I 



370 



THE GARDENERS' MAGAZINE. 



Mat 4, 1912. 



ilr. Engelmann, Saffron Walden, for carna- 

 tions ; to Messrs. Wni. Paul and Sona, 

 Waltham Cross, for roses; to Messrs. J. Peed 

 and Son, West Norwood, for gloxinias, etc. ; 

 to Messrs. J. Veitch and Sons, Clielsea, for 

 cinerarias and ancliusas, and one for vege- 

 tables. 



Bronze Banksian— To Messrs, Barr and 

 Sons, Covent Garden, for a rock garden; to 

 Messrs. H. Cannell and Sons, Swanley, for 

 pelargoniums; to Messrs. B. R. Cant and 

 Sons, Colchester, for roses; to Messrs. J. 

 Cheal and Sons, Crawley, for slirube, etc.; 

 to Messrs. G. and A. Clark, Dover, for hardy 

 flowers; to Mr. M. Prichard, Christchurch, 

 for rock garden; to Messrs.. J. Cypher and 

 Sons, Chelt-enham, for orchids; and to 

 Messrs. Hassall and Co., Southgate, for 

 orchids . 



GARDENING ENGAGEMENTS, 



Mr. John M'Cullwh, for ten years gar- 

 dener to the late Colonel Morison, Mount- 

 blairy, has- been appointed gardener to 

 Major Lloyd, Leaton, Knowles, Shrewsbury. 



METEOROLOGICAL 



OBSERVATIONS. 



TAKEN IN THE KOTAL HORTICULTUBAL 

 SOCIETY'S GABDENS AT WISLEY. SURREY. 



Height above Sea-level, 150 feet. 



Date. 



1912. 



April 21 



TO 



APRIL 27, 



09 



Temperature of the 



Air. 



At 9 a. 



Apr. 21 



22 



24 

 25 

 2b 

 27 



» t 



t * 



lir.m 



Sunday 1 11 6 



Monday 12 0 



-Tuesday 13 30 



Wednesday.. IV 48 

 Thnrscay.... 12 24 



Friday 7 0 



Saturday I 7 18 



Dry 



Wet 



Bulb. Bulb. 



Means 



(total) 

 7* 6 



deg, 

 56 

 58 

 56 

 55 

 52 

 45 

 4d 



deg. 



to 



52 

 51 

 49 

 48 



43 

 41 



D«y 



HiRh. 

 efct. 



deg. 

 70 

 68 

 66 

 65 

 61 

 62 

 60 



Nigbt 



52 



4S 



Low- 



Bat, 



deg. 

 35 

 87 

 41 

 89 



37 



38 



43 



65 



C9 



Date. 



1912. 

 April 21 



TO 



April 27. 



Apr 



>* 



■ J 



21— Sunday 



22— Monday 



23 - Tuesday 



24— Wednesday.. 



25— Thursday.... 



26 — Friday 



27 Saturday .... 



Me:uis 



P3 



Temperature of 

 THE Soil 

 At 9 A.M. 



o 



IIIS. 



(total) 



At 

 1ft. 



deep, 



deg. 



eo 



50 

 51 

 51 



tl 



5:i 



51 



At 

 2 ft. 

 deep. 



deg. 



49 

 60 

 50 

 60 

 51 



51 

 51 



At 

 4 ft. 



deep, 

 deg. 



48 

 49 

 49 



49 

 49 

 -J9 

 50 



32! 



&4 



O K 



deg. 

 26 

 24 



26 



27 



50 



49 



26 

 34 



26 



FORTHCOMING ENGAGEMENTS. 



SATURDAY, May 4.— French Horticultural Society 

 of London. 



North of England Horticultural ^oeiety ; Confer- 

 ence on Horticulture in Secondary .Schools and 

 Farm Institutes, " tit Newcastle. 



TUESDAY, May 7.— Scottish Hortieultural Associa- 

 tion. „ . , , 



WEDNESDAY, May 8— East Anglijin Horticultural 



Club. 



Hoyal Society of Arts. 



Royal Gardeners' Orphan Fund F^frtival Dinner at 



the Hotel Cecil, 7 p.m.; Sir E. Durning Lawrence, 



Bart., will preside. , -r^ 



Jd OND AY, May 13 —United Horticultural Benefit 



and Provident Society. 

 TUESDAY May 14.— Royal Horticultural Society; 

 Committees meet at 12 o'clock; Master's Memo- 

 rial Lecture at 3 p.m. on " Gardening and 

 Drought," by Professor J. Bayley Balfour, 

 F.R.8., y.M.H. ; Scientific Committee at 4 

 o'clock. 



National Tulip Society's Exhibition at the Royal 



Horticultural Hall. 

 Devon County ShoTr at Plymouth. 



WEDNE>SDAY, May 15.— North of Englan<l Horti- 

 cultural Society, at Leeds. 



THURSDAY, May 16.— Manchester and North of 

 England Horticultura] Socif'ty. 



MONDAY. May 20.— Nat:<)nvi i il- - ■ -.u-u-ty. Confer- 

 ence at the Holborn Hcstaiir.-inr :iT " p.m.; dinner 

 to foreign Rcsiarians at 7 j».in. 



ANSWERS TO 



CORRESPONDENTS. 



HIBISCUS CULTURE.— Sussex : Please 

 tell me whether the hibiscus is a stove or 

 greenhouse plant, and give me a few hints 

 as to its cultivation. 1 enclose specimen. — 

 We much regret our inability to help you. 

 The little portion of a leaf sent was quite 

 useless for purposes of identification, thoiigh 

 it suggests you have an exceedingly high 

 opinion of our powers in this direction. If 

 you will &end us a good specimen, properly 

 packed we will do out best to identify it, 

 and then help you in the matter of cultiva- 

 tion, but it is a waste of your time and ours 

 to send totallv inadequate specimens. 



HAEDINESS OF THE WATER HAW- 

 THORN.— R. C. R., Leighton Buzzard : 

 Please tell me whether the water hawthorn 

 would prove to be quite hardy in the Leigh- 

 ton district of (Buckinghamshire? I have 

 profited greatly by the excellent articles on 

 rock and water 'gardening that have ap- 

 peared in your pages from time to time, and 

 have been led thereby to add some distinct 

 and interesting features to my garden.— The 

 water hawthorn (Aponogeton distachyon) 

 should prove quite hardy in your district; 

 indeed, it is only in exposed positions much 

 farther north, where very severe frosts are 

 experienced, that it fails to survive the win- 

 ter. Although it will grow in deeper water, 

 it is advisable to plant it where the depth 

 ranges from 1ft. to 3ft. It is a charming 

 aquatic, its white, hawthorn-scented flowers 

 being very pretty and produced over a very 

 long season. You cannot do wrong in add- 

 ing Aponogeton distachyon to your list of 

 hardy aquatics. 



POINSEITIAS.— P, T., Leicester: When 

 is the best time to start poinsettias into 

 growth for the provision of cuttings? — Re- 

 move the old plants from their resting quar- 

 ters at once, see that they are quite clean, 

 and then place them in an intermediate 

 house, where, under the influence of good 

 light and frequent syringings, they will soon 

 commence to grow. When the new shoots are 

 large enough for cuttings, remove them with 

 a little heel of old wood, and immediately put 

 them into a bowl of fine dry sand, to prevent 

 excessive bleeding. Put the cuttings singly 

 in small pots, in sandy soil, and plunge over 

 brisk -bottom heat; if shaded and kept evenly 

 moist they will soon root freely. 



LIFE— THE GIFT.— M. E., Swanley; You 

 will very greatly oblige several of your lady 

 readers by quoting in yo^ur ** Anjswers ' 

 column the inscription on the stone seat in 

 the Kew Arboretum. The seat I refer to is 

 one presented to Kew a few years ago by a 

 number of past and present students of the 

 College for Working Women, in memory of 

 the late Miss Cassell, who for twenty years 

 was superintendent of the college. — There is 

 not time to verify the quotation at the mo- 

 ment of going to press, but we believe it 

 reads: '* Life— the Gift. Let us take hands 

 and help this day we are alive together. 

 Look up on high and thank the God of all." 



BOTPLES FOR FRUIT BOTTLING.— 

 M. J. L., Mailing: I propose to bottle a fair 

 stock of fruit for home use this season, and 

 shall be glad if you can give me any informa- 

 tion as to the best style of bottle to use.— 

 Wide-mouthed bottles . specially made for 

 fruit-bottling may be obtained through al- 

 most any hardware dealer at from 3s. to 

 6s. 6d. per dozen complete, the price varying 

 with the size and quality of the bottles. 

 Many persons have a decided preference for 

 bottles with glass tops instead of metal tops, 

 and some like the "screw" tops; whilst 

 others prel'ex the bottles whose tops, covers, 

 or discs are held ir position by "spring" 

 clips. W'hen counting the cost of the process 

 of bottling it is well to remember that the 

 same bottles, when once obtained, may be 

 used repeatedly until broken; the chief re- 

 newals required are rubber rings, which are 

 used with bottles for rendering them air- 

 tight. It is absolutely essential that the 

 bottles should be air-tight. An imperfectly- 

 fitting rubl>er ring or cover may be sufficient 

 to cause failure a^fter perfect sterilisation; 



CLIMBERS 

 HOUSE.- 



the rings and covers must, therefore, fit per. 

 fectly. As this cannot always be guaran- 

 teed* there will be an occasional bottle which 

 will not be successful. We have a decided 

 preference for bottles that have a glass top 

 which is held in position by metal caps that 

 are screwed down by means of a thread on the 

 neck of the bottle. 



FOR AN INTERMEDIATE 

 C. T. T,, Ludlow : Will you kindly 

 give me the names of a few useful climbers 

 for an intermediate house of large size?— 

 Suitable subjects are Clerodendron ITion 

 sonae, Allamanda magnifica, Aristolochia efe- 

 gans, Thunbergia fragrans, Passiflora race- 

 mosa, Stigmaphyllon ciliatum, and Hibbertia 

 dentat^i. 



RHODODENDRON LUSCO'MBEI. - 

 S. C. H., Swanage; Is Rhododendron Lus- 

 combei a species or a hybrid? It is now in 

 full bloom, but not flowering quite so Vdl 

 as usual. A friend tells me it is a hybrid; 

 I have always considered it an introduced 

 species. — ^Rhododendron Luscombei is a 

 hybrid raised by Mr. Luscombe about 1880, 

 and the parents are R, Fortunei and E. 

 Tliompsoni. 



"COUCH" OR "TWITCH."— R. S., Bed- 

 ford. — A weedy persistent grass, with whitisi 

 runners, is rareh^ absent from one part of 

 my garden. It is, alas, all too common in 

 many gardens and farms, and very well 

 known as ''couch" or "twitch." Please tell 

 me the name of it and the best means of ex- 

 termination. — The terms "couch," " twiteh,'' 

 "scutch," " squitch, "whickens," and "quack 

 grass " are often applied by farmers in a 

 general sense to several perennial weed 

 grasses which creep on or below the surfa<?e 

 of the soil. Three species of grass a-re com- 

 monly known by the name "couch";. (1) 

 True " couch " 'or " twitch " (Agropyrum 

 repens, Beauv. ; Triticum repens, L.). (2) 

 Black " twitch " or common bent grass 

 (Agrostis vulgaris, With.). (3) Onion 

 "couch " (Arrhenatherum avenaceum, Beauv. 

 var. bulbosum, Lindl.). These are araongst 



THE 



V 



RY 



ST 



AND 



IN 



HAND 



PNEUMATIC SPRAYERS 



The " Four Oaks," acknowledged by all 

 users to be far and away the best on the 

 market, . . 



No separate pump. Self contained. A 

 great advance over those kinds with sepa- 

 rate pump. Cannot get out of order. Ih^ 

 easiest, handiest, and most economical 



sprayer for greenhouse ana 

 g-arden work and dism- 

 fecting. 



^<FOUR OAKS 



Streetley 

 Patterii 



Capacity, 2 Quarts. 



Working capacity, 



6 Pints. 



Prices : 



In Copper 

 In Steel 



25 - 

 17 6 



The copper machine is recommende 

 where price is not a great considerate 



Is lighter, cleaner, and will not rusi. 



Sole manufacturers : 



THE FOUR OARS SPRAYING 



MACH1N8 



Co 



SUTTON 



Four Oaks Works, ^ 



COLDFIELD, BIRMINGHA" 



