2G0 



THE GARDENERS' CHRONICLE. 



[April 20, 1912. 



EDITORIAL NOTICE. 



■ADVERTISEMENTS should be seat to the PUB- 

 LISHER, 41, Wellington Street, Covent Garden, 



Letters for Publication, as well as specimens of plants 

 for naming, should be addressed to the EDITORS, 

 41, Wellington Street, Covent Garden, London. 



Communications should be written on one side only of 

 the 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 Netice to Correspondents.— The Editors do not 

 undertake 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 correspon- 

 dents. 



Local News.— Correspondents will greatly oblige by sending to 

 the Editors early intelligence of local events likely to be of 

 interest to our readers, or of any matters whichit is desirable 

 to bring under the notice of horticulturists. 



ago would have reasoned thus : 



We 



when further experience in cultivation has 



tobacco as a luxury, and we were right, been gained nicotine may be put on the 



and we shall continue to tax it. But we market at 5s. a pound or even less. 



must find a way whereby the active prin- The problem of finding a denaturing 



ciple of tobacco, which is so deadly to agent is by no means easy. As the result of 



insect pests, may be supplied to the horti- extended trials the Wye authorities recom- 



culturist at a proper price. Nicotine sells mend copper sulphate and sulphur. Any- 



at the present moment at 15s. a pound ; it 

 costs 3s. or 4s. to prepare— the difference 

 between cost price and 



is 



one who smoked a pipe in the Under- 

 ground Railway, before the happy electric 

 days, will concede that sulphur is calcu- 



about 10s., and of that sum the major part lated to preserve them from Tobacco. 



represents " duty. 



77 



Hence we are impos- With 



ing a fine of 10s. on every careful cultiva- duce a vivid green glue-like liquid, we fancy 

 tor who tries to keep his orchard or his that even the apprehensions of the Re- 

 venue may be lulled. There the matter 

 rests. The Central Chamber of Agricul- 



Hop-garden, or his greenhouse clean. 



W 



APPOINTMENTS FOR THE ENSUING WEEK. shaU be responsible for allowing this un- ture, the National Fruit Growers' Federa- 



TUESDAY, APRIL 23— Breconshire Daffodil Sh, 



WEDNESDAY, APRIL 24— 



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



meet at Leeds. 



'THURSDAY, APRIL 25— 



Midland Daffodil Soc. Sh. at Birmingham Botanical 

 Gardens (2 days). Norwich Spring Sh. 



59°; 



Average Mean Temperature for the ensuing week 

 deduced from observations during the last Fifty Year? 

 at Greenwich— 48*6°. 



Actual Temperatures: — 



London.— Wednesday, April 17 (6 p.m.) : Max. 



Min. 44°. 

 Gardeners' Chronicle Office, 41, Wellington Street, 

 Covent Garden, London— Thursday, April 18 

 (10 a.m.) : Bar. 29'9* ; Temp. 57* j Weather— 

 Sunshine. 

 Provinces.— Wednesday, April 17 : Max. 54° Cambridge ; 



Min. 43° Scotland, N.E. 



SALES FOR THE ENSUING WEEK. 



-WEDNESDAY— 



Herbaceous and Border Plants, Lilies and Hardy Bulbs 

 at 12 ; Palms and Plants at 5 ; at 67 & 68, Cheapside, E.C., 

 by Protheroe & Morris. 



flFRIDAY- 



Orchids, at 67 & 68, Cheapside, E.C., by Protheroe & 

 Morris, at 12.45. 



It would come as a shock to a 



"r^fn Chancellor of the Exchequer 



Tobacco if he were to discover that he 



Nicotine ^ad established a system of 



Extraction, old age pensions for Apple 



suckers, Hop and Damson 



aphis and other insect pests which 

 are the scourge of fruit-growers and 

 horticulturists generally. Were he told 

 that he was compelling horticulturists 

 "to subscribe to the conservation of those 



fortunate and incidental injustice to re- tion, and the South Eastern Agricultural 



ma j n College have laid their proposals before 



It does not need to be said that the Financial Secretary of the Treasury, 



no alert and vigilant executive argued in and if the chief Government chemist re- 



this way ; nor does it need to be said that ports that the denaturing process is a 



attempts to remedy the present silly con- sufficient security against fraud, we may 



ditions of things proceeded in the first hope to have the price of this invaluaWe 



place from private individuals, and from insecticide reduced to a proper level We 



*" . . F . , UnttbM™-!. do not know yet whether the chief chemist 



associations of ™<>y^ the nico has issued his report ; but having regard 



As the outcome of these effort the nico- ^ ^ ^ d ation Qnl waited 



tine problem, as we niay call it is well Hobhouse in May of last year we 



under way to solution. T .he problem s by ^.^ ft . due courge< 



no means simple. Though the sky fall the * * 



Revenue must not suffer. If anyone and 



everyone were allowed to grow tobacco 



for insecticidal purposes, many would be 



tempted to try the effects of the crop on 



themselves— with disastrous results to Wisley for the purpose of making a triai 



them, to their neighbours in smoking car- there this season. In order to make the 



riages, and to the Revenue. Therefore it Wisley trial as useful as possible, it is to 



" * be hoped that arrangements will be made 



to allow the plants to stand undisturbed 

 over next winter, and that the Floral 

 Committee will inspect them again 

 early in the summer of 1913 for the 

 purpose of issuing a second report. In 

 Pcmsies, Violas, and Violets, the popular 

 handbook on these flowers in Messrs. 



The Royal Horticultural So- 

 Violas. ciety has invited growers of 



Violas to contribute plants to 



has to be recognized that the cultivation 

 of tobacco in this country must be restric- 

 ted. Further, such is the naughtiness of 

 trade, the crop must be safeguarded lest 

 unprincipled dealers should buy up the 

 juice, mix it with vegetable debris and 

 sell it as shag. To prevent this, home- 

 grown tobacco must be denatured ; that is, — . „ - q 



rendered unfit for smoking without detri- Jack's "Present-Day Gardening serie, 

 ment to its insecticidal powers. Lastly, the author, Mr. William Cuthbertson, w 

 it must be demonstrated that tobacco rich a chapter entitled " The Hardiest Violas 

 in nicotine may be raised cheaply in this To discover which were the hardiest va _ 



country. ties, Mr. Cuthbertson observed a plaatar 



pests which they are endeavouring to des- Knowing by long experience how des- tion of Violas in Essex for three year 



troy he would be lost in amazement at his pera t e ly wicked is the heart of man, the 



own temerity. Yet this is no fanciful R evenU e authorities will not allow a stem 



picture of the present state of affairs, 



but a faithful one. It is true that the 



blame does not rest with chancellors, nor an( j sanctions. 



of the Tobacco plant to be grown in this 

 country without all sorts of safeguards 



indeed with anyone. It is the chance out- It spe aks well for the South Eastern 



•come of the progress of our knowledge. 



Agricultural College 



Wye 



At the end of each flowering season 

 the old growths were cut away and the 

 beds top-dressed with decomposed 

 manure. In the introduction to the 

 chapter it is said: "It is well known 

 „ .„._» that a great number of the most beauti- 

 that they ful exhibition Violas will not survive a 



No smoker objects to the heavy duty were not deterred, even by the restrictions single winter if left standing in tne p • 

 " ' ' ' ' "' imposed by the Revenue authorities, from Such varieties are often purchased ^ecau^ 



tackling the problem ; and we congratu- they look so effective when staged o 



^hich his tobacco 



11 Sweet when the morn is grey ; 

 Sweet when they've cleared away 

 Lunch ; and at close of day 



Possibly sweetest 



7) 



has to pay before it is consumed in 



his cheerful 

 as he puffs 



pipe. 



his proud 



His contentment, 



late them on the very successful issue to 

 which their efforts have led them. The 

 results of experiments carried out at Wye 

 by Messrs. Garrard and Edwardes-Ker 



/ Tobacco / 



w __ w cigar or fur- traction. Part II.) show that nicotine may 



tive cigarette, is enhanced by the know- be put on the market at a far lower price 

 ledge that he is contributing his share to than that which obtains at present. In a 



bad, sunless year (1910) the cost of nico- 

 tine, obtained from the Tobacco crop 



Wye 



the solvency of nations. 



But many things have happened since 

 Sir Walter Raleigh laid the foundation of 



this national habit, and among 



things is the discovery that nicotine is one 



of the most valuable of insecticides. An 



alert and vigilant executive would have thing less than 5s. 



discovered that this is the case, and years 



these a pound, considerably less than half the 



market price. In the good, sunny year of 

 1911 the cost price would have been some- 



exhibition table ; but disappointment^ y 

 often follows unless tbey get into sKii 

 hands and are carefully propagated by 

 tings each season. It cannot be 8 all \ 

 that varieties which possess the charac* ■ 

 of growing into clumps and surv * de * 

 through several winters in the open D 

 are most advantageous for many V 

 poses." Such varieties as the latter 

 easily propagated. The plants may 

 lifted and pulled to pieces, or s j 



growths may be pulled off Th ese ■*££ aS 

 erally partially rooted, and, lf inse d {eW , 

 cuttings, they always succeed, an ^ 

 if any, losses take place in the irai 



ing iess uiaii u&. ** -~j> *~^^~ ^~~ r-- winter 



There seems no doubt therefore that even in the open during tne w 





