186 



THE GARDENERS' MAGAZINE. 



March 2, 1912. 



Reading Gardeners' Associa- 

 tion. 



\t the fortniffhtlv meeting, lield in tlie 

 Abbey Hall, on Monday, 'Mr. F. G. Drew 

 (chairman of committee) presided over an ex- 

 cellent attendance of members. The lecturer 

 for the evening was Mr. F. Barnes, from the 

 University College Gardens, his subject being 

 "The Production oi Early Vegetables and 



Salads/' . i ^ ^ 



Mr. Barnes, who is to be congratulated on 



a very able maiden effort in the role of lec- 

 turer, handled his subject with considerable 

 ability, giving at the outset full information 

 respecting the construction and upkeep of 

 beds so as to ensure a proper conservation of 

 heat. He passed on to the cultural details 

 necessary to secure early and continuous 

 crops of vegetables amenable to forcing, such 

 as potatoes, carrots, turnips, beetroot, 

 radishes, cauliflowers, rhubarb, asparagus, 

 sea kale, peas, and beans. In dealing with 

 early " saiadings," lucid instructions were 

 given as to the best methods of producing a 

 supply of cucumbers, tomatoes, radishes, let- 

 tuces^ dandelion, and chicory. At the conclu- 

 sion of the lecture an instructive discussion 

 took place, bringing out the experiences of 

 the prominent vegetable growers among the 

 members. Mr. Barnes was the recipient of 

 a hearty vote of thanks. 



Numerous really excellent exhibit^ were 

 staged. Groups of Lachenalia liiteola and 

 cineraria (scarlet) by Mr. H. C. Loader, head 

 gardener to Mr. M. H. F. Sutton, Erleigh 

 Park, and a basket of sea kale, "Ivory 

 White," by Mr. J. Wynne, head gardener to 

 Mr. H. R. Beeton,Checkenden, were awarded 

 the Association's certificate for cultural skill. 

 Mr. E. Parker, Waltham St. Lawrence, was 

 highly commended for his exhibit oi apples. 

 From*^ the vice-president's gardens at Hillside 

 (Mr. F. Townsend) came a fine collection of 

 forced hyacinths and tulips; from Mr. J. 

 Walker, Bear Wood Gardens (Mr. W. Barnes) 

 hranches of Berberis nepalensis, in bloom ; 

 while from the University College Gardens 

 an exhibit of forced vegetables, lettuce (in 

 pots), chicory, rhubarb, etc., illustrative of 

 the lecture, was staged. Two new members 



were elected. 



Broug^hty Ferry Horticultural 



Association. 



Hie ordinary monthly meeting was held 

 under the presidency of Mr. James Bethel 

 on February 20, when " A General Treatise 

 on Forestry formed the subject of an ad- 

 mirable lecture delivered to a large audience 

 by Mr. Alexander Campbell, head forester, 

 Strathmartine. In a practical and able man- 

 ner, Mr. Campbell assumed a commission to 

 plant the southern slopes of the Sidlaw Hills 

 lying around " Cra:goul." The project was 

 undertaken as a paying concern, and from 

 the draining of the ground and planting the 



until the second 

 pit props was removed, every 

 detail in cultivation and management was 

 lucidly dealt with. Larch, Douglas pine, and 

 plane" were the most remunerative timber 

 trees for the di.strict, and ought to he the 

 leading features in new plantations where 

 remunerative returns were expected. Quot- 

 ing from pr ces obtained, his own records for 

 plane and beech were 2s. 4id. and 2s. per 

 cub't foot respectively. After satisfactorily 

 an-wering a number of questions put by mem- 

 bers, Mr! Campbell was cordially thanked for 

 his highly instructive and interesting lecture. 

 Tlie exhibits consisted of two dishes of Bram- 

 ley's Seedling apples and a seedling from the 

 Newtown Pippin, from Mr. John Machar, 

 Pothrington Gardens; one vase of Primula 

 obconica and one of Primula siiiensis stellata, 

 from Mr. Grant, Fernhall Gardens; one vase 

 of Chrysanthemum Queen <if the Fxe, from 

 Mr. Wm. Brown. Canilui>t;iv Tiarrlcns; and 

 a pigniy .Tat'ane^<' tree, upwarrls of I'K^ vcars 

 old, from 'Sir. Janie^ Slater. Paiwnnii* ViUa 

 riardens: and two s)»e( imens of Dracaena 

 TJrnanti \arieoata from Messrs. D. and W. 

 CnlL Dallnmsie Xnrseries. 



In accordance with arrangements made at 

 th" freneral meeting, the members present de- 

 cided the merits of each exhibit by ballot, 



and the result was that the exhibit of Mr. 

 Grant received the highest number of ^ votes, 

 and was entitled to the prize for the meeting. 

 All the others followed in point of merit as 

 named above, excluding the apples which did 

 not come within the scope of the regulations. 



Basing;stoke Gardeners' 

 Mutual Association. 



The fortnightly meeting of the members 

 was held in the Town Hall on Monday even- 

 ing, February 26, when an interesting lecture 

 on winter-flowering begonias (other than Lor- 

 raines) was given by Mr. Cleed, the county 

 instructor in horticulture. A feature of the 

 meeting was a splendid exhibit of apples, 

 remarkable for colour and finish, including 

 well-known dessert and culinary varieties. 

 Cox's Orange Pippin and Beauty of Kent 

 being in excellent condition. This exhibit 

 was staged by Mr. Learmonth, oi Sherfield 

 Manor Gardens. The fruit was backed up 

 with some excellent amaryllis, carnation 

 blooms, and euphorbia. A vote of thanks 

 was accorded Mr. Learmonth, and also one 

 to the lecturer. 



young two-year seedlings, nnt' 

 ifiarvest of " mi props " was re 



Weybrldge Horticultural 



Society. 



This society held itcs recent monthly meet- 

 ing at the Village Hall, Sir Herbert Ellis 

 (president) presiding. The lecturer was Mr. 

 Smith, of the R.H.S. Gardens, Wisley, and 

 his tiubject was "The Cultivation of the 

 Vine," In a most practical manner he ex- 

 plained the different operations of pruning, 

 thinning, stopping, formation of the border, 

 planting, ventilating, and damping down. 

 Mr. Smith paid special attention to ventila- 

 tion, as he said he considered it one of the 

 chief items in grape growing; he advieed 

 ventilating a little at a time, not reducing 

 the temperature, but aillowing it to rise 

 steadily with the extra ventilation. Another 

 item of special mention was the formation 

 of the border. He considered 3ft. deep and 



loft, wide inside ample. 



There was a good discussion, and a hearty 

 vote of thanks to the lecturer concluded the 

 meeting, at which some forty members were 

 present, and a dozen new members were 

 elected. 



There were some splendid exhibits of cycla- 

 mens, lachenalia^s, primulas, Calanthe Veitchi, 

 apples, and leeks. 



GOLD'LACED POLYANTHUSES 



There is a revival in Lancashire in the cul- 

 tivation of these flowers, and many good 

 seedlings have been raised of late years. It 

 is, however, a very sad fact that many old 

 and good varieties arc now extinct so far 

 as the growers who exhibit are concerned, 

 and as some of the old varieties were better 

 than anything now existing, and as some of 

 them may still be grown in gardens that one 

 knows not of, I ask your readers to let me 

 know if they can given any information as 

 to the existence of Bullock^ Lancer, Cox's 

 Prince Regent, Maud's Beauty of England, 

 Huf ton's Lord Lincoln, Addis' Kingfisher, or 

 any other old named variety, llie old varie- 

 t'es that we still have are Saunder's Cheshire 

 Favourite, Crownshaw's Exile, Buck's George 

 IV., and Sir Sydney Smith. I have been 

 emboldened to make this enquiry liecause i-e- 

 cently a florist brought me a bloom of 

 Nicholson's King, an old-time flower, the ex- 

 istence of which at the present time I had 

 no knowledge of. Other old flowers may be 

 surviving somewhat, and any genuine infor- 

 mation about them will be gladly received. I 

 use the word "genuine" advisedly, as a cer- 

 tain enthusiastic florist friend of mine was, 

 a few years ago, supplied with common cow- 

 slips and primroses from an enterprising flori- 

 cultural iraud. 'H^ere is nothing more l)ean- 

 tifu] tli;ni (M.wslips and pr'niroses, bnt even 

 tiie )nos1 ardrnt Horisi f^H-l- disappointed 

 when they appear instead of the rare, if 



not extinct, Bullock's Lancer 



James W. Bentley, 



Late Hon. Sec. Northern Auricula 



Society. 



Stakehill. Castleton, Manchester. 



TESTED SEEDS^ 



Time was when seedsmen sold " seeds," and 

 sometimes those seeds, if record be true, were 

 as uncertain of age as the dealers' eggs that 

 were labelled " eggs," as distinct from fresh 

 eggs and new-laid eggs. To-day, however, 

 the gardener demands, and gets, seeds that 

 are both cleaned and tested, which mean^ 

 that the risk of failure and disappointment 

 with the resulting crops h reduced to a 

 minimum. 



Cleaning and testing is a huge task 

 large seed warehouse, involving heavy out- 

 lay in elaborate machinery and labour. An 

 insight into this interesting and highly im- 

 portant part of the seedsman's work 

 afforded on the occasion of a rece-nt visit to 

 the new and up-to-date establishment which 

 Messrs. James Carter and Co. opened about 

 a year ago at Raynes Park, S.W. A review 

 of these splendidly equipped premises wa? 

 published in the Gardeners' Magazine last 

 year; but important additions have been 

 made since that time, in the direction of more 

 storage room to enable the firm to cope with 

 their ever-increasing trade, new, and still 

 more effective cleaning machines, and a 

 every respect a model of what such a labora- 

 tory. It was the latter that occupied mo^t 

 of our attention on this occasion, it being in 

 every respect a model of what such a 'abora. 

 torv should be. To the student, interested 

 solely from the scientific standpoint, here is 

 sufficient to absorb attention for hours, for 

 one may examine minute seeds through 

 powerful microscopes that will reveal the 

 slightest deformity, or may study remark- 

 able photographs portraying seeds in various 

 stages of germination, and inspect an appara- 

 tiis for pulping mangolds for the purpose ot 

 discovering by analysis the percentage ot 



sugar contained. 



To the practical gardener and progressive 

 farmer the feature of more direct importance 

 is the actual process of testing the germniat. 

 ing power of the seeds. For this purposejh^ 

 laboratory contains a number of caees whioH 

 are of Messrs. J. Carter and Co.'s own de- 

 sign, and constructed somewhat on the lin^* 

 of an incubator, with a water tank, fitted 

 with gas lamp, and a number of trays irp on 

 which the samples of seeds are placed, tne 

 small seeds on paper dascs, and larger seeds 

 such as peas and beans, on squares ot tUics 

 felt. The cases are glazed, enabling an eveu 

 degree of warmth and moisture to be raaiD- 

 tained. Under these conditions gerniination 

 takes place in a very short time, and vmti^ 

 great care and precision a record is ^i^^^^^J 

 in the stock books of the percentage of every 

 stock of seeds in the warehouse. Thus it ^' 

 comes possible to ensure that every pacK^ 

 of flower seed, or every sack of barley, clove 

 or swede seeds, shall be of satisfactory ger- 

 minating power. / 

 The testing for type and strain has o 

 course, to be carried out in the tnal gr^i^a • 

 and this again is a task that involves an m 

 niense amount of labour, and extreme "a- 

 and judgment. n 

 Before leaving, we made a tour of ^'i^^'j^^^iJ 

 arranged dining-rooms and kitchens ■ 

 the firm have provided for the use ot tn 

 extensive staff of employees. Thedming-roo»!|:j 

 are four in number, accommodating trom -^^ 

 to 160 at each midday meal, and ^^^^^^^ . ^ 

 about an equal number of employees ^> - 

 living in the village, go home to their me^.- 

 It is verv evident from what we sa^^ ^ 

 Messrs. J, Carter and Co. study the cu ^ 

 fort of their employees, and doubtless i 

 largely due to this that the ^ork 

 large and busv hive of industry j 

 smoothly and pleasantly, everyone laK^^r^ 

 lively interest in his or her appointed - 



e 



"Carnations, Picotees, a^". ^'^f !,„„ritf 

 toll vou plainly how to grow these ta 

 fioworH to per'fection. The work i« .je^, 



illustrated with plates of leading var 

 and explanatory diagrams. Price ^ 

 bv post, in box, 2s. lOd., from ^ ■ i^- » ^t, 

 Collingridge. 148 and 149, Aldersgate .tr 



London . 



