May 15, 1884. ] 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
083 
Requirements of Forest Trees,” which appears in the May issue of 
the “Journal of Forestry,” a table of wood analyses of the principal 
forest trees is given. Wood of different ages has been taken, and the 
relative proportions of potash, soda, lime, magnesia, iron, and several 
•compounds are fully stated. The table was, it appears, originally pro" 
pared by Dr. R, Weber of Bavaria, and has been also published in 
France. A cubic metre of each was taken, which is equivalent to about 
37 of our cubic feet, and the amount of ash is given in grammes and 
English pounds or decimals of a pound. The following will serve as 
examples :—Beech, fifty years old, total ash 6 lbs.—potash 1*4 lb., soda 
O 036 lb., lime 2’6 lbs., magnesia 0 62 lb., sesquioxide of iron 0 65 fb.» 
sesquioxide of magnesia 0'71 lb , phosphoric acid 0 - 44 lb., sulphuri 0 
acid (M3 lb., silicic 0 4 lb. Oak, fifty years old, total ash 12 lbs.— 
potash 1 55 lb., soda 0 32 lb., lime 8 84 lbs., magnesia 0 35 lb., sesquioxide 
of iron 0 077 lb , sesquioxide of magnesia 0 024 lb., phosphoric acid 
€ 45 lb,, sulphuric acid 0 10 lb., silicic acid 0 26 lb. Birch, Larch) 
Pine, and Silver Fir are treated in the same way. 
- “ H. L.” writes :—“ Can any of your readers inform me if 
Cereus grandiflorus Maynardi is in cultivation now, and where 
& plant could be obtained 7” 
- At the meeting of the Royal Meteorological Society, to 
be held at 25, Great George Street, Westminster, on Wednesday, the 
21st inst., at 7 p.m., the following papers will be read :—“Note on the 
Proceedings of the International Polar Conference held at Vienna, April 
f 884,” by Robert H. Scott, M.A., F.R.S., President; “ Meteorological 
Observations on the Maloja Plateau, Upper Engadine, 6000 feet above 
the Sea,” by A. Tucker Wise, M.D., F.R.Met.Soc. ; “ On some Results of 
an Examination of the Barometric Variations in Western India,” by 
A. Naylor Pearson, F.R.Met.Soc.; “ Illustrations of the Mode of Taking 
Meteorological Averages by the Method of Weighing Paper Diagrams,” 
by Richard Inwards, F.R.Met.Soc., F.R.A.S. ; “ Ten Years’ Weather in 
the Midlands,” by Rupert T. Smith, F.R.Met.Soc. 
- We regret to have to announce the death of Mr. Alexander 
James Maule, of the Stapleton Road Nurseries, Bristol, which took 
place on Monday, the 5th inst., at the age of sixty-three. Mr. Maule 
was the son of the late Mr. William Maule of these nurseries, and was 
the third generation of the family who carried on business at the same 
address. The Stapleton Road Nurseries, together with those of Durdham 
Down, were at one time the most important of the west of England, 
but the extension of the city, and the great increase in the value 
of land for building, combined to limit the extent of both establish¬ 
ments, and in the case of the latter a new nursery has been formed 
further in the country. Mr. Maule had of late years converted 
his ground into pottery works, for which the clay was well adapted. 
In the early days of the introduction of Indian Conifers and Orchids 
Mr. Maule’s was a prominent name, with which Cypripedium insigne 
Maulei is intimately associated. Large consignments of seed of Cedrus 
Deodara, Pinus excelsa, Abies Smithiana, Picea Webbiana, &c., were 
frequently sent to the Stapleton Road Nurseries, and Mr. Maule was 
also successful in opening up communications in Chili for the importation 
of seed of Araucaria imbricata. One of Mr. Maule’s most recent intro¬ 
ductions was Pyrus Maulei, by which his memory will be perpetuated t 
Mr. Maule was a bachelor, and a man of a thoughtful and philosophic 
turn of mind. It was refreshing to spend an afternoon with him, and to 
discuss matters of horticultural or arboricultural interest, for he had 
always views on these subjects to propound which had at least the merit 
of freshness ; and the man himself was of that loveable natuie which 
always gave a zest to the time spent in his society. 
- Every year the Calceolarias at Bedford Hill House, 
BALHAM, are eminently worthy of notice, alike by the excellence of the 
varieties and the superiority of culture as displayed by Mr. Raple-y. To 
say that they are equal to those of past years is saying about all that 
•can be said, as it is not easy to imagine larger, smoother, finer flowers, 
several of them 2£ inches in diameter, and in not a few instances so 
numerous that it is difficult to see how they can expand. Still they find 
their way out of the crowd and form massive heads of great brightness 
■in the yellow grounds, chasteness in those of a creamy nature, and rich¬ 
ness in the glowing crimson self and mottled varieties that contrast so 
effectively with the finest of canary-coloured varieties, the conspicuously 
beautiful Cloth of Gold. But fine as the flowers undoubtedly are, it is 
impossible not to admire equally the sturdiness of the plants. Except 
for affording the flowers space for development no stakes would be 
needed. With stems a3 thick as the finger of the cultivator, and vary¬ 
ing in height from 6 inches to a foot, they are quite self-supporting ; 
still, a little tying-out is done for the purpose mentioned. The plants 
are grown in 5-inch, 6-inch, and 7-inch pots, the object being to display 
as many varieties as possible in the 100-feet-long house. It may be 
stated without any reserve that out of the great number there is not one 
inferior, and the excellence of the strain is rendered the more staking 
by the contrast that is afforded by a dozen or two of plants raised from 
a celebrated continental stock, and sent for testing and comparison. 
Mr. Rapley is to be congratulated at the success he has achieved by 
careful fertilisation and selection in establishing such a valuable strain 
of these exceedingly handsome greenhouse flowers, also on the skill 
that iB manifest in the cultivation of the plants. 
- Mr. Joseph Mallender sends the following summary of 
meteorological observations at Hodsock Priory in April 
Total rainfall, 1.78 inch ; maximum fall in twenty-four hours cn the 
28th, 0 35 inch. Rain fell on nineteen days. Total duration of sun¬ 
shine in the month, 106.1 hours, or 26 per cent, of possible duration ; 
three sunless days. Average velocity of wind, 7.6 miles per hour ; it 
did not reach 400 miles on any day, and fell short of 100 miles on seven 
days. Mean temperature of the month, 44.0°. Maximum on the 3rd, 
64.9°; minimum on the 23rd, 23.6°. Maximum in sun on the 22nd, 
120.9°; minimum on grass on the 23rd, 21.0°. Mean temperature of 
the air 9 A.M., 45.7°; mean temperature of the soil 1 foot deep, 46.5 • 
Nights below 32° in the shade, 7 ; on grass, 16. During the first nine 
days of the month the temperature was above the average, but the rest 
of the month it was considerably below it, with north-east winds and 
showery weather. During the previous eight years only two Aprils had 
a lower mean temperature—viz., 1879 and 1881. It may be stated that 
the mean daily minimum is 7.1° lower than in January. There have been 
no heavy falls of rain, but a hailstorm occurred with thunder on the 28th- 
The total rainfall of the period is less than the last two years. The sun¬ 
shine has been much less than in any of the previous three years. 
About 90 per cent, of our fruit blossom is killed on the Apple, Pear, 
Plum, and Gooseberry. Cherries have not suffered so much. Many 
Strawberry flowers have black centres. The Oak is at least fourteen days 
before the Ash. 
- The monthly general meeting of the Notts Horticultural 
and Botanical Society was held at the Mechanics’ Institute, Not¬ 
tingham, on Wednesday evening, May 7th, when Mr. E. Jenkins of 
Ratcliff-on-Trent read a very interesting and exhaustive paper on 
“Spring Gardening and Spring-flowering Plants.” The chair was 
occupied by Mr. J. R. Meadows of Rock House, Basford, who exhibited 
a large collection of dried specimens of British flowering plants, which 
were briefly described by him. Mr. Samuel Thacker sent a remarkably 
well-grown plant of Cypripedium barbatum with very highly coloured 
flowers. Mr. N. German, gardener to T. B. Cutts, Esq., Malvern House* 
sent a choice collection of cut Orchid flowers, which were much admired, 
amongst them being a splendid spike of Yanda suavis. Mr. Walker, 
gardener to J. W. Lewis, Esq., of Hardwicke House, Nottingham, had 
a choice collection of cut stove and greenhouse flowers ; whilst Mr. 
Argyle, an artisan Rose-grower, had a magnificent stand of Rose 
Cheshunt Hybrid, and for the purpose of illustrating his subject Mr. 
Jenkins, the reader of the paper, set up a large and choice collection of 
spring flowers, which had been sent by Mr. T. S. Ware of Tottenham 
and Mr. William Ingram of Belvoir Castle, and which were admired by 
all present. Mr. Jenkins in a very able manner commented at some 
length upon the great strides which had been made of late years in 
spring gardening, and instanced Belvoir and other places as showing 
what might be done with many plants which some considered to be 
almost worthless objects. He then gave a description of many spring¬ 
flowering plants which were suitable for town gardens, and the position 3 
most adapted to the requirements of a large number of spring plants. 
At the conclusion of his paper he was accorded a very hearty vote of 
thanks. 
- Thb Committee of the above Society also offer the following 
prizes, given by Messrs. Pownall, Pearson, and Thacker, to be competed 
for by under gardeners, who are members of this Society, for an esssay 
on “The Rotation of Crops in a Kitchen Garden for a y'ear,” 
not to exceed twenty minutes in reading, to be illsstrated by a plaD. 
First prize, 125. 6<7. and the certificate of the Society ; second prize, 7s. 6 d. 
and the certificate of the Society. The competition will take place at 
the monthly meeting of the members at the Mechanics’ Institute on 
June 11th, and will be decided by the members present. Intending 
