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HORTICULTURE 



January 15, 1910 



British Horticulture 



A FLOURISHING SOCIETY 



It is now 33 years ago since the National Eose Society 

 first came into existence, with the late Dean Hole as the 

 president and the late Rev. H. H. D'ombrain as secre- 

 tary. Since that time the Society has steadily grown in 

 numbers, influence, and usefulness. At the annual 

 meeting, recently held in London, it was reported that 

 the gate money received from the general public this 

 year at the Royal Botanic Society's gardens exceeded 

 that at any previous exhibition held by the Society. The 

 finances are in a very satisfactory state, a substantial 

 amount being carried to the reserve fund. During the 

 past year 900 new members have joined the Society — 

 115 more than in the previous year. Allowing for the 

 losses by death and resignation the total number of mem- 

 bers is now 3,797. In the course of the meeting 

 an alteration was made in the rules to provide that in 

 future in all exhibition boxes for single blooms the tubes 

 must be five inches apart each way from centre to cen- 

 tre of the tubes. A pleasing incident was the presenta- 

 tion of the Dean Hole memorial medal to the Rev. J. H. 

 Pemberton, of Havering, Essex, an eminent rosarian, 

 and author of "Roses, Their History, Development, and 

 Cultivation." 



THE CDLT OF THE SWEET PEA 



Another organization which has evidently come to 

 stay is the National Sweet Pea Society. The report 

 presented at the recent annual meeting stated that 280 

 new members have joined the Society during the year 

 just ended, the membership now standing at 938. The 

 finances are equally gratifying, the balance at the bank 

 being the largest carried forward in the Society's his- 

 tory. The Society's trials were not so entirely success- 

 ful this year as they had been in previous seasons, ow- 

 ing to the vagaries of the weather, and the consequent 

 difficulty experienced in inspecting the trials in the best 

 condition. There were 350 varieties of stocks of sweet 

 peas on trial. Arrangements have been made for next 

 year's shows, and also for the trials. These will be 

 made on a more extensive scale than has hitherto been 

 possible. Mr. Chas. Foster will again superintend the 

 trials, which will be conducted at the Times experimen- 

 tal station, Sutton Green, Guildford. The annual meet- 

 ing was followed by a dinner and conference, at which 

 papers were read by Mr. W. J. Unwin, of Histon,, and 

 Mr. W. Cuthbertson, of Mark's Tey, Essex. 



ITEMS OF INTEREST 



The Wisbech Fruit Grower.s' Association has passed a 

 resolution, strongly protesting against the Government's 

 subsidizing Jamaica to the extent of £50,000 whilst 

 totally failing to recognize the claims of tlie home grow- 

 ers. — The annual dinner of the Glasgow Seed and Nur- 

 sery Trade Association was a successful affair. — The 

 widespread nature of black scab amongst the potato 

 crops in Shropshire and Staffordshire this season was 

 lately referred to at a meeting of the Sliropshire Cham- 

 ber of Agriculture — In consigning a barrel of apples to 

 a London broker, Mr. J. Marsh, a Nova Scotian farmer 

 inserted a note stating that he desired to correspond 

 with "a fair maid between the age of 16 and 25." ' The 

 sequel is a happy wedding. — Negotiations are now in 

 progress for the amalgamation of the Royal Botanic So- 

 ciety and the Royal Horticultural Society. 



Anthurium 



This large genus of stove and greenhouse plants, may, 

 for convenience, be divided into two sections; namely, 

 those grown for the grandeur of their foliage, and those 

 grown for the curious shape and coloring of their inflor- 

 escence. No greenhouse foliage collection should be 

 without a few varieties of each of these decorative plants. 

 The fine noble looking leaves of the foliage varieties al- 

 ways attract the attention of visitors and the flowering 

 ones, if scattered here and there throughout the finliage 

 house, because of their quaint appearance and bright 

 color somewhat relieve the monotony of leaves and al- 

 ways court admiration. They are shade loving plants 

 and for that reason alone, an odd shady, warm corner 

 may be made to yield a few cut flowers a little out of the 

 ordinary. 



Anthuriums are propagated by division of the crowns, 

 or cutting up the rhizome, and by seeds. This last 

 method requires a good deal of patience as the seed takes 

 about a year to ripen after fertilization has taken place. 

 To increase stock by the former way select the plant to 

 be treated, turn it out of the pot, and wash the soil care- 

 fully from the roots, care being taken to injure them as 

 little as possible, divide the crowns with a sharp knife, 

 leaving a piece of root to each crown; cut the rhizome 

 into pieces about two inches long, these also having roots 

 attached to each piece. A good potting material to use 

 for a first potting is equal parts of fern root, the fibre of 

 loam, sphagnum moss, and sharp sand, with a good 

 sprinkling of charcoal. The mixture sliould be broken 

 in pieces small enough to use conveniently in the small- 

 est pots that the crowns and pieces can be potted in. The 

 crowns should be a little above the rim of the pot when 

 finished off. The cut-up rhizomes should be covered up 

 a little until they break an eye. They should be placed 

 in a humid atmosphere, with a temperature of about sev- 

 enty degrees, care being taken not to overwater, until 

 they start into vigorous growth. Established plants 

 should have more loam and fern root, and less sphagnum 

 moss and sand, in the compost for potting them ; about 

 a fifth of dried cow manure may be added and a sprink- 

 ling of chicken bone. About midseason they will be well 

 rooted, and can be fed with the usual stimulant. I have 

 seen the showy leaved varieties benefitted by a topdress- 

 ing of sphagnum moss and dried cow manure applied 

 about the end of June, an equal size of leaf being main- 

 tained tliroughout the season. 



A few good, ornamental leaved varieties to grow are: 

 A. cordifolium^one of the best, and can be grown in a 

 lower temperature than some of the others ; A crystallin- 

 um — probably the one most commonly grown; A. splen- 

 didum — quite a distinct species, and very striking: A. 

 Veitchii, A. Waluiewi, A. Waroqueanum. Among the 

 best to grow for flowers are: A. Andreanum — a very 

 beautiful species, running into many forms; A. Fer- 

 rierense — a hybrid between A. ornatum and A. Andre- 

 anum, an excellent variety; A. Scherzerianum — a very 

 compact, dwarf-growing species; it flowers quite freely, 

 and makes a handsome specimen flowering plant. There 

 are quite a number of different varieties of this last 

 named species, among which may be mentioned A. 

 Scherz. maximum, A. S. pygmaeum, A. S. Wardii, A. S. 

 Williamsii also known as A. S. album. 



London. 



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lFcA< Med ford, Mass. 



