May 25, 1882. ] 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
425 
general opinion prevailed amongst the visitors best qualified to 
judge that it was one of the prettiest which the Society has held 
in recent years. There was not a preponderance of any particular 
class of exhibits, and in the arrangement, for which Mr. Comber 
deserves great credit, the whole was most tastefully harmonised. 
The general quality of the exhibits, too, was very satisfactory. 
In addition to those mentioned there last week, Messrs. R. 
Smith & Co. of Worcester had a pretty collection of Clema¬ 
tises, for which a silver medal was awarded. The plants were 
rather smaller than those from Woking, but the flowers were of 
good size and colour, the varieties being some of the best in 
cultivation. Gloire de St. Julien, Lord Nevill, Grand Duchess, 
Verschaffelti, Lawson'ana, Sensation, and Impdratrice Eugenie 
were amongst the most noteworthy. Our attention having been 
called to the absence from our report of the same Show, of 
dishes of Alexander Reaches and Bigarreau Noir de 
Schmidt Cherries sent by Mr. Rivers, we learn that the 
Princess of Wales and three childreu, and the Duke and Duchess 
of Teck, took such a fancy to them that the fruit was divided 
amongst them. Mr. Rivers will probably not object to this 
mode of adjudicating on his productions, even although the re¬ 
sults were not communicated directly to the press. 
- In Battersea Park the favourite promenade now is the 
Wilderness. This is at the extreme east end of the park, and was 
only opened last year. Near the entrance at the north-west 
corner is what is known by visitors as “Mount Pleasant”—a 
huge mound formed with some ten thousand loads of soil and 
planted with trees, the seats under which are always occupied in 
fine weather. A better view can be had of the park from there 
than from any other standpoint. At intervals in the “Wilderness” 
are a series of large dells, which form a distinct feature of the 
park. In one of them Solomon’s Seal luxuriates with variegated 
and green Comfrey and a natural carpet of Veronica Chamaedrys; 
in another depression Ferns predominate, and in another Lilies 
abound. The shrubbery banks are now attractive with many 
flowering shrubs, especially Weigelas, which are in great variety 
and very beautiful, while the double scarlet Thorns are extremely 
bright. This department of the park is decidedly picturesque, 
and the total absence of formality both in the disposition of the 
ground and the planting of it contrasts effectively with the other 
parts where flower gardening is so well represented. Those who 
enter the park near the Victoria bridge and pass along by the 
route indicated, now the deciduous trees are flowering, will be 
gratified and disposed to think if Mr. Rogers is not proud of his 
work he ought to be, for it is undoubtedly well done. 
- The usual monthly meeting of the Meteorological 
Society was held on Wednesday last at the Institution of Civil 
Engineers, Mr. J. K. Laughton, F.R.A.S., President, in the chair. 
Miss W. L. Hall, Mr. E. J. Pearson, Dr. J. R. Somerville, and 
Mr. W. J. V. Vandenbergh were elected Fellows of the Society. 
The folllowing papers were read :—“ Mechanical Conditions of 
Storms, Plurricanes, and Cyclones,” by W. F. Stanley, F.M.S. 
“ On the Diurnal Variation of Wind and Weather in their Relation 
to Isobaric Lines,” by the Hon. Ralph Abercromby, F.M.S. By 
constructing synoptic charts at different hours of the same day, 
and by comparing the wind and weather records at the different 
hours, and examining their relation to mean curves of diurnal 
variation, the author shows that the mean diurnal increase of the 
wind’s velocity is explained by the fact that for the same gradient 
there is more wind by day than there is by night. The mean 
diurnal veering of the wind is explained by the fact that in 
cyclones the wind is a little more incurved, and in anticyclones 
a little more outcurved, by night than by day. The mean 
diurnal increase of the frequency of rain during the day hours 
is explained by the fact that in any given cyclone the area of 
rain is larger by day than by night. The diurnal changes of 
every element are super-imposed on the larger general changes, 
and are independent of each other. Great stress is laid on this 
point, both as explaining and classifying many meteorological 
questions, and as simplifying the problem of weather-forecasting. 
The author gives a simple hypothesis, from which it appears that 
the diurnal veering and increase of rain follow as a natural con¬ 
sequence of the diurnal increase of velocity. 
TUBULAR FLOWER AND TREE STAKES. 
Messrs. Brookes & Go. of Cateaton Street, Manchester, have 
submitted to us examples of their new tubular stakes. The in¬ 
vention is based on the fact that a tube is stronger than a solid 
rod of equal weight. The inventors claim for these stakes the 
following advantages—cheapness, lightness, strength, durability, 
stability, compactness, sightliness, stiffness, resistance to wind- 
pressure, and the easy and convenient manner in which they can 
be packed away. We do not think the claims unreasonable. One 
thousand assorted stakes, forty 7 feet, sixty G feet, one hundred 
5 feet, one hundred and fifty 4 feet, two hundred and fifty 3 feet, 
and four hundred 2 feet, can be packed in the galvanised wire- 
worked box (fig. 85), occupying a floor space in the tool house of 
only 3 feet by 1 foot 4 inches. They are the best iron stakes we 
have seen, admirably adapted for supporting young trees and 
flowers, and will be generally useful in gardens. 
FERTILISERS—POTASH AND MAGNESIA: 
“Inquirer” at page 1381, in referring to the extraordinary 
results obtained by the Cork Agricultural Society with kainit as 
a manure for Potatoes, uses the following words—“He [that is 
myself] states that if the increase observed was not due to the 
potash of the kainit it is difficult to understand how such results 
should have come about.” As everything written by “ Inquirer ” 
has been pervaded by a spirit of fairness I must suppose that 
what I wrote has been misunderstood, or possibly not properly 
attended to, for what I said was exactly the opposite. The notice 
I saw of the experiments referred to the result of these as a proof 
that potash was, sometimes at least, of peculiar value for Potatoes 
as it existed in kainit. Seeing that ten times the quantity of 
potash in farmyard manure, though coupled with everything else 
needed by plants, was required to produce results equal to that 
secured by the application of kainit I ventured to doubt that the 
potash in the kainit had anything to do with the manure ; and if 
“Inquirer” will refer to page 368 he will see that this is the 
case. 
Neither has he apprehended my meaning in the matter of my 
query—it was a query, not an assertion—in regard to the hurt¬ 
fulness of the chloride of magnesia which exists in kainit. “ In¬ 
quirer” mentioned one case of harm being done by kainit. 
Several other instances I have heard of, and in a work before me 
the writer confidently asserts that the magnesic chloride was the 
