340 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[ October 14, 1886. 
build their nests, bringing one brood only. To their diminished numbers 
is chiefly owing, 1 think, the present pest of flies. ‘But for the swallows 
the air would soon be so filled with flies that we should be unable to see 
or breathe, and vegetation would be destroyed,’ writes some competent 
authority. This, I take it, would be an excellent opportunity for impress¬ 
ing upon the minds of your readers the absolute necessity for protecting 
the nests of these birds in all seasons for the future, upon railway 
stations, public buildings and private dwelling houses. That it was want 
of food more than the lowness of the temperature that caused the great 
loss in these birds is proved by the fact that all that were brought to me 
were wasted to mere skeletons. Thirty would not weigh a pound.” 
- Me. Hr. Balderson, Cornier Hall, Hemel Hempstead, sends 
the following note :—“ Raspberries in Hertfordshire. —In taking my 
morning walk through the kitchen garden with my gardener this morning, 
we came in view of a magnificent lot of Raspberries quite in perfection 
for the table, and several of them measuring 3 inches in circum" 
ference. These were from a bed planted in the autumn of last year, and 
bearing fruit now for the first time. If this worthy of record please insert 
it; the canes were purchased of Messrs. Wood & Ingram of Huntingdon.’’ 
- Mr. Joseph Mallender sends the following summary of 
METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATIONS AT HODSOCK PRIORY, WORKSOP, 
Notts, for September :—Mean temperature of month, 55'9°. Maximum 
on the 4th, 73 - 5° ; minimum on the 16th, SIB 0 . Maximum in sun on the 
6th, 124 - 3° ; minimum on the grass on the 16th, 30-4°. Mean temperature 
of air at 9 a.m., 57 - 6; mean temperature of soil 1 foot deep, 58 0°. The 
temperature fell below 32° on two nights on the grass. Total duration of 
sunshine, ninety-one hours, or 24 per cent, of possible duration. Total 
rainfall T01 inch. Maximum fall in twenty-four hours on the 9th, 
037 inch. Rain fell on fifteen days. Average velocity of wind 9 6 miles 
per hour. Velocity exceeded 400 miles on four days, and fell short of 
100 miles on three days. Approximate averages for September ;—Mean 
temperature, 55 8°. Rainfall, 2-51 inches. Sunshine (five years) 114. 
A dull month, of average temperature and low rainfall. The harvest was 
finished here generally by the 18th. 
- Gardening Appointment. —Mr. T. Tebby, for the last four 
years foreman at Aberaman House, Aberdare, has been appointed head 
gardener to E. D. Thomas, Esq., Welfield, Builth, Radnorshire. 
-A dinner, to celebrate the success of the first Exhibition of 
the Darlaston Horticultural Society, took place recently at the 
Green Dragon Hotel, Darlaston. Mr. William Winn, the President of the 
Society, was to have presided, but as he was suffering from indisposition, 
and from that cause was unable to attend, Mr. G. A. Wilkes, the Chairman 
of the Committee, presided, and Mr. Joseph Yates took the vice-chair- 
After the usual loyal toasts, Mr. W. Dean of Walsall, one of the Judges 
at the late Exhibition, proposed “ Continued success to the Darlaston 
Horticultural Society,” and spoke of the good work these Black Country 
societies were doing in fostering a love for gardening amongst the working 
classes, and of the very great success attending the Bilston, Willenhall, 
and Darlaston Exhibitions, coupling with the toast the name of Mr. 
George A. Wilkes, the promoter of the Society, and to whose exertions 
so much of the success was due. Mr. Wilkes, in responding, acknowledged 
the valuable help he had received from the Hon. Secretaries and the 
Committee, and felt that they had done their part in promoting a love for 
gardening in the township, and that in the future they should continue to 
promote the interests of the Society. Mr. John Griffin, in submitting 
the toast of “ Success to the neighbouring Horticultural Societies of 
Bilston, Willenhall, Walsall, and district,” remarked that he yielded to 
none in a love for floriculture, and it gave him much pleasure to see the 
pursuit engaged in in the Black Country with so much success. In a 
brief but practical speech Mr. Griffin alluded to the benefits of these 
societies, and coupled with the .toast the name of Mr. Joseph Lowe, one 
of the Hon. Secretaries of th Willenhall Horticultural Society. Mr. 
Lowe, in an able speech, alluded to the time when he should have scouted 
the idea that Bilston, Darlaston, or Willenhall would have set an example 
to the rest of the Black Country in horticulture. In Willenhall they had 
in two years made a profit of £107 towards providing an illuminated 
clock for the Board schools. They should now go on with a profit on 
this year’s Exhibition of quite £30, and he wished Darlaston also every 
success. 
- The seventh annual Cryptogamic and Botanical meeting 
of the Essex Field Club will be held on Friday and Saturday, Oct... 
15th and 16tb, 1886, in the northern section of Epping Forest (Epping Lower 
Forest, Chingford, High Beach, Monk Woods, Buckhurst Hill, &c.). Head¬ 
quarters for the meeting, “ The Roebuck Hotel,” Buckhurst Hill, Epping 
Forest. The following botanists, among many others, have kindly pro¬ 
mised their valuable aid as referees and directors at the meeting:—For 
Fungi—Dr. M. C. Cooke, M.A., F.L.S., Rev. Canon Du Port, M.A., Mr. 
James English, Worthington G. Smith, Esq., F.L.S., M.A.I., Dr. H. T. 
Wharton, M. A.., F.Z.S., &c., Atthur Lister, Esq., J.P., F.L.S. For Mosses, 
L'chens, Algre, and Phanerogams—Professor Boulger, F.L.S., F.G.S., Rev. 
J. M. Crombie, M.A., F.L.S., F.G.S., J. T. Powell, Esq., Henry Groves, 
Esq., Charles A. Wright, Esq., F.L.S., F.Z.S., F. J. Hanbury,Esq., F.L.S., 
E. M. Holmes, Esq., F.L.S., David Houston Esq., F.L.S., F.R.M.S., 
W. W. Reeves, Esq., F.R.M.S., A. Vaughan Jennings, Esq. An exhibition 
of specimens will be held in the large ball-room attached to the “ Roebuck 
Inn,” Buckhurst Hill. Exhibitions of fresh and dried botanical specimens, 
microscopes, and microscopical objects, diagrams, drawings, &c., will be 
very welcome. The exhibition will be confined to subjects from the 
vegetable kingdom, but not necessarily to the Cryptogamia, although that 
division will hold a very important place. Intending exhibitors (especially 
of micro-slides) will greatly aid by sending in their specimens to the 
Hon. Secretary at the headquarters, 8, Knighton Villas, Buckhurst Hill, a 
few days before the meeting. Fresh specimens of fungi and other plants 
should be sent to the “ Roebuck Inn,” on the Friday or the Saturday 
morning. Fungi will travel safely in hampers or boxes if care is taken to 
wrap each specimen separately in pieces of tissue paper or soft newspaper. 
Gatherings from various parts of Essex will be mnch esteemed, and 
localities should in all cases be given. Specimens of fungi intended for 
the named and arranged series must be in Dr. Cooke’s hand by twelve 
o’clock on Saturday, October 16th ; separate tables will be provided for 
collections arriving after that hour. The Friday’s assembly is intended 
to be a student’s and collector’s day in the woods, the evening being 
devoted to the naming and arrangement of specimens. Those wishing to 
take part in it should send word to Mr. B. G. Cole, who will then forward 
particulars of place of meeting, trains, &c. Saturday morning and early 
afternoon will be similarly occupied, and Saturday evening’s meeting will 
be of the nature of a conversazione. Ample time will thus be afforded 
for careful examination of the specimens by the visitors present, and all 
possible facilities will be given to exhibitors. On Saturday evoning Dr. 
Cooke’s Report on “ Recent Epping Forest Fungi,” Prof. Boulger’s 
“ Remarks on the Progress of the New Edition of the ‘ Flora of E sex,’ ” 
and probably some other short papers and addresses will be read. 
- In certain districts of the United States of North America 
Strawberry culture is carried out on a very extensive scale. 
Especially is this the case in Ohio, where a Mr. Crawford has contributed 
greatly to the increased and improved cultivation of this fruit. “ The 
Barnesville district is very remarkable for the crops raised, but its pro¬ 
ducts are eclipsed by a belt of territory lying along the Illinois Central 
Railroad, over which special express fruit trains have been run for thir¬ 
teen seasons, until it now consists of thirty refrigerator carloads per day, 
twenty-two of which go to the commission men of Chicago, whose 
800,000 inhabitants consume 435,600 quarts per day, at a cost of 15,000 
dollars for each trainload, or about 350,000 dollars for the three weeks’ 
season. This represents only a small part of the traffic in the fruits of 
this country, which is constantly increasing. The ease and certainty with 
which they may be grown is tho reason why it should be done.” 
1 1 J -To the Culture of Horseradish considerable space is devoted 
in some of the North American States. One writer in New Jersey 
describes bis system as follows:—“I planted on moist soil, in banks 
3 feet apart, 18 inches apart in the row. The average weight in eight 
years was 2 lbs. each, the average price during the same time was eight 
cents a pound, or 1600 dollars to the acre; but I must say we used from 
350 to 400 dollars’ worth of manure from a slaughter-house at 1 dollar 
50 cents per ton to each acre. The ploughing, planting, cultivating, 
trimming, &c., was worth 200 to 300 dollars, according to the season, 
leaving a profit of 900 to 1150 dollars per acre. I raised Horseradish 
alone, but it can be raised together with Cabbage, Beets, or Lettuce. If 
done in this way the roots are not as strong or thick as they are when 
planted alone.” 
-Since 1834 Prof. Schnetzler has been making some experiments 
in the Cultivation of the Ramie or China Grass Plant 
(Bcehmeria njfea) on the Champ-de-l’Air at Lausanne. This plant, 
a native of China and Sumatra, has been grown in the south of the Unit°d 
