JOURNAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER, 
September  9,  1897. 
2Ll 
-  Bulbs  for  the  London  Parks. — We  are  informed  that  for 
the  ninth  time  Messrs.  .1.  Carter  &  Co.,  High  Holborn,  have  received  the 
order  to  supply  the  whole  of  the  bulbs  required  for  the  Royal  Parks  of 
London  for  next  season’s  bloom.  The  firm  has  also  again  received  a  similar 
favour  from  the  London  County  Counril  for  the  parks,  gardens,  and  open 
spaces  under  its  control. 
-  Abstract  op  Climatological  Observations  at  Drif¬ 
field.— Mean  temperature  at  9  A.M.  (corrected),  63‘35°.  Wet  bulb,  58'79°. 
Mean  maximum,  70‘51°  ;  mean  minimum,  50’27°.  Highest,  8P2’  on  5th  ; 
lowest,  ■i0'2°  on  3rd.  Mean  of  maxima  and  minima,  60'39°.  Mean 
radiation  temperature  on  grass,  44-71°;  lowest,  34°  on  13th.  Rainfall, 
3-39  inches.  Number  of  rainy  days  sixteen.  Greatest  amount  on  one 
day,  1-18  inch  on  26th. — W.  E.  Lovel,  Observer,  York  Road,  Driffield. 
-  August  Weather  at  AVorksop.  —  Mean  temperature, 
61-5°.  Maximum  in  the  screen  89-1°,  on  the  5th  ;  minimum  in  the 
screen  41-4°,  on  the  2nd  ;  minimum  on  the  grass  35-2  ,  on  the  2nd. 
Sunshine  201  hours,  or  45  per  cent,  of  the  possible  duration.  Rainfall, 
2-16  inches.  Rain  fell  on  nineteen  days.  Maximum  fall,  0-61  on  the 
30th.  Rainfall  since  January  1st,  15-52  inches.  A  warm  month,  with 
some  very  hot  days  in  the  first  week  ;  maximum  the  highest  since  1876  ; 
the  latter  part  shower3L — J.  Mallender. 
-  Weather  in  South  Wales. — The  following  is  a  summary 
of  the  weather  here  for  the  past  month  :  —Total  rainfall  7-66  inches. 
Maximum  1  inch  on  the  7th.  Number  of  days  on  which  rain  fell,  twenty- 
two.  Rain  fell  on  each  of  the  last  sixteen  days,  with  very  little  sunshine 
for  the  whole  period.  Average  maximum  temperature  7 1  °,  with  a 
maximum  of  102°  on  the  2nd.  Average  minimum  49°,  with  a  minimum 
of  42°  on  the  24th.  The  prevailing  wind  for  the  month  was  S.  and  S.W. 
There  were  .seven  sunless  days.  A  very  hot  sunny  week  at  the  com¬ 
mencement  of  the  month,  since  which  there  have  been  very  strong,  and 
in  most  cases  cold  winds  -,  a  heavy  thunderstorm  and  hail  on  the  31st.— 
Wm.  Mabbott,  Dowlais. 
-  The  Weather  Last  Month. —August  was  very  wet  after 
the  1 7th,  with  frequent  thundei’storms,  and  was  also  remarkable  for  the 
large  amount  of  sunshine.  The  wind  was  in  a  southerly  direction  twenty 
days.  The  total  rainfall  was  4-51  inches  ;  this  fell  on  nineteen  days,  and 
is  1-85  inch  above  the  average  for  the  month.  The  greatest  daily  fall 
was  1-10  inch  on  the  30th.  Barometer  (corrected  and  reduced)  :  highest, 
30-250  inches  on  the  3rd  at  9  A.M.;  lowest,  29-439  inches  on  the  2 1st  at 
9  P.M.  Thermometers  ;  highest  in  the  shade,  88°  on  the  5th  ;  lowest,  44° 
on  the  26th  ;  mean  of  daily  maxima,  70-93°  ;  mean  of  daily  minima, 
52-38°.  Mean  temperature  of  the  month,  61-65°;  lowest  on  the  grass, 
41°  on  the  26th  ;  highest  in  the  snn,  144°  on  the  4th.  :Mean  of  the  earth 
at  3  feet,  60-45°.  Total  sunshine,  233  hours  10  minutes.  There  were  no 
sunless  days  this  month.—  W.  H.  Divers,  Bdvoir  Castle  Gardens, 
Grantham. 
-  Starch  from  Sweet  Potatoes.— Although  it  has  long  been 
known  that  the  Sweet  Potato  contains  starch  in  considerable  quantities, 
the  question  whether  it  can  be  made  a  profitable  source  for  the  manu¬ 
facture  of  starch  on  a  commercial  scale  has  only  recently  been  raised. 
Very  interesting,  therefore,  is  a  bulletin  from  the  South  Carolina  Agri¬ 
cultural  Experiment  Station  at  Clemson  College,  from  which  it  appears 
that  at  least  22  per  cent,  of  starch  can  be  counted  upon  in  most  varieties 
of  the  Sweet  Potato,  while  in  some  kinds  the  product  ranges  still  higher- 
Counting  the  yield  of  Sweet  Potatoes  at  from  200  to  300  bushels  to  the 
acre  in  South  Carolina,  which  is  moderate,  since  500  bushels  to  the  acre 
have  occasionally  been  accomplished,  it  appears  that  the  amount  of  starch 
yielded  by  an  acre  of  Sweet  Potatoes  is  much  greater  than  the  amount 
yielded  by  Wheat  at  twenty  bushels  to  the  acre.  That  is,  an  acre  of 
Sweet  Potatoes  will  yield  four  times  as  much  starch  as  an  acre  of 
heat.  The  Sweet  Potato  even  has,  says  a  transatlantic  contemporary, 
the  advantage  over  the  Irish  Potato  in  this  regard  in  the  Southern 
States.  Of  course,  this  does  not  establish  the  fact  that  the  Sweet 
Potato  can  be  profitably  raised  as  a  starch  producer.  In  the  first 
place,  a  more  thorough  test  of  the  quality  of  the  starch  and  its 
fitness  for  sizing  will  have  to  be  determined.  Again,  the  value 
of  the  by-products  is  much  smaller  than  the  value  of  tlie  by- 
prcducts  in  the  manufacture  of  starch  from  corn.  Besides  this,  much 
must  be  learned  about  the  cost  of  producing  the  Sweet  Potato,  the 
changes  which  may  take  place  in  storing  it  and  the  cost  of  manufacturing 
the  starch.  Nevei  theless,  the  bulletin  is  an  extremely  interesting  one, 
and  it  is  full  of  suggestion  as  to  the  proper  soils  and  fertilisers  which  the 
crop  demands  fur  its  best  development. 
-  Sussex  Rainfall  in  August. — The  total  rainfall  at  Hay¬ 
ward’s  Heath  for  the  jiast  month  was  3-76  inches,  being  1-48  inch  above 
the  average.  The  heaviest  fall  was  0-77  inch  on  the  8th.  Rain  fell  on 
sixteen  days.  The  maximum  temperature  was  88°  on  the  5th,  the  highest 
of  the  season  ;  the  minimum,  46°  on  the  13th.  Mean  maximum.  75-05°  ; 
mean  minimum,  53-02°.  Mean  temperature,  64-03°,  which  is  3-49’  above 
the  average.  It  rained  more  or  less  every  day  since  the  17th  of  the 
month.  September  1st  was  extremely  wet  and  stormy. — R.  I. 
-  Nymph^A  lilacina.  -  This  hybrid  Water  Lily  of  Marliac, 
which  was  imported  a  year  or  two  ago,  does  not  seem  to  have  received 
the  attention  to  which  it  is  entitled,  perhaps  because  it  is  still  rarely  seen 
in  cultivation.  Cut  flowers,  especially  if  a  trifle  old,  as  seen  at  exhibi¬ 
tions,  give  one  a  rather  poor  idea  of  the  beauties  of  Water  Lilies,  which 
are  seen  at  their  best  only  in  some  (]uiet  pool  with  a  foil  of  crystal  water. 
Unlike  the  well-known  Nymph  ea  Laydekeri,  which  it  resembles  in  colour, 
N.  lilacina  may  be  increased  by  division.  Its  leaves  are  similar  to  the 
former  variety,  but  the  petals  are  wider  and  more  numerous,  and  it  has  a 
larger  array  of  golden  stamens.  It  is  di  f  cult  to  convey  an  idea  of  the 
exact  differences  between  the  two  hybrids  without  an  illustration  which 
would  show  them  clearly.  As  the  flower  of  N.  lilacina  is  also  larger,  and 
as  bright  in  colour  and  apparently  as  free-flowering,  it  seems  to  me  that, 
on  the  whole,  it  is  an  improvement  on  the  older  variety.  N.  Laydekeri, 
however,  is  a  good  reliable  variety,  even  if  after  five  years  the  old  plant 
is  no  larger  than  at  first  planting,  and  has  never  shown  a  sign  of  increase. 
— J.  N.  Gerard  (in  “  Garden  and  Forest.”) 
-  Railway  Platform  Gardening.  —  The  flower  gardens 
which  skirt  the  various  platforms  on  the  Midland  Railway  are  just 
now  clothed  in  their  gayest  summer  attire.  In  several  places  along  the 
line  there  are  marvellous  displays  of  flowers  ;  in  many  instances  the 
stationmasters  have  made  elaborate  arrangements  ;  the  slopes  and 
terraces  are  masses  of  floral  beauty,  and  are  highly  creditable  to  the 
unwearied  efforts  of  the  cultivators.  The  flower-garden  arrangements  on 
the  platforms  at  Matlock  Bath  and  Belper  were  beautiful.  It  must  be 
understood  that  these  are  busy  stations.  Beginning  with  the  former, 
what  is  now  the  flower  garden  was  formerly  a  rough,  sloping  bank,  but 
now  formed  into  a  series  of  terraces  one  above  the  other.  The  lower 
terrace  is  raised  above  the  ground  level  by  a  row  of  rough  Derbyshire 
stones,  specially  adapted  for  the  purpose,  the  interstices  being  filled 
in  with  masses  of  Arabis  albida,  which  in  the  spring  must  be  sheets 
of  pure  white  flowers.  The  space  beyond  the  Arabis  was  devoted  to 
Nasturtiums,  a  dwarf  and  compact  variety,  and  extremely  floriferous. 
The  next  terrace  is  laid  out  in  grass,  with  sixteen  beds  cut  in  the  turf, 
and  all  kept  exceedingly  neat  and  in  perfect  order.  The  upper  or  third 
terrace  was  also  formed  with  large  rock  stones,  over  which  streamed  in 
graceful  festoons  many  coloured  Nasturtiums,  suspended  in  graceful 
luxuriance.  Behind  the  Nasturtiums  we  noticed  a  bed  of  dwarf  Roses. 
These  had  done  duty  “in  the  time  of  Roses,”  and  promised  a  fine 
autumnal  bloom.  At  Belper  we  have  a  series  of  terraces,  but  differently 
arranged  to  those  at  Matlock  Bath.  Beginning  at  the  bottom  the  earth 
is  held  in  position  by  large  stones  in  every  respect  suitable  for  the 
purpose  ;  these  are  draped  with  large  masses  of  Arabis  albida,  commonly 
called  Snow  on  the  Mountain,  a  useful  spring  blooming  plant,  but  would 
be  still  more  effective  if  it  were  mixed  with  the  blue  Aubrietia— Aubrietia 
deltoidea.  The  terrace  is  divided  into  a  number  of  flower  beds,  which 
have  for  dividing  lines  rock  stones,  which  are  in  harmony  with  all  the 
other  arrangements.  The  beds  along  the  terrace  are  filled  in  with  a 
great  diversity  of  plants,  all  beautiful  and  effective.  These  included 
bedding  Pansies,  Petunias,  Stocks,  Asters,  and  white  and  blue  Lobelia. 
In  the  centre  of  the  terrace  there  is  a  design  formed  of  Thrift  (Armeria 
vulgaris)  in  large  letters— Success  to  our  Town.  This  was  very  striking, 
and  would  be  more  especially  when  the  Armeria  was  in  full  bloom.  The 
next  terrace  displayed  a  considerable  amount  of  thought  and  ingenuity. 
It  was  broader  in  the  centre,  and  tapered  a  little  towards  each  end. 
Besides  the  Stocks,  Asters,  Petunias,  Pinks,  and  Nasturtiums,  which  were 
all  masses  of  glowing  beauty,  there  were  several  designs  in  limestone. 
In  the  centre  there  was  the  name  of  the  town  in  large  letters  formed  with 
limestone.  Above  this  a  mass  of  Stonecrop.  Higher  up  was  the 
Queen’s  crown,  in  memory  of  her  Majesty’s  Diamond  Jubilee,  and  also 
passing  through  the  town  on  her  way  to  Sheffield.  Many  shrubs 
have  been  planted  on  the  embankment  near  the  station,  which  in 
a  few  years  will  give  it  the  appearance  of  a  large  pleasure  garden. 
It  must  be  highly  gratifying  to  the  company  to  find  their  stations 
and  platforms  clothed  with  so  much  richness  and  beauty  ;  while  the 
stationmasters  must  be  amply  rewarded  in  knowing  their  labours  are 
so  thoroughly  enjoyed  by  an  appreciative  public. —  R.  W .  I,,  (in  -‘Derby 
Heporter.”) 
