220 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[ September 7, 1893. 
- National Amateur Gardeners’ Association. — The 
members of the above Association held their usual monthly meeting 
in the Memorial Hall, Farringdon Street, E.C., on the 5th inst., Mr. 
T. W. Sanders presiding. A lecture on “Begonias” was given by 
Mr. \V. E. Jupp, a successful amateur grower, and a good discussion 
followed. 
- The Turpentine Industry. —Contrary to what most persons 
would infer, it is said on the authority of the United States Department 
of Agriculture, after careful tests, that tapping the Pine trees 
for turpentine is not injurious to the timber, and that the lumber 
is in no way affected by it. The turpentine industry, with a product 
worth 10,000,000 dollars annually, is thus a clear gain. 
- Wood Wool. —In our report of the horticultural sundries 
exhibited at the Agricultural Hall Show last week we omitted to 
mention a superior kind of wood wool, which was noticeable in the 
excellent stand of Messrs. W. Wood & Sons of Wood Green, N. This 
wood wool, a sample of which is before us, is remarkably fine, and 
being sweet, soft, and clean, is well adapted for packing tender as well 
as firm fruit. 
-The Total Rainfall at Abbot’s Leigh, Hayward’s 
Heath, Sussex, for the past month was 0-55 inch, being 1-75 inch 
below the average. The heaviest fall was 0 23 inch on the 3rd. Rain fell 
on eight days. The highest temperature was 86° on the 17th, the 
lowest 43° on the 6th and 29th. Mean day temperature 75-20°, mean 
night temperature 53-12°, mean temperature 64-16°, which is 5-08° above 
the average. Where are our weather prophets who promised us a wet 
August ?—R. I. 
- New Violas. —As so much has been written about Violas, I 
thought you might like to see blooms of the trio of large flowering 
rayless varieties I shall send out next year. The blooms sent are small, 
but they are larger when developed. The blue with a white centre is a 
cross between Ariel and Violetta, and named Pride of Etal. The white 
is Mrs. Scott, a seedling from Countess of Wharncliffe, crossed with 
Violetta. The yellow is George Lord, a seedling from Ardwell Gem 
crossed with Violetta. Princess May and Pure Love are miniatures ; 
notice the Picotee edge in Pure Love. I have also a white Picotee edge, 
no rays at all, and so dwarf ; and many fine varieties you shall see later 
on.— Geo. Steel. [The flowers of the first three varieties named are 
charming, although but medium sized. The “ miniatures ” are very 
small, but the colouring is delicate, and the Picotee edge just 
discernible in Pure Love.] 
- Alterations in Edinburgh Botanic Gardens. — The 
Palm and temperate houses at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Edinburgh, 
have, we learn from a northern daily contemporary, just undergone 
reconstruction. The old Palm house was built in 1832, the newer or 
western half was erected in 1856. The former is octagonal in form, 
with a diameter of 60 feet; the latter is 100 feet long, 60 feet wide, and 
with an arched iron and glass roof 72 feet high. For the most part the 
specimen Palms and other tropical plants were placed in tubs, which 
had by no means an ornamental aspect. This arrangement Professor 
Bayley Balfour, Regius Keeper of the Garden, has now entirely abolished. 
The whole of the trees and plants in the temperate house and in the 
hotter Palm ho^e are planted in specially prepared beds, and in conse¬ 
quence appear in this miniature tropical forest as if they were growing 
in their native habitat. The change has already told upon them in the 
most beneficial manner. The majority, indeed all of them, are showing 
signs of a vigorous life which has been unknown in the Palm house for 
years. Coils of pipps. are placed along the side of the inner wall 
of the Palm house, and.also along the iron gallery, so that in the winter 
an equable temperature of 50° may be maintained. The old Palm house 
was formerly heated from a number of small houses on the outside of the 
walls. These have now been cleared away, the lower walls have been 
opened up, and encircling the Palm house on all sides, save that by which 
it is joined up to the temperate house, is a handsome iron and glass 
annexe, which gives about 200 feet of staging, and imparts to the main 
building a lightness and beauty it never before possessed. Next year the 
range of greenhouses stretching from the herbarium to the Palm houses 
is to be overhauled, and the tank house may be taken up next. At this 
time an important re-arrangement of the heating appliances in the 
Garden has taken place. Formerly there were no fewer than twenty- 
two different furnaces and eighteen or nineteen sep.arate stokeholes 
scattered all over the place. These have been concentrated into one 
stokehole, situated not far from the back of the Palm house. The total 
cost of the reconstruction of the Palm houses and the new heating arrange¬ 
ments has been about £3000, 
- Presentation at Aldenham Park Gardens.—W e under* 
stand that Mr. J. A. Cox, who for several years has served as foreman 
in the above gardens, was on September 1st presented with a marble- 
clock, a set of carvers, and a dozen table knives and forks by his- 
friends on the occasion of his leaving his situation. 
- Wasps in Nottinghamshire.—M r. J. Mallender, Hodsock 
Priory, Worksop, writes :—Wasp nests have been very numerous here 
this season. I have destroyed 115 nests within a mile radius of these- 
gardens. I destroyed the nests in the daytime. It is an old plan, but 
after trying many new ways, I am most in favour of the method I have 
practised for more than thirty years. [Is the “ old plan” a secret? ] 
- Onion Gum.—A very convenient gum can be made of Onion 
juice. A good-sized Spanish Onion, after being boiled a short time, wil 
yield, on being pressed, quite a large quantity of very adhesive fluid. 
This, a correspondent remarks, is used quite extensively in various trades 
for pasting paper on tin or zinc, or even glass, and the tenacity with 
which it holds would surprise anyone on making the first attempt. It 
is the cheapest and best gum for such purposes, and answers just as well 
as many of the more costly and patent cements. 
- The Weather in August. —Mr. W, H. Divers, Ketton Hall 
Gardens, Stamford, observes :—This was a very changeable month, but 
dry, and in this neighbourhood plant life suffered more from drought 
during the last week than in any previous time this year. We had 
twenty-one bright days. A heavy thunderstorm occurred on the 10th,. 
and very hot weather on the 18th. The thermometer was 81° in shade 
at 9 A M., and registered 93° afterwards. We had a shock of earthquake 
at 6.41 p.m. on 4th, The barometer stood at 29 67 inches. Wind wa& 
in a westerly direction for twenty days. Total rainfall was 1-62 inch 
which fell on twelve days, and is 0 64 inch below the average for the 
month. The greatest daily fall was 0 43 inch on 11th. Barometer, 
highest 30 35 at 9 A.m. on 29th ; lowest 29-58 at 9 A.M. on 2l9t. Highest 
shade temperature 93° on 18th ; lowest 40° on 29th ; lowest on grass 
34° on 29th, Mean daily maximum 75'41°; mean daily minimum 
53-54° ; mean temperature of the month 64-32°. This is 3-92° above the 
average for the last ten years. The garden spring ran 15 gallons of 
water per minute on 31st. 
- Zonal Pelargoniums at Swanley. —The utility and con¬ 
tinuous beauty of these plants, both for planting in flower beds and 
for use in pots in the greenhouse, is recognised and admitted by 
everyone. Messrs, H. Cannell & Son have made a speciality of these 
plants, and in their hands rapid strides of improvement have been 
made. Enormous trusses are now produced in profusion, and the size 
of the individual pips would astonish most people who took the trouble 
to measure them. An ordinary watch is completely hidden if one of 
these pips is placed over it. Nothing of the beauty of the plant, be it 
understood, is lost from its size. Some flowers may with size become 
vulgar in the eyes of the fastidious, not so the Zonal Pelargonium. 
With it the term “ vulgar ” can never be named, they must always 
remain chaste and beautiful, the flower alike of the nobleman and the 
mechanic. I will mention a few of the singles which were in bloom on 
the occasion of a recent visit, and which I considered amongst the very 
best. Blue Peter, raised by that prince of Pelargonium raisers, Mr. 
W. B. Miller, is, though not a pure blue, unquestionably a decisive 
step in that direction ; the flowers are medium in size, and possess a 
very marked bluish tinge which a clear white eye aids in emphasising. 
Albion stands pre-eminent amongst the pure whites, being a real 
improvement on Swanley Single White. Amongst the salmons 
Mascagni must be accorded a high place. In habit it is dwarf, bearing 
blooms of fair size with the utmost profusion, and of a soft silvery 
salmon shade with a -white eye. It is certainly one of the most 
attractive in the collection. Mrs. French may be noted as throwing 
enormous trusses composed of shapely deep pink coloured pips. Miller’s 
Favourite is a brilliant scarlet large-trussed variety, which is very 
striking. A very beautiful flower is found in Mademoiselle Trine. The 
habit of the plant is vigorous, and trusses are abundant, being composed 
of charming rosy magenta shaded pips. A bright scarlet worthy of 
special mention is found in W. P. Wright. The plant is dwarf and 
strong in habit, and carries its enormous trusses prominently above the 
foliage. It is a variety with a great future. Marquis of Dufferin is a 
grand magenta crimson coloured variety, with good sized pips. A 
distinct variety is Spotted Gem, The colour is a clear purplish pink, 
but the three lower petals are densely spotted with crimson. It is a 
very charming variety. Numerous other very beautiful varieties were in 
bloom, but those mentioned attracted my attention more especially.—H. 
