60 B 



THE GARDENERS' MAGAZINE. 



Atjgtjst 10, 1912. 



cottage in flowers and foliage — a practice 

 that is not desiraible from a hygienic stand- 

 point. Con*i*idera)ble variation in cultural 

 methods is found in connection with vege- 

 tables, but there is a remarkable similarity 

 in the cropping, for the majority contain 

 but little beyond potatoes, cabbages, and 

 curly kale. These are all good in their 

 way" :uh1 should probably form the fitaple 

 crops, hiiL tliero are others which wiil at 



o<-< ur to our readers* that are equally 

 essentinl to health, and give a good return 

 for tln' xi>;k(* devoted to them. There may 

 he soiin' difficulty in effecting the much- 

 neethMl improvements, but most work that 

 is worth doinp; is beset with difficulties, and 

 iioru' iK' ur to us in tlii> comuM'tion that 

 runrint !»v >l Pimi iioiis * -nWea vour be sur- 



_ 



tnnuiitcd. Th*^ limo has i-ome when an en- 

 <U';iV(Hir should l)o made to instruct cot- 

 tagers in the best methods of furnishing 

 anil manfiging flower gardens, clothing the 

 walls of thrir dwellings with climbers, and 

 in cropping their kitchen gardens with a 

 vlvw to oht;n*nin!i a trnsittT variety of vege- 

 tables thnn is now ^nnvii witlHiut any ma- 

 terial reduetion in (|iiantity. This educa- 

 tional \v(frk Its likelv to ho more vsuocessfui 

 if carritxl out in conjuncti<m with paro- 

 chial organisations, but the help the horti- 

 c'ultnral instrnetorfi are so well able to 

 ren<l4M- should he taken full advantage of. 



Mr. P. S. Hayward, whose portrait 



we givt^ in the [)re;-eni issue, is familiar to 

 our reader ;s i lirouLrh tlu^ vierorous articles 

 on hardy tlouers an<l Japanese gardening 

 that ha\e appeared from lii.s pen in our 

 columns. He is gardener to Mr. and Mrs. 

 LiMey. at Holland House, Southcliffe, and 



has, pr;iet ica l!y, nnule the gar<len.s of which 

 he has <'har<^t-. H«> is an idealist in gar- 

 dening, with a strong leaning towards 

 Japanese art and design as expressed in 

 liorticnlture. After three years' service in 

 l:in<ls<'a[)e gar<lening imder his father^ Mr. 

 Hayujird spent a number of years in pri- 

 \;ite and tiade gardens, chiefly in Kent 

 and Sus-sox, and then filled a position as 

 maiiager to a!i Kast Anglian firm of florists. 

 Later, he was engaged by iMessrs. R. Wal- 

 lace and Co., in constructing and planting 

 rock gardens for Lord Cowdray, F. J. Han- 

 bury, Esq., and others, finally making the 

 rock gardens^ water gardens, rose garden, 

 and })ergolas at Holland House, Southcliffe. 

 ^[r. Havward takes a close interest in the 



;s 



improvement of hardy flowers, and 

 a 1 w a ys e n d e a vo u r i n g to c reate no v e 1 1 i es . 

 So far his chief successes have been among 

 peiitstemonis. aubrietias, campanulas, 

 irisrs, anil vari(^ties of Viola gracilis, but 

 he has also raised many new carnations 

 and begonias. By way of recreation, Mr. 



Hayward contributes articles upon th<jse 

 subjects he most loves, and lie has ''the 

 pen of a ready writer.^' 



Severe Aug^ust Weather. 1 he 



first week of the present month is likely 



fering 

 parts of 

 caused the 



and 



already 

 In 



added to 



suf- 



some 

 have 

 hay 



frost was registered , and this 



the trouble farmers are 



from potato disease. 



Wales the heavy rains 

 rivers to flood the 

 corn fields, and in Devonshire rain 

 and wind have very largely spoiled the hay 

 and apple crops. For holiday-makers^ as 

 well as for farmers and gardeners, the 

 weather is anything but propitious, and it 

 is sincerely to be hoped that brighter, 

 warmer weather will speedily return, to 

 the great benefit of everyone and every- 

 thing. 



The Oldest Vine in Scotland 



is supposed to be the fine old specimen of 

 Black Hamburgh in the gardens at Beare- 

 hill, Brechin, the residence of Mrs. Duthie. 

 This vine is said to have been planted 135 

 years ago, so that it runs the Hampton 

 Court vine closely in point of age. Under 

 the care of Mr. Scott^ the gardener, the 

 Bearehill vine is carry mg a crop of about 

 four hundred bunches of grapes. 



Disaster to French Culinary 



Pea Crop.— report has reached us to 

 the eff'ect that the culinary pea crops in 

 some part6 of France have been more or 

 less rumed by severe attacks of a fungus 

 named Thielavia basicola, a pest all too 

 well know^n among sweet pea growers in 

 this country. 



probably mean a great shortage of seed 

 peas, but now that the disease has worked 

 such havoc experts will be set to work to 

 find cause, cure, and preventive measures, 

 and probably in our own country the fear 

 of similar trouble will inspire action. 



We regret this is so as it will 



Weybridg'e 



Recreation 



Ground) which is such a source of plea- 

 suro to the inhabitants of Weybridge, is at 

 pit'Si^ni very gay with masses of various 

 hardy perennials. Ample room is provided 

 for bowls and tennis for the grown-ups, and 

 for cricket, swings, and see-saws for the 

 children, and there still remains room to 



walk 



upon the grass 

 flower borders and their contents. 



and view the long 



Mr. 



Pagram 



who is well known as the raiser 

 of several fine single chrysanthemums, has 

 charge of this little park, and finds in it 

 ample scope for his energies. Achillea 

 eupatorium massed in a border near one 

 of the entrances, is producing a very fine 

 eff'ect just now. 



e and Window 

 dening in Norwich.— We are always 



delighted when we have the opportunity 

 of recording successful efforts to beautify 

 village, town, or city by means of cottage 

 gardening and window gardening. Nor- 

 wich is especially fortunate in that a num- 

 ber of her public men take a keen interest 

 in such matters as these. Sir Eustace 

 Grey, chairman of the City Parks and Gar- 

 dens Committee; Mr. Edward Wild, chair- 

 man, and Mr. Louis Miller, secretary, of 

 the Open Spaces Society ; and Rev. G. N. 

 Herbert, chairman, and Mr. M. C. F. Solo- 



to hold the record for bad weather for ;:.any mon, secretary, of the Window Gardening 



Society, are 

 work 



years to come. In many districts holiday- 



ma kei\s experienced the most uiipleasant 

 conditions of rain and wind, while in seme 

 places the temperature fell to freezing 

 point, and in others snow fell. Snow fell 

 in many parts of vScotland, and even in 

 Westmorland, in the Upper Eden Valley, 

 snow fell so heavily that the haymakers 



with others, doing a great 

 of encouraging gardening in and 

 round the humbler homes of the city. In 

 the parish of St. John de Sepulchre, the 

 appearance of some of the streets has been 

 altogether transformed from grey to gay 

 by the admirable displays of flowers in 

 front and back gardens, and by the parti- 

 results obtained in window 



good 



were able to engage in a snowballing cularly 



match. After a heavy wind and rain storm gardening. A wonderful spirit of rivalry 

 Newcastle experienced a severe fall of tern- and house pride has sprung up concur- 



perature, seven degrees of frost being re- 

 corded on one farm, while freezing point 

 was reached in many places, and conse- 

 quently many tender crops have suffered 

 badly. Even in the Peak district, round 

 Huntingdon, and in many of the fen-lands, 



rently with the advance in floriculture, and 

 as such a spirit is wonderfully infectious, 

 other districts are certain to follow suit if 

 those w^ho have the power have also the 

 will to offer modest prizes 'by way of en- 

 couragement. 



Holiday Visitors to Public 



Parks and Gardens.— Notwithstand- 

 ing the cool wind and occasional showers, 

 holiday-makers in the London district fared 

 better than most people on Bank Holiday, 

 and there was a goodly measure of sunshine 

 throughout the day. Kew Gardens re- 

 ceived 108,000 visitors; 200,000 went to 

 Hampstead Heath and Parliament Hill 

 Fields; Richmond and the Thames Valley 

 were well patronised ; about 50,000 went 

 to Hampton Court, 33,201 to the Zoologi- 

 cal Gardens, and 10,000 to Windsor Castle. 

 All the London parks were filled with holi- 

 day-makers, who thoroughly enjoyed the 

 fresh beauty of flow^ers and grass and trees. 



Royal Botanic Society,-^By 



a 



codicil attached to his will, Mr. C. Brinsley 



the late treasurer, the 



Marley, 



Botanic Society has been 



treasurer, the Royal 



released from 



obligations amounting to £1,560. At a re- 

 cent meeting of the society one hundred 

 and thirty-seven new Fellows were elected^ 

 and thii^ty-three nominations were made. 



Sisyrinchium angrustif oliunii 



a rare British, plant, that is generally con- 

 sidered to belong almost entirely to Ire- 

 land, has been found wild in Glen Clova, 

 F o rf a rshi r e , and the sipeci men was 

 identified by the Kew authorities. Hooker 

 gives the habitat of this species as " BogB, 

 Galway and Kerry." 



A Big; Fox£;iOve. — ^The big goose- 

 berry seemis to have given place to the 

 big sunflower, but the latter has now a keen 

 competitor for public favour in the big 

 foxglove. In an Irish contemporary a lad 

 of 8^ years records a foxglove 8ft. 3in. high, 

 carrying 225 blossoms, as against a pre- 



and 119 flowers. 

 While the "ibig" in flowers, fruits, and 

 vegetables is by no imeans always the best, 

 we are rather pleased to notice the keen- 

 ness with which these floral records are 

 contested, because it shows the widespread 

 interest in gardening, and .such records 

 always tempt someone else to cultivate 

 better than they have done previouisly. 



The Mischievous Bullfinch.^ 



In a recent issue of the Journal of Econo- 

 mic Biology," the editor, Mr. W. E. Col- 

 linge, gives the results of his in^vestigation 

 of the food of the bullfinch, and these fully 

 justify the opinions held by gardeners and 

 fruit growers as to the injury done to vege- 

 tation by this handsome and destructive 

 bird. Mr. Collinge -made an analysis of the 

 contents of the stomachs of 308 of these 

 birds> which were killed at different seasons 

 in five counties. As the result of this analy- 



found that from January to 



consists 



vious best of 8ft. ;^in. 



'Mbig" 



sis, it wai 



May the food of the bullfinch 

 largely of fruit-buds and fruitlets, and m 

 addition to those which are eaten, an equal, 

 or even larger, number are wantonly de- 

 stroyed by this bird.*' Mr. Collinge fur- 

 ther states " that the bullfinch is for quit^^ 

 half the year most destructive in fruit or- 

 chards, causing considerable losses to 

 growers, which far outweigh any little goo« 

 it may do in keeping down the (spread ot 

 weeds. Indeed, its value in this respect 

 is extremely doubtful, for it certainly helps 

 in the distribution of suich weeds as d^n^f" 

 lion, dock, groimdsel, ragwort, charI<)<:Kj 



etc. 



An Extraordinary Mushroom^ 



- — Mushrooms do many queer things^ esp^^' 

 ally if they find themselves in unusuaj 

 places. At Hull a mushroom forced rtsei| 

 through a greenhouse wall composed <^ 

 bricks and a layer of cement, and even 

 after that effort developed to the size or 

 a saucer. As other mushrooms are develop- 

 ing on the inner side of the greenhouse wall, 

 the owner is wondering what may happ^^ 

 to the greenhouse if more of thena staT 

 housebreaking. 



