

Mat 11, 1912] 



THE GARDENERS CHRONICLE. 



323 



Weather in No^th Devon.— Up to the time 

 of writing (the 3rd inst.), only one shower has 

 fallen here since the beginning of April, this last- 

 ing for about three hours, on the morning of 

 May 1. A more abnormal April has not been 

 recorded in Devon, and farmers and gardeners 

 alike are anxiously awaiting rain. Here in these 

 gardens we are very fortunate ; a stream at the 

 bottom of the vegetable garden gives us a con- 

 stant supply, and it did not fail even during the 

 unusual summer of last year. The maximum 

 temperature recorded in April was 72°, the mini- 

 mum 27°, and although fruit trees were very far 

 advanced, very little damage has been done by 

 frost. Vegetables and fruit are in an exceedingly 

 advanced stage, and the latter give promise of 

 fine crops all round. Apricots on south walls 

 are already as large as Walnuts. Flowering 

 shrubs and trees are correspondingly advanced. 

 S. Gilthorpe, Yeo Vale, Fairy Cross, Bideford, 

 North Devon. 



Fruit Prospects in North Wales. — The 



fruit crops in this locality promise, so far, to 

 be plentiful. Bush fruits are very numerous. 

 Pears, Plume and Cherries have set well, whilst 

 Apples trees are a wealth of blossom. Trees 

 that were covered with lichens and were sprayed 

 in January are making strong, clean growth. 

 V.I. fluid is one of the very best winter washes. 

 The alkali wash certainly acts quicker, but V.I. 

 is easier applied, safer to use, and economical 

 and effective. During April only .16 inch of 

 rain fell, but March was very wet, and the 

 effects of such a dry April are not so serious in 

 consequence. Small vegetable seeds germinated 

 slowly, but since rain has fallen everything 

 is growing apace. /. S. Higgins, Glynllivon 



Gardens, Carnarvon. 



Late Dessert Apples. — Much has been 

 written on the best late dessert Apples, and 

 many varieties have been given by various 

 writers. All appear to regard Cox's Orange 

 Pippin as the ideal variety. Considering that 

 fruits of this variety may be had in a good con- 

 dition in the first week in May, I am at a loss to 

 understand why more trees of this variety are 

 not planted. Presumably many gardeners do not 

 think this Apple will keep perfectly for so long 

 a time, and they seem to regard mere variety as 

 of such consequence that quality is sacrificed. 

 This season I had plentiful crops of Adams's 

 Pearmain, Brownlee's Russet, Cockle Pippin, 

 Fearn's Pippin, Mabbott's Pearmain, Sturmer 

 Pippin, Bess Pool, and Wyken Pippin, but how 

 unfavourably does the fruit of any of these 

 compare with Cox's Orange Pippin. Some will 

 perhaps say Cox's Orange Pippin does not suc- 

 ceed in all soils : my answer is, provide suitable 

 soil. E. U. 



Moraine Gardening (see p. 251). — Mr. 

 Farrer's remarks are somewhat inconclusive 

 when he says that my " cement 

 ments and other formidable deterrents are 

 in themselves not only entirely unnecessary, but 

 even harmful," for many of my plants in 

 "those identical conditions thrive amazingly. To 

 take a few examples. In April, 1910, I planted 

 m my moraine a specimen of Silene acaulis, 

 2 inches in diameter. It blossomed well last 

 year, and is now a circular patch 10 inches across, 

 and spangled with flowers. Campanula Allionii, 

 planted at the same time, and consisting of three 

 rosettes, has increased to 70 rosettes, and 

 is already showing 30 flower-buds; whilst three 

 seedlings of Edraianthus, pricked out into 

 the moraine last summer from seed sown in 

 February, 1911, have made a tuft 6 inches to 

 ' inches in diameter, and promise to develop not 

 J™ th ?.n 30 flowers. Hitherto I had imagined 

 tnat such satisfactory results as these (especi- 



i «, WI ^ somewhat difficult plants, and 

 in the disadvantageous conditions which rie- 



! f ai1 , h ^ e at Woodford, within eight miles 

 i the City of London), were due to my moraine 

 conditions being suitable to the plants' require- 

 ments. \\hen j firgt started moraine gardening 



** as under the impression that it was advisable 



nr^T-r e - as far as Practicable the conditions 

 prevailing m a natural moraine, especiallv the 

 ample supply of water during the growing season 

 son C T^ pa J a .x iv ^ dr y ness during the resting sea- 

 IX* v -i li dlfficult to understand how, if the 

 amniL # ret . ain * sufficient water during the 

 thTfl^? 1 ^ without artificial watering), 

 6 Plants 8«t the comparativelv dry resting C on- 



arrange- 



ditions during the winter, while, if the soil is 

 free enough to secure this winter dryness, how it 

 is that the same material continues wet enough 

 for them to thrive in during their growing 

 period, which coincides with our driest time of 

 the year? If Mr. Farrer's remarks — about the 

 cement bottom resulting in an absence of drain- 

 age—applies to the winter conditions in my 

 moraine, I fear he has not troubled to acquaint 

 himself with my original notes — while the term 

 well-drained applies in this connection — not to 

 a place devoid of moisture, but one through 

 which fresh water, more or less in quantity, is 

 constantly passing — and is thus the reverse of 

 stagnant — or as Mr. Farrer terms it a " slough." 



1 am surprised to learn that my moraine notes 

 have caused such wide-spread uneasiness. 

 Hitherto I had considered gardeners most en- 

 thusiastic, and not likely to be terrorised by the 

 problem of a little cement — when the photo- 

 graphs which accompanied my notes illustrated 

 more emphatically than mere words could do, 

 that the conditions thus described produced such 

 excellent results. Reginald A. Malby. 



Primula rosea (see pp. 246. 265).— I can 

 endorse fully the statement of A. J . A. B. that 

 the flowers of this Primula do not require to be 

 artificially pollinated in order to set seed. I find 

 that the plant succeeds best in a partially -shaded 

 bog, where it soon develops into large masses 

 producing flower-spikes from 12 to 18 inches in 

 height. I have gathered seed from plants grown 

 under these conditions, which germinated freely 

 when sown, and, so far as I can determine, the 

 flowers were all naturally fertilised. I have seen 

 the plant growing under more exposed and drier 

 conditions, where it was of a stunted appearance 

 and failed to develop seeds. T. Sharpe. 



Clarkia elegans 9 feet High. — 1 should 

 be interested to learn if any of your readers have 

 known Clarkia elegans to grow so strongly as 

 mine have this year. Seeds were sown in Septem- 

 ber, and the seedlings were grown in cool condi- 

 tions during the winter and potted on as re- 

 quired. At the present time the plants are in 

 12-inch pots and in flower. Some of the shoots 

 are 9 feet high, and at 4 feet 6 inches the growths 

 are 1^ inches in circumference. The plants are 

 carrying hundreds of flowers, which are fully 



2 inches across. This Clarkia is not only useful 

 for conservatory decoration, but also for furnish- 

 ing cut blooms. The flowers remain fresh a long 

 time in water. J. H. Herdman, Under Fell 

 Gardens, Burton, Westmorland. 



Exotic Forest Trees.— If G. W.'s principle 

 of planting (see p. 277) nothing but trees indi- 

 genous to Britain had been observed by our fore- 

 fathers, we should have been without some of our 

 most valuable timber at the present time. Larch, 

 Silver Fir, Norway Spruce, Corsican Pine among 

 conifers— Spanish Chestnut, English Elm, Syca- 

 more, Black Italian Poplar, and Walnut, among 

 broad-leaved trees — are exotic, and our wood- 

 lands would be commercially poorer without 

 them. Five -and- twenty years ago the late Mr. 

 Peter Lawson told me that he considered Thuja 

 gigantea (plicata) was the forest tree of the 

 future. G. W. pronounces it impossible to ex- 

 pect it to do any good in Europe, which shows 

 that he has not perambulated the 2,000 acres of 

 forest at Benmore in Argyllshire, consisting 

 chiefly of this tree and Douglas Fir planted 30 to 

 35 years ago. The timber of Thuja is of great 

 value, and, like the wood of nearly all the Cy- 

 press tribe, of Extraordinary durability G. W. 

 disparages the Japanese Larch, which, by its re- 

 markable vigour, is able to set Dasyscypha (the 

 canker fungus), Chermes and the large Larch 

 saw-fly at defiance, harbouring all three in mod- 

 eration, but overcoming them all by its robust 

 constitution. If he will visit Blair Drummond, 

 in Perthshire, he will see a wood of five acres 

 planted about 40 years ago with equal numbers 

 of European and Japanese Larch. The Europeans 

 have succumbed to disease, and, almost without 

 exception, have been removed: the Japanese 

 Larches are growing clean and vigorous. G. W. 

 condemns the timber of Douglas Fir as being 

 coarse and knotty. Naturally it is so under the 

 conditions in which it has been usually planted 

 in this country— isolated or scattered among a 

 mixture of other trees. Being a shade-bearer, it 

 requires close company of its own species to pro- 

 duce clean bolls. Rcbinia Pseudacacia, which he 



commends, is of little use except in the south of 

 England, and is extremely brittle under wind 

 exposure. "Niere is no question about the 

 durability of its timber, where it can make any, 

 but in that respect Thuja gigantea and the Law- 

 son Cypress are its superior. Certain exotic trees 

 make finer growth in these islands than in their 

 native country. The largest Quercus Ilex in the 

 world stands at Rosannah, in County Wicklow, 

 and there are no Horse-Chestnuts in Macedonia 

 or Asia Minor to compare with those at Hamp- 

 ton Court and a hundred other English parks. 

 Herbert Maxwell, Monreith. 



SOCIETIE 



ROYAL HORTICULTURAL. 

 Scientific Committee. 



April 30.— Present: Mr. E. A. Bowles, M.A., 

 F.E.S. (in the Chair); Messrs. J. T. Ben 

 nett-Poe, W. Hales, A. Worsley, J. Fraser, 

 J. O'Brien, J. W. Odell, G. Wilson, C. E. 

 Shea, E. M. Holmes, and F. J. Chittenden (hon. 

 secretary). 



Hybrid Saxifrages. — Mr. J. Fraser reported 

 on the Saxifrages from Dr. Blaxall, of Edgware, 

 shown at the last meeting, as follows : — The two 

 Saxifrages were hybrids between S. granulata and 

 either one of the group of S. muscoides Rhei or 

 S. deeipiens. All the characters of the hybrids 

 were different from those of either parent. No. 1 

 had the stamens more or less imperfect, the petals 

 shortened, the flower flattened, and the disc 

 greatly enlarged. The stem was shortened, form- 

 ing a compound corymbose cyme. The leaves 

 were deeply lobed on the tripartite plan, much 

 divided and with more acute lobes, not rounded as 

 in S. granulata. The basal leaves formed a roette, 

 with short, broad, flattened petioles, these charac- 

 ters being derived from the dactyloid parent. 

 The bulbils at the root and in the axils of the 

 basal leaves were in a more or less leafy condi- 

 tion, and some of them had developed into leafy 

 branches, especially in No. 2. The styles of botn 

 were divaricate in fruit, as in the dactyloid 

 parent, not erecto-patent as in S. granulata. 



Albino form of Orchis mascula. — Mr. Gurney 

 Wilson showed an albino form of Orchis mas- 

 cula collected by him in a field in mid-Sussex. 



Jack fruit. — Mr. O'Brien showed on behalf of 

 J. S. Bergheim, Esq., of Belsize Court, Hamp- 

 stead, a Jack fruit (Artocarpus) brought from 

 Brazil. 



Arsenic in drainage water. — Dr. Voelcker 

 remarked on some water he had recently received 

 for analysis which had come from a stable and 

 had been reputed to injure plants. He had found 

 it to contain an appreciable quantity of arsenic, 

 which was, no doubt, the cause of the injury. 

 He had found that many plants would absorb a 

 certain amount of arsenic from the soil without 

 any appreciable injury, but in this case the quan- 

 tity had been too great. Mr. O'Brien made the 

 following remarks, which suggest a probable 

 source of the arsenic: — u I remember to have 

 often heard of those in charge of horses giving 

 them small doses of arsenic to improve their con- 

 dition, and many a good horse has died suddenly 

 from ■ heart trouble * in consequence. Of course, 

 it is done secretly. But if done at all it would 

 account for the presence of arsenic in the stable. 

 If pure arsenic cannot be had, on account of the 

 restrictions, might not the knowledge that it is 

 present in weed-killer cause small doses of that 

 to be mixed with the food, and surplus thrown 

 on the floor. The arsenic must have got in some- 

 how, and this is as likely a way as any." 



Orange with yellow stripe.— Mr. Holmes re- 

 ported that he had examined the Orange shown at 

 the last meeting, which had a narrow yellow 

 stripe down one side passing from base to apex, 

 and could find nothing inside the fruit in connec- 

 tion with it. He suggested that it was probably 

 a hybrid between the Orange and the Grape 

 fruit. 



S cilia hispanka with long bracts.— Mr. 

 Worsley showed from his garden an inflorescence 

 of Scilla hispanica analagous to the variety brac- 

 tiata of Scilla nutans. The bracts were many 

 times longer than the pedicels . 



Tulip with displaced perianth piece. — Mr. 

 Shea showed a Tulip with a displaced perianth 



