119 
February  6, 1896.  JOURNAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER. 
-  Visitors  to  Kew  Gardens  during  1895. — The  “Kew 
Bulletin  ’’  says  : — “  The  number  of  persons  who  visited  the  Royal  Gardens 
during  the  year  1895  was  1,407,869.  That  for  1894  was  1,377,588.  The 
average  for  1885-94  was  1,416,887.  The  total  number  on  Sundays  was 
536,181  and  on  week  days  871,188.  The  maximum  number  of  visitors  on 
any  one  day  was  13,588  on  June  3rd,  and  the  smallest  104  on  November 
28th.” 
-  A  Flourishing  Botanic  Garden.— We  learn  that  the 
botanical  garden  at  Smith's  College,  Northampton,  Massachusetts,  is 
only  a  little  more  than  three  years  old,  but  during  the  past  year 
more  than  1000  trees  and  shrubs  were  added  to  the  collection, 
and  the  same  number  of  herbaceous  plants.  Five  glass  houses  were 
built  during  the  year,  including  a  large  Palm  house,  so  that  there  are 
now  seven  greenhouses  altogether.  The  policy  of  the  College  is  to 
make  the  garden  primarily  educational,  but  it  is  also  interesting  from 
an  ornamental  point  of  view. 
-  Kew  Palm  House  Terrace. — The  condition  of  the  raised  flat 
expanse  immediately  surrounding  the  great  Palm  house  has  long  been 
felt  to  be  unsatisfactory  and  unworthy  of  this  fine  building.  It  had  been 
covered  with  rough  gravel  which  was  unpleasant  to  walk  upon  and  hot 
and  arid  to  the  eye  in  summer.  A  gravel  walk  has  now  been  made  con¬ 
necting  the  different  steps  and  entrances,  and  the  rest  of  the  space  has 
been  laid  down  in  turf.  The  surface  of  this  is  unbroken  except  by  a  few 
bold  beds  of  evergreen  shrubs  or  of  herbaceous  perennials. 
-  Peculiar  Tree  Growth. — A  remarkable  peculiarity  in  tree 
growth  may  be  seen  at  Utica,  New  York,  where  there  is  a  grove  con¬ 
sisting  of  several  acres  of  Pignut  Hickory  trees,  very  thick,  and  from 
2  inches  to  6  inches  in  diameter.  An  occasional  Elm  is  the  only  other 
kind  of  tree  in  the  grove.  The  tract  was  cleared  (not  ploughed)  about 
twenty-five  years  ago,  and  was  covered  with  mixed  timber  at  the  time, 
although  there  were  no  Hickories,  nor  was  there  a  wood  lot  in  the 
vicinity.  Utica  has  another  curiosity.  The  Universalist  church  in  that 
city  has  two  towers  with  battlement  finish.  On  the  top  of  one  of  them 
is  a  Mountain  Ash  in  vigorous  condition,  having  now  a  fair  crop  of 
berries.  It  has  been  growing  thene  twenty  or  more  years,  and  is  fully 
12  feet  high. 
-  Coloured  Figures  of  Fungi. — Kew  has  lately  purchased 
two  folio  volumes  of  unpublished  coloured  drawings  of  fungi  of  great 
merit.  There  is  no  clue  to  the  name  of  the  artist,  but  from  the  fact  of 
most  of  the  few  remarks  there  are  on  the  names  and  localities  being  in 
the  Italian  language,  there  is  little  doubt  that  the  artist  was  Italian. 
The  date  is  less  uncertain  and  the  work  was  doubtless  spread  over  a 
number  of  years.  The  following  note  accompanies  a  figure  of  a  specimen 
of  Polyporus  squamosus  18  inches  in  diameter  : — “  Fungo  nato  ne  i  Prati 
de  S.  Pactoro  il  Luglio,  1680.”  And  a  figure  of  Clathrus  cancellatus 
bears  the  inscription,  “  Ad  ripas  Tiberis  prope  Flaminia,  meuse  9bris, 
1699.”  Many  of  the  figures  are  named  in  the  handwriting  of  the  late 
Rev.  M.  J.  Berkeley,  and  a  few  in  that  of  the  late  C.  E.  Broome* 
Nothing  more  is  known  at  Kew  of  its  history.  Altogether  there  are 
nearly  1250  figures,  most  of  them  beautifully  and  accurately  executed. 
In  vigour  of  style  they  resemble  Schaeffer’s  “  leones  Fungorum,”  though 
there  is  no  evidence  that  they  served  as  originals.  Indeed  that  work 
was  not  published  till  1762-1774. — (“  Kew  Bulletin.”) 
-  Oxalis  versicolor. — The  trouble  with  most  of  the  species 
and  varieties  of  Oxalis  lie#  in  the  fact  that  their  flowers  remain  closed 
for  a  considerable  portion  of  the  day  ;  especially  is  this  the  case  in  mid¬ 
winter,  when  some  of  them  only  open  in  clear  sunny  weather.  Few  of 
the  species  are  very  attractive  unless  they  are  in  full  flower.  The  species 
known  as  O.  versicolor,  however,  is  a  notable  exception  to  this  rule,  as 
the  flower-buds  and  closed  flowers  are  quite  as  attractive  to  many  people 
as  the  fally  opened  ones.  When  expanded  the  flowers  are  about  an  inch  in 
diameter,  and  the  upper  surface  of  the  corolla  is  pure  white.  This  species 
is  not  of  robust  growth ;  the  leaves  do  not  spring  directly  from  the  bulb; 
long  slender  stalks  are  first  produced,  which  form  bunchy  growths  at  the 
apex,  from  which  spring  an  astonishingly  large  number  of  leaves  and 
flowers.  The  plant  is  particularly  adapted  for  planting  in  baskets,  as 
the  branches  hang  over  the  sides.  It  begins  flowering  here,  says  a 
Washington  contributor  in  the  “  Garden  and  Forest,”  about  the  middle  of 
December,  and  continues  for  at  least  three  months  ;  this  is  in  a  house 
where  the  temperature  is  kept  just  high  enough  to  prevent  freezing. 
The  pear-shaped  bulbs  are  small,  and  in  starting  I  set  them  singly  in 
thumb  pots,  using  peat,  loam,  and  sand  in  equal  parts.  When  the 
growths  are  an  inch  or  two  high  they  are  tranferred  to  baskets  lined  with 
sphagnum  moss,  when  a  richer  soil  is  used,  and  in  this  they  are  planted 
rather  closely. 
-  Bananas. — These,  when  well  grown  at  home  are  of  far  superior 
flavour  and  juiciness  to  what  is  found  in  the  best  of  imported  fruits.  At 
home  the  fruits  remain  on  the  plants  till  ripe  ;  the  imported  bunches 
are  cut  whilst  quite  green,  and  have  to  ripen  afterwards.  Some  very 
fine  examples  of  home  grown  Bananas  may  now  be  seen  at  River  House, 
Hampton  Court,  where  Mr.  Last,  Mr.  O’Hagan’s  gardener,  has  a  tall 
broad  house  devoted  exclusively  to  the  Musa,  and  out  of  ten  noble 
plants  seven  are  just  now  carrying  huge  clusters  of  fruit.  For  such 
huge  leafage  the  headroom  is  too  limited,  but  that  cannot  be  avoided. 
If  the  general  public  could  but  see  how  Bananas  grow  as  seen  here,  they 
would  be  deeply  interested.  The  earliest  fruits  will  be  ripe  about  six 
weeks  hence,  and  the  supply  will  last  for  a  long  season. — D. 
-  How  A  Tree  Grows. — If  you  wish  to  become  thoroughly 
acquainted  with  the  tree’s  mode  of  growth  the  first  thing  of  importance 
is  to  keep  in  view  the  function  of  the  cambium  layer — the  soft, 
spongy  substance  lying  between  the  wood  proper  and  the  bark.  The 
pulpy,  porous  substance  is  really  a  tissue  of  minute  cells,  visible  only 
under  the  microscope.  The  cells  lying  nearest  the  bark  contribute  a 
permanent  accretion  to  the  tree’s  covering,  while  those  which  lie 
nearest  the  wood  slowly  change  to  fibre.  In  this  way  the  bark  becomes 
thicker  each  year,  and  the  tree  is  enlarged.  The  ends  of  each  limb  have 
also  grown  perceptibly — from  2  inches  to  2  feet,  according  to  the  species 
— but  knots,  marks,  forks,  &c.,  on  tree  trunks  are  no  higher  from  the 
ground  than  they  were  the  year  before.  If  someone  tells  you  that  a  limb 
which  is  now  but  3  or  4  feet  from  the  ground  “  will  be  high  enough  to 
walk  under  when  the  tree  gets  its  growth,”  put  him  or  her  down  as  a 
person  knowing  but  little  about  the  natural  history  of  trees. — (“  Rural 
World.”) 
-  The  Massachusetts  Horticultural  Society.— This  was 
founded  in  1829,  and  since  that  period  has  exerted  a  great  and  wide¬ 
spread  beneficial  influence  in  the  extension  and  improvement  of 
horticulture.  In  1865  the  Society  obtained  a  large  and  commodious 
building  for  their  offices,  exhibition  rooms,  and  library,  but  now  these 
premises  are  all  too  small  for  the  business  to  be  properly  conducted. 
Mr.  F.  H.  Appleton,  the  newly  elected  President,  recently  outlined 
alternative  sehemes  for  remedying  matters,  and  it  is  possible  that  ere 
long  the  Society  will  have  a  much  larger  building  on  the  site  of  its 
present  home,  or  a  new  home  in  another  part  of  Boston.  In  his  address 
at  the  annual  meeting,  the  President  suggested  a  system  of  bulletins 
instead  of  the  continued  publication  of  “  Transactions,”  as  a  means  of 
more  easily  spreading  information.  The  splendid  library,  notwith¬ 
standing  the  great  loss  by  fire,  is  so  large  and  grows  so  fast  that  to  a 
large  extent  it  is  reducing  its  own  usefulness,  books  having  to  be  piled 
up  instead  of  being  arranged  on  shelves  ready  for  reference.  As 
subjects  worthy  of  the  Society’s  careful  consideration,  the  President 
suggested  the  publication  of  “  Practical  Methods  of  Subduing  Insect 
Pests,”  “Useful  and  Injurious  Birds,”  “  Value  of  Water  to  the  Fertility 
of  the  Soil,”  “  The  Use  of  Horticultural  Books  in  Public  Schools,”  and 
“  The  Treatment  of  School  Yards  and  Home  Windows.”  It  is  hoped 
that  the  Society  may  soon  obtain  sufficient  room  to  use  its  library  with 
comfort,  and  space  to  hold  its  largest  horticultural  exhibitions. 
-  Citrus  inodora. — This  is  a  new  species  of .  Citrus,  native  of 
Queensland.  It  is  of  interest  as  possessing  economic  qualities  rendering 
it  suitable  for  cultivation  as  a  substitute  for  the  West  India  Lime  or  for 
affording  an  Australian  3tock  on  which  to  graft  or  bud  other  sorts  of 
Citrus  plants.  The  following  account  is  taken  from  the  Transactions  of 
the  Queensland  Acclimatisation  Society  (July-September,  1894,  p.  194): 
— “  Citrus  inodora. — The  Council  were  indebted  to  Mr.  F.  M.  Bailey, 
F.L.S.,  Colonial  Botanist,  for  quantity  of  seeds  and  scions  of  this 
Queensland  Lime.  Mr.  Bailey,  in  his  ‘Third  Supplement  to  the 
Synopsis  of  the  Queensland  Flora  ’  (1890,  p.  12),  describes  the  plant, 
whose  habitat  is  on  Harvey’s  Creek,  Russell  River.  He  adds  :  ‘  This  new 
species  of  Citrus  is  well  worthy  of  cultivation  for  its  fruit,  which  is 
juicy,  and  equal  in  flavour  to  the  West  Indian  Lime.  In  general 
appearance  the  tree  resembles  the  Orange,  having  the  same  dark  green 
foliage.  I  have  chosen  the  specific  name  on  account  of  all  the  flowers 
gathered  being  wanting  in  fragrance — a  remarkable  feature  in  a  genus 
so  noted  for  scented  flowers.’  From  the  fruits  sent  by  Mr.  Bailey  to 
the  Society  a  large  number  of  seeds  were  got  ;  these  had  all  been  sown 
under  favourable  conditions,  while  the  scions  have  been  grafted  upon 
Citrus  roots.  Mr.  Bailey  is  of  opinion  that  this  Citrus  plant  will  be  an 
excellent  stock  on  which  to  work  any  of  the  other  sorts  ;  it  being  a 
native,  and,  so  far  as  is  known,  not  liable  to  any  disease,  is  greatly  in 
its  favour  for  stock  purposes.” — (“  Kew  Bulletin.”) 
