October  13,  190(b 
JOURNAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER. 
CARDEH.  GJ^EANINCS 
Blackberries  all  the  Year  Round. — English  Blackberries  are 
always  popular,  and  in  spite  of  their  being  had  for  the  gathering  in 
every  country  place,  few  other  fruits  are  as  popular.  Americans 
cultivate  the  Blackberry,  and  very  good  it  is,  and  now  an  enterprising 
firm  is  canning  them,  and  they  are  to  be  put  in  the  English  market, 
and  as  the  fruit  is  of  the  finest  quality  it  should  prove  good.  When 
we  can  have  Blackberry  tart  every  day,  shall  we  like  the  Blackberry  as 
much  as  we  do  now,  when  it  comes  to  us  only  with  the  crisp  days  of 
autumn  ?  It  is  certainly  doubtful. 
ilrmoured  Plants. — In  passing  through  botanic  gardens  and  other 
places  where  there  are  collections  of  tropical  plants,  people  often 
wonder  why  it  is  that  so  large  a  percentage  of  the  plants  peculiar  to 
the  torrid  regions  of  the  earth  are  so  heavily  armed  with  thorns  and 
spikes.  It  is  now  pretty  generally  conceded,  says  a  contemporary,  that 
one  of  the  reasons  for  this  is,  that  in  the  regions  where  these  plants  find 
a  home  vegetation  is  so  scant,  and  animals  frequently  find  themselves 
so  hard  pressed  for  food,  that  if  the  plants  were  not  so  defended  or 
protected  they  would  soon  be  eaten  out  of  existence.  The  thorns  or 
prickles,  therefore,  serve  as  a  protective  armour  for  preserving  the 
plants  from  extermination. 
IlVlstletoe  on  an  Bprlcot. — The  “  Paci6c  Rural  Press  ”  figures 
a  species  of  Mistletoe,  native  to  California,  thatp  has  grown  on  the 
branch  of  an  Apricot.  It  shows  how  plants  can  adapt  themselves  to 
new  conditions,  the  home  of  the  Apricot  being  Asia.  After  all,  these 
l)arasite8  themselves  are  good  illustrations  of  this.  They  pro- 
liably  started  life  in  the  earlier  ages,  as  other  trees  and  plants  do — 
and  as  the  Cuscuta,  or  Dodder,  does  now — and  eventually  found  it  as 
well  to  live  wholly  on  trees.  Logically,  a  plant  could  not  attach  itself 
to  a  tree  until  there  was  a  tree  to  be  attached  to.  Parasitism  must  then 
have  been  a  later  event  in  the  great  work  of  evolution. 
Rubus  dellclosus  In  the  Rockies.— The  habit  and  form  of 
this  shrub  are  much  like  those  of  a  Spiraea.  Jt  grows  8  to  10  feet 
high  when  at  its  best.  When  I  first  saw  it  in  the  Rockies,  I  thought 
it  one  of  the  most  remarkable  shrubs  I  ever  saw.  It  was  a  pure 
snowbank  of  whiteness.  The  flowers  were  like  single  Roses,  over¬ 
topping  each  other.  It  has  a  thimble  berry  which  dissolves  when  you 
pick  it.  It  is  thought  the  botanist  who  named  it  must  have  been  very 
hungry.  No  one  would  think  of  raising  it  for  the  fruit,  which  is  of 
a  sickish  sweet,  but  fur  flowers  it  is  a  success.  In  the  East  it  has 
been  often  a  disappointment  because  planted  on  high  ground.  Its 
l>laoe  is  by  a  pond  of  water  or  running  stream.  There  is  one  on  rich, 
low  ground  in  the  Arnold  Arboretum,  and  the  superintendent  speaks 
■iu  the  highest  terms  of  it.  G-ive  it  rich  ground  and  wet  feet  and  no 
shrub  could  give  better  satisfaction.  It  has  its  place  in  parks, 
cemeteries,  and  private  grounds.  It  is  thrifty  and  hardy ;  it  is  hard 
to  propagate;  it  will  not  grow  from  cuttings,  and  it  takes  the  seed 
two  years  to  germinate;  it  is  generally  secured  by  dividing  the 
clumps. — C.  S.  Harrison  (in  “American  Gardening”). 
The  Germination  of  Seeds. — The  influence  of  certain  chemical 
fertilisers  upon  the  germination  of  seeds  was  studied  by  the  late 
Gilbert  H.  Hicks,  and  the  results  have  been  recently  published  in  a 
bulletin  by  the  United  States  Department  of  Agriculture.  The 
fertiliser  was  used  in  much  larger  proportion  than  obtains  in  actual 
practice,  and  at  the  rate  of  2000  to  3000  lbs.  per  acre,  but  it  showed 
that  muriate  of  potash  and  nitrate  of  soda  when  used  iu  such  large 
quantities  were  detrimental  to  the  germination  of  seeds  whether  applied 
directly  or  mixed  with  the  soil.  The  chief  injury  to  germination  is 
inflicted  after  the  young  sprouts  leave  the  seed  coat  and  before  they 
appear  above  the  soil.  Fertilisers  composed  of  phosphoric  acid  and 
lime  are  less  injurious  and  not  harmful  unless  used  in  excess.  The 
results  of  the  trial  show  that  chemical  fertilisers  do  not  favour 
germination  and  that  they  should  never  be  brought  in  direct  contact 
with  germinating  seeds.  However,  when  applied  at  the  usual  rate  there 
is  little  or  no  injury  to  be  feared  unless  the  seed  is  dropped  from 
the  same  spout  at  the  same  time  and  covered  up  with  the  fertiliser. 
3.i9 
The  Benefits  of  Decaying  Xeaves.  — Professor  Silvanus  P. 
Thompson  calls  attention  in  a  daily  paper  to  a  lack  of  knowledge  or 
consideration  in  the  management  of  Kensington  Gardens,  which  should 
be  noted  by  the  responsible  authorities.  The  dead  leaves,  as  they 
fall  from  the  trees,  are  collected  and  made  bonfires  of,  a  process 
which  insures  tidiness,  but  at  the  cost  of  incalculable  injury  to  the 
trees.  “We  carefully  deprive  the  trees,”  says  the  Professor,  “of 
their  natural  nutriment  at  the  roots,  and  then  wonder  why  their  tops 
decay,  and  their  growth  languishes.”  It  appears  that  in  Epping 
Forest  the  removal  of  the  fallen  leaves  is  forbidden ;  they  are  left  to 
decompose,  and  thus  nourish  the  roots. 
mulching  Rcwly  Planted  Fruit  Trees. — Preparations  should 
be  made  for  planting  fruit  trees  by  trenching  the  ground,  or  station, 
planting.  Everything  will  succeed  better  if  the  fresh  roots  are  working 
freely  before  winter.  If  before  the  heat  gets  out  of  the  ground  the 
surface  is  covered  with  long  litter  the  roots  will  be  growing  strongly 
all  the  wdnter,  and  the  plants  will  need  little  of  the  water  that  spring- 
planted  trees  might  require.  As  soon  as  the  heat  in  the  air  in  spring 
exceeds  the  heat  of  the  soil,  the  mulching  should  be  all  removed,  so  that 
the  sun  may  play  freely  on  the  surface  of  the  ground.  If  that  is  apt 
to  dry  it  too  much  the  surface,  soil  may  be  stirred  a  little,  which  will 
keep  moisture  in  and  extra  heat. out.  The  firmer  the  soil  the  more  will 
the  ground  be  influenced  by  heat  and  cold,  and  the  looser  the  soil  the 
less  will  it  be  affected  either  way. — Fruit  Grower. 
Sparrows  Bat  Grapes. — The  English  sparrow  has  destroyed  a 
large  part  of  the  Grape  crop  in  some  parts  of  Oklahoma  this  year. 
The  crop  is  not  bothered  in  any  way  until  the  fruit  begins  to  ripen. 
The  sparrow  then  splits  the  berry  on  one  or  two  sides  and  eats  part  of 
the  pulp.  After  the  berry  is  split  the  bees,  wasps,  and  other  insects 
soon  destroy  the  entire  pulp.  The  berry  is  seldom  torn  from  the  stem 
and  the  skin  dries  and  withers  on  the  bunch.  The  early  varieties  do 
not  seem  to  be  so  badly  attacked  by  the  birds.  No  one  variety  seems 
to  be  attacked  worse  than  others,  but  thin-skinned  varieties  suffer  more 
than  thick-skinned  varieties.  It  was  necessary,  says  a  transatlantic 
journal,  this  year  to  gather  some  of  the  later  varieties  before  they 
were  thoroughly  ripe  in  order  to  prevent  their  entire  destruction  by  the 
sparrows. 
marguerite  Carnations. — Where  cut  flowers  in  abundance  are 
required  during  September  and  October,  a  packet  of  these  should  not 
be  omitted  when  sending  in  next  year’s  seed  order.  We  have  been 
cutting  for  several  weeks  Marguerite  Carnations  from  seeds  sown  in 
February  and  March  in  pans,  and  pricked  out  into  boxes  when  large 
enough  to  handle ;  from  these  they  were  transferred  to  beds  and 
borders,  allowing  about  a  foot  each  way,  where  they  made  excellent 
plants,  not  requiring  staking,  as  the  plants  keep  each  other  up  when 
planted  this  way.  Single  varieties  are  sure  to  come  up  more  or  less, 
but  these  are  useful  for  glasses,  and  their  grass  may  be  cut  and  used 
with  the  double  varieties.  This  autumn,  when  other  outside  flowers 
have  suffered  from  the  drought,  they  have  proved  invaluable,  standing 
the  dry  weather  without  any  ill  effects.  Where  room  can  be  found 
inside,  they  will  repay  the  trouble  of  lifting  and  potting. — J.  B.,  Bucks. 
Gardening  In  Africa. — “  The  main  trouble  in  a  British  West 
African  diet  is  a  lack  of  fresh  green  food,”  wrote  the  late  Mary  H. 
Kingsley,  the  African  explorer,  in  “  Climate,”  and  some  of  the 
difficulties  in  the  way  of  supplying  that  deficiency  she  describes  as 
below  : — “  Gardening  in  West  Africa  is  nervous  work.  I  have  worked 
in  gardens  there,  and  know  that  even  lifting  a  kale-pot  is  not  there,  as 
it  is  here,  a  trifling  act — because  under  the  kale-pots  you  have  there  a 
chance  of  finding  divers  things  that,  if  in  spirits  on  a  shelf  of  the  British 
Museum  reptile  gallery,  would  give  pleasure,  but  there,  close  to  one’s 
ankles,  and  not  bottled  and  corked  down,  are  merely  exciting  and 
unpleasant.  Still,  if  the  snakes  go  in  the  other  direction,  one  has  the 
satisfaction  of  having  fresh  vegetables.  There  are  plenty  of  worse 
things  than  snakes  connected  with  West  African  gardening.  In  some 
places  there  are  elephants,  in  others  hippopotami.  Specimens  of  either 
in  a  garden  for  a  night  are  incompatible  with  success,  for  a  season  at 
least.  Then,  if  you  hire  a  man  to  sit  up  all  night  in  the  garden  and 
ring  a  hand-bell  to  keep  such  intruders  off,  he  keeps  you  awake  also. 
If  you  take  away  the  bell  and  set  him  up  in  business  with  a  fire  to  scare 
game  off,  a  leopard  usually  comes  and  takes  him  away,  which  distresses 
you  very  much.  Gardening  in  West  Africa  is  not  to  be  undertaken 
light-heartedly  by  persons  of  a  nervous  or  irritable  disposition.” 
