December 19, 1872. ] 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



491 



day in his life. It was a day that many men -would desire to 

 see. One did not always know who his friends were, and some- 

 times met with frowns and sometimes smiles ; but on a day 

 like that, when one's friends assembled as they were then, to 

 testify by their presentation of a testimonial of their kindness 

 and of their goodwill, and of the high estimation in which they 

 were held, he thought it was a day in which many men would 

 rejoice. He begged to present the testimonial to him in the 

 name of the friends who were then around him, and in the 

 name of many more who were not able to be present. He had 

 a great number of letters, some of which were written in 

 touching and friendly tones ; but in the names of these friends 

 he begged to present to him the testimonial, and also to state 

 that a sum of £200 would be invested, and annually or half- 

 yearly he would have the satisfaction of being reminded of the 

 high estimation in which he was held [applause]. 



Mr. Fbost, who on rising to respond was loudly cheered, said 

 that if he was never proud of himself before he was on that 

 <lay ; for the kindness which had been shown to him far sur- 

 passed his expectations, for he had never thought of anything 

 of this sort. Whenever any friends came to Dropmore, as Dr. 

 Hogg came, he was pleased to see them ; but if he was not 

 •always able to give them the attention he desired, it was 

 because he had other duties to discharge, and from no dis- 

 respect. When he first went to Dropmore, Mr. Bailey had only 

 just succeeded Mr. Kidd as gardener. He took charge of the 

 gardens of Dropmore, after being in the position of foreman, in 

 1833. He spoke of his having served under Lord Grenville, 

 Lady Grenville, and subsequently under Mr. Fortescue. During 

 the time he had been at Dropmore he did not think he had ever 

 received an angry word. On hearing that his friends were 

 going to present him with a testimonial, Mr. Fortescue sent 

 him a cheque for five guineas, not wanting his name to appear 

 in the subscription list. Mr. Fortescue also wrote a very kind 

 letter, which he (Mr. Frost) valued much more. After referring 

 to somerecent improvements effected at Dropmore in connec- 

 tion with the coniferous trees, Mr. Frost referred to the presen- 

 tation, and thanked his friends for the beautiful cup presented 

 to him. He never had so much pleasure in his life as seeing 

 his friends come there to meet lain, and concluded by wishing 

 them all health and prosperity [applause]. 



Mr. C. Turner, proposed the health of the Chairman, whose 

 name, he observed, w,as a household word not only in England 

 but all over the world, and who was always ready to do any- 

 thing to assist the advancement of horticulture. 



The Chairman returned thanks, and expressed his readiness 

 to assist in every legitimate movement in the horticultural 

 world. 



Mr. Barr proposed " The Horticultural Press," which was 

 responded to by Mr. Moore. _ There were other toasts justly 

 complimentary to the Secretaries, Treasurer, and others. 



PEOPAGATING CYPEEUS ALTEENIFOLIUS 

 VAEIEGATUS. 



It may be interesting to some of your readers to know of a 

 ■very simple way of propagating the Cyperus altemifolius varie- 

 gatus. I have seen it used very much for decorative purposes, 

 grown in small pots. Some time since I took a few tops off and 

 placed them upside down in a bell-glass full of water which 

 rested against the pipes in a stove. The water was generally 

 over 70°. In a few weeks I found they had thrown out roots 

 -2 inches long, and about twelve or thirteen young shoots each, 

 four of which were more than an inch long. — E. F. B. 



POTATO DISEASE. 



Surely I did not need any other confirmation of my state- 

 ment that we know nothing of the Potato disease than that 

 afforded by the last three-weeks' Journal. " W. G. S." thinks 

 me very " daft " because I do not at once see that fungus is 

 the cause of all the mischief ; while Mr. Ferrn equally wonders 

 at my stupidity because I do not see that it is infallibly con- 

 nected with electricity. Well, I suppose I am stupid, but it 

 has always struck me that electricity is a most convenient 

 thing to lay all ills to the charge of. Personally I confess to 

 incurring rather to Mr. Fenn's opinion, but then it is equally 

 unaccountable when you have got so far. Electricity existed 

 before 1845, but the Potato disease did not in any virulence. 

 And then, why should electricity spare one field and not 

 another close by ? or attack one kind and not another ? And 

 if it be the cause, how does it affect it? Nothing is more 

 amusing to me than the assumptions of those who are ready 

 to account for everything, as Mr. Darwin in his recent book 

 calmly takes it for granted that apes are our progenitors, and 

 founds his conclusions on a supposed fact which only his school 



admits. So it runs all through. Rather commend me to a 

 medical man with whom I was speaking of what I supposed to 

 be an acknowledged fact. " Ah ! " he said, " thirty years ago, 

 when I entered my profession, I thought I kuew everything ; 

 now I am learning every day that I know nothing." We may 

 and must investigate, collect facts ; but let us be careful how 

 we dogmatise on those facts. — D., Deal. 



P.S. — I have submitted some diseased bulbs to perhaps our 

 most eminent vegetable physiologist, " M. J. B.," andhe calls 

 it a species of Tacon, a disease which attacks Crocus corms, and 

 refers me to Journal Hort. Soc, v. 23, where it is described as 

 a kind of caries or ulceration of the corm, very similar to what 

 happens in the Potato disease, which does not appear to 1)9 

 fungus, though fungi come afterwards. It is contagious. 

 [This passage of pens must now be closed. — Eds.] 



MUSHEOOM-GEOWING. 



Kindly inform me how long you suppose a Mushroom bed 

 will last. I commenced to gather about June, and continued 

 gathering until the beginning of August. The bed is in a 

 forcing house, where we force Rhubarb, &c, and next to it 

 there is a small greenhouse. We make one fire do for both, 

 having a flue up the greenhouse and down the forcing house. 

 I followed your directions as to making the bed, and a better 

 crop could not have been desired. 



I commenced operations last spring by collecting horse 

 droppings ; as we have only one horse, we used to gather 

 droppings from the high road on dry mornings, and placed 

 them in a shed to dry in the same way as "Amateur" de- 

 scribed at page 447. When I thought the material dry enough 

 I gathered it into a heap, and when it commenced to heat it 

 was removed to the house, well beaten, and spawned at about 

 75°. Then about 2 inches thick of loam was put on, and beaten 

 firm. A better crop could not have been desired. —Market 

 Gardener. 



[We are glad you have succeeded so well, and more espe- 

 cially as your practice closely resembles that recommended to 

 " Ajiateur " at page 447. 



The question you put, How long a bed such as you describe, 

 made in a sort of hothouse, may be supposed to last ? is not 

 so easy to answer. We ourselves have had fine beds in an 

 early vinery, but we generally found they did not produce 

 much after June, unless we covered them loosely with hay 

 to keep the sun and the heat from the bed, and also used the 

 precaution to syringe the hay or litter, so as to keep the bed 

 cool and moist beneath. There could be no better place for 

 Mushrooms than beds beneath the stage of a greenhouse or 

 a moderately heated hothouse, provided there were means 

 taken to prevent too much water falling from the plants grown 

 on the open stage. We have seen shelves on the stage edged, 

 so as to make them watertight for this purpose. A simpler 

 plan would be to cover the bed with a little litter, and the 

 Utter with old pieces of oilcloth, tarpaulin, or even calico 

 made waterproof, so that water failing from the plants would 

 run past, and not on the bed. We have in former years been 

 very successful by this mode in vineries and greenhouses. In 

 fact, at one time we had scarcely a spare yard or two in a stoke- 

 hole that we did not devote to tiers of small Mushroom beds, 

 and we regulated our treatment according to circumstances. 

 The first time we saw Mushrooms grown largely under steep 

 stages for plants in greenhouses was at Colville's nursery 

 many years ago, when that nursery, then close to Sloane 

 Square, was still in its glory. We recollect an old practitioner 

 telling us that the Mushrooms brought in as much money as 

 the plants did. — R. F.] 



PHYLLOXEEA VASTATEIX. 



[Report addressed to the French Minister of Agriculture and 

 cor.imerce by the commission instituted to rnquire into the new 

 disease which is afflicting the vine.] 



For some time several large vineyards in the south of France 

 have been visited by a formidable and entirely new disease, 

 and to which the Vines on which it has seized succumb as a 

 rule at the end of the second year. 



This disease, the origin of which is unknown, appeared for 

 the first time in the valley of the Rhone during 1864 or 1865, 

 but it was not until 1867 that it had attained such a prevalence 

 as- to excite alarm. In 1868 and 1869, however, it had become 

 a regular scourge. Then it was that. those wholesale desola- 

 tions of wide tracts of country were seen, and which appeared 



