484 
JOURKAL  op  tiOtlTWVLTURP  Am  OOTTAGP  GARDP^PR. 
Moireiuber  l9,  1834, 
their  Bkill ;  and  whether  it  is  the  silver  cap  or  the  top  market 
price  the  prize  is  a  tangible  lore.  Bnt  there  is  a  great  company  on 
the  road  who  have  neither  the  one  nor  the  other  form  of  stimulants  ; 
moit  of  these  we,  perhaps,  hear  little  about,  and  they  have  bnt 
little  to  say  from  the  quiet  corners  of  their  own  little  world.  If 
we  knew  more  about  them  it  would  probably  result  in  a  very  deep 
impression  of  the  power  of  character,  the  grandeur  of  duty,  for 
“  honour  and  fame  from  no  condition  rise  ;  act  well  your  part,  there 
all  the  honour  lies.” — An  Old  Boy. 
(To  be  contiDued.1 
SEPTEMBER  NOTES  PROM  NATAL,  S.A. 
This  month  of  September  here  corresponds  with  the  month  of 
May  at  home.  For  many  weeks  past  plant  and  vegetable  life  has 
been  severely  tried  with  winter  drought  and  occasional  hot  winds, 
accompanied  with  dust  storms  night  after  night  since  the  month  of 
June.  One  could  see  hundreds  of  acres  of  grass  on  the  surrounding 
hills  being  consumed  by  fire,  which  gave  the  district  around  a  black 
and  dreary  appearance.  But  ten  hoars’  welcome  and  genial  rain 
at  the  beginning  of  the  month  refreshed  the  thirsty  land;  and 
blackness  is  now  superseded  by  the  verdant  green  of  spring. 
On  every  band  Nature  is  responding  to  the  call  of  time  and 
season  with  a  wealth  of  beautiful  [foliage  and  flowers.  Yerandahs  * 
are  gay  with  the  pendent  racemes  of  the  beautif  ul  Wistaria  sinensis, 
and  are  perfumed  with  the  sweet  fragrance  of  the  Rhynchospermum, 
while  Bougainvillea  brasiliecsis,  which  must  be  seen  here  to  realise  its 
brilliancy  and  the  abundance  of  flowers  it  produces,  and  the  extent 
of  space  covered  by  it.  Of  Mai  echa)  Niels  we  have  had  a  few  all 
the  winter,  but  for  the  past  month  we  can  count  them  by  hundreds. 
The  scarlet  Lonicera,  Bignonia  venuita,  and  Tecoraa  australis  are  also 
doing  good  service,  and  Thunbergia  natalensis  which  has  flowered 
all  the  winter.  la  the  borders  during  the  month  Amaryllis  have 
been  flowering  well.  I  noted  over  a  hundred  flowers  and  buds  on  a 
clump  of  nine  crowns,  and  in  the  grass  Neri^e  curvifolia  is  freely 
dotted  about  and  flowering  well,  also  Irises,  Crinums  and 
Imantopfayllums.  The  flowering  period  of  the  Camellias  has  been 
of  short  duration  this  season.  The  Azalea  indica,  with  its  many 
bright  colours,  has  followed  in  their  train  to  brighten  things 
up  with  the  assistance  of  Oleanders,  Jasminum  revolutum. 
Pomegranates,  Brugmansias,  and  Grevillea  robusta,  with  its 
lovely  orange  flowers,  G.  Caleyi,  scarlet,  and  G.  glabrata.  A 
creamy  white  Spiraea  confusa  and  S.  Reevesi,  also  Deutzias  cienata 
and  gracilis. 
Roses  are  beginning  to  flower  freely,  and  as  they  are  very  clean 
and  healthy  we  ought  to  have  a  good  display  of  them  at  the  soring 
show  here,  on  the  8:h  of  October.  Autumn-sown  annuals  are 
plentiful,  and  altogether  there  is  a  good  display  in  the  flower 
gardens  at  present. 
The  prospect  of  fruit  is  not  very  promising  in  the  orchards 
owing  to  the  exceptional  drought  of  last  summer  and  the  destruc¬ 
tion  of  the  leafage  by  the  locusts,  followed  by  early  autumn 
rain,  causing  the  trees  to  start  into  growth  and  blossom.  Apricots 
and  Apples  suffered  most,  the  latter  producing  a  second  crop  of 
fruit,  consequently  both  are  going  to  be  scarce.  Late  Peaches  are 
promising  well  now  in  their  flowering  period,  and  Tines  are  show¬ 
ing  an  abundance  of  fruit. 
There  is  plenty  of  room  for  improvement  here  in  the  methods 
of  fruit  culture,  and  farmers  and  landed  proprietors  waking  up  to 
the  fact  somewhat  ilowly.  Little  attention  has  been  paid  to  the 
subject.  Trees  have  been  planted  witbont  any  consideration  as  to 
quality  or  fitness,  and  left  to  taka  care  of  themselves,  disbudding 
and  systematic  pruning  being  seldom  done,  and  only  a  very  few  of 
the  leading  reliable  sorts  can  be  obtained. 
I  received  a  catalogue  recently  from  a  firm,  and  found  the 
following  mentioned  as  new  and  rare  sorts — viz..  Apples  Cox’s 
Pomona,  Gascoyne’s  Seertling,  Norfolk  Beefing,  Irish  Peach,  and 
Wellington.  Hemskerk  Apricot  was  described  as  a  “new  novelty 
and  in  the  Peach  list  comes  Alex.  Noblesse,  Bellegarde,  Lord 
Palmerston,  Sea  Eagle,  Prince  and  Princess  of  Wales. 
Vegetables  have  been  paying  well  for  some  months  past.  At  present 
old  Potatoes  are  selling  at  £1  per  cwt,,  and  new  ones  at  4d.  per  lb. 
Cabbages  for  weeks  past  have  fetched  8d.  each.  These  are  auction 
prices,  as  everything  on  the  market  is  sold  by  a  public  official,  and 
as  a  rule  there  is  a  good  variety.  One  can  obtain  almost  anything 
down  to  a  bottle  of  home-made  Hop  beer,  a  pound  of  brawn,  or  a 
tin  of  home-made  jam.  • 
Dairy  produce  has  realised  high  prices.  At  present  fresh  butter 
is  fetching  28.  Cd.  per  lb.,  and  for  three  months  previous  it  ranged 
from  23.  to  Ss.  lOd.,  according  to  quality.  Some  of  the  up-to-date 
farmersacould  demand  any  price  and  receive  it.  Even  horse  forage 
is  selling  at  fls.  per  cwt.  now.  At  present,  owing  to  the  ravages  of 
rinderpest  and  lung  aickness  amongst  cattle,  the  outlook  for  the 
colonial  farm  or  it  not  very  encouraging  for  the  near  future. 
Plagues  of  locust  are  swooping  down  and  destroying  vegetation. 
We  have  had  several  swarms  pass  over  here ;  one  on  Sunday  last 
commenced  to  settle  in  the  orchard,  and  by  dint  of  an  hour  and  a 
half’s  beating  of  old  tins  by  a  dozen  Kaffirs  and  the  burning  of  a 
number  of  small  heaps  of  fresh  stable  manure  under  the  trees  ks  a 
lait  resort,  the  smoke  being  too  much  for  them  they  took  wing  and 
left  us.  For  nearly  two  hours  they  came  in  a  dense  mass  as  fast 
as  a  swarm  of  bees  as  far  as  we  could  see  for  many  miles  round. 
It  y  only  a  few  days  since  I  read  in  the  Natal  papers  of  a  swarm 
passing  np  the  country  thirty  miles  in  length  and  three  wide,  they 
have  not  troubled  the  Colony  for  thirty  years  before  until  this 
year. 
Altogether  it  it  a  record  year  for  the  Colony.  On  the  21st  of  this 
month  W8  had  a  record  temperatnre  of  102°  in  the  shade  and  112° 
at  Durban,  this  being  the  highest  for  twenty  years.  Some  of  the 
trees  which  are  standing  alone  are  scorched  brown,  as  if  they  bad 
been  fired,  the  Grevilleae  having  suffered  the  most.  So  you  can 
see,  Mr.  Editor,  that  gardeners  in  Africa  have  difficulties  to  contend 
with,  but  the  few  I  have  met  here  are  quite  as  energetic  in 
combating  them  at  are  gardeners  at  home. — W.  Hopkins, 
Moniingside,  Maritzhurg. 
CELEBRATION  OF  THE  SIXTIETH  YEAR  OF  HER 
MAJESTY’S  REIGN. 
As  numerovi  suggestions  are  under  consideration  fur  celebrating  the 
sixtieth  year  of  Her  Majesty’s  beneficent  reign,  may  I  venture  to  bring 
before  the  British  people  a  long-felt  need  of  the  horticaltaral  com¬ 
munity  7  Horticultsrists  have  no  common  meeting  place,  no  centre,  and 
the  establishment  of  a  Home  of  Horticulture — a  Royal  Home  of  Horti¬ 
culture,  if  Her  Majesty  graciously  appointed  it  so — would  be  an  event 
worthy  of  this  era  in  oar  national  history.  It  is  quite  unnecessary  to 
emphasise  the  inconveniences  inseparable  from  fiower  and  other  similar 
shows  held  in  buildings  not  structurally  adapted  for  them,  nor  is  it 
necessary  to  more  than  refer  to  the  undesirableness  of  holding  each 
exhibitions  in  places  to  which  any  exception  can  be  taken.  Our 
institute  should  be  above  any  incongruous  connections. 
1  would  suggest  the  establishment  of  a  Home  of  Horticulture,  which 
should  be  so  designed  as  to  afford  facilities  for  further  promoting  the 
interests  of  other  arts — music,  painting,  &c.  It  is  generally  admitted 
that  the  best  pictures  are  not  always  received  at  the  Academy,  here  they 
would  find  a  welcome  home  ;  on  behalf  of  music  the  ever- flowing  non- 
professional  talent  might  here  find  ample  opportunities  for  development, 
even  for  the  assistance  of  .philanthropic  enterprises.  Such  a  trio  might 
be  advantageously  united  to  their  mutual  benefit,  and  to  the  improve¬ 
ment,  enjoyment,  and  advancement  of  the  commnnity. 
Having  worked  ont  this  project  somewhat  in  detail  (particulars  of 
which  need  not  here  be  gone  into),  I  beg  to  invite  co-operation  towards 
its  attainment.  The  aim  is  to  bring  together  all  horticultural  interasta 
to  a  metropolitan  ho:ne,  presided  over  by  Life  Governors,  qualified  in 
the  first  instance  by  donation.  Every  gardener  would  be  eligible  for 
election  to  the  position  of  Life  Governor  whenever  a  vacancy  occurred, 
the  qnalification  fee  being  only  required  from  the  first  Board  of 
Governors,  for  defraying  expenses  in  the  initiatory  stage  of  the  Society. 
Suitable  premises  being  found  and  famished  in  every  particn'.ar  with 
due  regard  to  the  intention  and  requirements  of  the  establishment, 
arrangements  would  be  made  for  a  continuous  session  of  lectures, 
concerts,  &c. ;  and  an  annual  convention  be  held,  perhaps  in  May,  to 
consider  the  year’s  work.  For  the  convenience  of  visitors,  a  properly 
conducted  buffet,  with  reception  and  reading  rooms,  would  form  part 
of  the  scheme ;  also  a  library  of  books  of  reference  upon  horticulture. 
We  all  know  and  appreciate  the  refining  infiaence  of  beautiful 
flowers,  hence  the  Home  to  house  such  in  our  great  metropolis,  might  do 
a  great  deal  to  counteract  the  degrading  tendencies  of  music  halU,  &c. 
Let  us  hope  that  another  Joseph  Paxton  will  come  forth  and  erect  a 
Crystal  Palace  in  one  of  our  central  London  parks  as  a  Home  of 
Horticulture  for  Great  Britain. — James  L.  Wood,  P.R.H.S.,  Cranbrook, 
OaMeigh  Park,  Whetstone,  N, 
PLUMBAGO  OAPENSI8. 
Thebb  are  several  species  of  Plumbagos  cultivated,  but  none  la  so 
generally  grown  or  so  useful  as  the  greenhouse  species,  P.  capensis. 
Its  flowers  are  of  a  very  uncommon  shade  of  blue,  which  gives  the 
plants  when  in  bloom  an  attractive  and  unique  appearance,  especially 
if  the  plants  occupy  a  position  from  which  the  growths  can  depend  in  a 
natural  manner.  P.  capensis  is  a  perennial  of  an  evergreen  character, 
though  the  method  of  culture  adopted  in  greenhouses  usually  partiaUy 
obliterates  this  by  the  system  of  closely  pruning-in  the  long  shoote  ’a 
winter,  by  which  the  youngest  shoots  and  the  green  leaves  are  cut  away, 
leaving  short  spnrs,  famished  with  a  few  buds  but  no  leaves.  The 
wood,  however,  is  ripe,  and  from  the  matured  buds  strong  and  vigorcua 
growths  will  spring  the  following  scasoB, 
