November 16, 1833. ] 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
443 
- Gardening Appointment. —Mr. Harry May, late of Rose- 
mount, Sunningdale, has been appiinted as head gardener to Mrs. 
McIntosh, Havering Park, Romford. 
- Pyrus japonica Fruiting.—“ G. H., Gosport," writes, “ 1 
enclose a fruit of the well-known Pyrus japonica for your inspection. Is 
it not a very unusual thing for it to fruit ? I have not heard that a fruit 
has ever before been seen in this part. It is growing on a south wall.” 
[Pyrus japonica has fruited abundantly this year in many gardens.] 
- Potato Picking in South Lincolnshire.—A t Holbeach 
and Long Sutton (large Potato growing districts), there has been a great 
demand for labour, in order to get up the tubers. The Potatoes are 
turning out well, and in the marshes so great is the demand for hands 
that the farmers are outbidding one another to obtain pickers. Boys and 
girls are getting as much as 2s. and 2s. 3d. per day, and labourers with 
large families are reaping quite a harvest, In Hertfordshire the other 
day we noticed there were many fields of Potatoes undug, 
- Peaches and Nectarines at Ketton Hall. — Mr. 
A. Harding, Orton Hall, writes:—“It is not only Chrysanthemums 
that are to be seen at Ketton Hall, for the most commanding feature 
is undoubtedly the Peach and Nectarine trees under glass, and Mr, 
Divers, the courteous and talented gardener there, has made himself 
famous as an exhibitor of these fruits, as the columns of the Journal 
has often testified. The Peach trees alone are worth a journey to see, 
and although the fruit is over for this season, the growths for bearing 
next year are splendid, and show good culture.” 
- A New Calla. —Messrs. E. H. Krelage, Haarlem, Holland, 
write :—“ I beg to inform you that the rose-coloured Calla, imported 
by our firm and mentioned in your columns (page 420), has proved to 
be identical with Richardia Rehmanni, which was first described by 
Engler in his ‘ Botanische Jahibiicher,’ 1883, under the name of 
‘ Fantedeschia Rehmanni.’ We exhibited a flowering plant at the last 
Floral Committee meeting of the Royal Netherlands Horticultural and 
Botanical Society, where it was awarded a first-class certificate,” 
- Royal Botanic Society, — A meeting of this Society was 
held on Saturday last, Mr. T. H. Burroughes in the chair. On the 
proposition of the Duke of Teck, President, the Duke of York was 
nominated for the fellowship of the Society. The following also were 
elected, and the nominations of many others read for ballot at the next 
meeting:—Mrs. Haslam, Mr. J. Hutchinson, jun., and Mr. W. E. Whad- 
coat, The donations received since the last meeting included many 
uncommon and seldom seen fruits, both home-grown and from the 
continent, illustracing the special fruitfulness of the year just closing. 
- Several Methods of Preserving Apples through the 
Winter were discussed at a Conference in Somersetshire. The boiling 
of fruit and filling sulphurised casks with them was recommended, also 
burying Apples in pits and thatching them in, and laying them in clamps, 
all of which methods were said to have proved successful. One farmer 
has adopted the plan of drying his Apples by evaporation. It was not 
mentioned at the aforesaid temperance meeting, but our contemporary 
states that the pomace of the Apples—that is, the residue after they 
have been ground and the juice pressed out—is almost as good for stock 
as the Apples themselves, and it can be easily preserved by clamping it 
like Potatoes and thatching it over. 
- Vegetable and Root Show at Leicester. — Messrs 
Harrison & Sons have again held their annual vegetable and root Show, 
and, says a local contemporary, another success has been scored. The 
Exhibition was opened at the Market Hall on Wednesday, November 8th. 
Liberal prizes had been offered by the firm for the roots and vegetables 
grown from seed supplied by them, and, judging from the excellent 
quality of the exhibits, the judges must have had no easy task in 
awarding the prizes. A better exhibition of Celery has very rarely been 
seen. Some fine heads of Harrison’s Leicester Red Celery and the Early 
Rose variety were staged. The competition was strong in the Carrots, 
and of the Early Market and the Selected Intermediate Carrots it would 
be impossible to speak too highly. There were also some good specimens 
of the Autumn Giant Cauliflower, but the competition was not quite so 
marked in this class. Savoys were very strongly represented, and some 
exceedingly large ones were on view. The quality of the Brussels 
Sprouts was very good, whilst the same remarks would apply to the 
Onions and Beets. Perhaps the Cheltenham Greentops were the most 
conspicuous in the Beet line. Messrs. Harrison usually excel in 
Potatoes, and the exhibits this season did not prove an exception, 
here were some very fine tubers on exhibit. 
- Forests op Apple Trees. — According to “ Meehans’ 
Monthly,” the Apple has become wild in the Sandwich Islands, and 
forests of trees of many acres aie found in various parts of the 
country. They extend from the level of the sea far up into the 
mountain sides. It is said that miles of these Apple forests can 
occasionally be seen. One traveller gives the extent of one of them 
as between five and ten miles in width and about twenty miles long. 
- Growing Filberts and Hazel Nuts. —Inquiries are 
frequent in regard to the probability of profitable culture of 
the Hazel and Filbert Nuts. Trees growing by themselves seldom 
produce large crops, on account of the different periods at which 
the catkins mature and the bearing flower opens. In order to get them 
successful, therefore, they have to be grown in large quantities together. 
Of all trees Filberts are the most gregarious. When numbers are planted 
in an orchard by themselves they bear remarkably well. The best 
situation is one exposed to the north, as the southern exposures might 
induce a still greater period between the openings of the two classes of 
flowers.—(“ Meehans’ Monthly.”) 
-British Fungus Flora. —Some three months ago we published 
a notice of two volumes of Mr. George Massee’s “ British Fungus Flora.” 
The third volume of the series has now come to hand, and within we 
perceive an intimation that in order to complete the subject the issue of 
a supplementary volume is contemplated. The present volume is even 
more comprehensive than those which preceded it, and presents 
the same excellent appearance in respect of binding and typography. 
The Basiomycetes occupy more than half the book, and the remaining 
two hundred pages comprises the Hyphomycetes and other funguses. 
The exhaustive and analytical character of the work is well preserved, 
and those who are interested in this recondite subject will find many of 
the old obscurities and uncertainties peculiar to fungology cleared 
away. 
- Pentstemon antirrhinoides. —Mr. W. Watson of Kew, in 
referring to this plant in a recent issue of the “ Garden and Forest,” 
says :—“ This interesting shrubby species of Pentstemon was introduced 
to Kew from California about twenty years ago, and flowered in the 
open ground in September. It is not, however, hardy, and consequently 
it had disappeared from cultivation here until it was shown in flower 
at the Royal Horticultural Society meeting recently by Sir Trevor 
Lawrence. It is a much-branched, glabrous, subcinerous shrub 
with slender leafy shoots, suggesting those of Myrtle or Leptospermum, 
and bearing numerous lemon-yellow flowers an inch across, short in 
the tube, with the lower divisions of the limb incurved. It might 
prove a good plant to cross with the popular herbaceous species of 
the genus.” 
- How Plants Sicken and Die was the subject of an exceed¬ 
ingly interesting and most instructive lecture delivered before the 
members of the Paxton Society at their rooms at the Saw Hotel last 
week by Mr. H. Crowther, F.R.M.S., Curator of the Philosophical Hall, 
Leeds, and late of Truro, Cornwall. Mr. W. Tunnicliffe presided, and 
Mr. G. Gill occupied the vice chair. The lecture was illustrated by 
a large number of very beautiful photographs, and shown by 
means of the lime-light. The lecturer dealt with his subject in a 
very masterly manner, and his remarks were most attentively listened 
to. He showed in the first place the great similarity in many respects 
between human beings and plants and trees, and after clearly demon¬ 
strating the form of the various parts, and the work they carry on, he 
explained how plants are attacked and destroyed by various insects and 
also by means of foul gases. 
- Flora of New Zealand.— Mr. George Thomson of Dunedin 
calls attention to some suggestive facts about the flora of New Zealand. 
As everyone knows. New Zealand when discovered did not possess any 
mammals, with the doubtful exception of a species of rat. Accordingly, 
we find that those plants, which have defensive structures such as 
spines, prickles, and those whose seeds or fruits are fitted for adhering 
to the coats of passing animals, and thus obtaining dissemination, 
belong in almost every instance to species having a wide range outside 
of the islands. The inference, therefore, is that the characters referred 
to have been developed outside the New Zealand region, and that such 
species have been introduced into that country at a comparatively 
recent period. The general absence of conspicuous flowers is attributed 
to the corresponding absence of insects necessary for their fertilisation. 
Previous to the arrival of European bees the Clover did not set seeds, 
and if the native birds mentioned are destroyed a similar fats may befall 
the plants to which they are co-related. 
