284 JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. c September 23 , isso. 
giant, as I apprehend the wood would be useful for building 
purposes. The tree is also very ornamental. An evergreen avenue 
or approach to a mansion, for instance, would be easy and of quick 
accomplishment. The tree referred to is in the parish of Hinton, 
Berks.— Thomas Moss. 
CHRYSANTHEMUM ETOILE D’OR v. C. SEGETUM. 
There was considerable praise bestowed upon Chrysanthemum 
Etoile d’Or when it first appeared, but when I first saw it I was 
greatly disappointed. Why our florists went to the expense of 
having it from France is beyond my comprehension ; for in, pro¬ 
bably, the first cornfield they meet with they could obtain a 
superior flower, and that is Chrysanthemum segetum. I am very 
glad to hear that Mr. F. W. Burbidge is at the present time 
engaged in saving seed from varieties of promise. Some of your 
readers will no doubt say that 1 have not seen the true variety, 
but as the plants came from Swanley they must be true.— 
W. Roberts, Penzance. 
Ohr attention has been directed to a rather peculiar instance 
of PRESS PIRACY, and singularly enough it has been suggested that 
we are the pirates instead of the victims, of what we must term 
a sharp and shabby example of Irish padding. A letter before us 
contains the following :—“ In the last number of The Garden 
there is an article on 1 Annuals for Spring,’ taken ostensibly from 
an Irish paper. Is there such a periodical 1 and if so did you 
pirate the article in question ? If you did not it has been stolen 
from you, as though slightly reduced, it is a reprint from page 
242 of the Journal of Horticulture. I suspect the latter is the 
case, and I detest such dirty work.” Though there is so much 
literary piracy now-a-days, more or less flagrant or more or less 
veiled, so much vamping up to fill dear pages cheaply, we are 
usually content to let them pass. In this case, however, we must 
put ourselves right with our correspondent and the public. We had 
observed the article referred to in the London paper previous to 
receiving the above letter, and endeavoured to purchase a copy 
of the “ Irish paper.” The London agents of that print could 
not supply it on the ground that it has no circulation in England. 
A friend, however, to whom it is sent gratuitously exhumed it 
from his waste paper store, and it is now before us. We are not 
surprised that it has no circulation in England, and we suspect 
that not many intelligent people of Ireland “take in” such a 
poor attempt at journalism, or are “ taken in ” by it. Truth 
compels us to state that poverty is stamped on the very face of 
the number before us, for every line of the two facing pages, 
582 and 583—the best part of the number—is either borrowed or 
stolen, the article from our pages being in the latter category. 
Poverty and honesty often happily go hand in hand, and we regret 
to have to notice an instance to the contrary in the case in 
question. The curious example of literary patchwork referred 
to is too obscure to be named, but when it is made the medium 
for purveying stolen property to another paper of greater pre¬ 
tensions, it is time for us to interfere and to put the gardening 
public on their guard against such unworthy tricks. It is a wonder 
to us that such trash can exist in Ireland, where agriculture and 
horticulture are so admirably and honourably represented by our 
excellent contemporary the Irish Farmers' Gazette. 
- Next year being the fiftieth anniversary of the opening 
of the gardens of the Manchester Royal Botanical and 
Horticultural Society, it is intended to commemorate the 
event of holding a grand international autumnal exhibition of 
fruit, flowers, vegetables, implements, &c., and a general com¬ 
mittee is in course of formation for carrying out the project. 
- In our notice of the Maidstone Fruit and Chrys¬ 
anthemum Society’s schedule last week we inadvertently 
omitted to state that the Show will be held on November 19th. 
Mr. F. Pine, jun., Maidstone, is the Honorary Secretary. 
- The attention that is given to the cultivation of the 
Dahlias in the north of England is evidenced by the report of 
the Newcastle Autumn Show, which appears in another column. 
They are invariably an important feature at that Exhibition, but 
on this occasion nearly a thousand blooms were staged in com¬ 
petition, sufficient to produce a display of extraordinary brilliancy, 
and such as we have not had this year at any southern exhibition, 
if we except those “not for competition” displays at “the 
Palaces ” north and south of the metropolis. 
- The violent storms that have recently prevailed have 
in many parts of the country proved very injurious to plants, 
shrubs, trees, and crops generally. This was especially the case 
in the neighbourhood of Wolverhampton, where on Sunday last 
a severe thunderstorm, accompanied by hail of great size, not 
only seriously affected plants outdoors, but also did considerable 
damage to the glass houses and their occupants. In other districts 
the heavy falls of rain have flooded roads, gardens, and fields, 
greatly injuring crops of all kinds. 
- A very handsome plant for flowering at this time of the 
year is Ceanothus latifolius, which is one of the finest of the 
genus. The bright blue flowers are borne in a dense thyrse-like 
inflorescence, and the main peduncles being long renders them 
useful for cutting, though the flowers are not of very long duration. 
Perhaps the best position that can be assigned to this plant is a 
border of good soil near the south-west or west aspect of a wall, 
to which the stems can be loosely trained. But almost any 
moderately sheltered position will suit it. 
- We regret to announce the death of Mr. John Mann¬ 
ington of Uckfield, though, at the great age of ninety-three 
years, it was not to be expected that his life would be much 
prolonged. Mr. Mannington was an ardent raiser of seedling 
fruits, and up to the time of his death was engaged in his favourite 
pursuit. Mannington’s Pearmain Apple, though raised by his 
grandfather, was first observed by Mr. Mannington, and when 
the original tree was on the point of extinction it was he who 
preserved it by securing grafts from it. Mr. Mannington has 
raised several excellent Pears of hardy constitution, which are 
now in the hands of Messrs. Paul & Son of Waltham Cross. So 
recently as last November we received specimens of his seedlings, 
and at the conclusion of a very long letter he finishes by saying, 
“ I am ninety-two if I live till the 9th of February, and this is 
written without glasses.” 
-As an ornamental tree for small avenues, pleasure grounds, 
and lawns in villa gardens, Robinia Pseud-acacia Bessoniana 
is one of the best, and is worthy of being more extensively planted. 
The ornamental character of this tree is admirably displayed at 
Chiswick, where Mr. Barron has planted it at intervals of about 
15 feet on each side of the new road at the west end of the Royal 
Horticultural Society’s Gardens. It is difficult to imagine that 
any other tree could produce the same satisfactory effect there. 
It combines elegance with symmetry in a very striking manner, 
and the fresh refreshing green of its graceful foliage contrasts 
favourably with the rusted and fading appearance of all other deci¬ 
duous trees in the neighbourhood, an Occidental Plane perhaps ex¬ 
cepted. Robinia Bessoniana forms a perfectly globular head, after 
the style of the Mop-headed Acacia, R. inermis, but is much freer 
in growth, larger and more feathery. This beautiful tree appears 
perfectly hardy, as it did not sustain the slightest injury by the 
severe frosts of last winter, and it is not too much to say that 
healthy handsome specimens such as those referred to would add 
