338 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[ April 27, 1893. 
- Windsor, Eton, and District Rose and Horticultural 
Society. — Mr. C. Romaine, Hon. Sec., The Priory, Old Windsor, 
writes :—“ The 28th June having been fixed for the Rose Show at the 
Earl’s Court Exhibition, the Show of the above Society is postponed to 
the following day, Thursday, June 29th. Intending exhibitors are 
requested to alter the date on their schedules and entrance forms.” 
- Weather in Northumberland.—A daily contemporary 
recently observed, “ The thermometrical readings taken on April 14th 
at Messrs. W. Fell & Co.’s Wentworth Nurseries, Hexham, showed the 
highest register to be 68°, and the lowest reading 24°, or 8° of frost. On 
the night of the 11th, or morning of the 12th, 10° of frost were 
registered, and within a few miles from Hexham there was ice an 
eighth of an inch in thickness on some standing water. The Plum and 
Pear trees are profusely covered with blossom, and the gardens now 
present a pleasing aspect. There is, however, a great need of rain." 
- Rhododendron grande. — This magnificent Himalayan 
Rhododendron was introduced in 1849 by Sir Joseph Hooker, who 
collected seeds and sent them to Kew. The specific name is very 
applicable, as good plants have a striking appearance both in flower 
and in leaf. The leaves are 12 to 16 inches Ions', and 3 or 4 inches 
broad. The large trusses are composed of about twenty of the cam- 
panulate flowers, each of which measures about 3 inches across. In 
the bud state they are rosy pink, changing with expansion to creamy 
white with a crimson stain at the base. It is figured in the “ Botanical 
Magazine,” t. 5054, as R. argenteum, a name under which it is no 
doubt familiar to many of our readers, and which has reference to the 
silvery under surface of the leaves. A rose-coloured variety originated 
at Kew some years ago, and is figured in the “ Botanieal Magazine,” 
t. 6948, as R. grande roseum.—A. 
- Gardens in Tasmania. —If we may accept literally Sir 
Edward Braddon’s glowing descriptions of gardens in Tasmania, says 
Nature, that island ought to be the paradise of horticulturists. Speak¬ 
ing the other day before the Indian section of the Society of Arts, he 
said of the garden he himself cultivated there for ten years : “ All the 
year through that garden had its charms of colour and perfume to lavish 
upon me ; always there were life and growth in progress, and new 
delights unfolding themselves out of Nature’s bounteous lap.” His 
monster Pelargoniums, that stood from 3 to 4J feet high, and had a 
circumference of 9 to 27 feet, were sources of increasing pride and 
pleasure to him, as they were of successive glories of flower. As for 
his fruit trees and vegetable garden, they yielded a never-failing 
supply of food for the table that in England, purchased of the green¬ 
grocer, would have cost about £100 a year. “ Many another garden 
like unto mine is there,” said Sir Edward, “ in Tasmania and New 
Zealand, gardens in which all the fruits and flowers of the temperate 
zone flourish abundantly, and in which it is possible for a European to 
work all the year round without fear of sunstroke or frostbite.” These 
panegyrics were uttered in the course of an address in which the speaker 
tried to persuade Anglo-Indians that after their term of service in the 
East they would find it pleasanter and more profitable to settle some¬ 
where in Australasia than to return to England. 
- Commodore Nutt Lettuce. — For forcing this is an ex¬ 
tremely useful little Lettuce, growing quickly under moderate 
forcing, and being of medium size may be planted more closely in 
rows than Paris Market. From seeds sown on a mild hotbed in which 
were planted an early batch of Asparagus in February we had plenty 
ready for cutting by the last week of March. From that time several 
hundreds of Lettuces have been used, and a portion of the same 
sowing planted quite close to a south wall are now supplying firm, 
compact heads. These were put in quite as a chance crop, the early 
part of Mareh not being a favourable time for planting Lettuces that 
have been raised under glass, and since these have done so well the 
regret is that more were not planted at the time. A mild bed pre¬ 
pared in time for transplanting the thinnings of the early sowing 
resulted in a matured crop quite as soon as those left undisturbed, 
though perhaps slightly less in size of head. I had not previously 
tried this early forcing variety, but its usefulness and quick maturity 
will ensure for it a permanent favour in our case for the purpose in 
question. Although I am not prepared to say that it is quicker in 
turning in than Paris Market generally, it was so with us, and its 
compact growth and trifling waste of outer leaves commends itself to 
the notice of those who require as many as possible from a small space. 
W. Strugnell, Hood AsJiton Gardens. 
- Phosphates from India. — Sir J. B. Lawes has recently 
received, through the India Office, a consignment of phosphates from 
Madras, with a view of their commercial value being ascertained. The 
specimens, of which we (“ Natural Science ”) have been favoured with 
samples, are well formed nodules, with a nearly smooth huffish coat, 
and internally appear very pure. Unfortunately, they show no traces 
of fossils ; but they come from Utatur, where there are both cretaceous 
and eocene beds. 
- Flower Show at Vienna. —The Archduke Charles Louis 
opened the Flower Exhibition of the Horticultural Society of Vienna 
on April 19th. All the fine gardens in the neighbourhood of the 
capital contributed. Count Harrach’s beautiful Azaleas were a pro¬ 
minent feature in the Exhibition. Herr Marx had two splendid 
groups of Roses, and the Horticultural Society a splendid group of 
miscellaneous plants and flowers. A magnificent group of Palms, 
shrubs, and flowers, covering an area 40 feet long and 30 feet broad, 
was staged. Pitcher-plants were also well represented. 
- Early Hawthorn Blossom.— I send a piece of White Thom 
nearly out in bloom picked in one of our lanes. Some is still more 
advanced. This is unusually early. Apple trees here are making a 
splendid show. The long and severe drought and heat are, however, 
retarding the growth of the herbage considerably, and in consequence 
cattle as a rule are suffering a great deal and looking very poor. In 
many places the soil is quite “ gaping ” owing to the heat.— Albert 
Rood. [Our correspondent neither gives date nor locality in his letter,, 
but the post-mark on the envelope appears to be “ Bridport.”] 
- Choisya ternata. —“ E. M.” writes :—“ Those who have not 
grown this pretty Mexican shrub at the foot of a south wall have 
missed a treat. At the present time we have two plants of it growing 
in such a position completely smothered with its pure white blossoms. 
The plants in question cover a space 15 feet wide and 5 feet high. The 
method of training the branches should not be a close one, but allow 
them to grow freely outward, resulting in more bloom. This Choisya is 
one of the easiest plants to propagate imaginable, stubby side shoots 
3 inches long inserted in sandy soil around the edge of a 3-inch pot, 
plunged in a gentle bottom heat strike readily.” 
- Early Flowering of Plants.—W e (“Natural Science”) 
would like to suggest the advisability of a more scientific method in 
the observation of dates of flowering of plants. One constantly comes 
across notes recording the exceptionally early appearance of certain 
flowers. It is forgotten, however, that the premature opening of the 
flowers may often mean death to the plant, or at any rate a serious 
waste of material. The production of seed is the final end to which all 
parts of the plant are modified. If by early flowering the plant is 
enabled to seed more freely, the date of flowering will tend to become 
earlier and earlier ; but if the flowering is premature, and is not followed 
by the formation of seed, then the date will become later and later, as 
the too hasty individuals are killed off. Observers should not pick these 
early flowers, they should mark the specimens and return later on to 
see whether they have, or have not, produced any seed. No one appears 
yet to have noted whether the Buttercups and Dead Nettles, which 
flower more or less all through the winter, produce seed from the 
winter flowers. 
- Pruning and Transplanting.—T here is a difference of 
opinion, says “ Meehan’s Monthly,” among some planters as to the pro- 
pr'ety of pruning in the branches of fruit trees when they are planted. 
There is no question among those who have had extensive experience, 
they all concur as to the wisdom of pruning in under most circumstances 
when trees have been transplanted. It is chiefly from the evaporation 
of their juices faster than the roots can draw in sap to supply the place 
of that waste that they die, and pruning in the branches prevents too 
great an evaporation, and that is the reason why the practice of pruning 
in is to be commended. When the trees have been planted without 
such pruning, in the Pear, for instance, it is not unusual for them to 
remain a whole season and send out only a few leaves, and without 
making any growth of branches ; indeed sometimes Pear trees remain 
the whole season alive without making any leaves at all. They are just 
able to meet the demands of evaporation, leaving nothing for growth. 
Whenever a transplanted tree does not show signs of pushing out leaves 
when the proper time eomes to make leaves, the pruning knife should 
at once be called in, and the branches pruned. Hundreds of trans¬ 
planted trees which die might be saved by a judicious use of the 
pruning knife. 
