October 12, 1912 



THE GARDENERS* MAGAZINE 



787 



G \LL ON WILLOW.— Mr. J. Fraeer 

 showed a rather small example of the gall on 

 Salix fragilis produced by the mite Erio- 

 nhvt-es salicis, collected on the bank of the 

 Brent, near Ealing. Mr. W. Marshall, 

 VMH., also sent an example of this gall 

 collected on the bank of the Dart, Kent. It 

 is only a few years eince the first specimen 

 recorded a^ British was shown before this 

 committee, but several specimens have since 

 been received from various parts of South- 

 East and East England. 



" WHEAT-EAR " SWEET WILLIAM.— 

 Mr. J. Eraser also showed a specimen of 

 Sweet William with the bracts multiplied 

 as in the "Wheat-ear " carnation. 



CIBEHOPETALUM MINIATUM. — Mr. 

 Kolfe drew attention to a Cirrhopetalum ex- 

 hitited by Messrs. Sander and Sons, St. 

 Albans, as having been introduced^ from 

 Annam with Dendrobium Bronckarti. It 

 strongly recalled C. gracillimum, Eolfe, espe- 

 cially in its caudate, almost thread-like 

 lateral sepals, and in the strongly ciliate 

 dorsal sepal and petals, but differed in hav- 

 ing vermilion-coloured flowers, with the 

 hairs of the dorsal sepal and petals yellow. 

 His first knowledge of the plant was in Sep- 

 tember, 1910, when it was s^ent to Kew for 

 determination from the Eoyal Botanic Gar- 

 den, Glasnevin, with the information that it 

 had been purchased from Messrs. Sander and 

 Sous as a plant imported with Dendrobium 

 Bronckarti. It was then named and de- 

 scribed as Cirrhopetalum miniatum, Eolfe. 

 Afterwards a painting was received from M. 

 Maurice Valcke, a collector for Messrs. T. 

 Pauwels and Co., Meirelbeke, Belgium, who 

 stated that he met with the species at Haut 

 Laos, between Siam and Cochin China. 



EEICA CINEEEA MALFOEMED.— Mr. 

 A. W. Hill showed a specimen of Erica cin?- 

 rea malformed in the same way as those -ex- 

 hibited by Dr. Eendle on a previous occa- 

 sion, this time from wild plants collected in 

 South Devon. 



GEEEN-BEEETED ELDEE.— Mr. J. Ben- 

 nett Poe sent specimens of the albino form 

 of the elder in which the ripe fruits are 

 s^reenish (as in white grapes). Some mem- 

 beip of the committee thought them sweeter 

 than the black form. 



ARISTOLOCIIIA CLEMATITIS FEUIT- 



IK^G. — Mr. Bowles showed fruits of Aristolo- 



chia clematitis from his garden at Myddel- 



ton House, Waltham Cross, containing ripe 

 seeds. 



FRUIT OF PYEUS NIEDWETZKYANA. 

 —He also showed, on behalf of Canon Ella- 

 combe, fruits of Pyriis Niedwetzkyana, in 

 which the flesh is deeply coloured, as are all 

 pfrts of the tree. 



VERBASCriSr WITH GALLS.— He also 

 showed the curious proliferations which are 

 sometimes noticed at the base of verbascnms, 

 and have previously been sliown before 

 the committee, but which were, in the pre- 

 sent examples, growing some distance up the 

 stem. 



ALBINO FOEMS OF GERANIUM 

 h-OBERTIANUM.— Mr. Bowles also showed 

 the two albino forms of Geranium Eobert- 

 i^nuTn, one with a red stem, tlu^ oIIum' witlt 

 a- green, which have maintain-ed tlieiiiM'lvos 

 lo- a long time in his garden. Almost all 

 tfie plants of tha latter form appear to be 

 tiaceable to one or two sources, and the 

 committee would b- glad to hear of its occiir- 

 r<^nce m a wild state. 



^.^ELENIUM CUPEEUM VIEESCENT. 



A -^-^^^^1^ sent a specimen of a virescent 

 ^nd proliferous form of Helenium cupreum 

 ircm the gardens of Gunnersbury House. 

 i^^^^P^NE PLANTS ATTACKED BY DOD- 

 J>hE Miss Willmott, V.M.H. sent an in- 

 teresting emeries of alpine plants attacked by 

 - species of dodder, includin<r Sedum album, 

 fr Daphne alpina, a mossy Saxi- 



^^f ^7^' Thymus serpyllum. Campanula' rotun- 

 anolia, Thalictrum minus. Phlox subulata, 

 'i^id Dianthns di>ltoides. 



J'/^I'^^ERSION - IN BLACK CURRANTS. 



-V* Bunyard sent an int?restin^ 

 ^^nes of specimens illustrating his idea that 

 uie reversion" to which the attention of 



tho committee was recently directed was the 

 result of the development of lateral branches 

 after injury to the terminal bud. Among 



the specimens sent (which did not appear to 

 be all of one variety) wei^e shoots showing 

 mechanical injury, shoots probably injured 

 by the shoot-cutting weevil, and shoots in- 

 jured by "big bud/' all exhibiting the re- 

 \erted foliage, with normal shoots for com- 

 parison. The hypothesis, the committee 

 considered, hardly accounted for the persist- 

 ence of the " reversion," so that whole bushes 

 were affected season after season. 



PLANTS DISEASED, ETC.— Numerous 



in- 



specimens of diseased plants and 

 jiired by hail were also exhibited. 



plants 



\ng Gardeners' Associa- 

 tion. 



The first autumn meeting of this society 

 took place in the Abbey Hall on Monday last^ 

 when Mr. F. G. Drew (chairman of commit- 

 tee) presided over a large assembly of mem- 

 bers. The lecturer for the evening was Mr, 

 W. Camm, of the Gardens, Cliveden, Taplow, 

 and his subject was "Common Sense in the 

 Cultivation of the Apple." He said that his 

 system, or, as some might think it, lack of 

 system, in the cultivation of apples was 

 adopted by him some years ago when taking 

 his first complete chiirge at Battle. He had 

 seen too often in many gardens methods gener- 

 ally pursued that only resulted in a crop of 

 "flower stakes" each year. His idea was to 

 strike out a line of his own which would pro. 

 duce crops of fruit instead, although, perhaps, 

 bis trees were less trim than those of his 

 neighbours. The latter scoffed when he first 

 started, but when he began to beat them on 

 the exhibition stage, they altered their 

 minds, thinking that there was something 

 in the' system. He pointed out that the rule 

 of thumb method of pruning lateral shoots 

 to the orthodox two eyes had to give way to 

 a system, the practice of which was based 

 on the natural habit of the tree, its method 

 of fruit bud production and its general en- 

 vironment. Before it was possible to decide 

 as to the best system to apply to any par- 

 ticular tree these points had to be observed. 



Mr. Camm exhibited shoots of different 

 varieties of apples, showing how in some 

 varieties fruit buds were produced freely on 

 the current year's w^ood in a manner resem- 

 bling the peach, with others fruit buds were 

 formed chiefly on short stubby spurs along 

 the sides of the unshortened shoots of the 

 previous year. He pointed out how any ma- 

 terial cutting back of these shoots induced 

 growth instead of fruit bud formation. 

 Shoots of other kinds typical of a number 

 of our best apples were also shown where the 

 fruit buds were largely produced at the ter- 

 mination of short lateral growths. Any 

 shortening of these removed the greater part 

 of the crop. Mr. Camm advocated a system 

 of thinning rather than pruning, and stated 

 that, although fruit buds might be formed 

 on old spurs, the fruit was rarely equal to 

 that produced on young straight growth in 

 which there was no interruption to the flow 

 of sap. The old gnarled spurs had the dis- 

 advantage of harbouring the eggs of in^^ect 

 pests and the spores of fungi to a degree im- 

 possible on young wood. 



The lecturer w^as careful to point out that 

 his method of pruning and thinning applied 

 to developed trees, and not to trees in the 

 adolescent stage, whose chief business it was 

 to grow, not to produce fruit, with which 

 more severe methods of pruning were neces- 

 sary in order to form a framework on which 

 the fruiting wood was to be borne. 



A question with reference to summer prun- 

 ing elicited the answer that the lecturer had 

 neither time for it nor any faith in the prac- 

 tice. It might answer a useful purpose on 

 young trees in a warm, dry soil. On older 

 trees and heavy land it was generally detri- 

 mental. 



A collection of single dahlias (from seed^ 

 was staged by Mr. H. C. Loader, The Gar- 

 dens, Erlegh Park, who also exhibited vases 

 of magnificent asters, Sutton's Shell Pink. 

 Ten new members were elected. 



Croydon Gardeners' Society. 



llie keen interest exhibited towards this 

 society by its honorary members was exem- 

 plified on Tuesday last, when Mr. A. E. 

 Dickinson, Rydal Mount, Croydon, a vice- 

 president of the society, provided a capital 

 lecture on the use of artificial fertilisers for 

 flower, fruit, and vegetable culture. The 

 bad weather was the cause of a smaller at- 

 tendance of members than would otherwise 

 have been the case, but those who braved 

 the elements were well repaid with what they 

 heard. 



The lecturer, Mr. H, H. B. Shepherd, 

 F.I.C., F.C.S., was followed throughout his 

 discourse with appreciative interest. Illus- 

 trated with lantern slides, a thorough grip 

 of the subject was obtained. The forethought 

 of Mr. Dickinson in having printed copies 

 of the lecture to distribute among the audi- 

 ence was a distinct advantage, as quiet study 

 could be given to the details raised, enabling 

 each one to grasp technicalities accruing from 

 a lecture of this description. 



Time would not permit a Icngtliy discus- 

 sion, but Mr. Shcpnerd's kind invitation to 

 all to s^nd written questions to him when he 

 will answer them in similar form was very 

 acceptable, and a subsequent meeting of the 

 society will provide the means of hearing 

 both questions and answers. 



The members were unanimous in. expressing 

 their warmest thanks to Mr. Dickinson, and 

 to the lecturer, before their departure. 



The room was decked with exhibits of dif- 

 ferent kinds. Mr. T. W. Hayden contributed 

 a collection of Michaelmas daisies; Mr. A. 

 Edwards had a similar exhibit, w^ith the 

 addition of vases of outdoor chrysanthe- 

 mums; Mr. ]\1. E. Mills showed a big col- 

 lection of Micliaelmas daisies; Mr. W. G. 

 Graves staged a brace of vegetable marrows; 

 and Mr. E. Mann put up a dish of Autocrat 

 peas and a dish of Blenheim Orange apples. 



Bournemouth Gardeners' 



Association. 



A very good display of vegetables, fruits, 

 and plants was staged at the last meeting 

 of the members of this association. There 

 were competitive classes in addition to the 

 usual ones for the " points prizes.*' For three 

 kinds of vegetables, the President, J. R. 

 Ralph Smythe, Esq., was awarded the first 

 prize. He had very fine cauliflowers, large 

 runner beans, and good beet. Mr. Lansley 

 was a close second with perfect onions, plump 

 Brussels sprouts, and fairly well filled peas. 

 Third honours went to Mr. B. Marlow, who 

 had a nice even lot of potatoes, Brussels 

 sprouts, and onions. Mr. E. G. Cox staged 

 the best three dishes of fruit — Alicante 

 grapes, Pitniaston Duchess pears, and large, 

 well-coloured Peasgood's Nonsuch apples. 

 Mr. G. H. Heath was seeond with Black 

 Hamburgh grapes, Pitniaston Duchess pears, 

 and striped Beefing apples. 



In competition for the points prizes," 

 Mr. Heath had a beautifully-grown coleus ; 

 Mr. Evans, a finely-coloured croton ; Mr. 

 Pearce, three lovely ferns; and Mr. Pavey, 

 large sticks of celery. 



Mr. E. T. King, of Higham Gardens, 

 Bournemouth, gave a very interesting lec- 

 ture on "Vegetables: How They should be 



Prepared for Table." He is a strict vege- 

 tarian, and advocated the eating of both 

 vegetables and fruit in their proper seasons, 

 and retaining the skins as much as possible, 

 all being first thoroughly cleansed from any 

 contaminating matter. Instead of boiling, 

 steaming was recommended ; and instead of 

 slicing up vegetables, he said they ought to 

 l>e cooked whole, as then the nourishment 

 and distinctive flavour of each w^ould be re- 

 tained. A vegetable stew for one person, 

 said the lecturer, should consist of four kinds 

 of vegetables and four onncps of each kind, 

 with pearl barley added. 



A free discussion followed, and Mr. King 

 replied to many questions. Both the le^ 

 turer and Mr. Smith, the chairman, were ac- 

 corded hearty thanks at the close of the 

 meeting. 



