202 



THE GARDENERS' CHRONICLE. 



[March 30, 1912. 



EDITORIAL NOTICE. 



ADVERTI3EMENTS should be sent to the PUB- 

 LISHER, 41, Wellington Street, Covent Garden, 



Letters for Publication, as well as specimens of plants 



tor naming, should be addressed to the EDITORS, 

 41, Wellington Street, Covent Garden, London. 



Communications should be written on onk side only of 

 thk paper, sent as early in the week as possible and duly 

 signed by the writer. 1/ desired, the signature will not be 

 printed, but kept as a guarantee of good faith. 



Special Notice to Correspondents.— The Editors do not 



utuiettake to pay for any contributions or illustrations, or 



to return unused communications or illustrations, unless by 



special arrangement. The Editors do not hold themselves 



responsible for any opinions expressed by their correspond 

 dents. 



Editors and Publisher.— Our Correspondents would obvi- 

 ate delay in obtaining anszvers to t/ieir communications, 

 and save us much time ami trouble, if they zvou.'d kindly 

 observe the notice printed ivcekly to the effect that all 

 letters relating to financial matters and to 'advertisements 

 should be addressed to the Publisher; and that all 

 communications intended for publication, or referring to 

 the Literary department, and all plants to be named, 

 tkuuid be directed to the Editors. The two depart- 

 m tits, Publishing and Editorial, art distinct, and much 

 unnecessary delay and confusion arise when letters are 

 mtsdtrected. 



Local News. — Correspondents will greatly oblige bysendingto 

 the Kd tots early intelligence of local events likely to be of 

 interest to our readers, or of any matters which it is desirable 

 to bring under the notice of horticulturists. 



Illustrations.- T he Editors will be glad to teaiveand to select 

 photographs or drawings, suitable for reproduction, of 

 gardens, or of remarkable plants, flowers, trees, &c, but 

 they cannot be responsible for loss or injury. 



Nev* spapers.— Correspondents sending newspapers should be 

 cateful to mark the paragraphs they wish the Editors to see. 



APPOINTMENTS FOR APRIL. 



TUESDAY, APRIL 2- 



Royal Hort. Soc. Corns, meet. (Lecture at 3 p.m. by 

 Mr. R. Irwin lynch on "Tender Plants for a Warm 

 Corner.") Scottish Hort. Assoc, meet. Nursery and 

 Seed Trade Assoc. Ann. Meet, at 4.30 p.m. 



THURSDAY, APRIL 4— Manchester Orchid Soc. meet. 



FRIDAY, APRIL 5 -Good Friday. 



SATURDAY, APRIL 6 - 



Soc. Franchise d'Hort. de Londres meet. 



MONDAY, APRIL 8-Bank Holiday. 



WEDNESDAY, APRIL 10- 



Kmgsbridge Daffodil and Spring Fl. Soc. Exh., Royal 

 Caledonian Hort. Soc, Spring sh. (2 days). 



THURSDAY, APRIL 11- 



Cornwall Daffodil and Spring Fl. Sh. at Truro (2 days). 



TUESDAY, APRIL 16— 



Royal Hort. Soc. and Daffodil Sh. (2 days). (Lecttira 

 by Prof. Henslow on •• Darwin as Ecologist.") Shrews- 

 bury Spring Fl. Sh. 



WEDNESDAY, APRIL 17- 



Royal Hort. Soc. Exam, of School Teachers. Devon 

 Daffodil and Spring Fl. Sh. at Plymouth (2 days). Royal 

 Hort. Soc. ot Ireland Spring Sh. (2 days). Royal 

 Meteorological Soc. meet. 



THURSDAY, APRIL 18— 



Ipswich Daffodil and Spring Fl. Sh. Linnean Soo. 

 meet. Manchester Orchid Soc. meet. Devon Daf- 

 fodil and Spring Fl. Sh. (2 days), 



TUESDAY, APRIL 23-Breconshire Daffodil Sh. 



WEDNESDAY, APRIL 24— 



Royal Botanic Soc. meet. North of England Hort. Soo. 

 meet at Leeds. 



THURSDAY, APRIL 25— 



Midland Daffolil Sec. Sh. at Birmingham Botanical 

 Gardens (2 days). Norwich Spring Sh. 



TUESDAY, APRIL 30- 



Royal Hort. Soc. Corns, meet, and National Auricula 

 and Primula Soc. Sh. (Lecture at 3 p.m. by Dr. 

 Redclitie Salaman on *' Poiatos.") 



Average Mean Temperature for the ensuing week 

 deduced from observations during the last Fifty Years 

 at Greenwich— 43*3°. 



Actual Temperatures: — 



London.— Wednesday* March 27 (6 p.m.): Max. 47°: 



Min. 35*. 



Gardeners' Chronicle Office, 41, Wellington Street, 

 Covent Garden, London— Thursday, March. 28 

 <10a.m.) : Bar. 29'8 y ; Temp. 53°; Weather— 

 Dull. 



Provinces.— Wednesday, March 27 : Max. 45° Ireland 



S.W.; Min. 34° Scotland, N. 



SALES FOR THE ENSUING WEEK. 



MONDAY— 



Herbaceous and Border Plants, Perennials, Hardy 

 Bulbs &c, at 12; Roses and Fruit Trees, at 1.80; at 

 67 & 63, Cheapside, E.C.. by Protheroe & Morris. 



MONDAY and WEDNESDAY- 



Rose Trees, Fruit Trees, Perennials, Liliums, Trained 

 Bay Trees, Palms, &c, at 12.30, at Stevens's Auction 

 Rooms, 38, King Street, Covent Garden, London. 



TUESDAY— 



Trade Sale of Miscellaneous Bulbs and Plants, at 12; 



150 cases Japanese Liliums, at 2.30; at Protheroe & 

 Morris's rooms. 



WEDNESDAY- 



Perenn ah, Herbaceous and other Plants, Hardy Bulbs, 

 &c., at 12; Rosss and Fruit Trees, at 1.30; Palms and 

 Plants, at 5; at Protheroe* Morris's rooms. 



The 



Flora 



of 



A short time ago our readers good soil is found. 



Th 



• 



were informed of the fact that 

 Mr. H. J. Elwes had embarked 



Hong Kong. Qn & ^^ tQ Formosa> in Qrder 



to make a study of the remarkable 



On 



trees indigenous to that island. 



the outward voyage he called at Hong the island depends on imported food 



e granitic soil 

 seems to be poor and dry, unfavourable to 

 most trees, and only near the shore, where 

 soil has accumulated, can Rice, Sugar 

 and other tropical crops be grown in small 

 patches, so that the large population of 



Kong, where he visited the Botanic Gar- 



On entering the town you find a Chinese 



under his observation will be read with 

 interest. 



dens. The following notes upon some of Liverpool all along the wharves, crowded 

 the more important plants that came with junks, boats and large steamers. 



Higher up, we might be in a more tropi- 

 cal Mentone. On the peak and higher 

 We reached Hong Kong, writes Mr. slopes, covered with brushwood and grass 

 Elwes, at the end of January, during a among the rocks, we find at this season 

 spell of cold, dull weather, which was all only dried-up and withered herbaceous 

 the more felt as, until our steamer arrived plants mixed with Melastomas and many 

 within a few hours of the port, we were in sub-tropical and tropical shrubs and small 

 a tropical temperature. During the four trees, 

 days of my stay wo hardly saw the sun. 





The vegetation of the island is, how- 



and were glad of our warmest winter ever, remarkably rich and varied, and has 



clothes and overcoats, though no rain fell. been so admirably described and cata- 



In all my travels I have never seen a logued in the Flora of Kwangtung and 



harbour with more beautiful natural sur- Hong Kong, just published by Messrs. 



roundings, for though the hills which en- 

 viron it, and rise steeply on one side to 



\ 



\ 















I 





/ 





MR. W. J. TUTCHER 



(Superintendent of the Botanical Forestry Department, 



Hong Kong). 



Dunn and Tutcher, the late and present 

 superintendents of the Botanical and 

 Forestry Department*, that there is need 

 only to mention a few of the most striking 

 plants which were shown us by Mr. 

 Tutcher. 



The Botanic Gardens, founded about 

 1860 by the Government, are situated on 

 the hillside just above Government 

 House, and though rather crowded by 

 buildings round them, are large enough 

 to contain a great many interesting 

 native trees and shrubs, as well as many 

 Palms and other introduced species. They 

 are characterised by the same neatness, 

 order and good cultivation which distin- 

 guishes Kew and all its children, and 

 though the superintendent has to attend 

 to the planting of trees, mostly Pinus Mas- 

 soniana, on a large scale over the whole 

 island, as well as on the new territory of 

 Kowloon, the work of the gardens and 

 herbarium are carried on in an admirable 

 way. 



Mention need be made only of a few of 

 the most interesting objects to give an 

 idea of the character of the gardens. At 

 this season few were in flower, but we 

 were fortunate in seeing a large shrub of 

 Rhodoleia Championii, peculiar to the 



1,800 feet, are not clothed with luxuriant island, and Yunnan, and perhaps the 



handsomest of all the Order Hama- 



vegetation, and in many places remind 

 one more of the West Highlands or even 

 of a Norwegian fjord than of the tropics, 

 yet to go ashore and enter the gardens 

 is to realise at once that during 

 the greater part of the year the climate 

 is truly tropical. From April to October, 



melidese, to which it belongs (Bot. Mag-, 

 t. 4509). Mr. Tutcher guided us to a spot 

 in the Little Hong Kong woods, where it 



wild in a grove of Evergreens at 



grows 

 about 



800 



nd 



feet, exposed to the sun a 

 wind. A tree about 30 feet high by 2 



during the south-west monsoon, periods of feet in S irth was covered at the ends o^ 



warm torrential rains, amounting to about 

 70 inches, alternate with hot sun, and the 

 climate is so damp that on the higher 

 levels, where most of the richer residents 

 have their bungalows, drying rooms are 

 necessary to keep clothes, books and linen 

 from mould. Open fireplaces with coal 

 fires are agreeable, if not necessary, dur- 

 ing the three or four winter months, which 

 are normally dry and sunny. Above 1,000 

 feet slight night frosts occur, albeit rarely : 

 there was one 20 years ago. The violent 

 winds which occasionally prevail prevent 

 trees from attaining any great height, even 

 in the ravines, where alone any depth of 



the branches with its large crimson m 

 florescences, and there is no apparent 

 reason why it should not prove hardy m 

 some of the more sheltered spots of Corn- 

 wall or County Kerry. Anyhow, it i s 

 worth trying. 



In the same woods we saw trees of two 

 species of Oak, namely, Quercus cornea 

 and Q. thalassica ; and of Ash (Fraxinus 

 sinensis) mixed with such trees as 

 Schima Noronhae, Machilus Thunbergn, 

 Gleditschia australis, Lagerstroemia sub- 

 — *-*- with a fine * * ™ verea 



costata 



trunk coy 



• Kew Bulletin of Miscellaneous Information 

 series. London. 1911. 



Addition* 1 



