14 



JOUHNAL OP HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



[ July 7, 18^-3. 



the kitchen fii-e is ingenious, and, no doubt answers. Cover- 

 ing the cistern and giving plenty of air will neutralise the 

 effect of the heat, and by shiitting off that corner you might 

 have a miniature hothouse there. If ever you find the heat 

 too much, the simplest thing would be to shut off the pipes 

 from the fire by a moveable iron back or damper, mth an 

 inch or so of air between it and the pipes. We can easily 

 fancy that in hot weather you may have too much heat at 

 that part, and it so a wooden covering would be best for the 

 cistern. We would lite the box for the Muscat Vine to be 

 longer than 10 inches square, and so much deep. If 24 or 

 30 inches long by lO wide and Ifi deeji, it would be better. 

 If a heavy crop is taken from a 16-incli pot, it is rarely of 

 much use afterwards, and eight to ten bunches from a Miiscat 

 Vine in a llJ-inch pot would exhaust it too much for cropping 

 it so every year. Much, however, may be done by removing 

 the surface soU every year, top-dressing with rich compost, 

 and using manure-waterings. You deserve great credit for 

 doing the work so weU, and we wiU be glad to hear how you 

 succeed, and would merely hint, that if confined to IG-iuch 

 boxes, we would have several — say two or thi'ee instead of 

 one. If the cistern did not occupy all the sj^ace, you might 

 also plant a Muscat or two, train them up the back wall 

 and down the roof. The roots would not dislike a little heat 

 from the cistern.] 



USE OF TAN AMONG STUAWBEEEIES. 

 In No. 115 a wish is expressed that tan may be tried for 

 keeping Strawberries clean. I have a friend that has used 

 it extensively for some two or three years to my knowledge, 

 but I would not write till I had ascertained the result of his 

 experience ; yesterday he paid me an unexpected visit, and 

 I at once made inquu-es about it, and he says it is the best 

 thing for the purpose he ever made use of He has a Str.aw- 

 beri-y garden which produces when in full bearing about 

 sixty quarts per day. The walks are only wide enough for 

 convenience, and he every year covers the whole, walks and 

 iiU, with tan fresh from the pit and has done this for some 

 years. He puts it on in AprU, or sooner if doing so accords 

 better with his other garden operations, and long before the 

 fruit begins to ripen the tan is washed by the rains till it is 

 as clean as the dessert plate the Strawberries are to be eaten 

 off. It acts as a stimirlant to the plants, saves aU trouble 

 of weeding, and the runners strilce as freely into it as Ferns 

 into cocoa-nut refuse ; beside my friend can go about his 

 garden in any weather without soiling Ms shoes, and I may 

 add he is an experienced gardener, and not a young one. — 



WOKCESTEE. 



GAEDENEES' EOYAL BENEVOLENT 

 INSTITUTION. 



The annual dinner of this Institution took place on the evening 

 of Friday last at the London Tavern, Bishopsgate .Street, when 

 upwards of one hundred members and their friend.s were present. 



The chair was occupied by the Right Hon. the Earl of Ducie, 

 supported by several members of the Coimcil of the Eoyal 

 Horticultural Society, among whom were Mr. John Glutton, 

 Mr. J. J. Blandy, Rev. Joshua Dix, Mr. James Vcitch, and Mr. 

 John Lee. There were also present Mr. Robert Wrench 

 (Treasurer to the Institution), Ke-\-. J. M. Bellew, Mr. Koch, 

 and Mr. Henry Paull, M.P., &c. 



The room was profusely decorated with flowers and tino- 

 foliaged plants. The whole end of the room behind the Chaii-- 

 man was a perfect bank, from floor to ceiling, of Geraniums and 

 other showy plants liberally eontriliuted, at no small trouble and 

 expense, by Mr. Charles Turner, of the Royal Xursery, Slough. 

 At the opposite end of the room, occupiing a gallei-y in front of 

 the Chairman, was a brilliant display of female lieautv, even 

 more attractive to the guests than the best exertions of Mr. 

 Turner proved to be. A^Hiether it is for the sake of uniformity 

 that the ladies are placed apart opposite to the flowers, so that 

 both may reflect a borrowed beauty on the ruder mass below, we 

 know not ; hut we strongly suspect if they abandoned the higher 

 regions and mingled among frail mortals, their presence would 

 not be less eft'ective nor their influence less beneficial. 



The noble Chairman proposed the healths of Her Majesty and 

 of their Royal Highnesses the Prince and Princess of Wales, 

 which were enthusiastically responded to. 



In proposing the health of the Army, Navy, and Volunteers, 

 his Lordship said, " As gardeners we should all hope for the time 

 when sworda shall be converted into pnming-hooks ; but so long 

 as the evil passions of men continvied, that was an event which 

 was not likely to happen as long as the world lasted. It behoved 

 us, therefore, to look to our national defences, and to see that 

 our military, naval, and volunteer services were preserved in a 

 perfect state of efficiency." The toast was responded to in eloquent 

 terms by Major Robinson, of the Hon. Artillery Company. 



The Chairman then proposed the toast of the evening, *' Pros- 

 perity to the Gardeners' Royal Benevolent Institution." His 

 Lordship introduced the toast by remarking that it would be 

 superfiuoua in him to say anything in favour of an Institution 

 which had now been so long before the public, and which had 

 been productive of so much good to a class of men to whom 

 every member of the community was indebted. A vast number 

 of the pleasures we enjoy are derived from the skill and labour 

 of the gardener ; and if evidence were wanting, we have only ti> 

 look around us, even in the present room, and see the magnificent 

 flowers and fruit with which the walls and tables are decorated. 

 But it is not alone pleasure to the senses that we obtain from 

 the gardener's art. It is well known that some of the most 

 direful epidemics that devastated Europe, and particularly the 

 northern parts, in the middle ages, have totally disappeared by 

 the extended cidti-v-r.tion and use of garden vegetables. Gardeners 

 as a class are intelligent and provident ; but there are cu-cum- 

 stances over which they have no control, by which they are not 

 unfrequeutly reduced so as to be dependant on others for support. 

 It was no disgrace for a man to be placed in these circumstances 

 when he had striven hard tn maintain a respectable position in 

 society, and he would simply instance two men well known to 

 the greater number of the company present — Mr. Mearns, 

 gardener to the Duke of Portland, and Mr. Sangster, long a 

 member of one of the large seed-houses in Loudon. Both of 

 these men had little expectation at one time that they woidd 

 ever require to come to this charity for relief, but rather that in 

 their later days they would not only be secure from penury, but 

 were fairly entitled to enjoy some of the luxmies of life. It was 

 for the relief of such cases that this Institution was founded, and 

 he therefore had great pleasure in proposing " Success ami 

 Prosperity to the Gardeners' Benevolent Institution." 



Rev. J. M. Bellew then proposed the health of the Chairman, 

 remarking that one of the finest charact(;rs in the world was an 

 English gentleman -with a handsome income, who spent his life 

 on his ancestral estates, diffusing joy and happiness to all around 

 him. Such an English gentleman was the noble Chairman. 

 Who was there connected with agricultm-e and gardening to 

 whom the name of Earl Ducie was not familiar } But it was 

 not in these pursuits alone that the noble Ch;iirman had dis- 

 tinguished himself In all the movements tending to benefit the 

 country and society at large, his name and presence were to be 

 f nmd. Even in the volunteer caiise he was eminently distin- 

 guished, and had taken so decided a part in rifle practice that he 

 might be pronounced to be a dcured good shot. The toast was 

 received vrith great applause, and his Ijordsbip briefly returned 

 thanlis. 



'i'he Chairman then proposed the following toasts: — "Mr. 

 Robert Wrench, the Treasurer of the Institution," "Mr. Cutler, 

 Secretary." His Lordship retired at half-past 9, and the Chair 

 was occupied by Mr. Bellew, who proposed " Success to the Royal 

 Horticultural and Botanic Societies," which was responded to by 

 Jlr. Blandy. 



Mr. Koch proposed the health of the Committee of Manage- 

 ment, and Mr. Child returned thanks. The Chairman proposed 

 the health of the Stewards and of the Ladies, which concluded 

 the entertainment of the evening. 



The simi of about £400 was subscribed in the room for the 

 benefit of the Charity. 



WOEK FOE THE WEEK. 



KITCHEN GARDEN. 



Peksevese in the all-impoi'tant operation of stin-ing the 

 surface of the soU at every favourable opportunity. There 

 is no kind of soU wliich will not be benefited by this ope- 

 ration ; but certainly on those having a tendency to run to- 

 gether or bind, it is indispensably necessary. No one who 

 has not followed out the system as the mai-ket-gardeners 

 do, perseveringly, can truly estimate the great advantages 

 resulting therefrom. It is very proper to apply stimulants 

 in the shape of maniu-e trenched into and incoi-porated with 



