April 20, 1893. ] 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
816 
- Frosts in Wilts.—O n Thursday night, the 13th inst., the 
thermometer registered 7° of frost, the 14th 9° also, and being followed 
fcy early bright sunshine damaged the Plum, Cherry, and Apple blossoms, 
which are expanded.—G. F., Trafalgar^ Salisbury, 
-A Flower Show at the People’s Palace.—I t is reported 
that preparations are being made to hold a Flower Show at the People’s 
Palace in the East of London on July 13th, 14th, and 15th next. A 
Committee is being formed to carry out the project, prominent workers 
including the Marquis of Lome and Sir Charles Fremantle. A novel 
attraction will be a representation of a battle of flowers. 
' - Lavender in Australia. —It is stated that Lavender is now 
extensively cultivated in South Australia for economic purposes. The 
plant at one time was regarded as a nuisanee by the settlers, as their 
cattle would not eat it. Acting on the advice of Mr. Molineux, 
Secretary to the Agricultural Bureau of South Australia, a settler has 
planted a considerable area, and intends to distil the scent from the 
flowers. 
- A Grafted Pelargonium.—M r. H. L. Jones records, in the 
“ Botanical Gazette,” an example of a graft-hybrid between two 
different varieties of Pelargoniums, a red and a white. In several 
successive years the flowers partook of the characters of both parents; 
some were pure red, and others pure white ; others had some of the 
petals white, others red ; while in others again the petals were red 
mottled with white, or white mottled with red. 
- Chionodoxa Tmolusi. — Through an error this appears as 
C. Smolusi on page 290, and in correcting this I may also remark that 
there appear to be two varieties doing duty under this name. The 
form in my garden is of finer colour than C, Lucilim, but it would 
appear that there is another form of inferior colour to C. Lucilise, and 
consequently the merits of C. Tmolusi are not appreeiated by some. 
My opinion of C. Tmolusi is corroborated in a letter I had the other day 
from one of the keenest growers of bulbous flowers in England. He 
speaks highly of this variety.—S. Arnott. 
- St. Bridget Anemones. — Mr. James Harris, Blackpill, 
Swansea, writes :—“ In July last year Mr. Pettigrew sent you an account 
of the St. Bridget Anemones here. This evening (April 13th) I have 
forwarded you a few blooms and foliage that you may see what they 
are. The Anemones are charming now, and have been for the last month, 
and I expect them to keep flowering for another two months. 1 am 
still selecting them, and I hope to have them perfect in a season or two, 
as I have much seed in hand, and now I consider the right time to sow 
for next year’s display.” [The Anemones were the best of the kind 
we have seen. The flowers were magnificent, fresh, varied, and 
brilliantly coloured.] 
- Deciduous Magnolias. —Although varieties of this section 
may be much safer as regards protection of their blossoms from frost 
when growing against a wall, I think there is no comparison between a 
tree managed in this way and one allowed to grow away at will in a 
favoured spot in the shrubbery or even isolated on the lawn. Owing 
to their blossoms expanding before the leaves they are by this means 
shorn of some of their attractive quality when on a wall. Growing 
against a wall no plant that flowers before its foliage is developed has 
the same attraction as an evergreen in bloom, the dull red of the 
bricks make a hard contrast to the flowers. I agree with Mr. Dunkin 
(page 276) that the plants when growing in the open are very often 
destroyed by frost when even in the bud state, but this year they so 
far have escaped. A tree of the variety purpurea, nearly 18 feet high 
and 15 feet across, growing in an open spot in the shrubbery, is clothed 
from top to bottom with extremely large blossoms, not one of them 
touched by adverse weather so far. Although M. conspicua is a 
favoured species I prefer the purple form known as obovata discolor or 
purpurea. The deep flush of purple at the outside base of each flower, 
extending upwards and fading entirely away before the tips are 
reached, is more attractive, and being rather later in development than 
conspicua it more often escapes the frost than the white blooms. 
Soulangeana is another showy variety, a hybrid between conspicua 
and obovata, having the deep purple shade of the latter, but 
rather more intensified, and having the full rounded flowers of the 
former. Soulangeana is fully a week later in opening its flowers than 
purpurea, and for that reason useful both as giving a longer succession 
of blossoms and escaping frost as well. In perfume this is perhaps the 
most pleasing of all.—E. M 
- The Royal Gardeners’ Orphan Fund. —At the monthly 
meeting of the Committee held recently, the Hon. Secretary announced 
that H.R.H. the Duchess of Albany had permitted her name to be 
announced as a supporter of the Fund ; also that H.R.H. the Duke of 
York, K.G., had sent a donation of £5. Several other subscriptions 
were also announced. The annual dinner of the supporter* of the Fund 
takes place at St. James’ Hall, Regent Street, on Wednesday, April 26ih, 
when Baron Ferdinand de Rothschild, M.P., will preside. 
- The “Burning Tree” of India.— At a recent meeting of the 
Royal Botanic Society of London, among the Orchids and other plants 
in flower shown was a specimen of Laportea gigas, the “ Burning Tree ” 
of India. Both leaves and stems of this plant are covered with stinging 
hairs after the manner of the common Nettle, but of a far more virulent 
nature. It is stated that when touched the sensation felt is as of being 
burnt with red-hot iron, the pain extending over other parts of the 
body, and lasting for a fortnight. Little or no mark is to be seen on the 
skin, but, for some time after, should cold water touch the part, the pain 
returns with all its original intensity. 
- Weather at SwAnmore. —We have had forty-three con¬ 
tinuous days now without a drop of rain, a fact unprecedented within 
the memory of the oldest inhabitant at this season of the year. This 
spell was broken on Sunday (16th) by a light shower, which registered 
0-04 inch. On Tuesday (11th) at 6.30 A.M. the thermometer dropped to 
27° ; on each of the two successive mornings to 29°. With the exception 
of the earliest expanded Strawberry blossoms, which are blackened, I do 
not think much harm has been done to the fruit crops, of which there 
is an abundant promise of all kinds, in this neighbourhood.—E. M. 
- The Weather Reports. —Mr. J. Easter, Nostell Priory 
Gardens, Wakefield, writes :—“ The monthly reports of the weather by 
Mr. W. H. Divers of Ketton Hall Gardens, greatly interest me, as they 
nearly always tally with the register kept here. Perhaps you will 
allow me to ask Mr. Divers, through the Journal, the height his 
thermometers are from the ground ; also if the mean daily minimum 
is taken from the thermometer hanging the same height as the maximum, 
and not from the gross minimum ? The mean for the month of March 
here was 45°, that is, taking the maximum and minimum thermometers 
hanging beside each other. We measured 0'22 of rain only for the 
month of March.” 
- An Old Apricot Tree. —In the garden connected with the 
ruins of the Abbey at Bishop’s Waltham is an Apricot tree said to be 
over 200 years old. The tree is growing against a south-east wall about 
9 feet high, and covers a space 40 feet long, and is at the present time 
carrying a good crop of fruit. The stem near the ground is nearly 
18 inches in diameter, while many of the branches are 10 inches, and 
all of them very rugged in the bark. The tree is rather short of 
young wood, but on the whole looks healthy. It is presumed the roots are 
in close touch with a pond not far away. Altogether it is a remarkable 
specimen, and I am not yet able to determine what the variety is. 
E. Molyneux. 
- County Council Horticulture. —An interesting trial of 
several old and new sorts of Potatoes is this year being conducted at 
Bookham, Surrey, through the kind liberality of Mrs. Chrystie, a local 
resident, who having rented some land for the purpose of forming a 
garden school for boys of advanced age, also allotted a considerable 
space for a public Potato trial. This has been placed under the control 
of the Surrey County Council Technical Education Committee s 
horticultural instructors, and by them the seed Potatoes were purehased 
for Mrs. Chrystie and planted on the 13th inst. under the superintendence 
of Mr. Alexander Dean. Thirty of the best varieties in cultivation were 
selected from the lists of such popular growers as Messrs. Sutton and 
Sons, Reading ; Jas. Carter & Co., High Holborn ; R. Dean, Bedfont ; 
and C. Fidler, Reading. The moderate growers are in rows 30 inches 
apart and all the others 36 inches apart, so that ample space has been 
allowed. The land is situated in a very open breezy aspect, has hitherto 
carried field crops, especially corn; it was recently trenched 18 inches 
in depth, and has been dressed with moss litter manure from London, 
carefully forked in. Every sort has been labelled, and all are open for 
inspection by anyone interested in Potatoes. Apart from the interest 
which will presently attach to such a trial of Potatoes in the county 
it is hoped, should the disease be in evidence in the summer, to 
experiment with the now famous anti-fungus mixture, bouillie 
bordelaise, and thus submit in a public way its capacity to check the 
Potato disease. 
