502 JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
It remains now for all who are interested in the Society to 
rally round the Council and assist in restoring the former 
income, so as to enable it to fulfil all its engagements, and not 
the least of these its advancement of horticulture. 
CHOICE VEGETABLES. 
Broccoli. —The severity of last winter made sad havoc with 
the crops ; many, especially of the early varieties, beiDg totally 
killed. Penzance suffered most, and evidently is not suitable 
for cold northerly localities. Veitch’s Spring White and Cooling’s 
Matchless were much injured, and we had not any really good 
heads until Leamington was ready on the 6th of May. Not any 
of Leamington, Lauder’s Goshen, nor Model were killed, and they 
headed excellently ; Goshen continuing to June 10th, and Model 
to June 17th. Model is good in every respect, the plant being very 
dwarf and sturdy, having little stem for the frost to affect, and 
the foliage thoroughly protects the heads, rendering them quite 
white, added to which they are very compact. On a north 
border this variety affords valuable heads until Cauliflowers are 
ready. It is the model of what a Broccoli should be, and is a 
decided acquisition. 
Cauliflowers. —These have had a hard time of it, there being 
few crops in gardens that are not tried by cold 3° below zero. In 
an ordinary season plants winter fairly well with the protection 
of a wall, and in frames and under handlights, but many plants 
succumbed in the two latter. The hardiest were Walcheren, next 
Early London, and the others much alike. What Model is in 
Broccoli, Veitch’s Early Forcing promises to be in Cauliflowers. 
It has short stems, comparatively small leaves, and the heads are 
not too large, but just suitable for table. It comes in fully ten 
days in advance of Erfurt Mammoth and a fortnight before Early 
London, and will become as great a favouate for early work as 
Autumn Giant is for late use. 
Lettuce. —Not any of the outdoor plants survived the winter, 
but those with no more protection than the lights survived in 
frames. Paris Market came in first, closely followed by All the 
Year Bound, both of which are closely hearting sorts, and Stan- 
stead Park gave its larger but not so close heads in an immediate 
succession. In Cos varieties, after trying many I find none 
to equal for standing the winter in frames the Bath or Brown 
Sugarloaf, which forms fine heads and lasts long enough to meet 
the first sowings of Early Paris Market outdoors, which comes in 
ten days in advance of any other. 
Cabbages. —Ellam’s Dwarf Early Spring is another model, the 
plant dwrnrf and compact, and has stood the winter well, while 
many others had their ranks much thinned. It heads quickly, has 
few outside leaves, therefore little waste, and is not only earlier 
than any, but is of excellent quality. Hill’s Incomparable stood 
the winter well; Wheeler’s Imperial, Nonpareil Improved, and 
Cocoa Nut much cut and destroyed by the cold. I think the 
latter one of the best flavoured, quite equal to Little Pixie. 
Turnips. —What a season for fly 1 Many have had several 
successional sowings of Turnips, and the plants are eaten. If 
attacked in time with quicklime applied early in the morning 
and the practice is continued it saves the Turnips. I had a strong 
fight with the insects, but conquered ; and, what is more, Turnips 
like lime and wood ashes. Early Purple-top Munich came into use 
ten days in advance of Early Snowball, which last is the best 
flavoured of any, being very sweet and tender. Six-weeks is also 
excellent, and for general crop Yeitch’s Bed Globe is fine both in 
shape and flavour. —G. Abbey. 
COLUMBINES. 
Your, woodcut and description of Aquilegia Stuartii suggest a 
few notes on this beautiful class of plants. A statement was 
lately made in the editorial notes of a gardening journal that no 
hybrid Columbine could be worth growing. The remark showed 
more botanical zeal for the purity of species than horticultural 
appreciation of beautiful flowers, for many of the finest Colum¬ 
bines to be seen in gardens are undoubtedly hybrids : but it is a 
most important quality in a hybrid that it should be capable of 
reproducing itself true from seed, and many hybrid Columbines 
are deficient in this. About twenty years ago I bought a packet of 
Columbine seed under the name of Aquilegia fragrans. None of the 
produce was at all like the true fragrans, which I have never been 
able to get, but one of them corresponded to your description of 
A. Stuartii, and flowered well in my garden at Eton for three or 
four years, when, because I could not obtain it true from seed, 
I attempted to divide it, and lost it. I have not seen the same 
hybrid again till this spring, when about the end of May I recog¬ 
nised my old friend amongst some cut flowers in a house in 
London. I a«ked the owner to take me to his garden, situated 
amongst the Surrey hills, a few miles south of Dorking, when a 
splendid plant of it was growing, bearing tall branching stems 
and large pendulous flowers, expanding fully 3|- inches, the sepals 
being rich blue, somewhat darker than the blue of A. glandulosa, 
and the corolla white with a tinge of blue in the throat. There w r ere 
also some seedlings, sown w r hen the seed ripened last year, which 
were already flowering, and were true in all their characters. 
The plant had been bought of Mr. Ivery, nurseryman of Dorking, 
as A. Witmanniana. I considered it as a hybrid between A. glan- 
dulosa and A. vulgaris, but from what is said of A. Stuartii I 
now think it probably may have been from seed of the small- 
flowered Columbine generally sold as A. Witmanniana crossed with 
A. glandulosa ; but probably Mr. Ivery can tell us its history. 
A similar flower, but of a lighter blue, was sent to me lately 
in a box of Columbine flowers by Mr. William Thompson of 
Ipswich. He considered it a cross between A. glandulosa and 
A. vulgaris. 
With regard to A. glandulosa, which you call a shy flowerer ; it 
certainly is so generally in England, but as we get northwards 
the character and habit of the plant improves, until they reach 
their climax in the nurseries of Mr. Grigor of Forres, where it 
produces abundance of flowers and has a branching habit. In 
most parts of Scotland it flowers much better than in England. 
I had a fine plant full of flowers sent to me this spring from a 
private garden in Midlothian. 
I am told that to hybridise Columbines successfully it is neces¬ 
sary to isolate the parent plants under glass, and to exclude bees 
and flies. In my garden, which is full of Columbines of different 
species, I seldom find a flower which I can be sure is a natural 
hybrid, and my attempts to hybridise selected flowers in the open 
air have not hitherto been successful ; but I have not yet found 
any difficulty in keeping species true. The strange varieties of 
A. vulgaris, both in form and colour, are endless, and one can never 
foretell what the seed will bring; but A. caerulea, A. flavescens, 
A. glandulosa, A. ebrysantha, and A. Skinneri from seed show 
all their true characters. The last-named, indeed, has no excuse 
for hybridising, as it seldom flowers with me till July, when all 
other Columbines are over.—C. Wolley Dod. 
YORK FLORAL FETE. 
June 15th, IGth, and 17th. 
Annually for twenty-three years the old city of York has pro¬ 
duced exhibitions of plants, flowers, and fruit that have been excelled 
by few in England ; and again in the present year a most satisfactory 
Show has been held, constituting, in the opinion of many old visitors 
and exhibitors, one of the finest since the commencement of the 
Society. Not only were most of the important classes well filled, but 
the health and floriferousness of the plants contributed a general 
neatness and brightness to the display that was very pleasing. As 
usual there was a central circular marquee from which radiated four 
long tents, one being devoted to Pelargoniums, another to Boses, a 
third to fruits and cut flowers, and the fourth to stove and greenhouse 
plants, while an additional tent was occupied with the groups. In 
the central marquee were the large specimen plants and exotic Ferns, 
the former being an especial attraction owing to their fine condition. 
They formed an imposing group, and were greatly admired both by 
horticulturists and general visitors. Pelargoniums as usual constituted 
a very important feature, and were, considering the season, excellent 
both in vigour and in the size, form, and colour of the flowers. Boses 
were represented by numerous collections, but there was a somewhat 
too noticeable roughness in the plants, though the foliage and growth 
were strong and clean. The other sections of the Exhibition were 
similar to previous occasions ; and though, perhaps, in some classes 
the competition has been more keen at other times, still, taking the 
Show as a whole, there was very little cause for dissatisfaction upon 
that score. Indeed there were very few shortcomings in the display, 
which was alike creditable to the exhibitors and the managers, well 
maintaining the fame of York as regards horticultural productions. 
Pelargoniums. —From year to year there is little variation in the 
extent and beauty of the display of this popular and handsome plant; 
and though the specimens become familiar to us, yet they are always 
worthy of the admiration they irresistibly awaken. Nearly all 
sections of the genus are represented ; but the Show, Zonal, Tricolor, 
and Bronze varieties are the chief features, the Fancy varieties being 
usually represented by comparatively few collections. The compe¬ 
tition in most of the above, with the exception of the latter class, was 
close, and in consequence the Judges experience much difficulty in 
making the awards in some instances, and rarely have there been so 
many equal prizes adjudged as on this occasion—a sufficient indication 
of the comparative quality of the exhibits. 
Show Varieties .—Three classes were devoted to these. For twelve 
specimens Messrs. Lazenby A Son, York, secured the principal prize 
for vigorous well grow r n and trained examples, not too formal, and 
yet neat and symmetrical. The varieties have been enumerated in 
several previous reports ; but it may be remarked that Claribel, 
