October 5, 1876. ] 



JOUBNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



305 



throwing up annually a perfect entanglement of rambling 

 branches clothed with scarlet flowers ? We afterwards found 

 that the whole district is full of the plant, and that almost 

 every cottage is more or less adorned with it in the Bummer. 

 You recommend it to be kept in a greenhouse during the 

 winter and planted-out to bloom in summer, but from what I 

 have seen it is quite hardy, and it would be well worth while to 

 try to establish it in other parts of the country. — A Bahbleb. 



TOMATOES AND THE POTATO DISEASE. 



REFEEErMG to the statement of Mr. Moorman in his com- 

 munication on the subject of Tomatoes in your impression of 

 the 28th nit., that " in cold wet seasons they are liable to a 

 disease similar to the disease in Potatoes," my experience 

 appears to show that they take the true Potato disease from 

 neighbouring Potatoes whenever there is wet weather, and 

 this so certainly that it is useless to think of growing them in 

 this county near Potatoes except under glass. I say in this 

 county (South Wales), because it is possible that when grown 

 against walls in the warmer southern counties of England a 

 part of the crop at all events may be ripened in time to escape 

 the infection. 



In 1874 I grew Tomatoes surrounded on two sides by Pota- 

 toes at some little distance, the result being that the crop 

 became badly affected Boon after the disease made its appear- 

 ance on the Potatoes. ' This year the same thing has occurred, 

 while in two neighbouring gardens — one of which has no Po- 

 tatoes in it, and in the other of which they were all dug in 

 the middle of August — the Tomatoes have remained quite 

 sound up to the present date (29th of Sept.), notwithstanding 

 the almost continuous wet weather since the commencement 

 of the month. It is certainly true that my Tomatoes were 

 also healthy till a short time after the rains began (by which 

 time I had gathered a few fruit), so that it appears that wet 

 weather is necessary for the conveyance of the infection ; but 

 as, notwithstanding being subjected to the same weather that 

 mine were, my neighbours' Tomatoes have escaped the disease, 

 the neighbourhood of Potatoes appears to be a necessary cause 

 of it. — A. Botle, Amr'oth, S. Wales. 



PRESENTATION TO ME. JOHN EOBSON. 



Vert general was the regret which was felt by our readers 

 when we announced the severe and sudden affliction which 

 befell one whose name was so familiar to them and whose 

 counsel was so reliable ; and now equally great will be the 

 satisfaction to learn that Mr. Bobson has been able in person 

 to receive a graceful mark of recognition from his friends and 

 admirers. The termination of his labours at Linton Park was 

 felt to be an appropriate time to recognise the merits of one 

 who has done so much for gardening both by his work and 

 pen. A committee was therefore formed and steps taken to 

 carry out the project of a testimonial, and the labours of that 

 committee closed in a pleasant manner on the evening of the 

 29th ult. in the village inn at Linton. 



At a social meal there spread J. Philpott, Esq., as a prin- 

 cipal promoter, presided, and after making a brief address 

 vacated the chair in favour of J. Neve, Esq. (who was for many 

 years Steward at Linton), and who was deputed to ask Mr- 

 ilobson's acceptance of the offerings of his friends. After duly 

 honouring the toast of the Queen, Mr. Neve uncovered a hand- 

 some silver inkstand, and a purse containing £126 with a list 

 of 160 subscribers, and presented them to Mr. Bobson. In 

 doing this Mr. Neve remarked that after having had close 

 business connections with Mr. Bobson for many years he de- 

 sired to bear public testimony to his worth and ability. Not 

 only as gardener, but as an accountant and assistant Mr. 

 Bobson had rendered him invaluable aid , while his character 

 for integrity, industry, and urbanity had won him the appro- 

 bation of all around him. Mr. Neve dwelt with emphasis on 

 the generosity of Mr. Bobson's disposition in ever eeeking to 

 impart knowledge and in being constantly ready to render 

 assistance to all needing a helping hand, and his matured 

 judgment had been of the greatest benefit, not only to the 

 district, but also, through the press, to the general community. 



When the applause had subsided, Mr. Bobson, in the midst 

 of an ovation almost overwhelming, in a modest speech and 

 tremulous accents, accepted this one more mark of recognition 

 which had been kindly rendered to him for " trying to do his 

 duty." When he first became acquainted with the object of 

 the Committee his first desire was to stop any further pro- 



ceedings, but on further consideration he thought it would not 

 be right to otherB for him to do so ; therefore as an encourage- 

 ment to others to labour for a reward, and also as his accept- 

 ance of the gifts of his friends might possibly enable him to 

 better help some others who might be afflicted as he had been, 

 he received with sincere thanks the kindness of those who had 

 considered him worthy of their notice and regard. 



On the inkstand was the inscription — " Presented to John 

 Bobson by his neighbours and friends, as a token of their re- 

 gard and esteem. — Linton, October 1st, 1876." 



The Secretary of the fund spoke of the many flattering 

 letters he had received in regard to Mr. Robson ; Mr. Bradley, 

 Preston Hall, and Mr. Goddard, Hunton Court, alluded to his 

 well-proved friendship to them and all gardeners to whom he 

 could be of service; and the representative of the Journal of 

 Horticulture acknowledged the valuable aid rendered by Mr. 

 Bobson to horticultural literature for a period extending over 

 a quarter of a century. 



Mr. Bobson had already been the recipient of a gold watch 

 and chain for his services in connection with the Maidstone 

 Gardeners' Society, and he is held in the greatest esteem by all 

 classes in the neighbourhood in which he has so long resided. 



POMOLOGY AMONG THE WOOLHOPIANS. 



Who is there who has not heard of the Woolhope Naturalists' 

 Field Club ? which holds its annual celebration at Hereford, 

 and where for many years, among other investigations into the 

 natural history of the district, its members have performed 

 such extraordinary feats in fungophagy as well as in fungology 

 that the rest of the world have come to regard them as objects 

 of a special Providence. Hereford is noted for other products 

 than fungi, and having eaten or tried to eat every kind of 

 fungus they could lay their hands upon they now turn their 

 attention to pomology, and we hail as an augury of good 

 results this disposition on the part of so accomplished and 

 energetic a Society as the Woolhopians are. 



For the first time in 1875 it was proposei that fruits should 

 form objects of investigation on the occasion of the great 

 annual meeting which is usually held at Hereford in Septem- 

 ber. The attempt to get together a collection of the fruits of 

 the district being a new one, and as no great publicity was 

 given to it, the number exhibited was not large. In the hands 

 of such earnest people as the Woolhopians a small failure is 

 only a stimulus to greater exertion ; and this year, though the 

 crop of fruit in the district is as partial as it is in almost all 

 other parts of the country, the exhibition was for the year one 

 which was full of interest, and was a token of greater things 

 for the future. 



The meeting was held in conjunction with that for the fungi 

 in the large hall of the Free Library, and the collections 

 crowded the surface of two wide tables extending the whole 

 length of the room, and one cross table at the end. The num- 

 ber of plates was 637, of which 291 were occupied with Apples, 

 and 346 with Pears. The exhibitors, of whom there were 

 twenty-seven, were not attracted by the allurements of prizes, 

 for this was an occasion for business, and not for " a show." 

 The Woolhopians are not mercenaries, and whatever they 

 undertake is in the interests of science without fee or reward, 

 except what they derive from the consciousness of having con- 

 tributed to the advance of knowledge. 



Among the chief contributors were Sir Henry Stanhope of 

 Holme Lacy, who sent forty dishes of Pears and twenty of 

 Apples. The former were grown upon oblique cordons trained 

 against a wall, which, judging from a photograph we have 

 seen and reports we have heard, aTe the very perfection of good 

 management. Nothing could afford better evidence of this 

 than the remarkably fine specimens that were exhibited. This 

 collection, and a very fine one of twenty-five varieties of Pears 

 sent by Dr. McCullough of Abergavenny, consisted of the 

 modern varieties grown for deseert, and they were both strik- 

 ing examples of what may be achieved when people are in 

 earnest, both in the excellence of the fruit and the correctness 

 of the nomenclature. Mr. Watkins of Marden sent forty-three 

 dishes of Apples, Mr. John Bosley of Lyde thirty-five of Apples, 

 Miss Lutwyche of Mynde forty-nine dishes of Apples and Pears. 

 Mr. Griffiths of Tillington, the present occupier of Mr. T. A. 

 Knight's old place, where he carried out many of his experi- 

 ments, sent forty-two dishes of Apples and Pears, and among 

 them we noticed more of Mr. Knight's varieties than in any of 

 the other collections. This was naturally to have been ex. 

 pected, but it struck us as singular that in a county where Mj, 



