432 
November  4,  IBS'?. 
JOURNAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER, 
-  A  Double  White  Labaoeria.— John  Haigh  sends  us 
from  ]\Iessrs.  Crosland  Brothers,  Horists,  Sheffield,  a  flower  of  the 
white  Lapageria  in  which  the  stamens  and  stigma  have  assumed  a  petaloid 
character.  We  have  seen  other  Lapageria  flowers  of  a  similar  nature 
but  none  so  really  double  before.  The  change  gives  to  the  bloom  a 
massive  appearance,  but  does  not  add  to  its  elegance.  It  is  a  really 
double  flower  and  could  not  possibly  produce  seed. 
-  French  Marigolds.  —  ^lessrs.  Bobbie  &  Co.  write  from 
Orpington — “We  have  the  pleasure  of  sending  you  on  1st  November  a 
few  blooms  of  French  ^Marigolds  to  show  that,  although  frost  has  worked 
havoc  around  here,  these,  at  least,  are  still  in  the  land  of  the  living. 
They  have  been  cut  from  a  collection  of  15,000  plants  grown  in  an  open 
field,  and  from  which  many  thousands  of  fine  blooms  can  still  be  had.” 
[The  flowers  were  of  excellent  quality,  and  the  colours  exceptionally 
good.] 
-  Late  Dwarf  Beans. — A  well-known  gardener  mentioned  to 
me  a  day  or  twm  since  that  in  spite  of  some  early  frosts  which  had 
destroyed  the  Kunner  Beans,  he  had  still  an  abundant  supply  of  Dwarf 
Beans  outdoors.  The  breadth  was  sown  late  on  a  south  border  ex¬ 
pressly  to  give  late  gatherings,  and  over  the  plants  early  in  October  a 
rough  framework  was  fixed.  Over  this  at  night  so  soon  as  the  tempe¬ 
rature  fell  were  thrown  some  mats,  and  in  that  way  when  so  much  harm 
was  done  to  unprotected  things,  these  Beans  were  saved,  and  they  will 
probably,  should  the  weather  keep  open,  continue  to  crop  freely  until 
the  middle  of  November.  It  would  be  an  unusual  feature  to  see  handsome 
Dwarf  Beans  from  outdoors  exhibited  during  November,  although  perhaps 
it  would  be  pleaded  they  were  rather  out  of  season. — D. 
-  Fibre  Plants. — The  American  Department  of  Agriculture 
has  recently  pulfiished  an  important  work  on  the  fibres  and  fibrous 
substances  of  all  countries,  entitled  “  A  Descriptive  Catalogue  of  the 
Useful  Fibre-])lants  of  the  World.”  The  author,  l\Ir.  Charles  Richard 
Dodge,  special  agent  in  charge  of  fibre  investigations  in  the  Department, 
asks  that  any  information  about  fibre  plants  known  to  have  been 
employed  either  commercially  or  in  what  may  be  termed  native  uses, 
such  as  for  rough  textiles,  cordage,  fishing  nets  and  lines,  and  basketry, 
that  has  been  omitted  from  this  work  be  reported  to  him.  He  would 
also  be  glad  to  hear  of  any  native  or  aboriginal  names  by  which  fibre 
plants  are  known  in  the  countries  where  they  grow,  which  he  has  not  been 
.  able  to  give.  He  asks,  too,  for  notes  on  any  errors  in  nomenclature,  and 
for  all  such  information  as  may  enable  him  to  prepare  a  revised  edition 
of  this  important  work,  which  is  the  outcome  of  a  vast  amount  of  patient 
labour,  scientific  investigation,  and  technical  knowledge.  -  (“Garden  and 
F  orest.”) 
-  The  Dead  Season. —Although  in  Nature  nothing  absolutely 
dies,  only  changes,  yet  to  our  finite  minds  what  we  see  just  now  going 
on  around  us  in  gardens  in  myriads  of  ])lants,  or  everywhere  in  trees, 
seems  to  be  death,  because  there  is  such  a  change  from  universal  leaf 
clothing  to  one  of  nakedness,  and  of  beauty  in  flowers  to  one  of  barrenness. 
It  is  no  mere  figure  of  speech,  therefore,  to  refer  to  the  winter  season  in 
gardens  as  the  dead  season,  although  nothing  is  really  dead.  The  plants, 
stems,  or  leaves,  with  flowers  or  seed  husks,  having  discharged  their 
part  in  the  economy  of  Nature,  are  now  but  reverting  to  the  elements 
from  which  they  came,  and  by  the  aid  of  bacteria,  the  agency  of  decom¬ 
position  and  change,  vegetable  matter  will  soon  be  converted  into  gases 
or  mineral  substances,  feeding  other  roots  or  plants  and  re-appearing  in 
diverse  forms  and  beauty  the  next  or  ensuing  year.  When  it  is  possible 
for  everyone  to  realise  that  the  same  process  of  change  and  reversion  to 
original  elements  is  perpetually  proceeding  in  the  animal  world,  the 
intellectual  world  will  be  much  wiser  and  more  sensible  than  it  now  is. 
But  we  part  with  life  and  beauty  in  our  gardens  when  the  dead  season 
comes  with  regret.  The  objects  which  have  so  much  interested  and 
gratified  us,  vegetation  and  its  products  in  all  its  forms,  we  had  learned  to 
love.  These  things  had  given  charm  and  beauty  to  our  lives  whilst  thev 
endured.  Those  of  us  who  have  means  alone  can  have  them,  as  happily 
so  many  do,  in  equal  beauty  and  loveliness  in  glass  houses  all  the  winter 
through  ;  but  to  the  million  such  pleasures  are  not  possible,  and  these 
have  for  a  season — the  dead  season — to  mourn  the  loss  of  loved  and  familiar 
friends.  Perhaps  it  is  a  wise  dispensation  for  us  it  should  so  be  thus  to 
have  a  short  season  of  rest  for  our  sentiment.  Presently  comes  a  real 
lesurrection,  though  not  one  that  is  abrupt  or  ushered  in  with  trump  or 
cannon.  I  he  Naked  .Jasmine,  the  Christmas  Rose,  the  pi'etty  Forsythias, 
the  humble  Ilepaticas  and  Daisies,  the  beautiful  Crocus  and  the  pure 
Snowdrop,  these  are  the  amnt  couriers,  the  harbingers  of  the  new 
resurrection  before  the  glories  of  which  the  dead  season  reluctant 
flies. — Gardener. 
-  The  Beckenham  Horticultural  and  Gardeners’ 
Improvement  Society. — This  is  probably  the  largest  Society  of  its 
kind  in  Kent,  numbering  some  300  members.  It  has  a  reading-room  and 
excellent  library,  and  lectures  are  provided  at  intervals  throughout  the 
season.  At  the  last  meeting  (on  the  29th  ult.)  Mr.  Bayer’s  fine  collection 
of  Grapes  was  staged  by  Mr.  Taylor,  the  same,  with  additions,  to  which 
a  silver  medal  was  awarded  by  the  Royal  Horticultural  Society  on  the 
2Gth  ult.  It  comprised  forty-four  bunches,  a  remarkable  display,  such  as 
has,  perhaps,  never  been  equalled  at  such  a  meeting  as  that  at  Becken¬ 
ham.  It  was  a  crowded  and  enthusiastic  meeting  of  earnest  amateurs 
and  able  gardeners,  the  lecturer  declaring  that  the  Grapes  were  worthy 
of  the  beautiful  silver  medal  of  the  local  Society.  The  audience  agreed 
in  the  “  usual  manner.”  The  Society  is  fortunate  in  having  such  a 
zealous  and  comjietent  Hon.  Secretary  as  Mr.  T.  W.  Thornton,  F.R.H.S. 
One  of  the  members  of  the  Society,  whose  name  is,  but  ought  not  to 
liave  been,  forgotten,  is  such  an  ardent  amateur  that  he  does  his  digging 
with  the  aid  of  the  lantern,  and  has  won  over  fifty  prizes  this  year, 
including  several  at  the  Co-Operative  Show  at  the  Crystal  Palace.  This 
is  the  substance,  of  which  lantern  “slide”  lecturing  and  diagramatic 
expositions  are  as  shadows  in  comparison,  though  these  may  have  been 
helpful.  The  name  of  this  Beckenham  amateur  should  be  forthcoming. 
A  description  of  his  ways  and  achievements  would  be  interesting. 
-  Chinchas  Guano  and  Garden  Manure.  — That  there  has 
been  a  great  falling  off  in  the  value  of  guano  generally  during  recent 
years  seems  to  be  a  fact  that  is  generally  admitted.  This  is  attributed  to 
the  exhaustion  of  the  best  natural  stores  in  those  islands  of  Peru  from 
which  cargoes  were  obtained,  but  a  new  and  valuable  source  of  supply 
appears  to  have  been  discovered  in  the  Chinchas  Islands  of  a  distinctly 
superior  character,  and  Chinchas  guano  is  now  regarded  liy  competent 
authorities,  who  have  no  interest  whatever  in  its  sale,  to  be  the  best  brand 
now  obtainable,  and  quite  equal  to  that  imported  in  the  early  days  of  the 
guano  era.  The  Anglo-Continental  Manure  Co.  flate  Ohlendorff’s)  are 
importing  this  rich  guano  largely.  The  firm  sent  out  a  commission, 
consisting  of  Dr.  Yon  Ohlendorff  and  several  chemists  and  experts,  to 
examine  the  guano  dejiosits.  The  substance  of  their  report  is  embodied 
in  a  miniature  trade  catalogue,  which  also  includes  some  photographs  of 
a  rather  striking  nature  of  the  Chinchas  deposits  and  millions  of  pelicans. 
This,  as  also  containing  the  analyses  of  Dr.  Yoelcker  and  Mr.  Bernard 
Dyer,  is  worthy  of  examination.  This  is  evidently  a  “  strong  ”  manure, 
and  a  little  goes  a  long  way.  As  a  milder  form  may  be  preferred  by 
many  persons,  a  special  “garden  guano”  has  been  prepared,  consisting 
largely  of  Chinchas.  A  sample  of  this  has  been  sent  to  us.  It  is 
lierfectly  dry,  finely  granulated,  or  dust-like,  with  the  true  guano 
aroma  ;  handy  and  cleanly  to  use  as  a  top-dressing,  and  for  quickly 
making  liquid  manure.  It  is  about  one-third  less  in  price  thanahe  pure 
Chinchas,  and  as  both  are  sold  in  small  quantities,  from  1  ewL  bags  to 
1  f  tins,  it  will  not  be  difficult  for  cultivators  to  test  both  (and  they  are 
worth  testing),  as  no  information  is  so  good  as  that  which  results  from 
e.xperiments. 
-  IViNTER  Blooming  Pelargoniums.  —  There  is  a  not 
uncommon  impression  that  for  supplying  a  rich  showy  bloom  from  these 
plants  in  the  winter  special  varieties  must  be  grown.  That  is, 
however,  not  so,  as  literally  any  good  variety  of  the  Zonal  section  will 
bloom  as  freely  during  the  winter  as  m  the  summer  if  the  needful 
(•i)nditions  be  furnished.  Anyone  who  looks  in  at  Messrs.  Cannell  and 
Suns’  Swanley  Nursery  during  the  summer,  where  houses  of  Zonal  Pelar¬ 
goniums  will  be  seen  blooming  profusely,  will,  if  they  look  in  there  again 
in  midwinter,  see  the  same  or  similar  houses  full  of  similar  plants,  also 
blooming  profusely,  and  will  note  that  practically  the  same  varieties  are 
grown.  The  only  difference  then  discerned  is  that  whilst  in  the  summer 
everything  externally  is  in  bloom,  and  the  air  is  warm,  in  midwinter  the 
ground  may  be  covered  with  snow,  hard  frost  may  prevail,  and  every¬ 
thing  vegetable  apparently  withered  up.  It  is  then  that  the  glory  and 
beauty  of  Zonal  Pelargoniums  is  seen.  There  is  usually,  too,  at  that 
time  of  the  year  a  richness,  and  even  delicacy  of  tint,  in  the  flowers  that 
render  the  floral  spectacle  doubly  attractive  and  beautiful.  Such  showy 
bloom  as  is  seen  at  Swanley  may  be  found  in  a  lesser  way  in  some  private 
gardens,  notably  at  Mr.  Haywood’s  place,  Reigate,  where  Mr.  Salter 
furnishes  in  midwinter  a  most  brilliant  show  of  flowers.  Plants  selected 
from  autumn-rooted  cuttings,  kept  through  the  winter  in  small  pots, 
shifted  on  into  48’s,  then  later  into  32’s,  or  if  very  strong  into  24’s,  stood 
outdoors  in  the  full  blaze  of  the  sun,  though  best  plunged  in  ashes,  kept 
well  watered  and  pinched  to  produce  sturdy  bottoms,  got  in  under  glass 
in  September,  allowed  to  come  away  freely  at  the  end  of  the  month  , 
getting  a  little  weak  manure  water,  get  into  rich  bloom  in  November,  and 
are  gloriously  beautiful  in  a  moderate  temperature  all  the  winter. — A.  D 
