272 



THE GARDENEBS' CHRONICLE. 



[September 8, 1888. 



taming a total area of about 1 a., 2 r., 31 p. 

 The first lot was knocked down to Mr. Nathaniel 

 Smith (Smith Bros., Kingston) for £4000. Lot 2, 

 the freehold family residence known as and being 

 Fife House, Fife Road, Kingston-on-Thames, -was 

 withdrawn, the last bid, £1780, not being con- 

 sidered sufficient. Lot 3— the house, shop, and 

 premises, known as No. 13, Thames Street— ex- 

 cited keen competition between Messrs. Nuttall 

 (Alfred & William) and J. J. Holland, but the 

 latter would not be outdone, and he gave £3900 for 

 the shop and premises. Other lots were unsold. The 

 auctioneer announced that the sale of the greenhouse 

 plants would be proceeded with at once. 



Gardeners' Orphan Fund.— We have the 



pleasure to announce that at the flower show, held 

 at Heckfield Place on August 28, Mr. AVildsmith, 

 the local secretary for this district, collected the 

 handsome sum of £5 from three boxes. 



Presentation of an Address to Pro- 

 fessor BENTLEY.— The prolonged and valuable 

 services rendered by Professor Bentlet to the Royal 

 Botanic Society of London have recently been the 

 subject of a well-deserved recognition in the shape of 

 a beautifully illuminated address presented to him 

 on behalf of the Council of that Society. The text 

 of the address was as follows : — 



" Royal Botanic Society of London, 



" Gardens, Regent's Park. 

 " To Professor Robert Bentlet. 



" Sir, — At a meeting of Council this day, I was re- 

 quested to convey to you, which I do with sincere 

 pleasure, the cordial thanks of the Council and Fellows 

 of the Royal Botanic Society of London for your able 

 assistance in its objects by the Botanical Lectures 

 you have during the past thirty-five years delivered 

 in the Society's Gardens. 



"Permit me at the same time to express our 

 fervent hope that on retiring from your more active 

 labours you may for many years enjoy the prospect 

 of the valuable results of your prolonged and laborious 

 work. " Francis, Duke of Teck, President." 



GARDEN FETE.— The beautiful and historical 

 grounds of Oakley Park, near Scole, Norfolk, were 

 thrown open to the public on the 21st ult., the occa- 

 sion being a garden party in aid of the Gardeners' 

 Royal Benevolent Institution. The fete on Tuesday 

 was organised by Mr. McMillan, the head 

 gardener at Oakley Park, and so perfect were 

 the arrangements that there was but one condition 

 — fine weather— to make the affair successful. Un- 

 fortunately this was wanting, rain fell almost inces- 

 santly. Soon after mid-day, however, the sky cleared, 

 and as soon as there was a prospect of the afternoon 

 being at all fine, people were tobe seen wending their 

 way to the park. Visitors to the fete on Tuesday found 

 many objects of interest in the house and grounds 

 so closely identified with the name of the late owner. 

 The gardens, now in their summer beauty, were a 

 great attraction. The upper terrace commands an 

 extensive view of the park and the river running 

 through it. The kitchen garden covers about two 

 acres, and a tour of inspection solves the problem 

 why vegetables exhibited from this quarter distance 

 all others at local shows. There is a long range of 

 glass, and the houses are filled with fruit. We 

 understand that, in spite of the wretched weather, 

 a profit of £18 was made— a welcome addition to 

 the funds of the Institution. Mr. McMillan's suc- 

 cess should stimulate others to do likewise. 



Wigtownshire Horticultural Society.— 



The annual show of this Society was held on 

 August 31, in the Academy, Stranraer, and sustained 

 its reputation as a provincial show. Roses, Dahlias, 

 Carnations, and other cut flowers, were shown in 

 excellent condition, and greenhouse plants were 

 exceptionally fine. Fruit made a large display, 

 Grapes being well bloomed and highly flavoured. 

 The vegetables were likewise good generally. The 

 collections shown for the special prizes offered by 



Messrs. Sutton & Sons, Reading, and Messrs. Dick- 

 sons & Co., Edinburgh, were of remarkably good 

 quality. The bouquets of cultivated and wild flowers 

 were numerous aud meritorious. 



Birmingham Gardeners' Mutual Improve- 

 ment ASSOCIATION. — A notable event in connec- 

 tion with the above Association took place on 

 Monday, August 27, when a party of about seventy 

 members left Birmingham at 5'40 a.m., and arrived 

 at Reading at 830 a.m. The party was met at the 

 station by members of the firm of Messrs. Sutton & 

 Sons, who had provided conveyances to take the 

 whole of the party to the trial grounds of the firm, 

 and to their London Road nursery, and thence to 

 the Lecture Hall, where the firm had provided 

 dinner for the party — Mr. Martin John Sutton 

 presiding, ably supported by Mr. Leonard Sutton, 

 Mr. W. Wildsmith, and Mr. W. B. Lathom, Chair- 

 main of the Gardeners's Association. The journey 

 to Heckfield (9 miles) was made from Reading by 

 road. Here, after a kind reception by Viscount 

 Eversley and his daughter, the party was con- 

 ducted round the place and shown everything of 

 interest in these extensive and admirably kept 

 gardens. The return journey was made from 

 Reading at 7'30 p.m., Birmingham being safely 

 reached at 105 p.m. 



Potato Tuber Sprouting in Darkness.— A 



correspondent sends us a fine specimen of an "Im- 

 perator " Potato, which had been laid aside in a cup- 

 board, and in due time started into growth, bearing 

 numerous shoots of coral-like appearance, the tips of 

 which are, in many cases, developed into small 

 tubers. All these shoots and tubers had of course 

 developed at the expense of the old tuber, which 

 endeavoured to do above ground what it could have 

 done so much better below. Our correspondent 

 rightly says a similar specimen was sent to Dr. 

 Lindley some years ago (it is probably the one 

 figured in his Elements of Botany) ; but to attribute 

 to this distinguished botanist the statement that 

 the " roots of the Potato are underground branches, 

 and the tubers its fruit," is an astounding misrepre- 

 sentation. 



" Damping-off" of Seedlings.— The follow- 

 ing extract is taken from an important and valuable 

 series of articles from the pen of Professor Marshall 

 Ward, now appearing in Nature, relating to the 

 diseases of timber : — 



"In the seed-beds [Beech is specially alluded to] 

 it is often first noticeable in that patches of seedlings 

 here and there begin to fall over, as if they had been 

 bitten or cut where the young stem and root join at 

 the surface of the ground : on pulling up one of the 

 injured seedlings the ' collar,' or region common to 

 stem and root, will be found to be blackened, and 

 either rotten or shrivelled, according to the dampness 

 or dryness of the surface of the soil. Sometimes 

 the whole of the young root will be rotting off before 

 the first true leaves have emerged from between the 

 cotyledons ; in other cases the collar only is rotten 

 or shrivelled, and the weight of the parts above 

 ground causes them to fall prostrate on the surface 

 of the soil ; in yet others the lower parts of the 

 stem of the older seedling may be blackened, and 

 dark flecks appear on the cotyledons and young 

 leaves, which may also be turning brown and 

 shrivelling up. 



" If the weather is moist, e.g., during a rainy May 

 or June, the disease may be observed spreading 

 rapidly from a given centre or centres, in ever- 

 widening circles. It has also been noticed that if a 

 moving body passes across a diseased patch into the 

 neighbouring healthy seedlings, the disease in a few 

 hours is observed spreading in its track. It has also 

 been found that if seeds are again sown in the 

 following season in a seed-bed which had previously 

 contained many of the above diseased seedling?, 

 the new seedlings will inevitably be killed by 

 the 'damping-off.' As we shall see shortly, this 

 is because the resting spores of the fungus re- 



main dormant in the soil after the death of the 

 seedlings. 



" In other words, the disease is infectious, and 

 spreads centrifugally from one diseased seedling to 

 another, or from one crop to another; if the weather 

 is moist and warm — ' muggy,' as it is often termed — 

 such as often occurs in the cloudy days of a wet 

 Mayor June, the spread of the disease may be so 

 rapid that every plant in the bed is affected in the 

 course of two or three days, and the whole sowing 

 reduced to a putrid mass ; in drier seasons and soils 

 the spread of the infection may be slower, and only 

 a patch here and there die off, the diseased shrivelling 

 up rather than rotting." 



Horticultural Show at Lostock, near 



BOLTON. — The fifteenth annual floral and horticul- 

 tural show for the districts of Westhoughton and 

 Lostock was held on the 1st inst. at the " Black 

 Horse," in the latter town. The prizes offered were 

 numerous and well assorted, consisting chiefly of 

 domestic articles. The exhibits were acknowledged 

 to be better than the specimens submitted at previous 

 shows. Vegetables brought numerous entries, there 

 being an extraordinary show of Celery, for which 

 forty-seven prizes were offered. 



Fleetwood Flower Show.— The first annual 

 show in connection with the Fleetwood Floral and 

 Horticultural Society was held on August 31, in the 

 Queen's Hall. The number of entries for the various 

 classes was 548, and the display was a very credit- 

 able one, considering the exceptionally bad season 

 we have had. The gardeners' class for plants in 

 pots produced some fine exhibits, the Pelargoniums, 

 Fuchsias, and Ferns shown being in fine condition, 

 with a profusion of bloom, Mr. F. H. Lucas was 

 the principal prize-winner in this section, whilst Mr. 

 J. Lister ran him close. The show was well 

 attended, and the committee have reason to hope for 

 better things next year. 



The Botanic Gardens, Trinidad.— When 



Mr. Hart, scarcely more than a year ago, assumed 

 the superintendence of the gardens, he found them 

 in rather a backward and dilapidated condition. An 

 interregnum of twelve months had intervened be- 

 tween his appointment and the retirement of his 

 predecessor, and duringthat time the gardens had been 

 under the superintendence of a clerk from the island 

 Audit Office. The work was done as well as could 

 have been expected ; still many things were out of 

 order, and many improvements had instantly t:> be 

 made. Mr. Hart set vigorously to work, and with 

 the efficient co-operation of his Excellency Sir 

 William Robinson, K.C.M.G., he has been able to 

 do wonders. We admire his courage and his ability, 

 and we sincerely wish him all success in his important 

 labours. 



Lilies and Poppies.— Mr. Ware sends us a 

 magnificent combination — a sheaf of Lilium auratum 

 and one of Oriental Poppies. Mix the two judiciously, 

 and what vase shall be grandiose enough to contain 

 so stately a group ? But it is our business to analyse, 

 aud not merely to gaze in admiration. The forms 

 sent are forms of Lilium auratum var. platyphyllum, 

 which, Mr. Ware tells us, has larger flowers, broader 

 overlapping segments, and larger leaves than in the 

 common type. Among the flowers are some with a pure 

 white unspotted segment, marked by a central band of 

 light gold (var. virginale). A spotted form is repre- 

 sented by the var. macranthum. In addition, there 

 is a red-banded variety (rubro vittatum), in which 

 the band is broader and deeper than in the ordinary 

 red-banded auratum. The platyphyllum varieties, 

 Mr. Ware tells us, make huge bulbs, and grow in 

 almost any soil, while the original auratum fails to 

 grow with Mr. Ware in any position or soil. The 

 Oriental Poppies are flowering a second time. 

 Gorgeous used to be the appropriate word for these, 

 and still is for some ; but Mr. Ware has lately 

 brought under notice some forms of a pale rosy-lilac 

 colour, so that we have now a range of colour from 

 pale lilac or pink through orange, orange-scarlet, 



