December 18, 18)0. ] 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
541 
State has multiplied came from St. Augustine. There are several 
variations in shape, habit and flavour, and careful selection will 
undoubtedly greatly improve the value of the fruit, especially if increased 
culture opens a northern market. The carrying capacity of the fruit is 
better than that of Cherries and Peaches, and its uses more varied. A 
few bunches with their shining green leaves are a very ornamental 
addition to a dish of dessert fruit. Besides being delicious eaten raw 
they make a jelly and sauce more piquant than Currants and Cran¬ 
berries, and pies that recall and vanquish the memory of Cherry, Apple 
and Peach combined. The chief drawbacks to their culture are 
depredations of crows and mocking birds.” 
-Wells (Somerset) Chrysanthemum Show.—I n case you 
may like to insert it in your Journal, our 1S91 Show is fixed for 
Tuesday and Wednesday, the 3rd and 4th November next.— Albion 
G. Andrews, lion. Sec., St. Cuthbert's Lodge, Wells. 
- The Brighton and Hove Chrysanthemum Society.— 
We are informed by the Secretary, Mr. Mark Longhurst, that the recent 
Show was a great success. 9494 persons paid for admission at the doors, 
the receipts being over £324. This Show is an exceedingly well managed 
one in every respect, and both the Secretary and Committee are to 
be congratulated on the result. 
- The Cold Wave of December 13th and 14th. —A cold 
wave passed over us here during the end of last week and the beginning 
of this. On Saturday afternoon, between three and four o’clock, a 
thick, dark, low-lying column of smoke-like vapour, and not very wide, 
for it was clear on the north, south, and east, came up from the west, 
looking, as it might be, smoke from a heavy fire somewhere. The wind 
was east at the time, but it gradually came on and spread. It was so 
thick that we could not see the boles of the trees in the park, nor half 
their heads, but their tops were clearly visible. It passed on and away 
into the valleys, and remained so during the evening. Here and the 
higher parts of the town of Nottingham the fog and darkness was 
only ordinary, but in the lower parts of the town the fog was almost 
unpenetrable, and traffic became dangerous, and in some cases stopped. 
- The thermometer gradually went down, at 10.30 p.m. there 
being 16° of frost. The centre of intensity appears to have been from 
about midnight to 8 a.m. on Sunday morning, when 20° was registered. 
It rose very slowly to 91° about 2 o’clock p.m., when it again began to 
decline, and at 10.30 p.m there was 17° of frost. At 6 A.M., Monday, 
there was 12°, the ground being covered with a thin sheet of ice, 
showing that there must have been a slight shower in the night, and the 
wind was south-west and west. Now, at 2.30 p.m., the thermometer 
stands at 33°, 1° above freezing, and a little sleet is falling. Whether 
the wave will pass away without a downfall of snow we cannot yet tell. 
The barometer is declining, and downfall of some kind will undoubtedly 
come.—N. H. Pownall, Notts. 
- Liverpool Horticultural Association.— Last Saturday 
a good attendance of members met together at the William Brown 
Street Museum to hear a paper by Mr. H. Ranger of Messrs. Ker’s, 
Aigburth, entitled “ Plant Culture under Glass and Insect Pests.” 
Mr. White, the Chairman of the Association, presided. Mr. Ranger 
dealt with his subject in a very practical manner, dwelling chiefly on 
the importance of keeping plants clean, and the insects plants are most 
subject to, also the different remedies for their successful eradication. 
Many remedies were put forward, but Mr. Ranger placed confidence 
in paraffin for bug, fumigation for thrips, and sulphur for red spider 
and mildew, each to be used in proper proportions. Fir tree oil was 
also mentioned most approvingly. Those who entered prominently into 
the discussion after the reading of the paper were Mr. Tunnington, 
who had found beneficial results from the use of Campbell’s fumigating 
insecticide, and Messrs. Bennett and Cox. The proceedings terminated 
in the usual manner. 
- Begonias insignis and nitida.—W hat useful Begonias 
these are, either for a greenhouse or stove. The former is excellently 
adapted for pots, its bright green leaves and pretty pink flowers render 
it particularly striking at this season of the year. We take cuttings of 
this as early as possible in the new year, and they strike freely in any 
sandy soil, and, if placed in a warm propagating case, they will be rooted 
in about a fortnight’s time. A compost of three parts loam, with good 
leaf mould, sand and charcoal added, suits them admirably, and we put 
three plants into a 5-inch pot. They are then placed in a warm, moist 
atmosphere, and the points of the shoots taken out when they have 
reached a height of 6 or 8 inche3. At the beginning of April they are 
placed into pots 3 inches larger, using the same material for potting, 
and are staked neatly out. As the weather becomes warmer we move 
them into frames, where they remain during the summer months. With 
this treatment they readily respond to the warmth of the greenhouse 
when placed indoors again, and a wealth of bloom is assured. Not only 
are the plants most ornamental, but the flowers come in when they are 
highly valued. In vases where the flowers are allowed to droop over the 
edges this Begonia is delightful in its effect, and is most pleasing by gas¬ 
light. 
- Begonia nitida may be treated in a similar manner if grown 
in pots, but it is when planted out that it displays itself to the best 
advantage. Many who have vineries are often puzzled what to clothe 
the back walls with. In some establishments there is no need to cover 
them, but to others a wall 6 or 7 feet high is a great objection. Of course 
many more plants can be brought forward as suitable for such positions, 
but as the one under notice has answered our expectations so well I 
thought a note, for the benefit of those who have not tried this Begonia, 
might not be out of place. A few years ago we had planted on the back 
wall of our early vinery a double Hibiscus which covered the wall. True 
it answered the description as a covering, but it rarely flowered, and was 
oftener covered with green and white fly, which no fumigating or 
syringing would thoroughly exterminate. It was rooted out and the 
border remade. Two old plants of this Begonia which were getting 
rather too large were knocked out of the pots and transferred to the 
border and the growths tied to the wires. The plants soon began to 
revel in the new soil, and at the present time completely cover the wall. 
They are in flower, more or less, all the year round, and the flowers are 
most valuable. Apart from the flowers, the large glaucous leaves are at 
all times an ornament in themselves.—R. P. R. 
- On Wednesday, December 12th, the members of the East 
Anglian Horticultural Club held their monthly meeting at the 
City Arms, Norwich, the President, Mr. Morris, of Witton, occupying the 
chair. The business of electing a Chairman, Vice-Chairman, and eight 
Committeemen was first proceeded with, and in the case of the two 
former they were re-elected for the ensuing year. The former Secretary 
having left the city recently it was necessary to choose another in his 
place. The Chairman (Mr. Morris) proposed, and Mr. Ives, The Gardens, 
Rackheath Park, seconded, that Mr. Upstone, although a stranger to 
them and Norwich, should be elected Secretary. He believed he had 
had some experience in the working of a society such as this, and so 
would be very helpful. Carried unanimously. Mr. George Daniels then 
read the first of a series of papers on “ Ancient and Modern,” which was 
full of exceedingly interesting notes, and had evidently been compiled 
with a great amount of thought and research. The same gentleman 
was also unanimously re-elected Hon. Treasurer. It may be remembered 
that the newly appointed Hon. Secretary until recently represented the 
firm of Messrs. Peed & Sons, of Norwood. He is now with Messrs* 
Daniels Bros., and resides in Norwich. 
- The Birmingham Gardeners’ Association. —At a fort¬ 
nightly meeting on the 15th inst., a very interesting paper on “ Evergreen 
Shrubs, &c., for Autumn and Winter Decoration ” was read by Mr* 
Fetch, formerly the head gardener at Manley Hall, Manchester, and for 
many years one of the travellers for Messrs. Rd. Smith & Co., Worcester. 
Much useful information was given, especially in lists of the most pro¬ 
minent kinds of golden and silver variegated shrubs and Conifers, as well 
as the better class of evergreen shrubs. Amongst berried plants Mr. 
Petch noticed the best varieties of Aucubas, Pernettyas, now several 
bright coloured varieties, Skimmias, Crataegus, Pyracantha Lelandi, and 
Vaccinium vitis-idma. Low-growing shrubs most suitable for window 
boxes and small beds were mentioned. Hardy herbaceous plants were 
fully noticed, especially the evergreen trailing kinds for carpet work, 
silver coloured forms being also named and described with treatment 
most suitable to them. 
--A Chrysanthemum Society for Cirencester.— A well 
attended meeting to consider the advisability of instituting a Chrys¬ 
anthemum Society for Cirencester, was, says the Wilts and Gloucester¬ 
shire Standard, recently held at the Fleece Hotel. The meeting was 
the outcome of correspondence on the subject that has recently 
appeared in our columns, though the idea had been previously enter¬ 
tained by a few gentlemen interested in floriculture. Mr. Rawlins 
was voted to the chair, and amongst those present were Messrs. C. 
Mackinnon, H. L. Cooke, C. Smith, W. Griffiths, S. F. Hamper, Jesse 
Smith, A. Tranter, H. F. Sare, W. H. Cole, Job Saunders, G. Dash, 
C. Bennett, T. Gardner, A. Wall, T. Arnold, O. Orpett, D. Elkins, &c, 
