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THE GARDENERS* MAGAZINE. 



October 12, K12 



the seed beds to those in which they are 

 to produce their richly-coloured and de- 

 lightfully-fragrant blooms. Arabis, alys- 

 sums, and aiibrietias should be raised from 

 ■cuttings soon after the season of flowering 

 is past ; and violas, which are best grown 

 from cuttings rooted in summer, sbfruld be 



pany must perforce treat the matter as a 

 business transaction, though they would 

 naturally prefer a recreation ground to 

 more houses. 



Presentation to 



r. C. S. 



Fuidge.--The celebration of the South- 

 ampton Horticultural Society's Jubilee has 

 entailed an immense amount of extra work 



given sufficient time to become well rooted ^p^^ the secretary, Mr. C. S. Fuidge, his 



^111(1 turnislieil w itb liealthv i^rowtlis before 

 tlie planting sea.son. In like mamior, for- 

 get-met-nots and silenes^ which reauire a 

 com pa ra t i vely short period of growth 

 should have the time necessary for acquir- 



exertions resulting in two exhibitions, the 

 Rose Show and Jubilee Show, of which any 

 society might have been proud. Vufortu- 

 nately the local public were either not in- 

 terested, or did not realise the extent and 



ing tbe requisite degree of strengtli. There ^^^eeHence of the shows, as the attenda^nce 



is one other point that should have atten- 

 tion, and that i.s the importance of the 

 young plants having sufficient room to en- 

 able them to make their growth without 

 overcrowding. 



Mr. James W. Barr, one of the 



thit't' liinihrrs who carry on the business 

 of .M< vssrs. Mnrr and Sons, King Street, 

 Loveiit (ianlcn. is \<^ry popular in the hor- 

 ticultiii a I u (n ld. Ho is the nurseryman 

 of tho t'aniil\\ ilir other members of the 

 firm heiiig cliirlly ifh'ut iticd with bulbs and 

 seeds and the office management rt^spec- 

 tivcly. Ml-. .1. \V. Harr had a practical 

 ttainiiig luider his father, the late Mr. 

 JVttT Hai r, hut h*. is as coni^ersant with 

 Dutch and other Continental methods as 

 with Uritish oiu's. He was for many years 

 manager of the firm's niusrrics at Ditton, 



r 



near Sui-biton, and upon him fell the 

 greater ])art of the responsibility of trans- 

 ferring the stock of hardy plants and bulbs 

 from Ditton to the newly-afTjuired, large, 

 and \ery siiitabh' nursery at Taplow. It 

 is ill connection with hardy al])ine and 

 h(M'l>aceous ])lants, and tulips, that Mr. 

 J. \V. Www is best known, and a life-long 

 ,sMidy ot those subjects has made him a 

 Ifadin;^ aiiiliority upon them. Few people 

 know rnoro a l)ont (hiffodils than he does, 

 but we faiK v his own tastes are more in 

 favour of la t*'-llowoiing tulips, irises, and 

 tlie floidsts' \a! i('tif's of hardy flowers, snch 

 is ])!ilo\ov. ))y retluMuns^ Michaelmas daisies, 

 etc. Mr. .1. W. liai'r is a meml)er of the 

 Koyal Horticultural Sm^ietys Floral Com- 

 mittee, and ho takes a close interest in the 

 horticnlt lira! <harit ies. 



was most disappointing, resulting in a loss 

 on the two shows of over £100. Conse- 

 quently the eouncil of the societ}^ had no 

 funds from which to adequately compen- 

 sate the secretary, and, therefore, decided 

 to hold an evening fete for his benefit ; 

 although the fet<? itself was not very suc- 

 cessful, the subscriptions to the benefit 

 fund enabled the chairman, at a meeting 

 of the council on Monday last, to hand to 

 Mr. Fuidge a cheque for a substantial sum^ 

 together with a gold medal, as a memento 

 of the jubilee year. Mr. E. K. Toogood, 

 in making the presentation, remarked that 

 Mr. Fuidge had been ''connected with the 

 management of the society since 1867 : five 

 years as a committeeman, and forty years 

 as secretary, a Aery rare service, which 

 should entitled him^to the V.M.H.'' 



Birming-ham's New Park.— we 



learn that Mr. Smith Ryland, of Barford 

 Hall, has pre^sented about four and a-half 

 acres of land to the Birmingham City 

 Council, to be used as a public park, 

 land is situated in the Brisrhton Road 



The 

 Bir- 



■In his recent 



He 



IS a 



hard 



worker, enthusiastic 



and tremendously 

 energetic, and music is at once his hobby 

 and recreation. 



Carpenteria californica grows 



&nd flowers remarkably well at Melksham 

 Hall, Melksham, Mr. R. H. Legg sends 

 US a photograph of a large specimen carry- 

 ing, a])pai ently, about two hundred clusters 

 of bloom, l)Ut unfortunately the photograph 

 was not suitable for reproduction. This 

 example wavS i>l!Hitod eight years ago in a 

 narrow l)order. agniiKst the west front of 

 the house. Here it has flowered well several 

 seasons, but this year, owing doubtless to 

 the hot summer of 1911, it has been a won- 

 derful sight. Mr. T^egg considers tliat Car- 

 penteria californiea should he moi-e hirgelv 

 grown in warm slieltered positions, and in 

 this niMttor wo ontirely agree with him. 



Proposed Park for Lewisham 



and Forest Hill. AVe understand 



mingham. 



Watering^ Plants, 



lecture on the scientific* aspects of watering 

 Professor Bayley Balfour^ V.M.H.^ stated 

 in his opening rem.arks that mistakes in 

 the watering of plants in cultivation caused 

 more disasters in gardening than all other 

 causes together. The water problem is es- 

 sentially an air problem. Water itself can- 

 not kill directly, but does so when in ex- 

 cess by inhibiting the air supply to the 

 roots^ and thereby causing suffocation. No 

 code of rules for watering plants is possible 

 because of the complex conditions that ob- 

 tain, but guidance may be obtained through 



of the method 



knowledge 



of 



in- 

 take and of outgo of water from the plant, 

 and of the adaptations presented by 

 plants to the factors affecting these. Water 

 is necessary to the plant as a vehicle of 

 food-material and for the maintenance of 

 turgescence, and it should be remembered 

 that when the latter is lessened the plant 

 wilts. The soil, and not the atmosphere, 

 is the source from which the plant draws 

 its water, although irresponsible sugges- 

 tions that the latter is the source are some- 

 times made. Osmosis throncrh root- 



the 



hairs of th 



Osmosis through 

 water-filnis 



vsoil particles gives the 



enveloping 

 plant water, and 



the effectiveness of the process is influenced 

 by the bulk of the films, the soil tempera- 

 ture, the density, and chemical quality of 

 soil water, and, above all, by air in the soil. 

 These latter factors may so operate that a 

 ^ soil saturated with water gives no abundant 



Irom the ^Lity Press that the Lewisham supply to the plant, which, therefore, tinds 



itself in conditions practically dry. Under- 

 standing these circumstances of intake, the 

 cultivator can control with reason his 

 waterinfi. 



Borough Council has opened negotiations 

 with the Lr'athersellers' Company for the 

 purchase of twentv acres of the GuikVs 

 trust estate at Forest Hill, with a view to 



land into a recreation 



converting the 



ground. Part of the Leathersellei s' estate 

 in til is part oi London is built upon, and 

 the remainder is for the most part grass 

 land. The ne gotiations nre as yet onlv in 

 n preliminarv stage, and nothintr hns been 

 dpfmitely settled. Dealing as thev are 

 with trust property, tht* Court of the Corn- 



reason 



He will recognise, for instance, 

 that adding water to a cold soil is not to 

 supply the roots, but to drive out air 

 so induce suffocation. A 



and 



conditions of the 



knowledg 



the 



escape ot water from 

 growths is of considerable practical 

 importance, and it should be understood 

 that the functions of the stomata, in giving 

 off water as vapour and liquid, are closely 



related to the supply of water from the 

 root. They are also affected by cosmic fac- 



— rays, wind, temperature' 



tors— the sun 



■dampness, and dryness of the air. Xhe 

 plant is in health when the balance be- 

 tween shoot outgo and root intake is main- 

 tained. As the cultivator can influence in- 

 take by watering, so also can he influence 

 outgo by spraying and other means. 



Fruiting: of the Loquat— Messrs 



Robert Veitcli and Son, of Exeter, write- 

 Rather an tinusual case of a half-hardv 

 shrub fruiting in the open has occurred 

 near Exeter recently. At Culver the seat 

 of Atherton Byrom, Esq., about 'five miles 

 south-west of Exeter, is a nice specimen of 

 the Loquat (Eriobotrya japonica), and this 

 year the specimen has produced several 

 fruiting sprays wdth ripe fruit on them. 

 The loquat is growing under a south wall, 

 and the foliage is of noble proportions, and 

 the fruit about the size of a greengage 



plum. 



The 



Squirrels 



in Reg^ent's 



Park are always a great source of at- 

 traction, because of their tameness, prettv 

 appearance, and rapidity of movement. 

 Unfortunately about a hundred and fifty 

 squirrels have disappeared from the park 

 during the last six months, and as the 

 general impression was that most of them 

 had been stolen, a close watch was kept. 

 Eventually a J^oung German was seen to 

 make three unsuccessful attempts to catch 

 a squirrel, but his next attempt was suc- 

 cessful. He was brought before Mr. Paul 

 Taylor, at Marylebone, and fined the full 

 penalty of £0, or a month's imprisonment. 



National Sweet Pea Society. 



—As already announced in these pages, 

 the annual meeting of the National Sweet 

 Pea Society will be held at the Hotel 

 Windsor, Victoria Street, Westminster, on 

 Thursday next, the 17th inst. The meet- 

 ing will, as usual, be followed by a con- 

 ference and dinner. The dinner has been 

 arranged for 6 p.m. at the Hotel Windsor, 

 and the conference^also at the same place 

 — will commence at 7 p.m. ; and Major 

 C. C. Hurst, F.L.S., will give a lecture on 

 ^'Rogues in Sweet Peas." 



The Influence of Atmospheric 

 Impurities on Veg:etation ^vas 



the subject of an important lecture given 

 by Dr. Charles Crowther at the afternoon 

 meeting of the Royal Horticultural Society 

 on Tuesday. For several years past Dr. 

 Crowther has devoted a considerable share 

 of his attention to the investigation of the 

 effect of atmospheric impurities on vegeta- 

 tion in and around Leeds, which, as in the 

 case of other centres of industrial activity 

 in the Midlands, is remarkable Jor its smoke 

 cloud. With the aid of admirable lantern 

 slides, Dr. Crowther was able to convey to 

 his audience a clear idea of the imnien?^e 

 volume of smoke that is given off by the 

 factory and domestic chimneys of the tow"- 

 He then proceeded to state that, accordmg 

 to investigations which had been made, 

 tons of soot to the square mile were iuuni- 



At (;iasgow the annual de- 

 posit of soot per square mile was said to 

 amount to 820 tons, but these figures he 

 considered, required verification. It was 

 generally believed that some trees ha<^' 

 greater power of resisting the deleterious 

 effects of atmospheric impurities than 

 others, and this was, no doubt, the case 

 up to a certain point; but it was found 

 that in the smoke-laden atmosphere 0^ 

 Leeds trees of all kinds' suffered more or 

 less from the impurities contained therein- 

 In proof of this, slides from photograpn^ 

 taken in adjacent woodlands were thrown 

 on the screen, and in these oak, ash, an< 

 several other forest trees were shown 

 a leafless condition or in a dying state as 

 a consequence of the injury they h^ 



ally deposited. 



