Novemlier 13, 1873. ] 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTUEE AND COTTAGE GAKDENEE. 



373 



dotted over like a Downton Pippin, was also shown. Mr. Lee, 

 Clevedon, Bristol, sent three dishes of Apples; among them 

 was the Apple of Amassa. A series of seedling Apples came 

 from Messrs. Lane, Berkhampstead. One of them, No. 1, a very 

 pretty red-streaked Orange Apple, was past its time, and the 

 Committee wished to ^ee it aguiu. A dish of Doyenne du Cornice 

 I'ear from Mr. G. Wilson was very fine and well-flavoured; 

 another, from Mr. Dancer, Chiswick, was rather better in flavour. 

 A dish of Cox's Orange Pippin, very larse and fine, came from 

 Mr. D.incer ; a dish of Qainces from the same. A cultural com- 

 mendation was awarded for these. 



Two dishes of Oranges for naming came from Mr. G. Parr, 

 East End House, Fulham. These were very large, rind very 

 thick, and rather bitter, and a perfect absence of juice. Fruit 

 of the Tacsonia quitensis was also exhibited ; it is said to make 

 an agreeable preserve. It was grown from seed sent by the late 

 Professor Jameson, of Quito. Referred to the Scientific Com- 

 mittee. A collection of Apples came from Mr. J. Preston, 

 Cottam Nurseries, Lancashire. A collection of eight dishes 

 of -Apples, grown on cordons on the French Paradise stock 

 at Hay ward's Heath, Sussex, was sent by Mr. H. Shepherd, 

 gardener to N. Laurie, Esq. A cultural commendation was 

 awarded. 



Floral Committee. — 'W. B. Kellock, Esq., in the chair. The 

 subjects exhibited on this occasion were few. Vanda c:x3rulea, 

 with four spikes in beautiful bloom, and of a deeper blue than 

 usual, was exhibited by Mr. Smith, gardener to C. Lane, Esq., 

 and had a cultural commendation. First-class certificates were 

 awarded to Mr. Tomkins for a fine double white Chinese Pri- 

 mula, called P. sinensis flore-pleno magnifica ; to Mr. Murrell, 

 gardener to W. B. Hume, Esq., for Batemannia Burtii; and to 

 Mr. E. C. Waters, for Chrysanthemum Golden Mrs. Bundle, 

 a pale yellow sport of Mrs. Bundle, and equally good in its 

 colour. 



Messrs. Veitch sent Dracfena Baptistii with broad deeply- 

 bronzed foliage, and a species of Cymbidium from Assam with 

 a white lip spotted with brown. From Mr. Williams, of Hollo- 

 way, came Agave Taylori, a hybrid between A. geminiflora and 

 ^ensiflora, noticed in another column. 



Auhriet also painted the fifty-thvee illustrations to Lot No. 110, 

 a folio of butterflies, plants, aud flowers, which was bought by 

 Mr. Turner for i'112 7s. This work had fetched at the La 

 Valliere sale 3,000 livres, and subsequently 3,430 at the auction 

 of M. de Liman's collection. 



Another book of birds by the same hand, Lot 116, was dis- 

 posed of for -i85 Is. 



£147 was paid by the Duke of Marlborough for Lot 102, a 

 treatise on fruit trees by Duhamel du Monceau, Paris, 1768, 

 2 vols, in 4to., with illustrations, painted from Nature, by M. 

 Parocel, the elder, who signed each drawing; and the same 

 nobleman disbursed X'173 5s. to secure Lot 134, which is de- 

 scribed as a " RecueU de tableaux points par Agricola," in folio, 

 the subjects being different objects of natural history, cata- 

 logued as " a work for the highest appreciation." It contained 

 twenty-sis drawings of shells, insects, and plants. 



STOKE NEWINGTON CHRYSANTHEMUM 

 SOCIETY. 



The annual Show of this old-established Society was held on 

 the 11th and 12th inst. Unfortunately there was a clashing of 

 ■dates between this and the Koyal Horticultural Society's Show 

 in consequence of the latter Society having altered the dates 

 originally fixed, so that there was a diminution in the num- 

 ber of exhibits. The Show was held in the New Assembly 

 Rooms, and we are pleased to say was arranged with excellent 

 effect; numerous fine-foliaged plants were introduced, and there 

 was no lack of fruit, collections being furnished by Mr. J.. Monk 

 and Mr. E. Smith, fruiterer. Stoke Xewington. 



For four specimens of large-flowering kinds Mr. J. Rainbow, 

 nurseryman, London Road, Clapton, took the highest position 

 with excellent plants of Gloria Mundi, Mrs. G. Rundle, Beet- 

 hoven ; second came Mr. J. Monk, gardener to H. Head, Esq. 

 For four standards Mr. Rainbow was again first, and Mr. Howe 

 second, both having fine specimens of Prince of Wales and 

 Mrs. Rundle ; and Mr. Rainbow was also first with a fine half- 

 dozen plants grown as for cut blooms. For six Pompous the 

 prizes went to Mr. Monk and Messrs. Ponsford, of Brixton ; and 

 for four standards the first place was taken by Mr. Howe, whose 

 liUac Cedo Nulli and Bob were very fine. Mr. Rainbow was 

 second. 



Of cut blooms there was a good display, though they did not 

 run very large. Messrs. Howe, Sanderson, Goodwin, Smith, 

 Monk, and Dixon & Co. were the principal prizetakers. 



Foreign Potatoes. — An official document just issued shows 

 that the declared value of Potatoes imported this year was 

 ^1,934,105, against f 923,766 in the preceding year. 



AucTiox OP Books in 1701. — At " the Great Hall in Conduit 

 Street, opposite the chapel, Hanover Square," 610 lots were sold 

 in March of the year above-named. Among the lots and the 

 prices they realised the following are thus noticed in " Notes 

 and Queries ; " — 



No. 9.^, plants, painted in miniature by Auhriet, realised 

 .£45 3j., and was bought by — Barrow. The thirty illustrations 

 were painted on vellum, from Nature, by Claude Aubriet, 

 painter of plants, »kc., in miniature style, and draughtsman to 

 the gardens of the King. The works of this artist are rare, so 

 says the descriptive note, " as the greatest portion of his draw- 

 ings were made for the King, and are deposited in the Royal 

 Library." This volume realised at the La ValliiSre sale 1100 

 livres ; at that of M. de Liman, 1200 lives. 



DESTROYING WASPS. 



" Suisscribek" may not have seen or may have forgotten a 

 very easy way of destroying wasps' nests without injuring the 

 comb or nests, merely by placing a piece of sponge tied on a 

 stick, or a piece of tow, dipped in a saturated solution of cyanide 

 of potassium (or the cyanurate, as it is sometimes called) in 

 the mouth of the hole. This may be done any time, night or 

 day ; but it is curious to watch the elifect on a hot sunny day : 

 A wasp either returning to its nest or coming out of the nest 

 comes within range of the fumes from the cyanide, staggers, 

 and falls down dead in a few seconds, and within twenty 

 minutes you may dig the nest out, and find all the wasps either 

 dead or dying inside the comb ; they may he brushed-off the 

 comb and a few drops of the cyanide solution scattered on the 

 heap ; they never recover this. If the cyanide is pushed into 

 the hole at night, and the whole covered up and then dug-out 

 the next morning, no grub will ever recover it. It will destroy 

 all insect life, and is the safest thing to use for hornets' nests. 

 Has anyone ever tried the effect of a weak solution on plants ? 

 — C. P. P. 



With some brown paper and a piece of cane or stick, about 

 one-quarter of an inch in diameter and 9 inches long, I make 

 some cases similar to those used for fireworks, which I fill 

 with the following composition: — Gunpowder one part, char- 

 coal dust one part, and flowers of sulphur two parts. I then 

 make some touchpaper by soaking brown paper in saltpetre, 

 and drying, and insert a bit iu the end of each squib. In the 

 evening, at dusk, I take as many of these squibs as there are 

 nests to destroy, light a squib, hold it in the mouth of the 

 nest until it is burnt-out, stop the hole with a clod, and let it 

 remain a few minutes, then dig them out. I may add, my 

 employer gives me Is. per nest destroyed, and within the last 

 three years I have dug-out sixteen nests, and have never seen 

 one of the wasps move. The same cases can be fiDed several 

 times. — J. F. G., Gardener. 



KEW GARDENS.— No. 3. 

 It is but a step to what seems to the public the central sun 

 of the gardens — the Palm stove. This is, we believe, the largest 

 tropical house in existence, its entire length being 362 feet by 

 100 feet iu width, and 66 feet iu height. What a noble prison- 

 house it is for the captured forest trees of the tropics, and 

 how healthy and luxuriant the captives look ! The visitor 

 is transported to the torrid zone, and iinds tho blaze of 

 light shadowed by the curved leaves of the Palms, which 

 mako dim arcades of shade as he pushes through them, whilst 

 the humid heat helps to carry out the deception ; only one 

 thing seems wanting — a few bright-coloured birds to make 

 the picture perfect. But we forget : more iUusions, however 

 delightful, are not sought after here, but facts, and they are 

 sufliciently pleasant and enticing to need no adventitious help. 

 Graceful as is the foliage of these Palms, they may be termed 

 economic plants in the highest degree, as many of them pro- 

 vide food and wine, water, clothing, and cordage to the in- 

 habitants of tho arid country in which tliey grow. In many 

 cases, indeed, they may be said to bo tho tree of life, affording 

 at onoo shelter, food, and drink to those who seek them. 

 Visitors who enter those houses to seek information will find 

 each plant duly labelled, so that they have no difticulty in 

 ascertaining their names and the class and order to which they 

 belong. They may, therefore, bo considered living picture- 

 books. Indeed, this may be said of the whole garden, from 

 tho meanest weed that grows in the herbaceous grounds to the 

 ' noblest trees ; and, in this senee, the value of^it as a public 



