February  24,  1898. 
JOURNAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER. 
1G9 
-  Stimulant  for  Grass. — Kiln  dust  is  a  manure  which  acts 
quickly  upon  grass,  causing  a  strong  and  luxuriant  growth.  It  is  a 
nitrogenous  and  potassic  manure,  and  may  be  applied  at  the  present 
time,  distributing  evenly. — E. 
-  Bambusa  palmata. — Of  the  dozen  or  more  dwarf,  hardy 
Bamboos,  this  is  probably  the  handsomest  in  habit  and  foliage.  When 
grown  in  fairly  good  soil  in  a  position  where  it  is  protected  from  cold 
winds,  it  quickly  makes  a  large  mass,  and  forms  a  pleasing  change 
from  the  ordinary  run  of  evergreen  shrubs.  Two  large  masses  are  to 
be  seen  in  the  Bamboo  garden  at  Kew.  It  there  grows  to  a  height 
of  about  4  feet,  wiih  leaves  1  foot  long  by  inches  wide.  It  suffers 
more  from  cold  cutting  winds  than  from  frost,  the  edges  of  the  leaves 
being  turned  brown,  hence  the  need  of  shelter  from  the  north  and  east. 
Like  other  Bamboos  it  requires  plenty  of  moisture,  consequently  it 
should  not  be  put  in  places  where  the  ground  becomes  very  dry  in 
summer.  When  fully  established  a  top  dressing  of  decayed  leaves  and 
cow  manure  should  be  given  every  spring. — W.  D. 
-  Do  Potatoes  Naturally  Deteriorate  1 — Reading  over 
the  latest  epistle  to  your  readers  from  the  apostle  Mr.  Fenn — or  shall  I  now 
say  the  patriarch,  for  he  is  verging  on  to  eighty  years — I  was  reminded 
of  a  fact  of  which  he  informed  me  a  few  months  since,  that  his  crops 
of  his  own  raised  Potatoes  were  last  autumn  of  the  best  he  had  ever 
lifted.  They  were  indeed  as  good  as  Potato  crops  could  be.  I  have 
on  several  occasions  seen  these  said  stocks  lifted  on  the  same  ground  on 
which  they  have  grown  for  twenty  years,  and  have  always  found  them  good, 
Mr.  Fenn  varies  his  crops  by  planting  rows  of  Potatoes  wide  apart,  and 
has  Cauliflower  or  some  similar  crop  planted  between.  Then  the 
following  jmar  the  Potatoes  come  where  the  green  plants  were.  That  is 
not  culture  according  to  Cocker,  but  it  is  according  to  Fenn.  Now  it 
has  often  occurred  to  me  that  if  varieties  of  Potatoes  do  deteriorate,  as  is 
often  said  of  them,  how  is  it  that  Mr.  Fenn’s,  some  of  which  have  been 
raised  over  thirty  years,  probably  thirty-five  y'ears,  and  the  stocks  of 
which  he  has  grown  himself,  either  at  Woodstock  or  Sulhampstead,  have 
rather  improved  in  robustness  than  have  lost  strength  ;  and  if  his,  why 
not  all  others  ?  I  do  not  believe  the  deterioration  theory  where  culture 
and  storing  are  good.  The  Ashleaf  Kidney  has  been  with  us  over  sixty 
years,  and  it  is  good  as  ever.  That  is  doubtless  due  to  thorough 
maturing,  and  because  liable  to  sprout  early,  very  careful  keeping  through 
the  winter.  Mr.  Fenn  has  never  allowed  his  seed  tubers  to  be  wasted  by 
bad  storing.  Could  our  Potato  patriarch  hut  live  other  eighty  years, 
no  doubt  he  would  still  have  as  good  as  e\er  the  fine  varieties  he  raised 
so  long  ago.  We  injure  Potato  constitutions  by  our  bad  practices.  —  A.  D. 
-  Prohibition  op  American  Fruit  into  Germany.  — 
Reuter’s  Agency  transmitted  from  Berlin  on  the  4th  inst.  intelligence  of 
a  rather  serious  nature  relative  to  Californian  Pears.  Here  is  the 
message  that  appeared  in  the  “  Daily  News.”  The  official  “  Reichsan- 
zeiger”  publishes  the  following  “  The  report  published  by  the 
American  Agricultural  Department  on  the  San  Jos6  shield  louse  gave 
rise  to  an  official  inquiry  here  into  the  circumstances  under  which  fruit  is 
imported  from  America.  On  January  29th  Professor  Frank  found  on 
some  Pears  which  were  obtained  from  a  consignment  of  Californian  fruit, 
entered  in  the  Hamburg  free  port,  numerous  living  shield  lice,  in  a  con¬ 
dition  to  propagate,  which  the  Professor  found  to  be  absolutely  identical 
with  the  true  San  Jose  shield  louse.  He  consequently  expressed  the 
opinion  that  the  home  fruit  cultivation  was  exposed  to  great  and  immi¬ 
nent  danger  by  the  importation  of  American  fruit.  A  conference  of  other 
important  specialists  and  the  reports  of  the  Imperial  Office  of  Health 
confirmed  this  view  in  every  point,  and  thus  the  necessity  of  prompt 
measures  of  protection  was  fully  demonstrated.”  The  “  Reichsanzeiger  ” 
goes  on  to  describe  in  connection  with  the  publication  of  the  Washington 
Agricultural  Bureau,  the  extraordinary  perniciousness  of  the  San  Jos^ 
shield  louse,  as  well  as  the  measures  which  various  American  States, 
notably  Oregon  and  British  Columbia,  have  taken  against  it.  The  official 
organ  then  continues  : — “  It  is  thus  the  unavoidable  duty  of  the  Govern¬ 
ment  to  give  efficacious  protection  to  the  home  fruit  industry  from  the 
threatening  danger  of  disease.  Therefore  is  the  importation  of 
living  plants  and  fresh  plant  refuse  entirely  prohibited,  subject 
to  the  condition  that  at  the  port  of  entry  of  the  said  imports 
investigation  of  the  consignment  establishes  the  presence  of  the 
San  .Jose  shield  louse.”  The  '‘Reichsanzeiger”  shows  by  the  example 
of  the  phylloxera  the  danger  of  not  adopting  immediate  measures 
of  protection,  while  contrariwise  the  Colorado  beetle  was  kept  out 
in  time.  The  journal  announces  the  regulations  which  are  to  be 
adopted  internally  to  combat  the  shield  louse,  and  expresses  the  hope  that 
the  German  fruit  industry,  on  which  a  large  community  depends  for  its 
livelihood,  may  thus  be  protected  from  danger. 
-  Wood  Ashes  for  Flower  Gardens.— There  is  no  particular 
difference  between  equal  weights  of  ashes  from  hard  or  soft  wood. 
The  reason  for  the  erroneous  common  opinion  on  this  point  is  due  to 
the  lightness  of  soft  wood  ashes,  which  makes  it  necessary  to  use  a 
very  large  bulk  of  them  to  get  the  equivalent  of  a  small  bulk  of  hard 
wood  ashes.  As  to  using  ashes  as  a  substitute  for  stable  manure 
where  the  latter  cannot  be  obtained,  it  must  be  said  that  ashes  are 
only  a  special  fertiliser  containing  potash  and  a  little  phosphoric  acid. 
Stable  manure  contains  these  and  adds  a  considerable  content  of 
nitrogen,  which  is  usually  the  greatest  need  in  flower  growing.  For 
this  reason  ashes  do  not  make  a  good  substitute  for  a  stable  manure, 
but  in  ashes  and  nitrate  of  soda  the  various  needs  of  the  plants  are 
ministered  to.  If  leaf  mould  is  to  be  had,  its  use  in  connection  with 
ashes  should  produce  good  results. — (“American  Agriculturist.”) 
-  The  Hessle  Gardeners’  Society.— A  meeting  of  the  above 
Society  was  held  on  February  15th,  when  the  popular  member,  Mr.  C. 
Lawton,  gardener  to  W.  H,  H.  Broadley,  Esq.,  Welton  House,  Brough, 
read  an  interesting  and  practical  paper  on  “  Greenhouse  Plants  and  Their 
Culture.”  The  essayist  commenced  by  describing  the  most  suitable 
structure,  method  of  ventilation,  and  stages,  passing  on  to  the  general 
management.  In  the  cultural  portion  of  the  essay  he  confined  himself 
entirely  to  the  hardwooded  section,  and  anyone  who  has  seen  the 
splendid  and  well  cultivated  plants  belonging  to  this  class  at  Welton 
House  would  not  attempt  to  criticise  Mr.  Lawton’s  method  of  cultivation. 
There  was  a  very  large  attendance,  and  a  good  discussion  followed,  the 
essayist  replying  to  his  numerous  questions  in  a  masterly  manner.  Mr 
J.  Barker  showed  several  pots  of  Narcissus  in  variety,  and  Mr.  F.  Mason, 
gardener  to  Alex.  Smith,  Esq.,  Woodleigh,  Hessle,  showed  Cyclamen 
persicum  in  twelve  varieties.  A  vote  of  thanks  to  the  essayist  terminated 
the  meeting. — G.  W.  G. 
-  The  Municipal  Parks  of  London. — Lieutenant-Colonel 
J.  J.  Sexby,  Chief  Officer  of  the  County  Council  Parks  Department, 
has  written  a  history  of  the  municipal  parks,  pleasure  grounds,  and 
gardens  of  London,  which  will  be  published  in  May  next  by  Mr.  Elliot 
Stock.  The  book  will  contain  about  200  illustrations.  Colonel  Sexby 
has  devoted  a  great  deal  of  attention  to  the  preparation  of  this  work, 
in  which  he  will  describe  not  only  the  leading  features  of  the  County 
Council’s  parks,  but  will  also  recount  their  history  and  associations* 
He  has  been  engaged  on  this  important  work  for  several  years,  and 
has  collected  all  local  and  other  information  which  can  possibly  be 
obtained  on  the  subject.  No  one  is  better  qualified  to  write  a  history 
of  London  parks,  as  during  the  period  that  Colonel  Sexby  has  been 
the  head  of  the  Parks  Department  of  the  County  Cou.icil  the  area  of 
the  parks  has  been  increased  by  over  1000  acres,  and  the  special  facilities 
for  increasing  recreation  and  public  enjoyment  introduced,  which  have 
made  the  London  parks  known  throughout  the  world  and  the  envy  of 
other  towns.  (“  London.”) 
LEEK  CULTURE. 
On  reading  the  excellent  and  practical  article  on  the  culture  of  Leeks 
on  page  108, 1  was  struck  by  a  sentence  from  which  I  and  many  others 
will  differ.  I  refer  to  the  following “  Earthing  them  is  a  mistake ; 
nobody  ever  produced  good  Leeks  in  that  way.”  The  latter  half  of  this 
sentence  is,  I  think,  too  sweeping  an  assertion  to  pass  uncontradicted, 
for  many  of  our  best  growers  grow  their  Leeks  in  that  way. 
In  a  contemporary,  ‘‘The  Garden”  (vol.  sxiii.,' page  156),  the  late 
John  Downie  gave  some  interesting  particulars  regarding  the  growth  of 
Leeks  in  Berwickshire  as  follows,  some  sixteen  or  seventeen  years  ago  . 
The  late  Mr.  Henry,  then  gardener  at  Broomhouse,  Berwickshire,  was 
considered  the  best  Leek  grower  in  the  country.  On  the  24th  No\  ember, 
1866,  six  of  Henry’s  hybrid  Leeks  were  lifted,  cleaned,  weighed,  and 
measured.  The  following  was  the  result ; — 
Leek  No.  1, 
»>  >)  2, 
)» 
4 
'J 
circumference 
)) 
5  < 
)) 
I2i 
inches ; 
weight  6  lbs. 
Hi 
M 
4  lbs.  14  ozs. 
lOi 
yj 
4  lbs.  12  ozs. 
94 
y  ) 
4  lbs.  10  ozs. 
8| 
) ) 
4  lbs.  8|  ozs. 
8 
n 
4  lbs.  7^  ozs. 
Total  weight  of  the  six  Leeks... 
...  28  lbs.  4  ozs. 
Two  of  the  leaves  when  stretched  out  measured  11  feet  in  length,  and 
varied  in  breadth  from  8  to  14  inches. 
I  may  add  that  I  knew  the  late  Mr.  Henry  referred  to  personally,  and 
have  seen  his  Leeks  growing  many  a  time,  and  for  competition  purposes 
he  always  grew  them  in  trenches  like  Celery,  and  earthed  them  up.  Ihus 
we  see  that  gool  Leeks  have  been  produced  in  the  way  in  which 
“  Old  Grower  ”  said  nobody  could  produce  them.— W.  H.  W. 
