January 28, 1892. ] 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
65 
- Presentation to Mr. Lewis Castle.—A fter the annual 
dinner of the British Fruit Growers’ Association at the Hotel Windsor 
on January 21st, Mr. Joseph Cheal, on behalf of the members, presented 
the Hon. Secretary with a handsome gold watch and chain. The wateh 
bore the following inscription : “ Presented to Mr. Lewis Castle by the 
members of the British Fruit Growers’ Association as a token of 
appreciation for his services as Honorary Secretary.” 
- Death of Mr. Robert J. Parker. —Mr. Robert J. Parker 
of Tooting was for many years a prominent man in the horticultural 
world, but for some time past lived in retirement. Under the partner¬ 
ship of Parker & Williams, the now large and important business of 
Messrs. B. S. Williams & Son, Holloway, was established, and after the 
dissolution of that partnership Mr. Parker made hardy herbaceous 
plants a speciality, and was a pioneer in the revival of interest in them. 
He was a very able man and highly respected. He died at Clapham on 
the 21st inst, in the sixty-fifth year of his age. 
- Dissolution of Partnership.—W e are desired to notify 
that the partnership formerly existing between Samuel Clay and James 
Levesley, manufacturers of Clay’s fertiliser, having been dissolved, the 
partnership business will in future be carried on by the said Samuel 
Ulay in conjunction with his son Samuel Charles Clay, the proprietor of 
8. C. Clay’s invigorator, and they will in future manufacture both the 
fertiliser and the invigorator under the name or firm of Clay & Son, 
at Temple Mill Lane, Stratford, London, E. 
- At Howden on January 19th was interred all that was mortal 
of the late Mr. John Bearpark, who for several years was well known 
throughout the East Riding of Yorkshire as a most successful grower 
and exhibitor of Grape, Peaches, Strawberries, Tomatoes, Cucumbers, &c. 
Although only forty-one years of age the large concourse of people who 
attended the funeral proved conclusively how highly he was respected in 
life. He was a most genial man, and all his brother gardeners were 
always sure of a true Yorkshire welcome from his kind-hearted wife and 
himself. The late Mr. John Bearpark was the only son of Mr. Bearpark, 
Farm Bailiff of Sowerby House, Bridlington.— Welton Dale. 
- A new chemical industry has arisen, that of colouring 
NATURAL CUT FLOWERS. A Paris correspondent writes :—“ For some 
time the florists have been selling at fancy prices all kinds of flowers, 
which were supposed to be the roc’s eggs of horticulturists, such as 
sky blue Orchids, pink Narcissuses, green and violet Roses, and ultra- 
marine Chrysanthemums. It now appears that the flowers were simply 
dyed by a new process, which MM. Charles Girard and Pabst have 
revealed. The colouring matters are dissolved in variable quantities 
according to the depth of the hues that are to be obtained in filtered 
water, in which, to hasten the solution of the colouring matter, a few 
drops of alcohol have been poured. The stalk ends of the flowers are 
then placed in the dye, and the fluid by capillary attraction is drawn 
up into the flower. The dye, however, only colours freshly cut flowers, 
nor will watering the roots of a plant with the colouring matter produce 
the effect.” 
- Bournemouth and District Gardeners’ Mutual 
Improvement Association. — “ Grapes for Exhibition ” was the 
subject of the paper read by Mr. C. Warden, gardener at Clarendon 
Park, Salisbury, at the meeting of the above Society on Wednesday, 
January 20th. Mr. A. H. May, gardener, Studley, Bournemouth, 
occupied the chair. Mr. Warden treated the subject in a thoroughly 
practical manner, giving a list of the best varieties suitable for 
exhibition, with the names of the raisers and those who had brought 
them prominently before the public, and also gave valuable information 
as to how the different varieties ought to be treated so as to secure 
success. A hearty vote of thanks was accorded to Mr. Warden for 
his excellent paper by the large number of members present. The 
following is the programme of this Association for the season. The 
papers will be read at the Society’s room, Tregonwell Assembly Rooms, 
Commercial Road, Bournemouth, at 7..SO on Wednesday evenings :— 
January 27th, amateur dramatic performance in aid of the Gardeners’ 
Orphan Fund. February 3rd, Questions. February 17th, “An Epitome 
of Chrysanthemum Culture,” Mr. B. Molyneux, gardener, Swanmore 
Park, Bishops Waltham. March 2nd, Questions ; exhibitions of 
Hyacinths, Dielytra, and Spiraia. March IGth, “ Some Diseases of 
Plants,” Miss Rooper. April 6th, Social evening. April 20th, “The 
Melon, Mr. H. W. Ward, gardener, Longford Castle, Salisbury. 
May 4tb, Questions; exhibition of foliage plants and flowering plants. 
May 18ih, “ Insects,” Mr. J, Kettlee. June 1.5th, Questions ; exhibition 
of Rosts (cut blooms, distinct). Zonal Pelargoniums, and Strawberries, 
A Preventive for Grape Mildew. —For the downy mildew, 
and for similar plant diseases generally, the Bordeaux mixture adheres 
with great tenacity to the leaves and other parts of the plants, and is 
not easily washed off even by heavy rains. On the other hand, it is 
much more expensive, and more inconvenient to prepare and to apply, 
than the ammoniacal carbonate of copper solution, besides being liable 
to discolour the fruit when late applications are made ; so that, on the 
whole, we believe it would be no loss to the fruit-grower if the use of 
Bordeaux mixture were to be abandoned entirely. With timely appli¬ 
cations, repeated frequently during the early part of the season, the 
Grape-grower will find the ammoniacal solution of carbonate of copper 
fully sufficient for the control of the downy mildew and black rot, and 
this with far less expense and far greater convenience than by bother¬ 
ing with the whitewashy Bordeaux mixture. — G. R. (in American 
Garden). 
The Wakefield Paxton Society. —At a recent meeting of 
the members of the above Society, held on Saturday evening, Alderman 
Milnes presided, and Mr. J. G. Brown of Stanley was in the vice-chair. 
Before the business of the meeting was proceeded with, Alderman Milnes 
referred in appropriate terms to the death of Mr. Thomas Senior, solicitor, 
a former President of the Paxton Society, and moved a vote of condo¬ 
lence with his widow and family. The motion was seconded by Mr. 
G. W. Fallas, one of the Hon. Secretaries, and unanimously carried. 
Mr. T. Tate, F.G.S , Leeds, delivered a long, interesting, and able 
address on “ The Evolution of Plant Life,’' which was most attentively 
listened to and greatly appreciated. The lecturer, who has appeared 
before the Wakefield Paxtonians in previous years, illustrated his subject 
by a number of diagrams and botanical specimens. He treatedia difificult 
subject in a manner which rendered it very clear and simnle to his 
audience. With a view to help them to clear their minds, and to assist 
them in the study of the evolution of plant life, he dealt specially on. 
the three stages of it—viz., progressive, arrestive, and retrogressive. 
Mr. H. S. Goodyear of the Westgate Board Schools (an old student 
under Mr. Tate), propo.sed a vote of thanks to Mr. Tate for his very 
compact and interesting lecture. Mr. Arthur Goldthorpe seconded the 
motion in an exceedingly witty, humourous, and characteristic speech. 
The motion was heartily carried, and suitably acknowledged by Mr. 
Tate. 
The French Vintage in 1891.—The phylloxera has done so 
much mischief in the French vineyards that it would be idle to antici¬ 
pate such splendid returns of the Grape harvest as were made about 
fifteen years ago, the high water mark having been reached in 1875 
when, with about five and a half million acres of vineyards, the yield 
was not far short of 2000 million gallons. Immediately after this the 
quantity of wine made began to decline, and as year after year more 
vineyards were rooted up, the area under cultivation diminished, having 
been reduced by nearly a million acres in the course of ten years. The 
quantity of wine made varied, of course, from year to year, according to 
the weather; but for some time it varied between seven and five 
hundred million gallons, the worst year having been 1889, when little 
more than a fourth of the wine made in 1875 was produced from the 
French vineyards. There was an improvement in 1890, when the total 
yield was about six hundred million gallons, while the improvement was 
fully sustained last year, when, according to the official figures published 
by the Ministry of Finance, the quantity of wine made was about 
679,000,000 gallons. But what is perhaps of the more real importance 
the official report goes on to say that the efforts to combat the phylloxera 
have so far been successful that many vineyards have been planted with 
fresh stocks, and may be expected to bear very shortly, so that it does 
not seem unreasonable to look for a constant improvement in the 
returns. With regard to the value of last year’s wine crop the Ministry 
of Finance estimates it broadly at forty millions sterling ; but, so far as 
quantity goes, France, which before the phylloxera exported about 
eighty million gallons and imported only six million gallons, does not 
now export fifty millions, while her imports have gone up to over two 
hundred million gallons—figures which bring the mischief done by the 
phylloxera into very distinct relief. 
PRIMULAS, PAST AND PRESENT. 
As Mr. Arthur W. Sutton reminded those who listened to his most 
interesting paper at a meeting of the Royal Horticultural Society on 
November 11th, 1890, there are many horticulturists now living in whose 
early childhood the Chinese Primula had neither been seen nor heard of 
in this country. Consider for a moment what this means. During the 
threescore years and ten of man’s allotted span a course of development 
has been going on that has had results as striking as they are rapid. In 
