154 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER 
[ August 19, 1886. 
The annual meeting of the Royal Botanic Society of 
London was held last week, Mr. J. P. Gassiot, Vice-President, in the 
chair. The report states that the tolal receipts for the year had been 
£6038 18s. as against £6487 17s. 10J. in the preceding year. Notwitb. 
standing this falling off several improvements have been effected. A hardy 
fernery has been constructed, and a vane tower for the new sunshine¬ 
recording instruments had been erected. Special facilities had been 
afforded to Indian and Colonial visitors, and the number of students on 
the books amounted to 729, no less than 24,547 cut specimens having 
been supplied. A vote of thanks was accorded to the Duke of Teck, the 
President of the Society. 
- Mr. Jupp, gardener to G. W. Johnson, Esq., Waldronhurst, 
Croydon, desires us to state that he arranged a large group of plants at 
the Sutton and Cheam Show on the 11th inst. We hear that the group 
referred to was much admired by visitors to the Exhibition. 
- Relative to the late boiler contest at Liverpool, Mr. S. 
Deards and Mr. J. Witherspoon thank Mr. Bardney for his report. The 
former exhibitor thinks something more than a silver medal should be 
granted as the chief prize in a compet tion of this kind; and the latter 
evidently desires to have an opportunity of “ fighting the battle over 
again” at no distant data ; and further hopes that no exhibitors will 
interfere with the judges whilst engaged in their duties. 
Z -“A Subscriber” writes as follows respecting Cool Orchids : — 
“ It would be a great boon if some information could be given to amateur 
Orchid growers on the question of treatment of certain plants which are 
said to be suitable for growing in a cool house, but which in the experience 
of many cultivators do not succeed so well under such treatment as in a 
warmer house. Take for example, Coo’ogyne cristata. Mr. Williams says 
in his latest edition that it makes its bulbs best in a cool house. Has 
this system been tried by any of your readers 1 Oncidium concolor, 
O. crispum, 0. curtum, 0. dasystyle, 0. excavatum, O. flexuosum, 
O. Forbesii, 0. ornithorhynchum, 0. Weltoni, are all said to sucoeed best 
with cool treatment by Mr. Williams, Mr. Bull, and Messrs. Veitch in 
their respective catalogues, but our practice does not confirm this. Will 
some of your readers give us their experience P” 
Mr. Wm. Rapley, Bedford Hill House Gardens, Balbam, sends 
ns some flowers of a very fi:e strain of Tuberous Begonias. The 
colours are varied, salmon, yellow, orange, scarlet, crimson, rose, and 
white ; the flowers, both double and tingle, being of great substance and 
excellent form. The tints are particularly distinguished by their bright¬ 
ness and purity. 
-Tobacco Cultivation as a Field Crop in England.— 
Messrs. James Carter & Co., Seed Farmers and Merchants, 237, and 8, 
High Holborn, write to us on this subject “ We shall be greatly obliged 
if you will announce in your Journal that our acreage crop of Tobacco 
(growing within ten miles of London), in seventeen kinds, is now ready for 
inspection, and cards to view can be obtained without charge from us, with 
particulars of the locality in which it is being grown. We are also pre¬ 
pared to make special appointments to accompany anyone interested in 
ihe subject who may wish us to do so.” 
- Mr. N. Molyneux, who has been foreman at Swanmore Park, 
Bishops Waltham, for seven years, has been appointed gardener to C. 
Willock-Dawes, E<q., Burton Hill, Petworth. 
- A Tadcaster correspondent writes as follows on Small 
Fruits :—“ We are having rather unsettled weather hereabouts just now, 
and have h-.d f i some few weeks ; a quantity of soft fruits been much 
damaged thereby, Strawberries and Raspberries, of which a fair quantity 
are grown for m irket in this part, being, as a matter of course, the worst 
injured. I have never seen such an immense crop of Gooseberries in my 
thirty years’ experience. They are scarcely worth picking and taking to 
market, 1 am told by several growers, they are so very cheap. Red Cur¬ 
rants are an immense crop too. I mny mention that a good dressing of 
wood ashes or charred refuse applied in the early part of the winter round 
each tree—say, a good shovelful—is the best fertiliser I know of for Red 
Currants. I have proved this for years past by leaving part of the same 
row of trees undressed.” 
-- Japan Umbrella Pine.—O ne of the largest specimens of the 
Sciadopitys verticillata in Europe is said to be a fine example 
growing in the garden of Max Daniel Wolterbeck, at Yalkenburg, near 
Arnheim, in Holland. It was planted where it now stands, in a very 
exposed situation, twenty years ago, and it is a healthy and beautifully 
formed tree. Moreover, it has never suffered in the least from frost or 
other climatal influences. Of pyramidal shape, it is nearly 13 feet high, 
with a circumference of a little over 21 feet. Two years ago it bore for 
the first time two ripe cones, and the seed produced fifteen seedlings. 
Last summer it bore only one ripe cone. 
- In our report of the Leicester Show, on page 141, Mr. Burn ) 
the Curator of the Abbey Park, was referred to as the originator of the 
exhibition, but his name was accidentally misprinted “ Biron.” 
- Amongst several good plants shown from the Royal Horticul¬ 
tural Society’s Chiswick Gardens at South Kensington recently were some 
useful Asters in Pots well grown, flowering profusely, and admirably 
adapted for decorative purposes. The most showy of these was a firie 
dark reddish crimson variety named “ Rose Dark Scarlet,” which has 
blooms of good substance, very full, and well formed. In contrast with 
that was a white variety of similar habit, and the two made some capital 
effective groups. The value of such plants in conservatories and green¬ 
houses now is considerable, for it is not always easy to get a variety of 
flowering plants for indoor display in August. 
- The Botanic Gardens and pleasure grounds in the Royal 
Gardens, Kew, are this season in excellent condition, and bear an un¬ 
usually fresh appearance for August. In hot dry summers the trees, 
shrubs, and herbaceous plants often suffer severely owing to the soil being 
shallow with a sandy or gravel subsoil, but this year, with the exception 
of a short period earlier in the season, they have not been tried very 
much. The herbaceous plant department is very attractive still, and the 
iockery, which is now so beautifully furnished, contains numbers of 
curious or beautiful plants. The Liliums have succeeded extremely well 
and there are still many good specimens in flower, one of Lilium Bate- 
mann® being very notable. It has seven heads of flowers, twelve to 
twenty each, of a clear orange salmon hue, and seldom is this handsome 
Lily seen in such satisfactory condition. L. tigrinum, L. chalcedonicum, 
and others are also flowering well. 
- It is seldom that Roses in August are as fine as they are this 
year, and some of the leading Rose-growers state they have been cutting 
blooms like the July Exhibition specimens in all points. At South Ken¬ 
sington last week there were nearly 1000 blooms shown by the two firms, 
Messrs. William Paul & Son, Waltham Cross, and Messrs. Paul & Son, 
Cheshunt, and although the Tuberous Begonias were so bright and hand¬ 
some, the Roses had the largest share of admiration. There was a great 
number of varieties, but the Teas and Noisettes from Waltham Cross were 
delightfully fresh and beautiful. 
- An International Colonial, Mining, Engineering, and Industrial 
Exhibition is to be held at Newcastle-on-Tyne next year, and one of 
the departments will be devoted to Agriculture, Horticulture, and 
Arboriculture. This is divided into five classes—A, Agriculture ; B, 
Horticulture and Arboriculture; C, Manure ; D, Agricultural Implements ; 
and E, Carts, Waggons, &o. The Exhibition will be under the patronage 
of the Duke of Northumberland, the President being the Right Hon. the 
Earl of Ravensworth, the Vice-Presidents and Committees comprising a 
large number of distinguished persons. The Exhibition will be opened 
on May 24th, 1887, and close in the autumn of that year. 
- The monthly meeting of 1 Belgian Horticulturists was held 
in Ghent, August 10th, the following being present, MM. Cuvelier, 
Lemoinnierde Lille, Sosseel, B. Spae, Van Geert p<Pe, A. Peeters, Moens, 
E lm. Yervaet, Desmet-Duvi vier, Ch. Van Geert of Antwerp, Em. Decock, 
Arth. Desmet, and P. Blanquaert; M. Kickx presiding, and M. Jules 
Closon of Lifige was Secretary. Certificates of merit were awarded for 
Pothos nigricans and Labisia Malouana from M. Linden ; Begonia Mad. 
Louis Desmet from M. Louis Desmet; Peseatorea Lehmarini from MM- 
Vervaet & Co. ; Cienkowskia Kirki from M. L. Van Houtte ; and Begonia 
Arthur Malet from M. Godefroy-I.ebeuf of Argenfeuil. Honourable 
