92 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[ February 2, 1893. 
Events of the Week.— The annual general meeting of the 
Gardeners’ Orphan Fund, for the purpose of adopting the Committee’s 
report and the election of orphans, will be held at the Cannon Street 
Hotel, E.C., at 3 p.m. on Friday, February 3rd. On Tuesday, the 
7th inst., the members of the National Amateur Gardeners’ Association 
will hold their annual meeting at the Memorial Hall, Farringdon 
Street, E.C., at 7 p.m. 
- The Weather in London. —The weather has been com¬ 
paratively mild in the metropolis during the past week. On Sunday 
rain fell during the day, but Monday proved fine, with occasional slight 
showers in the evening. On Tuesday morning it rained. Wednesday 
opened fine, and at the time of going to press south-westerly winds are 
blowing. 
- Weather in the North.—W ith a touch of frost on three 
mornings, and occasional high winds, the last week of January has been 
generally dull and mild rather than wintry. Snow fell heavily for 
some hours in the morning and forenoon of Saturday, heavy rain 
followed at night, and all had disappeared by Sunday morning. This 
morning (31st) is showery, with the thermometer at 40°. — B. D., 
S. Perthshire. 
—^ Death of Mr. G. W. Boothby. —We regret to record the death 
of Mr. G. W. Boothby, Holme Cottage, Louth, which took place recently. 
Mr. Boothby was in past years a well-known Rose grower, and an 
authority on horticulture generally. At the time of his death he was 
fifty-six years of age. Mr. Boothby was of a genial disposition and 
unassuming demeanour, and his decease will be much regretted by all 
who knew him. 
-National Amateur Gardeners’ Association. — The 
second annual meeting of this Association will be held on Tuesday 
evening, February 7th, at the Memorial Hall, Farringdon Street, B.C. 
The Committee’s report and statement of accounts will be submitted 
for approval, and the election of officers for the current year will take 
place. Mr. T. W. Sanders will preside. 
- Pear Doyenne du Comice.—W ith us few Pears succeed as 
pyramids or bushes in the open. The above variety, however, is 
decidedly the best for this form of culture that we can grow. This is 
not a Pear soil by any means in the open, it being too heavy, cold, and 
retentive during the winter and spring. When we have a Pear crop at 
all this variety produces the most fruit.—E. M. 
A Delicate Question. —An unlooked-for question arose at 
the meeting of the Crays Cottagers’ Horticultural Society the other 
evening. It was stated that an exhibitor, on one occasion, had taken 
a prize for Roses, although at the time he had not a Rose in his garden, 
and the question arose whether it would not be wise and expedient to 
do, as some other societies do, appoint a member or members of the 
Committee to visit and inspect the gardens of the exhibitors at the 
time of the Show, as a safeguard against this kind of fraud in the 
future. 
- Chislehurst Gardeners’ Association. —At a meeting of 
this Society, held on the 24th inst., Mr. H. Canned of Swanley delivered 
a lecture on “ The Rose.” He detailed the treatment required, and 
brought to light many points of great importance in the successful 
cultivation of the Rose. The Society have only been in existence for 
about eighteen months, but much good and useful information has 
been spread by its agency through the locality, and the future bids fair 
for greater success. 
• Presentation to ''A Seedsman. — Mr. George Thomson, 
foreman in the seed department of Messrs. Ben. Reid & Co., Guild 
Street, Aberdeen, who is shortly leaving for Africa, was waited on at 
his house by a deputation of his fellow employes recently and presented 
with a handsome dressing-case, subscribed for by the hands in the 
seed department. Mr. Cook, in making the presentation, spoke of Mr. 
Thomson’s twelve years of faithful service and of the high estimation in 
which he was held by his employers and their customers with whom he 
came in contact. 
- Richmond Horticultural Society.—W e are requested to 
state that the summer Show of this Society will be held on June 28th 
next. 
- Mr. Samuel Barlow.—T he Middleton Albion sheet almanack 
contains an excellent portrait of Councillor Samuel Barlow, J.P., C.A., 
who is the Mayor of Middleton, and we are pleased to see the ardent 
and genial fiorist looking so well, 
- Professor Michael Foster, Sec.R.S., one of the Vice- 
Chairmen of the Scientific Committee of the Royal Horticultural 
Society, has been appointed Rede Lecturer at Cambridge for the 
present term. His Rede lecture will be delivered early in June. 
- English Walnuts in California.—B esides numerous other 
kinds of fruit English Walnuts are now grown in California. A 
Californian paper informs us that a single train from Rivera, in Los 
Angeles county, recently carried East for transportation 200 tons of 
these nuts. 
- A French Botanical Institute.—T he French Minister of 
the Interior has established at Marseilles, in connection with the 
university, an institute for botanical and geological research, and a 
museum. The director is Prof. Heckel, who, as well as a curator and 
a librarian, gives his services gratuitously. 
- Fruit Growing in California.—T hey do business on a 
large scale in California. The “Fruit Grower” tells of one firm with 
600 acres of Prunes, Peaches, Pears, Nectarines, and Apricots, from 
which they obtained an average of £52 per acre. The same firm has a 
vineyard of 1100 acres that they expect to realise at least £40 per acre. 
- Brixton, Streatham, and Clapham Horticultural 
Society. —At the annual general meeting of this Society the date 
of the autumn Show was fixed for November 8th and 9th at the 
Streatham Town Hall, and on the suggestion of the Hon. Sec., Mr. W. 
Roupell, it was resolved to affiliate the Society to the Royal Horticul¬ 
tural Society. 
- A Large Rose Tree.—A t Cologne there is a Rose tree, says 
“ Meehan’s Monthly,” which is believed to be 300 years old, and has a 
trunk of 4 feet in circumference. California has one which is now 
3 feet in circumference at the ground. It was only planted in 187G, 
and is now said to cover 2000 square feet. Unfortunately, the variety 
is not mentioned. 
- Thinning Fruit.— A prominent Missouri Apple grower ex¬ 
perimented with thinning his fruit on the half of each of several treea 
to note the effect. On that part of each tree where the fruit had 
been vigorously thinned, the matured Apples were more than twice as 
large as on the other part of the tree, of much better quality, and, says 
an American contemporary, sold for a better price. Not only this 
The part of the trees where the fruit has been thinned bore each year, 
while the unthinned parts bore only on alternate years. 
- Primulas in America. —Our excellent transatlantic con¬ 
temporary, the American Florist, shows by -well-executed photographic 
illustrations the character of Primulns grown on the “ other side.” 
Assuming them to represent good cultivation, we cannot fail to notice 
how inferior the plants are to thousands that are grown by gardeners 
in this country ; nor are the “ life sized ” blooms depicted in the pages 
referred to by any means equal to the best English strains. 
- American Prizes for New Productions. — From the 
above source we find that if we excel in the growth of Primulas, our 
transatlantic friends take the lead of us in encouraging the production 
of new varieties of fruit, flowers, and vegetables. The Massachusetts 
Horticultural Society is particularly to the front in this respect. In 
addition to numerous other awards, special prizes are offered as 
follows :—Fruits : For the best seedling Apple and Pear, £12 ; for the 
best seedling hardy Grape, £12 ; for the best seedling Cherry, £8 ,• for 
the best seedling Strawberry, £6 ; for the best seedling Raspberry, £8 ; 
for the best other seedling fruit, £8. Flowers: For the best seedling 
Rose, £10 ; for the best seedling Camellia, £10; for the'best Azalea 
indica, £10 ; for the best seedling Tree Pseony, £10 ; for the best seed¬ 
ling herbaceous Pteony, £10; for the best seedling hardy Rhododen¬ 
dron, £10 ; for the best seedling hardy Azalea, £10 ; for the best 
seedling Chrysanthemum, £10; for the best seedling single-flowered 
tuberous-rooted Begonia, £10; for the best other seedling flowering or 
foliage plant, £10. Vegetables : For the best seedling early Potato, £6 ; 
for the best seedling late Potato, £6 ; for the best other seedling vege¬ 
table, £6. 
