33S 



THE GA RDENERS' CHR ONICLE. 



[May 18, 1912. 



Shrewsbury Flower Show. — The hon. 

 secretaries of the Shropshire Horticultural 

 Society announce a new Champion Rose Class for 

 the summer show in August next. The president 

 has given a silver rose bowl of special design of 

 the value of 30 guineas, and medals and money 

 prizes amounting to £32 are also offered. 



Publications Received. — The Harvest of 

 the Hives, by the Rev. Gerard VV. Bancks. 

 (London: Unwin Brothers, Ltd.) Price 6Jd., 

 post free. — Bulletins of Popular Information. 



(Jamaica Plain, Massachusetts : Arnold Arbore- 

 tum, Harvard University.) 



SCOTLAND. 



ABERDEEN CHRYSANTHEMUM SOCIETY. 



The schedule of prizes for the annual exhibi- 

 tion of this society, of which Queen Alexandra is 

 patron, has just been issued. There is this year 

 an alteration in the rule as to the removal of 

 exhibits. These may now be removed on the 

 Saturday, after 10 p.m., instead of on the fol- 

 lowing Monday morning, as hitherto. The show 

 takes place on November 22 Lad 23, in the large 

 hall of the Young Men's Christian Institute, 

 Aberdeen. 



ABERDEEN CITY PARKS GARDENERS. 



At a recent meeting of the Links and Parks 

 Committee of the City of Aberdeen, an applica 

 tion was made by the gardeners employed in the 

 parks and links for an advance of wages. The 

 question was remitted to a sub-committee for 

 consideration. It has arisen in consequence of a 

 movement among the various classes of gardeners 

 in the city for an improvement in their remunera- 

 tion. 



PRESENTATION TO A GARDENER. 



Mr. William Tough, gardener at Arndilly 



House, Craigellachie, has been presented by 



friends and fellow employees with a purse of 



sovereigns on the occasion of his departure for 

 the United States. 



HOME CORRESPONDENCE. 



(The Editors do not hold themselves responsible for 

 the opinions expressed by correspondents.) 



Citrons in Devon and CoRNWALL.—In 

 two gardens near Plymouth, many years ago, I 

 remember Citrons growing on south walls and 

 fruiting splendidly without artificial heat, and 

 protected in winter only by lights of glass. One 

 severe winter these Citrons were killed, and in 

 neither garden, I believe, have they since been 

 planted again. Would some reader kindly inform 

 me whether they are now cultivated in any gar- 

 dens of Devon and Cornwall as above, without 

 artificial heat. R. Irwin Lynch, Botanic Gar- 

 den, Cambridge. 



^ Clarkia eleqans (see p. 323).— i have cul- 

 tivated this pretty annual for several years past 

 with the same good results as Mr. Herdman. 

 The only difference is that I grow the plants 

 in 8-inch pots, five plants in each pot. The 

 plants in these gardens are not yet in full 

 bloom, as they are being retarded as much as 

 possible to replace plants of Schizanthus and 

 Cineraria «> Feltham Beauty" in the cloisters 

 when these have finished flowering. I enclose 

 some blooms, taken from different plants, to 

 show their excellent bright salmon colour. The 

 seed was saved from the Firefly strain, and 

 each of the 140 plants grown is true to colour. 

 Godetia Double Rose, when grown in the same 

 manner as the Clarkias, is another desirable an- 

 nual for pot culture. A. Shake! ton, Forde 

 Abbey Gardens, Chard. 



; Many plants in these gardens grown 



in 8-inch pots have attained the height men- 

 tioned by Mr. Herdman. We grow Clarkia 

 elegans three plants in each pot ; some of the 

 growths st 3 feet 6 inches high are 1^ inch in 

 circumference. A. Middleton, Greenfield House 

 Gardens, Laleham. 



Mvrtus communis.— I have failed to raise 

 * plants of the common Myrtle from own saved 

 seed sown during both autumn and spring. The 

 fruits matured early last autumn, and the seed 

 obtained from them appeared to be quite sound. 

 The seed was sown in sandy soil, also in silver 

 sand alone, and placed in various temperatures, 

 but failed to germinate. Will someone who has 

 been successful kindly give their opinion on the 

 cause of failure? Sidney Legg. 



Exotic Forest Trees. — I am afraid that 

 Sir Herbert Maxwell, in his criticism of my 

 note (p. 277), has rather misunderstood the 

 sentiments expressed in it. He accuses me 

 of wishing to plant nothing but trees in- 

 digenous to Britain. After carefully read- 

 ing through the article in question, I have 

 been unable to find anything to justify this 

 conclusion. W T hat I did condemn was the plant- 

 ing of large areas with species that may or may 

 not develop into good timber. Experimental 

 planting within reasonable limits is, of course, to 

 be encouraged, but to cover large areas with a 

 tree which has hitherto only been grown in a 

 park is foolish, to say the least of it. Of course, 

 the planter may be lucky and get good timber, 

 and can then afford to laugh at his more cautious 

 colleagues, who prefer to wait and see the be- 

 haviour of the same tree on a smaller area before 

 embarking on extensive planting operations. 

 Thuya gigantea may be growing well at Benmore, 

 but, as the trees there are only 35 years old, they 

 have scarcely had time to give absolute proof of 

 their value as forest trees. I have seen various 

 plantations of Thuya in Germany, and, with few 

 exceptions, they developed red-rot after about 20 

 years. Snow, too, did more damage to them 

 than to any other tree in the neighbourhood. I 

 did not disparage the Japanese Larch, but merely 

 remarked that its immunity from canker and its 

 rapid growth are not so startling as at first 

 supposed, and I could point to two plantations 



f 'owing side by side where the growth of the 

 uropean species was superior to the Japanese. 

 I would not place it second to the former in order 

 of merit, but, in my opinion, its superiority has 

 yet to be proved. My experience of the quality 

 of Douglas Fir timber is not limited to that of 

 wide-planted trees or park specimens, and I know 

 of a good many plantations on the Continent 

 where it is provided with close company of its 

 own species. Although the lower branches died 

 off at an early age, they remained on the stem 

 for many years, and are so tough that they can 

 scarcely be torn off, much less fall off by their 

 own weight. I did not remark about the timber 

 being coarse, but I did state that it was of good 

 quality, merely mentioning that the peculiar 

 toughness of the dead branches generally rendered 

 it knotty. G. W. 



Pot Strawberries.— This subject seems to 

 have awakened the interest of a number of 

 your readers, as it awakened mine when I read 

 Mr. West's letter relating the failure of his plants 

 of Royal Sovereign. I at once came to the con- 

 clusion that the failure was due to no other cause 

 than the presence of thrips in the crowns of the 

 plants, and this view I shall hold until Mr. West 

 says there was no such pest present on the plants. 

 Mr. West may have been in the happy position 

 of some of the subsequent contributors to this sub- 

 ject who seem never to have known failure, especi- 

 ally from this cause, and I would point out, in 

 support of my view, that it is not uncommon 

 to discover the presence of thrips which had es- 

 caped observation because the trouble had never 

 come under his notice before. The experience of 

 Yorkshire Gardener at Hackwood, whose memory 

 . serves him so well, only goes to confirm my theory 

 that a hot, dry season is conducive to the develop- 

 ment of thrips even in the least suspected places. 

 I may add, however, that the best early-forced 

 berries I have seen of Keen's Seedling were a mis- 

 shapen lot, though of good colour. I am not sur- 

 prised at the conclusion arrived at by Mr. C. H. 

 Branson that Royal Sovereign is worn out. Nine 

 or ten years ago I arrived at the same conclusion, 

 though it is now my favourite variety, and I have 

 forced the variety George Munro with it.. The 

 circumstances which led to my opinion that the 

 variety was worn out are these. For two years 

 in succession a very large proportion of a batch 

 of 2.000 plants prepared for forcing failed to 

 develop satisfactory crowns. Later we procured 

 young plants of the same variety from across St. 

 George's Channel, and the results were most 



gratifying. The soil in which our Strawberries 

 were growing was Strawberry sick ; it should be 

 common knowledge, as it is frequently pointed 

 out, that alniost any variety of Strawberry wi'l 

 deteriorate in medium to light soils in a few 

 years. The remedy is to burn the plants as the\ 

 stand and afterwards heavily lime and trench th< 

 ground, utilising it for the growing of vegetal* 

 crops for at least two years. The soil in the »?- 

 dens at Hackwood Park is, to the best of mv 

 recollection, of a heavy, retentive nature, and 'l 

 was informed by a gardener, who served as a 

 journeyman under the late Mr. Dickson, that Mr 

 Dickson won prizes for Strawberries picked from 

 plants growing in the same position for at lea*t 

 nine years. The best results in forced Straw- 

 berries I have seen were of plants of Royal 

 Sovereign and Vicomtesse Hericart de Thurv. 

 that were layered in July in 6-inch pots filled with 

 a compost of heavy loam, well-decayed manure, a 

 good proportion of mortar rubble, and some soot 

 the whole dried, and mixed thoroughly. The 

 compost was rammed into the pots as "hard as 

 possible. It is best to store pot Strawberry 

 plants in frames during the winter plunged in 

 leaves, but standing firmly on a layer of ashes, 

 to prevent as much as possible worms entering 

 through the drainage holes. It is advisable to 

 fumigate the frame as soon as the plants are in 

 position. One or two applications of weak liquid 

 manure or soot-water will not harm Strawberries 

 in pots before they throw their flower-spikes, 

 especially if they have been layered early in small 

 pots and subsequently potted on. These stimu- 

 lants will generally cause any worms which may 

 be present in the pots to come to the surface 

 and help in detecting the presence of thrips 

 by causing them to leave their cover in the 

 crowns,^ which they do not always do on applica- 

 tions of clear water. W. M. Macdonald, Mount 

 Melville Gardens, St. Andrews, X.B. 



It would be interesting to hear 



from Mr. West how his later batches of Straw- 

 berry plants have fared, whether they also have 

 failed to throw up sufficient flowers for a crop of 

 fruit. I do not believe either red-spider or worn- 

 out stock was responsible for the scarcity of 

 flower, but that from some cause or other th 

 roots were damaged. I am more than satisfied 

 that pot-plants suffer greatly from too much wet 

 in the autumn, causi.ig many of the best roots t 

 be destroyed. This trouble I have more than 

 once experienced and found that the early force 1 

 plants are those which fail. Later bauhes ap- 

 pear to a great extent to get over the check and 

 flower satisfactorily. All gardeners do not in- 

 clude sufficient accommodation for wintering 

 Strawberry plants under glass. But if frame 

 are not available, some means should be adopted 

 to prevent the soil in the pots from getting sod- 

 dened and also severe frosts from damaging the 

 centres of the crowns. H. Markham. 



Moraine Gardening. - 



why my remarks are called 



because Mr. Malby causes many of his plants 



I do not understand 

 " inconclusive 



to " thrive amazingly" in his cemented moraines. 

 For I have never denied that they might ; my 

 assertion is, and remains, that such "contrap- 

 tions " are completely unnecessary, inasmuch as 

 the plants he instances will thrive quite as 

 amazingly without such refinements of luxury. 

 Nor need Mr. Malby be afraid for the enthusiasm 

 of gardeners ; no one grudges necessary troubh 

 nor is likely "to be terrorised by the problem 

 of a little cement "— if such a labour be inevit- 

 able. Those, however, who had justly hoped 

 that the moraine might prove a simple and ea 

 solution of their troubles, have every right to 

 be deterred at the prospect of cementing, when 

 such a precaution is found to be completely 

 gratuitous and uncalled for. We well know and 

 admire the " excellent results " to which Mi 



Malby, with such 



but as they can be quite 



allude? : 



just complacency, auuaea 

 out as tney can be quite equally well a ^ tain £ 

 without any of the elaborate methods that JN 

 practises, his less exacting disciples (may * ir }j 

 elude myself in their number?) need not feel at a a 

 anxious about discarding any thought of " » 

 cemented entrenchments. It 'is for the reil * 

 these I write ; from afar I revere the ciwWW" 

 of Mr. Malby, for it expresses true zeat 1W 

 is not necessary, though very beautiful and w 

 able, to make a special soil-mixture for t>e 

 perennis, although by so doing I have no a 

 that " excellent results '/ would ensue. ^ 5sar y f 

 so for a successful moraine, it is never n 







