108 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[ February 11, 1892. 
-The Midland Carnation and Picotee Society’s Exhibi¬ 
tion will be held at the Botanical Gardens, Edgbaston, Birmingham, 
on Saturday, August 6tb, 1892. Honorary exhibits of other flowers will 
be accepted from subscribers to the Society, and handsome silver and 
bronze medals be awarded to any exhibits of sterling merit. Numerous 
prizes are offered in thirty-eight classes for cut blooms and plants. 
- Eoyal Meteorological Society, —At the ordinary meeting 
of this Society, to be held at 2o, Great George Street, Westminster, on 
Wednesday, the 17th instant, at 7 p.m., the following papers will te 
read ;—“ Report on the Phenological Observations for 1891,” by Edward 
Mawley, F.R.Met.Soc.; “The Untenability of an Atmospheric Hypo¬ 
thesis of Epidemics,” by the Hon. F. A. Rollo Russell, F.R.Met.Soc. ; 
“ The Origin of Influenza Epidemics,” by Henry Harries, F.R.Met.Soc.; 
“ Note on a Lightning Discharge at Thornbury, Gloucestershire, 
July 22nd, 1891,” by Ernest H. Cook, D.Sc. 
- Your correspondents, Messrs. Williams and Palmer (pages 491 
and 539, vol. xxiii.), do not appear to be aware that PANCRATIUM 
FRAGRANS Can be flowered oftener than once a year. Treated as has 
often been recommended for Eucharis they can be flowered twice and 
three times a year—or rather, I should say, in thirteen months, as I find 
they take about a month longer during the winter season. I do not find 
it is any detriment to the bulbs to subject them to such sharp practice* 
I have some now, three years old, 10 to 12 inches in circumference, and 
looking equally as well as others _I have known that only flowered 
once a year. I should have written ere this, but have been a suflEerer 
from the prevailing epidemic.—J ames Lloyd. 
- Eccles, Patricroft, Pendleton and District Chrys¬ 
anthemum Society. —The annual general meeting of this Society 
was held on Friday, the 29th January, 1892, at the Christ Church 
Schools, Patricroft, Capt. James Andrew in the chair. The report, 
which was read by the Hon. Secretary, Mr. H. Huber, was in every 
respect a very satisfactory and encouraging one. The Society is a 
prosperous one, and their exhibition of Chrysanthemums is well known 
and patronised by the principal growers within a large district. Year 
after year they have made greater progress, so that the Town Hall, 
Eccles, is already too small for their show, and they have therefore 
decided to hold their next exhibition, which is fixed for Friday and 
Saturday, the 11th and 12th November, at the Drill Hall, Patricroft. 
Mr. J. Hooper, the Hon. Treasurer, read a statement of the accounts, 
showing an amount received during the past year in subscriptions of 
£111 11s. 6d., and a balance of £75 13s. 2d. to the credit of the 
Society. The following officers and members were elected on the Com¬ 
mittee of Management for the present year :—Chairman, Mr. H. Lar- 
muth ; Vice-Chairmen, Mr. Vm. Elkin and Mr. James Derbyshire ; 
Hon. Treasurer, Mr. John Hooper; Hon. Secretary, Mr. H. Huber; 
Committee—Mr. John Bayley, Mr. Jos. Bansor, Mr. James Bradley, Mr. 
John Briddon, Mr. John Clarke, Mr. John Hesketh, Mr. Rich. Johnson, 
Mr. Geo. Lee, Mr. John Parr, Mr. John Roberts, Mr. James Smethurst, 
Mr. Wm. Smethurst, Mr. John Turner and Mr. W. B. Upjohn. 
- Death op Mr. John Roberts. — On the 23rd of January 
last at Charleville Forest Gardens, Tullamore, died the veteran Grape 
grower of Ireland, Mr. John Roberts, head gardener to Lady Emily 
Howard Bury. After an illness of but two days’ duration he succumbed 
to an acute attack of pneumonia, brought on by influenza. He had 
reached the sixty-second year of his age, and the thirty-sixth year of 
his service in the Charleville family. Mr. Roberts was the faithful 
servant of five members of this house, including three Earls, having been 
engaged by the third Earl of Charleville while in the Pine Apple 
Nursery, London. Previous to this he had served Lord Ellesmere at 
Worsley Hall, Lord Windsor at Hewell Grange, and Sir Joseph Red- 
clifle, Bart., at Rudding Park. As a gardener, the late Mr. Roberts was 
very successful. He had an intense love for horticulture and for 
arboriculture also ; this, together with the gift of a rare intelligence and 
a liberal education, was the means of advancing him greatly. It was 
as a Grape grower, however, that he made his mark, and at the Shows 
of the Royal Hortieultural Society of Ireland, held in Dublin, he always 
swept the board. His exhibits were at such times surrounded by a 
circle of admirers, and “The Charleville Grapes again,” passed from 
mouth to mouth. Several times he carried the war into the sister 
islands, and wrested victory from noted and able opponents, as at the 
Internationals held in Manchester and Edinburgh. During his career 
as an exhibitor he gained over fifty medals, among which were several 
of the much-coveted Veitch Memorial medals. Mr. Roberts was the 
lakser of''n improved variety of the Gros Guillaume Grape, known by 
his name, and exhibited several very large bunches, one ofiwhich 
weighed over 23 lbs. He was held in great esteem by all who knew 
him, and was highly valued by his noble and generous employers as an 
old and faithful servant. Some years ago he was Taken out to Algiers 
by the Countess of Charleville, for the purpose of laying out the gardens 
and grounds attached to the winter residence of the family in that 
place. He leaves a widow, five sons, and two daughters to mourn his 
sudden demise. His son-in-law, Mr. R. McKenna of the Chief Secretary’s 
Gardens, Dublin, succeeds him.—B. 
- Pruning Vines. — When giving my experience on the 
above I did not intend to enter into any controversy or make any 
attempt to criticise Mr. Dunkin’s remarks. I simply gave my experience 
on close pruning, and quoted his advice on leaving the shoots 2 feet 
long. Although I referred to a case of Black Hamburgh, I did not 
mention that variety in quoting his advice, which 1 think Mr. Dunkin 
will find if he will read my note more carefully. When I said there 
would not be sufficient space to train the young growth, I alluded more 
especially to that part beyond the bunch. Even in the case of Vines 
being in an unsatisfactory state (as Mr. Dunkin says his advice was 
intended for), I am doubtful if it would be the best means of securing a 
crop. I quite agree with him that the ordinary methods of pruning 
would have to be departed from, but at the same time if a good bud 
could not be found under 2 or 3 feet from the spur, the Vines would be 
best consigned to the rubbish heap. In one of the vineries under my 
charge there is only about 2 feet between the rods. I question if Mr. 
Dunkin could apply his long-spur system to these. 1 can assure him 
that it requires a little of the ingenuity he speaks of when closely 
pruned to get the necessary growth in without overcrowding. While 
speaking of these Vines I might say there is never any difficulty in 
securing a good bud close to the spur ; in fact the best buds are, as a 
rule, at the base of the shoot. We all know that young Vines are 
required to produce extra large bunches, but in the majority of cases I 
am sure good samples of Grapes can be produced year after year on 
closely pruned Vines if other details of cultivation are properly carried 
out.—H. S. 
- Vine Culture in the Medoc. —The U.S. Consul at Bor¬ 
deaux gives, in a recent report, some interesting information about 
the wines of the Medoc district. He notes that this district, between 
the sea on the one hand and the Garonne and Gironde Rivers on the 
others, is called Medoc (^quasi medio aquce), because nearly surrounded 
by water. It is the northern termination of the extensive tract of 
sand hills and marsh land called “ Les Landes,” extending from 
Bayonne north, which changes to a bank of gravel on approaching the 
left bank of the Garonne, and contains some of the most precious vine¬ 
yards in the world. The soil is of light pebble, and, indeed, on the 
spots where some of the best wine is produced it appears a mere heap 
of quartz mixed with the most sterile quality of earth. The best wine 
is not produced where the bush is most luxuriant, but on the thinner 
soils, where it is actually stunted, and where weeds disdain often to 
grow. Here the Vine retains the sun’s heat about its roots after sunset, 
so that its juices are matured as much by night as by day. The accu¬ 
mulation of sand and pebbles of which this soil is composed is appa¬ 
rently the spoils of the Pyrenean rocks, brought down by the torrents 
tributary to the Garonne and other great rivers, and deposited in former 
ages on the borders of the sea. At a depth of 2 or 3 feet from the 
surface occurs a bed of indurated conglomerate, which requires to be 
broken up before the Vine will grow. 
- The Meteorological Council have just issued a useful publi¬ 
cation entitled “Ten Years’ Sunshine in the British Isles, 
1881-90.” The observations have been taken at forty-six stations, well 
distributed over the country—except for Scotland and Wales. At the 
great majority’of stations the instrument used is the Campbell-Stokes 
sunshine-recorder, which focusses the sun’s rays, by means of a glass 
ball, on to a card fixed in a brass frame. The instrument records only 
bright sunshine, which burns the card when no mist is present, or no 
cirrus or other clouds obstruct the rays. The tables show that December 
is the most sunless month of the year. Jersey stands first on the list of 
stations, as it does in nearly all other months of the year, having 
23 per cent, of possible duration, while Dublin has 21 per cent., and 
St. Ann’s Head 20 per cent., and London has a miserable record of 
2 per cent. A great increase is noticeable in February, when Jersey 
has the greatest amount—viz., 31 per cent., and London the least, 
9 per cent. In April London begins to compare more favourably with 
other places situated in the suburbs, and May is the sunniest month of 
the year, while June and July are by no means as sunny as might be 
