Maioh 3, 1892. ] 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
163 
pharmaceutical chemists. It is enacted by the 15th section that 
any person who shall, inter alia, sell or keep an open shop for the 
retailing, dispensing, or compounding of poisons, not being a duly 
registered pharmaceutical chemist, or chemist or druggist, shall for every 
such offence be liab'e to pay a penalty or sum of £5.” After citing the 
plaintiff’s case, and also the arguments for the defence, Judge Paterson 
gave judgment for the Pharmaceutical Society for £5 and costs on the 
higher scale, but giving Mr. Butt leave to appeal as the matter was one 
of general importance. It behoves the trade to note the result of this 
case and of the appeal, for the decision given means that every nursery¬ 
man, seedsman, or florist selling a poisonous compound for weed-killing 
purposes will bring himself within the pale of the law, and render 
himself liable to a penalty. 
- Chelsea Pkimxjlas. —Messrs. James Veitch & Sons send us 
an assortment of Primula blooms, and it is the record of a simple fact 
to state that we have not seen any to surpass these, while one, the 
Chelsea Crimson, in its single and semi-double form exceeds in richness 
any they have yet brought under our notice. The names and the flowers 
became mixed in the box during transit, but they include Chelsea Red, 
very dark ; Chelsea White, very pure ; Doubleand Single Rose, extremely 
delicate and charming ; Chelsea Blue, and flowers that appear the result 
of a cross between the blue and a white, so delicately are they tinted. 
Taking all the varieties together they are certainly a beautiful assort¬ 
ment of blooms. 
- Fruiterers’ Company Banquet.—T he Master (Mr. G. J. 
Brocklesby) presided at the annual banquet in connection with the 
Fruiterers’ Company, at the Whitehall Rooms, Hotel M4trop6]e 
on Thursday night, being supported by the Lord Mayor, Mr. Aider- 
man and Sheriff Tyler, Mr. Sheriff Foster, Alderman Sir R. Hanson 
Bart., M.P., and Alderman Sir H. E. Knight. The Fruiterers, we 
need scarcely say, received the loyal and patriotic toasts with an 
appreciable amount of patriotism. The Lord Mayor said the 
Corporation was closely attached to the livery companies of the 
City, and he thought that the Fruiterers’ Company had shown its 
raison d'etre, especially in the character of the late Master, Alder, 
man Sir James Whitehead, who had done so much in the interests 
of English fruit culture. His Lordship then gave the health of 
The Master, and long life and prosperity to the Fruiterers’ Company, 
may it continue and flourish, root and branch for ever.” The Master, 
having acknowledged the toast, Alderman Sir Henry Knight, in 
asking the Company to drink to the toast of “ The Wardens,” read a 
telegram he had received from Sir James Whitehead at Eastbourne 
regretting his inability to attend that night. Mr. H. R. Williams, in 
acknowledging the compliment, alluded to the forthcoming Fruit 
Exhibition which is to be held on the Thames Embankment during the 
present season, and in which Sir James Whitehead has taken so much 
interest. He thought the advantage of this situation could not be over¬ 
estimated, because otherwise it would have been impossible to hold a 
fruit show within the City. The cost of establishing such a show as this 
would be not less than £2000. Such an exhibition could not fail to do 
much good, because there was plenty of room for improvement in fruit 
culture in this country, and the competition with foreign countries 
would become severer as time went on.— (^City Press.") 
- We have received a copy of the third edition of Mr. E. S. 
Dodwell’s compact, yet comprehensive manual, entitled “ The Car¬ 
nation : ITS History, Properties, and Management.” The 
demand for the work affords the best evidence of its acceptability and 
its usefulness. The author appears to have compressed into a little 
under 120 pages all he has learned during his long experience as a 
raiser and cultivator, and he gives descriptive lists of varieties. This 
edition contains a supplementary chapter on the yellow ground Car¬ 
nation, which all growers of the flowers will desire to see. Mr. Dodwell will 
not admit that the ideal of beauty in florists’ flowers can be determined 
by rule and plummet, for this is what he says—“ Classification has its 
useful place amongst flowers beyond all doubt ; but far more important 
to the florist is the cultivation of the artistic element. The more fully 
they realise the joy foi ever ’ involved in the ‘ thing of beauty,’ the 
more they go to Nature and note her glories and simplicities, the more 
will they turn from dogma and the ignorant formulas in which, as a 
rule, it revels. Form, with its infinite expression ; colour, with its 
glorious harmonies ; contrast, in its masculine force ; and combination, 
in its enchanting results—will be ever an informing study, always 
enlarging, never restricting; and minds so formed will not peddle as to 
a shade of colour, the breadth or direction of a stripe, or as to varying 
form. What is to be in the future I know not, but if the Carnation 
amongst its great variety should take upon itself the winged form of 
some Lilies even, marvellous as the departure might seem, I have faith 
to believe the florist I have painted would rejoice in God, and gratefully 
accept His glorious gift.” The work is published by Mr. B. Wynne, 
Gardening World office, 1, Clement’s Inn, Strand, W.C. 
- Preparing Soils for Potting. —Gardeners have various 
methods of preparing and mixing soil for potting purposes, but there is 
the right way and the wrong one. Some gardeners insist on the soil 
being mixed and used at once. This I consider an erroneous method, 
especially when soot or chemical manures are used. My objection is 
that the sudden action of ammonia coming in contact with the young 
roots of the plants is certain to injure them to some extent. My method 
of making a compost is to place each proportion of the different 
ingredients separately on the potting bench, and then thoroughly mix 
them. The mass is then covered with bags or mats to prevent 
evaporation, and the soil remains at least three days, or a week if 
possible, before using. By this time the ammonia and other gases have 
time to work through the soil evenly, and the compost can be used with 
more safety.—G. W. W. M. 
- The Shropshire Horticultural Society. —The eighteenth 
annual Exhibition at Shrewsbury is fixed for August 17th and 18th 
next, and the schedule just issued is on an extensive scale, with 
most liberal prizes. There are thirty-one classes for plants, with 
£260 in prizes, including £20, £16, £14, and £12 for groups ; £20, 
£15, and £10 for sixteen stove, greenhouse, and ornamental plants; 
and £12, £8, and £5 for group of Orchids. The sum of £100 is 
devoted to fruits, with £10, £6, and £3 for large collections, and good 
prizes for smaller collections ; and £10, £6, and £3 for six bunches of 
black Grapes. £110 is set aside in prizes for cut flowers, with large 
prizes for a collection of Dahlias, collection of Gladioli, collection of 
hardy herbaceous flowers and bouquets. A quantity of prizes are 
offered for vegetables, exclusive of generous extra prizes by leading seed 
firms ; and the cottagers have a very large number of classes devoted 
to them. It is an extraordinary schedule, of which the Shrewsbury 
Executive may be proud. 
- A New Type of Viola. —Last summer blooms and cuttings 
were sent to me by one of your correspondents, Mr. George Steel of 
Heatherslaw, Cornhill-on-Tweed, of a charming new Viola raised by 
Dr. Stuart of Chirnside, and named Violetta, and my notes taken at the 
time describe it as “ white, with a small yellow blotch in the centre ; 
a small bloom of pretty form, and of dwarf close habit.” I was much 
struck with it, as possessing the true character of the bedding Viola 
which I am anxious to see preserved. It was also free from any dark 
markings in the centre of the flower, and there was a distinctness in the 
bloom, and of very pleasing form and substance. It is very fragrant. 
With it Mr. Steel also sent me blooms of seedlings from Violetta, which 
preserved the character of the parent plant, but varied in colours, and 
of these I hope we shall hear more this spring, as Mr. Steel intends 
sending me blooms. Amongst them was one named Maggie Steel, a 
primrose shaded white, with yellow centre ; also Flossie Brutton, a pure 
white ; Mrs. George Finlay, pale yellow, shaded with white, and dis¬ 
tinct; and Miss Allandale, soft shaded lilac, with yellow eye and of 
pretty form.—W. Dean. 
- Destroying Slugs. —I believe with “ W. S.” (page 130) that 
slugs will endure any amount of frost, but I fancy handpicking is rather 
a tedious process. As I think the plan followed here is more effectual I 
give it for the benefit of others who may not have tried it. Take a pail¬ 
ful of bran and make a dozen or twenty little heaps with as many 
handfuls about a yard apart in all the favourite haunts of the 
depredators. Early the next morning— i.e., before the sun reaches them, 
take a pail of hot lime and dust them over, for they will be found 
clustered on the bran, perhaps twenty or thirty in one heap, and if the 
lime is fresh it will kill them. Mild mornings in April are best for a 
wholesale riddance of the enemies. Box edgings are said to harbour 
slugs, so do Cabbages. One thing is certain, if we keep the slugs they 
can always find their own lodgings. Box or no Box, and they can be 
trapped without going off the walk, which is rather an advantage 
than otherwise. “ W. S.” says when the soil is heavy slugs are more 
abundant than on lighter soils, and this may be true as a rule, but there 
are exceptions. We have a light soil, and the slugs would clear the 
place of vegetation if allowed to have their own way, while in a garden 
not a mile distant on a much stiffer soil I have often heard the gardener 
say that he rarely sees a slug.—H. W. 
