Jamiary is, 1891. ] 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
45 
■-- Lee, Blackheath, and Lewibham Hoetictjltueal 
Society. —The annual Exhibition of the above Society (to which 
will be added this year a Kose section, with prizes of about £20) 
will be held at The Cedars, Lee, on Wednesday and Thursday, 
July 1st and 2nd. 
-United Horticultuhal Benefit and Provident 
Society. —The quarterly meeting of this Society was (held at the 
Caledonian Hotel on Monday evening last. Mr. Nathan Cole presided. 
Nine new members were elected, making a total for the year of seventy. 
Mr. W. Gunner of Croydon and Mr. George Dixon were elected as 
auditors of the past year’s accounts. Mr. James H. Veitch has kindly 
consented to preside at the annual meeting at the Caledonian Hotel on 
Monday, April 9th, at 8 P.M. The usual business having been trans¬ 
acted, a hearty vote of thanks to the Chairman ended the meeting. 
-- Seed Orders.—T he Editor will do an immense service to the 
larger body of seedsmen’s assistants in London and the provinces if he 
will be kind enough to urge upon his readers the desirability of not 
waiting for severe weather to disappear before sending their annual 
seed orders to their seedsmen. In the most favourable seasons the 
occupation is of an arduous description, and the seedsman’s staff is 
engaged for long hours to keep the work under ; but in a year like the 
present, if purchasers delay sending their orders until the frost goes, it 
means a still further pressure upon the workers.— Eetail Seedsman. 
- The Total Eainfall at Chckfield, Sussex, for December 
was 0’56 inch, being 2T8 below the average. The heaviest fall was 0T7 
inch on the 20th. Eain or snow fell on six days. Total for the year 
26'80 inches, which is 3'85 inches below the average. The highest 
temperature was 41° on the 4th, lowest 15° on the 31st. Mean maximum 
in the shade 33°, mean minimum 24°, partial shade readings 10° below 
average. A very wintry month for the “ sunny South.” There were 
fourteen days on which the temperature did not rise above 32°, and 
with the exception of three nights, 4th, 5th, and 6th, the temperature 
registered below that point on all the other dates. On nine occasions 
it fell to 20° or below it. Thermometer 2 feet 6 inches from the ground, 
and shaded in double walled cases. Snow fell on 18th, 19th, and 20th, 
and on various dates since, and is still on the ground, January 2ad. 
—E. I. 
- Pruning.—B y visiting a number of gardens at any season 
different styles and methods of culture are seen, and something can 
be learned even in the smallest places. While visiting a garden the 
other day I was struck with the way in which the Apple trees. Goose¬ 
berry and Eed and White Currant bushes were pruned. The Apple 
trees were trained in pyramidal form, and were thick and bushy in 
appearance, and all the pruning they received was to cut out the 
branches which crossed each other badly, even the strong sappy growths 
from the main stem of the tree were allowed to remain uncut. I can 
say nothing about the crops or the quality of the fruit produced 
by these trees, but they had a luxuriant growth of lichens on their 
stems and branches. Gooseberry and Eed and White Currant bushes 
were pruned very little, and instead of spurring the shoots starting 
from the principal branches, as is usually the case, they were ruthlessly 
torn off with a large heel to each. I can understand pulling off a 
strong shoot or two from the bottom of the main stems where they are 
not required, and to prevent their throwing out shoots again, but the 
system of tearing off all the shoots of Gooseberry and Currant bushes, 
instead of spurring them with the knife, is certainly new to me ; and 
I do not think the system is beneficial to the production of good crops 
when practised in this wholesale manner.—K. 
- Indian Corn is suggested by His Excellency the Governor 
as a product that ought to be freely cultivated in Ceylon, in his remarks 
to the people of Matale. This is a very natural thought to an adminis¬ 
trator who has seen how largely Indian Corn forms the food of the 
people in the West Indies as it does in Brazil and other American 
States. And even in Ceylon, Sir Arthur Havelock will learn th.at 
Maize or Indian Corn is grown to a limited extent ; and as we have 
repeated time after time in our “ Agricultural Eeview ” a great deal 
more should be done with it here in suitable localities. It requires, 
however, a moist good soil, although it has the widest range of all 
cereals. Bertolacci so far back as 1816 reported that Turkish Corn or 
Maize had been proved to succeed well in Ceylon ; it was then grown 
freely in the Matara and Batticaloa districts and exported to other 
parts of the island. He hoped to see culture extend to the supersession 
of dry grain. There can be no doubt that much might be done in 
Ceylon to increase the production of Maize, more particularly if better 
means of communication were established northwards and eastwards. 
- “We have received,” says the American Garden and Forest, 
“ from Mr. P. J. Berckmans, of Augusta, Georgia, a flowering branch of 
Leucophyllum Texanum, a shrub which has rarely if ever been seen 
here in cultivation. Mr. Berckmans writes that he tried for years to 
propagate this species with living plants, cuttings, and seeds ; but he 
never succeeded until some five years ago, when two plants were 
started. These are now 4 feet high, and with their ashy white foliage 
and abundant purple flowers they are very conspicuous. They endure 
the warmest and driest weather well, since their large roots penetrate 
the soil to a great depth. The foliage, which is evergreen in its native 
habitat, stands without injury a temperature which does not fall below 
15° Fahrenheit, and these plants have lived through a freeze of 5° above 
zero. In writing of the forest vegetation of the Lower Eio Grande 
Valley, Mr. C. G. Pringle speaks of this plant (see vol. ii., p. 394) as 
the most striking shrub of the region, and calls it ‘ surpassingly lovely, 
with a profusion of purplish bloom surmounting the velvety white 
foliage.’ No doubt it will prove a great addition to our list of shrubs 
for southern latitudes, and it may survive winters much farther north if 
slight protection is given to it.” 
- Germination of Seed. —It is a common mistake to suppose 
that in order to produce a mature plant we must allow the seed to 
germinate, and the resultant plantlet to fix itself in a soil and draw 
nutriment by means of roots from Mother Earth. Any plant will grow 
as well in water if it contains the proper food stuffs in the proper 
quantities, as it will in soil of the very richest and most fertile kind. 
All that has to be done is to germinate the seed on a piece of moist 
flannel, and then transfer it to a jar containing to every litre (about 
1^ pint) of water the following quantities of the following substances : 
—1 gramme of nitre ; half gramme of each of the following—sulphate 
of lime (plaster of Paris), sulphate of magnesia (Epsom salts), and 
phosphate of lime. An iron nail must also be kept in the water to 
give to the plant the almost inflnitessimal amount of iron which it 
requires. This mixture of water and salts must be renewed about once 
a fortnight. Of course the root portion only of the plantlet is to be 
immersed in the water ; the stem part which bears the green leaves 
must be allowed to stand out freely in the air. In Germany it has 
been the custom for many years to set aside some portion of the botanic 
garden for the growth of plants of all kinds, from the smallest herbs to 
the loftiest trees, in food solutions of the kind described above—i.e., 
by what is commonly known to botanists as the system of water culture. 
—{Indian Agriculturist.') 
_ Summary of Meteorological Observations at Hodsock 
Priory, Worksop, Notts, for December, 1890 ; 56 feet above mean 
sea level .—Mean temperature of the month, 30-4°. Maximum on the 
4th, 44-2°: minimum on the 22nd, 10°. Maximum in the sun on the 6th,. 
75-5 ; minimum on the grass on the 22nd and 30th, 6T°. Mean 
temperature of the air at 9 A.M., 30 2° ; mean temperature of soil 1 foot 
deep, 36-0°. Nights below 32°, in shade twenty-six, on grass twenty- 
eight. Total duration of sunshine, eleven hours, or 5 per cent, of possible 
duration. We had twenty-four sunless days. Total rainfall, 0 60 inch ; 
rain fell on thirteen days. Average velocity of wind, 5 miles per hour ; 
did not exceed 400 miles on any day, and fell short of 100 miles on 
thirteen days. Approximate averages for December.—Mean tempera¬ 
ture, 37’2°. Sunshine, thirty-two hours. Eainfall, 2 03 inches. A very 
cold', dry, dull, and calm month. The mean temperature is lower than 
in any December during the last fifteen years, though nights were colder 
in both 1878 and 1879. 
_ Xhe Summary of the Year 1890 at the same place is as 
follows :—Mean temperature, 47-7°. Maximum on the 5th of August, 
77'7° ; minimum on the 22nd of December, 10°. Maximum in the sun 
on the 20th of July, 134-4°; minimum on the grass on the 22nd and 
30th of December, 6-1°. Mean temperature of the air at 9 A.M., 48-3°. 
Mean temperature of the soil 1 foot deep, 48-5°. Nights below 32 , in 
shade sixty-one, on grass 152. Total duration of sunshine, 1236 hours, 
or 28 per cent, of possible duration. Maximum duration in one day on 
the 24th of May, 14 0 hours. We had seventy-eight sunless days. 
Total rainfall, 21-19 inches. Maximum rainfall in twenty-four hours, 
on 12th of May, 0-78 inch. Eain fell on 174 days. Wind.—Nutnber of 
observations from the following points, 9 A M. and 9 p.m. ;-N., 44; 
N.E., 47 ; E., 21 ; S.E., 40 ; S., 41 : S.W., 159 ; W., 117; N.W., 02 ; 
calms, 199. Average velocity, 9-4 miles per hour. Velocity exceeded 
400 miles on forty-two days, fell short of 100 miles on sixty-five days. 
