JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
May 19, 1881.] 
397 
berry bloom have now been twice injured, and the Potatoes are 
cut to the ground.” 
- Last week, observes a daily contemporary, the King and 
Queen of Belgium gave a garden party at the Palace of 
Laeken, Brussels, the first ever given in Belgium. The newly 
constructed winter garden was opened on the occasion. There 
are magnificent conservatories for Palms, Azaleas, and exotics of 
every kind, and connected with the apartments of the Palace by 
an underground gallery adorned with plants. The diplomatic 
body and the elite of Brussels society were present. The fete was 
splendid and favoured by the weather. 
- We have pleasure in publishing the following letter in 
reference to the Gardeners’ Royal Benevolent Institution— 
“ I have had numerous inquiries as to the way in which the simul¬ 
taneous collection on the 30th July is to be carried out. Will you 
kindly inform your numerous readers that a collecting card will be 
sent on or about the 22nd July to every gardener whose address I 
can find ? but as there must be many whose names and addresses 
are not in the horticultural directories, I shall be greatly obliged 
to any gardener whose name is not in those works, but who at the 
same time is willing to assist the cause, if he will write to me, and 
I will see he has a card sent him. —Edwd. It. Cutler, Secretary, 14, 
Tavistock Row, Covent Garden, London, W.C.” 
- On Friday and Saturday next a Floral Exhibition 
will be held at the Alexandra Palace, when liberal prizes will be 
offered for table decorations, bouquets, and Roses in pots. In the 
class for nine Roses in pots, size not stipulated, the first prize is 
£18, the second £9, and the third £1; while for ten Roses in 
10-inch pots the prizes are £6, £3, and £1 respectively. 
- A correspondent, “ Vitex,” informs us, “ That there is 
at the present time in flower in The Gardens, Elmfield, Ullet 
Road, Liverpool, the residence of Thomas Holden, Esq., a plant 
of the best variety of Imantophyllum miniatum bearing 
twenty heads of bloom, with from twenty to twenty-four flowers 
on each. It has been very much admired by all who have seen 
it, and is a noble plant.” Our correspondent desires information 
relative to the best plant hitherto flowered in this country, and a 
reference to a plant grown at Sheffield. We are unable to 
indicate the “best plant in the country,” but the Sheffield plant 
is described on page 275, April 8th, 1880. 
- The Excelsior Lawn Mower of Messrs. Chadbornand 
Coldwell is an American form of this useful implement, and 
possesses many points which exhibit American ingenuity in 
mechanical matters. The great feature of this lawn-mower is the 
complete protection of the wheels and mechanism from injury 
and from clogging with grass clippings and earth, which is too 
much the case in some patterns we have seen. We have used the 
Excelsior and found it perform its work perfectly. It is so easily 
propelled that a lady might work it, and the grass can be dis¬ 
tributed on the lawn or collected in the box as is deemed the 
most desirable. 
- Refreshing showers have fallen in the neighbourhood of 
London during the past few days, and have been of great benefit, 
especially to newly-planted shrubs and flowers. We learn that 
in the sandy districts of West Surrey both garden and farm crops 
have suffered much from the prolonged drought, and that Potatoes 
have been killed to the ground by the sharp frosts of last week. 
- “ L. ” writes :—“ Some time since I noticed in the garden 
at Yardley Wood Yicarage, near Birmingham, a very simple but 
tasteful Arrangement of Bulbs. Clumps of the large-flowered 
Snowdrop, Galanthus nivalis Melvillei, were planted at intervals, 
and were alone extremely beautiful, but their appearance was 
still further enhanced by each clump being encircled with plants 
of the brilliant blue Scilla siberica. The effect of this contrast 
was most charming, and considerably more attractive than the 
lines of Hyacinths a short distance away, though these were fine 
and comprised some excellent varieties. The Rev. J. A. Williams 
is so well known as an ardent amateur rosarian, that the only 
regret I felt on my visit was that it had not been delayed until 
the rosy month of June, when I should have the pleasure of seeing 
his pets in their best condition.” 
- When in such fine condition as it may now be seen at 
Regent’s Park, Tulip Comte de Mirabeau can scarcely be 
equalled for massing in beds ; even the old and useful White 
Pottebakker is almost outrivalled. In a bed there among many 
others of more or less beauty this variety is especially notable 
for the pure white, medium-sized, well-formed flowers, and their 
great regularity of height. In striking contrast with this are 
fine beds of Yellow Prince, Cottage Maid, Cramoisie Superbe, 
Keysers Kroon, and Joost Yan Vondel, well arranged and 
planted. 
- A correspondent observes :—“ One of the most attrac¬ 
tive and original Bouquets that I have seen for some time I 
recently noticed in the grand row of Covent Garden Market. It 
was composed of Mardchal Niel Rose buds and half-expanded 
blooms, the yellow Marguerite (Chrysanthemum Etoile d’Or), and 
a large rich purple self Pansy. These were arranged informally 
with fronds of Adiantum cuneatum and A. gracillimum. The 
simplicity and freedom of the design and the contrast of the 
colours rendered the bouquet by far the most beautiful, to my 
mind, of all in the market.” 
- We have repeatedly referred in praiseworthy terms to 
Letts’s Popular Atlas as it was issued in monthly parts, 
but as we have now before us the first complete volume of the 
series it deserves a few words of commendation as a whole. It 
contains thirty-six maps delineating all the most important 
countries and districts of the world, indicating with surprising 
clearness and fidelity the most minute details, and comprising 
much statistical and general geographical information of con¬ 
siderable value. A very complete index of 23,000 names is an 
additional recommendation to the cheapest and most satisfactory 
atlas we have seen. 
- We have received a copy of a small work by Mr. D. T. 
Fish, published at the Bazaar office, and entitled “ The Cherry 
and Medlar.” It gives outlines of the history of both fruits, 
with particulars of propagation, planting, pruning, training, and 
general culture, and appears to be fairly accurate and reliable. 
The fourth part of the same author’s treatise on “Bulbs and 
Bulb Culture ” has also been received, which comprises cultural 
details relating to Ixias, Sparaxis, Irises, and other similar plants, 
accompanied by several highly unsatisfactory woodcuts. 
- Mr. Peter Henderson contributes the following upon 
Moss-mulching to the “American Gardener’s Monthly.”—We 
have now practiced moss-mulching most extensively for over a 
year, and in no single instance have we seen any fungus on the 
roots of the plants that could be ascribed to moss-mulching. It 
is true that a few days after the mulching of moss and bone is 
put on, probably for a week, a mould or fungus appears on the 
surface of the “ mulch,” but this is in no way injurious. We find 
that its use promiscuously on plants is only safe from, say, March 
to October. We use it even in midwinter on gross-feeding plants 
such as Callas, Dracaenas, Talms, and plants of that character. 
But we found that plants that were in a partially dormant state 
and are grown at a low temperature, such as Azaleas and Ca¬ 
mellias, are better without it. I think in the summer months, on 
Azaleas particularly, is most beneficial and marked. At the date 
we write (April 4) nearly every plant in our establishment, as 
soon as it is established in anything over a 3-inch pot, is submitted 
to the moss-mulching process, which we will continue throughout 
the entire season. 
