

42 



THE GARDENERS' CHRONICLE. 



[January 20, 1912 



Harrow Weald, Middlesex, the rainfall amounted 

 to 24.30 inches, which is 1.34 inch below the 

 average for the past 20 years. Rain was re- 

 corded on 177 d;iys. Z\Ir. Thomas Hunter, 

 the gardener, states that July w-as drier than 

 this month has been since records have been kept 

 at Hill House, there being only .46 inch of rain 

 registered that month, or 2.06 inches below the 

 average. December had 29 rainy days, and a 

 total fall of 4.97 inches, or 2.62 inches above the 

 average. Writing from Osberton Gardens, 

 Worksop, Mr. James B. Allan states that 

 1911 was the driest and hottest year on 

 record. The hottest day was August 9, 

 when the thermometer registered 97° in the 

 shade. The coldest day was January 31, when 

 18° of frost was registered. The heaviest rainfall 

 occurred on June 24, when 1.24 inch fell in 

 24 hours. The rainfall in these gardens for the 

 year amounted to 19.37 inches. July was the 

 driest month with .14 inch, and December the 

 wettest month with 4.81 inches of rain. 



International Horticultural Exhibi- 

 tion, 1912.— A meeting of the Worcestershire 

 Committee of the Royal International Horticul- 

 tural Exhibition was held at the Crown Hotel, 

 Worcester, on the 10th inst. Mr. F. Davis, of 

 Pershore, occupied the chair, and those present 

 included Messrs. Harry J. Veitch, G. J. 

 Ingram, W. Crump (hon. local secretary), A. 

 .YpUNO, W. S. Hurestone, E. Blackwell, 



C. A. Bayford, J. White, J. Gough, E. J. 

 Parsons, J. Jones, G. F. Hooper, J. W. 

 Clarke, W. Coyle, A. A. Pettigrew, J. 

 Williams, and J. Hawkks. The minutes 



which stated that a donation of £100 had been 

 promised to the Worcestershire Fund, with a 

 guarantee of £500, also a donation of £10 10s. 

 were adopted. The suggestion was made that a 

 Worcestershire China cup should be one of the 

 prizes at the exhibition, and the hope was ex- 

 pressed that some enthusiastic supporter would 

 make an offer of one.- Another suggestion was 

 that a trip to London should be arranged for 

 one day of the show. 



Mr. John Weathers.— Mr. John Weathers, 

 general secretary of the British Gardeners' 

 Association and editor of the B.G.A. Journal, 

 has resigned these offices as from the 9th inst. 

 In another paragraph it will be seen that a 

 general meeting of the Association will be held 

 at Carr's Restaurant on the 25th inst. to consider 

 the secretary's resignation and other business. 



British Gardeners* Association. 



A 



general meeting of the members of the British 

 Gardeners' Association will be held at Carr's 

 Restaurant, 264, Strand, on Thursday, January 

 25, at 7 p.m., by order of the Executive Council, 

 14 to consider alterations of rules, receive the 

 resignation of the g neral secretary, and to con- 

 firm the- subcommittee's report, as adopted by 

 the Executive Council." 



Perpetual -flowering Carnation 



Society. 



A Carnation conference will be 



held in connection with the spring show of this 

 Societv, in the Roval Horticultural Hall, on 

 March 21. 



The Teaching of Gardening in Schools. 



At the recent conference of London County 

 Council teachers, Mrs. G. E. Click, Headmistress 

 of the Manor Lane School for Infants, de- 

 scribed an experiment in garden work which 

 is being carried on by the children attending 

 that school. Each scholar had a few square feet 

 of soil to cultivate. Flowers and fruits of 



Gardeners' Royal Benevolent Institu- 

 tion (Worcester Auxiliary). — The annual 

 festival of the Worcester Auxiliary of the Gar- 

 deners' Royal Benevolent Institution* was held 

 at Worcester on the 10th inst. The Mayor, 

 Alderman E. Thomas, presided. The finan- 

 cial statement showed total receipts amount- 

 ing to £116 6s. 9d., and a balance in hand 

 of £6 7s. 10d., after paying expenses and con- 

 tributing £100 to the funds of the institution. 

 Earl Beauchamp was re-elected president and 



Horticultural Club. — The next meeting 



of the members of the Horticultural Club will 

 take place at 6 p.m. on Tuesday, the 23rd inst., 

 at the Hotel Windsor, Westminster. A lecture 

 will be given by Mr. Chas. E. Pearson en 

 " The Evolution of Colour in Birds' Eggs." The 

 lecture will be illustrated by lantern slides. 



SOCIETE 

 LONDRES. 





FRANCAISE D'HORTICULTURE DE 



We are informed that N. N. Sher- 

 wood, Esq., will preside at the annual dinner of 

 this Society, which will be held at the Cafe 

 Royal, Regent Street, on Saturday, March 30. 

 Further particulars may be obtained on applica- 

 tion to Mr. G. Schneider, 3, Meredyth Road, 

 Barnes, S.W. 



Fig. 22. — gardeners 1 royal benevolent 



institution. 



Cup presented to Mr. Crump by the Worcester Auxiliary. 



SCOTLAND. 



FATAL ACCIDENT TO A GARDENER. 



Mr. John M'Kinnon, gardener to R. Kerr, 

 Esq., Westfield, Greenock, lost his life by drown- 

 ing in the River Clvde at Gourock on the 10th 

 inst. Mr. and Mrs. M'Kinnon landed by the 

 Caledonian steamer from Dunoon in the evening, 

 and, after coming ashore, walked past the railway 

 station and along the pier to the westernmost 

 part and over the quay into the river. They 

 raised cries of distress, and Mrs. M'Kinnon was 

 rescued, little the worse for her mishap. A 

 further search resulted in finding Mr. M'Kinnon 

 in an unconscious condition. Efforts were made 

 to restore him, but these were of no avail. Mr. 



M'Kinnon was about 50 years of age. 



thanked for his kindness in throwing open his EDINBURGH DISTRESS COMMITTEE AND 

 gardens to the public in the interests of the 

 char it v. Mr. C. W. Dyson Perrins was also 



thanked for similar help. Mr. Hurlstone, the 

 oldest subscribing member and for many years a 

 member of the committee, was elected a life 

 member. The loving cup and fruit bowl offered 

 by Councillors A. Usher and A. A. Preece (see 

 figs. 22 and 23) to members who (1) had intro- 

 duced the greatest number of new subscribers, 

 and (2) collected the largest amount on collecting 

 cards during the year were won respectively by 



MARKET GARDENING. 



While opinions may differ regarding the com- 

 petition of such bodies as the Edinburgh Distress 

 Committee with private enterprise in the culti- 

 vation of produce for market, there can be no 

 question of the excellence of the work being 

 performed by this committee at their farm of 

 Murieston. The committee was fortunate in 

 securing the services of Mr. Cairns as superin- 

 tendent, and the quality of the vegetables and 

 fruit he has exhibited attests to the excellence 



of his methods of cultivation. 



Strawberries 



grown at Murieston were of such high quality 

 that they were supplied daily for the royal table 

 on the occasion of the visit of His Majesty King 

 George to Edinburgh last summer. Com- 

 spondent. 



PLANT NOTE. 



HELIOPHILA SCANDENS. 



South 



Fig. 23. — gardeners' royal benevolent 



INSTITUTION. 



Fruit bowl presented to Mr. Wade by the Worcester 



Auxiliary. 



Mr. Crump and Mr. Wade. The presentation 

 of these gifts had resulted in extra receipts 

 amounting to £56 12s. Amongst the speakers 

 at this meeting were Mr. Harry J. Veitch, 

 treasurer of the Institution and chairman of com 



everal kinds were produced in addition to small mittee, and Mr. G. J. Ingram, secretary. Mr. 



Veitch gave some interesting particulars relat- 



Wh 



Click reported that the teachers found that the ing to the excellent work done by the charity on 

 garden was of assistance to them in almost every behalf of necessitous gardeners and gardeners' 

 part of the work of the school. , widows. 



The genus Heliophila belongs to 

 Africa. H. scandens is a perennial climber 

 with white flowers, the only climbing species 

 of the genus, and, with the exception of 

 the Peruvian Cremolobus, the only climbing 

 member of the natural order Cruciferse. This 

 makes it extremely interesting from a botanical 

 point of view, but it is also of interest horti- 

 culturally as a white flowered climber flowering 

 freely in the depth of winter. From this point 

 of view there is nothing to compete with it, and 

 for lighting up a conservatory at this time of 

 the year it is certainly of value. It is slender 

 in habit, sparingly branched; the leaves are 

 1| inch or 2 inches long, elliptic or oblong- 

 lanceolate, acuminate, and pale green; the 

 flowers are in racemes, pure white, and borne 

 in considerable numbers. They do not appear 

 to be fragrant, as has been stated. The 

 plant was introduced to Kew some years ago 

 from the Botanical Gardens of Durban, in 

 which locality, as well as at Manda in Natal, it 

 inhabits shady places among shrubs. In a 

 corridor at the Botanic Garden, Cambridge, it 

 flourishes and flowers every year. The culture 

 does not appear to be difficult, and the plant 

 strikes readily from cuttings. R. Irwin Lynch? 

 Botanic Garden, Cambridge. 



