422 



THE GARDENERS' MAGAZINE. 



June 8, 1912. 



occasion referred to the remarkable results best traditions of commercial dealing, of cessful owing to the current b^ing ob- 

 occasion rei en eu L^tii^^ ^ „ v- i i.io ^,.ovrr.r structed or diverted by the hot-water pipe.s 



and the glass. Several years' work would 



uuv^aoiwxi i.^i^^±^^^ 



that have been obtained m the teaching ot 

 practical and scientific horticulture in the 



niJLc ^c^xv^^x. attached — 

 lege; but that, it need haixily be said, is 

 only one branch of its activities. It is, 

 however, of special interest as evidence 

 of the wmpleteness of equipment, and the 

 thoroughness of the work that is accom- 

 plished in all the departments, and to Pro- 

 fessor Keeble belongs much of the honour 

 that is reflected by the high position that 

 this comparatively young college occupies 

 as a centre of university education. We 

 have pleasure in giving Professor Keebles 

 portrait and making brief reference to his 

 position as a scientist, because of the 

 great value of the work he accomplished 

 as a member of the Science and Education 

 Committee of the Royal International Hor- 

 ticultural Exhibition during the ^omewhat 

 long period over which the activities of 

 that body extended. Professor Keeble not 

 only devoted a full share of attention to 

 the arrangements that were made for hold- 

 ing conferences and demonstrating some 

 of the scientific aspects of horticul- 

 ture, but he exhibit-ed a series of primulas 



IS not 



his personal qualities, and of his energy, 

 enterprise, and success in every branch of 

 horticulture and in the introduction of 

 valuable trees, shrubs, and plants for the 

 embellishment of woods and gardens. There 



moreover, a poor member of the 

 garden world who is not grateful for Sir 

 Harry's unremitting labours on behalf of 

 garden charities— nor is there a gardener 

 in the Empire who will not wish him long 

 years to enjoy an honour so worthily 

 bestowed." 



Royal International Horticul- 

 tural Exhibition.— According to the 

 official figures the total number of visitors 

 to the exhibition during the nine days over 

 which it extended was 176,889, and the 

 attendance on the several days was as 

 follows : Wednesday, May 22, 4,551 ; 

 Thursday, May 23, 11,714; Friday, May 

 24, 15,485; Saturday, May 25, 18,010; 

 Monday, May 27, 20,453; Tuesday, May 

 28 39,522; Wednesday, May 29, 41,154; 

 Thursday, May 30, 26,000. The amount 

 taken at the turnstiles exceeded £10,000, 

 and we leani on good authority that the 

 profit will be about £4,000. 



gardeners and horticulturists generally who High Prices for AsparagTUS. 



are devotiu"; attention to Mendelism m 

 connection with plant improvement. This 

 contribution of primulas certainly appealed 

 to the section of the jury who were en- 

 trusted with making the awards m the 

 scientific part of the exhibition, for they 

 awarded Professor Keeble one of the two 

 Veitch Memorial Cups that were placed at 

 their disposal. 



The Kew Palace Linden.— 



link with the past, when Kew was a Royal 

 domain, disappears by the removal of the 

 Kew Palace linden. Growing on a mound 

 to the left of the entrance gates to Kew 

 Palace from the riverside, the tree was 

 described when in its prime, as a good 

 specimen of singular beauty and great 

 height. The girth of the trunk at 4ft. from 

 the ground was 18ft. 7in. The tree is said 

 to have been a favourite haunt with the 

 children of George III. when pursuing 

 their youthful studies." It is, perhaps, for 

 this reason that in some books the tree is 

 referred to as the ''Kings Lime." Dur- 

 ing a heavy storm on January 27, 1901, the 

 tree suffered severely, but being of historic 

 interest, the portion remaining was made 

 to look presentable with the aid of a few 

 bricks and cement. As evidence of the 

 life left in the old tree two or three vigor- 

 ous young shoots developed. It was one 

 of these growths, says the Kew Bulletm/' 

 which coupled with the attack of fungus 

 and decay of the heart wood, finally broke 

 up the trunk. A strong wind during March 

 of this year blew off one of the strongest 

 growths, this unfortunately taking with it 

 at least one-third of the trunk. As the 

 tree was thereby reduced to a complete 

 wreck, the remains were cleared away on 

 Ar^ril )\ and burned. 



In accordance with the usual custom, an 

 auction sale was held at the close of the 

 annual asparagus show at Evesham, and 

 high prices were obtained for the winning 

 bundles. The bundle of 100 sticks, which 

 weighed 181b. 4oz., and obtained for the 

 exhibitor the challenge cup, was sold for 

 £10 10s., the purchaser being Mr. Barnett 

 Emanuel, of Covent Garden, who bought 

 the champion bundle last year for £10. Mr. 

 Emanuel was also the buyer of the heaviest 

 bundle in the show, which weighed 211b. 

 4oz., and realised £6. 



Use of Electricity in Plant 



Culture. — Professor J. H. Priestley, of 

 the Leeds Tniversity, has during the past 

 few years devoted much attention to the 

 investigation of the potential uses and 

 value of electricity in the cultivation of 

 oniamental plants and useful crops, and his 

 lecture the other day at Leeds w^as of 

 much interest. In his opening remarks, 

 Professor Priestley said the knowledge of 

 the subject was not far enough advanced 

 for electrical energy to be practically 

 applied either in horticulture or agri- 

 culture. It is, however^ he affirmed, a 

 subject that seems to off'er opportunities to 

 the experimenter of ultimately arriving at 

 new methods and new ideas in cultivation. 

 He explained by the aid of diagrams the 

 system of overhead electrical discharge, by 

 which it is believed possible to supplement 

 to useful purpose the natural supply of 

 energy w^hich plants and crops derive from 

 the sunlight. Very little current Avas 

 needed, but the enormous pressure of 

 100.000 volts was required. At Eve- 



had been 



ducted 



Sir Harry J. Veitch 



With 



ence to the Knighthood conferred upon Sir 

 Harry J. Veitch, Sir Trevor Lawrence 

 writes: ''I should be glad if you would 

 allow me, as President of the Royal Horti- 

 cultural Society since 1884, to oflFer to Sir 

 Harry Veitch, on behalf of the garden 

 lovers of the kingdom, our warm congra- 

 tulations on the honour conferred upon 

 him. Wherever gardens are valued— and 

 where in Great and Greater Britain are 



they not ? — the name of 



rry 



Veitch 



stands in the very first rank of those we 

 honour and esteem. This is so. not only 

 on account of his never-tiring labours to 

 promote horticulture, but in recognition 

 of his and his firm's strict adherence to the 



sham experiements 

 over some 20 acres of ground bearing crops 

 of wheat, strawberries, mangolds, and pota- 

 toes. The results obtained were, on the 

 whole, decidedly satisfactory. The wheat, 

 measured at so many bushels to the acre, 

 showed an increased yield of 29 per cent, 

 in favour of the electrified crop, as against 

 the non-electrified, while the increased yield 

 in mangolds was 18 per cent. The experi- 

 ment with strawberries was even more 

 striking. The area electrified was only half 

 as big as that which was not, and yet, in 

 the first stages of the experiment, the 

 smaller electrified area yielded 561b. of 

 fruit, as compared with only 331b. from 

 the larger one. This increase was unfortu- 

 natelv not maintained, and the final nggre- 

 gate increased yield was only on^ of 25 per 

 cent. The experiments made with plants 

 growing under gla^s had not been so suc- 



be needed to demonstrate the practicability 

 or otherwise of the method in this direc- 

 tion. 



Portrait of the Late Sir 

 Josepli D- Hooicer for Kew._To 



Mr. C. P. Hooker, Dollarward House, 

 Cirencester, Kew is deeply indebted foi- the 

 gift of a photogravure reproduction of a 

 portrait of his father, the late Sir J. D. 

 Hooker, as a young man. The original, a 

 crayon drawing by the late G. Richmond. 

 R.A., was executed in November, 1855, and 

 is a companioh picture to a similar portrait 

 of the late Dr. T. Thomson, the companion 

 of Sir Joseph during the later portion of 

 the travels described in the famous Hima- 

 layan Journals." The two friends retume<l 

 to England in 1851, and during the next 

 three years w^ere conjointly engaged in the 

 preparation of their Flora Indica," the 

 first and only volume of w^hich was issued 

 in 1855. The portraits mark the close of 

 this period of companionship and collabora- 

 tion. That of Thomson was presented to 

 Kew by Sir Joseph many years ago, and it 

 is pleasant to reflect not only that Kew 

 now possesses a vivid likeness of the bril- 

 liant author of the "Himalayan Journals," 

 but that portraits of the joint authors of 

 the Flora Indica hang side by side in 

 the building in which their work was done. 



Fruiterers' Cup for Messrs. 

 Thos. Rivers and Son.^In addition 



to winning a Large Gold Medal for their 

 fruit trees in pots, a Gold Medal for citrus 

 trees, and several Silver-gilt Medals in com- 

 petition, Messrs. Thomas Rivers and Son. 

 Sawbridgeworth, were awarded a fine cup, 

 offered at the Royal International Horti- 

 cultural Exhibition by the Worshipful 

 Company of Fruiterers, for their excellent 

 display of pot fruit trees. 



Exhibition of Rhododendrons 



at Reg^rit's Park.— The exhibition ol 

 rhododendrons now^ being held by Messrs. 

 John Waterer and Sons in the gardens of 

 the Royal Botanic Society, Regent s Park, 

 is extensive, and of great merit, and while 

 affording a rich feast of flowers, fully 

 maintains the traditions of the firm. 



The Larse Larch - Sawfly 



(Nematus Ericksoni) was the subject of an 

 interesting paper contributed by Dr. 

 R. Stewart MacDougaU to a recent 

 eeting of the Royal Society of Edin- 

 burgh. The larvse of this sawfly, which 



was first noticed in numbers some years 

 ago in the Lake district, have also been 

 found at work in Wales, and more recently 

 in Perthshire and Forfarshire. Dr. Mac- 

 DougaU stated that in breeding out adults 

 from cocoons collected in spring, he ob- 

 tained 165 females to one male. Hewitt 

 had previously recorded two males to 2vb 

 females. To test this suggested partheno- 

 genesis, seven newly-issued virgin females 

 were placed, on May 26, 1910, on a young 

 larch, which was potted and so confined 

 that no other insect had access to it. 

 June 12 three were dead, and in a few 

 days the remaining four had died. Al- 

 though there was no reasonable doubt as 

 to the sex, the dead insects were dissected, 

 and proved all to be females. Eggs had 

 been freely laid, and through June tne 

 caterpillars which hat<^hed from them tea 



Examination on July 3 showea 

 two caterpillars on the soil of the pot, ana 

 these had spun their cocoons by J^^^ ' " 

 On July 17, the soil was sifted from tne 

 pot, and altogether 47 cocoons and n^^ 

 dead caterpillars were found. The cocoons 

 were kept over the winter in suitable con- 

 ditions indoors. On April 21 three females 



greedily. 



