JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
52 
have supposed that Sunflowers remain all night with their faces 
to the west, as they are when the sunlight leaves them, and until 
they are constrained by the light of the rising sun to turn to 
the east again. It is not my purpose to offer any explanation 
of the cause of the phenomenon here recorded, but it seems 
to me improbable that it could have been an exceptional in¬ 
stance ; and I only regret that no opportunity has since occurred 
to me to repeat the observation.” 
- The members of the sick fund established amongst 
THE EMPLOYES OF MESSRS. T. RIVERS & SON, AT SAWBRIDGE- 
Worth Nursery, held their seventh anniversary last week, and 
the event was celebrated in a memorable manner. The Society 
was established through the exertions of Mr. William Camp, the 
energetic and courteous manager of this old-established and famed 
nursery. All the workmen are eligible for membership, whether 
old or young, the men paying 2 d. a week and the boys Id., and 
membership is not compulsory ; but the beneficent results which 
have attended its operations have had the effect of attracting to 
it the great majority of the hands employed by Messrs. Rivers, 
who have themselves generously fostered the “ sapling,” which 
has hitherto flourished vigorously. This year, and for the first 
time, arrangements—thanks to Messrs. Rivers’ ready kindness—• 
were made to hold the annual dinner at the nursery instead of 
at one of the inns. One of the spacious forcing houses, 150 feet 
long by 24 feet wide, was cleared and decorated for the occasion, 
and formed an elegant and imposing banqueting hall. Mr. Camp 
presided ; Mr. W. Tarling, the principal departmental foreman, oc¬ 
cupied the vice-chair, and about sixty members and friends were 
present. After dinner the Chairman, having first given the toast 
of the Queen and the Royal Family, which was received with 
cheers, proposed health and prosperity to Mr. T. F. Rivers and 
family and Mr. H. R. Rivers. Mr. Camp referred to the considerate, 
kind, and liberal way in which Messrs. Rivers invariably treated 
their employ^. Other toasts followed, and the Chairman next 
reviewed the progress of the Society since its establishment in 
1876. They started with forty-seven members, and had a balance 
of £21 ; in 1877 there were forty-eight members, and had a 
balance of £20; in 1878 thirty-two members and £23; in 1879 
thirty-three members and £21 ; in 1880 thirty-three members 
and £24 ; in 1881 thirty-four members and £28 ; and in 1882 
they had forty-nine members, and a balance of £37 7s. 8 d. 
Messrs. Rivers generously contributed five guineas annually, and 
as soon as the dinner was proposed to be held at the Nursery 
they kindly placed that house at their disposal, besides horses 
and carts and men to assist in the preparations, and also defrayed 
other contingent expenses. Mr. Camp then submitted a proposal 
for extending the sick payments during the ensuing year to six¬ 
teen weeks—eight full pay (5s.) and eight half-pay. This was 
agreed to unanimously. The meeting terminated with a musical 
entertainment.— (Abridged from the Herts and Essex Observer.) 
DRESSING CHRYSANTHEMUMS. 
Dressing Chrysanthemums a few years ago received too much 
attention, and does so still in some cases, but the fact is well 
known that highly-dressed flowers fade much more quickly than 
those that have not been subjected to such manipulation. It is 
impossible, as Mr. Moorman states, to do much with some varieties, 
and his remarks would lead us to believe that dressing is but 
little practised at the present time. But the exhibitor who stages 
a box of twenty-four blooms, incurved varieties, as cut from his 
plants and only “ cupped,” would have a poor chance of gaining 
a place with those who had used the tweezers. However well the 
flowers may be grown, there is produced in the majority of them 
narrow quilled petals that are either too long or too short; in fact 
they are not wanted and must be drawn out, as well as a few of 
the broader petals that crowd the flower, and thus prevent them 
incurving properly. The narrow petals must, however, be removed 
or they will mar the beauty of the flowers when seen on the exhi¬ 
bition table. It is well for either Mr. Moorman or Mr. Rowe to 
[ January 18, 1883. 
remark that there were no “highly dressed” flowers at Kingston 
simply because dressing has to be conducted cn a much different 
principle now large blooms are shown than when the blooms were 
so dressed as to admit of Lady Talfourd being shown in the stands. 
Those that are accustomed to be behind the scenes could give a 
different account from Mr. Moorman. What were some of the 
exhibitors and their assistants doing, I wonder, with the bloom 
“ cupped ” and in one hand and the small tools in the other, to 
which I have referred, for hours—I was going to write days— 
before the blooms were arranged in the boxes ready for the 
Kingston Exhibition ?—0. P. 
COTTAGE GARDENS IN WINTER. 
As a rule there are no gardens better filled with useful vege¬ 
tables in summer than those attached to cottages ; but little can 
be said in their favour in winter, as the majority of those I 
have seen in many parts of the country have supplied no vege¬ 
tables of any value from November until the following April or 
May. This state of matters is not confined to cottage gardens, 
as I know many farmers’ gardens and others about which the 
same could be said, and this is certainly neither profitable nor 
creditable to the owners or cultivators. A little extra attention 
at certain seasons would soon bring better results, and I wish to 
suggest improvements. A good supply of Parsnips, Carrots, 
Turnips, and Onions may be maintained during the winter from 
one sowing, as summer-sown Onions, Carrots, and Parsnips can 
always be preserved throughout the winter, and if the Turnips 
are sown on the Onion ground when they are harvested in 
August or September they will be ready for daily use from 
November until May, when the spring-sown ones come in, and 
the winter root-supply is in this way secured. But more than 
roots are wanted in the winter, and quantities of Savoys, Brussels 
Sprouts, Kales, and Broccoli are most desirable and acceptable. 
I have frequently asked cottagers if they would not prefer to see 
their plots filled with those in winter to having them empty, and 
their answer was invariably Yes ; but it was stated that as their 
ground was full of Potatoes in summer there was no space to 
plant the winteT greens, and this is the general idea; but it is 
a mistake, as has lately been proved in many of the cottage 
gardens about here. 
In establishing our cottage garden society valuable cash prizes 
were ottered for the best cropped cottage garden. The compe¬ 
tition generally takes place in August, when many of the early 
Potatoes have been lifted ; but should this space be empty when 
the judge goes round of course it would tell against them, and to 
obviate this most of them plant their ground with winter vege¬ 
tables as the land is cleared of any of the summer crops. As 
soon as the late Potato stems begin to decay winter plants are 
dibbled in between the rows of Potatoes, and when these are dug 
up the ground is left with a valuable winter crop on it. I know 
cottage gardens now which were treated in this way during the 
summer, and their owners may cut a dish of green vegetables 
from them daily for the next three months. This is undoubtedly 
the way to make cottage gardens and small gardens generally 
profitable, and it would be very pleasing to see a system of this 
kind in general practice throughout the country. In our kitchen 
garden here I follow the same plan, and find it answer admirably. 
—J. MUIR, Mar gam. 
LILIES OF THE VALLEY FOR FORCING. 
People are still incredulous about forcing Lily of the Valley 
year after year. The subject was brought before me the other 
day by a florist stating his difficulty to obtain good spikes earlier 
than the middle of January ; and on one of the last days of the 
past year I had an opportunity of seeing the produce of some 
selected single crowns in a nursery. These were dumpy little 
spikes, averaging 4 inches in length and without foliage. I send 
you a sample of spikes and foliage from home-grown plants, which 
we have been cutting from at the rate of ten dozen spikes a week 
for the past few weeks. They are grown in an ordinary stove, 
and with the most ordinary treatment. Of course neither flower 
nor foliage are so strong as later batches will be. At the same 
time, when compared with what I saw the other day, they are 
fairly creditable to our own country.—R. P. Brotherston. 
[They are very creditable. The spikes are strong, each con¬ 
taining sixteen flowers, and the foliage is well developed, stout in 
texture, and healthy.] 
Culture of the Stephanotis. —A correspondent (page 7, of 
January 4th) recommends planting out the Stephanotis. I prefer 
