702 



THE GARDENER S' CHR ONI CLE. 



show, and a few alterations were made in that of the 

 Carnation and Picotee Society. It was decided that 

 yellow-ground flowers be no longer shown with selfs 

 and fancies, as there i3 a class for them ; that for 

 twelve blooms was reinforced by one for six blooms, 

 it being understood that yellow selfs can also be 

 shown as yellow-ground flowers. Mr. Douglas 

 having drawn attention to the fact that there is in 

 the hands of the Treasurer a balance from the two 

 Societies amounting to £10, suggested that a portion 

 of this should be invested as a reserve fund, and 

 eventually it was agreed that £25 should be set apart 

 for the purpose of forming a reserve fund, it being 

 left to the Rev. H. H. D'Ombrain, H. S. Leonard, 

 and J. Douglas, to make the best investment they 

 could. The proceedings closed with votes of thanks 

 the Horticultural Club, and also to the Chairmain 

 for presiding. 



The Produce of Cork in Spain. — The 



Cork trade in Spain seems to be in a flourishing 

 state. The exportation to other parts of the Con- 

 tinent, as well as to England and America, was 

 greater last year than it has been for several years 

 past. It is stated that there has been the greatest 

 demand for the superior kinds of corks, such as those 

 for champagne bottles. Gerona is the most im- 

 portant centre in Spain for the production of cork, 

 hundreds of cork manufactories being scattered 

 over the province. In the town of Palamos 

 alone there are forty, and the exportation thence 

 is considerable. From St Felin de Guixols 

 (Gerona), it is reported that the Cork trees 

 have been suffering from the attacks of a pest 

 which threatened to destroy them. A voracious 

 caterpillar or worm has, it is reported, been attack- 

 ing the Cork forests in millions during the past 

 year or two. In a very short space of time it 

 stripped the trees of all their leaves from the tips of 

 the branches to the trunks. These worms are now 

 in their turn said to be attacked and devoured " by 

 another insect, a species of beetle of a dark green 

 colour, and armed with a horn, with which it cuts 

 the worms up. Another insect, in the form of a crab 

 (eanrjreju), pursues the worms, and destroys them ; and 

 thirdly, when the caterpillar has passed through its 

 metamorphosis, and the butterflies have deposited 

 their eggs, another insect, until now unknown, 

 attacks and pierces the bags containing the new 

 genus, and destroys them ; all of which will con- 

 tribute, no doubt, to the complete extinction of these 

 destructive caterpillars." 



Mildness of the Season.— Mr. Tomkiks, 



writing December 10 from St. Mary, Scilly Isles, 

 says: — " In consequence of the mildness of the 

 season Narcissus are in a very forward state, from 

 Early Paper White to the late-flowering varieties. 

 Here and there may be seen a stray bloom of Early 

 Paper White and Soleil d'Or; should the weather 

 continue fine Covent Garden will in all probability 

 receive consignments during the first week in January. 

 I am cutting fromthe open ground Christmas Roses, 

 white Arams, and Ereesias." 



The Edinburgh Chrysanthemum Show.— 



Notwithstanding the inclement weather which pre- 

 vailed on both, days of the above show of the 

 Scottish Horticultural Association, it is gratifying 

 to find from an informal report to the Council by 

 Mr. McKenzie, the Treasurer, that the receipts 

 cover the expenditure, and leave a few pounds of a 

 balance in favour of the show. 



Royal Caledonian Horticultural So- 

 ciety. — The annual meeting of this Society was 

 held in a side room of the Music Hall, Edinburgh, 

 on the 6th inst., H. H. Norrie, Esq., Coltbridge 

 Hall, in the chair. The attendance of members was 

 larger than usual in recent years. The minutes of 

 the last annual meeting having been read and 

 adopted the Treasurer — Mr. Neill Feaser— gave 

 an abstract of the accounts for the year ending 

 November 30 last. The total receipts for the year 



were shown to have been £1258 3s. I0d., and the 

 payments £1002 18s. 6d., leaving a balance in favour 

 of receipts of £255 5s. id. The funds on hand on 

 November 30 last were £1117 12s., being an increase on 

 the previous year of £238 13s. The report was 

 approved. The Marquis of Lothian was unanimously 

 re-elected President of the Society for the year. Sir 

 James Gibson Craig, on the recommendation of the 

 Council, was elected Vice-President in the room of the 

 Earl of Stair, retiring from the office. To fill the 

 vacancies on the Council created by the retiring mem- 

 bers — Mr. James Alexander, nurseryman ; and Mr. 

 McLeod, gardener — the names of Mr. John Methvkn 

 and Mr. John Lamont were put up for the former, 

 and those of Mr. Malcolm Dunn, Dalkeith, and Mr. 

 Gordon, of Niddrip, for the latter vacancy ; but as 

 both Mr. Lamont and Mr. Dunn declined to have 

 their names put to the vote, Mr. Methven and Mr. 

 Gordon were duly elected. The meeting terminated 

 with a hearty vote of thanks to the Chairman. 



Seedlings of Sugar-cane.— The Sugar-cane 



has been cultivated for so long a period that its 

 native country is unknown. Bentham states that 

 " we have no authentic record of any really wild 

 station for the common Sugar-cane." Further, ac- 

 cording to the Keiv Bulletin for December, the Sugar- 

 cane so rarely produces mature seeds that no one 

 appears to have ever seen them. In botanical works 

 the subject is often mentioned, but apparently only 

 to restate the fact that observers in all countric s 

 " have never seen the seed of the Sugar-cane." The 

 authorities at Kew have been working at this subject 

 for several years. It was felt that if a Sugar-cane 

 producing ripe seeds could be found, a most interest- 

 ing and important line of inquiry would be opened 

 for improving the saccharine qualities of the Sugar- 

 cane in the same way as that so successfully adopted 

 with regard to the Beet. Hitherto the Sugar-cane 

 has been reproduced under cultivation solely by 

 means of buds and suckers. The improvement of 

 the cane has therefore been restricted to chance 

 variation's occurring at wide intervals, and probably 

 escaping altogether the observation of the planter. 

 Now all this is likely to be changed. It appears that 

 at Barbados seedlings of Sugar-canes have been 

 successfully raised by Professor Harrison, and 

 among these seedlings are several different kinds 

 indicating hybridity of a definite sort, such as would 

 be expected to arise from the crossing of different 

 varieties. It is to be hoped this subject will be fully 

 and clearly followed up as a definite field of investi- 

 gation. In any case the possibility of improving so 

 important and valuable a plant as the Sugar-cane 

 possess general interest. 



The Scottish Primula and Auricula 

 SOCIETY.— This Society held its second annual 

 meeting in 5, St. Andrew Square, Edinburgh, on 

 the 6th inst., Mr. Malcolm Dunn occupied the chair. 

 The Secretary and Treasurer, Mr. William Stkaton, 

 Dundee, submitted his report for the year, which 

 was in every way satisfactory, there being a balance 

 in the Treasurer's hands of £10 4s. M. to the Society's 

 credit. The question whether in the light of the 

 experience of the past two shows, in which the 

 classes were open to all comers, a reconstruction of 

 the schedule should not be determined upon, so that 

 growers in late and unfavourable localities may not 

 find themselves pitted against those from the southern 

 and favourable districts, was discussed, and the feel- 

 ing of the meeting being in favour of some such altera- 

 tion, it was remitted to the Council to fully consider 

 and give effect to the matter in next year's schedule. 

 The date of the show for next year was fixed for 

 May 9, and the meeting closed with a cordial vote 

 of thanks to the Secretary and the Chairman. 



CLERODENDRON NUTANS.— This is a white- 

 flowering kind, not generally catalogued in gar- 

 dening books, but it should be grown in all stove 

 collections. It is much admired, and coming into 

 flower during the months of November and 

 December makes it all the more appreciable. 



Notices of Books. 



The Principles of Agricultural Practice 

 as an Instructional Subject. By John 



Wrightson, &c. (Chapman & Hall.) 

 This work embodies the substance of a course of 

 lectures given to science-teachers with a view lo 

 show them that the principles of agriculture are 

 capable of being taught in the lecture-hall or the 

 school-room, although agriculture, as the author 

 tells us, is an occupation requiring experience for 

 its successful prosecution. This is, of course, quite 

 true, but the value of the experience, and the power 

 of applying it to useful ends, depend very materially 

 upon the training that the farmer has had in the 

 principles of his art as well as in the practice. The 

 book before us is peculiar in its object. It is ni t 

 professedly concerned with the teaching of agricul- 

 tural principles, though in point of fact it docs 

 teach a great deal of them. It is rather de- 

 signed to instruct other people how and what to 

 teach. For this purpose the experience of a 

 teacher, a farmer, and an examiner, must needs 

 be of value, and Professor Wrightson combines 

 all the requisites ; for instance, he is in an excellent 

 position to show in what degree chemical analysis is 

 valuable to the farmer or gardener, and in what 

 respects it is worse than useless. The analysis of 

 the ash of plants, upon which so much stress is laid 

 by chemists, is really of very secondary importance 

 to the cultivator, inasmuch as it shows rather the 

 results of cremation than the composition, still 

 less the action, of the living [plant. An ordinary 

 science-teacher, fresh from the chemical laboratory, 

 is not likely to recognise this, and he might, from 

 his point of view, recommend silica as a manure for 

 Wheat, or nitrogenous fertilisers for Clover, though, 

 from a practical point of view, very unnecessarily so. 

 So, too, a teacher, fresh from the lecture-room, might 

 easily fall into the prevalent notion that weeds 

 arc wholly objectionable, when, in point of 

 fact, they are valuable as indicating a highly 

 fertile soil : weeds will not grow luxuriantly on a 

 poor soil, and the farmer may judge by their presence 

 and condition of the quality of his soil. It is his 

 business either to substitute some other plant for the 

 weed, or, if he can, to turn the weed itself to account, 

 and thus avail himself of the richness of the soil 

 to useful instead of useless purpose. With reference 

 to this point Professor Wrightson tell us that the 

 presence of Bracken is a good sign while that of 

 Heath is a very bad one, but it may be pointed out 

 that the two often grow together, and, moreover, the 

 presence of the Heath does not necessarily indicate 

 a bad soil, but only a soil ill-adapted for plants which 

 are not provided with the very fine fibrous roots 

 which are characteristic of Heaths. Incidentally we 

 may mention with reference to the suitability of par- 

 ticular soikVforparticularplants aremarkmadeby Mr. 

 Wrightson that Trifolium incarnatnm " will not 

 grow at all upon white chalky soil." We will not 

 presume to question the general accuracy of the 

 Professor's dictum, but it is certainly within our 

 knowledge that the plant is sometimes grown on 

 the chalky hillsides in Kent, both near to and at a 

 distance from the sea, and that, to all appearance, 

 it thrives as well as its near ally, the Sainfoin. 



In dealing with the subject of grassland Professor 

 Wrightson points out that it often happens that the 

 seeds swept up from the hayloft often produce more 

 satisfactory results than more expensive purchased 

 seed. This may well be, for the seed is probably all 

 new and good, it is native of the soil, and it is 

 mixed with other seeds, producing an association of 

 herbage, if we may so speak, which is but imperfectly 

 imitated by the seedsman. There is, we are con- 

 vinced, much in the association of particular plants 

 in pasture, and particularly in meadow-land, which 

 is not yet appreciated either by the botanist or the 

 farmer. From this point of view the weeds found 

 in pasture-lands may not be all evil. In certain 

 seasons and under certain circumstances they may 

 protect and shelter young seedling grasses and 



