January 13, 1876. ] 



JOURNAL OF HOETICULTUBE AND COTTAGE GAEDENEB. 



29 



ton is two miles from Tatbnry station, and four miles from 

 Burton-on-Trent.— J. W. 



NOTES AND GLEANINGS. 



The Annual Meeting of the HoKTiccLinKAL Clcb was 

 held at the olub house, 3, Adelphi Terrace, when the aeoounts 

 were audited, and were very satisfactory. Dr. Henry Bennet 

 of Weybridge and Mentone, Capt. Christy of Buckhurst Lodge, 

 Sevenoaks, and Dr. Denny of Stoke Newingtou, were elected 

 members of Committee in lieu of three members who retire. 

 It was determined that during the winter months occasional 

 meetings for discussion on subjects connected with horticulture 

 should be held ; the first being on the I'Jth, when the sub- 

 ject will be the principles and practice of pruning. Messrs. 

 Maurice Young, John Waterer, and George Christy have been 

 elected members. The formation of a library was determined 

 vpon, and the Committee will thankfully receive ony works on 

 horticultural subjects which may be given for that purpose. 



A FEW friends of Mr. Alexandek McKenzie, as a 



tribute of their appreciation of him, have resolved, on the 

 occasion of his relinquishing his active duties at the Alexandra 

 Park (although still occupying the position of Consulting 

 Landscape Gardener to the Company), to present him with a 

 suitable Testimonial as a memento of his long and valued 

 connection with the neighbourhood, the various public works 

 he has executed, such as the laying-out of the Alexandra Park, 

 the Thames Embankment, Finsbury Park, &a. Mr. John 

 Bertram, Alexandra Palace, Muswell Hill, N., is Honorary 

 Secretary to the Committee. 



Messks. Dick Eadclyffe & Co. have prepared, to place 



over the hole in flower-pots, a square piece of zinc having 

 a number of holes punched in it, one side having a jagged 

 edge, and this is placed downwards in the pot. While pre- 

 venting the ingress of worms it does not prevent their egress, 

 and at the same time it forms a capital drainer of itself. 



Wileekfokce's Gabden. — The only remaining portion 



of the well-known garden at Kensington Gore in which Wilber- 

 torce and his sons were wont to disport themselves was sold 

 last week by Her Majesty's Commissioners for the enormous 

 sum of £103,000. The plot has a frontage of about 50 yards 

 to the Knightsbridge Eoad, and a depth of about 80 facing the 

 east side of the Albeit Hall. It has been bought with a view 

 to the erection of a few first-class houses, the price per yard 

 being something like £25, whereas in Wilberforce's time it 

 might have been difficult to get as many pence. One of the 

 Mulberry trees mentioned in his " Life " as the scene of many 

 a pleasant romp with his children may still be seen standing, 

 but we fear it has not many months, perhaps not many days, 

 to live.— (T/(e Rock.) 



We are informed that an article will appear in the 



forthcoming " St. James's Magazine " on the History of the 

 EovAi HoETicuLTDRAL SociETY by Mr. Lindsay, late Secretary 

 to the Society. From the opportunities Mr. Lindsay had of 

 access to the records of the Society we have no doubt but 

 that his treatment of the subject will be at once interesting 

 and instructive. 



On the 22nd of December last a monujient was erected 



in Pere-la-Chaise, Paris, to the memory of M. Babillet- 

 DESCHAiirs, formerly head gardener to the City of Paris, a 

 gentleman well known to horticulturists throughout the world. 

 The memorial consists of a base surmounted by a large stone 

 sarcophagus ornamented with drapery, flowers, and other ap- 

 propriate emblems, the whole crowned by a bust of M. Barillet. 

 An address was delivered by M. Henry Vilmorin, in which in 

 choice language he reviewed the principal works of the de- 

 ceased, and he was followed by M. Ermens and M. Felix 

 Lepere, fils. 



KEEPING GBAPES LATE. 



I AM afraid there wUl be many young gardeners who, like 

 myself, have read the very able and interesting articles on 

 Grape-growing and Vine borders, who will conclude that it is 

 almost an impossibility to have good late Grapes when the 

 borders are outside and with no covering of any description 

 to keep off rain. But that good late Grapes can be had under 

 the conditions I have named, and a good stock of bedding 

 plants kept in the house as well, I will endeavour to prove. 



In my late vinery there are planted six Black Hamburghs 

 and one Alicante. The Grapes were ripened the latter part of 



September by the aid of a little fire heat, which was kept np 

 during the month of October to thoroughly ripen the wood, 

 but afterwards only in damp weather ; ventilation being given 

 at the back. 



A fine bright morning is taken advantage of to water the 

 plants. When the pots have finished draining the house is 

 mopped quite dry, the hot water turned on in the pipes, and 

 the ventilators let down a considerable distance, so that by 

 night the house is quite dry. 



I must add the pipes were painted with sulphur in the 

 autumn, which has been allowed to remain on all the winter. 

 We have been troubled very little with mildew, and have 

 between forty and fifty bunches of Grapes at the present 

 time— Hamburgh and Alicante — most of them looking as fresh 

 as they were in September.- W. E. 



NEW BOOK. 



The Dwellers in our Gardens, their Lives and Works. By 

 Sara Wood. London : Groombridge & Sons. 



There are many dwellers in our gardens besides plants and 

 flowers, but how few of us there are who take heed of them. 

 Plants for use and for ornament are the objects which most 

 receive the gardener's care and attention ; but the birds that 

 cheer him with their song and fill his groves and pleasure 

 grounds with melody, the insects which aid him so much in 

 securing him crops of luscious fruit, and the reptiles even 

 which are frequently so much despised, how little heed do they 

 too frequently receive ! The work before us draws attention 

 to all these dwellers in our gardens, and makes us familiar 

 with their natures, their haunts, and their habits. As an 

 illustration we extract the following on the ant— 



" la each ant city there are three kinds of inhabitants, and 

 on all three kinds tho good of the whole community depends. 

 There is no such thing as an ant living or working for itself, 

 providing for its own wants or those of its young, as with most 

 other creatures. AH ants live and work together for the benefit 

 of the whole population in each community. In each of the 

 latter there are males, females, and working ants. The males 

 and females have to produce the young, and so supply inhabi- 

 tants for the city, while the working ants have to work for, and 

 feed, and take care of the males and females and young, and 

 construct the cave-cities, and it is these indefatigable little 

 creatures with which we are best acquainted from seeing them 

 above ground when they come up on matters of business. On 

 them depends, in fact, the well-being and lives of all. It is they, 

 as we have shown, who are so busy when the fine weather sets in 

 in hoUowing-out the caves or cells, which will be wanted for 

 future progeny, and which they connect together with galleries 

 and passages, so that all are communicable one with another. 

 Some of thu caves are for the reception of the females who are 

 to become the mothers of a future generation, others are for the 

 males, and others are destined for the eggs which produce the 

 grubs or larvae, and others for the cocoons from which the 

 perfect ants are to be hatched. The female ants being much 

 larger than either the males or workers, larger cells are wanted 

 for them of an oval form suited to the shape of their bodies, and 

 where they are waited upon and tended with great care and 

 respect, since on them depends the keeping-up of the popu- 

 lation, which seems to be the great aim of all ant labour and 

 industry; and when we consider how a constant diminution of 

 their numbers must be going on from the fact that many species 

 of birds make them their food, we can understand how neces- 

 sary this strong instinct is in the nature of the little creatures, 

 if the ant race is not to die out and become extinct. The 

 greatest care, and exactness, and skill is shown in the form- 

 ation of the little cave cells. The walls of them are built-up 

 of grains of earth fitted into each other with great precision, 

 and then it would seem they are covered over with some kind 

 of cement which the creature has the power of secreting from 

 its body, and when the whole is done the small mason wiU 

 carefully pass his feelers over his work to see that all is smooth, 

 compact, and firm, just as a human mason will measure his 

 work with his rule to satisfy himself that his bricks are aU 

 level, and his wall upright. 



" During the winter ants spend their time in a torpid state 

 in their underground caves, and at this time the hive is fiUed 

 perhaps only, with workers, and tho cocoons ready for hatching 

 when warm weather comes, and it is to prepare for the fresh 

 populations that new works and additions to their cities are 

 made in spring, and when these are once finished the whole 

 character and employment of the working ant undergoes a com- 

 plete change. The same anxiety for the good of the whole com- 

 munity, the same devotion to the interests of their race and 

 city show themselves, and the same self-denial and unwearied 

 industry goes on ; but they are now no longer miners or masons. 



