JOURNAL OF EOETIODLTUBB AND COTTAGE GARDENBB. 



[ March 1, 1877. 



throninm deas-canis in variety, Musoari pallidnm, Primnla 

 denticulats, P. polyantha, Helleborue niger, Aubrietia deltoidea 

 grandiflora, and Triteleia grandiflora. 



It is not generally known that anyone may now become 



a member of the Eoyal HoRTicrLTCBAL Society on the pay- 

 ment of an annual subscription of one guinea, and this entitles 

 them to free admission to all shows, promenades, and meetings 

 of the Society except the annual meeting. In short, it gives 

 the privileges of a Fellow with the exception of voting at meet- 

 ings on questions of government and finance, and these are 

 privileges wLich not one in a hundred of the Fellows ever 

 avail themselves of. What people mostly want are to be 

 allowed to walk in the gardens and to attend shows and pro- 

 menades, and this they can do by becoming guinea members. 



Mr. N. Hodgkin writing to us from The Gardens, 



Downgate, Sandhurst, Kent, on the mildness of the season, 

 states that he has now (February 12th) Veronicas, Hepaticas, 

 Heaths, white Mezereon, Snowdrops, Crocuses, Jonquils, white 

 and yellow Narcissus, and Hyacinths, all in full bloom. He 

 has gathered Roses all the winter, and on February 13th 

 Gloire de Dijon, GSueral Jacqueminot, Souvenir do la Malmai- 

 Bon, MaiL-chal Ninl, Lamarque, and Bankeian Yellow, as good 

 blossoms as in summer, from north-west and south-east walls. 

 Leaves of bulbs of all kinds are above ground ; Liliums pnno- 

 tatnm, roseum, album, rubrum, and longiflorum are 9 inches 

 high, all in the open ground. A Daphne indica rubra planted 

 in a sheltered position has been in full bloom for the last six 

 weeks, and vegetation generally is in a very forward state. 



In "The British Trade Journal" is a portrait and 



memoir of Mr. Martin Hope Sutton, of the well-known Read- 

 ing Nursery firm. It states : " The day of his nativity (March 

 14th, 1815) was one of misfortune. On it occurred a bank 

 failure, by which his father was seriously affected, and this 

 calamity was intenfifled by the news that a large London 

 house to which Mr. Sutton jjfre was in the habit of consigning 

 large quantities of flour had come to the ground. The worthy 

 gentleman seems to ha^e maintained a bold front in the face 

 of these reverses, and to show his confidence in the fulfilment 

 of the motto, ' Le hons temps viendra,' gave to his son the 

 name of Martin Hope. In 1832 the youth was promoted from 

 school to a place in the parental counting house. His father's 

 business, located in Reading, was that of a miller and corn 

 merchant, an rffshoot being small dealings in agricultural 

 seeds. Young Sutton was an enthusiastic botanical student, 

 and a lover of floriculture for its own sake, and he was allowed 

 to dabble at his own risk in the raising and selling of garden 

 seeds, a branch which his father deemed too insignificant to 

 form an integral part of the seed business. His sober ambition 

 was to establish a nursery garden, and by-and-by it was real- 

 ised. A small plot of ground was secured, and it was not very 

 long before a gorgeous Tulip bed in connection with it became 

 in the blooming season one of the local attractions of Reading. 

 In 1837 the quiet enterprise of the young man met its reward 

 in the establishment of partnership relations between himself 

 and father, under the firm of .John Sutton & Son. Their 

 nursery began to gain a repute, and at the time when Dahlias 

 were the fashionable rage in horticulture, their floral col- 

 lection was referred to by Miss Mitford in a charming article 

 entitled ' The Lost Dahlia,' which appeared in ' Chambers's 

 Edinburgh Journal,' as ' the most choice and select I have 

 ever seen.' In the year 1843 Mr. Alfred Sutton, who had for 

 some time been actively associated with the business, was ad- 

 mitted as a partner, and the firm assumed the title of Sutton 

 and Sons, by which it is still known." 



As an instance of the mildness of the winter in West- 

 morland there is in the gardens. Fox Ghyll, Amblesido, a 

 scarlet Eiiododendron in foll bloom. The first flowirs cut 

 from it were on the 19tb December. It is usual for it to flower 

 about Christmas, but as a rule gets cut down with severe 

 weather. The Laurnstinus also are two or three weeks earlier 

 in flowering than they are generally. 



Mr. Pithers, The Gardens, Monster House, Fulham, 



has sent us sprays of Aucdba japonica more heavily laden with 

 berries than any that we have hitherto seen. The sprays have 

 been cut from large shrubs which have had no male plants 

 near them, and their fruitfulness can only be accounted for by 

 the distribution of pollen conveyed by the wind from Mr. 

 Dancer's Nursery, about 200yari's distant from Munster House. 

 This is another proof that it is not always necessary to place 

 the male and female plants side by side for ensuring a crop of 

 fruit. We remember having seen large Auouba bashes at 



Denbies covered with fruit without artificial fertilisation havicy 

 been resorted to. Male plants flowered in the garden some- 

 distance from the female shrubs, and the wind conveyed the 

 pollen in the most effective manner. All who possess shrubs 

 of the old mottled Auouba should also obtain male plants, and 

 the beauty of their shrubs will be enhanced when producing 

 clusters of brilliant scarlet berries. 



" N. B. " sends us a note'sayingthat if Jcsticia flavi- 



coMA recently mentioned by Mr. Anderson is identical (as he 

 thinks it is) with Schaueria calicotricha he can endorse all 

 that has been said in its favour, as he has found the plant 

 which he has under the name of Schaueria one of the brightest 

 and best of winter-blooming plants. 



" MiDLANDER " asks what acid is in the Gooseberry? 



We print in reply the following analysis made by M. Berard. 

 Green Gooseberries have been analysed by him, both before, 

 they were ripe and when ripe : — 



Unripe. Ripe. 



Chlorpbyl (green colouring matter) 0.03 .... — 



Sugar 0.52 .... 6 24 



Gum 1.3G .... 0.78 



Albumen 1.07 0.86 



Malic acia 1.80 .... 2.41 



Citric acid 0.12 .... 0.81 



Lime 024 0.29 



Fibrin, inclndiug the seeds 8.45 .... 8.01 



Water 86.41 .... 81.10 



100.00 lOO.OO 



Whoever wishes for full and authentic informatioa 



of all kinds relative to the Colony of Victoria should refer to 

 the "Notes" published "by authority." It is historical as 

 well as geographical, meteorological and statistical. It records 

 that there are there 1500 gardeners not domestic servants j 

 that about £40,000 worth of Potatoes are exported yearly, 

 and the following prices (f some garden prodnete in 1874. 

 Potatoes, wholesale, £4 to £4 10s. per ton; retail, jd. to \d. 

 per lb. ; Onions, dried, 9s. to 20s. per owt. ; Carrots, &d. to Is, 

 per dozen bunches ; Turnips, 6rf. to 2s. per dozan bunches ; 

 Radishes, id. to dd. per dozen bunches ; Cabbages, 9(J. to 10s. 

 per dozen ; Cauliflowers, 2s. 6d. to 8s. per dozen ; Lettuces, 2(i. 

 to 2s. per dozen ; Green Pea', \\d. to id. per lb. 



Messrs. Backhouse & Son state Galanthus iMPEBATr 



is the finest of all Snowdrops. The leaves are narrower anS 

 altogether smaller than those of G. plicatus (the Crimean 

 Snowdrop), while the flower ia larger, the petals being nearly 

 or quite one-h.ilt longer than those of G. nivalis. A graceful 

 Snowdrop, resembling the common one, but with flowers 

 nearly IJ inch long, forms no ordinary addition to our early 

 border plants, and must be welcome everywhere. 



We regret to have to announce the death of Mr. 



Henry Obmson, the eminent hothouse builder and hot-water 

 engineer, which occurred on Tuesday, 20th of February, in the 

 Isle of Wight, where he had gone for the benefit of his health. 



Mr. Darwin has received as a testimonial, on the 



occasion of his sixty-ninth birthday, an album, a magnificent 

 folio, bound in velvet and silver, containing the photographs 

 of 154 men of science in Germany. The list contains some ol 

 the best known and most highly honoured names in Europe. 

 He has likewise received on the same occasion from Holland 

 an album with the photographs of 217 distinguished protessorft 

 and lovers of science in that country. These gifts are not only 

 highly honourable to Mr. Darwin, but also to the senders as a 

 proof of their generous sympathy with a foreigner; and they 

 further show how widely the great principle of evolution is now 

 accepted by naturalists. A German correspondent informs us 

 that the German album bears on the handsome title-pnge the 

 inscription "Don Ecformator der Naturgeschiclite, Charlea 

 Darwin." — {Nature). 



AZALEA PESTS. 

 It is well known that Azaleas are extremely liabb to become 

 infested with insects, especially red spider and thrips. The 

 time these are most likely to become established is when the 

 plants are in bloom, as syringing or fumigating cannot be done 

 then. After they go out of flower it is a very general practice 

 to place the plants in a vinery to start them into growth. The 

 insects have then a fine opportunity of mnking their way on to- 

 the Vines, and they are not slow in availing themselves of the 

 chance. Now it is very desirable that this should not take 

 place, because when the insects find their way to the Vines thus 

 early they are certain to do much mischief bafore the end of the 



