September 14, 1882 . ] JOURNAL OR HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 249 
faithfully rendered, is well printed, and will form a valuable 
addition to Italian horticultural literature. 
- We have received the schedule of prizes of the Harborne 
and District Potato Exhibition, which is to be held on the 
15th and lGth in the Masonic Hall, Harborne, near Birmingham. 
A silver cup value £10 is provided for twelve varieties of Potatoes, 
and three prizes in money are offered in each of the twenty 
classes. Messrs. Sutton, Messrs. Webb, and Mr. Merris also give 
special prizes for competition. Mr. G. Stacy, York Street, Har¬ 
borne, is the Hon. Secretary of the Society. 
- In a note on Lettuces an experienced gardener says 
Webbs’ Summerhill and Suttons’ Marvel are his two favourite 
kinds. They are both large, well-flavoured, and crispy. Cabbage 
Lettuce for summer and Cos Lettuces for winter are what he 
endeavours to provide. He further remarks :—“ Clean open sur¬ 
faces and plenty of space between the plants or crops are rules 
which should be well attended to in the kitchen garden this 
autumn, as most of the plants are inclined to be soft in growth, 
and if a severe winter comes on crowded tender crops it may 
leave us without vegetables.” 
- Messrs. James Carter & Co. have sent us specimen 
blooms of their select strain of Empress Petunias. These 
flowers are representative of a collection of nearly ten thousand 
plants grown in pots for seed in their nurseries at Perry Hill. 
The variety is very great, and we know not which to admire most 
—the pencilled, lace-edged, green-edged, or double rosette forms. 
All of them are undoubtedly very fine, the diversity of colour 
being extraordinary, the markings of the rayed flowers well 
defined, while the seifs and edged varieties, both double and 
single, are well formed and of good substance. We never saw 
a more beautiful collection. 
- A correspondent, writing in reference to the Apple 
crop, observes :—“The American Apple crop will be even less 
than the abnormally poor one of the past year. The excessive 
rainfall at what is known to growers as the setting-time destroyed 
the extraordinary promise of the spring. The English crop is the 
worst seen during the last ten years, and prices will rule high 
accordingly. The news from Canada, however, is of a more cheer¬ 
ful character, and producers and exporters have the prospect of 
high prices and corresponding profits.” 
- Messrs. James Dickson & Sons of Chester write 
“We send for your inspection a small sprig of our new Cupressus 
Lawsoniana ‘ Silver Queen.’ It is perfectly hardy, and of 
neat, compact, pyramidal growth. Of course you will take into 
consideration that in Chester we have much smoke from rail¬ 
way works, &c., which affect the appearance of all variegated 
plants in our nurseries. We have been awarded a first-class cer¬ 
tificate for it by the Royal Horticultural Society.” The spray has 
an attractive silvery appearance, and is certainly not defective in 
vigour. Good specimens on lawns will be highly ornamental, and 
there is reason to believe that the variety will prove worthy of the 
honour it has received. 
- Mr. F. A. Fawkes, Mansion House Buildings, 4, Queen 
Victoria Street, writes :—“ In travelling about the country I have 
met with numerous gardeners who have expressed a desire to 
purchase my book on ‘Horticultural Buildings,’ but could 
not afford to do so (the published price being 10,?. 6d.). Actuated 
by a desire to assist the fraternity as much as I can, I beg to 
intimate that I shall be very pleased to place at your disposal 
a hundred copies of the above work for distribution to any Iona 
fide gardeners who may choose to apply to you for them at 3.?. 
each copy (which is under actual cost price). Any applications 
by post must be accompanied by 1 d. extra to pay the postage of 
the book.” 
- Relative to a good white Gladiolus for planting with 
G. brenchleyensis, required by “A. B.,” a correspondent recom¬ 
mends Mrs. Neville, which is ivory white faintly flaked with violet, 
and is described as a free grower, cheap, and effective. Mr. Kel- 
way also recommends the same variety as suitable for the purpose 
in question. 
- “ W. B. H.” desires to know the name and address of the 
firm or gardener who laid out the flower beds in front of West¬ 
minster Abbey. 
- Alluding to vegetables, a correspondent observes :— 
“ The season of 1882 will long be remembered as being very un¬ 
favourable for some crops, such as Apples and Potatoes, but 
vegetables generally are by no means scarce or of inferior quality. 
We are inclined to regard the season as most favourable for vege¬ 
tables, as the crops are abundant and better than they usually are 
in drier seasons.” 
- Mr. H. G. Smyth, horticultural sundriesmen, 17A, The 
Coal Yard, Drury Lane, W.C., has sent us a sample of Orchid 
peat. It is a clean, sweet, compressed, yet yielding mass of 
fibre, just what Orchid growers delight in when potting their 
plants. It is of a texture for receiving any quantity of fibre, 
while the chance of its being rendered sour is extremely remote. 
Wherever Orchids are grown a supply of such material as this is 
indispensable, as with it and good attention the plants will 
flourish. 
- “North York” writes:—“We are experiencing some 
of the effects of our unsettled climate. Helleborus olympicus and 
H. atro-rubens are now in full bloom, and others are throwing 
up their flower stems, giving us the idea of autumn rather than 
Christmas Roses.” 
- The same correspondent observes—“ We have on a south 
wall a very fine tree of the Winter Nelis Peas. In early 
summer it was much affected with aphides ; then followed mildew, 
next the falling of the leaves, and now, the beginning of Septem¬ 
ber, it is breaking into young growth and is in full bloom, being 
left without fruit this season. In all probability we shall be left 
without next year also.” 
-The correspondent who sent us a spray of Kennedya 
MARRYATTiE, which was figured in this Journal on page 341 of 
the last volume, informs us that he has saved some seed, which he 
will be happy to forward to anyone interested in the plant. Ap¬ 
plications to be forwarded to this office, addressed to the Editor. 
- The International Potato Exhibition will be opened 
on Wednesday next at 1 p.m. by the Lord Mayor, who will be 
accompanied by the Sheriffs and the promoters of the Exhibition. 
Luncheon will be served at 2 p.m. The Judges are desired to be 
ready for work at 11 A.M. precisely. 
- “ J. H.” writing on Wasps says—“ Bad as the season has 
been in fruit, wasps have come to devour what little there is. 
Trap as we may—turpentine, paraffin, sit up and dig out in the 
night, the cry is, They come. Up to the second week in August 
we scarcely saw a wasp, but to our surprise they came, and they 
stay night and day ; and the only consolation 1 have is that they 
will leave us when they have devoured what we have—the 
thieves.” 
- The Annual Cryptogamic Meeting of the Epping Forest 
Naturalists’ Field Club will be held on Saturday, the 23rd 
inst., in the northern section of Epping Forest (High Beach, 
Monk Woods, Theydon Woods, &c.) The following well-known 
botanists have promised their valuable aid as referees and direc¬ 
tors at the meeting :—For Fungi—Dr. M. C. Cooke, M.A., F.L.S., 
Mr. James English, C. B. Plowright, Esq., M.R.C.S. (of King’s 
Lynn), Dr. Spurrell, Worthington G. Smith, Esq., F.L.S., F.R.H.S., 
