April 



THE 



GARDENERS' 



CHR O NI CL E 



247 



SAXIFRAGA 



X 



KEWENSIS. 



This hybrid Saxifraga is probably the first 

 example of a cross between a white-flowered and 

 a red-flowered species. The red-flowered S. 

 media, however, hybridizes naturally with the 

 yellow-flowered S. aretoides in the Pyrenees, pro- 

 ducing quite a series of intermediate forms known 

 as S. ambigua, S. luteo-purpurea and S. Lapey- 

 rousei. S. ambigua is more closely allied to S. 

 media, while S. Lapeyrousei is nearer the other 

 parent, and S. luteo-purpurea is intermediate, 

 with red sepals and yellow petals. S. kewensis 

 appeared in a batch of seedlings, raised 

 from seed of S. Burseriana var. macrantha three 

 years ago. The first one that flowered amongst 

 the batch had normal foliage and Burseriana- 

 hke flowers tinged with pale purple. The second 

 one, however, which is illustrated (fig. 112) shows 

 much more of the influence of a red-flowered 

 parent, evidently S. Frederici Augusti. It has 

 the leaves of the latter with six pits on each side 

 of the leaf, but they are arranged in the cushion- 

 like form of S. Burseriana. The stems are from 

 2 inches to 3 inches long, covered with pale 

 glandular hairs, and the red bracts are tipped 

 with green. The sepals are deep red and gland.i- 

 lar, while the rose-tinted petals are much deeper 

 in colour towards the base. In shape the flowers 

 are intermediate between the two parents, and 

 the fact of S. Frederici Augusti being the pollen 

 parent is seen in the leaves, branched stems, red 

 bracts, sepals and flowers. The plant promises 



to have a very free-growing and free-flowering 

 habit. W. 7, * 



SOCIETIB 



ROYAL HORTICULTURAL. 



Scientific Committee. 



April 2. 



ft a r .C P X, ese ^ : Mr ' E - A - B owles, M.A., 

 * • L -S- (in the Chair) ; Sir John Llewelyn, Messrs. 



V Sr £ e ?' J - F raser ' W - Hales ' G. Gordon, 

 E. M. Holmes, A. W. Hill, and C. E. Shea. 



Schomburgkia Lueddemanii, Prill. — Sir 

 t rederick Moore cent a flowering spike of this 



t Un pdoT°o s P ecies > fi g ur «d in the Bot. Mag., 

 T- ? t ? ome discussion arose regarding its dis- 

 tinctness from S. undulata, hut the Director of 

 tne Hoyal Botanic Gardens, Kew, to whom it was 

 referred, says it is distinguished from that species 

 by a bright yellow crest to the lip and other 

 differences. It appears to have been lost sight of 

 since 1862 and even now its habitat is unknown. 

 a. undulata has been figured several times (see 



v ♦ «?'• & g -> xxxl > *■ ^i Wil1 - Orch. Alb., 

 v., t. 335; Warn. Sel. Orch., ii., t. 21; Coen 



Diet Orch -Draw, xlix., t. 33), and always with- 

 out the yellow disc. 



Draba rupestris.—MT. J. Fraser showed a 

 specimen of Draba rupestris in a pot, in which 

 <-onamon the plant grows much more dwarf and 

 compact than when in a rock-garden in free soil, 

 attaining ,„ the latter conditions to about 

 t) inches m height, and in the former to only 

 aoout 3 inches, though flowering quite as freely. 



Ww'o miniata. Mr. J. W. Odeix showed an 

 inflorescence of Clivia miniata with one of the 

 Bracts fohose and about 7 inches in length. 



^arcissus sporting.- Mr. C. E. Shea showed 

 nlw y t £ Daffodil w *"c h had appeared among 



££?„♦? E ™P ress > but which had a mu <* flatter 

 penantn and no green colouration at the back ; 



uie mouth of the corona was wider and the colour 

 somewhat paler. The evidence as to its origin did 

 not appear conclusive, and the Committee were 



EmpJess ^^ * ** P robabl y a se <?dling from 



Narcissus malformed.— Mr. Jacob sent a 



Ihrlr^i ? arc ! SSl f havin « the P eria "th segments 

 lhi^e-lob*d instead of entire as is usually the case. 



senTfrZTi^' /™^X?.-Mr. F. R. Durham 



Phylla E ! al H 0mbe -' ? DeVOn ' ELeagnus macro- 

 aa^r? nm . Ann ^ and E - Pungens varie- 



o ? the ftj bean 5 g r - 1 ? e fruits - The P ink ber ries 

 Sa^ their ^er scales are par- 



NORTH OF SCOTLAND HORTICUL- 

 TURAL AND ARBORICULTURAL. 



March 20 —A large attendance of the mem- 

 bers gathered in the Botany Class-room, Aber- 

 deen Lniversity, on the above date, when a 

 paper was read by Mr. W. B. Clark, gardener at 

 Balgowme Lodge, Aberdeen, on the Carnation. 

 In the course of his paper, Mr. Clark stated that 

 border Carnations were the most generally 

 grown, and these required considerable atten- 

 tion. The propagation of the Carnation by 

 means of cuttings and layering was described 

 August, said Mr. Clark, was the best month for 

 layering. In the northern part of Scotland 

 planting was best done in the spring. The Car- 

 nation delighted in much sunshine. Mr. Clark 

 gave a succinct description of the insect and 

 fungus pests of the Carnation, and how best to 

 deal with them. 



Mr James Ogg, gardener at Skeno House, 

 Aberdeen, then read two short papers on " Cot- 

 tage Gardening" and " Garden Cities." In his 

 paper on " Garden Cities," Mr. Ogg gave an ac- 

 count of the origin and development of the move- 

 ment, and of the great value of garden cities 

 from an economic point of view. In the discus- 



FlG. 112. — SAXIFRAGA X KEWENSIS : FLOWERS 



ROSE-COLOURED. 



sion which followed, members of the Aberdeen 

 Town Council, who had come to hear Mr. Ogg, 

 took an active part, one councillor declaring that 

 Aberdeen might do much to foster the garden 

 city movement. 



THE NURSERYMEN, MARKET GAR- 

 DENERS' AND GENERAL HAILSTORM 



INSURANCE CORPORATION, LTD. 



March 29. — The seventeenth annual meeting 

 of this company w T as held at 41 and 42, King 

 Street, Covent Garden, on the above date. 



Mr. Harry J. Veitch, who presided, con- 

 gratulated the shareholders on the growth of the 

 company and the strength to which it had at- 

 tained. The company had been of great service 

 to nurserymen, and the directors had recently 

 seen their way to grant a bonus of 15 per cent, to 

 policy-holders in reduction of their annual pre- 

 miums. 



A strong reserve fund had been accumulated 

 out of revenue account. Six claims had been 

 paid during the past year, and since the books 

 had been closed four other claims had been 

 received. 



To illustrate the prompt way in which claims 

 were met, Mr. Veitch read the following letter 

 from Mr. Ladds, of Swanley : — 



u Dear Sir, — In consideration of the generous 

 and prompt manner in which you settled with 

 me, following on my claim on your company for 

 glass broken by the severe storm on March 4, I 

 wish to convey my best thanks to you personally 

 for the courtesy and fairness shown me when 

 here on the following day, and to the company 



for their unquestionably fair method of business. 

 1 do not desire a repetition of the storm, but in 

 these untoward occurrences it is very gratifying 

 to know that the Hailstorm Insurance Co. are 

 always ready to extend every advantage of their 

 company to the glass-house owner.— Yours faith- 

 tuJ V' Frank W. Ladds (Manager)." 



March 50. 



ARBORICULTURAL 



„ -Dr. Somerville, Professor of Rural 



Economy at Oxford, addressed a meeting of the 

 Aberdeen branch of the Royal Scottish Arbori- 

 cultural bociety, in Aberdeen University build- 

 ings, on this date. There was a large attend- 

 ance of landed proprietors, foresters, and nur- 

 serymen of the shires covered by the branch, but 

 from the many apologies read by the secretarv 

 it was apparent that the attendance would have 

 been much larger had it not been for the coal 

 strike and the decrease in travelling facilities 

 in the north of Scotland. Mr. Irvine, of Drum, 

 president of the branch, occupied the chair. 



Dr Somerville said that North America in- 

 cluded all kinds of climates, from nearly tropical 

 conditions around the Gulf of Mexico to purely 

 Arctic conditions in the far North. From an 

 economic point of view the forests of North 

 America were of the very first importance, and 

 the United States constituted the most important 

 of the timber exporting countries of the world. 

 The States exported annually something like 

 £18,000,000 to £20,000,000 worth of timber. No 

 doubt, the forests of North America had been 

 rather carelessly managed, and forest fires had 

 done enormous damage, causing great financial 

 losses. Canada exported only about £10,000,000 



er per annum/and imported wood 

 worth about £2,000,000. 



Dr. Somerville then proceeded, with the aid 

 of maps, photographs, and lantern slides, to 

 illustrate interesting parts of wooded country, 

 of special forests, and of giant individual trees 

 he had seen during his visits to the United State.* 

 and Canada. 



In Canada young trees are distributed free of 

 charge to settlers, these distributions being made 

 from the nurseries at Indianhead, Alberta. In 

 the prairie country, said Dr. Somerville, thev 

 round Willows and Poplars growing on the 

 banks of the rivers. When they approached the 

 Rocky Mountains they met with a forest country 

 extending south of the Selkirk range, and there 

 they had several of the most magnificent of the 

 American forests. It was in that district th'it 

 Sitka Spruce, Douglas Fir, Picea nobilis and the 

 Lawson Cypress were found. In the Valley of 

 the Mississippi grew manv hard-wooded trees, in- 

 cluding Chestnut, Birch, and Cherry. 



worth 



SCOTTISH HORTICULTURAL. 



April 2. — The monthly meeting of the above 

 association was held in the Goold Hall, 5, St. 

 Andrew Square, Edinburgh, on this date. Mr. 

 Massie, the president, occupied the chair, and 

 there was an attendance of 125 members. 



A lecture entitled u Sweet Peas up to Date," 

 illustrated by lantern slides, many in natural 

 colours, of the leading varieties, was delivered 

 by Mr. Wm. Cuthbertson, J. P., of Messrs. 

 Dobbie & Co., Edinburgh. Commencing with 

 1901, when the first waved flower was shown in 

 London by Mr. Silas Cole, gardener to Earl 

 Spencer, at Althorp Park, Nottingham, the lec- 

 turer dealt with the great development of the 

 Sweet Pea in that period. The variety was 

 named " Countess Spencer," and the exhibitor 

 claimed that it was the result of crossing two of 

 the older unwaved varieties, but Mr. Cuthbert- 

 son stated that within the last few days unmis- 

 takable evidence had come into his hands that an 

 exactly similar flower had appeared in Somerset- 

 shire, also in 1901, in the form of a variation 

 from " Prima Donna," one of the varieties which 

 Mr. Cole claimed as one of the parents of 

 M Countess Spencer." This fact, in conjunction 

 with Mr. Unwin's statement that "Gladys 

 Unwin " was also a variation from "Prima 

 Donna," points to the conclusion that the waved 

 Sweet Pea arose as a mutation, and was not the 

 result of crossing. It appeared in several parts 

 of the country, as many sports in other plants 

 have done. Many beautiful varieties arose as 

 simple variations from Countess Spencer ; and 

 others as the result of crossing. 



