416 



THE GABDENEBS' CHRONICLE. 



[October 13, 1888. 



Rhododendron Collciitmum, t. 7019. — An alpine 

 Affghan Rhododendron, of which a figure was given 

 in our columns, September 15, 1888, p. 297, fig. 38. 



Iris Alberti. t. 7020. — A species from the moun- 

 tains of Turkestan, where it was found by Dr. 

 Albert Regel. It resembles I. pallida in habit, 

 and, says Mr. Baker, " is interesting botanically 

 because it possesses a rudimentary crest and a fully 

 developed beard down the claw of the outer segments, 

 thus forming a connecting link between the two sub- 

 genera, Pogoniris and Evansia. 



Diea, racemosa, t. 7021.— A native of the eastern 

 side of Table Mountain, at elevations of from 800 to 

 2500 feet, and extending thence to Grahamstown. 

 The racemes are erect, four to nine-flowered, rosy- 

 red ; the dorsal sepal hooded, lateral sepals flat, 

 ovate, spreading, as long as the hooded sepal ; the 

 lip linear. Each flower measures about 1£ inch in 

 diameter. 



Asarum macmntfaim, t. 7022. — A remarkably 

 curious plant, described by Sir Josbfh Hooker, and 

 having cordate-ovate, many-ribbed leaves, green 

 above, whitish beneath, with prominent reticulations ; 

 petioles elongate, erect, spotted with red. The 

 flowers are borne in dense clusters at the base of the 

 plant, each one about 2 inches across, with a bell- 

 shaped tube and a limb dividing into five oblong- 

 ovate wavy lobes, as long as the tube, and of a pale 

 brown colour, tinged with yellow and purple. It is 

 a native of Formosa, whence it was sent to Kew by 

 Mr. Ford, the Superintendent of the Hong Kong 

 Botanic Garden. 



INSECT LIFE.— The United States Department 

 of Agriculture has commenced the publication of 

 periodical Bulletins devoted to the dissemination 

 of information concerning the life-history of those 

 insects in which the agriculturist is more particu- 

 larly interested. The Bulletins in question are 

 edited by Professor Riley, the entomologist of the 

 Department, whose name is a guarantee that the 

 work will be carefully and accurately done, and with 

 a special relation to the wants of agriculturists. 



Flowers for the Working Classes,— 



At the recent exhibition of the Van Houtte Club at 

 Ledeberg a Silver-gilt Medal was offered for the 

 best six plants of different kinds specially adapted 

 for the decoration of the houses of the working 

 classes. It was stipulated that the value of the lot 

 should not exceed 3 francs, and that the exhibitor 

 should be in a position to supply within twenty-four 

 hours ten times the number if required to do so. The 

 competition, as we learn from the Berne de I'Horti- 

 culture Beige, was severe. Mr. Gyzelynck took the 

 1st prize, for Pelargonium Lilliput, tuberous Begonia, 

 Coleus var., double Petunia, Fuchsia, Dracama con- 

 gesta discolor. The 2nd prize went to M. E. 

 Vervaene, for Tradescantia multicolor, Pourettia 

 mexicana, Dracaena congesta discolor, Aralia ja- 

 ponica, Begonia Dregei, Apapanthus umbellatus 

 fol. var. 



Plant Collections.— We are wont to regret 



the turning of private establishments into market 

 gardens, and the substitution of mercenary for other 

 considerations. However much we may regret it we 

 have no right to blame those who deem it right and 

 expedient to come into competition with the market 

 gardeners. But it is curious to see that the same 

 state of things which we lament now existed sixty- 

 five years ago, when we find Messrs. Loddiges ex- 

 pressing themselves in the following terms in the 

 third volume of their Botanical Cabinet :—" 'Sox 

 many years have we beheld with the deepest con- 

 cern these and other causes gradually operating, to 

 the breaking up of the several respectable collections 

 which formerly existed in the vicinity of the metro- 

 polis. One by one have they fallen, and new ones 

 have not arisen in their stead. The buildings which, 

 once, filled with rare and splendid plants, delighted 

 and elevated the mind, in not a few instances have 

 been degraded into absolute potageries [sz'c]. The in- 

 tellectual pleasures which their owners had formerly 

 enjoyed in them were forgotten, and exchanged for 



the gratification of gross and corporeal animal 

 cravings. And thus stoves were finally doomed to 

 exist only as gratification and sort of manufactories 

 of such things as early Potatos, French Beans, small 

 salad, or Mushrooms." 



The Chiswick Soiree.— We would remind 

 our readers that the Chiswick Gardeners' Mutual 

 Improvement Association intend to hold a soiree on 

 the evening of Wednesday, the 17th inst., at the 

 Chiswick Vestry Hall, for the benefit of the Gardeners' 

 Orphan Fund. 



Royal Horticultural Society of ABER- 

 DEEN. — The acting Directors of this Society met in 

 the office of the Secretary, Mr. A. M. Byres, Bridge 

 Street, Aberdeen, on Wednesday evening, the 3rd 

 inst., Councillor Lyon, President, in the chair. The 

 balance-sheet for the year showed a surplus of over 

 £100, which was considered very satisfactory. The 

 annual meeting of the Society was fixed for to-day 

 (Saturday, 13th inst.), when, among other things, 

 there will be discussed the propriety of holding a 

 spring show. 



Uva Grass (Gynerium saccharides).— 



Under the name of " Uva Grass," the large and hand- 

 some male flower-spikes of this plant are now offered 

 for sale by Messrs. Hooper & Co., Covent Garden 

 Market. How they are obtained is not quite clear. 

 Mr. Guhbleton says he was told they were from 

 the Congo, and the vendors say that they came 

 from India. The plumes are 6 feet or more high, 

 not unlike those of Pampas-grass, but much 

 handsomer. They are, of course, dried, and the 

 flowers are grey-brown. G. saccharoides is a gigantic 

 Reed, native of Cumana, in Venezuela, where it is 

 abundant on river banks. It is one of the most 

 beautiful of all tropical grasses, the stems being 

 12 feet or more long, nearly 1 inch in diameter, the 

 lower part clothed with brown sheaths, the upper 

 bearing graceful arching leaves 1£ yard long and 

 an inch wide ; the edges serrate, and the midrib 

 channelled ; they are arranged distichously. In 

 habit the plant is not unlike Arundo Donax. The 

 panicles are terminal, and about 4 feet of the upper 

 part is clothed with long plumose branches of small 

 flowers, the branches themselves being about 1£ foot 

 long. These measurements are taken from a fine 

 living example of the plant which is growing in the 

 tank with the Victoria Lily at Kew, and which 

 flowered some years ago. 



Potato Flowers and Tubers.— It has been 

 long known that there exists a sort of relation be- 

 tween the production of flowers and the non-develop- 

 ment of tubers. Knight removed the young tubers 

 as soon as they appeared, and found that the pro- 

 duction of flowers was proportionately increased. 

 M. Wollny, as cited in the Annates Agronomiqucs, 

 arrived at similar results. Four plots were allotted 

 to each variety under trial. One of the four was left 

 untouched ; in the other three the flowers were 

 removed at three different periods. In the result, 

 the removal of the infloresence was usually found to' 

 increase the weight of produce. Nevertheless, early 

 varieties, and those in which the flowers were not 

 removed till a later period, showed opposite results 

 in the shape of a lighter crop, perhaps because of the 

 short time which elapsed between the removal of the 

 flowers and the formation of tubers, and also by 

 reason of the dryness of the season (July 14— Aueust 

 25,1886). s 



The Weather in Scotland.— In Aberdeen- 

 shire the weather of the past few days has been of a 

 character little short of disastrous, it is to be feared, 

 in its effects on the harvest locally. On Saturday 

 last it became unseasonably cold, with cold driving 

 rain from the north ; and, toward the middle of the 

 week, it had assumed an aspect of thorough winteri- 

 ness, heavy and frequent showers of soft snow falling, 

 with increasingly strong frosts at night, which must 

 destroy all hope of the further maturing of the 

 half-ripened grain. The terrific storm which broke 

 out early on Thursday morning played sad havoc. 

 The wet snowflakes adhered to the grain, and caused 

 the stalks to become top-heavy, with the result that 



large patches were flattened to the ground, while in 

 other places the strong wind twisted the corn and 

 rubbed off the grain. 



English Apple and Fruit-growing Com- 

 pany. — We understand that Baron Rothschild and 

 Mr. Maple have taken up shares in this enterprise. 



GlSHURSTINE.— The manager of Messrs. Price's 

 Patent Candle Company reminds us, by a timely 

 sending of their renowned Gishurstine for water- 

 proofing boots, that the worst season of the year for 

 the gardener is at hand. We can bear testimony to 

 the efficacy of the article in question. 



SUTTON'S LATEST OF ALL PEAS. 



The introduction of Walker's perpetual bearing 

 Peas was a great boon to many of us who have to 

 get a large supply of vegetables all the year round ; 

 Until the introduction of the above variety it 

 was my custom to make a sowing of the early 

 white Peas about midsummer, for the purpose 

 of providing a late dish or two in the autumn ; 

 but in unfavourable dry seasons these get so 

 badly infested with mildew as to render them 

 almost useless. Walker's Pea sown about the end 

 of May was a valuable autumn vegetable, but these 

 sometimes get the mildew rather seriously in a dry 

 season. But for the last three years we have had 

 grand rows of superb Peas named Sutton's Latest of 

 All, a sample of which I enclose ; these were sown 

 June 2, and, as you will observe, with open weather, 

 will produce a supply for a long time. If these were 

 sown in large pots and grown outside until the 

 approach of winter, and then put into an airy Peach- 

 house, they would continue to bear until nearly 

 Christmas. J. H. Goodacre. 



BARROW POINT, PINNER. 



The gardens at Barrow Point Hill— the seat of 

 W. Barber, Esq., Q.C.— are chiefly noticeable for 

 their picturesque arrangement and the fine collec- 

 tion of hardy herbaceous plant3. Within the com- 

 pass of 2k acres there are spacious lawns, mixed 

 borders of rare plants, an admirably planned rock 

 garden, miniature lake, with the more interesting 

 aquatic and bog plants, collections of alpine plants 

 and Lilies, and a fruit garden of espalier and bush 

 trees. All the year round there is something to 

 admire here, from early Snowdrop and winter Aco- 

 nite, a host of golden Daffodils, Primulas, Auriculas, 

 Rosea and Lilies, till— 



" Heavily hangs the Hollyhock, 

 . Heavily hangs the Tiger Lily," 



and the sad word, "Ichabod," is written across the 

 glories of the parterre. 



The house, which was formerly the residence of 

 Lady Carr, has been considerably enlarged and 

 improved under the directions of A. P. Seddon, Esq., 

 Assoc. British Architects; and the grounds have 

 been laid out under the care of the present head 

 gardener, Mr. J. W. Odell. A long avenue of Elms, 

 Chestnuts, and Oaks skirts the estate on the east, 

 and a wire fence separates the lawn from pleasant 

 meadows which stretch away to the quaint old village 

 of Pinner. The tower of the ancient church rises 

 from among the red tiled roofs and Elms, and on the 

 right the little " Pin," from which the village takes 

 its name, winds along beneath the shade of trees. 



A distinguished visitor— and Barrow Point has 

 many visitors— very happily described it as a " garden 

 of surprises," from the varied attraction of its winding 

 walks, which open up new vistas at every turn. 

 Every opportunity has been taken by means of rustic 

 arches of rude construction to afford support to 

 various effective climber among these are Ivies of 

 several kinds, Honeysuckles, Roses, Aristolochia, 

 Jasmine, Tropreolum, and Clematis ; of the latter the 

 invaluable Jackmanni, montana, and the homely but 

 elegant Travellers' Joy of the hedgerows. The method 

 of growing climbers deserves more attention ; the 

 arches themselves when covered are sometimes charm- 



