February 17, 1912.] 



THE GARDENERS' CHRONICLE. 



107 



two seasons, and they failed to find a single 

 big bud in the whole plantation. In 1904 I first 

 wrote in the Gardeners Chronicle a description 

 of how to cure big bud by spraying, and during 

 the years that have passed since then I have 

 often at the R.H.S. Fruit Shows been accosted 

 by perfect strangers who have thanked me for 

 having enabled them to rid their plantations of 

 this pest. Seeing that these are facts, I think 

 it is somewhat late in the day to question the 

 efficacy of spraying, and the trifling cost is amply 

 repaid in the clean, healthy grow 7 th of foliage 

 and fruit and freedom from the filthy aphis 

 which curls up the leaves and disfigures the fruit, 

 besides often crippling the young w 7 ood. As at 

 all times during the past eight years, I shall be 

 pleased to give full particulars to anyone still 

 suffering from Black Currant mite in their 



ions. A. JI. Pearson, Loivdham* 



HabeNARIA conopsea alba. — I have read 

 with great interest the correspondence in your 

 columns concerning Habenaria (Gymnadenia) 

 conopsea alba. I have studied the British 

 Orchids botli at home and abroad somew T hat care- 

 fully, and find that nearly all the purple and 

 mauve kinds, including the Bee Orchis, may occa- 

 sionally be found with white flowers near Dover. 

 I myself have found the white Gymnadenia 

 conopsea in yet another county, namely Sussex, 

 where it grows in two far distant localities. I 

 have also found white specimens of Orchis 

 maculata in Sussex and in Scotland, and of 

 O. Morio in Oxfordshire and in Italy. I have 

 also come across very pale blossoms of 0. 

 militaris and O. mascula. IF. Herhert Cox. 





SCOTLAND, 



GLASGOW AND WEST OF SCOTLAND 



HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



As a result of an application to the Highland 

 c»nd Agricultural Society of Scotland, the direc- 

 tors have agreed to give six medals as prizes at 

 the Glasgow and West of Scotland Horticultural 

 Society's centenary show in the autumn. 



MARKET GARDENING ON THE MURIES- 



TON ESTATE, EDINBURGH. 



The operations of the Edinburgh Distress Com- 

 mittee on the Murieston Estate, Edinburgh, have 

 so transformed this poor land that it has 

 been reudered of the most fertile character. 

 A considerable portion of the land has been dis- 

 posed of for allotments, and the committee have 

 now approached the Local Government Board for 

 power to dispose of these allotments for market 

 gardens on payment by instalments. 



SOCIETIE 



ROYAL HORTICULTURAL. 



ANNUAL MEETING. 



February 13.— The annual general meeting of 

 the Royal Horticultural Society was held on 

 Tuesday last in the large hall of the Society, 

 Vmcent Square, Westminster. The President, 

 Sir Trevor Lawrence, Bart., presided. There was 

 only a small attendance, and the lecture-room 

 would have provided a more suitable place for the 

 neeting, as the speeches were heard only with 

 difficulty. At the outset, Sir Trevor Lawrence 

 referred to the absence of the secretary, the Rev. 

 W. Wilks, who was prevented from attending 

 owing to an attack of infl *:nza. After the 

 m ™i^ s w ere read by the assistant secretary, 

 and 30 new members elected without opposition, 

 bir Trevor Lawrence submitted the Report 

 (see Gardeners' Chronicle, February 10^, several 

 items of which he referred to in detail. He said 

 that the rock-garden at Wisley was being fur- 

 nished with suitable plants, many of which had 

 been contributed by the Fellows, to whom he 

 expressed thanks on behalf of the Council. The 

 Wisley school of horticulture was making good 

 progress The Society's shows, said Sir 

 a rT J^ence, ^d been, with one excep- 

 tion better than ever, but the Olympia show was, 

 untortunately, held during the exceptionally hot 

 weather of July, and even early in the morn- 



ing of the first day the flowers had commenced to 

 flag. In his opinion Olympia was not suited to 

 the holding of a flower show. With regard to the 

 library, a sum of nearly £1,000 had been spent 

 in purchasing books, which included a num- 

 ber of volumes of remarkable quality and beauty. 

 In the Lindley library they should endeavour to 

 secure one of the finest botanical and horticultural 

 libraries in the world. He regretted that the 

 name of Mr. Harman Payne had been omitted 

 in the report from the list of those who had given 

 the Library Committee most valuable help. 

 Baron Bruno Schroder had provided new oak 

 shelving to accommodate the increasing number 

 of books, and thus the name of Schroder would 

 be further linked in association with the Lindley 

 library. 



A paragraph in the report refers to the 

 appointment of a plant collector, but Sir Trevor 

 Lawrence said that no definite steps had yet been 

 taken in this matter. It was one which the Society 

 could not well overlook, especially when it was 

 considered that there is scarcely a park or 

 garden which is not ornamented by plants intro- 

 duced by collectors sent out by the Society in 

 former years. Sir Trevor called attention 

 to the special Orchid exhibition arranged for 

 November 5 and 6. He said that some of the more 

 beautiful of the winter-flowering Orchids, such as 

 Calanthes and Dendrobiums, appeared to be pass- 

 ing more or less out of favour and the exhibition 

 would be fully justified if it were the means of 

 giving a fresh popularity to these flowers. Re- 

 ferring to the losses which the Society has sus- 

 tained through death, the President made special 

 reference to Sir Joseph Hooker and M. Victor 

 Lemoine, of Nancy. Sir Joseph Hooker, said Sir 

 Trevor Lawrence, was not only a great botanist, 

 but an eminent man of science generally, and 

 had acted as chairman of the Scientific Com- 

 mittee for more than half a oenturv. Reference 

 was made to the debt which horticulture owes to 

 M. Lemoine, and it was only last spring that he, 

 Sir Trevor Law r rence, had the honour of receiving 

 the Society's First-class Certificate for a beautiful 

 variety of Syringa sent out by the firm of M. 

 Lemoine. The financial position of the Society 

 was such as would give every satisfaction, and 

 a surplus of over £8,400 on the year's work- 

 ing was one of the most remarkable circum- 

 stances in the history of the Society. He, 

 the speaker, could remember the time when the 

 Society was not in the position to pay its ordinary 

 tradesmen's bills. On behalf of the Council, he 

 wished to express a high appreciation of the ser- 

 vices of all the Society's employees. Their work 

 was done not only with energy, but with an in- 

 telligence amounting to perspicacity. The work 

 of their secretary, Rev. W. Wilks, was well 

 known to all, and Sir Trevor proposed, with the 

 sanction of the meeting, to send a telegram of 

 condolence to Mr. Wilks, a proposal that w^as 

 warmly approved. Sir Trevor Lawrence had 

 also a word of praise for the members of the 

 several committees. . 



Mr. Gurney Fowler seconded the adoption of 

 the Report, and, as treasurer, took the oppor- 

 tunity to refer to some details of the financial 

 statement. He said that the expenditure, as was 

 to be expected, showed certain increases. The re- 

 ceipts from exhibitions show a decrease, the 

 hall lettings were down £516, owing to the build- 

 ing being closed for repainting ; the cost of the 

 Journal had gone up £452, whilst the provision 

 for staff pensions and expenditures on the Lindley 

 library and Wisley gardens all showed increases. 



Sir Trevor Lawrence invited criticism, but 

 there were only two speakers. A Fellow referred 

 to the President's appreciatory remarks upon the 

 services rendered by the staff, and gave personal 

 testimony to the kindness and courtesy bo had 

 always experienced from Mr. Hutchinson, the 

 librarian. 



The Rev. George H. Engleheart, M.A., 

 criticised the number of awards made dur- 

 ing the past year. He said that the num- 

 ber w r as becoming very large indeed, and although 

 it must be expected that, as the Society 

 progresses, the number of exhibits will increase 

 accordingly, they should be very jealous of their 

 awards. He said that the Gold Medal should 

 never be cheapened ; but he was sorry, in the 

 course of last summer, to notice a case w r hen it 

 was cheapened. A collection of Chinese plants 

 deservedly received this high award, and at the 

 next meeting an exhibit of Gourds was equally 

 honoured. Mr. Engleheart could not admit that the 



value of these exhibits was equal. If it is neces- 

 sary to give a Gold Medal, say, to a collection of 

 Apples, it might be advisable to split the Gold 

 Medal, making a large and a small medal. Then, 

 again, with regard to the First-class Certificates, 

 the awarding of these appeared to present certain 

 anomalies. The award was seldom made to what 

 are known as florists' flowers, and then, gener- 

 ally, only after an Award of Merit had been 

 obtained first. But with regard to Orchids, in 

 1911, out of 45 First-class Certificates awarded, 

 37 were given to Orchids. This showed that 

 there was something amiss in relation of ■ the 

 awards given by the different committees. 



Sir Trevor Lawrence, in reply, said that they 

 endeavoured to secure the best men on the Com- 

 mittees, and, unless some definite rules were laid 

 down, the Council could only leave the .question of 

 awards to the judgment of the men who were ap- 

 pointed. With regard to the exhibit of Gourds 

 mentioned by Mr. Engleheart, he (Sir Trevor 

 Lawrence) considered they were the finest 

 examples he had ever seen. 



At this stage of the proceedings the report was 

 put to the meeting .and carried unanimously. 

 The new councillors, whose names appeared on 

 the list of nominations, were elect 1 ; whilst the 

 president, Sir Trevor Lawrence, the secretary, 

 Rev. W. Wilks, and the vice-presidents were all 

 re-elected. 



Sir Trevor Lawrence announced that the 

 Victoria Medal of Honour in Horticulture had 

 been awarded to Colonel Prain and Mr. E. II. 

 Wilson, neither of whom 



was present to 

 receive the distinction personally. A vote of 

 thanks to the president, proposed by Sir John 

 Llewelyn and seconded by the Rev. G. H. 

 Engleheart, brought the proceedings to a close. 





The largest of these islands 



PLANTS OF THE FIJI ISLANDS. 



February 6.— Sir Everard F. im Thurn, 

 K.C.M.G., C.B., delivered a lecture on this 

 date at the Royal Horticultural Hall. The 

 distinguished lecturer, without the aid of 

 diagrams or lantern slides, held the atten- 

 tion of his appreciative audience for over 

 an hour. As is well known, the Fiji Islands 

 embrace a group of some 200 volcanic islands in 

 the South Pacific, 

 are Viti Levu and Vanu Levu, and in a great 

 measure the lecturer confined his remarks to the 



- 



former as being fairly characteristic of the 

 whole, prefacing his discourse with the intimation 

 that, as his large collection of plants, especially 

 of Orchids, was at Kew being identified, he 



did not intend to submit full botanical names of 

 the trees and plants mentioned. The lecturer de- 

 bated the theories of other authorities as to the 

 reason why the vegetation of Fiji is less luxuriant 

 than that of many other tropical regions, and set 

 forth the convincing explanation that this want 

 of stature in the Fijian vegetation is largely due 

 to the frequent hurricanes which sweep over 

 the islands. Probably the root-disturbing effects 

 of the frequent earthquakes for which this region 

 is noted, may also be partly responsible. The 

 gardens of Suva, the chief town of Viti Levu, 

 were described as being luxuriant — too luxuriant 

 — and ill-kept; such plants as Hibiscus, Ixora, 

 Croton, and Coleus riot in a tangled confusion. 

 Roses and Carnations also find places in many 

 street gardens. The visitor to Suva, said Sir 

 Everard, could not fail to be impressed with two 

 trees, the Rain tree of South .America and the 

 native Chestnut. The former tree, which was 

 planted as an avenue, forms widespreading speci- 

 mens of great size, affording a refreshing shade. 

 Humboldt mentions one single tree of this species, 

 the famous Zamang-del-Guayre, which had a 

 head 576 feet in circumference. The Chestnut 

 of Fiji quickly becomes a venerable tree with 

 gnarled branches, densely covered with small 

 Orchids, many Ferns and other epiphytes. 



The debris of the seashore indicates the pre- 

 ponderating vegetation of the island, and an 

 examination of high-w T ater line showed that the 

 debris is largely composed of the large, square, 

 box-like fruits of Barringtonia (a coast tree bear- 

 ing large, shiny leaves and big, white flowers) : 

 the round seeds of the Dilo tree (which is used 

 by the natives as a substitute for cocoanut oil 

 for anointing their bodies) : and the cone-like 

 fruits of the Sago-Palm. These are the trees 

 which preponderate in the flat coastland. The 

 undergrowth is composed largely of Hibiscus 

 ciliatus, which the lecturer aptly described as an 



