October 26, 1912 



THE GARDENERS' MAGAZINE. 



827 



President, subject to his aeoepting the posi- 

 tion. It appeared that Sir George had begged 

 to be excus-ed on the score of advancing years, 

 Mr. Edward Sherwood was re-elected Trea- 

 surer; Mr. C, H. Curtis as Hon. Secretary, 

 and voted a substantial honorarium; Mr. 

 Herbert Smith, as Chairman of Committee; 

 and Mr. Richard Gluyas as Auditor of the 

 Society's Accounts. 



ELECTIONS AND DISCUSSION. 



The election of the General Committee re- 

 ulted in the addition of Messrs. J. Harri- 

 son Dick, W. H. Wilkins, T. H. Dipnall, and 

 Bertrand "VV. Deal, to the existing list^ to 

 make good the looses by death and non-atten- 

 dance. The ballot for the Floral Committee 

 resulted in the election of Messrs. H. E, 

 Bide, Robert Bolton, F. H. Chapman, A. 

 Hallani, A. Ireland, Thomas Jones^ G. W. 

 Leak, Thomas Stevenson, and H. D. Tigwell. 



Captain Ashworth, of Upton-on-Severn, 

 took advantage of " Any other business to 

 move " That this meeting shall consider the 

 situation created by the proposal of Mr. 

 W. P. Wright to establish trials, and by the 

 intention of Miss Hemus to endeavour to 

 start a new society," Mr. W. Lumley 

 seconded the motion. Captain Ash worth 

 said that trials conducted by any one person 

 cculd have no weight among people . in 

 general^ and Miss Hemus' name had been 

 used without authority ^ in connection with 

 the Reading proposal. He felt that the 

 Society's Floral Committee was not consti- 

 tuted so as to give general satisfaction, and 

 he considered that the traders should them- 

 selves have sufficient dignity to put this 

 matter in order. Further, he thought mem- 

 bers resident a long distance from London 

 should have an opportunity of voting on any 

 proposals made by the Committee or private 

 members. Several members spoke to the 

 motion, and though a good feeling prevailed 

 there were moments when pleasantries seemed 

 likely to degenerate into personalities. Mr. 

 V\. J. Unwin and Mr. G. W. Leak 

 |ed matters into the proper channel, aiid 

 the latter pointed out that when the 

 General Committee was unanimous in 

 wishmg to exclude from the Floral Com- 

 nutlee anyone having an interest in 

 any variety on trial, and brought forward 

 a rule to that effect, the annual meeting 

 defeated the proposal by about 37 votes to 3o 

 we also said it was too late to bring in 

 Micii a rule now as due notice had to be 

 ^i^en, but possibly a similar rule miHit in 

 the near future be acceptable. 



i^aptam Ashworth said that if there was a 

 possibility K>f having the matter recon- 



lr^^r\^^7> at the next annual meeting, or 

 a little l^efore. Miss Hemus would not go on 



r.J:f '1^^ scheme for a new society, but would, 

 wiui him, do everything possible to further 



lelV N.S.P.S. He Ix^gged 



t f n ''l^^^^i'^^^' his motion, and substitute 



Km..*' i""'^^'"^^ is recommended that the 

 tneral Committee circulate to all members, 



m J^l^^t^^ ^'""^^ P^^t^ proposals for the 

 ^edification of the rules of the Society tlmt 

 nay be brought forward l>efore tlic ihM 

 annual meeting." When doing this he said 

 tht «<^(^asions he had been treated in 



e mo.st courteous manner possi})le at the 

 ca7rS^ t'^^ society. The motion w:us 

 nf fi. N ^^^^ ^^^^ meeting closed with a vote 

 0^ thanks to the President. 



DIXNKR. 



„ '^^^"t ^^^^ "-^'>al nn7nl)er stayed for dinner. 

 nrf.-i pleasant little function was also 

 pxesKted over by Mr. Robert Sydenham. The 

 W toasts were "The King '^ and Our 

 oociety ' and to the latter Mr. F, W. Harvey 

 i^^ponded. . ^ 



CONFERENCE. 

 The North Room was fairly well filled by 



Co T ^^^^^^^^ after seven p.m., when the 

 ntcrence proceedings commenced — 

 the nl..^. . Herbert 



C. 

 his 



C. 

 read 



under 

 S m i th , 

 Hurst, 



proceedings ^ 

 (^liairmanship of Mr. 



introduced Major 

 l^-^^f' Major Hurst 

 Slowly and most distinctly : 

 j^ct was "Rogues in Sweet Pe is, ami n 

 ^ot too much to say that no finer pro- 



nouncement has ever been heard in connec- 

 tion with sweet pea breeding and the fixity 

 of stocks. The paper was highly technical, 

 and an unquestionable proof of the immense 

 value of Mendelian methods in breeding and 

 fixing sweet peas. Every raiser and seed 

 grower should join the Society, if only for 

 the purpose of securing the full text of this 

 paper in the Society's Annual," and for 

 the opportunity they would then have of 

 inspecting the Societys trials and Major 

 Hurst's experiments at Eurbage. 



A brisk and profitable discussion followed. 

 Mr. Sydenham asked whether pure lines 

 from the seeds in one pod, or only from the 

 i\deds from one plant, should be grown. 

 Major Hurst said that if plants from one seed 

 pod could be kept distinct it would be better 

 than from the one plant, but he thought it 

 was hardly possible viewed economically, 

 Mr, Ireland and Mr. Cuthbertson both in- 

 ferred to the variety Thomas Stevenson that 

 lost the silver medal at the Society's trials 

 this year because it had one rogue; only 

 one plant of the same rogue had appeared in 

 nearly half a mile of the variety at Mark s 

 Tey. Major Hurst said that in this case 

 evidently a grain of foreign pollen had 



reached the stigma of one flower the pre- 

 vious year. 



Mr. Leak said it was not possible for many 

 of them to give the time that Major Hurst 

 did to experiment, nor was everybody cap- 

 able of so closely and cleverly observing sweet 

 peas. Tlie lecture was a splendid one, and 

 could only be appreciated fully when studied 

 carefully in the "Annual" during the win- 

 ter, Mr. Vernon Hill referred to cases of 

 the reversion of Spencer forms to practically 

 the original wild type in Spain and Sicily, 

 one such case occurring in his mother's gar- 

 den from seeds saved from the best varieties. 

 Major Hurst considered that pollination by 

 the wild form had occurred. Mr. Bide and 

 Mr. Harvey added their experience of several 

 matters, and Mr. E. W. King said that in 

 California the growers had not fully appre- 

 ciated the importance of rogueing the crops 

 so as to get them quite true to type. Mr. 

 Cuthbertson said that he took heart because 

 Major Hurst had shown the possibility of 

 breeding sweet 2:)eas so true that not more 

 than five rogues per 1,(KX) need appear in 

 the seeds divstributed. Tlie elimination of 

 type rogues and of varieties with clamped 

 keels seemed to be leading j^oints to observe, 

 but in his own opinion there was little fear 

 of trouble arising from cross fertilisation by 

 wand or insect agency. Messrs. Stevenson, 

 AVeston, and H. A. Perkin contributed to 

 the discussion, and Major Hurst replied to 

 numerous points raised. 



Mr. Robert Bolton proposed, and Mr. W. 

 Alsen seconded a vote of thanks to Major 

 Hurst, and this was very heartily accorded. 

 Thanks to Mr. Sydenham for providing cigars 

 and cigarettes for the audience, and to Mr. 

 Herl>ert Smith, for presiding, closed what 

 will ])robably come to l>e regarded as the 

 most valuable conference yet held. 



In 



paper 

 and it 



Brougrhty Ferry Horticultural 



Association. 



Tlie ordinary monthly meeting was held 

 under the presidency of Mr. James Bethel 

 on the evening of the loth inst., when an 

 admirable lecture was given by Mr, Robert 

 Bell, Kinnaird Castle (iardons, who had for 

 his subject, "Making and Planting of Her- 

 baceous Borders." 



After giving a definition of what was meant 

 by the term "herbaceous," and pointing out 

 errors which the inexperienced were ready 

 to fall into, he proceeded to give a practical 

 demonstration of the process of border mak- 

 ing, drainage, trenching, and manuring, and 

 backgrounds were dealt with. He gave a 

 lucid description of the massing system as 

 adopted in the gardens at Kinnaird Castle, 

 where some of the borders were 15ft. wide 

 by about 40()ft. long. The blending of 

 shades was sometimes a difficult matter, but 

 he said that time and patience would over- 

 come it. A short list of the newest and best 

 j)lants grown in the border-^ at Kinnaird was 

 given and profitable discussions followed. 



after which the lecturer was cordially 

 thanked. 



The monthly prize was won by Mr. David 

 Keillor, who had a fine vase of pompon 

 dahlias. Otlier exhibits were Michaelmas 

 daisies from the president, and a branch of 

 pear Beurre d'Amanlis, with fruits and 

 flowers on the same spur. 



Dundee Horticultural Society. 



The annual general business meeting was 

 held in the Y.M.C.A. Hall on October 11. 

 The President, W. S. Melville. Esq., J.P., 

 presided over a sparsely attended meeting. 

 The treasurer's financial statement showed a 

 loss on the years workings of £2S 16s. 3d. 

 The total income for the year was Ml,{)76 

 Is. 5d., against an expenditure of i;l,104 

 17s. 8d. In moving the adoption of the ac- 

 counts, the Chairman attributed the loss to 

 the rain on the Saturday afternoon, when 

 there was a poor attendance, and also to tlie 

 extra expense of the show, wiiich was on a 

 more extensive scale than usual. 



Retiring office-bearers were re-elected with 

 two exceptions, Messrs. Alex. Macrea and 

 Robert Stewart filling up these vacancies. It 

 was decided to hold the next show on August 

 28, 29, and 30, 1913^ and to offer prizes to 

 the extent of ^250. 



A new session was opened at the Technical 

 College on the 18th inst., with a lecture on 

 " Fungoid Diseases affecting Garden Crops," 

 delivered by Mr. George P. Berry, Edin- 

 burgh and East of Scotland College of Agri- 

 culture. In dealing with his subject Mr. 

 Berry briefly outlined the life history of 

 mildew, rust, and rot, and gave recipes for 

 prevention or cure of each. After this he 

 dealt exhaustively with blaek scab or wart 

 disease of potatoes, and the American goose- 

 berry mildew, two comparatively new 

 diseases to this locality, and scheduled as 

 notifiable under the Pests Act of 1877 and 

 ^^^*T*. '^^^^ lecture was enhanced by the ex- 

 hibition of specimens of the various diseases 

 on the plants attacked. 



Croydon Gardeners' Society. 



The meeting of thi.s society, held on Tues- 

 day, 15th inst., at the Sunflower Temperance 

 Hotel, George Street, Croydon, was well at- 

 tended, and the enthusiasm of the members 

 was more than ever perceptible. Commencing 

 with the competition of bottled fruit, in 

 which four exhibitors took part, the result of 

 very keen competition was eao-erly awaited. 

 Messrs. H. Alderman and W.^ H. Plowman 

 were the judges, and awarded first honours 

 to Mr. F. J. Hainge, of Kenley; the hon, 

 secretary (:\Ir. Harry Bosliier) was placed 

 next, and Mr. AV. Yeness third. Mr. Oxtobv 

 was awarded an extra prize. The judges were 

 unanimous in their opinion tliat the four 

 exhibits were of a very high standard. 



Upon tables reaching round the room were 

 other exhibits brought by members. Mr. F. 

 W. Moore stage a dish of Brussels sprouts 

 and a dish of Glou Morceau pears. Mr. E. 

 Mann sent f<nir dish<^s of apples. Mr. W. 

 Coles ])ut u]) a collection of hardy and half- 

 hardy fiowens and cauliflowers." Mr. W, 

 Graves' exliibit was ahso cauliflowers. Mr. 

 T. W. Hayden staged a vase of Climax 

 Michaelmas daisies. A collection of outdoor 

 chr.vsanthemums was staged bv Mr. A. Ed^ 

 wards, and Mr. AV. Tyrrell ' had similar 

 flowers with the addition of Michaelmas 

 daisies: and from the gardens of Coombe 

 House Mr. M. E. Mills brought a collection 

 of Michaelmas daisies. One of the donors of 

 the prizes for the bottled fruit competition, 

 Mr. T. R. Willis, staged a small collection of 

 sterilised fruits. The hearty thanks of the 

 meeting was gi^-en to all exhibitors. 



To conclude the evenings proceedings Mr. 

 H. Alderman, of Moiden Hall (Jardens, 

 Mitcham. read a most interesting paper on 

 ** Gardening and Gardeners — Past and Pre- 

 sent.'* Mr. Alderman has several times been 

 heard by this Society, and his unassuming 



manner and generous spirit liave made him 

 many friends. 



