44 



THE GARDENERS' CHRONICLE. 



[July 14, 



ing, July 9, Mr. Geokge Wheeler in the chair. 

 Two new members were elected, making an addition 

 this year of thirty-nine. The membership now 

 stands at 291, including honorary members. The 

 committee is very pleased to state that the Society 

 is in a very healthy condition, no one being on the 

 sick-list at the present time. 



International Horticultural Exhibition, 



COLOGNE. — We have received from H.B.M. Consul 

 at Diisseldorf additional particulars relating to 

 this exhibition, which will remain open from 

 August 4 to September 9 : — 



" I have the honour of drawing special attention 

 to this exhibition, which promises to be the most 

 successful one of its class ever held in the Rhenish 

 province — the pearl of the German empire. A better 

 opportunity for promoting the export trade to the 

 Continent in the branches of industry concerned 

 could hardly be afforded — within so easy reach of 

 British ports — elsewhere than at Cologne, one of the 

 most central points of traffic in tne most industrial 

 and thickly populated provinces of Germany. 



" In the Rhenish Westphalian provinces great 

 progress has been made of late years in the cultiva- 

 tion of gardens and parks on the English system, a 

 taste which is daily being more and more developed 

 with consequent increased requirements. 



" In some branches of horticulture Holland and 

 Belgium rank very high, but in most classes of 

 industry connected therewith the English products 

 and manufactures are superior ; however, in these 

 days of world-wide competition mere advertisement 

 and issue of circulars no longer suffice ; to ensure 

 success the quality must be proved by exhibition 

 wherever and whenever opportunity is afforded. 



" The programme in German, (list of chief products 

 and manufactures in English), including no less than 

 750 kinds of exhibits, is a very comprehensive and 

 extended one, even to which exhibitors are not 

 strictly limited ; all classes of products and manu- 

 factures in any way, even indirectly connected with 

 horticulture and model farming will with pleasure 

 be received, and every facility will be given for 

 cheap and expeditious transport, suitable mode of 

 exhibition and representation, no charge being made 

 for space. All applications for further information 

 made to the Executive Committee, ' Gartenbau, 

 Ausstellung,' Cologne, will be promptly attended to. 



"The departments which would appear to offer 

 the most chances of success to British exhibitors 

 are of vegetables, seeds and their products, and 

 manufactures therefrom, of all classes, but especially 

 grass, Wheat, Oats, and Barley seeds, which are 

 inferior in this country ; small pumping engines, 

 worked by steam, water, or gas-power ; gearing and 

 appliances connected therewith, for irrigating and 

 syringing, as well as for the extinction of fire pur- 

 poses. 



" Grass-mowing machines, rollers, garden and 

 model-farm water and other carts, implements, 

 weighing machines and tools — in which the Ameri- 

 cans are our greatest competitors— garden, park, 

 conservatory, and dwelling-house illuminating lamps 

 and appliances; hot-water, air, and steam heating 

 apparatus; tents, summer-houses, and garden fur- 

 niture ; park phaetons and other vehicles, harness, 

 saddles, and bridles ; Bath-chairs, appliances for 

 outdoor games connected with a country gentle- 

 man's residence, will also doubtless be admitted. 



" Since writing the foregoing, I see, by a supple- 

 mentary programme, that 21,700 marks (= £1085) 

 have been subscribed for money prizes. T. R. 

 Mulvany, HB.M. Consul for Westphalia and the 

 Shenish Provinces, British Consulate, Diisseldorf-on- 

 the-Ehine, June 9, 1888. 



American Pomological Society. — The 



receipt of this Report year after year makes us leel 

 how sadly behindhand we in this country are in the 

 matter of commercial fruit-culture. It may seem 

 strange to read it, but it seems the fact, that our 

 American cousins understand the virtue of common 

 action and reciprocal counsel better than we do. 



They do not dissipate their energies over minor 

 associations, but they weld all in one common feder- 

 ation, to the advantage of all. We observe that our 

 friends across the Atlantic are devoting great atten- 

 tion to Russian Apples. The conditions here are, 

 of course, quite different, nevertheless it may be of 

 use to note that in this climate the Russian Apples 

 have, as a rule, not proved worth growing. The 

 Report contains papers and discussions on fruit and 

 fruit-growing similar to those at our own Fruit Con- 

 gresses, and a catalogue of the best fruits for each 

 State in the Union. This catalogue is revised at 

 short intervals. 



DISEASED TOMATOS. — Tomatos, whether in- 

 doors or out-of-doors, are much troubled with 

 disease of various kinds. This season the plagues 

 seem especially virulent. A full description of the 

 diseases caused by the attacks of the Potato fungus, 

 Peronospora infestans, on the Tomato, by the black 

 spot (Phoma) which forms on the top of the berries, 

 by the Dactylium and the Cladosporium, have been 

 given in our columns, with illustrations, by Mr. 

 Plowright and Mr. Wokthington Smith. We 

 must refer our readers to our numbers for Novem- 

 ber 12, 1881 ; August 6, and October 1 and 29, 1887, 

 for full details as to the nature of these several 

 diseases. Unfortunately a knowledge of the reme- 

 dial measures to be adopted has not kept pace with 

 our knowledge of the diseases themselves. Ex- 

 perts have told us to what fungi the diseases 

 are due, but they have not hitherto been able to 

 suggest a remedy. This is in large measure due to the 

 fact that the fungi in question are chiefly of internal 

 growth, and no remedy applied externally can be 

 expected to be efficacious. The consequences, how- 

 ever, are so serious, that it behoves practical men, 

 now that they are made acquainted with the nature 

 of the foe they have to contend with, not to be 

 satisfied with mere "stamping out" by destroying 

 affected plants, replanting in fresh soil, and the like 

 — procedures often very imperfectly carried out — but 

 to avail themselves also ofknown fungicides orfungus- 

 destroyers, such as bisulphide of carbon, sulphur or sul- 

 phide of potassium. In particular we would recommend 

 the use of sulphate of copper mixed with lime, in the 

 manner and in the proportions mentioned in a re- 

 cent article (see p. 15). It is possible that by such 

 measures the disease may be controlled ; at any rate, 

 trial should be made. It is in such cases as these 

 that the need of experimental gardens and labora- 

 tories becomes evident. Private growers have rarely 

 the leisure or the competence to undertake the 

 necessary experiments. The Ministry of Agriculture 

 which it is proposed to establish might most appro- 

 priately signalise its inauguration by the establish- 

 ment of institutions of this kind, the cost of which 

 would ultimately be repaid a hundredfold by the 

 benefits conferred. As it is, one set of men give 

 freely their time, their labour, and their brains to 

 the investigation of these diseases, and the practical 

 men, so-called, instead of availing themselves of the 

 information furnished them, do nothing but grumble 

 and go on as before. It is time a new departure 

 was made. 



A Particoloured Iris.— We have had occasion 



to figure Calanthe and other hybrid flowers in which 

 the colour has been distributed unevenly, but we 

 have not before witnessed a similar occurrence in 

 any Iris. Mr. Keelage has now obligingly sent us 

 a flower of the so-called English Iris, " Max Rooses." 

 Under ordinary circumstances this flower is of a deep 

 rich velvety-purple, with a central blotch of yellow 

 and a spotted midrib to each of the sepals or " falls." 

 In the flower in question one of the falls has a 

 pale lilac ground, with a few deep violet blotches 

 radiating from the broad midrib. Two of the petals 

 or standards are of their normal purple colour, while 

 the third is purple on one side of the centre, pale 

 lilac striped with violet on the other. We do not 

 know the parentage of this particular Iris, but it 

 is reasonable to suppose that this peculiar distri- 

 bution of colour may be the result of a tendency to 

 separate the heretofore blended elements, and to 

 revert to the condition of one or other parent. A 

 second flower on the same spike, which opened in 

 water, was quite normal. Mr. Keelage tells us he 

 has observed similar variation in Iris Victor Verdier. 



Hardy AZALEAS.— We have received from Mr. 

 Anthony Wateber, Woking, cut specimens of these, 

 and very fine they were too. The colours are bright 

 and varied, and the bloom of good size. Specimens 



of these plants, and also of Rhododendrons, from 

 Mr. A. Watereb, formed a feature at the recent 

 evening fete of the Royal Botanic Society, one tent 

 being full of them. 



Poisoning by Mischance. — A fatal accident 



has occurred at Monmouth in consequence of a work- 

 man drinking, by mistake, a quantity of some fluid 

 used to kill weeds, and which he obtained from a 

 barrel. The barrel was properly labelled, bat it 

 seems from the report before us to open the question 

 whether or noallbarrelscontaining poisonous matters 

 should not be of a particular shape, so as to avoid the 

 mischance of mistaking a barrel of poison for one of 

 beer or cider. No blame attached to the master. 



PINUS SABINIANA.* 



For the opportunity of figuring the cone of this 

 noble species we are indebted to M. Naudin, of An- 

 tibes. The botanical history of the tree is pretty 

 well known, so that we ne ed not say much upon that 

 point. It was introduced from California by Douglas 

 in 1832. In cultivation in this country the tree 

 forms a rounded or oblong head, with long, loosely set 

 branches upturned at the ends, so that the light 

 penetrates freely, while the very long, pendulous, 

 grey leaves, waving with every gust of wind, give a 

 peculiarly distinct look to the tree. The old bark 

 is reddish-brown, or smoky, according to the locality 

 in which the tree is growing ; the younger bark is 

 glaucous, or blueish-grey ; the young shoots desti- 

 tute of leaves except at the tips, but covered more 

 or less with the marks of the bud-scales, which, when 

 recent, arereflexed, membranous, lanceolate, fringed 

 at the edges. The buds are cylindric, reddish- 

 brown, and covered with resin ; they begin to shoot 

 early in spring, the terminal bud starting into- 

 growth before the lateral ones. 



The leaves are very long, triangular in section, 

 with the dorsal surface convex, the others concave. 

 There is a very thick layer of hypoderm, or thick 

 woody cells which contribute to the strength of the 

 leaves, and which are only interrupted by the- 

 numerous breathing pores or stomata. Within this 

 is the green substance of the leaf, traversed by two 

 or more resin-canals, and in the centre is a double 

 fibro-vascular bundle, surrounded by an elliptical! 

 endoderm or bundle sheath of a single row of 

 elliptical cells, as shown magnified in our illustra- 

 tion (fig. 4). The male flowers are yellow, in oblong 

 clusters, while the appearance and size of the noble 

 rich brown cones is sufficiently shown in our illustra- 

 tion. The tree is quite hardy — not very particular 

 as to soil — but should be planted in a sheltered 

 situation. The seedlings produce a relatively large 

 tap-root, which renders them rather difficult to trans- 

 plant. 



In this country P. Sabiniana can only be regarded 

 as an ornamental tree, as the growth is slow and 

 the wood soft. 



Our notes have been taken principally from the 

 trees at Kew and at Pampesford. 



In the Sierra Nevada this Pine is known as the 

 Nut Pine, owing to the agreeable flavour of the seeds, 

 which are collected by the natives for food. 



Mr. Muir, in an article in Harper's Magazine, on 

 the coniferous forests of the Sierra Nevada, gives the 

 following account of this tree, which for its interest 

 is worth transcribing : — 



" The first coniferous tree met by the traveller in 

 ascending the range from the west is the Nut Pine, 

 remarkable for its loose, airy, tropical appearance, 

 suggesting a region of Palms rather than cool resiny 

 Pine woods. No one would take it at first sight to- 

 be a Pine or Conifer of any kind, it is so loose in 

 habit and widely branched, and its foliage is so thin 

 and grey. Full-grown specimens are from 40 to 

 50 feet in height and from 2 to 3 feet in 

 diameter. At a height of 15 or 20 feet from the 

 ground, the trunk usually divides into three or four 

 main branches, about equal in size, which, after 

 bearing away from one another, shoot straight up, 

 and form separate summits ; while the crooked) 



* Pinus Sabinii 

 Botany of Califor 



, Douglas. See especially Engelmann, 

 , ii., p. 127. 



