September  19,  1895. 
JOURNAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER, 
275 
-  Cold  Weather  in  New  Zealand. — So  severe  has  been  the 
weather  in  New  Zealand  that  Lyttleton  harbour  was  covered  on  July 
the  16th  with  ice  an  inch  thick.  At  Arrowtown,  Lake  Wakatipu,  the 
ink  v/as  frozen  in  the  telegraph  office. 
-  Australian  Lemons  — A  Covent  Garden  sale  of  Lemons  just 
received  from  Australia  has  attracted  attention  to  the  scarcity  of  this 
fruit,  and  the  capabilities  of  the  Irrigation  Colonies  of  Mildura  and 
Renmark  as  Lemon  growing  districts.  Five  hundred  cases  were  dis¬ 
posed  of  at  prices  ranging  from  93.  6d.  to  14s.  6d.  per  case,  which  is 
regarded  as  an  exceptionally  good  price. at  auction,  but  not  fully  repre¬ 
senting  the  value  of  the  fruit,  and  higher  prices  are  confidently  expected 
when  the  quality  becomes  known. 
-  The  Weather  Last  Month. — August  was  changeable  and 
showery  up  to  the  14th  ;  drier  and  warmer  after,  and  fine  harvest 
weather  until  the  end  of  the  month,  with  the  exception  of  a  few  showers. 
It  was  much  too  dry  for  the  autumn  fruit,  which  will  not  be  so  large  as 
usual.  The  wind  was  in  a  westerly  direction  twenty-four  days.  The 
total  rainfall  was  2  08  inches,  which  fell  on  nineteen  days,  the  greatest 
daily  fall  being  0'50  inch  on  the  5th.  Thermometer,  highest  in  the  shade, 
81°  on  the  22nd  ;  lowest,  45°  on  the  8th  and  25th.  Mean  of  daily  maxima, 
70°  ;  mean  of  daily  minima,  52  77°.  Mean  temperature  of  the  month. 
’61’38°.  Lowest  on  the  grass,  36°  on  the  25th  ;  highest  in  the  sun,  142° 
on  the  19th  and  23rd.  Mean  temperature  of  the  earth  at  3  feet,  59  16°. 
Total  sunshine,  175  hours  50  minutes.  We  had  one  sunless  day. — 
W.  H.  Divers,  Belvoir  Castle  Gardens,  Grantham. 
-  Bananas  in  America — During  the  first  six  months  of  the 
•current  year  more  than  10,000,000  bunches  of  Bananas  have  been  sold 
in  the  United  States,  and  since  about  sixty  vessels  are  engaged  in 
carrying  this  fruit  to  our  markets,  and  from  fifty  to  a  hundred  men 
are  employed  in  unloading  each  cargo  as  it  arrives,  the  Banana 
business  now  probably  takes  rank  as  the  leading  branch  in  the  fruit 
’trade.  The  great  increase  in  the  consumption  of  Bananas  is  due  to 
the  fact  that  the  country  fruit  stores  can  dispose  of  them  more  readily 
than  that  of  other  kinds  of  fruit  on  account  of  their  cheapness,  and 
many  country  merchants  have  built  ripening  rooms  for  the  fruit  when 
received  by  them  in  a  green  state.  According  to  the  “  Fruit  Trade 
Journal  ”  the  arrangements  for  receiving  and  discharging  cargoes  are 
more  systematic  in  New  Orleans  than  any  other  port  of  this  country. 
The  vessels  there  unload  immediately  on  arrival  at  any  time  of  day  or 
night,  and  the  railroads  give  special  attention  to  shipments,  so  that 
the  Banana  trains  often  leave  New  Orleans  and  make  as  good  time  as 
passenger  trains  to  their  destination.  In  1891  New  Orleans  for  the 
first  time  received  more  Bananas  than  New  York,  but  already  in  the 
first  half  of  the  year  her  importations  excelled  those  of  New  York  by 
more  than  800,000  bunches.  Mobile  ranks  as  the  third  port  in  the 
number  of  bunches  received,  while  Philadelphia  and  Boston  compete 
closely  for  the  fourth  place. 
-  Cleaning  Tomato  Seed. — I  do  not  know  by  what  process 
Tomato  seed  is  cleaned  for  the  trade,  and  in  penning  these  notes  it  is  not 
my  intention  to  suggest  one.  No  doubt  there  are  many  who  like  to 
save  seed  for  their  own  use,  but  do  not  know  the  best  way  to  accomplish 
this,  so  perhaps  a  little  information  may  not  be  out  of  place.  It  is 
rather  a  difficult  matter  to  separate  the  seed  from  the  surrounding  pulp 
unless  the  right  methods  are  used,  then  it  becomes  the  work  of  a  few 
minutes  only.  In  one  of  my  situations  as  foreman  we  had  to  save  seed 
of  several  varieties  annually.  Finding  it  a  difficult  matter  to  perform 
this  work  satisfactorily  by  other  methods  the  following  was  tried  : — The 
fruits  were  cut  in  halves  horizontally  and  the  seed  picked  out  with  a 
pointed  stick  with  as  little  pulp  as  possible,  and  put  in  a  muslin  bag  ; 
it  was  then  well  rubbed  between  the  fingers  and  thumb  in  a  basin  of 
water  until  the  pulp  was  separated  from  the  seed,  and  finally  cleansed 
by  washing  in  water,  the  good  seed  sinking  to  the  bottom  and  the  pulp 
and  bad  seed  poured  off  with  the  water.  Two  or  three  washings  wilj 
leave  the  seed  quite  clean.  Sometimes  it  is  necessary  to  return  it  to  the 
bag  and  give  a  second  rubbing.  In  saving  seed  good  shaped  fruit  should 
be  selected  and  allowed  to  remain  on  the  plant  until  quite  ripe.  It 
ought  to  be  cleaned  a  few  days  after  being  gathered,  for  if  allowed  to 
remain  long  the  seed  will  sprout  and  be  spoilt.  I  recorded  this  method 
of  cleaning  Tomato  seed  in  one  of  the  gardening  journals  at  the  time, 
and  was  criticised  by  a  correspondent,  who  said  that  water  had  an 
injurious  effect  on  seed,  and  that  cleaned  without  water  it  would 
germinate  much  better.  In  reply  to  these  remarks  information  was 
solicited,  but  as  far  as  I  can  remember  it  did  not  appear.  I  have  yet  to 
learn  what  injury  is  done  by  washing,  as  seed  so  cleaned  for  several 
years  has  always  germinated  very  freely. — J,  S.  Upex. 
-  Australian  Apples, — Some  months  ago  several  cases  of 
Apples,  of  the  Northern  Spy  variety,  were  sent  to  London  from 
Australia,  for  the  purpose  of  experimenting.  The  account  sales  show 
that  they  have  sold  for  8s.  6d.  per  case.  This  leaves  about  63.  6d. 
per  case  after  paying  all  expenses,  which  pays  considerably  better  than 
the  local  markets.  At  the  time  the  fruit  was  dispatched,  the  same 
kind  of  Apples  sold  locally  only  realised  Is.  6d.  per  case,  from  which 
expenses  had  to  be  deducted. 
-  Spraying  Potatoes. — The  advantages  of  spraying  Potatoes 
for  the  purpose  of  checking  disease  are  pointed  out  by  Mr,  J.  Cuning- 
ham,  of  Kilboy,  Nenagh,  who  states  that  immediately  after  a  heavy 
thunderstorm  most  of  the  Potatoes  grown  in  the  district  became 
seriously  affected  by  the  disease,  and  the  haulm  turned  black  ;  his  own 
crops  that  had  been  sprayed  in  July  were  found  to  be  almost  free 
from  disease  when  examined  after  the  storm.  The  few  spots  of  disease 
that  were  noticed  were  on  leaves  that  had  been  produced  after  the 
spraying. 
- Potato  Selling  Extraordinary, — Fruit  growers  frequently 
have  cause  to  complain  of  the  exceptional  commission  taken  by  Co  vent 
Garden  salesmen,  but  what  would  they  say  if  they  sent  their  goods  to 
Manchester?  Recently  a  farmer  living  at  Long  Sutton  sent  over  2  tons 
of  Snowdrop  Potatoes  of  the  best  quality,  and  half  a  ton  of  seed  Potatoes 
were  also  forwarded  to  a  Manchester  salesman.  The  return  just  to  hand 
shows  the  sum  of  17i.  5d.  to  the  farmer,  although  the  Potatoes  were 
worth  50s.  per  ton  at  home.  In  Manchester  the  amount  realised  was 
£4  lOs.,  and,  allowing  65.  9d.  for  commission,  £3  Os.  7d.  carriage,  and 
5s.  3d.  porterage  (in  all  £3  123.  7d.),  the  sum  of  178.  5d.  was  left  for 
nearly  3  tons  of  Potatoes.  After  paying  for  the  cost  of  lifting  and  other 
expenses,  the  farmer  will  not  only  lose  the  Potatoes,  but  will  be  20s.  out 
of  pocket  over  the  transaction. 
-  Death  of  a  Kew  Specimen. — The  handsome  specimen  of 
Cyathea  medullaris,  which  has  been  for  many  years  a  striking  feature 
in  the  temperate  house  at  Kew,  died  during  the  present  summer  at  a 
goodly  age.  It  was  presented  by  the  late  Prince  Consort  in  1856,  and 
was  then  of  considerable  size,  so  that  its  age  is  estimated  to  have  been 
about  sixty  years.  Early  in  the  current  year  it  showed  symptoms  of 
ill  health,  and  it  finally  collapsed  at  the  end  of  June.  Its  stem  was 
then  31  feet  in  length,  and  12  inches  in  diameter  at  3  feet  above  the 
ground.  When  in  robust  health  the  head  contained  about  a  dozen 
fronds,  each  from  12  to  15  feet  long,  and  about  6  feet  in  breadth.  The 
species  is  the  tallest  of  the  Tree  Ferns  of  New  Zealand,  and  in  the 
moist  ravines  of  that  colony  specimens  often  attain  a  height  of  60  feet. 
The  caudex  is  slender,  with  a  large  conical  base  of  hard  root  fibres, 
closely  matted  together  to  the  thickness  of  a  yard  or  more.  There  are 
several  fine  specimens  of  Cyathea  medullaris  in  the  temperate  house, 
one  of  which  was  presented  to  Kew  by  Lord  Swansea  in  1887,  and  is 
now  about  20  feet  high. 
-  The  Oldest  Herbarium, — The  oldest  herbarium  in  the 
world  is  to  be  found  in  the  Egyptologist  Museum  at  Cairo.  It  consists 
of  a  large  number  of  wreaths  and  garlands  of  flowers,  collected  together 
from  ancient  Egyptian  graves.  These  floral  remains  are  practically  all 
in  a  well-preserved  condition.  In  most  of  the  flowers  those  parts  which 
have  been  protected  by  an  outer  covering  are,  in  spite  of  their  extreme 
delicacy,  perfectly  intact,  while  their  colours  have  been  preserved  in  a 
remarkable  manner ;  it  has  been  even  found  that  some  of  the  Water 
Melons,  by  immersion  in  water,  showed  that  they  still  retain  possession 
of  their  green  colouring  matter.  The  most  interesting  feature  of  these 
collections  is  their  great  age.  Some  of  them  were  immured  in 
sarcophagi  so  far  back  as  2500  B.c.,  certain  legume  of  Clover  obtained 
from  the  brick  pyramid  of  Dalschur,  a  handful  of  Barley  ears  and 
Juniper  berries  from  a  grave  at  Sakkara  undoubtedly  belong  to  that 
period,  while  the  floral  remains  obtained  from  the  mummy  found  at 
Deir  el  Behara  in  1881,  and  the  rich  booty  yielded  by  the  tombs  of 
Ahmes  I.  and  Rameses  II.  are  equally  old.  There  is,  however,  a  difficulty 
in  determining  the  age  of  some  of  them  with  any  precision.  In  several 
instances  the  mummies  have  been  opened,  and  afterwards  reswathed, 
and  it  is  almost  impossible  to  ascertain  whether  they  belong  to  the  first 
or  second  period.  But  at  the  lowest  estimate  they  are  over  3000  years 
old,  while  the  oldest  herbarium  in  Europe  has  scarcely  reached  its  400th 
year.  Among  the  flowers  found  in  this  collection  are  blue  and  white 
Lotus,  the  red  Poppy,  oriental  Larkspurs,  Hollyhock,  various  species  of 
Chrysanthemums,  Pomegranates,  Willow  leaves,  and  several  kinds  of 
Grasses  of  later  date — the  Giseco-Roman  period — and  the  Celery  leaves 
which  were  found  mixed  with  Lotus  leaves  and  flowers  in  the  coffin 
of  the  so-called  Kent  mummy. — (“Echo.”) 
