450 
JOURNAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER. 
November  13,  1902. 
A  Letter  from  Calcutta. 
“My  Dear  Jack, — It  is  with  fear  and  trembling  that  I  pen 
this  note  to  you,  as  no  doubt  by  this  time  I  am  almost  beyond 
your  forgiveness  for  not  writing  to  you  beforehand,  and  especially 
as  I  promised  to  do  so  before  leaving  England.  However,  I  won’t 
fill  this  sheet  with  excuses,  but  really  the  time  seems  to  fly  since 
I  came  here,  and  having  to  leave  England  a  week  before  I 
expected,  my  departure  was  rather  hurried.  I  arrived  here  all 
right  after  a  fairly  pleasant  voyage.  .  .  I  am  pleased  to  say 
the  hot.  weather  is  practically  over  now  (22-10-02)  without  my 
having  had  any  bad  effects  from  the  same.  Last  month  was  the 
worst  of  the  lot,  because  the  soil  being  so  very  wet,  owing  to  the 
heavy  rains  in  July  and  August  especially,  the  hot  sun  caused 
the  atmosphere  to  be  exceedingly  moist.  At  nights  one.  would 
perspire  with  only  a  sheet  over  one.  However,  for  the  next  four 
months  the  Bengal  climate  is  said  to  be  a  lovely  one,  and  I  am 
looking  forward  to.  something  better. 
“  The  growing  period  of  the  vegetation  is  practically  over,  and 
everything  is  looking  its  best,  in  the  way  of  foliage.  The  spring 
is  the  time  when  most  of  the  plants  flower,  but  of  course  there  is 
always  something  in  bloom,  and  some  plants  flower  almost  all  the 
year  round.  Brownias,  Amherstias,  Lagerstrcemias,  the  lovely 
Poinciana  regia,  &c. ,  flower  in  spring  and  early  summer.  Many 
Palms  are  now  in  flower.  Oredoxa  regia,  of  which  there  is  here 
a  fine  avenue,  is  throwing  out  its  large  flower  spikes. 
“  The  grandest  plant  in  flower  for  some  time  has  been  Colvillea 
racemosa.  It  is  a  tree  growing  to  a  height  of  50ft  or  more,  with 
rather  a  long  bare  stem  ;  the  branches  spreading  in  a.  drooping 
manner  from  the  top.  These  latter  have  been  for  the  last  forD 
night,  furnished  with  many  large  racemes  of  small,  oranoe-red 
flowers— really  a  brilliant  sight  from  a  distance.  There  is  also  a 
lovely  tree  of  Kydia  calycina  in  flower.  The  long  panicles  at  the 
end  of  e\  ery  branch  arc  presented  in  much  the  same  manner  as 
Hydrangea  paniculata.  In  fact,  when  I  went  up  to  it  and  casting 
a  casual  glance,  the  clusters  reminded  me  of  that  plant  very  much 
laking  into  consideration  the  bushy  habit,  of  the  tree, ‘and  its 
height — 30ft  or  40ft — you  can  imagine  what  a  lovely  sight  it  is. 
It  has  to  be  seen  in  the  morning,  however,  as  the.  flowers  soon 
fade.  It  would  be  about  seven  o’clock  when  I  looked  at  it,  and 
hundreds  of  bees  and  butterflies  were  swarming  amongst  the 
pinkish  white  flowers. 
“Antigonon  leptopus  is  one  of  the  prettiest  climbers  I  have 
seen  here1.  One  half  of  the  roof  of  one.  of  our  plant  houses  is 
coveied  with  it,  and  for  the- last  six  months,  it  has  been  constantly 
in  flower.  There  are  two  varieties,  a  white  and  a  pink  one,  anil 
all  day  (but  best  in  the  morning)  the  roof  is  a  mass  of  white  and 
pink.  C  rotons  are  at  their  best,  as  they  have  made  their  summer’s 
growth.  Dracaenas  have  also  fine  foliage.  Allamandas  and  Ixoras 
have  been  flowering  all  summer,  and  Begonia,  magnifica  is  flower- 
‘  L  saw  an  art^e  recently  about  the  Amherstia.  nobilis. 
We-  have  a  fine  avenue  of  it,  and  during  March  and  April  it  is  a 
fine  sight.  It  seeds  here,  but  not  freely,  and  we  have  raised  two 
or  three  dozen  seedlings.  A  drawback  as  regards  the  seed,  and 
one-  which,  no  doubt,  renders  it  scarcer  in  other  countries,  is  that 
they  lose  their  vitality  within  four  days  after  falling  from  the 
tree,  so-  that  immediate  sowing  is  necessary.  We  also  raise  them 
from  layers,  and  by  this  method  we  get  earlier  flowering  plants. 
“  the  way  we  layer  them  may  be  interesting  to-  you.  A  good 
strong  bamboo  cane  is  fixed  into  the  ground1,  the  top  coming 
m  close  contact  with  the  branch  to  be  layered.  It  is  then  split 
four  or  five  times  from  the  top  down  about  a  foot,  and  a  pot  of 
soil  is  firmly  fixed  in  the  centre.  The  branch  is  layered  into 
this  about  May  or  June.  Until  the  rains-  start  in  July  these 
require  watering,  and  by  the  end  of  September  they  are  rooted 
and  ready  for  the  nursery,  where  they  are-  kept  until  next  rainy 
season,  the  time  for  planting. 
Next  to  this  avenue  of  Amherstias  we  have  one  of  Brownias. 
these  flower  about  a  month  earlier  than  the  Amherstia,  and  for 
beauty  rival  the  latter.  I  came  across  a  large  patch  of  Exacum 
zeylamcum  in  the-  grounds  to-day.  It  was  growing  amongst  the 
long  grass,  and  would  be  considered  as  jungle  here-.  In  my  list 
of  plants  in  flower  I  should  also  mention  Cassia  glauca,  which  is 
a-  lovely  sight,  with  clusters  of  yellow  flowers  at  the  ends  of 
the  branches.  I  should  include  Cassia  grandis,  although  it  does 
not  nearly  come  up  to  the  first  as  regards  flow’ers,  but  is  a 
larger  and  generally  a  finer  tree. 
u  Several  of  the  trees  are  beginning  to  lose  their  leaves,  as 
most  of  them  do  in  the  cold  season.  There  is  a  difficulty  keeping 
grass  down  in  the  rainy  season;  it  grows  so  fast.  We  have 
always  eight  to  ten  mowers  working,  as  well  as  a  mowing- 
machine,  such  as  they  have  for  cutting  hay  at  home.  The  flower 
garden  foreman,  or  mallee,  is  busy  getting  his  place  ready  for 
the  cold-w'eather  bedding,  which  would  be  called  summer  bedding 
in  England.  Seeds  are-  obtained  from  English  nurserymen,  and 
the  usual  summer  annuals,  Pelargoniums,  and  such  like,  are 
obtained  from  Darjeeling,  as  it  is  impossible  to  keep  these  in 
Bengal  during  the  hot  weather.  I  have  not,  as  you  know',  had 
the  opportunity  of  seeing  the  flower  garden  at  this  season,  but 
I  am  told  the  plants  grow  and  flower  exceedingly  well ;  and  what 
with  the  lovely  climate  and  such  a  variety  of  plants  which  can 
be  utilised,  the  flower  garden  might  w'ell  be  a  beautiful  sight. 
There  are  a  fine  lot  of  Orchids  here,  but  few  are  in  flower  at 
present.  A  batch  of  Vanda  cserulea  will  soon  be  on  view'.  I 
was  looking  at  them  to-day,  and  saw  that  there  was  a  fine  lot 
of  spikes. 
“Well,  dear  Jack,  I  fancy  I  might  go  on  for  another,  hour 
describing  the  plants  here,  but  I  shall  leave  something  for  a 
future  time.  My  work  is  principally  looking  after  the-  work¬ 
people.  We  have  at  present  on  the  books  about  100  coolies, 
50  women,  20  mallees,  or  gardeners,  and  30  boys.” — Ernest. 
Chrysanthemums  at  Westbury. 
There  seems  ample  justification  for  the  exception  taken  on 
page  389  in  regard  to  the  merits  of  the  variety  Margaret  Mar- 
wood.  In  Messrs.  House’s  nursery,  as  I  intimated,  there  are 
such  a  great  range  of  variety,  many  good,  others  indifferent, 
that  in  a  hurried  inspection  it  is  not  a  difficult  matter  for  one 
error  to  be  made  in  the  case  of  variety.  Inquiries  of  the  Messrs. 
House  elicit  the  remark  that  they  have  thirty  better  sorts,  and 
the  commended  one  being  so  closely  contiguous  to  the  one  for 
which  commendation  was  intended — Shasta- — accounted  for  the 
slight  confusion  of  tallies.  This  is  the  best,  freest  ,  and  dwarfe-st 
of  the  whole  range  of  Moon  Daisies,  another  excellent  one  bears 
a  popular  title — Lord  Roberts. — W.  S. 
- *♦#•* - 
Vegetable  Pests. 
I  noticed  an  article  in  the  Journal  of  Horticulture  last  week, 
page  403,  headed  “  Vegetable  Pests,”  and  signed  “  John 
Rylance.”  If  Mr.  Rylance  will  take  a  small  stick  and  make  a 
hole  on  one  side  of  the  Cabbage  affected,  about  3in  deep  and 
2in  or  thereabouts  from  the  stock,  and  put  half  a  teaspoonful  to 
a  teaspoonful  of  paraffin  oil  into  the  hole,  the  quantity  to  be 
regulated  according  to  the  state  of  the  soil,  the  paraffin  will 
permeate  through  the  soil,  and  as  soon  as  the  plant  is  reached 
the  pest  will  “tak’  the  road.”  It  is  not  too  late  to  apply  the 
remedy  so  long  as  there  is  life  in  the  plants;  but,  of  c-ourse. 
wdien  the  plants  are  so  far  gone  it  will  be  longer  before  they 
get  into  health  again.  Intelligently  and  judiciously  applied, 
nothing  but  good  will  result  from  the  application. — J.  F.  L. 
- «♦#♦» - 
Tomatoes  for  Early  Fruiting. 
In  a  recent  issue  of  the  Journal,  September  11,  page  251,  I 
note  “  J.  H.  W.”  advocating  the  removal  of  the  anthers  as  a 
means  of  pollination  of  the  Tomato  in  winter,  a  process  with 
which  I  have  had  no  experience,  and  it  may  prove  better  than 
my  -suggestion,  which  I  offer  if  accepted.  Some  years  ago,  when 
a  foreman,  I  had  tried  different  ways  of  pollinating  Tomatoes 
without  much  success,  and  being  advised  by  a  friend  to-  get 
some  cowt  manure,  which  I  did,  and  put  about  a  Gin  potful,  2ft 
or  3ft  apart,  convenient  to  the-  pipes,  and  covered  it  with  a  little 
dry  soil,  and  in  a  few’  days  small  flies  by  the  hundred  appeared, 
when  the  manure  would  be  turned  or  shifted.  The  flies  made 
friends  with  the  Tomato  flowers  with  fairly  good  results.  The 
smell  from  the  manure  is  anything  but  pleasant  for  a  time. 
Having  tried  the  above  several  times  since,  I  have  had  no 
trouble  in  getting  a.  fair  set. — J.  M.  C.,  Ballyarthur,  Wooden- 
bridge. 
Fruit  Trees  Pruned  or  Not  Pruned  at  Planting. 
If  your  correspondent,  Mr.  A.  Petts,  is  of  opinion  that  he  has 
thrown  light  upon  the  controversy  on  this  point,  I  can  only  say 
that  the  light  has  not  dawned  upon  me  yet.  In  one  place  he 
says :  “  Thus  w'e  see  the  working  of  this  general  principle — 
cutting  back  a  newdy-planted  tree  induces  vigour  of  growth  ; 
leaving  them  unpruned  leads  to  fruitfulness  (and  probably  un¬ 
sightly  naked  branches)  even  before  the  tree  is  strong  enough 
to  support  it.”  In  another  place  he-  writes:  “Deferring  the 
cutting  back  of  the  trees  till  after  a  season’s  growth  adds  to 
their  vigour  of  growth.”  If  these  two  sentences  are  not  directly 
contradictory  I  do  not  understand  the  English  language. — 
Observer. 
P.S. — Will  any  reader  who  grows  Cob-nuts  tell  me  w’hether 
the  trees  should  be  cut  back  when  planted,  and,  if  so,  to  what, 
extent  ? 
