February 19, 1885. ] 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
155 
must be avoided, and that is leaving no hollow places or crevices when 
filling in whereby the water may effect its escape without penetrating the 
whole mass ; for if this takes place plants that appear to have had a good 
deal of water given them get little or none, and frequently languish for 
want of moisture at a time when they are supposed to be abundantly 
supplied. In turning the plants out of the pots for the purpose of planting 
them out, the crocks at the bottom should be carefully pricked from 
amongst the roots, and as many of these should be liberated and spread 
about in the new soil as can be done without risk of breaking or injuring 
them. They should then be slightly covered with some of the finer 
portions of the soil, after which the final filling-up of the whole border 
may be proceeded with. A fair treading will make all complete, except 
a good watering through the coarse rose of a pot in order to settle the 
soil about the roots and to give them a start. To those who desire to 
grow Camellias well I would say, Do not attempt to force them by means 
of artificial heat; the only way k to get them to flower early is to start 
them into growth, and if this be persevered in for two or three seasons 
they acquire the habit of flowering in the autumn and winter months, 
instead of the spring. By no means expose them to the drying influence 
of & March draught, or even let them know the wants of abundant 
moisture. You will then be rewarded with a grand display of lovely 
blossoms. Those blooms are widely sought after to grace the hand of the 
bride at the altar, to adorn the hair of the noble lady at a concert, and 
to mark a last tribute of respect to a departed friend. Give the plants 
lenty of light, abundance of air, and good food judiciously applied, then 
think we shall be able to unite with Longfellow in saying, 
“ lowers still faithful to their stems their fellowships renew, 
The stems are faithful to the roots that worketh out of view, 
And to the soil the roots adhere in every fibre true.” 
—J. H. Walker.— [Read at a meeting of the Notts Horticultural and 
Botanical Society.'] 
NOTTS HORTICULTURAL AND BOTANICAL SOCIETY. 
The monthly meeting of the members of the above Society was held at 
the Society’s rooms, Mechanics’ Institute, Nottingham, on Wednesday, 
February 12th, when Mir. J. H. Walker of Hardwicke House Gardens, Not¬ 
tingham, read a paper on (he “ Cultivation of the Camellia.” There was a 
large attendance of members and others interested in the culture of this 
popular flower. Mr. J. R. Radford was unanimously voted to the chair, and 
amongst those present were Messrs. J. R. Bush, C. W. Gell, S. Thacker, Vice- 
Presidents ; Messrs. J. Edmonds, Bestwood Lodge; T. Edington, Wood- 
thorpe Grange; T. Massey, Mapperley Hall; N. German, Malvern House; 
Graham, Forest House ; Ingram, Messrs. Sander & Co., London ; Mee, Park 
Nurseries; R. Jackson, Derby; and many others. There was, as usual, 
upon the tables a good display of Orchids, Camellias, and other exhibits, 
noticeable amongst them being a good example of Dendrobium Wardianum, 
carrying twenty-eight fully expanded flowers on a bulb, by Samuel Thacker, 
Esq. The President of the Society, T. B. Cutts, Esq., Malvern House, Not¬ 
tingham (gardener, Mr. N. German) exhibited a collection of flowering 
Orchids, amongst which were several small but well-flowered examples of 
Odontoglossum crispum, Odontoglossum Insleayi leopardinum, Odonto- 
glossum maculatum superbum, Lselia harpophylla, Phalsenopsis amabilis, 
&c., and fine spikes of Odontoglossum grande, Coelogyne cristata, Ltelia 
autumnalis, Zygopetalum Mackayi, the latter of which had been in flower 
since November. 
Mr. Edmonds, gardener to the Duke of St. Albans, Bestwood Lodge, 
showed a gigantic variety of Brussels Sprouts of excellent quality, measuring 
feet in height, and densely furnished with sound sprouts of a beautiful 
green colour, and is said to be of a tender fine flavour when cooked. This 
splendid variety, which is named Northaw Giant, was much admired; it 
was raised by Mr. J. May, gardener to Captain Le Blanc, Northaw House, 
Barnet, near Hereford, and is now being sent out by the raiser. Apart from 
this, Mr. Edmonds had cut blooms of Dendrobium Wardianum, of great size 
and fine colour; also cut blooms of Camellias, noticeable amongst them 
being fine examples of Duchess of Berry and Cup of Beauty. Mr. Edington, 
gardener to Hy. Ash well, J.P., Woodthorpe Grange, brought a collection of 
cut flowers and a poor variety of Dendrobium nobile. Mr. Walker, gardener 
to J. W. Lewis, Esq., Hardwicke House, exhibited sprays of Passiflora quad- 
rangularis, which has been continually blooming through the winter. Mr. 
C. J. Mee, The Park Nurseries, Nottingham, had blooms of Camellia alba 
plena, and moderately good plants of double-flowering Primulas, possessing 
no special merit. Various other exhibits of a less interesting character 
were made, and much interest was evinced in Mr. Walker’s paper, which 
provoked a very lively discussion, in which Messrs. Edmonds, Thompson, 
Edington, Thackers, German, and others took part, and to which the reader 
of the paper replied. At the conclusion hearty vote of thanks was 
accorded the author and to the Chairman for presiding. 
During the evening the Hon. Secs., Messrs. J. Don and E. Steward, 
announced that Mr. J. E. Musson, F.R.H.S., of the Nottingham University 
College, had arranged to give a course of lectures upon botany to the 
members of the Society, the first of which was to be held last Monday 
evening. It was also announced that the Committee had arranged to hold 
the annual show in July, and that schedules were now in course of prepara¬ 
tion. 
INSECTICIDES. 
At the recent fortnightly meeting of the Manchester Horticultural 
Improvement Society, Mr. Griffiths Hughes read a paper on Insecticides. 
The President, Mr. Bruce Findlay, who was in the chair, said that one of 
the greatest misfortunes which could happen to a gardener or a farmer 
was to have his crops assailed by insects. One of the greatest judgments 
that befell the ancients was the sending of divers sorts of flies among 
them, and we read that “ their increase was given to the caterpillar and 
their labour unto the locust”—and poor Spain, who had been literally 
turned upside down through terrible earthquakes, had during the past 
year lost something like £400,000 through the ravages made amongst 
their Vines by means of that terrible scourge the phylloxera. Whether 
an infallible agent had yet been discovered for the destruction of plant 
pests it was impossible to say ; unfortunately, in some cases the means 
employed not only destroyed the insect but the plant also. We all 
know that very active measures are essential in order to keep down the 
noxious insects. 
Mr. Hughes then read his paper. All genuine insecticides, he said, 
ought to be so effective as to dispel any idea of failure when such prepa¬ 
rations are applied in a proper manner. From his own personal observa¬ 
tion he was led to believe that failure in the use of insecticides for the 
cleaning of plants, and thus getting rid of insects and blight, is more due 
to the want of knowledge in the preparation of washes than should be 
attributed to the insecticide itself, and also to the absence of experience 
on the part of the operator in its application, so as to secure the results 
obtainable when such is used by practised hands. When carrying out 
his experiments in the production of Fir tree oil he made the Manchester 
water the standard of the quality of water suitable for the preparation of 
washes to be used for cleaning plants, and, therefore, prepared the insec¬ 
ticide accordingly, and it is pretty well known that all preparations 
which are suitable for cleaning the foliage of plants should have an alka¬ 
line reaction just in a sufficient quantity not to injure the foliage or 
the colour of the petals of flowers. He succeeded admirably so far, and 
completed his preparation in every particular so as to produce an insecti¬ 
cide which should answer every purpose required, and be a boon to the 
horticulturist. But when he sent it out as a perfect article he soon found 
that the water used in different parts of the country varied so consider¬ 
ably that when mixed with the insecticide it quite altered its character 
and usefulness, and thereby brought about differences of opinion as to 
its real value. It was important that this should be well understood, for 
so long as water which is hard, and contains lime and other salts, is used 
in the preparation of washes having an alkaline reaction, so long will the 
operator be subject to failure in the cleaning of his plants, and also run 
a great risk of having the foliage spotted or otherwise damaged. It is 
not generally known that spring water is not quite so good for general 
horticultural purposes before it is boiled as it is afterwards, but such is 
the case, as for purposes of cleaning and mixing with insecticides there 
exists a very wide and important difference between the two ; and he 
would recommend that all the water used for such purposes be taken 
from the boiler or hot-water pipes, or otherwise boiled, and be used when 
cool. Uniform results might then be expected. 
Turning now to the means of destroying insects which infest both hard 
and softwooded plants, he said that a Vine house cannot be cleared of 
the mealy bug unless persistent attention be given to it, and the Vine 
itself while dormant subjected to an application of insecticide made nearly 
double the strength of that used when it is in full leaf. In houses other 
than those for Vines the same persistent treatment should be followed, 
and the greasy exudations of the bug which are deposited upon the foliage 
and stems of growing plants should be removed by insecticides applied 
with a small brush. For softwooded and quick-growing plants a compa¬ 
ratively weak solution only is required, provided the application be made 
in the evening after the sunset, or in the very early morning. The shad¬ 
ing of plants under glass from the direct action of the sun’s rays will 
assist very materially in keeping down insects. After observing that 
petroleum oil when made soluble in water does not in his opinion possess 
any property which can make it valuable as an insecticide, he said that 
in tobacco and many of its preparations will be found a very useful and 
efficient insect-destroyer when applied in the form of smoke. For destroy¬ 
ing caterpillars on Gooseberry and Currant bushes there is no better or 
cheaper remedy than the powder of white hellebore. In conclusion, he 
said that as to vermin in glass houses, the frequent disturbance of the 
nests and breeding haunts is the most effectual method of dealing with 
them, for however many of the stray ones may be killed by the aid of 
the most approved appliances, their total extinction will only be attained 
by doing away with that for which they live—viz., the facility for propa¬ 
gating their species. 
THE ENGLISH ARBORICULTURAL SOCIETY. 
[Abstract of a paper read to the members of the Society at their first annual 
meeting in Carlisle by Mr. Wm. Clark.] 
I propose to explain our aim as a Society under three divisions—viz. 
First: Our aim as this affects landowners. Second : Our aim as this affects 
wood foresters. Third : Our aim as this affects our own nation. 
Landowners. —The primary consideration of landowners must natu¬ 
rally be a financial one, and this is commonly supposed to refer to the 
value of timber cut and sold from a given area ; but seeing this part of 
the subject must vary very much owing to the local or other demand, and 
being subject to much difference of opinion, I would rather allow one of 
our experienced members to enter upon this phase of the question more 
minutely. Sufficient for me now to note that this question of finance is 
not determined entirely by the produce or the price per foot of any given 
timber crop. Leaving this part of my subject out of consideration, I will 
now refer to some other matters as important as the question of finance. 
These I will treat under five divisions :—The value of shelter plantations. 
The value of plantations for appearance. The value of plantations for 
game. Hygiene and superfluous moisture. Possibility of new markets for 
the produce. 
Shelter Plantations. —These make no appearance on an estate book 
as an annual asset, but if by any means they were obliterated frona an 
estate, it is very evident that the rent roll would be sensibly diminished, 
hence a claim for value on this account can be fairly established. Some 
estates are patterns in this respect: and farmers are quite able to appri- 
