612 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[ December 7, 189J» 
- We learn that Mr. John Waterer, son of the late Mr. John 
Waterer, and brother of the late Mr. Michael and Mr. Fred Waterer, 
died at Bagshot, on the 21st ult., aged 67 years. 
- The Phylloxera in Sicily. — It is reported that serious 
damage is being caused by the Phylloxera in Sicily. In the provinces 
of Syracuse and Catania also the loss, owing to this cause, is most 
alarming. 
- Diospyros Kaki. —Readers may be interested to know that a 
plant of the Japanese Persimmon, Diospyros Kaki, has this year borne 
five fine fruits in the succulent house at Kew. The plant is stated to 
be a grafted one and is 6 feet high. 
—— Mr. W. Gleeson, The Warren House Gardens, Stanmore, 
desires us to announce he has been awarded a valuable set of silver 
fish carvers, offered by Mr. Colchester, of Ipswich, for the best exhibit 
at the Watford Chrysanthemum Show. 
- All classes in Ireland heard with surprise and sorrow of the 
death of the Duke of Leinster at Carton, Maynooth, on December Ist. 
His Grace, who has been thus untimely cut off by typhoid fever at the 
age of forty-two, was President of the Royal Horticultural Society of 
Ireland, a post held by his father, the late Duke. A lover of Nature, 
taking a keen interest in all pertaining to gardening and forestry, few 
coaid surpass him in knowledge of timber and ornamental trees. 
—— Shading Plants.—Is not the too protracted use of summer 
shading upon greenhouses injurious to plants? Plants in my own 
garden have not been satisfactory when covered with obscured glass, 
while those grown under clear glass were healthy and fruitful. The 
Spider-web Sedum previously mentioned by me has only in two years 
one rosette under rough glass, the web being scarcely visible, while 
that under clear glass has filled the space with prettily webbed 
rosettes.—T. 
-The Total Rainfall at Abbot’s Leigh, Hayward’s 
Heath, Sussex, for the past month was 2 08 inches, being 1-59 inch 
below the average. The heaviest fall was 0 43 inch on the 14th. Rain 
fell on seventeen days. The maximum temperature was 61° on the 3rd, 
the minimum 25° on the 1st; mean maximum 46‘06°, mean minimum 
35-13° ; mean temperature 40 59°, nearly 2° below the average. Although 
we did not feel the full force of the storm of the 18th the barometer felt 
it; the reading on that morning was 28-75. It was very unsteady from 
that date till the morning of the 26th, when it made a remarkable rise 
from 2918 to 30 03 on the following morning, where it remained 
stationary till the close of the month. December opened wet and stormy, 
but cleared out in the afternoon to frost, with a keen N.W. wind.—R. I. 
- The Weather Last Month.—M r. W. H. Divers, Ketton Hall 
Gardens, Stamford, writes : “ November was showery and dull, but we 
had very little fog. There were nine bright days. The first snow of the 
season fell on 6th. We had a gale and a fall of snow on night of 18th. 
Wind was in a northerly direction nineteen days. Barometer : highest 
30-42 inches at 1 p.m. on 2Ist, lowest 29 inches at 10 45 p.m. on 17ih. 
Total rainfall 193 inches, which fell on twenty days. The greatest daily 
fall came as snow on 18th, viz., 0 40 inches. The total is 0 73 inches 
below the average for the month. Temperature : highest in shade 60° on 
3rd, lowest 21° on 5th; lowest on grass 14° on 5th. Mean daily 
maximum 47 46°. Mean daily minimum 34-43°. Mean temperature 
of the month 40-85°. The garden spring ran 6 gallons per minute 
00 30th..’' 
i- Summary of Meteorological Observations at Hodsock 
Priory, Worksop, Notts, November. —Mean temperature of the 
month, 41-1°. Maximum on the 3rd, 57 8°; minimum on the 5th, 24-3°. 
Maximum in the sun on the 6th, 93 7° ; minimum on the grass on the 5th, 
17-5°. Mean temperature of air at 9 A M., 40-5°; mean temperature of 
soil 1 foot deep, 42 8°. Number of nights below 32°, in shade fourteen ; 
on grass, nineteen. Total duration of sunshine in the month, thirty-seven 
hours, or 15 per cent, of possible duration; we had nine sunless days. 
Total rainfall, 2-06 inches ; rain fell on twenty-three days. Average 
velocity of wind, 11-1 miles per hour; velocity exceeded 400 miles on 
four days, fell short of 100 miles on four days. Approximate averages 
for November :—Mean temperature, 42 3° ; sunshine, fifty hours ; rain¬ 
fall, 2-03 inches. A rather cold and dull month, with a large proportion 
of northerly winds, and about average rainfall, though with more than 
the average number of rainy days. No damage was done here by the 
gale on the 18th, but the snow which fell drifted a good deal, and 
several roads were blocked next day,—J. Mallender. 
-Wanderings in Wicklow—A Correction.—I n the article- 
on this subject (page 487) referring to Shelton Abbey, it is inadvertently 
stated that Mr. Wilmett is “ not an energetic man.” The sentence 
should read, “ not an emergency man.” 
- Death op Mr. Howard. —We announce with regret the 
death of Mr. Howard, on November 27th, at Southgate. He was well 
known as a grower for Covent Garden Market, and at the time of his 
death was in his 59th year. Mr. Howard was an enthusiastic supporter 
of the Royal Gardeners’ Orphan Fund and other charitable institutions- 
-Australian Flowers. — Apropos of the note rt a " Wild 
Flower Carnival,” published on page 491, we are informed that a 
bouquet of Australian wild flowers is now on its way to England frozen, 
in a solid block of ice, and intended as a present for the Queen. 
- A CORRESPONDENT writes “ The death of the Earl op 
Warwick has taken from us an English nobleman whose love of horti¬ 
culture was as strongly marked as his courtly gentleness and artistic 
tastes. The late Earl took the deepest interest in every phase of 
gardening, and cherished by constant watchfulness many of the rarer 
trees and shrubs at Warwick Castle; and his knowledge of their 
nomenclature was as thorough as his admiration tor their beauty. Even 
in the confines ot the sick room the presence of some favourite flower 
seemed to keep keenly alive his interest in gardening. His Lordship’s 
decease is deeply regretted by all who knew him, and by none more so 
than those who were constantly associated with him. His Lordship’s 
charm of manner and kind consideration to all around won the respect 
and love of equal and dependent alike.” 
- The Weather in Hertfordshire. — Mr. E. Wallis, The 
Gardens, Hamel’s Park, Buntingford, Herts, writes:—The weather 
during the past month has on the whole been very favourable to the 
horticulturist, planting and outdoor operations of all kinds having had 
very few drawbacks. The s light frosts have tended to check the very 
late growth, and harden vegetation against the coming winter. Like 
each of the preceding months of the present year November has shown 
some points quite opposite to its usual character. There has been an 
entire absence of fogs, and we shall long remember the terrific gale of 
the 18th and 19th, which much resembled the gale of January 18th, 
1881. Rain has fallen on thirteen days during past month. Maximum 
in any twenty-four hours was 0-63 on the 25th ; minimum, 0-02 on the. 
24th. Total during the past month 2-31 against 1-75 of 1892.” 
-- Herbaceous Grafting. —Professor L. H. Baily of CornelL 
has been grafting the Tomato on Potato plants, with the result that 
the upper portion bore Tomatoes and the lower portion bore Potatoes.. 
This seems natural, and yet it is in direct opposition to experiments^ 
which have been reported as having been made in other countries^ 
where the result was said to be an intermixture of the two, and the facts 
have been brought forward as illustrating what is known as graft 
hybridism. The result of Professor Baily’s experiments, says “ Meehan’s 
Monthly,” does not show that the other experiments have been mis- 
reported or misconstrued, but it certainly does go to show the value of 
continually repeating experiments which are said to produce such 
unique results. Professor Baily found that Peppers could be grafteci 
on Tomatoes, and that Tomatoes could be grafted on Peppers, and that 
these, including Egg plants, would grow when grafted on the “Alkekengi.” 
It should be remembered, however, that all these plants are of the same 
natural order, and very closely related—all belonging to Solanaceae, and 
there is no more surprise at this result than the grafting of the Pear on 
the Quince or the White Thorn. In the use of material for this 
herbaceous grafting Professor Baily notes that the wood must not ha 
too young, but rather on the approach to maturity. 
A. CHARMING FLOWER BASKET. 
One of the most beautiful ornaments that could be devised for 
the flower garden is a wicker basket, as shown in the illustration 
(fig. 74), and which is standing in the garden of Alfred de Rothschild, 
Esq., Halton, Tring. The basket is of huge dimensions, being about 
14 feet across, upwards of 5 feet in height, the cross handle of course 
rising much higher than this. When filled with flowers it is very 
effective, and possesses the additional merit of being most unique. The 
basket is lined with turves, grass side outwards, and in this is placed a 
casing, which carries the weight of the soil. During the past summer 
the centre was bright with Lilium longiflorum andL. tigrinumsplendens 
