298 
JOURNAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER. 
September  26,  1895. 
-  Polygonum  cuspidatum. — Whilst  thanking  “  E.  M,”  for  his 
hints  on  the  cnlture  of  Polygonum  cuspidatum  as  a  border  plant 
(page  274),  which  I  am  glad  to  have,  not  having  previously  given  it  the 
attention  he  points  out,  and  which  I  am  sure  it  deserves,  he  will  allow 
that  for  a  border  4  feet  wide,  backed  by  an  espalier  fence  4  feet  high,  it 
is  just  a  wee  bit  big  for  the  place,  whilst  I  will  readily  endorse  his 
opinion  that,  with  more  ample  room,  “it  is  a  grand  addition  to  the 
border  ;  ”  still,  I  would  like  to  see  some  clumps  growing  au  naturel — 
neither  pinched  nor  pulled — and  judging  from  its  habit  it  is  a  plant 
that  should  be  well  able  to  hold  its  own  under  semi-wild  conditions. 
— The  Gardener. 
-  American  Apples. — The  Early  Baldwin,  says  a  transatlantic 
writer,  deserves  a  high  rank  among  summer  Apples.  This  is  a  much 
finer  Apple  than  the  Red  Astrachan  and  superior  to  the  Early  Harvest, 
which  it  closely  resembles.  It  is  about  ten  days  later  than  the  Early 
Harvest  and  was  at  its  best  this  year  about  August  7th.  Colour 
greenish  white,  flesh  white  but  acid,  equally  good  for  dessert  or  cooking. 
I  am  confident  the  Early  Baldwin  is  almost  an  annual,  there  being  some 
Apples  every  year.  This  Apple  originated  on  the  farm  of  Joseph 
Baldwin  in  Connecticut. 
-  The  Spider  Plant. — Travellers  who  visited  or  passed  the 
Cape  Negro  country  of  Africa,  says  the  “  Morning,”  often  heard  from 
the  natives  of  a  plant  that  was  part  spider,  and  threw  its  legs 
about  in  continual  struggles  to  escape.  It  was  the  good  fortune  of 
Dr.  Welwitsch  to  discover  the  origin  of  the  legend*  Strolling  along 
through  a  wind-swept  tableland  country,  he  came  across  a  plant  that 
rested  low  on  the  ground,  but  bad  two  enormous  leaves  that 
blew  and  twisted  about  in  the  wind  like  serpents  ;  in  fact  it  looked, 
as  the  natives  had  said,  like  a  gigantic  spider.  It  stem  was  4  feet 
across,  and  but  1  foot  high.  It  had  but  two  leaves  in  reality,  they  were 
6  feet  or  8  feet  long,  and  split  up  by  the  wind  so  that  they  resembled 
ribbons.  This  is  probably  the  most  extraordinary  tree  known.  It 
grows  for  nearly  if  not  quite  a  century,  but  never  upwards  beyond 
about  a  foot,  simply  slowly  expanding  until  it  reaches  the  diameter  given, 
looking  in  its  adult  state  like  a  singular  stool  on  the  plain  from  10  feet 
to  18  feet  in  circumference.  When  the  wind  came  rushing  in  from  the 
sea,  lifting  the  curious  ribbon-like  leaves  and  tossing  them  about,  it 
almost  seemed  to  the  discoverer  that  the  strange  plant  had  suddenly 
become  imbued  with  life  and  was  struggling  to  escape. 
-  Vine-growing  in  Ceylon.— An  interesting  experiment  has 
just  been  commenced  in  the  neighbourhood  of  the  Agricultural  School 
in  Viticulture.  M.  Zanetti,  an  Italian,  with  some  previous  experience 
of  this  Colony,  has  brought  a  consignment  of  young  Vine  plants  and 
cuttings  from  Australia.  These  have  been  put  out  on  a  piece  of  land 
allotted  by  the  Principal  of  the  School  to  the  following  extent : — Eight 
hundred  plants,  two  years  old  and  younger,  down  and  growing,  and 
nearly  1000  cuttings.  M.  Zanetti  wanted  land  and  help  at  once,  as  the 
plants  had  been  over  a  month  out  of  the  soil  and  could  not  have  been 
kept  much  longer,  so  Mr.  Drieberg  came  to  his  rescue.  He  says  that  his 
experience  is  that  there  is  no  objection  to  any  amount  of  moisture  pro¬ 
vided  the  soil  is  open  and  naturally  well  drained.  He,  however,  means 
to  give  trials  in  other  places  as  well.  This  is  all  very  interesting  ;  but 
we  have  always  regarded  the  Jaffna  Peninsula,  Puttalam,  Chilaw,  and 
Hambantota  as  peculiarly  the  districts  in  Ceylon  suited  to  the  Vine. 
Bennett,  in  his  “  Ceylon  and  its  Capabilities,”  reported  that  his  garden 
in  the  Magampattu  (Hambantota  district)  produced  very  fine  Grapes 
from  Vines  introduced  by  him  from  TenerifEe  in  1821.  He  used  bones 
as  manure,  and  got  bunches  double  the  size  of  those  got  from  unmanured 
Vines.  In  writing  to  a  contemporary  M.  Zanetti  says  ; — “  Though  not 
altogether  so  easily  as  in  other  tropics  and  soils,  I  am  of  the  firm  opinion 
that  Vine  growing  in  Ceylon  could  be  effected  as  a  paying  enterprise. 
The  difficulties  presented  by  the  rainfall  and  the  want  of  certain 
chemical  properties  in  the  soil  could  be  surmounted.  The  first  by 
selecting  only  such  soil  as  would  be  most  permeable  and  most  likely  to 
keep  its  surface  free  from  collected  water  and  easily  dried,  such  as  sandy 
or  very  light  gravel  soil ;  the  second  by  using  those  fertilisers  only  whose 
chemical  qualities,  added  to  those  of  the  soil,  would  furnish  the  plant 
the  necessary  nourishment  wanted  to  produce  the  delicious  fruit  and 
bring  it  to  its  full  maturity,  which,  I  believe,  has  not  yet  been  done 
neither  in  .Jaffna  nor  by  the  amateur  growers  in  the  island.”  “It  is 
well,”  says  the  “  Ceylon  Observer,”  “  to  remember  that  experiments  with 
imported  Vines  have  not  been  unknown  in  the  present  generation. 
Captain  Bay  ley  some  years  ago  did  much  in  this  way  at  Galle,  in  the 
Morowa  Eorale,  and  other  localities  ;  but  without  such  success  as  would 
warrant  perseverance.” 
-  Victoria  regia.— There  is  now  to  be  seen  in  the  Botanic 
Girdens,  Regent’s  Park,  one  of  the  finest  plants  of  the  Victoria  regia 
ever  grown  in  this  country.  It  covers  a  space  of  over  400  square  feet, 
each  of  the  eleven  leaves  measuring  more  than  7  feet  across,  apart 
from  the  turned-up  rims,  which  stand  up  6  inches  or  7  inches  above  the 
water,  the  deep  pink  of  the  under  sides  contrasting  strongly  with  the 
vivid  green  of  the  upper  surfaces  of  the  leaves.  The  flowers,  pink,  and 
rising  just  over  the  centre  of  the  plant,  follow  one  another  in  quick 
succession. 
-  Progress  in  the  North. — Sixty  experimental  stations  have 
been  provided  by  the  Durham  College  of  Science  in  Cumberland, 
Durham,  and  Northumberland.  At  these  stations  practical  instruction 
is  given  by  means  of  experiment  and  demonstration  in  the  science  of 
agriculture.  Manures  are  supplied  to  the  stations  from  the  College,, 
where  they  are  analysed  and  prepared  as  may  be  required  for  the 
particular  experiment,  and  the  resultant  crops  are  afterwards  tested 
under  the  direction  of  a  professor.  These  experiments  give  valuable 
opportunities  to  students  to  observe  the  varying  results  obtained  under 
the  different  conditions  of  soil  and  climate  in  the  various  districts  of 
the  northern  counties. 
- Nepenthes  at  Chelsea. — Rarely  have  the  Pitcher  plants 
grown  by  Mr.  Tivey  for  Messrs.  J.  Veitch  &  Sons  at  their  Chelsea 
nurseries  presented  a  better  or  more  healthy  appearance  than  is  the 
case  at  the  present  time.  The  plants  with  their  handsome  green  leaves 
are  now  producing  pitchers  in  extraordinary  numbers,  besides  which 
the  richness  of  the  colours  is  decidedly  above  the  average.  That 
they  are  of  easy  culture,  providing  a  stove  is  at  command,  is  proved 
by  the  way  they  succeed  at  Chelsea,  and  considering  their  undoubted 
beauty,  it  is  a  matter  for  surprise  that  they  are  not  very  much  more 
extensively  grown  than  is  at  present  the  case.  The  row  of 
N.  Mastersiana  is  well  known  to  every  visitor  to  this  nursery,  while 
other  splendid  sorts  are  mixta,  Chelsoni,  Hookeri,  Amesiana,  mixta 
sanguinea,  and  Dicksoniana,  some  of  the  pitchers  of  the  latter  holding 
upwards  of  a  pint  of  water. — H. 
-  The  Effect  of  Nicotine  on  Grapes —With  the  view  of 
testing  nicotine  for  the  destruction  of  red  spider  and  mealy  bug  on 
Vines  I  used  “  Murray’s  vapourising  ”  nicotine  several  times  in  one 
vinery  in  which  is  growing  Black  Hamburgh,  Madresfield  Court,  and 
Buckland  Sweetwater  Grapes.  Although  I  employed  the  nicotine 
beyond  the  advised  strength,  it  failed  to  kill  either  the  bug  or  the 
spider.  In  no  case  in  this  house  did  it  injure  the  Vines  in  anyway. 
Not  even  the  next  day  did  the  berries  exhibit  the  slightest  trace  of 
nicotine  to  the  taste.  From  experience,  then,  I  am  not  a  believer  in  the 
scare  noted  on  page  273.  I- also  used  the  nicotine  in  a  house  of  Muscat 
of  Alexandria  Vines,  and  nearly  every  old  leaf  in  the  house  was  burnt, 
not  a  single  young  leaf  on  the  laterals  being  injured  in  the  slightest. 
Fortunately  the  Grapes  were  ripe  and  did  not  suffer,  but  the  Vines 
cannot  be  other  than  injured  by  the  premature  loss  of  the  principal 
leaves.  The  berries  even  of  this  Grape  did  not  show  the  slightest  taint 
of  nicotine. — Experience. 
-  Fruit  Culture  in  New  Zealand. — New  Zealand,  in  respect 
of  soil,  climate,  and  general  conditions,  is  capable,  equally  with  Cali¬ 
fornia,  of  producing  the  finest  Apples  of  almost  all  descriptions,  and 
without  the  artificial  aid,  in  the  shape  of  the  expensive  service  of 
irrigation,  required  in  the  last-named  country.  But  the  fruit  growers 
in  New  Zealand  have  not,  in  the  opinion  of  Mr.  Palmer,  the  Pomologist 
of  the  North  Island,  the  necessary  knowledge  of  any  proper  system  of 
cultivation  and  of  the  means  to  be  taken  for  the  destruction  of  insects 
and  other  pestg.  It  appears  that  the  planting  of  fruit  trees  has  been 
carried  on  without  any  system  whatever,  and  unsuitable  situations  and 
varieties  unfitted  for  conditions  of  soil  and  climate  have  been  selected. 
The  Pomologist  of  the  South  Island,  Mr.  Blackmore,  remarks  that  he 
found  fruit  culture  much  neglected  in  the  various  orchards  he  visited. 
The  trees  were  overrun  with  insects  and  various  forms  of  fungi.  Mr. 
Blackmore  adds  that  he  has  endeavoured  to  encourage  orchardists 
to  make  shipments  of  Apples  and  Pears  to  the  London  market,  but  that 
owing  to  the  high  rate  of  freight  and  other  charges,  and  the  want  of 
unity  amongst  growers,  his  efforts  to  promote  shipments  of  fruit  have 
in  part  failed.  It  seems  that  there  is  not  really  sufficient  good  fruit  to 
compete  in  the  various  markets  of  the  south  with  the  superior  produce 
of  Tasmania,  and  Mr.  Blackmore  is  of  opinion  that  before  the  export  of 
fruit  from  New  Zealand  can  become  permanent  and  profitable,  the 
area  of  the  orchards  must  be  considerably  extended  by  planting  the 
varieties  most  suitable  for  export  and  the  home  markets. — (“Farming 
World.”) 
