JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
July 7, 1881. ] 
or steel packing frames are used, the raisins being assorted, 
weighed, inspected, and made presentable.” 
- We have received from Messrs. Daniels Brothers, Norwich 
some very fine Sweet-Williams, representing numerous rich 
and delicate colours, the flowers being large, of good form, and 
the trusses full. One variety with pure white flowers was par¬ 
ticularly noteworthy, being of fine substance. Among the others 
the following colours were excellent—pink of several shades, 
mottled or plain, the margins being in some cases neatly fringed ; 
broad or narrow crimson zones with a clearly defined white edge ; 
very rich crimson; deep maroon ; delicate pink zone and white 
margin. They indicate a very satisfactory strain. 
- In reference to “ L. J. K.’s ” inquiry respecting Pelar¬ 
gonium-flowered Pansies, we are informed that some three 
or four years ago an engraving of a Pelargonium was published 
in one of our first nurserymen’s catalogues, and by an inadver¬ 
tence it was referred to in the letterpress of the catalogue as a 
Pansy. Judging, therefore, by the engraving and description in 
the catalogue, the firm had for sale a Pansy with all the charac¬ 
teristics of a Pelargonium. The mistake was speedily rectified, 
and this error possibly gave rise to a notion that there really was 
a race of Pelargonium-flowered Pansies. 
- A Dublin correspondent sends the following, and desires 
to know if any other readers of the Journal have observed similar 
peculiarities—“A large plant of Hedychium Gardnerianum 
in bloom has stood on a table in my drawing-room for ten days 
past. Aspect of room E., S., and W., therefore exposed to sun 
all day. The plant constantly drips water from points of leaves, 
so much so that a cloth protecting table has become partially 
saturated. Boom is very dry, and many other specimen plants on 
other tables quite dry. Is this usual ? It has interested me much.” 
- Referring to the destruction of wireworms, “ C. B.” 
writes : — “ Some years ago one of the agricultural journals 
recommended rape-cake dust for the extermination of wireworms. 
The rape-cake should be well pulverised and scattered broadcast 
over the land, and be well raked in. The wireworms eat it to 
repletion.” 
- A correspondent recommends Lychnis Flos-Jovis as 
a fine old herbaceous plant for growing in shrubbery borders for 
affording flowers for cutting of a colour that he finds much appre¬ 
ciated by ladies—a clear yet soft pink. The plants, he says, will 
grow in almost any kind of soil, and the compact medium-sized 
trusses are admirably adapted for vase-decoration. 
- The ninth Exhibition of the Dunkeld Rose and Pansy 
Society is announced for Wednesday, July 13th, when prizes 
will be offered in twenty-six classes for Roses, Pansies, and wild 
flowers. 
- The “ Prairie Farmer ” states'that “ Grafting wax for 
out-of-door work is best made as follows :—Rosin, five parts ; 
beeswax, two parts ; raw linseed oil, one and a half part; heat 
all together in a large kettle until it quits foaming, then pour 
out into cold water, and when cool enough work it by pulling 
like “ toffy ” until light in colour. It then may be used in mass 
and spread on with the fingers, or poured on to thin cloth and 
spread thin on it with a spatula, and the cloth then cut into 
narrow strips to bind around the graft; or the cloth may be cut 
into narrow strips and run through the wax when hot and wound 
into a ball. When top-grafting is done outdoors in the spring 
the temperature is generally very variable, and this wax at times 
will be found too hard or too soft, but it can be hardened by 
putting in more rosin or softened by putting in more oil. It can 
also be used by melting it and applying when liquid with a swab 
or spatula. It should not be applied very hot, but there is 
11 
little danger in this, for the tree withstand more heat than one 
would think. If applied thinly and quickly it may be put on 
smoking hot.” 
- The annual flower service at Berkeley Chapel 
was recently held, the Princess of Wales, with Princesses Louise 
Victoria and Maud of Wales, and the Duke and Duchess of Teck, 
with all their children being present. The young Princes and 
Princesses presented offerings of fruit and flowers. After a short 
but most beautiful service, including an address by the Rev. T. 
Teignmouth Shore, chaplain to the Queen, the fruits and flowers 
were sent to the various hospitals for sick children, the Princess 
of Wales, Princess Mary Duchess of Teck, and several ladies of 
rank taking them to the hospitals and distributing them there. 
- The Japanese, a contemporary remarks, are passionate 
lovers of gardening, which is carried on by all classes of society, 
from the great in palaces to the humblest workman. Gardening, 
as well as the art of making bouquets, is taught in schools ; and 
nowhere perhaps are there so many gardens as in Japan. The 
plants cultivated in the small private gardens are mostlyitninia- 
ture representatives of great trees. All new species and varieties 
of garden flowers and trees are sold at high prices, and become 
known throughout the country with great rapidity. 
LISMORE, CO. WATERFORD, HORTICULTURAL SHOW. 
The annual Exhibition here has more than a local fame—indeed it 
induced me to organise a party and to drive fifty miles to see it, and 
I was amply repaid. As the prize list and other local features would 
not have a general interest I merely refer to a few special points of 
importance, such as might strike a stranger, without referring to 
names. One name, however, cannot be passed over—the Patron of 
the Society, the Duke of Devonshire, under whose fostering care and 
his representative, Lismore, as well as this Society, have become models 
for imitation. To say this in such an exciting time is the highest 
praise. The Ballyain Gardens, belonging to the Duke, where the 
Show was held, is on the other side of the river (the Blackwater, the 
Rhine of Ireland) from that in which the Castle, the best preserved 
and finest of Ireland’s great old feudal strongholds, is situated, and 
from these gardens the visitor looks down on the winding mazes of 
the river, with the dark tree-and-foliage background beyond, and on 
a smiling prospect that it would be difficult to rival. In the larger 
marquee the most striking feature was the Roses. The classes for 
thirty-six, twenty-four, eighteen, and twelve blooms were filled, some 
having as many as five competitors. This would have been worth 
seeing alone, when it must be remembered that the most competent 
Judge, himself a distinguished gentleman amateur, told me that in 
the stand of thirty-six he could not find an imperfect or faulty Rose, 
and the other stands deserved the same high meed of praise. I com¬ 
menced with Etienne Levet to take the names of a dozen best, but 
gave it up, so difficult was it to decide. The explanation of the ex¬ 
cellence was said to be, beside the attention and love for the Rose of 
the exhibitors and their gardeners, the suitability of the vale of the 
Blackwater and its soil for the Rose. Coleuses, stove and greenhouse 
plants, beside the fine collections of early vegetables, were special 
features. All visitors, especially strangers, could not fail to be struck 
with the energy and courtesy of the Hon. Secretary, W. Ross Bald¬ 
win, Esq., Roseville, Lismore, and his assistants. A fine collection of 
Roses, Begonias, Pelargoniums, and Petunias, not for competition, 
was sent by Mr. Hartland, Cork.—W. J. M., Clonmel. 
MR. GEORGE WILLIAM JOHNSON. 
For upwards of half a century the name of Mr. G. W. Johnson 
has been associated, with the gardening literature of this country. 
So early as the year 1826 we find him communicating articles to 
“ Loudon’s Gardener’s Magazine,” and in 1S29 he published his 
“History of Gardening,” which is the most complete work up to 
the date of its appearance which has been written in the English 
language. 
Mr. George William Johnson was the younger brother of the 
late Mr. Cuthbert William Johnson, the well-known writer on 
agricultural subjects. They were the sons of Mr. Wm. Johnson of 
Widmore House in Kent, where the eldest son was born. Mr. 
G. W. Johnson was born at Blackheath in Kent, 5th of November, 
1802. He is descended from a Durham family long settled at 
Loup and Cainrow in that county. His grandfather came to 
London early in the last century, where he established himself as 
a goldsmith and banker, and having amassed a large fortune he 
was at the time of his death in 1790 possessed of Easby Abbey 
