  More  Foreign  Competition.  —  Market  gardeners  are 
seriously  injured  by  foreign  competition  already,  but,  according  to  the 
Moile  Beige,  there  is  a  possibility  of  the  severity  of  this  competition 
being  increased.  The  Belgian  Minister  of  Agriculture  is  now  engaged 
in  organising  a  special  service  of  steamers  for  the  purpose  of  conveying 
fruit  and  vegetables  to  the  English  markets.  The  Government  is,  it  is 
said,  prepared  to  spend  £50,000  a  year  in  this  scheme  for  benefiting 
native  industry. 
-  Esparto  Fibre. — The  trade  in  Esparto  fibre  between  Tripoli 
and  this  country  is  said  to  be  gradually  declining,  in  consequence  of  the 
extended  use  of  wood  pulp,  which  is  shipped  both  from  Canada  and 
Norway  to  England  in  increasing  quantities.  In  1895  the  exports  from 
Tripoli  amounted  to  36,500  tons,  while  in  1894  the  quantity  had  fallen 
to  36,100  tons,  but  owing  to  the  steady  fall  in  prices  the  value  in  1894 
was  only  £93,450,  against  £108,000  in  the  previous  year.  Should  wood 
pulp  continue  to  find  favour  with  paper  manufacturers  it  is  estimated 
that  the  Esparto  trade  will  continue  to  diminish  considerably. 
-  The  Weather  Last  Month.— June  was  dry  until  after  the. 
25th,  with  several  cold  nights,  and  a  hoar  frost  on  the  15th,  which  did 
much  damage  to  tender  vegetables  in  the  surrounding  villages,  but 
ours  escaped  from  being  at  a  greater  elevation.  We  had  a  heavy 
thunderstorm  on  the  26th.  The  wind  was  in  a  northerly  direction 
nineteen  days.  Total  rainfall  1'35  inches,  which  fell  on  thirteen  days, 
the  greatest  daily  fall  being  0’46  inch  on  the  1st.  Barometer,  highest 
reading  30'264  at  9  A.M.  on  the  24th  ;  lowest,  29‘480  at  9  A.M.  on  the 
30th.  Thermometer,  highest  in  the  shade  84°  on  the  26th  ;  lowest,  36° 
on  the  15th.  Mean  of  daily  maxima,  69  60°  ;  mean  of  daily  minima, 
47’30°.  Mean  temperature  of  the  month,  58'45°;  lowest  on  the  grass, 
28°  on  the  15th  ;  highest  in  the  sun,  147°  on  the  22nd.  Mean  tem¬ 
perature  of  the  earth  at  3  feet  in  depth,  56‘46°.  Total  sunshine  200 
hours.  We  bad  one  sunless  day. — W.  H.  Divers,  The  Gardens,  Belvoir 
Castle,  Grantham. 
-  Kauri  Gum. — This  gum,  which  is  annually  exported  in  large 
quantities  from  New  Zealand,  is  the  solidified  turpentine  of  the  Kauri 
Pine  (Dammara  australis),  and  occurs  in  great  abundance  in  a  fossil 
condition  in  the  northern  part  of  the  Auckland  provincial  district,  and 
is  dug  up  alike  on  the  driest  fernhills  and  the  deepest  swamps.  A  large 
quantity  is  also  obtained  from  the  forks  of  living  trees,  but  is  considered 
of  inferior  quality,  and  fetches  a  lower  price.  In  the  fossil  state  Kauri 
gum  occurs  in  lumps  varying  from  the  size  of  a  Walnut  to  that  of  a 
man’s  head,  and  pieces  have  been  found  weighing  upwards  of  100  lbs. 
When  scraped  the  best  specimens  are  of  a  rich  brown  colour,  varying 
greatly  in  depth  of  tint.  Sometimes  translucent,  or  even  transparent 
specimens  are  found,  occasionally,  says  a  contemporary,  with  leaves, 
seeds,  or  small  insects  enclosed.  When  obtained  from  swamps  the  resin 
is  very  dark  coloured,  or  even  almost  black,  but  from  dry  soils  it  is 
usually  transparent  or  semi-transparent  and  fetches  very  high  prices, 
being  used  as  a  substitute  for  amber  in  the  manufacture  of  mouthpieces 
for  cigar-holders  and  pipes.  The  great  bulk  is  used  in  the  manufacture 
of  oil  varnishes,  and  in  countries  where  much  varnish  is  made  it  holds 
the  chief  place  in  the  market.  The  area  of  the  gum  fields  is  upwards  of 
1,500,000  acres. 
-  The  Effects  of  the  Drought.— The  injurious  effects  of  the 
drought  are  visible  in  the  orchards  in  many  districts,  but  in  the  case  of 
the  Apples,  Plums,  and  Pears  a  good  fall  of  rain  would  soon  greatly 
improve  matters.  The  beneficial  results  of  irrigating  orchards  is  shown 
by  a  correspondent  in  the  “  Times  ”  who  is  a  fruit  grower  in  Herefordshire. 
He  states  that  there  has  been  in  his  district  an  extraordinary  promise  of 
fruit,  and,  despite  violent  attacks  of  weevils  and  caterpillars,  this 
would  have  been  a  record  year  but  for  the  drought.  The  bloom  was 
magnificent,  and  on  one  bush  tree  alone — Ecklinville  Seedling — 
7854  blossoms  were  counted.  As  he  has  grown  specimens  of  this  variety 
weighing  up  to  18  ozs.,  he  considered  that  200  Apples  of  only  half  a 
pound  each  would  be  yield  enough  for  one  tree,  so  that  he  could  afford 
to  regard  with  comparative  indifference  the  possible  loss  of  7654  of  the 
blooms.  The  intensity  of  the  drought  is  such,  however,  that  the  fruit 
is  disappearing  in  all  directions.  Before  the  middle  of  June  the  corre¬ 
spondent,  taking  time  by  the  forelock,  pumped,  by  means  of  350  yards 
of  hose,  6000  gallons  of  tepid  water.  On  one  occasion  the  thermometer 
fell  to  30°,  but  all  through  that  night  the  warm  water  was  pouring  over  the 
field.  Between  10  A.M.  on  Wednesday  and  9  p.m.  on  Saturday  10  acres 
were  thus  refreshed,  the  pump  never  stopping  the  whole  time.  As  a 
result  of  this  treatment,  which  is  being  repeated,  the  promise  of  fruit 
is  great,  and  the  sight  it  presents  can  perhaps  hardly  be  paralleled  in 
the  kingdom. 
-  Beauty  in  the  Garden. — A  correspondent  writes  to  an 
American  contemporary  that  one  need  not  wait  till  the  flowers  bloom 
to  see  beauty  in  the  garden.  It  has  an  interest  for  him  at  any  season  of 
the  year,  especially  when  the  leaves  are  pushing  up  from  the  ground  in 
spring.  He  thinks  that  no  gaudy  flower  will  equal  in  interest  and 
beauty  the  unfolding  leaves  of  the  Columbine.  Without  granting  all 
he  claims,  it  must  be  conceded  that  his  enthusiasm  in  this  line  has  very 
much  to  sustain  it. 
FIGHTING  INSECT  PESTS. 
In  these  days  of  keen  competition,  success  in  battling  with  various 
insect  pests  must  be  considered  as  essential  to  high-class  gardening. 
For  this  reason  I  think  this  subject  is  worthy  of  being  thoroughly 
ventilated  in  the  pages  of  your  valuable  Journal. 
What  every  cultivator  should  aim  at  is  to  employ  the  quickest  and 
most  effectual  means  of  destroying  insects,  at  the  least  possible  expense. 
For  this  reason  I  welcome  the  note  of  “  E.  M.”  (page  564),  although  he 
apparently  does  not  quite  agree  with  my  former  note  as  to  the  best 
method  of  destroying  red  spider  on  Vine  leaves.  I  must  confess,  how¬ 
ever,  that  my  experience  leads  me  to  totally  different  conclusions  from 
that  expressed  by  “E.  M.” — viz.,  that  “very  little  good  is  done  by- 
sponging  Vine  leaves  with  soapy  water  or  other  mixtures.”  Many  times 
have  I  had  vineries  to  deal  with  in  which  red  spider  has  gained  a  firm 
footing,  and  in  each  case  persistent  sponging  has  gained  the  victory  at 
last.  One  notable  instance  rises  to  my  mind  as  I  write. 
Some  years  ago  I  had  charge  of  a  well-known  range  of  vineries.  In 
one  house  a  Vine  of  Madresfield  Court,  which  was  carrying  some 
grand  bunches  of  that  fine  Grape,  was  badly  attacked  with  red  spider 
when  the  berries  were  about  half  grown.  The  season  was  a  very  hot 
one,  and  Vine  growers  in  many  quarters  penned  pitiful  tales  about  the- 
condition  of  their  Vines,  and  I  thought  at  one  time  that  it  would  be 
useless  to  look  for  highly  finished  Grapes  from  a  Vine  so  badly  infested 
as  the  one  in  question.  I  determined,  however,  that  nothing  which- 
could  be  done  to  eradicate  the  pest  should  be  left  undone  ;  every  leaf 
on  the  Vine  was  therefore  thoroughly  sponged  two  or  three  times,  with 
the  satisfactory  result  that  three  grand  bunches  of  Madresfield  Court 
cut  from  that  very  Vine  carried  off  the  premier  award  at  an  important 
show,  always  noted  for  good  Grapes,  and  I  fancy  “  E.  M.”  gave  more- 
than  a  passing  look  at  those  three  bunches  in  the  show  tent.  Let  this, 
then,  serve  as  an  illustration  as  to  whether  or  not  any  real  good  may  be 
done  by  sponging  Vine  leaves  with  a  view  to  stamp  out  that  insidious- 
pest  red  spider. 
The  next  point  to  consider  is.  Will  dusting  the  leaves  with  sulphur 
effect  the  same  object  with  less  trouble  and  expense  ?  if  so,  by  all  means 
let  us  adopt  it ;  but  it  seems  to  me  that  there  would  be  quite  as  much 
danger  of  "  rubbing  ”  the  berries  when  applying  the  sulphur  as  in  spong¬ 
ing  the  leaves.  In  addition  to  this  the  least  shaking  of  the  Vine  rods- 
would  send  the  sulphur  in  a  shower  on  the  Grapes,  a  condition  of 
affairs  which  would  certainly  not  improve  the  appearance  of  the  fruit. 
There  is,  I  fear,  a  weak  point  in  all  these  remedies  ;  what  fertile  brain 
will  show  us  one  without  ? 
Apparently,  the  sanguine  individual  mentioned  by  “  E.  M.”  as  having 
given  an  infallible  recipe  at  a  recent  lecture  has  done  so  ;  but,  alas  t 
for  the  credulity  of  human  nature,  nothing  was  said  as  to  the  condition 
of  the  Grapes  or  Vine  leaves  after  the  ordeal.  Is  there  no  weak  point 
here,  “  E.  M.”  ?  Perhaps  our  friend  who  advanced  the  remedy  will  tell, 
us. — Pomona. 
REVIEW  OF  BOOK. 
Landscape  Gardening  in  Japan,  By  Josiah  Conder.  London  r 
Sampson,  Low,  Marston  &;  Co. 
Eecent  events  previously  to  the  general  election,  forced  Japan  very 
prominently  upon  our  notice,  and  gave  European  states  to  understand 
that  a  new  factor  had  presented  itself  in  international  politics  with 
which  they  will  have  seriously  to  reckon.  It  is  refreshing,  however,  to 
turn  from  considering  the  newly  developed  prowess  of  the  Japanese  in 
modern  methods  of  destruction  to  a  contemplation  of  their  long-standing 
proficiency  in  the  gentler  art  of  gardening.  Hitherto  it  has  been  too 
much  the  habit  of  the  people  of  Christendom  to  look  down  upon  every 
other  settled  society — no  matter  of  how  great  antiquity — with  a  scorn 
similar  to  that  with  which  the  ancient  Greeks  regarded  the  non-Greeks. 
To  both  such  foreigners  were  infidels  and  barbarians.  It  did  not  matter 
whether  newly  discovered  races  were  in  the  savage,  hunting,  pastoral, 
or  agricultural  stage  of  development,  they  were  indifferently  classed  under 
the  designation  “  barbarous,”  and  their  history  and  peculiarities  put 
without  the  region  of  sober  discussion.  In  some  instances,  as  we  see  in 
the  case  of  Mexico  and  of  Peru,  primitive  and  deeply  interesting  civilisa¬ 
tions  have  been  annihilated  by  brutal  European  conquerors  before  the 
learned  have  even  had  a  sufficient  opportunity  of  studying  their 
instructive  characteristics! 
Events  of  the  last  fifty  years  have  fortunately  tended  to  open  up  the 
English  mind,  and  we  are  beginning  to  learn  slowly  that  Japan  is  not 
only  capable  of  giving  good  hard  knocks,  but  that  it  is  a  land  larger 
and  more  populous  than  the  British  Isles,  and  with  arts  and  institutions 
of  far  older  origin.  Nothing  will  serve  to  impress  this  more  upon  the 
reflecting  mind  than  the  subject  of  this  notice,  entitled,  “Landscape 
Gardening  in  Japan.”  From  it  we  learn  how  elaborate  and  complicated 
