Mnrch 15, 1S77. J 



JOOaNAli OP HORriGOLTORE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



193 



the present annual consumption of 5,000,000 tons of coal on 

 the metropolitan registration area of 118 square miles, and 

 from all other artificial sources, would suffice to raise the tem- 

 perature of a stratum of air 100 feet in depth resting on that 

 area 2' 5 every hour. The effect of the growth of the popula- 

 lation of London from 900,000 at the commencement of the 

 century to 3,500,000 at the present time, and of the still 

 greater increase in tho comparative consumption of coal, was 

 manifested by the rise in the average temperature of the air at 

 the Royal Observatory, Greenwich. For this reason Green- 

 wich was not a suitable place for a meteorological observatory 

 of the first order. 



CLIVE HOUSE SEEDLING GBAPE. 

 We have been requested to publish the following : — 



'• To the Secretary of the Fruit Committee of the Soyal Horti- 

 cultural Society. 



" Sir, — I beg to acknowledge receipt of extract from the 

 minutes of the Fruit Committee of the Royal Horticultural 

 Society respecting Clive House Seedling, and must express my 

 astonishment that the Committee should have passed such a 

 minute without first asking from me an explanation of the 

 apparent inconsistency referred to. 



" The whole oi the seedlings raised by ilr. Bailey was from the 

 same cross, the cross as given by me in my letter to the Com- 

 miltae. Ton may think it paradoxical when I sa.y in fhe. Journal 

 of Horliculture that it is a foundling; but I hold that the two 

 statements are perfectly reconcilable. The first refers to the 

 origin of my Vine, the second to its immediate relationship to 

 the plants now at Alnwick Castle, as the rest of my letter clearly 

 ■hows. 



" In addition to previous evidence I have now that of Mr. 

 Todd, head gardener at Eawclift'e, Laugside, Glasgow, and 

 formerly foreman at Alnwick Castle Gardens, who planted the 

 Vine in question, and testifies that there were no other seedlings 

 than those left by Mr. Bailey and known as his. My explana- 

 tion, then, on this point is that my statement about the un- 

 certainty of the parentage and connections had nothing to do 

 with the original production of the Seedling, but referred to 

 the immediate source — to the particular plant from which my 

 plant was taken, and its relation to those now being declared to 

 be the same under the absurd title of Caseley's Seedling. 



" -Vs for the name Clive Honse Seedling, which you may 

 remember I reluctantly gave on tho spur of the moment, I have 

 no wish to maintain against the wish of the Committee if they 

 look upon it as implying what I have never once pretended, that 

 it was my own raising, and I am quite willing to adopt any 

 name they may suggest, provided it should be free from local or 

 personal bias. 



" In closing I must Etrongly disclaim the charge of the Fruit 

 Committee that I withheld the facts as to the origin of the 

 Grape. My readiness to answer ill questions, my immediate 

 conli'idiction in the J<iurnal of JLjrlieullure of a groundless 

 oiaim, and my full statement of the facts of the case, ought to 

 have precluded such a charge; and I trust that the Fruit Com- 

 mittee will see their way to withdraw it and to place their with- 

 drawal on their minutes. 



"I have nothing to conceal. If required I am prepared to 

 show that I obtained my Vines fairly and openly and am in- 

 debted to no man for them, and that I am not to blame if a 

 mistake was made which gave mo possession of this one and has 

 preserved it from destruction. At the risk of unpleasant per- 

 sonalities I will if required defend my own name and property, 

 and I trust that my present silence on personal transactions 

 will not be deemed a withholding of the facts of the case. If 

 the Fruit Committee have any questions to ask or any sugges- 

 tion to make I shall giva them my careful consideration. — I 

 ■m. Sir, ic— D. P. Bell." 



'The farther discussion of this euVject may now cease. 

 Everything has been said that can throw any light upon it, 

 and that is all the public care for. We think the Fruit Com- 

 mittee did quite right in giving the new name of Alnwick 

 Seedling, as this associates the Vine with the place where it 

 was raised without any invidious reference to any person in 

 particular., 



PRIMULA MINIMA. 



Vakiocs are the popular names of this smallest known 

 ipecies of the genus; Smallest Bear's-ear, Smallest Auricula, 

 and Snow Rosette are among them. 



" It has been supposed to be extremely impatient of cultiva- 

 tion when removed from its natural abode, the tops of the 

 highest mountains of the South of Europe, which it ascends 

 to the limits of perpetual snow, at the elevation of 7000 to 

 8000 feet above the level of the sea. 



" The corolla is large in proportion to the plant, and varies 

 from pink to violet-purple and white ; sometimes it equals all 

 the rest of the plant together. The herb of the wild specimen 

 is still more diminutive than in the cultivated one. 



" Rootstock about as thick as a large quill, blackish when 

 old; fibres white. Leaves cuneate, half an inch long, disposed 

 in rosettes, very smooth, shining, coriaceous, deeply toothed at 

 the end with pointed teeth. Scape obsoletely three-cornered, 

 shorter than the leaves, one, seldom two-flowered. Involucre 

 nearly of one piece, oblong, chaffy. Calyx tubular, five-oleft ; 

 segments rounded, short obtuse. Corolla aubsessile, often as 

 large as all the rest of the plant together ; faux furnished with 

 a whitish nap; limb spreading; segments cleft in two for half 



Fig. 25. — Primula miuima. 

 their length like tho letter Y. Capsule very blunt, shining." 

 — {notaiiiral lu-'jisler.) 



This species is not only noteworthy on account of its die- 

 tiuctnesp, but it has been found to have a tendency to cross 

 with other species, and may bo U60ful as a parent in raising 

 new varieties of these increasing popular flowers. P. Florkeaua 

 is the result of a cross between P. minima and V. glntinosa. 

 It is a little singular that while P. auricula is a prolific parent, 

 it has been found that a cross between it and P. minima cannot 

 be effected. 



QUEEN ONION FOR SPRING SOWING. 



A lAiLURi: of part of the autumn-sown Onions has induced 

 me to procure an extra quantity of the seed of Queen Onion, 

 and to sow a few ounces of it upon a sheltered border with a 



