January 15, 1898. 



THE GARDENERS' MAGAZINE. 



31 



Additions to Kew Gardens.— The Queen has given directions for the 



north 



Railway Station Gardens.— The North-Eastern Railway annually offers 

 prizes to the value of £200 for the best-kept gardens at the stations on their 

 system. Last year the money was divided into twenty first, twenty second, and 



fourteen third prizes. 



had 



-« ww — — J — 



opened as a public museum under the same management as the botanical establish- 

 ment which has made Kew famous throughout the civilised world. The Palace , . # 



meadow, some four and a-half acres in extent, and situate on the eastern side of P ndc ° f *f officials in charge of the stations, many of which have in summer 

 the building, was added to the royal gardens early in the spring of 1895, and full 

 advantage has been taken of the facilities it offered for providing a more direct 

 road to the arboretum. The 'Queen has also expressed her pleasure that the 

 Queen's Cottage .which nestles amid the trees at the south-west corner of the royal 

 gardens shall also be added to them. 



Exeter Gardeners* Association.— The second-half of the current 



Wed 



Himalayan Rhododendrons," by Mr. R. Gill, was read. The papers arranged 



been beautiful in their wealth of floral decoration. 



Botanical Survey of India.— The report of the director of the 

 Indian Botanical Survey for 1896-97 includes reports from all the directors of 

 departments with the exception of that of Southern India. The results of the 

 botanical exploration, by Lieutenant Tottinger, of a portion of the valley of the 

 Irrawaddy, a country hitherto absolutely unknown, will shortly be published. A 

 synopsis is given of the flora of Western India as far as the Tiliaceee. 



Iris Purdi.— In the proceedings of the California Academy of Sciences Miss 



for the subsequent meetings are as follows : January 26, 1 ' Culture of Cattleyas," Alic ^ Eastwood, curator of the herbarium of the academy, figures under the name 



by Mr. G. Lee; February 9, "Experimental Culture of Vegetables with and 

 without Chemical Manures," by Mr. F. W. E. Shrivell ; February 23, " Potatos," 



of Iris Purdl, the beautiful iris common in the Redwood region of Mendocino 

 County, which hitherto has been confounded with Iris Douglasiana. It resembles 



W # the last-named species in its narrow, red-based, lanceolate spreading leaves and 



Moorman ; March 23, " Summer Bedding," by Mr. J. Abrams. 



An Old-Fashioned Garden. — We tried an old-fashined garden in 



Schenley Park this year, says Mr. W. Falconer in Gardening (America). We 

 needed a. handy dumping ground, and hit on the head of a deep ravine between 

 two woods ; into it we dumped hundreds upon hundreds of wagon loads of rock 

 and clay, filling it near to the top, then surfaced it with good soil. Here we 



cream -coloured flowers ; but differs from it in its larger flowers, in its lighter green, 

 less distinctly nerved, stiffer and often glaucous leaves, broader stamens, and 

 shorter, broader, capsules. This iris has been successfully flowered by Max 

 Leichtlin in his garden at Baden-Baden, and is named in honour of Mr. Carl Purdy, 

 of Ukiah, who first noticed and called attention to its peculiar characteristics. 



Presentation to Mr. G. P. Miles.— The opening meeting of the Chester 



planted some shrubs, and broadcast among them set our scarlet poppies, eschscholt- S ° Ciet ? S ™ nter Se f 10n u WaS h< f in the Grosvenor Museum, Chester, on 



zias, dwarf nasturtiums, snapdragons, pansies, marigolds, and all manner of hardy SatUrda K y ev " in « laSt ' Under * e ^f?^ I ' when the opportunity 



herbaceous plants, having enough of each sort to make a mass of its kind and WaS embraCed ° f P' esen fg Mr G. P. Miles, the hon. secretary for the past eight 



colour, and the effect was fine. In the middle was a plantation of hundreds of ?™ S > ™ th a ? old wa f h and chain, as a grateful expression of thanks for the 



clumps of Japan and German irises interplanted, thence succeeded by thousands inva ^ ab i le S ^^^ Z7 ^tl ?™ * ***** ? ^ 

 of gladioli, and banded with montbretias, from which we had flowers till frost. 

 The steep face of this hill was graded a little, and a series of winding stone steps 



set into it, making the descent into the hollow quite easy ; the stones were the of the New South Wales Linnean Society a twig of a eucalyptus, on which was a 



rough uneven slabs secured in blasting the rocks when grading in other parts of colony of Leathery scales [Eriococcm coriaceus)\ among these latter had been 



placed the eggs of Thalpochares coccophaga, a scale-eating moth. The scales 



were themselves infested with the larvae of a small black ladybird {Cryptohemus 

 Montrouzieri). Both the moth and the ladybird are useful in the destruction of 

 scales, the former attacking and eating the detestable olive scale. The species of 

 ladybird referred to is now bred in New Zealand and America for the purpose of 



5cale Insects and Their Enemies.— Mr. Frogatt, who has made many 



investigations in connection with various insects, recently exhibited at a meeting 



the park, and both outer edges of the steps and along the sides of the upper walk 

 a wide belt of moss pink was planted. And the banks all about were planted 

 with shrubs, vines, wild roses, columbines, and other plants. More cameras and 

 kodaks were levelled by visitors at ihis piece of gardening than at any other spot 

 in the park, and still we had acres of showy summer beds. It is pleasing to 



find that in America, as at home and elsewhere, picturesque gardening is combating scale insects on fruit trees, 

 appreciated by the general public, and the majority prefer it to geometrically- 



designed beds filled in a fanciful manner with gaudy summer flowers. 



Asparagus Disease.— In his annual report for 1897, Mr. W. Carruthers, 

 consulting botanist to the Royal Agricultural Society, states that in the course of 

 the past year he received specimens of asparagus attacked by mildew from a district 



Flower Belts. — One of the latest Parisian fashions in relation to the use of 

 flowers for personal adornment, is the wearing of belts of flowers. The majority 

 of the French ladies prefer belts made of Parma or Neapolitan violets, small roses, 

 or pansies. The belt is completely covered with the flowers, which are sewn 

 thickly together on a plain band of silk elastic, great care being taken to use the 



in which this vegetable is largely cultivated. For several years past the asparagus crop finest silk of exactly the same shade as the flowers chosen. 



in the district has been considerably injured by the attacks of Puccinia asparagi, 



Grape-Keeping in New York. — In explaining the long-keeping qualities 



which is locally known as " the blight, 3 ' and as the disease is steadily spreading of New York state grapes, an American contemporary says that grapes, apples, 



growers are naturally anxious as to the ultimate results. The fungus appears in and other fruits grown in Western New York have superior keeping qualities, due 



August and September, and by consuming the food stored up for the use of the to the soil and climatic conditions. Grapes grown on clay-land are firmer and 



asparagus it weakens the plant when it begins to grow in the spring, and seriously ship better than those grown on gravel. In Ohio an association known as the 



reduces the crop. 



patches 



Claygrowers' Association handle only grapes grown on clay-lands. The three 



through the skin of the stem and branches. These patches consist of a large sections in New York where grapes are grown to the greatest perfection all lie near 



number of microscopic seeds or spores, called teleutospores. They are the rest large bodies of water, an influence favourable to keeping qualities. Of the long 



spores which preserve the plant through the winter ; they remain dormant until list of varieties cultivated in this state the best of the long-keeping kinds are 



the conditions in springtime cause them to germinate, at a time when the plants on Catawba, Diana, Isabella, and Yergennes. To insure keeping they must be care- 



which they live have sufficiently grown as to be ready for their attack. The rest- fully handled ; it is also important that the temperature be gradually reduced from 



spore then throws out a tube which bears one, two, or three minute spores, and the vines to cold storage, and there must be no sudden changes. The grapes 



these quickly become ripe, fall off, and, resting on the asparagus, begin to grow, should be left out-of-doors in crates the night after they are packed ; early in the 



pushing a fine, sharp-pointed tube through the skin into the asparagus. The root morning they should be removed to a cool building or dry cellar ; then to a still 



or mycelium rapidly spreads in the attacked plant, and in time produces longish cooler room adjoining the storage-room, and here the temperature should gradually 



patches on the stem and branches, which ultimately burst through the skin and fall until the desired point is reached. New York grapes intended for exhibition 



exhibit a large number of round orange-yellow spores. This stage corresponds to 



that which occurs in the barberry in the case of Puccinia graminis, the mildew of 

 the wheat. 



at the World's Fair were placed in cold storage November 1, 1892, and held 

 there until spring, when they were shipped to Chicago in time for the opening of 



All the stages of the life of the mildew of asparagus are spent on the the Fair, May 1. The main supply was then placed in the cold storage building 

 asparagus, while in the wheat mildew the /Fcidium stage is passed on the barberry. on the exhibition grounds. This building was destroyed by fire on July 12, and 



the reserve stock of grapes was lost ; otherwise New York grapes would have 

 been on exhibition every day of the Fair. As it was, but fifteen days intervened 

 between the last showing of cold storage stock and the arrival of new-crop grapes. 



possession 



three fruiting stages of its life, the first developing the yellow round spores of the 

 -hcidium stage ; the second the brown round or oval spores of the Uredo or rust 



stage ; and the third the dark-brown oblong spores' of the Puccinia or mildew Catawba grapes are offered at reasonable rates in the markets of New York as late 



stage. Each stage produces its peculiar spore, and each of the spores is able to as April. 



enter and develop its mycelium in a healthy plant. Mr. Carruthers recommended Presentation to Mr. C. Martin.— At the monthly meeting of the East 



that the diieased plants should be cut down at the level of the ground ; that they Cowes Horticultural Association, Mr. C. Martin, head-gardener at Clarence 



should not be put into bundles, for the plants rubbing against each other would House, - was presented with a gold albert chain and medal attached as a token of 



scatter the spores, but they should be carefully carried to a fire and burnt. In regard and esteem and appreciation of the valuable services he had rendered the 



this way would be destroyed myriads of spores which would have reproduced 

 the malady next year. It was desirable to get this done throughout the dis- 

 trict and at once, for one diseased field or plot left in the diseased state would 

 supply sufficient spores to infect the whole district next spring. It was further 

 suggested that, as the disease had been so prevalent for some years, next year's 

 crop should be several times sprayed with sulphate of copper or with Bordeaux 

 mix ure. This application would prevent the spores produced by the rest-spore 

 rom germinating on the surface of the plant, as well as the spores produced in 

 the first two stages of the life of the fungus. 



has ^ d( : ner& ' ^°yal Benevolent Institution.— The Duke of Portland 



fixed Wednesday, June 8, as the date for celebrating the fifty-ninth anniver- 

 sary festival (sixtieth year) of the Gardeners' Royal Benevolent Institution at the 

 Hotel Metropole. 



society. The medal bore an appropriate inscription. 



" Weather Influences on Farm and Garden Crops," will form the 



subject of the presidential address to be given by Mr. E. Mawley at the annual 

 meeting of the Royal Meteorological Society to be held on Wednesday next. The 

 lecture will be illustrated by lantern slides. As usual, the meeting will be held 

 at the Institution of Civil Engineers, George Street, Westminster ; and the chair 

 will be taken at 7.30 p.m. 



Chrysanthem 



Conference at Orleans.— The issue of Le Chry 



santhime for November and Dece 



pedal 



contains a full report of the conference held at Orleans 



Chrysanthemum 



The 



whole of the details of the gathering are given ; the viands served at the banquet 

 being fully set out. 



