January  13,  1898. 
JOURNAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER. 
35 
-  My  Gaeden  Diaey. — A  copy  of  this  admirable  little  Diary, 
which  is  published  by  Messrs.  Sutton  &  Sons,  Reading,  has  just  reached 
us.  It  is  really  surprising  how  much  valuable  information  of  a  wholly 
practical  nature  they  have  been  able  to  condense  in  such  small  com[)ass, 
and  the  book  ought  to  be  of  assistance  to  everyone  engaged  in  the 
garden.  Each  month  has  its  calendar  of  operations  given  clearly  and 
concisely,  the  facing  page  being  left  blank  for  notes  that  will  be  useful 
for  future  guidance.  The  paper  is  of  excellent  quality,  and  the  printing 
of  the  best.  The  motto  that  has  been  adopted  for  the  book,  “  Doing 
things  in  good  time  is  the  main  secret  of  successful  gardening,”  is  full 
of  meaning,  and  embodies  the  essence  of  truth. 
-  Espaeto  Geass  in  Algeeia. — According  to  a  report  issued 
by  Mr.  Scratchley,  the  British  Vice-Consul  at  Rhilippeville,  Algeria,  a 
strong  feeling  growing  in  that  country  has  arisen  against  the  importa¬ 
tion  of  “Alfa”  into  England.  “Alfa,”  “Sparto  Grass,”  or  “Esparto 
Grass”  (Stipa  tenacessima),  is  a  plant  which  produces  a  paper  more 
supple,  yet  with  more  resistance,  than  that  made  from  other  plants.  It  is 
mainly  used  by  our  manufacturers  in  making  papier  de  luxe.  Out  of 
709,546  cwt.  of  Esparto  exported  last  year  from  Algeria,  over  664,000  cwt. 
came  into  England,  and  our  manufacturers  have  practically  had  the 
monopoly  of  this  article  since  1863.  The  chief  reason  for  this  monopoly 
has  been  that  in  the  manufacture  large  quantities  of  chloride  of  lime  are 
required.  But  this  difficulty  has  now  disappeared,  since  electricity  has 
been  introduced  as  a  bleaching  agent.  The  probability  is,  says  a  con¬ 
temporary,  that  the  Algerians  will  now  establish  manufactories  of  their 
own  in  Philippeville,  and  thereby  create  a  profitable  industry  of  an  article 
which,  in  Erance  at  least,  would  find  a  ready  sale.  Last  year  over 
7,000,000  acres  were  covered  with  the  plant.  The  difficulties  I'kely  to 
arise  are  scarcity  of  water,  lack  of  fuel,  and  insufficient  railway  com¬ 
munication. 
-  Spanish  Chestnuts. — The  nuts  of  the  so-called  Spanish 
Chestnut  form  a  considerable  proportion  of  the  unenuraerated  fruits 
imported  during  the  autumn  months,  and  large  supplies  are  sent  us  from 
France  and  Spain.  The  French  Chestnuts  are  ready  for  sale  earlier  than 
those  from  other  countries,  and  consequently  hold  the  market  at  the 
outset.  The  bulk  of  the  French  crop  is  exported,  and  being  the  first  to 
arrive  here  the  nuts  realise  a  better  price,  and  then  the  dealers  supply 
themselves  from  Italy,  from  which  country  they  import  as  much  as 
50,000  cwt.  annually.  The  Italians,  however,  are  making  efforts  to 
establish  a  direct  trade  with  England.  A  contemporary  says  that  their 
chief  difficulty  hitherto  has  been  that  the  nuts  are  apt  to  germinate,  and 
thus  become  unfit  for  the  market.  A  method  of  checking  this  germina¬ 
tion  is  .said  to  have  been  discovered,  and  is  stated  to  be  carried  out  in  the 
following  way  : — The  nut  is  soaked  for  seven  or  eight  days  in  a  tank  and 
well  stirred  daily,  after  which  it  takes  about  a  week  to  dry  again.  This 
seems  to  sterilise  it  completely,  and  in  this  condition  it  can  be  exported 
satisfactorily.  It  is  a  remarkable  fact  that  if  a  second  lot  of  Chestnuts 
are  put  in  the  same  water  they  will  be  sterilised  in  about  half  the  time. 
This  season  a  large  quantity  of  the  Italian  nuts  have  been  placed  on  the 
British  market. 
* 
-  Feuits  on  AeChes. — I  observe  the  new  issue  of  the  Royal 
Horticultural  Society’s  “Journal’’  includes  your  part  representation  of  Mrs. 
Chrystie’s  Gooseberry  trellis  at  Great  Bookham,  Surrey.  I  have  often 
thought,  even  before  seeing  this  trellis,  because  of  the  capital  trellises  I 
had  some  time  previously  noted  at  Claremont,  that  excellent  results  might 
be  obtained  from  wire  arches  clothed  within  with  either  single  or  treble 
cordon  Gooseberries  and  Currants.  The  trellises  at  Claremont  are  about 
3  feet  apart.  That  would  be  too  narrow  for  an  archway,  hut  5  feet  width 
should  do  admirably.  It  would  be  needful  to  have  the  supports  of  iron 
wire,  and  at  intervals  of  about  9  inches  pierced  with  holes,  through 
which  the  wires  could  pass,  these  being  firmly  secured  at  either  end.  A 
trellis  of  5  feet  wide  at  the  base  should  rise  in  the  apex  to  a  height  of 
6  feet  6  inches.  The  bushes  should  be  planted  on  the  inside,  and  about 
12  inches  apart.  Then  it  would  be  desirable  to  select  fairly  strong  and 
equable  growing  varieties,  so  that  furnishing  might  be  pretty  much  alike. 
A  footpath  should  run  through  between  the  cordoirs,  but  it  would  be  best 
that  It  be  of  the  ordinary  soil  trodden  and  raked  fine,  and  if  desired,  could 
be  strewn  with  long  straw  litter  during  the  fruiting  season.  There  is  no 
reason  to  assume  that  ample  light  and  air  would  not  penetrate  to  the 
cordons,  and  mature  buds  as  well  as  ripen  fruit.  Planted  as  advised,  all 
the  fruit  would  hang  beneath,  and  with  netting  thrown  over  on  the  outside, 
the  whole  of  the  fruit  could  be  admirably  protected  from  the  birds.  Once 
well  in  fruit,  and  carefully  pruned  and  manured,  the  plants  would  produce 
such  fine  crops  as  would  soon  repay  the  first  cost  of  the  archway  and 
planting. — A.  D. 
-  Tubeecles  on  the  Roots  op  Pea  Plants. — Some  experi¬ 
ments  have  1)een  conducted  at  the  Louisiana  Experiment  Station,  U.S.A., 
with  the  view  of  ascertaining  the  influence  of  deep  and  shallow  planting 
upon  the  root  tubercles  of  Pea  plants,  the  depth  to  which  the  nitrifying 
germs  penetrate,  and  the  results  of  transferring  them  to  different  host 
plants.  The  field  Pea  was  planted  at  depths  varying  from  1  inch  to 
6  inches,  and  the  root  system  was  best  developed  in  the  case  of  plants 
from  seeds  placed  at  2  inches  or  3  inches  from  the  surface.  Pots  were 
filled  with  soil  taken  at  depths  varying  from  1  foot  to  3  feet,  but  tubercles 
were  found  in  relatively  small  quantities  only  on  those  plants  grown  in 
soil  not  more  than  12  inches  below  the  surface,  the  rest  having  no 
tubercles.  When  the  surface  was  artificially  inoculated  with  germs,  root 
tub'ercles  were  produced  in  abundance.  The  experiments,  says  a  con¬ 
temporary,  also  go  to  show  that  each  species,  or  at  most  each  genus,  of 
plants,  has  a  different  microbe  peculiar  to  it. 
-  IIessle  Gaedenees’  Mutual  Improvement  Society. — 
At  a  meeting  of  the  above  Society,  held  on  Tuesday,  January  4th,  Mr. 
F.  Mason,  gardener  to  Alex.  Smith,  Esq.,  Woodleigh,  Hessle,  read  a 
comprehensive  paper  on  the  “  Forcing  of  Flowering  Plants.”  Commenc¬ 
ing  with  describing  the  most  suitable  kinds  of  houses  for  early  and  late 
forcing,  he  passed  on  to  the  forcing  of  bulbs  and  roots,  classifying  them 
in  the  different  varieties  most  suitable  for  succession,  also  the  method  of 
cultivation.  Then  he  referred  to  the  multitudinous  varieties  of  flowering 
trees,  shrubs,  and  Roses,  arranging  them  in  the  different  positions 
according  to  the  amount  of  forcing  required.  The  excellent  discussion 
that  followed  the  paper  brought  forth  the  suggestion  that  a  spring  show 
should  be  held  in  connection  with  the  Society,  where  a  great  number  of 
forced  flowers  could  be  seen  to  advantage,  a  suggestion  that  we  hope 
will  be  carried  out,  and  would,  no  doubt,  meet  with  every  success.  Mr. 
G.  C.  Coates,  gardener  to  W.  Wheatley,  Esq.,  Anlaby  Road,  Hull,  showed 
some  good  blooms  of  Chrysanthemum  Dennis  Smith-Rylands.  A  vote 
of  thanks  to  the  essayist  and  Chairman  terminated  the  meeting. — 
G.  W.  G. 
-  Apple  Stieling  Castle. — For  dwarf  trees  especially  I 
cannot  recommend  a  more  suitable  Apple  than  this.  It  appears  to  me  to 
have  all  the  good  qualities  of  the  Hawthornden — earliness,  productive¬ 
ness,  high  culinary  quality,  and  compact  growth,  yet  without  the 
proneness  to  canker  which  renders  the  Hawthornden  unsuitable  to  many 
soils.  Were  I  planting  dwarf  trees  largely  with  the  view  of  deriving  the 
earliest  profit  by  the  sale  of  their  fruit,  I  should  certainly  have  a  good 
number  of  Stirling  Castle.  In  a  long  row  of  trees  in  twenty’-five 
varieties,  the  three  which  have  proved  the  most  valuable  by  their  free 
and  constant  bearing,  and  the  excellence  of  their  produce  for  culinary 
purposes  in  the  autumn,  are  Lord  Suffield,  Stirling  Castle,  and  Cellini, 
coming  into  use  in  the  order  named.  I  am  scarcely  able  to  say  which  of 
these  three  I  have  found  the  most  serviceable  for  home  use.  For  travelling 
the  Stirling  Castle  is  the  best,  not  bruising  so  much  as  the  others 
named.  The  soil  of  the  garden  is  rather  light,  and  Hawthornden  cankers 
excessively.  In  this  soil  Stirling  Castle  requires  no  root-pruning  and  but 
little  summer-pinching,  but  grows  into  a  natural  and  fruitful  bush  which 
anyone  can  manage.  No  better  recommendation  than  this  ought  to  be 
required  by  amateurs. - B.  B. 
-  Are  Bananas  Beneficial  ] — In  an  exchange  we  read,  says 
the  “  Tropical  Agriculturist,”  that  a  boom  in  Bananas,  baked  Bananas, 
has  been  started  in  the  United  States,  the  well-known  fruit  being  now 
said  to  be  an  “  ideal  food  ”  for  the  nervous,  the  anaemic,  and  for  brain¬ 
workers.  Strange  to  say  the  raw  fruit  is  said  to  be  dangerous,  as  it 
contains  “  germs  ;  ”  but  when  baked  it  acquires  properties  never  heard 
of  before.  In  this  country  we  cannot  get  Bananas  in  perfection  ;  but 
they  have  them  in  fine  condition  in  ISiew  York,  to  which  city  and  other 
places  on  the  Atlantic  seaboard  they  are  quickly  transported  from  the 
Bahamas.  Fruits  of  Alusa  paradisiaca  and  M.  sapientum,  the  Banana 
and  the  Plantain,  have  long  been  known  as  a  staple  article  of  food  in 
tropical  countries,  where  they  are  cultivated  just  as  the  cereals  and  the 
farinaceous  tubers  are  in  temperate  regions  ;  in  fact  cultivation  has 
produced  considerable  variety  in  form,  colour,  and  flavour.  Humboldt 
and  Boussingault  estimated  that  in  a  suitable  climate,  and  well  cultivated, 
a  Banana  plant  will  produee  on  an  average  three  bunches  of  fruit 
weighing  44  lbs.  each  per  annum,  and  that  in  hot  climates  more  than 
130,000  lbs.  of  good  food  could  be  growm  per  acre — an  amount  greatly 
in  excess  of  the  yield  of  Potatoes,  which  are,  moreover,  said  to  be  less 
nutritious.  That  has,  however,  been  disputed  ;  but  all  travellers  and 
investigators  aver  that  the  Banana  is  an  excellent  food  baked,  roasted, 
fried,  or  boiled.  In  this  country  bunches  weighing  as  much  as  80  lbs. 
have  been  grown  in  hothouses. 
