872 



THE 



GARDENERS' MAGAZINE. 



November 16, 1912. 



these and a myriad other instances we see, 

 even where the plant itself seems devoid of 

 locomotive power, it is nevertheless so con. 

 trived as to a<'quire it indire<rtly, if not 

 directly, and to that extent ovir superficial 



idea of plant fixtu 



'J 



must be modified. 



Hardy Fruit Culture. -The culti- 

 vation of haixly fruits will re<^>ive ])romi- 

 nent attention in our next issue (Novembei- 

 23), and the articles for whi<^h arrangemc^nts 

 have been made will have special refen^u e 

 to matters that have to he <Iealt with at 

 this season of the year. The <H)ntrihutioiis 

 to the issue will include in ticU\son *^Sel( [ - 

 tion of Sites for Orcliards," " Sonu* Xtnvei- 

 Applies." * ■ ("ult t ion ol Plums un(l<'r 

 («!as^."" " Hush Pear Tt*M s." " liO<j:;anI)ei ries 

 arid l{ asplt«M-i i<'>>." " ri-i ;i i c Vv\\'\\ Vliwitn- 

 1 iftns ."' and ' " I )('ssr r t A ppirs lor tin* 

 Xniili." Tile issue will lie treelv illiis- 

 t !'a t I'd . 



The New Lord Provost of 



Edinburgh. Mr. li. K. Inches, who 

 was appointed l/ord Prov(Kst of Jitlinhur^li 

 on November 8, has hei'U for the past three 

 vt^ars tht' ('(Ui\'eMei- of the Paiks Cnniniit- 



uriuf^ the greater part of August and Sep- 



Dr. Mill states in *\Symons's Meteo- 



tet' ()\ the Cilw an<l has. lit tdie ainl <lin inir 

 his term <it office as such . taken the warmest 

 iuti'iest in the jiarks and open spates ol 

 Edinburgh. Mr. 1 it li» s has heiMi one of 

 the warmest sn p|H n t » i s ot the different ini- 

 j^rovenien ts i r( rn t i y ca rrieil out by the 

 Parks ConmiMtrc and some of these have 

 been of an inijiortant <haracter, and have 

 done much to hcnititv the citv and to im- 

 mcnscly I ni|n n\ (. the fai'ilitit?iS for nn-rea- 

 t ion tor t he inhabitants. Lord I'rovost 

 1 nf'hcs is a nat i ve of Edinburgh, ami is 

 the head of a firm of jewellers, arnl the 

 Lord Pro\'ost hnnst^If is the ])ersonal holder 

 ^)f I lit' a ru ien t a ppoin t men t of ('lock ma kvv 

 to the Kini;. Th(^ Lord l*ro\'ost has been 

 for a niirnb(M' ol vears a niend)ei' of the 

 Town Conneil. and ha> l)ee?i at tin* head 

 of se\eral important com!nitt*H\s, none, 

 howe\er, IxMug mort* heartily taken up than 

 that of CVmvener of the !*arks Conmuttee. 



ing over £1,000 in wages as head-gardeners, 

 but those who were growing for market, and 

 should be spoken of as market growers. 

 We hope the women who are makuig 

 over £1,000 a vear are more numerous than 

 the women we have met with in private 

 gardens who occupy the position of under- 

 gardeners. 



Temperatures of August and 



September.— With reference to the 

 low temperature that obtaine<l in London 



I 



rolnti;ical Magazine" for October that the 

 hmn" record at Camden Square, dating from 

 ISoS, < ,)ntains no instance of any previous 

 August or September with a lower n^^ean 

 lemperatiu-e. The mean for August, 57.9°, 

 svas \\eUnv the average, and it was the 

 ;oolest August in the fifty-liv^v years' re- 

 cord. In .September th(^ mean was 54.1°, 

 or 3.(>° below tbea\eraiie. In August the 

 U'can shade maximum was (iti.O^. August, 



an<l 1912, are the only corresponding 

 months in which the shade temperatiire 

 faiUnl to reach 77°. In 1912 the highest 

 record was 73.2°. Tn September the mean 

 niaxinMini, i)2.4^. was the lowest on record 

 tor tbat month, and the absolute maxi- 

 mum, U!).4°, was the lowe.st record in any 

 September. It is of considerable interest 

 that fifteen consecutive months with mean 

 temperatures above the average, May, 1911, 

 to July, 1912, should be followed by two 

 months of unprecedentedly low tempera- 

 ture. 



Chrysanthemums at Wolver- 



nnanimously passed the following resolu- 

 tion : This committee desires to place on 

 record their high appreciation of the excel, 

 lent manner in which this work has been 

 carried out by Mr. W. H. Morter, the 

 Parks Superintendent, and his staff/' 



A Youthful Medallist in Gar- 

 dening'. — Thomas Hicks, of Oxford, who 

 is in his thirteenth year, has been awarded 

 the gold medal by the Oxfordshire Educa- 

 tion Committee for progress in gardening 

 during the current year. We heartily con, 

 gratulate the boy on his success. 



British Potato Trade. ^ Writ. 



ing in reply to Sir G. Parker, Mr. 

 Runciman says : The potato yield of the 

 Vnited Kingdom, exclusive of the Isle of 

 Man and Channel Islands, was as follows: 

 1905, 7,185,745 tons ; 1906, 6.089,292; 1907, 

 5,223,973; 1908, 7,117,296; 1909, 6,877,272; 

 1910, 6,347,966 ; 1911, 7,520,168. The 

 yield for 1912 in England and Wales was 

 estimated on October 1st to be about 87 

 per cent, of an average. No estimates 

 from Sco'tland and Ireland have yet been 

 published.'' Sir G. Parker has asked the 

 President of the Board of Trade whether 

 ho has had any communication from potato 

 growers in England asking for his inter- 

 vention to secure the same kind of facili- 

 ties for British potato growers as the Board 

 of Trade Journal affords to a Danish co- 

 operative society by advertising its facilities 

 free of charge in the Board of Trade Jour- 

 nal. Mr. Buxton writes : — We have had 

 no communication from potato growers in 

 the rnited Kingdom desirous of disposing 



Hampton.— At the present time the spa. ^^^^-^^ g^^j^ (-.^^^t Britain. 



t^ious conservatory in the West Park, A^'ol- 

 verhampton, is rendered highly attractive 

 i)v the large, splendidly-flowered coUei'tion 

 of {'brysantbemums arranged therein. For 

 I be first tinn^ since the initiation of these 

 sliows a group bas i)eon arranged in the 

 <rntie of llie building, and the addition 

 oi tlie oOO j)lants used in its composition 

 grtMtly enhances both the interest and at- 

 tractiveness of thi^ display. Mv. Felstead, 

 the able parks superintendent, evidently 



The Wolverhampton Floral 



, wdiicli w^as held in July last, re- 

 sulted, we are pleased to learn, in a profit 

 of nearly £350. The committee were for- 

 tunate in having fine weather during the 

 period over whidi the exhibition extended, 

 and the several classes of the community m 

 and around this great industrial centre 

 weie not slow to take advantage of then- 

 opportunities for seeins the exhibition^ 



.....^ v.w,i,^.,v^, t... .... .v.. V ...... Mil aoie parKS sup<Min Lenueut, eviuenxiv \^ -^^^-^^ ^v,. — ™o 



k golfer himself, his interest in th(^ game appreciates the distinctive charms of the ^^'^^i^'l^ rs mvanably of great excellence. 



has been useful in his Conv*»nership of tlu 

 Parks Committee. 



New Director of 



Botsinic Gardens- -We learn from 

 the ^Mvew Bulletin" tliat :Mr. I. H. Bur- 

 kill, Reporter on Econoui i<' Products to 

 the fioviMument <»f India, and Cuiator of 

 the Iiifliistrial Section of tb*^ India Mus(Mim 

 at ('a Ici I ! ta . )ia> Jiccn a p pointed Director 

 of tbc Siima|m!f' Hotanic (hardens, in suc- 

 cession to .Mr. H . \ . I{ id ley , C. M . . . 

 F.R.kS., ufiw retired. 



Women Gardeners will soon have 



charge of thft gardens in tliis country if all 

 the statements tbat arc made with refc]-- 

 ence to tbc^tn a re based on fact. Dr. Hamil- 

 ton, the head of tb^ StUfUey College, is i-e- 

 ported to have stated, at a pul)!i(* meeting 

 held a f(nv <lavs since, tbat women aic 

 gradually pjM'ant ing mou as under-gar- 

 deners. because (tf their I>eing neater, 

 handed, more careful, and psychologically 

 to have a greater affection for the plants 

 thev have to handle than have men. If 

 this be the case, women will, in <*our8e of 

 time su])plant the men as head gardeners, 

 for lU) man who bas not had some ex])eri- 

 enc<^ as ati 'indcr-'/ai dener would V(Miture 

 to offer to take clnirgt^ of a gar<Ien. This 



statement notwithstanding, neither bead 

 gardeners or tuniiT-gardeners nvoi] be 

 greatly alartniMl. for i?) writinir and sp(\d<- 

 ing on gardi'iiing women geneially use the 

 terms of gardiuiers and under-ga rdeners in 

 a \erv looso n)anner. For exaini)le Dr. 

 Hamilton i'^ snid jo liaAe also stated tbat 

 some women gai <len*M > wei e making over 

 ^l.OnO a year, but o]>vin!i>lv s|ie bad"iu)t in 

 nermmd women who were "amiuallv receiv. 



several classes, for the large-flowering varie- 

 ties contain due proportions of l>oth the 

 Ja])anese and incurved varieties. It was, 

 indeed, quite refreshing to see the incurved 

 varieties so well represented, and the single 

 and other varieties with small or medium- 

 sized blooms freelv utilised in the several 

 groups. Altogether there are 130 varieties 

 representeil in the exhibition, and as these 

 consist of the best in theii* si^eral classes 

 and <'olonrs. A'isitors bave an (excellent op- 

 ])ortunity for making selections adapted to 

 tbcir requirements. 



New 



Open Space for Bir- 



ming'ha.m. — An im]K)rtant addition has 

 been mafle to tbe open spaces of Bir- 

 UMngbam i)y tlie conversion of an area of 

 about fi\e ncit^s in tbe St. Bartliolomew's 

 Ward into a lecieation groujtd. Thv site 

 was ])rovi!iusly occupied l)y slum propei'ty. 

 and tbe difficulties that avimo met with in 

 laying it out for tbe purpose to whicli it 

 is now ])ut must have been very great, for 

 the old foundations had to be removed and 

 tbe gi'ouml ))roken uj) to b(dow their depth. 

 This new o])en space, which is known as 

 the C'allow Fields l?ecreation Grotmd, has 

 been <livided into two portions; one has 

 been laid out as a park, with trees and 

 shrubs, gravel walks, band stand, and bowl- 

 ing green, arid tbe other has l^een speciallv 

 arranged nnd fitted up as a phiyground foV 

 cbildien. Tlu^ work of ])i-e]*)a ring and 

 planting tlu^ ground lurs been <*arr:ed out 

 by Mr. Morter, tbe Parks SujxM-intendent, 

 and is striking testinicny to bis taste and 

 skill. It is e\ident tbe authorities fully 

 a])i>i"e: iate tln^ success ho bas achieved, for 

 at a recent meeting the Parks Committee 



The Season in the North. The 



chief features of the past summer and 

 autumn, writes our Aberdeen correspon- 

 dent, have heon dull days and cold nights. 

 Yet, strange to say, although the great 

 majority of people have an idea to the con- 

 trary, the rainfall experienced has not been 

 al>normallv heavy ; indeed, as has been 

 proved from carefully-kept and correctly- 

 compiled statistics at our northern observa- 

 tories, the rainfall of the past summer ana 

 autiniin has been actually ])elow the average 

 of these seasons in geiu ial by about 

 inches, the total from March to October in- 

 clusive being 181 inches, as compared witn 

 the gciUM-al a visage of lOf inches. "i^n 



the ex(-c])tion of August and October, the 

 rainfall did not show any al)n(n nial excess 

 ovov thv averaue, and in both these months 

 by only l.^in. " rcspwtively. In the mid- 

 summer month — w^ell-named the Sunle^^'S 

 June ' — the rainfall was only ^in. above tli^ 

 normal, but the dull, foggy, damp, and 

 cheerless weather then prevailing g^^^'^ |!^^' 

 man in the street the impression that tne 

 month w^as a particidarly wet one. 

 March, April, Mav, Julv, and September, 

 the rainfall was actually below the normal 

 in each case. The weather now pi-evailii% 

 is cold, wet, and cheerless in the extreme- 

 As indicative of the general coldness 

 mailing tbioughout the season, it niay 

 incntionerl tbat snow fell on a greater i^^^^^'^ 

 bcr of occasions during the past sunim^ 

 and autunui than in former years, 

 hills were ca])ped on two occasions in ^ *'P^ 

 tenduM*. and again at the beginni»ig of (^'^^" 

 hrr. Tims we had the somewhat lUinsua^ 

 spectacle of snow on the hills and tii^^^ 



The 



