HORTICULTURAL CLIPPINGS.

Te Aroha News, Volume V, Issue 240, 4 February 1888, Page 8

HORTICULTURAL CLIPPINGS.

An English paper states that the phylloxera has just appeared in three districts of Lower Austria, a province which had hitherto been quite exempt from this scourge, and which contains the famous vineyards of Voslau And Gumpoldskirohen.

A Persian Fable.— A gourd wound itself round a lofty palm, and in a few weeks ctimbed to its vory top. ' ' How old mayst thou be?" asked the new comer. "About a hundred years," was the answer. *'A hundred years and no taller ! Only look ; I have grown as tall as you in fewer days than you can count yean." "I know that well," replied the palm. " Every summer of my life a gourd has climbed uprownd me, as proud as thou art, and as short-lived aa thou wilt be."

Canadian Apples. — The Canadian Horticulturist saya : "It ieeaa» that our orchards are just recovering from a condition of barennese and impoverishment to which for several years they have been subject, and which has been accompanied by the destructive effects of insects and disease to an unprecedented extent. But now, either as the result of better cultivation- and the more liberal application of fertilizers, or from other causes beyond the control of the fruitgrower, our orchards are showing tbis year a thrifty growth, and a dark green foliage, which gives us the greatest reassurance."

Medicinal U3B of Vegetables.— The large, sweet onion is very rich in those alkaline elements which counteract the poison of rheumatic gout, says the Medical Record. If slowly stewed in weak broth, and eaten with a little Nepaul pepper, it will be found to be an admirable article of diet for patients of studious and sedentary habits. The stalks of cauliflower have the name value, only too often the stalk of a cauliflower is so ill-boiled and unpalatable that few persons would thank you for proposing to them to make part of thitf meal consist of so .uninviting an article. Turnips in this way are often- thought to be indigestible, and better suited for cows and sheep than for delicate people, but here the fault lies with the. cook quite as much as with the root, The .cook boils the turnip badly, and then pours some butter o% or it, and the eater of such a dish is sure to be the worse for it. Try a bettor way. What shall be said of our lettuces ? , The plant has a slight narcotic action, of which a French old woman, like a French dootor, well knows the value, and, when properly cooked it is really very easy of digestion. Jg}

A Wonderful Api?ms T&ee. —-Under this heading an American horticultural journal publishes the following extraordinary account by aMr A. J. Robinetfc, of Soott County, va., of an apple tree/ Th©' writer saya;— "A wonderful apple tiee that originated at this place in the year 1866, is a seedling of unknown parentage, and for over ten yeara has been » steady bearer, producing tine winter fruit, without any bloom, and the apple is destitute , of i seeds or core, being solia throughout, with a thread-like core of very small sisse.passing ! through the centro. It is nearly a sweet i apple, of medium size, dark red in colour, | with a deep orange coloured flesh, will keep I all winter and up till May or June. This \ is the only one of the kind I ever saw or j heard of, and it being such a curiosity, I had it engraved perfect from nature, at maturity and at blooming time, by Mr ; I Wm. H. Prestele, engraver for the Govern- I ment, Washington, D.C., office of Pomology, where the plates can be seen. I write this I to convince many sceptics who have said it was contrary to nature." This is undoubterJlya pomoio^ical wonder if the above description is to be relied on as accurate, but like our American con- [ temporary, while shrinking from any imi putation "on Mr Robinetfs veracity, we \ should like to see that tree during the apple blooming season.

Pendulous Conifers.— Nearly all Conifers ! have a semi-pendulous or drooping aspect when young, as is well exemplified in the case of the Deodar cedar and others ; but afterwards, as they attain age and size, they lose it, and assume their usual or natural forms. The number of really pendulous Conifers is therefore by no means so numerous as might be expected. One of the most striking of the pendulous varieties among the larches is the Godsall larch, which, when grafted standard high on the common larch, forms a striking and pretty object on a lawn. Lawsons pendulous laroh is another form of the common larch which in general appearance resembles the pendulous American larch. This kind, when large, forms a drooping tree with horizontal or extended branches, the lower ones of which frequently reach the ground. It is a native of the Tyroleso Alps. The pendulous American black larch (Larix pendula) is the Hackmatack of the American woodcutters, and is found in the coldest districts from Canada to Virginia. The wood of the Hackmatack is superior to that of the common larch for lightness, strength, and durability. Smith's inverted-branched^ common spruce is a very singular variety, in which the leading shoot atraightens itself in the old wood, after the manner of the Deodar cedar ; the lateral branches on old trees are &s drooping as those of the weeping* willow. It is •uperior as regards its drooping habit to all the other pendulous forms of the common spruce. Abies oanadensis gracilis is a very distinct variety of the hemlock spruce, with long, slender, little divided, and drooping branchlets, furnished with very small Jeavea It is a very diatinct and desirable variety. — A.L.S. in the Garden.