346 
October  1&,  1886. 
JOURNAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER. 
— —  The  Restobation  oE  Soils.— Humus,  or  vegetable  mould, 
plays  a  most  important  part  in  this  process.  This  substance  is  formed 
by  the  action  of  the  air  on  solid  animal  or  vegetable  matter.  The 
common  earthworm  also  aids  in  bringing  about  the  desired  result.  The 
capacity  of  the  soil  for  absorbing  and  retaining  moisture  is  largely  due 
to  the  amount  of  humus  it  contains.  The  constant  aim  should  there¬ 
fore  be  to  increase  the  quantity  of  it.  This  can  best  be  done  by 
ploughing  under  green  crops,  or  partly  feeding  them  down  late  in 
summer. 
-  Feosts  in  Floeida. — The  severe  frosts  during  the  winter  of 
1894-5  did  a  vast  amount  of  damage  to  the  Orange  trees,  and  killed 
large  nnmbers  of  insects  injurious  to  the  Orange  and  other  fruits,  but  it 
has  left  the  trees  in  such  a  weak  condition  that  they  are  falling  a  prey 
to  many  other  insects  which,  in  ordinary  seasons,  have  not  to  be 
reckoned  with.  Several  sorts  of  wood-borers  are  busy  among  the 
plantations  riddling  the  trunks  badly,  and  yet  it  is  difficult  to  stop  their 
ravages,  as  the  use  of  an  insecticide  sufficiently  strong  to  kill  the  tiny 
beetles  would  probably  kill  the  trees>,;  >  i 
-  The  WpATHEE  Last  Month. — September  was  remarkably 
dry,  with  a  greater  quantity  of  sunshine  than  usual,  and  the  highest 
mean  daily  maximum  temperature  of  the  year.  All  grass  land  in  this 
neighbourhood  is  dried  up,  and  the  cattle  have  scarcely  anything  to  eat. 
Autumn  fruits  are  ripening  well,  but  have  probably  lost  a  certain 
amount  in  size,  owing  to  the  drought.  The  wind  was  in  a  southerly 
direction  twenty  days.  Total  rainfall,  0  48  inch,  which  fell  on  nine 
days,  the  greatest  daily  fall  being  0T2  inch  on  the  6th  and  the  lOLh. 
Barometer  highest  reading,  30  210  on  the  20th  at  9  A.M.  ;  lowest, 
29  450  dn  the  11th  at  9  A.Mi  Thermometer,  highest  in  the  shade,  83° 
on  the  25th  ;  lowest,  35°  on  the  22nd.  Mean  of  daily  maxima,  73’00°. 
Mean  of  daily  minima,  49  06°.  Mean  temperature  of  the  month,  6103° ; 
lowest  on  the  gass,  30°  on  the  22nd  ;  highest  in  the  sun,  137°  on  the 
2nd.  Mean  temperature  of  the  earth  at  3  feet,  58  76°.  Total  sunshine, 
221  honrs  30  min. — W.  H.  Divees,  Belvoir  Castle.  Gardens,  Grantham. 
-  Septembee  Weatheb  at  Beoughty  Feeby. — The  weather 
of  the  past  month  has  been  very  pleasant  throughout,  the  wind  being 
from  S.W,  to,W.  all  the  month,  and  light  and  balmy,  except  on  two 
days— 11th  and  18th — when  it  blew  pretty  strong.  The  mean  tem¬ 
perature  of  the  month  has  been  3°  above  the  average,  and  the  rainfall 
If  inch  below  the  average.  There  was  no  frost  recorded  this  month, 
the  lowest  temperature  being  on  the  morning  of  the  21st,  when  the 
thermometer  on  the  grass  stood  at  33°,  and  in  the  air,  4  feet  above 
ground,  36®.  Toward  the  end  of  the  month  we  had  heavy  dews.  The 
mean  temperature  of  the  month  was  57  2°,  the  average  of  the  last 
twenty  years  being  54  •1°.  On  looking  back  I  find  that  in  the  years 
1880  and  1890  the  temperature  of  September  was  still  warmer  than  that 
of  the  present  year,  the  mean  of  the  former  being  57'8°  and  that  of  tbe 
latter  58-2°.  The  rainfall  for  the  month  was  0  73  inch,  being  1‘75  inch 
below  the  average  of  twenty  years,  but  still  nearly  five  times  as  much 
as  last  year,  when  only  0‘15  inch  fell. — J.  Machab,  Corona  Gardens, 
Brovghty  Ferry.  f*  '  : 
-  Paeis  Gbeen  in  Ameeica. — It  is  estimated  that  more  than 
2000  tons  of  Paris  green  are,  annually  used  as  an  insecticide  in  the 
United  Staten,  since  it  is  the  niost  rapid  and  effective  of  the  arsenical  ^ 
preparations  used  for  this  purpose.  The  chief  difficulty  in  using  it  is 
the  readiness  with  which  it  settles  to  the  bottom  of  the  tank  of  spraying 
apparatuses.  This  is  because  it  is  less  finely  divided  than  London 
purple,  a  point  in  which  the  latter  compound  has  a  certain  advantage. 
In  the  last  number  of  “  Insect  Life  ”  Dr.  C.  L.  Marlatt  explains  that 
there  is  no  reason  for  this  coarseness  of  grain  in  Paris  green,  except  that  ( 
the  market  has  demanded  a  dark  coloured  article,  and  the  darker  .colour 
is  due  to  the  larger  size  of  the  crystals.  Paris  green  would  be  much 
more  satisfactory  as  an  insecticide  if  it  were  reduced  to  a  fine  powder,  ' 
but  it  would  then  lose  its  intensity  of  colour  and  become  whitish, 
which,  in  popular  estimation,  would  indicate  adulteration.  In  testing 
Paris  green  when  reduced  to  fine  powder.  Dr.  Marlatt  found  that  it  I 
remained  in  suspension  three  times  as  long  as  the  ordinary  product  did, 
while,  undoubtedly,  the  fineness  in  division  made  it  more  effective 
against  insects.  The  last  step  in  the  process  of  manufacturing  Paris 
green  is  the  combination  with  acetic  acid.  When,  however,  this  acid  is 
omitted,  an  impalpable  powder,  instead  of  a  crystalline  product,  is 
secured,  and  this  will  remain  in  sutpension  almost  perfectly  for  many 
hours.  Experiments  are  now  in  progress  to  ascertain  whether  this  can 
be  used  as  a  substitute  for  Paris  green,  to  which  it  is  so  superior  in  fine¬ 
ness,  while  it  costs  only  half  as  much. 
-  Restio  subvebticillata. — This  is  a  showy  plant  which  is 
rarely  seen  in  greenhouse  collections.  Its  scarcity  is  probably  due  to 
the  fact  that  it  is  of  slow  growth  and  difficult  to  propagate.  In  its 
native  country  it  is  known  as  the  Rope  Grass  Plant.  The  thin,  wiry 
stems  are  covered  with  an  immense  number  of  long  grass-like  spikelets, 
which  give  to  it  a  graceful  feathery  appearance.  It  grows  about  8  feet 
high,  and  is  considered  by  many  quite  as  ornamental  as  Papyrus 
antiquorum.  Unlike  the  latter  plant,  however,  it  only  needs  a  tempera¬ 
ture  in  winter  sufficient  to  keep  out  frost.  This  Restio  is  sometimes 
met  with  under  the  name  of  Willdenovia  teres,  an  entirely  different 
thing. 
-  Death  of  Peofessoe  Chaeles  V.  Riley. — It  is,  says  the 
“  American  Cultivator,”  a  national  loss  that  has  been  sustained  in  the 
death  of  Prof.  Charles  V.  Riley,  who  is  known  throughout  the  country 
as  one  of  the  foremost  entomologists  in  the  world.  He  was  only  fifty- 
three  years  old,  but  for  many  years  had  been  the  leader  in  entomological 
research  in  this  country.  His  work  was  especially  valuable  to  farmers 
and  fruit  growers.  The  worst  enemies  that  they  have  to  contend  with 
are  insects.  Within  the  years  that  Prof.  Riley  has  been  investigating 
them  the  numbers  of  [destructive  insects  have  greatly  increased.  Mr. 
Riley’s  death  was  sudden,  occasioned  by  a  fall  from  the  bicycle  which 
he  was  riding. 
-  Beowallia  elata.  —  One  of  the  most  useful  half-hardy 
annuals  for  decorative  purposes  is  Browallia  elata.  Its  light  habit 
and  pleasing  blue  colour  is  so  well  adapted  for  mixing  in  with  almost 
any  fiowers  that  the  wonder  to  me  is  that  such  a  plant  should  be  sa 
comparatively  little  known.  It  is  now,  and  has  been  since  July,  flower¬ 
ing  profusely  in  the  flower  borders,  and  is  the  admiration  of  all  who 
see  it.  Another  point  in  its  favour  is  its  easy  culture.  We  sow  the 
seeds  in  pans  or  boxes  in  March,  and  place  in  a  gentle  hotbed .  After 
germination  we  grow  the  young  plants  in  a  cool  frame  or  house  from 
which  frost  is  excluded.  They  are  placed  in  their  flowering  quarters 
from  the  seed  pan  at  the  latter  end  of  April  or  beginning  of  May.  The 
plants  attain  to  a  height  foot  to  2  feet.  There  is  also  a  white  variety,. 
Browallia  elata  alba,  but  it  is  not  so  vigorous  or  free-flowering  as  the 
type.— W.  H.  Y. 
-  The  Perkin  System  of  Caeeying  Feuit.— This,  as  practised 
in  tbe  Southern  United  States,  has  much  to  recommend  it.  The  diffi¬ 
culty  of  conveying  fruit  over  long  distances,  and  placing  it  on  the 
market  in  first-rate  condition  after  the  journey,  has  been  overcome,  says 
a  contemporary,  by  this  system,  which  is  as  follows  ; — Attached  to  the 
locomotive  is  an  air  compressor,  in  which  the  pressure  of  air  reaches 
over  80  lbs.  per  square  inch.  Air  compressed  to  this  extent  becomes 
heated  to  such  a  degree  that  the  germinal  life  it  contains  is  destroyed. 
The  sterilised  air  is  passed  into  a  receiver,  where  it  is  cooled,  and  then 
forced  into  an  air-tight  car  into  which  the  fruit  is  placed.  The  germ¬ 
laden  air  is  in  turn  forced  out  of  the  car,  and  the  fruit  is  carried  to  its 
destination  in  perfectly  pure  air.  With  but  little  loss  of  power  to  the 
engine,  this  process  is  kept  up  during  the  entire  journey.  Where 
only  pure  air  reaches  the  fruit,  the  process  of  decomposition  is  arrested 
for  a  long  time.  There  is  also  a  great  saving  effected  by  dispensing  with 
the  ice  in  tbe  car,  thus  saving  its  cost  and  allowing  more  room  for  fruit. 
I  -  Cultivation  of  Plantains  in  Beitish.  Guiana. — In  the 
report  on  the  agricultural  work  in  the  Botanical  Gardens  at  Georgetown 
for  the  year  1890.  it  is  stated  that  “  Plantains  being  the  staple  food  of 
the  Creole  population,  the  cultivation  is  a  firmly  established  minor 
industry,”  those  who  follow  it  being  called  “  farmers  ”  as  distinct  from 
“planters”  who  cultivate  the  Sugar  Cane.  Plantains  are  said  to 
(  “delight, in  the  stiff  newly  empoldered  clay  lands  of  the  colony,  not 
objecting  to  the  slightly  saline  element  found  where  the  sea  or  river 
has  invaded  the  place  periodically  at  spring  tides  ....  Such  lands 
■  yield  heavily,  but  the  “  crop  is  liable  so  suffer,  if  the  seasons  prove  very 
wet,  from  the  Plantain  disease  of  the  Colony.”  From  the  report  in  the 
Blue  Book  for  1893-4,  published  in  the  “Colonial  Reports,”  No.  133, 
I  British  Guiana,  page  13,  it  appears  that  'the  cultivation  is  dying  out. 
‘The  cultivation  of  Plantains  on  sugar  estates  becomes  less  year  by 
year,  and  there  are  now  only  1917  acres  in  Plantains,  and  although 
many  Plantain  farms  of  which  there  is  no  official  record  still  exist,  this 
vegetable  has  practically  ceased,  from  its  comparative  scarcity,  to  be  the 
staple  food  of  the  African  population.”  This  change,  says  the  “  Kew 
Bulletin,”  cannot  fail  to  prove  detrimental  to  the  interests  of  the  Colony. 
More  money  will  necessarily  have  to  be  spent  on  imported  rice  and 
flour,  while  valuable  lands^will  be  left  uncultivated  capable  of  yielding 
large  crops  of  food. 
