JOURNAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER. 
February  21,  1901. 
15, S 
With  Special  Virtues. — Tomatoes  are  most  helpful  to  the 
system  when  eaten  raw,  as  the  volatile  oil  they  contain  is  dissipated  by 
the  heat  of  cooking.  Green  vegetables,  such  as  Spinach  and  Cabbage, 
are  invaluable  as  medical  articles  of  diet,  as  they  possess  blood- 
purifying  properties,  and  act  indirectly  on  the  liver.  Turnips  are 
nutritious,  while  the  young  Turnip-tops  are  possessed  of  tonic 
properties.  Parsley  is  a  blood  purifier,  and  should  be  eaten  both  raw 
and  cooked.  An  almost  exclusive  diet  of  fruit  and  vegetables  is 
supposed  to  induce  purity  of  complexion. 
Rotation  In  Carden  Crops. — Mr.  Meehan  says,  “  Whatever  may 
be  true  in  farming,  the  practical  gardener  usually  understands  that  the 
general  rule  adopted  by  the  farmer,  as  to  the  rotation  of  crops,  does  not 
prove  to  be  of  equal  necessity  in  gardening.  But  there  can  be  no  rule 
for  this.  The  good  gardener  alone  must  decide  for  himself  in  each  case. 
For  some  kind  of  crops,  and  under  some  conditions,  a  change  of  crop 
from  year  to  year  may  be  desirable,  but  with  good  judgment  in  each 
case  such  a  course  may  not  be  necessary.  The  Potato  especially,  under 
proper  treatment,  has  been  grown  successfully  on  the  same  ground  for 
half  a  score  of  years.  Some  special  manure  is  desirable,  but  brains 
constitute  the  best  fertiliser.” 
Dew. — The  dew  is  condensed  out  of  the  air  in  contact  with  surfaces 
below  a  certain  temperature.  At  night  the  surface  of  the  earth  and  al] 
things  on  it,  and  especially  the  smooth  surfaces  of  vegetable  productions, 
are  constantly  being  cooled  by  radiation.  If  the  sky  is  covered  with 
clouds,  the  radiation  sent  back  from  the  clouds  nearly  supplies  an 
equivalent  for  the  heat  thus  parted  with,  but  if  the  sky  be  clear  no 
equivalent  is  supplied,  and  the  surface  of  the  earth  and  things  growing 
on  it  become  cooler  than  the  atmosphere.  If  the  night  also  be  calm, 
the  small  portion  of  air  contiguous  to  any  of  these  surfaces  will  become 
cooled  below  the  so-called  dew  point,  and  its  moisture  deposited  on  the 
surface  in  the  form  of  dew. 
Adiantun  Farleyense. — This  magnificent  East  Indian  species 
may  well  be  termed  the  Queen  of  Maidenhairs.  The  large  lobes  of  the 
fronds  are  finely  crimped,  so  that  the  effect  is  splendid.  As  an  exhibition 
plant  there  is  no  mistaking  its  value,  either  as  a  single  specimen  or  in 
a  collection  of  Ferns,  judges  too  rarely  seeing  it  in  perfection.  I  have 
found  the  most  common  error  is  to  put  too  much  peat  in  the  compost. 
In  commencing  the  cultivation  use  clean  pots  and  ample  drainage.  The 
compost  I  have  used  with  conspicuous  success  consisted  of  two  parts 
of  loam,  one  of  fibrous  peat,  leaf  mould,  and  coarse  silver  sand.  Cover 
the  drainage  with  the  rougher  portions  and  pot  somewhat  firmly,  lightly 
watering  the  following  day.  Place  in  a  temperature  of  55°  or  60°, 
being  particular  not  to  overwater  or  expose  to  bright  sunshine,  or  the 
plants  do  not  assume  the  rich,  deep  colour  found  in  shaded  plants.  When 
the  roots  fill  the  pots  it  will  take  a  good  share  of  water,  but  too  much 
or  not  enough  will  completely  ruin  its  prospects.  As  Adiantum 
Farleyense  produces  heavy  fronds  a  little  staking  is  quite  necessary  . 
this,  if  carefully  done,  will  show  no  unsightliness. —  R.  P.  R. 
Conifers  as  Rain  Gauges. — Mention  has  already  been  made  of 
the  influence  of  certain  more  or  less  severe  droughts  in  the  French 
Mediterranean  upon  Pinus  Laricio  of  Corsica,  and  Cephalonian  Fir. 
The  lengthening  of  the  branches  of  these  two  species  is  always 
proportionate  to  the  quantity  of  rain  falling  during  those  months  of  the 
year  when  it  is  most  profitable  to  them.  Co-efficients  have  been 
established  indicating  what  the  degree  is  for  each  month  of  the  year. 
These  co-efficients  enable  the  relationship  that  exists  between  the  amount 
of  rain  fallen  and  the  greater  or  less  intensity  of  the  vegetation  which 
it  has  encouraged  to  be  determined.  It  is  shown  that,  under  these 
conditions,  it  is  possible  to  judge  approximately  the  quantity  of  rain 
wt  ich  has  fallen  by  measuring  exactly  the  length  of  the  leader,  or  of 
the  branch  produced  yearly  on  these  species  of  Pine,  and  if  the  estimate 
is  not  absolutely  proporiionate  to  the  quantity  of  rain  registered  by  the 
rain-gauge,  it  closely  appioaches  to  it ;  and  a  still  closer  estimation  may 
be  made  by  taking  into  accouut  the  relative  value  of  the  results  produced 
by  lain  in  the  several  months  of  the  year.  It  is,  therefore,  possible,  to 
a  certain  extent,  to  use  plants  specially  selected  for  this  purpose  as 
actual  registering  rain-gauges. — Felix  Sahut  (in  “  Revue  Horticole.’ ) 
The  Woodman  Spared  the  Tree.  —  A  Hartford  (Conn.) 
correspondent  says  :  “  I  must  tell  you  a  singular  deed  showing  the  love 
of  trees  of  our  late  Bishop  Williams  of  the  Episcopal  Church,  as 
told  in  the  ‘  Hartford  Times,’  who  once  put  down  his  foot  on  the  tree 
slayers  who  cut  the  fine  Elms  down  on  the  street  where  the  Berkeley 
Divinity  School  in  Middletown  is  located.  When  the  workman 
approached  those  trees  on  the  grounds  of  the  school,  the  good  bishop 
said,  ‘  Halt !  If  you  cut  down  these  trees  I  move  the  school  out  of  the 
city.’  It  had  effect.  The  grand  Elms  were  left  undisturbed.  |  (Though 
he  be  dead  now,  at  the  age  of  eighty-two,  may  his  example  be  kept 
green  whenever  necessary  shade  trees  are  in  danger  of  annihilation.” 
A  Mellow  Soil. — The  term  “  mellow,”  as  used  in  agriculture,  has 
quite  a  wide  range  of  meanings.  When  applied  to  the  skin  of  a  beast 
it  implies  that  the  animal  has  a  soft,  “sappy”  hide,  covered  with  a 
thick,  dense  coat  of  fine  “furry”  hair.  As  applied  to  soils  the  term 
“  mellow  ”  usually  implies  that  the  land  has  been  through  a  successful 
course  of  rotation,  and  has  been  brought  into  suoh  a  fine  state  of 
tillage  and  such  good  condition  of  fertility  that  it  may  be  regarded, 
says  the  “  Farmers’  Gazette,’’  as  being  in  as  nearly  an  ideal  condition 
for  crop  growing  purposes  as  possible.  The  greater  the  extent  of  a 
farmer’s  holding  which  can  be  regarded  as  in  typical  “mellow” 
condition  the  better  the  land  will  be,  either  from  an  arable  farmer’s  or 
from  a  grazier’s  point  of  view. 
Derivations  of  the  Name  Sedum. — Britton  and  Brown,  in  tbeir 
truly  great  work,  “  The  Illustrated  Flora  of  the  Northern  United  States, 
Canada,  and  the  British  Possessions,”  give  the  pronunciation  of  the 
Stonecrop — Sedum — as  Se-dum,  and  say  that  the  name  was  derived 
from  ‘‘  Latin,  to  sit,  from  the  lowly  habit  of  these  plants.”  The 
logical  mind  will  wonder  how  these  plants  are  more  “  lowly,”  or  “  sit 
on  the  ground '’  better  than  hundreds  of  other  species.  It  is  singular 
that  these  learned  authors  should  adopt  such  a  dull  explanation.  In 
vol.  i.,  first  series  of  “  Meehan’s  Native  Flowers  and  Ferns  of  the 
United  States,”  page  85,  issued  in  1878,  it  is  shown  that  our  House- 
leek  was  the  original  Sedum  of  the  ancients ;  and  that  the  plant 
being  commonly  used  as  a  poultice  for  assuaging  the  pains  of  burns 
and  scalds,  derived  its  name  from  these  assuaging  properties,  and  that 
the  pronunciation  should  be  Sed-um,  and  not  Se-dum.  But  it  is  hard 
work  to  uproot  error. 
The  Cranberry  Cultivated. — There  has  been  some  talk  of  late 
about  planting  the  Cranberry  on  waste  places.  The  Cranberry  grows 
on  moist,  boggy  spots  throughout  the  oountry,  but  it  is  much  more 
frequent  in  the  north  than  in  the  south  of  England.  The  Cranberry 
is  by  no  means  hard  to  cultivate,  provided  it  has  plenty  of  water  and 
some  peaty  earth.  No  doubt  it  would  grow  in  many  of  the  lower- 
lying  spots  in  the  Pice  country  round  about  Wokiug.  It  can  be  sown 
or  planted,  and  the  planted  slips  soon  take  root  if  the  spot  is  at  all 
favourable.  If  we  took  to  growing  Cranberries  in  quantities  in  England 
we  should  only,  says  a  daily  paper,  be  reviving  an  old  practice.  Great 
quantities  of  the  fruit  were  cultivated  in  the  eastern  counties  at  one 
time,  and  sold  in  Norwich  and  elsewhere.  When  much  poor  land  was 
drained  and  prepared  for  agriculture  in  Norfolk  and  Lincoln, 
Cranberry  cultivation  gradually  disappeared.  Hence  Cranberries  sold 
in  London  to-day  are  mostly,  if  not  entirely,  foreign-grown.  Russia 
sends  us  large  quantities  ;  in  Norway  the  fruit  is  largely  used.  Eaten 
with  thick  cream  it  is  very  good.  Cranberry  jam  or  preserve  is  also 
favoured  by  the  Scandinavians. 
The  Hard  Woods  of  Paraguay. — Quebracho  is  one  of  the  most 
profitable  woods  in  Paraguay.  It  yields  an  extract  used  for  tanning 
leather.  The  forests  of  Paraguay  are  said  to  be  full  of  it,  and  among 
other  trees  in  the  unexplored  territory  west  and  north-west  of 
Paraguay  are  the  following  : — Virapuita,  Virara,  Lapacho  (very  heavy, 
and  a  fine  hard  wood  much  in  request  in  Buenos  Ayres),  Jacaranda, 
Palo  Santo  (which  derives  a  fragrant  odour  from  its  resin,  and  from 
which  a  fine  extract  is  made),  and  Curupay,  which  is  excellent  for 
building  purposes,  and  whose  bark  contains  tannic  acid.  The  United 
States  Consul  at  Ascension  says  that  Quebracho  and  other  woods 
named  are  found  in  the  west  and  north  of  Paraguay.  In  the  south- 
eastern  part,  360  miles  along  the  Alto  Paranat,  stretches  a  forest  full 
of  the  most  precious  hard  woods  as  follows  : — Incienso,  with  an  extraot 
used  as  incense  in  the  churches;  Curupay  and  Lapacho,  the  last  more 
abundant  than  in  the  north;  Urudai,  Timbo,  Iviraro,  Piteribi,  and 
Quayavi.  Cedar  grows  widely,  the  trees  are  about  80  feet  high  and 
12  feet  or  15  feet  in  circumference.  The  bark  is  used  for  tanning.  A 
league  of  land  in  Paraguay  containing  Cedar  costs  about  £200. — 
(‘‘  Journal  of  the  Society  of  Arts.”) 
