912 



THE GARDENERS' MAGAZINE. 



November 30, 1912 



plants, fruits, and vegetables to their 



suffered 



pared 



<^onfijied their shows to ehrysanthemums. 

 Many years have elapsed sinoe we first 

 -called attention to the necessity of interest- 

 ing all <4asses of cultivators in the work 

 of sorif.ties which hold autumn exhibitions, 

 aii<l it iv to us immensely gratifying that 

 our a<lvi<-f^ shoukl have been so gencrallv 

 actetl upon. 



Mr. A. G. Gentle, gardener to M,.,. 



Denison, Little {ia<l(l<>s(len, Berkhamstead, 

 has been a iriost su<xi'.ssfu] exhibitor for a 

 number of years, and has shown vegetables 

 of particular excellence at many of the 

 leading exhibitions. High quality rather 

 than ,si;^*' is Mr. (Jcntles ideal. His first 

 important success was in 1900, when he 

 woji tli.^ Sydenbam Challenge Bowl for 

 vegelaf>lcs at tlie Royal Aquarium. He 

 alM) won it the lollowing year, an<l again 

 in 1902, when it became his projxM t v. He 

 bf)lds five silver-gilt and three silv* i nic.lals 

 iiom the Royal Horticultural Six irtv tor 

 vi'getables exhibited during January an<l 

 February. At tlic Royal liitfMiia'tional 

 Horticultural Kxhiltition tio won a silv«M- 

 gilt and other awaids tor polatofss, the 

 tubers being almost as fresh in May as new 

 ones. At Birmingham, Liverpool, Norwich 

 -Sandy, Hitchin. Luton, St. Albans, Crystal 

 Palace, Chiswick, B<dford, Dunstab]i\ 

 l.'aMiington, Bletchley, Watford, Ilmirl 

 Hempstead, an<l Berkhamstcail Mr. 

 ( 'cntle has secunHl premier awards for 



in keen compel itiou. But 

 lio does not confine his attentiiJii to 

 \ egetables. He has been suc<'t'ssi id 

 with swet^t ]>eas and with pentstemons, 

 and gained an Award of Merit this 

 yt*ar for I*, iitst^^non Gad<kvs<ien (icm. 

 Mrs. Drnison has a colUn^tion of rare New 

 iiealand and Australian plants, ami this 

 Mr. (lentlo lias manager] capitally <lurinr:; 

 his sixtet^n years' stay at Little (Jaddrsd* ii. 

 The Ix^autiful Acacia cultriformis llowt is 

 grandly in the conservatory at this inter- 

 esting garden, and flowering growths from 

 it were illustrated in our issue of May 21, 

 1904. The Royal Horticultural Society 

 subsequently granted a First-class Certifi- 

 cate for this fine species. Clethra arborea 

 does well at Little Gaddesden, and one 

 specimen is about 7ft. high and oft. 

 through, and flowers profusely, Mrs. Deni- 

 son is devote<l to her garden, and takes a 

 very keen and personal interest in all Mr. 

 Gentle's successes. 



National Chrysanthemum So- 



— The 



■v'^^getables 



ciety's 



^ lu»w< to 



1918. 



Exhibitions, 



l>o htdd by the National Clirv- 

 r-anth<^ninrn Society at the Crystal Palaco in 



have now \yeen definitely fixed for Oc- 

 tober 1 and 2 and November 5^ 6, and 7, 

 and the aefreenient has already been signed 

 between the society and tlie authorities of 

 the Crystal ralace. It is hoped that other 

 chrysanthemum societieH throughout the 

 Tcingdom will kindly make a note of these 

 dates with a view, as far as possible, to 

 prevent clashing. 



Horticultural Inspectorships. 



— The Board of Agriculture invites appli- 

 cations for two vacant inspectorships in 

 their Horticultural Branch. The salary at- 

 tached to the posts is £300, rising by an- 

 nual increments to £400. Candidates ^must 

 hf^ between twenty-five and thirty-five veais 

 of age. The successful candidate's will l)e 



appointed on proh 

 requirefl to satisfy the Civil Service Coni^. 

 missioners within two years of their ap- 

 pojntment as to their knowledge of the 

 following: subjects: (1) Elementarv hotanv 

 apphed zoology with speciarreference 

 to the diseases of plants, (3) the cultivation 



of farm and garden crops, (4) the Acts and 

 Orders of the Board dealing with destruc- 

 tive insects and pests and kindred subjects. 



Applications must be addressed to the 

 Secretary, Board of Agriculture, 3, St. 

 James's vSquare, London, S.W., on or before 

 Deceml>er 1, 1912. 



o t a n i c a I 



Mag^azine. 



Colouied plates are given of the following 

 l>lants in the current issue of this publica- 

 tion : Eriopsis Helenae, a distinct species, 

 with yellow flowers suff'used with red at the 



n>argin of the sepals and petals; it is a 

 ruitive of Peru, and flowered for the first 

 time at St. Albans in 1897. Mesembryan- 

 thenium l*ears<mi, a distinct and striking 

 sp(><'i(»s, wliieh was collected in 1910 by Mr. 

 Pillans on tlie easUu-n slope of a ridge about 

 tw<^lve miles south of Nieuwerust during 

 the i»xi)e(lition to the Orange River led, on 

 behalf of the Percy Sladen Trustees, by 

 Professor Pearson. It has short, thick, 

 fleshy leaves, and from the centre rises a 

 rose-red flower. Cornus controversa, one 

 of tile most elegant of small deciduous trees 

 in cultivation. It has slender, erect stems, 

 with horizontal branches, and rather large 

 lioads of white flowers. Iris caroliniana, 

 :\n attractive species, which was first dis- 

 ('oyeretl by Mr. W. A. Manda, near Wil- 

 mington, in North Carolina, and flowered 

 for I he first time in cultivation in the 

 H;u\anl Botanic Garden. It is rather 

 closclv allied to I. versicolor, and has soft 

 jivirple flowers. Corokia virgata, an in- 

 trnvsting shrub, a native of New Zealand, 

 attaining a height 

 twelve feet. an<l 

 flowers. 



rangmg from six to 

 bearing small yellow 



Proposed Addition to Valen- 

 tine's Park, llford. An effort is 



^M ini; made to increase the beauty of Valen- 

 nuv s Park, Ilford, by the addition of about 

 twenty-two acres of land, including a man- 

 sion, fruit garden, and rose garden. The 

 1 1 toni I ' I ban Council is contributing 

 Lll.oOO t<nvards the purchase money, and 

 Li.7L*() has l>een received by the Park Ex- 

 tensioii Committee, but a further £800 

 must be obtained by the close of the pre- 

 sent month if the effort is to be successful. 

 The aoquisition of this piece of land is emi- 

 nently desirable, as it is a beautiful spot 

 and would add materially to the attrac- 

 tiveness of Valentine*s Park 



Honour for Dr- Fra 



w 



Tile King has 



ncis Dar 



approved of 



the 



award made by the Council of the Royal 

 Sm ioty of the Darwin Medal to Dr. Fran- 

 cis Darwin, F.R.S., for his work in con- 

 junction with Charles Darwin, and for his 

 r(>searcht>s in vegetable physiology. 



Horticultural Club.— The house 



duiner of the Horticultural Club for the 

 i'omutg month will be held on Tuesday r.ext 

 (D*Homber 3), when Mr. Arthur W. Sutton 

 will give a lecture entitled ^^My Desert 

 Camping Tour to Mount Sinai/' The loc 

 ture will be illustrated by 100 limelight 

 views^ from original photographs taken bv 

 Mr. Sutton. As usual, the dinner will be 

 at the Hotel Windsor, and commence at 

 6 p.m. 



Carnation Show and Confer 



ence._The Perpetual-flowering Carna- 

 tion Society anticipates a fine exhibition of 

 carnations at the Royal Horticultural Hall 

 on December 3 and 4. The non-competitive 

 dKS[)lays will be staged on Dece 

 conjniution with the usual R.H.S. meet- 

 ing, but the competitive exhibits w^ill not 

 be staged until December 4, and on that 

 day the society is prepared to set up flower« 

 sent in by amateur members who resid 

 over fifty miles from London, and an^ un 

 ab e to attend The society^s annual dinner 

 will be held at the Holborn Restaurant at 

 0.30 p.m. on Tuesday, December 3 to be 



in 



o clock. 



followed by the annual meeting, at 8 



A conference will be held at the 

 Royal Horticultural Hall on AVednesdav, 

 December 4. at 3.30 p.m.^ when Mr. J. 

 Brunton will preside^ and a lecture on Tlie 

 Culture of Perpetual-flowering Carnations 

 will be delivered by Mr. J. Gardner, The 



Batsford Park, 



Gardens, 

 the-Marsh, Gloucestershire. 



Moreton-in- 

 The discussion 



on this important subject will be opened by 

 Mr. W, E. AVallace, the veteran grower, of 

 Dunstable. 



r. 



Variation in Nephroiepis. M 



William Marshall, V.M.H., recently sent 

 an interesting plant of Nephroiepis exal- 

 tata todeaoides to the Royal Horticultural 

 Society's Scientific Committee. It appears 

 that after being once potted^ it had been 

 allowed to grow as it liked. It had givien 

 rise to fronds exactly similar to those of 

 the type of N. exaltata and also to nume- 

 rous other forms, including todeaoides, 

 some with more, some with less, frequently 

 divided pinnules than that plant . The case 

 of this fern is a very curious one, paralleled, 

 however, by certain other garden plants. 

 The type was introduced from the Tropics 

 about 1793, and gained the reputation of 

 being the most useful of its genus and of 

 wide cultivation. A few varieties were re- 

 cognised during the nineteenth century, but 

 it was not until after the beginning of the 

 twentieth century that many made their 

 appearance, and since then they have ^ome 

 thick and fast. The first of these appa- 

 rently came from America, but others have 

 appeared in England since. The striking 

 exhibit of Messrs. H. B. May and Sons in 

 the Science and Education Section at the 

 Royal International Exhibition showed the 

 origin and course of variation in the plants 

 of this genus in a remarkable manner. 



Inoculation of Legfumlnous 



Plants. — During the past two years ex- 

 periments have been carried out by Dr. 



in a field on plots of lucerne, 

 white clover, and red clover, with a new 

 inoculating material combing from America. 

 This preparation, while much resemlding 

 previous ones that have been tried, differs 

 somew^hat from them in regard to the 

 method of preserving the culture. In one 

 case the leguminous seed w^as sown un- 

 treated ; in the other the seed, previous to 

 being sown, was inoculated with the mate- 

 rial in question. One cutting w^as obtained 

 in 1912 of each crop J the general result 

 for the first year being to show^ in each case 

 a slightly improved crop where inoculation 

 had taken place. The increase, however, 

 was not sufficiently large to allow^ of de- 

 finite conclusions being drawn at this early 

 stage. 



Early Potato Crop in Ireland. 



The report on the cultivation of early 

 potatoes in Ireland, in the current issue of 

 the y Journal of the Irish Department of 

 Agriculture, gives an interesting ac- 

 count of the dpvf»lonTnAn+ of this 



Voelcker 



new 



The 



gives an interesting 



the development of 

 feature in Irish agriculture, 

 report shows that the results obtained 

 more than justify the action of the 

 Department in inducing farmers in cer- 

 tain districts to enter into the remunera- 

 tive w^ork of raising early potatoes for 

 market. According to the report, the net 

 return in some instances has exceeded £70 

 per statute acre ; in others more than £60 ; 

 while upwards of £40 is quite common, the 

 a\er:)ge in one large district being £43 

 8s. 4d. The crops were planted, the tubers 

 having been alreadv sprouted, in February, 

 and dug in May or June, after which cab- 

 bage, broccoli, or turnips were planted, 

 the second crop being value<l at £10 to £12 

 per acre. The districts suitable for this 

 form of intensive culture, of course, are 

 cii-cumsoribed, but it is evident that, as re- 

 gards the natural facilities for the produc- 



