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THE GARDENERS' CHRONICLE. 



[October 27, 1888. 



Vice-Presidents ; and the following, with the Rev. 

 H. H. D'Ombrain as chairman, were elected a com- 

 mittee of management for the ensuing year — Messrs. 

 H. Cannell, J. James, E. Dean, C. Phillips, H. 

 Turner, T. S. Ware, W. L. Walker, and G. W. 

 Wheelwright. The President and Vice-Presidents 

 of the National Carnation and Picotee Society were 

 also re-elected ; and the following three added to the 

 committee of management : — Messrs. H, W. Head- 

 land, J. Latin, and W. L. Walker. Mr. T. E. Hen- 

 wood was elected Treasurer to both Societies ; and 

 Mr. J. Douglas was re-elected Secretary. The matter 

 of appointing judges was discussed, and eventually 

 referred to the committee of management. The 

 place of exhibition for next year was also discussed, 

 and the Rev. H. H. D'Ombrain and Mr. Shirley 

 Hibberd were appointed a deputation to wait upon 

 the Directors of the Crystal Palace Company with a 

 view to holding the exhibition at Sydenham. It 

 may be remarked that the usual sum of £30, usually 

 given by the Council of the Royal Horticultural 

 Society to the two Societies was not forthcoming ; 

 therefore their financial position is in every way 

 favourable. 



Nottinghamshire Horticultural and 

 Botanical Society.— The monthly meeting of 

 the Society will be held at the Arboretum Rooms, 

 Nottingham, on Wednesday, October 31, at 

 7.30 p.m. Specimen fruit will be exhibited. Mr. 

 M. Gleeson, Clumber Park Garden, Notts, will 

 read a paper on " The Pine-apple," giving a short 

 sketch of the distribution of the plant, its introduc- 

 tion to Europe, and the various methods of its culti- 

 vation down to the present time. The Chrysanthe- 

 mum, fruit and Potato show will be held on Wed- 

 nesday and Thursday, November 21 and 22, at the 

 Arboretum Rooms, Nottingham. The prizes offered 

 by Mr R. Sankey, Bulwell, for the best essay " On 

 the Duty of the Employer to his Gardener," will be 

 divided as follows : — 1st prize, 20s.; 2nd prize, 15s. ; 

 3rd prize, 10s ; which will be accompanied by the 

 First, Second, and Third-class Certificate of the 

 Society. The essay must not exceed fifteen minutes 

 in reading. It will be read by a competent person, 

 who will be appointed by the Committee, and must 

 be sent to the Secretary, sealed up, and with a 

 number or motto, but not the owner's name, not 

 later than Monday, December 9. The competition 

 is open to all the members of the Society, and the 

 papers will be read at the meeting on Wednesday 

 December 12, at 7.30 p.m. 



'Chambre Syndicale" of Ghent.— At a 



meeting held on the 8th inst. the following awards 

 were made :— First-class Certificates to Odonto- 

 glossum maculatum Duvivierianum, from Mr. 

 Desmet-Duvivier ; to Anthurium Scherzerianum 

 Madame Raymond de Kerchove, from Mr. L. Spae- 

 Vandermeulen ; to Cattleya aurea and Oncidium 

 ornithorhynchum album, from Mr. Jules Hye-Leysen; 

 to Odontoglossum species and Cypripedium 

 Harrisianum (extra var.) from Messrs. Edm. 

 Vervaet & Co. 



Relaxation of the Phylloxera Conven- 

 tion REGULATIONS.— The Italian Government has 

 relaxed the regulations hitherto in force with 

 regard to the importation of the following articles 

 into the kingdom of Italy : — 1. Wine, and Grape 

 seeds, and these without undergoing any formalities. 

 Table Grapes, wine Grapes, and Grape must, must be 

 packed according to Art. 2 of the Convention. 



2. Cut flowers, fresh or dried, with their stalks. 



3. Vegetables, as Potatos, Radishes, Celery, Beet- 

 root, Mushrooms, Truffles, Asparagus, Artichokes, 

 Chicory, Endive for salads, with roots. 4. Seeds of 

 all kinds. 5. Small seedling plants, shrubs, and 

 other nursery stock, as also greenhouse and stove 

 plants. These must be packed and sealed according 

 to, and require the usual declaration fixed by Art. 3 

 of the Convention. The importation of these 

 plants is permitted at the following places only : — 

 By land at Ventimiglia, Modena, Luino, Chiasso, 

 Ala, Pontebba, and Udina. By sea at Genoa, 



Leghorn, Civita Vecchia, Naples, Brindisi, Bari, 

 Ancona, Venice, Palermo, Messina, Catania, Cagliari, 

 and Porto Torres. 



EUCALYPTUS. — Mr. Hanbory sends us from La 

 Mortola, near Ventimiglia, a spray of a most elegant 

 Eucalyptus, with slender pendulous branches and 

 linear leaves, with a rich perfume like that of the 

 Lemon Verbena, but more delicate, and with white 

 myrtle-like flowers. It is one of the most elegant 

 species we have seen, but unfortunately at 

 present we are unable to give it a name. We hope 

 shortly to figure it, as in this country it would be 

 well worth cultivating in the conservatory or winter 

 garden. 



ACHRAS SAPOTA.— Mr. Fawcett kindly sends 

 us from Jamaica a fruit of the Sapodilla Plum, in 

 which one of the seeds is wanting and its place sup- 

 plied by a second fruit — a fruit within a fruit such as 

 has been figured in these columns in the case of the 

 Grape, where a perfect berry is sometimes met with 

 within the first in the place of the seed. It does not 

 follow in such cases that there has been any change 

 of one into the other, but simply a substitution. 



Patent Protector Safety Lamp.— A new 



form of lamp for household use has been put on the 

 market by the " Protector Lamp and Lighting Com- 

 pany, Limited, Eccles." The invention is such an 

 important one, as by its general use the loss of life 

 by mineral oil lamps will be entirely prevented, that 

 we are induced to notice it on this occasion. It 

 would, we think, be an admirable lamp for young 

 gardeners, who have to attend to fires at night, and 

 which involves careful reading of the thermometers 

 in the various houses. It is said to give the light of 

 a sperm candle, and does not cost more than a Id. 

 for 120 hours burning. 



Liquorice Root.— a report on the trade of 

 Damascus for 1887 states that there has been a 

 remarkable falling off in the export of Liquorice root 

 (Glycyrrhiza glabra) both in quality, quantity, and 

 value. In 1886 there were 15,944 bales of the value 

 of £10,362 exported ; whereas during last year the 

 exportation declined to 3779 bales, of the value of 

 £1492. For the past two years there has been a 

 brisk competition in the trade in this article, which 

 has caused a considerable fall in the price and an 

 overstocking of the market. The demand conse- 

 quently diminished much during last year, the 

 United States being the only country where the 

 article is in request. 



Exotic Conifers at Great Altitudes in 

 CENTRAL Europe, — We learn from our corre- 

 spondent at Berlin that at Schloss Berg (Warten- 

 berg), near Donaueschingen, at an altitude of 848 

 metres above the sea-level, there have grown for the 

 last eight years the following plants, and better, 

 perhaps for the reason that they have to endure the 

 rough north-east winds, and do not suffer from frost : 

 — Araucaria imbricata, Cedrus Deodara, C. atlantica, 

 C. Libani, Abies ainabilis, A. magnifica, A. nobilis, 

 A. nobilis var. giauca and var. argentea, A. lasiocarpa 

 (Lowiana), A. Pinsapo, Sciadopitys verticillata. 

 During the last winter they endured a temperature 

 of 25° R. (= 24J° F. under zero). At the same 

 elevation, growing very well, are Castanea vesca, 

 Juglans regia, Azalea amcena, Rhododendron hir- 

 sutum and R. ferrugineum. Hofgiirtner Kirchner 

 intends to plant there a complete pinetum. 



Phylloxera in France.— The Minister of 



Agriculture in France states in his report of the 

 wine departments of the country, that flooding the 

 vineyards has been followed with excellent results, 

 and that the reinstating of the vineyards by means of 

 grafting on the American Vines has warranted the 

 experiment. Moreover, the French varieties, when 

 so grafted, gain in earliness, and bear considerably, 

 even in the Medoc district, without loss of fine 

 flavour. After a good deal of research, a method 

 has been discovered by which the vineyard can be 



restored to fertility in three years. Among other 

 results of grafting, it has been found that varieties 

 of Medoc Grapes can be got to fruit well in the 

 Gironde, where, by direct planting, no good result 

 was attainable. Vines which have been planted in 

 very sandy soil, as on the banks of the Gardon, and 

 in the vicinity of Aigues Mortes, make great pro- 

 gress, and are proof against Phylloxera. We learn 

 that in Medoc sulphur and bi-sulphide of carbon 

 have been successfully employed against the Phyl- 

 loxera, and the Bordeaux solution (sulphate of 

 copper) against mildew, with similar results. 



The Linnean Society of London.— The 



meetings of the above Society for the season, 1888-89, 

 have been fixed as follows : — 1888 : November 1 and 

 15, December 6 and 20. 1889: January 17, 

 February 7 and 14, March 7 and 14, April 4 and 

 18, May 2, (Anniversary) Friday, May 24 ; June 6 

 and 20. 



Australian Association for the Ad- 

 vancement OF SCIENCE- Baron von Ferdinand 

 Mdeller has been elected President for the ensuing 

 year. 



ACACIA DECURRENS (?). — Captain Brown sends 

 us from Lamlash, Arran, a spray of an Acacia grow- 

 ing there in the open air under the name of A. 

 decurrens, but which, were it not for the paucity of 

 the white meal on the leaves, we should have referred 

 to A. dealbata. Whatever be its real name, the 

 tree suggests the Riviera, or the temperate-house at 

 Kew, rather than an island on the south-west of 

 Scotland. 



Perth Gardeners' Ball.— What may be re- 

 garded as the first ball of the season took place in 

 the Small Hall of the Opera House on Friday night, 

 when the Perth Gardeners held their fifth annual 

 assembly. The hall was very beautifully decorated 

 for the occasion. Thei'e were about forty couples 

 present, almost all the principal gardens in the dis- 

 trict having representatives. 



India-rubber and Opium at Mozambique. 



— The following note on the produce of rubber at 

 Mozambique occurs in a recently issued Consular 

 report. The writer says: — "Rubber is obtained 

 mostly from the lower districts nearer the sea. 

 There are two qualities, differing in their method of 

 preparation. The better is that drawn from cuts 

 made in the stems of vines, and made up into balls 

 without further preparation. The inferior quality is 

 got by boiling the rubber-bearing stems and roots ; 

 it is white, contains much moisture, and com- 

 mands a lower price than the other. The supply 

 of rubber continues to be maintained, but can- 

 not be expected to last very long, as in some 

 districts the vines have all been destroyed by the 

 reckless way of gathering employed by the natives. 

 It has more than once been proposed to try syste- 

 matic planting of rubber trees, but nothing has yet 

 been done. There is no doubt that the supply could 

 be increased, as well as made more certain, were cul- 

 tivation gone into systematically, and the gathering 

 of the rubber not left to the mercy of natives. The 

 total export in 1S85 was valued at £1450. Referring 

 to the cultivation of opium, it is said that at Mopea 

 it has been put on an entirely new footing. In some 

 other places — namely, at Chamo, on the Shire, and 

 Mafufu, on the Ziwa-Ziwa — opium culture has also 

 been under the auspices of the Mozambique Produce 

 Company, Limited, of London. 



Spring Grove House, Isleworth. — This 



place will ever be interesting to the horticulturist as 

 having been once the residence of one who is de- 

 servedly famous in the horticultural world — we allude 

 to Sir Joseph Banks, and in old times closely iden- 

 tified with the Horticultural Society — witness the 

 Banksian Medal of the present day. Amongst the 

 interesting reminiscences of the great naturalist, we 

 observed Rosa Banksirc growing " hale and hearty " 

 on the gardener's cottage. It was one of the first 



