August  25  1098. 
■JOURNAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER. 
147 
-  Primeval  Vegetation. — Lord  Kelvin  says  there  is  not  more 
thau  three  hundred  and  forty  million  million  tons  of  fuel  in  the  earth, 
and  says  that  this  is  the  exact  amount,  because  all  the  oxygen  of  our 
atmosphere  came  from  primeval  vegetation.  One  ton  of  coal  takes 
3  tons  of  oxygen  to  burn  it,  and  therefore  its  vegetable  originals,  decom¬ 
posing  carbon  dioxide  and  water  by  the  aid  of  sunlight,  gave  3  tons 
of  oxygen  to  the  atmosphere.  Every  square  metre  of  the  earth’s 
surface  bears  10  tons  of  air,  of  which  2  tons  are  oxygen.  The  whole 
surface  of  the  earth  is  one  hundred  and  twenty-four  thousand  millions 
of  acres,  hence  his  reasoning. 
-  The  Prejudice  Against  the  Tomato.  —  The  Tomato 
alarmists  are  at  their  old  tricks  again.  Dr.  Andrew  Wilson  says  “I 
have  received  several  letters  of  late  reiterating  a  question  I  might  well  be 
tired  of  answering,  ‘Do  Tomatoes  cause  cancer?’  But  for  the  fact  that 
one  takes  a  pleasure  in  stamping  one’s  foot  on  a  misleading  statement 
calculated  to  prejudice  people  against  a  vegetable  food  which  is  entirely 
healthful  and  safe,  I  should  grow  weary  of  asserting  that  not  a  jot  or 
tittle  of  proof  has  ever  been  offered  in  support  of  the  outrageous  state¬ 
ment  noted  above.  One  might  as  well  allege  that  Cabbage  causes  cancer, 
for  there  would  be  no  more  proof  of  that  assertion  than  there  is  proof  to 
be  had  concerning  the  Tomato  myth.  I  can  only  repeat  that  the  Tomato 
is  an  excellent  vegetable  enough,  and  may  be  partaken  of  by  those  with 
whom  it  agrees  without  any  fear  of  its  initiating  any  disease  whatever.” — 
(“  Medical  Record.  ’) 
-  Exporting  Seed  Potatoes.  —  When  calling  at  Messrs. 
Sutton  &  Sons'  seed  warehouse  at  Reading,  last  week,  my  attention  was 
called  to  a  huge  pile  of  boxes  and  hampers,  all  packed  and  labelled  for 
South  Africa.  I  found  to  my  surprise  that  these  packages  contained 
only  a  part  of  many  tons  of  seed  Potatoes  sent  out  to  that  warm  country 
on  the  order  of  various  extensive  growers,  and  are  planted  immediately  on 
arrival  there  to  produce  a  crop  for  the  supply  of  the  colonial  towns.  The 
greater  bulk  of  the  tubers  consisted  of  Early  Rose,  apparently  a  favourite 
variety.  Such,  however,  is  the  debilitating  effect  of  that  hot  dry  climate 
on  the  tubers  that  it  is  only  possible  to  keep  up  supplies  by  importing 
seed  tubers  of  the  same  year’s  growth  direct  from  England.  Of  course 
tubers  for  this  purpose  have  to  be  very  carefully  picked.  No  tubers 
apparently  exceed  3  ozs.  in  weight,  and,  as  I  saw  from  the  sample 
shown,  if  smaller  at  least  they  are  of  the  very  cleanest.  It  is  only  where 
such  exceeding  care  is  shown  in  the  selecting  and  packing  that  trade 
could  be  done  by  the  African  growers.  All  the  air  possible  is  given. 
Of  course  the  tubers  have  to  be  lifted  early,  and  be  well  dried  to  set  the 
skins  ere  paCked.  As  we  bear  such  lamentations  respecting  the  extent 
o?  our  Potato  imports,  it  is  just  as  well  to  know  that  Old  England 
does  a  little  of  reverse  Potato  trading,  and  it  is  specially  satisfactory  to 
learn  that  so  distinguished  a  firm  as  is  the  great  Reading  seed  house 
should  be  the  instrument  of  doing  it.  Long  may  it  be  so.  It  is  odd  to 
understand  at  home  of  a  great  trade  in  seed  Potatoes  for  immediate 
planting  being  carried  on  in  the  month  of  August. — Wanderer. 
-  The  Business  of  Judging. — Apart  altogether  from  the 
importance  of  having  a  Judge’s  awards  right  as  between  exhibitors,  it 
is  most  needful  that  they  should  be  right  also  with  the  general  public. 
It  may  be,  of  course,  sometimes  the  case  that  the  reasons  which  may  be 
given  for  certain  decisions  are  not  such  as  the  ordinary  visitor  to  a 
flower  show  can  understand,  but  such  decisions  should  be  rare.  As  a 
rule  the  reasons  ough.  to  be  as  clear  to  the  non-professional  visitor  as  to 
the  Judge  or  the  competitor.  The  visitor,  whether  individually  or  in 
bulk,  walking  through  a  flower  show  sees  class  after  class  judged  in  a 
way  that  is  to  him  intelligible,  and  he  follows  the  Judge’s  line  of  action 
as  readily  as  do  even  those  keen-eyed  critics,  the  press  reporters.  But 
when  a  really  bad  piece  of  judging  suddenly  crops  up,  then  is  the  visitor’s 
intelligence  confused  and  annoyed  because  he  perceives  at  a  glance  that 
either  the  Judges  were  ignorant  of  the  requirements  of  the  class  judged,  or 
have  erred  from  pure  carelessness.  Nothing  in  a  show  gives  rise  to  so  much 
annoyance,  or  to  discussion  and  grumbling,  as  do  decisions  so  faulty  and 
so  wrong.  Generally  this  trouble  arises  from  the  putting  of  men  to 
judge  exhibits  of  which  they  are  comparatively  ignorant.  It  is  so 
awkward  when  round  men  are  put  into  square  holes.  I  saw  the  other 
day  a  notable  instance  of  this  blundering  through  ignorance  that  was 
universally  condemned.  Not  only  were  the  very  best  flowers  staged  in 
accordance  with  the  terms  of  the  schedule  absolutely  ignored,  but  the 
very  worst  stand  of  flowers  shown,  that  were  many  of  them  not  what 
were  asked  for,  was  placed  first.  The  Judges,  distinguished  men  in  their 
way,  yet  could  have  known  nothing  at  all  about  the  flowers  in  question 
It  i3  so  essential  to  have  as  judges  men  who  really  do  know  their 
subjects.— Visitor. 
-  Isle  of  Wight. — In  the  gardens  adjoining  Brooke  House,  the 
residence  of  Sir  Chas.  Seely,  Bart.,  are  many  things  of  interest  to 
gardeners.  Not  the  least  of  these  is,  at  the  present  time,  a  fine  house  of 
Muscat  of  Alexandria  Grapes,  which  reflect  great  credit  to  the  abilities  of 
the  gardener,  Mr.  W.  Tribbick,  as  a  Grape  grower.  The  bunches  are 
typical  in  shape  and  of  large  size,  with  berries  well  formed  and  of  an 
amber  tint, — S.  H. 
-  Smilacina  BTELLATA.— Writing  in  “  Meehan's  Monthly,” 
Mr.  J.  T.  Stewart  says  : — “  Smilacina  stellata  is  one  of  the  handsomest 
little  plants  that  grow  in  American  woods.  The  stem  and  leaves  are 
glabrous.  It  is  ordinarily  about  a  foot  high,  terminated  by  a  little 
raceme  of  very  delicate,  pearly  white,  stellate  flowers.  It  prefers  moist, 
partially  shaded  place*  ;  just  such  places  as  the  Lily  of  the  Valley 
flourishes  in.  It  is  the  easiest  plant  in  the  world  to  cultivate,  and  is  one 
of  the  few  wild  flowers  that  do  not  deteriorate  by  cultivation.  Plant  out 
i  stalk  of  it,  let  it  alone,  and  in  two  or  three  years  you  will  have  a  thick 
bed  from  1  to  2  yards  square.  About  the  1st  of  May  it  flowers,  when 
but  few  things  make  as  pleasing  an  appearance.” 
-  BuddleiA  VARIAbilis. — This  showy  species  is  of  compara¬ 
tively  recent  introduction,  and  it  is  not  yet  certain  whether  it  will 
prove  quite  hardy  so  far  north  as  London.  Whether  hardy  or  not, 
it  is  worth  a  place  in  the  garden,  for  it  is  an  easy  matter  to  root 
a  few  cuttings  and  keep  them  in  a  cold  frame  during  winter  and 
plant  out  in  early  spring.  Plants  treated  in  this  manner  grow  quickly 
and  produce  an  abundant  supply  of  flowers  during  late  summer  and 
early  autumn.  It  is  of  striking  appearance  whether  in  or  out  of  flower, 
the  leaves  being  6  inches  long  by  \\  inch  wide,  and  silvery,  especially 
on  the  under  surface.  The  flowers  are  produced  in  long,  branched 
racemes  from  the  end  of  every  shoot.  The  racemes  vary  in  length 
according  to  the  strength  of  the  shoots,  strong  growths  often  bearing 
them  from  15  to  18  inches  long.  The  flowers  themselves  are  small,  and 
vary  slightly  in  colour  on  different  plants,  the  prevailing  colour  being 
bright  lilac  with  yellow  throat.  Like  other  Buddleias  it  grows  well  in 
sandy  loam.  It  is  a  native  of  Central  China,  and  is  the  subject  of  a  recent 
figure  in  the  “  Botanical  Magazine,”  t.  7609.  Several  plants  are  to  be 
seen  in  flower  at  Kew. — W.  D. 
-  Pruning. — There  are  many  who  object  to  pruning  as  an 
artificial  and,  it  may  be,  a  barbarous  proceeding.  Nature  is  from  this 
point  of  view  far  worse  than  the  gardener.  She  is  always  at  it.  She 
produces  infinitely  more  buds  than  could  ever  grow  into  shoots,  and 
she  consequently  slaughters  them  ruthlessly.  The  struggle  for  existence 
is  nowhere  fiercer  than  among  the  buds  and  leaves  of  a  tree,  so  that  the 
objection  to  pruning  that  it  is  unnatural  is  one  that  is  baseless. 
Pruning,  from  a  gardener’s  point  of  view,  is  done  for  various  objects, 
and  the  method  of  operation  depends  on  the  particular  object  aimed  at, 
and  specially  on  the  mode  of  growth  of  the  shrub  or  tree.  In  many 
cases  no  pruning  at  all  is  required;  in  others,  the  greatest  beauty  or  the 
utmost  fruitfulness  is  not  attained  without  it.  It  is  a  highly  technical 
matter,  one  demanding  a  large  degree  of  knowledge,  intelligence,  and 
experience.  The  outcry  one  sometimes  hears  about  pruning  should  be 
directed,  not  against  the  thing  itself,  but  against  incompetent  practitioners. 
Good  practitioners  must  have  not  only  experience,  but  a  full  knowledge 
of  plant  life  and  plant  structure. — (“  The  Athenaeum.”) 
-  The  Woking  Horticultural  Society.  —  The  August 
meeting  of  this  Society,  held  on  Thursday,  the  1 8th  inst.,  gave  further 
evidence  of  the  steady  growth  and  increasing  interest  which  the  members 
and  others  in  the  district  have  taken  in  its  doings  during  the  present 
year.  The  flowers,  fruits  and  vegetables  exhibited  for  special  prizes  and 
points  were  so  numerous  that  the  staging  Committee  had  some  difficulty 
in  accommodating  them,  so  that  each  could  be  fairly  judged.  The  same 
difficulty  was  experienced  with  the  company  present,  who  found  the 
crowded  room  uncomfortable  on  so  hot  a  night.  The  interesting  paper 
given  by  Mrs.  J.  C.  Law  was,  however,  listened  to  with  attention  by  all 
present.  “An  Hour  in  the  Garden,”  by  this  enthusiastic  lady  amateur 
was  an  agreeable  change  from  the  more  practical  details  usually  given 
upon  some  special  subject  by  other  lecturers.  The  collections  of 
vegetables  were  equal  in  quality  to  any  seen  at  the  larger  annual  shows 
held  in  the  surrounding  districts.  Mr.  Carpenter’s  collections  of  hardy 
perennials  and  Helianthus,  for  which  in  each  instance  he  received  the  first 
award,  made  a  nice  display.  Mr.  Needs,  as  usual,  came  first  with 
Cactus  Dahlias,  his  blooms,  in  spite  of  the  excessive  heat  and  absence 
of  rain,  being  little  below  his  usual  form.  Mrs.  Law  exhibited  some 
beautiful  spikes  of  Lilium.  Mr.  Harms  had  the  honour  of  the  only 
certificate  for  exceptional  merit  awarded  for  a  lovely  dish  of  dessert 
Apples. — Visitor. 
