August  14,  ISO'2. 
JOURNAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER. 
147 
The  Rapid-growing  Hop. 
It  is  strange  the  Hop  Vine  does  not  figure  more  prominently 
in  plantings  where  a  rapid-growing  vine  is  wanted.  In  the 
fall  it  dies  to  the  ground,  coming  up  again  luxuriantly  in  the 
spring.  The  leaf  is  rather  large— just  a  trifle  coarse,  perhaps. 
There  is  also  a  golden-leaved  variety.  Notwithstanding  the 
commercial  connection,  the  plant  is  valuable  as  an  ornamental. 
Growing  Tomatoes. 
Most  growers  of  Tomatoes  for  sale  or  export  aim  at 
producing  very  large  smooth  fruit.  That  the  smooth  variety 
is  preferred  to  the  wrinkle  kind  is  evident  from  the  fact  that 
the  public,  as  a  rule,  do  not  care  for  tho  latter,  and  that  a 
better  price  can  be  obtained  for  the  former.  But  abnormally 
large  Tomatoes  are  a  mistake.  As  a  general  rule,  the  public 
prefer  a  moderate  size.  The  housewife  does  not  like  getting 
two  or  three  fruits  to  the  pound,  because  there  is  , often  much 
wasted  in  the  large  sizes.  From  2in  to  3in  in  diameter  is  quite 
large  enough,  and  such  Tomatoes  will  always  command  a  better 
price  than  the  very  large  ones,  which  are  more  useful  to  the 
cook  for  “  fancy  work  ”  than  for  general  purposes. 
The  Fruit  Crop. 
Looking  at  the  fruit  crop  no  cne  will  doubt  that  the  frost 
has  hit  us  hard  this  year.  Most  gardening  people  have 
suffered,  some  more,  some  less,  but  all  in  a  degree.  Everybody 
feels  himself  to  be  the  most  injured,  too,  which  is  our  natural 
way  of  looking  at  things.  The  fruit-grower,  who  has  hundreds 
of  pounds  at  stake,  may  be,  complains  no  more  in  his  way  than 
an  amateur  friend  of  mine  who  grows  Irises  for  a  hobby,  and 
was  nearly  heart-broken  when  the  frost  spoiled  all  his  chances 
cf  bloom.  In  a  general  way,  however,  we  can  only  hope  that 
matters  will  not  eventually  be  so  bad  as  they  appear  to  be, 
though  I  doubt  many  fruit-growers  and  market  gardeners  will 
have  reasons  to  remember  the  May  frosts  of  Coronation 
year. — H. 
What  a  Price! 
It  is  obvious  that  any  amateur  who  is  ready  to  hand  over 
£425  for  a  single  plant  of  an  Odontoglossum  must  not  only  be 
willing,  but  also  in  a  position  to  pay  for  his  hobby.  I  saw  the 
plant  which  fetched  the  above  sum  (figured  on  page  507,  last  vol.) 
at  the  Temple  Show,  and  agree  that  it  was  one  of  the  finest 
there.  But  four  hundred  and  twenty-five  golden  sovereigns  for 
a  plant  that  might  take  a  perverse  fit  and  die  next  week ! 
Almost  incredible,  isn’t  it  ?  It  may  be  accounted  for  by  the 
fact  that  the  present  owner  will  be  able  to  say  that  no  one 
else  has  got  one  like  it,  which  I  believe  is  a  reason  why- many 
art  treasures  and  antiquities  fetch  such  long  prices.  One  would 
like  to  learn  the  history  of  O.  crispum  ardentissimum,  which, 
I  suppose,  was  no  more  romantic  than  the  rest  cf  the  crispum 
family,  until  it  flowered  and  revealed  its  character. — G. 
Durability  of  Different  Woods. 
Experiments  have  been  lately  made  by  driving  sticks,  made 
of  different  woods,  each  2ft  long  and  l|in  square,  into  the 
ground,  only  Jjin  projecting  outward.  It  was  found  that  in  five 
years  all  those  made  of  Oak  Elm,  -  Ash,  Fir,  soft  Mahogany, 
and  nearly  every  variety  of  Pine,  were  totally  rotten.  Larch, 
hard  Pine  and  Teak  wood  were  decayed  on  the  outside  only ; 
while  Acacia,  with  the  exception  of  being  also  slightly  attacked  on 
the  exterior,  was  otherwise  sound.  Hard  Mahogany  and  Cedar 
of  Lebanon  were  in  tolerably  good  condition ;  but  only  Virginia 
Cedar  was  found  as  good  as  when  put  in  the  ground.  This  is 
of  some  importance  to  builders,  showing  what  woods  should  be 
avoided  and  what  others  used  by  preference  in  underground 
work.  The  duration  of  wood  when  kept  dry  is  very  great,  as 
beams  still  exist  which  are  known  to  be  nearly  1,100  years  old. 
Piles  driven  by  the  Romans  prior  to  the  Christian  era  have 
been  examined  of  late  and  found  to  be  perfectly  sound  after  an 
immersion  of  nearly  2,000  years. 
King  Edward’s  Oak. 
When  he  visited  New  York  some  forty  years  ago  as  Prince  of 
Wales,  the  King  planted  an  Oak  in  the  Central  Park,  New  York. 
Some  two  months  ago,  when  the  King  was  taken  ill,  the  tree 
began  visibly  to  fail,  and  was  thought  to  be  dying,  but  owing 
to  the  judicious  treatment  of  the  landscape  architect  of  the 
park  it  has  revived,  and  now  seems  to  be,  like  its  planter,  in  a 
fair  way  towards  recovery. 
Coronation  Carpet  Bedding. 
The  gardeners  in  Victoria  Park,  the  great  East  End  breath¬ 
ing  space,  have  just  completed  their  Coronation  bedding.  The 
chief  feature  is  an  immense  scroll  near  the  boating  lake.  This 
is  nearly  150ft  long,  and  bears  the  motto',  all  in  various  colour 
plants,  “  God  and  His  Angels  guard  thy  sacred  Throne,  and 
make  you  long  become  it.”  Underneath,  in  patriotic-coloured 
flowers,  is  the  prayer,  “God  save  the  King!” 
Electricity  as  a  Stimulant. 
Electricity  for  stimulating  the  growth  of  cereals,  vegetables 
and  other  plants  has  been  tried  in  many  experiments  by  Dr. 
Selim  Lemstrom,  the  Norwegian  investigator.  On  arable  land 
of  medium  quality,  an  increase  of  45  per  cent,  in  the  crops  has 
been  obtained,  but  the  increase  is  greater  in  proportion  to  the 
care  in  cultivation.  The  effect  is  trifling  on  poor  soil.  The 
electric  current  proves  injurious  to  most — if  not  all — plants  in 
hot  sunshine,  and  such  plants  as  Peas,  Cabbages  and  Turnips 
are  favourably  influenced  only  after  watering.  Estimates  of 
cost  lead  Dr.  Pringsheim  to  conclude  that  electricity  in  agri¬ 
culture  will  pay. 
Phlox  Drummondl  nana  compacta. 
Phlox  Drummondi  is,  of  course,  grown  in  every  garden,  but 
everyone  may  not  be  acquainted  with  the  dwarf  form  under 
•  notice.  Let  me  advise  any  who  have  not  growp  it  to  make  a 
beginning  this  season.  All  the  glowing  colours  cf  Phlox  Drum¬ 
mondi  are  represented  in  the  dwarfer  forms,  but  the  habit  is 
compact,  and  when  grown  in  masses  the  diversity  of  colour  is 
very  striking.  The  plants  are  also  very  useful  for  edging 
purposes,  and  are  also  suitable  for  pot  culture.  During  the  hot 
summer  of  last  year,  when  most  of  the  annuals  were  sorely 
tried,  these  dwarf  Phloxes  kept  up  a  bright  display  of  flower 
and  were  generally  admired.- — H. 
The  Lightest  of  Woods. 
Deep  in  the  bogs  and  swamps  of  South-eastern  Missouri, 
there  grows  a  rare  and  curious  tree  known  as  the  Corkwood  or 
Cork  Tree, or  in  science  as  Leitneria  floridana.  It  reaches  a 
height  cf  15ft  to  20ft,  and  a  diameter  of  2in  to  5in.  What 
makes  Corkwood  so  remarkable  is  its  exceeding  lightness,  it 
being  the  lightest  tree  in  weight  that  grows.  It  is  so  light 
that  the  natives  use  it  to  make  floats  for  their  fishing  nets;  and 
yet  its  wood,  though  so  spongy  one  may  easily  sink  one’s  finger 
in  it,  is  far  tougher  than  cork.  The  specific  gravity  of  cork¬ 
wood,  as  learned  from  careful  tests,  is  0.207.  The  roots  are 
even  lighter  than  the  stem  ;  a  test  showed  them  to  have  the 
astonishingly  low  specific  gravity  of  0.151.  The  great  majority 
of  woods  range  between  0.400  and  0.800.  Cork  itself  is  0.240. 
The  Orange. 
The  Orange  is  of  comparatively  modern  introduction  in 
horticulture.  It  is  not  mentioned  in  the  Scriptures,  nor  by 
Herodotus,  who  lived  five  centuries  before  Christ,  and  who 
wrote  a  list  of  fruits  then  known,  nor  by  Virgil,  who  wrote  much 
about  such  matters  100  years  before  the  Christian  era.  The 
Orange  came  originally  from  the  south  of  China,  Burmah,  and 
India.  It  is  found  growing  wild  in  the  jungles  in  various  parts 
of  India.  The  Arabs  introduced  the  Orange  to  their  country, 
and  thence  it  got  to  Syria  and  Southern  Europe.  This  was 
probably  the  Bitter  Orange.  The  sweet  variety  was  brought  to 
Europe  about  the  fourteenth  century  by  merchants  of  Genoa 
or  Portugal.  Thence  the  tree  was  passed  by  the  Spaniards  and 
Portuguese  to  the  Azores  and  other  parts  of  the  “  New  World,” 
and  found  congenial  conditions.  Mexico,  Florida,  California, 
proved  to  be  highly  suitable.  The  St.  Michael  Orange  origi¬ 
nated  in  the  Azores;  the  Pernambuco  and  Bahia  (or  Navel),  were 
both  named  after  provinces  in  Brazil.  The  Orange  is  now 
found  growing  in  nearly  every  country  where  there  is  enough 
sunlight  and  absence  cf  severe  frosts. 
