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Out-Door Meeting" of Hamilton 

 Hopticultupal Society. 



By invitation of the president, Mr. A. 

 Alexander, the Hamilton Horticultural Soci- 

 ety held its monthly meeting at his residence, 

 >io. 182, Wentworth St., South, on the even- 

 ing of Monday, June 6th. 



The members turned out in force, an un- 

 usually large number of ladies being present. 

 The earlier part of the evening was spent 

 in inspecting the floral display on the beauti- 

 ful lawn and in the conservatory. Among the 

 out -door plants Hemerocalis tiava, Cypri- 

 pedium pubescens, Plumbagos, Cannas, 

 Henchera sanguinea, Phloxes, Deutzias, Vi- 

 burnums and Wigelias were very fine. The 

 Aquilegias, chrysantha, caerulea, and Long 

 spurred hybrids were especially admired. 



In the conservatory the begonias attracted 

 much attention. President Carnot and rubra 

 being especially grand. A magnificent 

 Bougainvillia, covered with flowers, had 

 climbed a fourteen-foot pillar, and, failing to 

 push thtough the glass, hung down in long 

 festoons. 



When darkness had risen so high as to veil 

 the open air beauties from sight, the members 

 assembled in the spacious verandah. 



President Alexander in formally opening 

 the meeting, welcomed his guests and ex- 

 pressed his pleasure at their presence. He 

 said, " Many little and seemingly trival 

 things go far in n^aking floriculture success- 

 ful." As an instance, he remarked, that all 

 bloom should be cut from plants as soon as 

 faded so that the strength would not be 

 wasted in maturing seed. Bulbs so treated 

 increased in vigor and size and many spring 

 bloomers produced a second crop of flowers. 

 He then introduced Dr. Beadle of Toronto, 

 who gave an interesting address, the spirit of 

 which stamped him as an ardent lover of 

 nature. The Doctor said that he was pleased 

 to meet the members on this his first visit. 

 The large attendance, deep interest, and 

 friendly feeling being very gratifying. 



He thought that flowers must have been 

 created expressly for human beings. Some 

 years ago the theory, that floral di.splays were 

 only intended to attract insects, was advanced 

 and many articles had been written in sup- 

 port of this idea, the usually light colored 

 night bloomers being supposed to be especial- 

 ly designed to attract moths, but it had been 

 proved that insects found the nectar, etc., 

 just as readily when the bright colored petals 

 and sepals were removed. They needed no 

 colors to direct them to the treasures that 

 they sought. Then why are the wild flowers 

 so arrayed ? nobody planted them thus. 

 They sometimes blpom almost unseen, beauti- 

 ful beds of anemones, ranunculi, cardinal 

 lobelias, habenarias, etc. The great Creator 

 has made them to gratify our tastes and intel- 



ligence. Xature is an expression of the 

 M aker. 



Many wildlings can be grown with success. 

 In his garden he had Cypripedium spectabile, 

 pubescens and parviflorum, Habenaria bracte- 

 ata, onoclea, struthiopteris and many other 

 native plants and he would have more if he 

 had the ground. Begin with simple forms. 

 Experiments are valuable and interesting. 

 Cultivation or preservation is necessary to 

 prevent extermination of many rare plants. 

 The very rare orchid, Epipactis Helleborine, 

 was plentiful in the neighborhood of Toronto 

 a few years ago, bat cows had been turned 

 into the grounds and now scarcely a plant 

 could be found. 



In answer to (|uestions the Doctor said, 

 " Peach curl is now being experimented on, 

 but it is too early to state results. Sulphate 

 of copper is the best fungicide for fruit trees 

 and potassium sulphide for gooseberries. 

 The growth of leaf fungi was described. 

 Mulching in Winter does not retard the 

 early growth of peaches. Specimens of a 

 plum pest submitted by Rev. M. McLaren 

 was said to be a scale but no( the San Jose 

 variety. An alkaline wash applied at the 

 proper time would probably destroy these 

 insects and kerosene oil had been used with 

 success during the winter. Eggs on a grape 

 leaf, collected by Mr. Ogilvie, were probably 

 deposited by a leaf hopper. The habits of 

 scales and borers were described and the 

 speaker hoped that some person would find 

 and work out the life history of an insect de- 

 stroying scarlet flowered thorns in Hamilton. 

 At the close of the discourse the sincere 

 thanks of the assemblage were tendered Dr. 

 Beadle for his very instructive and entertain- 

 ing talk. 



After the Doctor's reply B. E. and Mrs. 

 Charlton invited the Society to hold its next 

 meeting at Boulder Wootl, their summer resi- 

 dence on the mountain brow. 



Mr. W. M. Robson, of Lindsay, 

 writes that at a recent meeting of the 

 Lindsay Horticultural Society, it was 

 decided to use every means of destroy- 

 ing the tent caterpillar. Mr. Robson 

 says : — 



" In our opinion nothing would be so eflFec- 

 tive as the action of Government in enforcing 

 under penalty the entire destruction, (in the 

 earliest stages), of the Tent and Forest Cater- 

 pillar, wherever found, on public or private, 

 the cutting down and destroying of that 

 species of wild cherry, commonly known dis 

 choke cherry, which is frequently found in 

 neglected fence corners, and is known to be 

 favorable for harboring and propasating these 

 pests. We hope these suggestions may meet 



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