Harcli 1-1. 186S. ] 



JOTJRNAIi OF HOKTICITLTTmE AND COTTAGE GAEDENEE. 



207 



WEEKLY CALENDAR. 



Day 



of 



M'nth 



Day 



of 

 Week. 



MARCH H-20, 1865. 



Average Temperature 

 near London. 



Rain In 



last 

 38 years. 



Sun 

 Rises. 



Sun 



Sets. 



Moon 

 Rises. 



Moon 

 Sets. 



Moon's 

 Age. 



Clock 

 before 

 Sun. 



Day of 

 Tear. 









Day. 



Night. 



Mean. 



Days. 



m. h. 



m. h. 



m. h. 1 m. h. 





m. «. 





14 



Tn 



Laurel flowers. 



51.7 



34.3 



43.0 



15 



18af 6 



Oaf 6 



32 8 ' 44 6 



17 



9 20 



78 



15 



W 



Common Stitebwort flowers. 



51.1 



32.7 



41.9 



17 



16 6 



2 6 



35 9 8 7 



18 



9 2 



74 



16 



Th 



Dog Rose flowers. 



50.7 



84.6 



42.G 



18 



14 6 



4 6 



37 10 84 7 



19 



8 45 



75 



17 



F 



LUac foliates. 



50.8 



33 7 



42.3 



16 



11 6 



6 6 



38 11 6 8 



20 



8 27 



76 



18 



8 



Priscess Louisi BoKN, 1818. 



48.5 



32.2 



40.3 



13 



9 6 



7 6 



morn. 41 8 



21 



8 10 



77 



19 



SUK 



3 SanDAY IN Lknt. 



51.1 



32.9 



42.0 



13 



7 6 



9 6 



36 26 9 



22 



7 52 



78 



20 



iV 



Black Currant foliates. 



52.1 j 32.4 



43.2 



11 



5 6 



11 6 



30 1 , 17 10 



c 



7 34 



79 



From obflervations taken near London during the laat thirtv-eight years, the average day temperature of the -week is 50.9° 



, and its 



night 



temperaturt 



3S.3'. The greatest heat was SB" 



on the 25th, 1863 ; and the lowest cold, 14", on the 25th, 1850. The greatest fall of ram was 



1.11 Inch. 













EOTAL HOETICULTTJEAL SOCIETY. 



FEW Tveeks ago we expressed a 

 hope, whicli amounted almost to 

 a conviction, tliat by tlie purging 

 of the Council and the introduc- 

 tion of a purer element, the Eoyal 

 Horticultural Society was about 

 to emerge from its condition of 

 inentity, and to abandon that 

 anomalous course which it has 

 pursued now for some years past. 

 We have not been disappointed, for, as 

 the season advances, and the Council, 

 aided by the fresh addition it has ac- 

 quired, gets into full working order, we 

 already see indications that the Society 

 will yet enjoy its full meed of popularity, and become 

 what it might always have been — -the promoter and 

 patron of national horticulture. Those who were pre- 

 sent at the first of the scientific meetings, held last 

 Tuesday, must have been deeply impressed with the truth 

 of this statement. ISTot for many years have we seen so 

 much indication of vitahty and vigour as we did on that 

 occasion. The collection of valuable new plants that 

 was brought together for the inspection of the Floral 

 Committee was such as is rarely to be seen in any one 

 place ; and the number of certificates awarded was suffi- 

 cient evidence of the class of subjects exhibited. Of these 

 a, report will be found in another page of our present 

 Number. 



After the Committee finished their work, at three 

 o'clock the chair was taken for the scientific meeting, at 

 which a lecture was given on the plants or other subjects 

 that were exhibited and received awards from the Com- 

 mittees. This meeting seemed to call forth no small 

 amount of interest, judging from the number of Fellows 

 present, reminding us of the palmiest days of old Eegent 

 Street, when the room was crowded with ardent horti- 

 culturists, of whom the " passing fair " were not the 

 least conspicuous. 



Heartily do we trust to see the Society prosper now 

 that it has started on a nobler and a purer mission than 

 pandering to the lowest of popular tastes, and affecting 

 to hope for success through such a medium. Horti- 

 culture in itself, when liberally encouraged, has attrac- 

 tions far exceeding any others that have been offered in 

 past seasons ; and we hope, now that a new life has 

 begun in the career of the Society, that all horticulturists 

 will rally round the Council, and assist in making these 

 scientific Tuesdays the most attractive, as they must be 

 the most interesting, of all the Society's meetings. We 

 know of no place where the Fellows or their friends 

 could spend a more agreeable or instructive afternoon 

 than there ; and a large number appeared to anticipate 

 this pleasure-even at the first meeting of the season that 

 was held last Tuesday. 



But for one thing all would be harmonious, and we 

 No. Jor.— Vol. Till, Ninr Sehjib. 



sincerely hope that this, which consists in an estrange- 

 ment between the Council and the exhibitors who 

 object to the Saturday shows, may be removed, and 

 that some basis of reconcfiiation may be devised, so that 

 this year may be signalised as the resuscitation of the 

 Eoyal Horticultural Society. The Society is already 

 under a debt of gratitude to Lieut. -Col. Scott, E.E., for 

 the unceasing energy and courtesy he has brought tobeax 

 on a work attended with so much difficulty and requiring 

 so much tact and forbearance ; and we should be glad to 

 find that he has succeeded in bringing about a better 

 understanding on this subject than at present exists. 

 We believe it is to be done. As in all such cases, there 

 must be a little yielding on both sides — a practising of 

 the old Anglo-Saxon principle of gif-gaf, and then all 

 will go on well. 



LA CONSTANTE STEAWBEEEY. 



Had not the Editors said in a letter to me that they 

 thought that the ventilation of the subject would do good, 

 I should have remained silent. I need hardly say, that 

 I have no interest in the matter one way or the other. 

 " ilagna est Veritas, et proevaleiit.'' 



It is of no use for persons to write up a Strawberry 

 above its merits, or to write it down below its just merits. 

 Had it been stated that La Constante should be in the 

 garden of every painstaking amateur, whose land is of a 

 deep, rich, and loamy nature, not one word should I have 

 said against the statement. In making the statement 

 sent to The Jouen"al of HoEiicuLTrHE, I had no desire 

 to entomb such a worthy and valuable sort, when put into 

 painstaking hands, and into soils to which it is adapted. 

 I need haxdly say that a "particular" is not a "univer- 

 sal," and that it does not follow, because aEose or Straw- 

 berry does not succeed in one class of soil, that it is to be 

 entombed. Even in the same garden you wUl find that 

 a Eose that vrill do nothing under a south wall, will do 

 weU under a north one. That is the case with Paul 

 Joseph hwe. It grows strongly and blooms beautifully 

 close to a north wall. For three years the seven plants 

 have done nothing under a south wall. They are now 

 put back to the north wall. I may say in passing, that 

 here plants winter better under a north that under a 

 south wall. The rains which come from the south-west 

 are driven by the winds over them. Hence they are kept 

 drier, and are also less injured by radiation. 



Let me now say one word about hardiness. Hardiness 

 properly must relate both to winter and summer. I 

 must also add spring, when in my situation (a west aspect 

 valley with a high chalky hUl facing the rising sun), 

 plants suffer more from the sis or eight weeks of severe 

 hoar frosts, than from the severe teeth of zero. I could 

 not grow I?ears or Peaches without sheets. These hoax 

 frosts are preceded by a burning sun. Hence radiation, 

 so mischievous to plants, is in the same ratio. It was 

 these hoar frosts, together willi chalk in the soU, that for 

 ten years out of eleven desu-oyed my British Queens. 

 La Constante did not suffer here, when established, from 

 No. 859.— Vol. XXXHI., Old Sbreeb, „ 



