January  21,  19C4.  JOURNAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER. 
G1 
very  little  grading  of  Strawberries;  of  course,  we  keep  the 
different  varieties  separate.  Dr.  Hogg  and  Vicomtesse  Hericart 
de  Tliury  (Garibaldi)  are  the  leading  varieties  grown  here  ;  and, 
of  course.  Black  and  Red  Currants  are  in  bulk. 
“With  regard  to  tree  fruits  there  was  next  to  none  in  the 
locality  last  season.  I  had  a  fair  crop  of  Victoria  Plums,  and  got 
£12  for  them,  which  was  good  for  my  little  garden,  and  we 
grade  them,  selling  at  from  l^d.  per  lb  to  tkl.,  according  to 
({uality.  Darnick  Tower  was  the  only  other  garden  that  had 
a  crop  hereabout.  There  has  been  no  increase  of  trees  planted 
for  twenty  years,  except  500  or  000  Victoria  Plum  trees. 
“The  peculiarity  of  this  locality  is  the  large  number  of  small 
growers  of  outdoor  fruits,  men  having  gardens  of  half  an  aero 
to  three  acres,  and  they  .just  move  on  in  the  old  ways;  but  they 
have  a  fairly  good  collection  of  fruit  trees.  Mr.  Dickson  from 
Dalkeith  has  taken  Mr.  Thomas  Nichols’  farm  at  Darnick — sixty 
acres — and  he  is  to  grow  outdoor  fruit  and  vegetables. 
“  Mr.  Lindsay  (another  marketman)  is  puting  up  a  small  glass 
house  at  the  present  time,  and  would  have  put  up  more  if  he 
could  have  got  a  lease  of  his  place.  The  salesmen  in  Edinburgh 
are  very  pleased  with  his  Tomatoes,  and  urge  him  to  put  up  more 
houses.  They,  indeed,  offered  him  the  loan  of  money  to  do  so. 
There  is  a  Mr.  Davidson  from  near  Swansea,  Wales,  and  who 
had  a  pretty  large  place  there,  who  has  bought  Mr.  Small’s  house 
(£1,500)  and  intends  to  put  up  houses  there,  to  grow  for  the 
market.  Cucumbers  seemed  to  be  his  leading  article  in  Wales, 
along  with  (Irapes,  and  Tomatoes,  and  Chrysanthemums,  each 
of  which  he  intends  to  cultivate  here.  Mr.  Mailan  put  up  four 
or  five  glass  houses  at  the  east  end  of  Galashiels  about  eight  years 
ago,  and  grows  a  variety  of  fruits  and  flowers.  Mr.  Laidlaw 
is  putting  up  two  houses  at  the  west  end  of  Galashiels  prim 
cipally  for  Tomatoes;  and  Mr.  Gilroy,  of  Darnick,  is  erecting  a 
house  for  Tomatoes,  so  you  will  see  that  there  is  an  increase  in 
a  small  way  of  culture  under  glass,  and  most  of  the  produce  is 
sent  to  Edinburgh. 
“  The  gardener  at  Gattonside  House  is  the  only  one  here  who 
goes  in  for  root-pruning  and  lifting  the  trees  after  they  are 
three  years  iflanted.  I  believe  there 
is  more  fruit  consumed  in  Galashiels 
than  any  other  town  of  its  size  o/i 
this  side  of  the  Borders.  One 
hawker,  or  coster,  sold  at  the  rate 
of  eighteen  barrels  of  American 
Apples  a  week  by  door  to  door 
visiting  in  the  autumn.” 
Plants  at  Kew. 
In  the  Heath  hou.se  Brodisea 
Sellowiaua  is  throwing  up  a  few  ol 
its  buttercui)-yellow  flowers,  which 
are  cup-like,  with  six  acutel.y 
jiointed  segments,  three  inner  and 
three  outer,  as  typical  of  the 
Liliacea?.  Each  flower  is  borne 
singly  on  its  owii  stalk,  sui- 
rounded  by  the  green,  grassy 
leaves.  Veltheimia  viridifolia.  also 
bulbous,  is  a  hamlsome  and  fairly 
well-known  South  African  plant. 
Its  terminal  racemes  of  purplisli 
floral  tubes  on  smooth,  succulent, 
green  and  purple  chequered  .stems, 
make  it  a  distinctive  and  welcome 
subject  at  all  times.  The  succulent, 
shining  green  leaves,  with  sinuous 
('dges,  are  very  handsome. 
Capsicum  baccatum  furnishes  a 
dwarf,  woody  species,  evidently 
inclined  to  branch  considerably, 
and  it  has  elliptic,  cordate  foliage. 
The  fruit  cajisules  are  about  the 
size  of  a  Cheri’y  .stone,  and  coloured 
bright  orange  crimson.  It  is  a 
British  Central  African  plant,  and 
seeds  came  to  Kew  in  1901. 
Another  “  new  ”  plant  from 
B.C.A.  is  Plectranthus  crassus,  whose  dense  but  pleasing  verti- 
cillate  spikes  of  deep  lavender  blue  labiate  flowers  are  nearly  a 
foot  long,  and  give  off  branchlets  from  the  base  of  the  main 
.spike.  The  .stems  are  four-sided,  but  more  rounded  toward  the 
base.  The  foliage  leaves  somewhat  closely  resemble  those  of 
Tibouchina  (Lasiandi-a)  macrantha.  They  are  oppo.site,  but 
the  pairs  are  at  right  angles  to  the  pair  immediately  below. 
The  Kew  plants  now  flowering  are  in  5|iu  pots,  and  are 
fully  3ift  liigh.  Plectranthus  chiradzulensis  var.,  introduced 
in  1898  from  B.C.A. ,  has  leaves  nearly  like  the  common  Nettle, 
though  much  les.s  hairy,  and  with  a  broader  ba.se.  As  a  pot 
plant  it  branches  comsiderably,  and  the  .stems  terminate  in  deli¬ 
cate,  branching,  verticillateraeemes,  the  pretty  bright  blue  flowers 
xactly  resembling  in  shape  the  foot  of  a  knight  in  armour.  This 
simile  is  quaint,  but  it  ls  a  good  one.  The  purplish  stigma  pro- 
trude,s  between  the  adjoined  edges  of  this  boot-shaped  aclditio'n 
to  the  corolla,  thu^  excluding  it  entirely  from  the  pollen  of  its 
own  anther.s.  Botauically,  it  is  a  most  interesting  type.  The 
foliage  leaves  seem  to  bi-  posstssed  of  a  rust,  which  disligurcs  tl  eni. 
One  of  the  most  interesting  pilants  in  the  stove  was  a  Poin- 
settia  pulcherrima  with  pale  tea  or  primrose  coloured  bracts. 
Indeed,  there  are  quite  a  number  of  plants  of  this  "sport,”  and 
it  contra.sts  well  with  the  ordinar3'^  form  having  scarlet  bracts. 
It  has  been  named  P.  p.  alba. 
A  new  Coclogyne,  named  graminifolia,  from  the  long,  nariow 
character  of  its  leaves,  furnishes  a  bright  displa,y  in  one  of  tho 
Orchid  hou.xes.  The  plant  bears  a  large  number  of  racemes, 
which  hang  forward  just  over  the  edge  of  the  pot,  each  one  bear¬ 
ing  three  or  four  flowers.  The.se  are  briskly  fragrant,  and  have 
a  rich  yellow  lip,  the  segments  being  crc'amj-  with  a  touch  of 
salmon.  It  came  to'  Kew  recently. 
'Ihe  Acacias  are  flowering  meagrely  as  yet  in  the  Temperate 
House,  and  the  following  are  the  species:  A.  platyptera,  linearis, 
linifolia,  neiiifolia,  ppiitadeuia,  and  dealbata.  The  Natal 
Laburnum  (Calpuria  aurea.  Baker)  was  noticed,  Dermatobobr.ys 
Saundersiae,  Loropetalum  chinense,  Cytisus  filipes.  Azalea  indica 
vars.,  Caiuellias.  Tritoma  longicollis,  Veronicas,  and  Daphne 
indica  rubra  were  also  in  flower. 
A  number  of  the  earlier  bulbous  Irises  are  flowering  in  an 
open-air  border,  while  in  the  Alpine  House  there  are  Narcis.sus 
Bulbocodium,  Snowdrop.s,  Crocuses,  Merenderas,  Cyclamens 
Coum  and  ibericum,  and  a  few  other  subjects. — W.VNDKitixf; 
Willie. 
The  Potato  Trade  in  America. 
Potato  growers  in  this  country  will  not  be-  displeased  to  hear 
that  the  prices  of  Potatoes  are  advancing  in  America,  and  arc 
likely  to  advance  still  further.  From  the  point  of  view  of  a 
.speculative  shipper,  however,  it  would  appear  that  the  prices  in 
America  will  require  to  rise  a  good  deal  farther  before  there  would 
be  any  inducement  to  ship  Potatoes  from  Great  Britain  to 
America.  The  latest  quotations  of  prices  in  America  are  only 
at  the  rate  of  2.25dols  per  sack  of  1681b,  or  slightly  over  £6  per 
ton,  from  which  a  charge  of  £3  per  ton  for  freight,  import  duty, 
dock  and  commission  charges,  would  be  made,  leaving  only  a 
free  balance  of  .€3  per  ton.  In  fact,  the  prices  in  America  are 
only  about  the  same  rate  as  prices  in  London,  where  there  is  no 
import  duty  to  pay,  so  that  British  merchants,  as  well  as  British 
growers,  will  much  prefer  the  home  markets  v  bile  prices  in 
America  and  London  remain  relatively  as  they  ari'  just  now.  A 
good  many  Potato  nun-chants  in  this  country  believe,  however, 
that  if  prices  should  advance  any  farther  in  America  the  .surplus 
stocks  of  German.y  will  be  drawn  away  to  the  New  World,  and 
that  the  prices  in  our  home  markets  will  tlien  advance  c:.n- 
siderably. 
