HORTICULTURAL JOTTINGS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXVI, Issue 11151, 25 August 1899, Page 7

HORTICULTURAL JOTTINGS.

In many parts of England pear trees have been bc injured by frosts that crops are expected to be small.

A dry season may decrease the yield of potatoes, but it increases the amount of starch in them, while a wet season has the opposite effect. \

In every city or town in the Netherlands you will find a Rosemary-street. In olden days only undertakers lived in them, the rosemary being, in the language of flowers, specially dedicated to the dead. A new way to rid fruit trees of caterpillars is reported from America. All you have to do, it seems, is to blow a horn or other loudsounding instrument under the trees and the caterpillars fall to the ground.

Experiments made at an American agricultural station Showed that potato seed planted four inches deep yielded better than seed planted two inches or six inches deep. In Southern Illinois, where somo 7500 acres of castor beans are annually grown, the average yield is about 9 bushels to the acre. The ruling price is about a dollar. Tho roots of strawberries are contained in a very small rpaco. Horizontally they extend scarcely Ijoyond tho ends of the leaves, while very few roots reach a depth of two feet. A gardening expert remarks that in small gardens, mulching after transplanting is generally advisable, tlie best mulch being either a few inches of soil kept loose and mellow by frequent stirring, or straw or chaff. Crops *"o mulched are invariably pretty free from weeds. It appears that tho permission lias been received to _ place baskets at all the Leeds railway stations for the reception of flowers for the use of the Leeds Flower Mission every Thursday morning. The new organisation has been extraordinarily successful. Each week has seen an increase in the supply of flowers, and over a thousand bunches have been distributed among the patients of the various local hospitals, including the Leed' Workhouse Infirmary. An American authority states that it is often desirable to soak seeds in some solution to prevent their destruction by such pests as gophers and the . like. The Kansas experimental station finds that this soaking is in no ffay detrimental to the germinating qualities of the seeds. On the contrary, thero was an increase in the percentage which germinated. The Japanese persimmon, or knki. is becoming more common in the United States, and Is frequently planted in the southern States. Occasionally it is seen in the markets, but not enough to make any real impression. In a recent study of the varieties now propagated in that country, Professor Watts, of Tennessee, enumerates ten named sorts of American persimmons, and seven of the kaki. The tomato has a curious history. After the revolution of San Domingo, niafty French families came from there to Philadelphia, where they introduced their favourite pomme d'amour. Although introduced from South America into England as early as 1596, it was i looked upon with suspicion, and its specific name, Lycopersicum, derived from lykos (wolf) and persikon (peach), referring to the beautiful but deceptive appearance of its fruit, intimates pretty closely the kind of estimation in which it was held. It is now, however, all but universally used. For judging the tomato the following Eeliedule of points has been adopted in the Horticultural Department of (ho Ohio State University : -Size, 10; shape, 15: colour, 10: skin and surface, 10; texture of flesh, solidity, etc., 25; seeds, 10: flavour, 10; cooking qualities, 10: total, 100. For scoring or judging a variety of tomatoes, the following additional scale lias been used by I^zcnby: Productiveness, 40; vigour and'healthfuhiess, 30; earliness, 20; uniformity of size, 10: total, 100. The leaves of the Chilian Pauke plant (Gunnera scabrn) are perhaps the largest in creation. _ Darwin says that he one day noticed giowing on the sandstone cliffs some very line plants of the panke, which resembled the rhubarb on a large scale. The leaf is nearly circular, but deeply indented on its margin. One measured Bft in diametei, and, therefore, no less than 24ft in circumference. The stalk is rather more than a yard high, and each plant sends out from four to five of these enorhious leaves, presenting together a very noble appearince. The inhabitants eat the stalks, which aro sub-acid, tan leather with tho roots, and prepare a black dye from them. A. H. Gibson, writing to a farming paper, says that in Arizona alfalfa is an excellent honey-producer. But to be a truly good honey plant it should be allowed (to reach full bloom. If, however, you want tlio alfalfa for the hay, it is best to plant an extra strip for the bees. Recent investigations show plainly that alfalfa should bo cut prior to coming into full bloom to make a good hay that will bo a safe feed for horses and young stock. If it is allowed to begin to mature, the hairy growth on the stalks of the alfalfa plant becomes hard and woody. These hairs gather into knots or balls in the stomachs of horses. In time these balls may cause death.

Probably (an Exchange remarks) the most costly of all fungi is the truffle. Many efforts have been made to cultivate it, in some cases with success, but its germination has always been a mystery. Now it is announced by a contributor to the French Academy of Soionces, that tho truffle is a true mushroom, which may bo propagated by spores without trouble. The ordinary way in which truffles have been cultivated is by burying overripe and decaying specimens in sandy loam, nuclei' beech, hazel, oak, or cedar of Lebanon trees. Sometimes oak sawdust is mixed with tho soil. The truffle has been cultivated n this ./ay, with varying success, in France, Italy, and Great Britain, always realising a liieh price. Intelligence was lately received in London of the death of the Premier of Natal, Sir Henry Bihns. The deceasod gentleman was long and doeply interested in developing the natural resources of the colony lie had ro long since made his home. Horticulture and agriculture wore much indebted tc him; he early applied himself to sugar-planting, and was one of the promoters of tho first sugar-planting company established in the colony. Tea and coffee culture received much attention from the departed Premier, who, in fact, thoroughly identified himself with the best interests of this old African colony, The late Premier was a native of Sunderland, and tile life begun in that busy northern town has continued a busy ono uhftl 'h,i dohe.

Scale upon apple trees is best got rid of by first scraping and rubbing the trees with any convenient blunt-edged instrument, theft with a stiff scrubbing-brush applying a mixhire of soft soap solution and crude carbolic acid, oho part carboli; acid to seven parts soap solution, the soap solution consisting of 1 quart soft soap and 2 quarts water. If trees are quite young and thin barked, scraping may be omitted. It tears tho bark too much. This treatment should exterminate the scales, and is best done how. If they appear in parly summei, spraying with kerosene emulsion is effective as long as the young are nctivo; after that it is of little consequence. There are plants that possess powers of motion dotnparablo to those exhibited by tho lower order of animals. The sensitive and insect-eating plants display these qualities in a remarkable degree. Similar movements to tlioso of the sensitive plants* but occurring spontaneously, may bo obsorved in others. Thus, in tho telegraph plant, tho leaf consists of three large central leaflets, and two smaller ones. 'file Motion is especially observable to the small side leaflets, which on a warm day may be seen to riso and fall by a succession of jerking movements, how stopping for some time, then moving briskly, always resting for a while in some part of thai, course, and starting again with apparent ease, " seemingly of their own will." as a well-known authority remarks, A class of nlgffi which grows in the water, are constantly in a state of oscillation, balancing themselves backwards and forwards during tho \Vholo period of thoir eiiStßhce. .