ApiU 2, 1874. ] 



JOUKNAXi OF HOKTICUIiTUllE AND COTTAGE GABDENEK. 



271 



water applied at rather long intervals. No dribbling or damp- 

 ing tile surface when it is not really dry ; it hardens it, and 

 makes moss and lichen grow and the soil sour by choking its 

 air-passages. When stable or any other kind of manure that 

 is bulky and that decomposes quickly is mixed with the soil, 

 the latter gradually gets closer as the manure decays, and in 

 the end is in a worse condition for admitting air than it would 

 have been without the manure. If it can be dug-up, and 

 aerated, and manured afresh all very well, but with permanent 

 trees this cannot be done, and therefore I say it is better to use 

 ao quick-decaying manure at all. 



I have said that trees do not require a stimulant when com- 

 mencing to make roots in the spring. They form a greater 

 number of feeders in soil that is rather poor and is at the 

 same time sweet. They will dart through a mass of the richest- 

 prepared border into a gravel walk or cinder heap, and there 

 ramify in all directions, not, perhaps, because the gravel walk 

 or cinder heap contains suificient nourishment for them for any 

 length of time, but because they are satiated in the prepared 

 border. Where the feeders are numerous, as they almost 

 invariably are in a poor sweet soil, it may reasonably be sup- 

 posed that liquid manure would have a very marked and im- 

 mediate effect, and, if not used too often, would be highly 

 appreciated at such critical times as when the flowers were 

 setting or the fruit stoning. When the fruit is approaching 

 its full size it will be of better quality if it is not too highly 

 ■fed. Trees also ripen their branches and roots better and 

 earlier in a soil that is not over-rich, and they are conse- 

 quently hardier. — Williaji Taylok, Longleat. 



EOTAL HOKTICULTUBAL SOCIETY. 



April 1st. 



The Council-room on this occasion was well filled, Boses and 

 Cyclamens being especially attractive. 



Fruit Committee. — Alfred Smee, Esq., P.R.S., in the chair. 

 Sir John Le Couteur, of Jersey, sent a dish of Pengethley Pear, 

 "which, in his communication, he stated is very fine this season, 

 but those sent were not ripe. Mr. George Wheeler, of War- 

 minster, sent a dish of a seedling Apple called Wheeler's Fa- 

 vourite, but the fruit had been gathered early, and being pre- 

 maturely shrivelled, the Committee could not form a favourable 

 judgment upon it. 



Floral Com.mittee. — Mr. J. Eraser in the chair. From 

 Messrs. Veitch, of Chelsea, came a Masdevallia with green 

 flowers profusely spotted with brown, as quiet in colour as 

 M. ignea, Harryana, and Veitchii are brilliant ; Anthurium 

 floribundum, with small leaves and a white spathe ; the flue 

 double Clematis John Gould Veitch ; Oncidium f uscatum, with 

 a pale lip having a large dead purple and brownish yellow blotch 

 in the lip ; Tea Rose Duchess of Edinburgh, noticed in our 

 report of the last meeting ; and Boronia megastigma, with 

 maroon crimson flowers, yellow within, with a conspicuous 

 green calyx, and highly perfumed. To this a first-class cer- 

 tificate was awarded. Messrs. Jackmau & Son, of Woking 

 Nursery, sent Clematis Duchess of Edinburgh, with pale lilac 

 flowers, a cross between the patens and Jackmanni types. 



From Mr. Williams, of Holloway, came a miscellaneous gi'oup 

 consisting of Palms, Orchids, Ferns, and Amaryllids. Of the 

 last Oriflame, vermilion with green bands at the base of the 

 segments, had a first-class certificate. In the same collection 

 were Anthurium Scherzerianum Williamsii with a white spathe 

 — not, however, a pure white, as exhibited smaller than in the 

 scarlet type, but this was probably owing to the smallness of 

 the plant and other circumstances. Anthurium crystallinum 

 was another handsome plant of the same genus with large leaves 

 broadly silver- veined. Messrs. Standishct Co., Royal Nurseries, 

 Ascot, sent a group of Clematises, Cinerarias, and Lady Blanche 

 ■white Pink ; and Mr. R. Smith, of Worcester, a dozen Japanese 

 Maples, some of which had leaves of remarkably high colour. 



Messrs. Paul ^ Son, of the Cheshunt Nurseries, sent a splendid 

 collection of Roses in pots, which well deserved the cultural 

 •commendation awarded. Those in the finest bloom were Camille 

 Bernardin, La France, Annie Laxtou, Cheshunt Hybrid (Tea), 

 very fragrant, and Etienne Levet, very large. Messrs. Paul and 

 Son likewise contributed numerous cut blooms. Mr. Perkins, 

 garilener to Lord Heuniker, Thornham Hall, Sufiolk, sent a box 

 of cut blooms of Marfichal Niel of remarkable beauty. Mr. 

 H. Bennett, Manor Farm Nursery, Stapleford, had a first-class 

 certificate for Rose Duchess of Edinburgh, a good deal re- 

 sembling Baroness Rothschild in colour. From the same exhi- 

 bitor came also a stand of Madame Jules Margottin, somewhat 

 rough, cream, with an orange-and-rose centre. 



Mr. Goddard, gardener to H. Little, Esq., Cambridge Villa, 

 Twickenham, sent a splendid group of Cyclamens, which was 

 awarded a cultural commendation. Two beautiful varieties 



called Rose Queen, purpHsh rose, and Royal Purple, approach- 

 ing a Tyrian purple, altogether out of the ordinary run of colour, 

 were awarded first-class certificates. 



From Mr. R. Dean, Ealing and Bedfont, came a group of bed- 

 ding Pansies and Violas, notably good being Viola White Swan, 

 together with several very froe-lluweriug bedding Polyanthuses, 

 as Viceroy, pale yellow, with an orange centre, and Bride, white, 

 with an orange centre. Fancy Polyanthus Purpurea, from the same 

 exhibitor, had a first-class certificate. Mr. Rudolph Barr, Toot- 

 ing, and Rev. W. Kendall, East Lulworth, Wareham, sent col- 

 lections of Narcissus in competition for Messrs. Barr A- Sugdeu's 

 prizes. From Dr. Denny, Stoke Newiugton, came Zonal Pelar- 

 gonium Imogeue, crimson scarlet, with purple-flushed lower 

 petals, deeper and finer in colour than lanthe. Mr. Bennett, 

 gardener to the Marquis of Salisbury, Hatfield, sent specimens 

 of Cupressns Lawsoniana in bloom, and the tree from which 

 they were cut is stated to be quite crimsoned with it. Mr. 

 Woodbridge, Sion House Gardens, sent fine examples of Bamboo 

 gro^wn there. ___^__^ 



It is rumoured that negotiations are on foot with the view of 

 holding a provincial show either at the end of summer or in 

 autumn at Brighton; and from the spirit of the place, from the 

 liberality which the railway company have always manifested 

 on the occasion of the Brighton Shows, and from the energetic 

 and successful manner in which these have been conducted, we 

 have little doubt such an exhibition would be satisfactory in its 

 results. 



THE WEATHER IN DERBYSHIRE. 



As Mr. Kecord, of Vinters Park, gave us an account, in the 

 Journal of March 19th, of the weather near Maidstone, in 

 Kent, it will not be out of place to state how many degrees of 

 frost we had in this neighbourhood. On Tuesday morning 

 (March 10th), the thermometer was 11' below freezing, and a 

 good deal of snow fell throughout the day ; on Wednesday 

 morning it was 7°, and on Thursday it was very raw and cold ; 

 frequent falls of snow and rain occurred during the day, and 

 the frost entirely disappeared. The blossoms of the Apricots 

 that were expanded are all destroyed ; that was on the Tuesday 

 morning, but there were very few in fuU flower, and what were 

 not out are all safe. They are protected with Spruce Fir 

 boughs. Peaches and Nectarines were not snlEciently out at 

 the time, so that they are safe ; and on all the trees there is a 

 great show for bloom, and some of the best young wood I ever 

 saw in old trees out of doors, some of them having been planted 

 nearly thuty years. I always lay-in plenty of young wood 

 during the summer from their centres to follow up the old, 

 and cut a portion of it out every spring. There are very few 

 places in Derbyshire where they can grow Peaches and Nec- 

 tarines out of doors at all ; they have to grow them under 

 glass. I have not protected them yet. I cover them with 

 common garden netting, suspended from under the coping, 

 and looped to hooks on a rail at the top of the wall, and tied 

 out to rails along the front of the trees, about 4 feet from 

 them. When finished it looks more like a range of Peach 

 houses from end to end. It is an excellent mode of protecting 

 the Peach from frost. Wet as the season was last year I got the 

 young wood well ripened, which is much in the trees' favour, 

 as they withstand the cold and frost better in the spring. I 

 generally get as many of the leaves off as possible with a broom 

 in the early part of the autumn, so as to have the wood 

 thoroughly ripened before the winter sets in, and the buds as 

 plump as possible. — W. M. P. 



ESTIMATION OP BOSES. 



I HEAD Mr. Eadclyffe's contribution to the Journal of March 

 19th, and think he should have been more explicit about the 

 new Roses named in last ycai's election. Out of the first six, 

 which have a special interest for me as a small grower, he 

 only mentions three, and by the general tone of his remarks 

 reverses the judgment of twenty-nine eminent rosarians. As 

 to the others, why not have said in what respect they are 

 " simply miserable ? " 



In common with many, if not most, amateurs, I always 

 receive the glowing praises which nurserymen give to novelties 

 with considerable caution ; but when fourteen or fifteen ama- 

 teur rosarians agreed in placing Comtesse d'Oxford 1, Etienne 

 Level 2, and Marquise de Castellane 3, I thought myself quite 

 safe in buying them, and Mr. Pvadclyft'e's letter will stimulate 

 the interest with which I shall watch my plants. I have only 



