May 18, 1893. J 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
895 
- Horticultural Club. —We understand that it has been 
decided to have a special dinner of the Club on Thursday, the 
■25th inst., the first day of the Temple Show of the Royal Horti- 
■cultural Society. The experiment was tried last year, and it was so 
■great a success that the Committee have decided to hold one this year. 
- Beugnia Arthur Mallet. —This is a great favourite in the 
market, because of the rich red colour of its leafage. It belongs to the 
shrubby section, and may be propagated by cuttings. Specially for 
vase or sideboard decoration is this Begonia suitable, for the foliage is 
singularly effective.—A. 
- Linum perenne. —As growing in the herbaceous garden at 
Kew this is a rarely seen charming hardy perennial plant of the 
usual Linum character, from 15 to 18 inches in height, and carrying 
profusely lavender blue cup-shaped flowers. This is a hardy plant 
that merits much wider cultivation.—D. 
- The Weather in West Yorkshire. —Rain fell in this district 
(Bingley) on the 16th inst. after a long period of dry weather. Terraces 
and slopes present in some places a parched and brown appearance, 
similar to the summer of 1887. Apples and Pears in orchards have set 
remarkably well, although the long-continued spell of drought has 
caused wall trees to shed a portion of their blooms.—T. H. B. 
- Heat and Drought in Hants.—M r. E. Molyneux informs 
us that another week has passed without rain, and that the thermometer 
registered 89’’ in the shade last Saturday, the minimum night tempera¬ 
ture being 50°. On mentioning this to a gentleman who is interested in 
these matters he observed :—Perhaps Mr. Molyneux’s thermometer is a 
little hotter than the weather.” Has it been tested throughout the whole 
of the scale ? 
- Flora of Kent. — According to Nature, Mr. Frederick 
J. Hanbury and the Rev. B. S. Marshall are engaged in the prepara¬ 
tion of a Flora of Kent, which should prove an exceptionally rich 
county flora, though some distriets have as yet been but imperfectly 
searched. Any assistance will be gladly received by the Rev. E. S. 
Marshall, Milford Vicarage, Godaiming. 
- Canadian Flo'WERS. —From the same source we learn that 
Mr. A. T. Drummond has been investigating the colours of flowers in 
Ontario and Quebec in relation to the time of flowering, and has con¬ 
tributed to the “ Canadian Record of Science ” an interesting paper on 
the subject. He finds that April, May, and even June and July are 
remarkable for the prevalence of white flowers. July and especially 
August of yellow, and September and October of purple and blue. 
- Bedded-out Dandelions. —In one of the flower beds at 
Kew is a number of Dandelions planted out regularly and thinly, 
but when 1 saw them the plants were out of flower. The variety 
was the eommon Taraxacum officinale, and seemed closely to resemble 
what Mr. Vilmorin, in “ The Vegetable Garden,” terms Very Early 
Dandelion. Probably good reasons can be given for the careful culture 
of these weeds at Kew in this way, but ordinarily they are a terrible 
pest.—D. 
- Sweet Peas in May. —The value of Sweet Peas in May cannot 
well be overrated where cut flowers are much in demand. Their popu¬ 
larity, which is always of the fullest, is considerably extended when 
they are produced out of their ordinary season earlier or later. Our 
plants now in bloom were raised from seed sown in small 60-pots 
in January, and when they had made some growth were shifted 
into 5i-inch sizes, and stood on a shelf close to the glass, where the 
growth produced was sturdy and strong. Directly they began to “ run ” 
freely a narrow border at the back of a cool house was prepared by 
digging into the existing soil, which Tomatoes had previously occupied, 
some decayed manure. Some twiggy shoots of the Snowberry served as 
stakes, with the addition, when they had attained a good height, of 
string strained so as to keep them from falling about. Less than 
two dozen pots were thus treated, but many dozens of their sprays 
have already been gathered, and they certainly bid fair to continue 
until others forwarded in pots and planted in the open will be ready 
for gathering. They are particular favourites in the cut flower vases, 
in the house, and having space at command advantage was taken of it 
to obtain a lengthened season of their delicate coloured and sweetly 
scented blossoms. They are stimulated by liquid manure in weak doses, 
and are not allowed to suffer from want of root moisture. They stand 
about 7 feet in height, and are branching freely from almost every 
joint.—'W. Strugnell, Rood AsMon Gardens. 
- An Odd Combination.—A large round clump of Araucarias 
at Kew, the trees, as all know, of the stillest, most formal, and heaviest 
coloured description, had the other day a very beautiful carpet of blue 
Scillas. Nothing perhaps could be less in harmony than these two things, 
but the Squills are always beautiful, whether seen in woodland glades 
or in such quaint company as at Kew.—A. 
- The Mistletoe, which has so long been shipped every year 
in such large quantities from France to England, wiL be more difficult 
to find next winter. That which was sent across the Channel came 
almost exclusively from the orchards of Normandy, where it flourished 
on the Apple trees. The French Government, says a daily contemporary, 
has decided that all the Mistletoe must be cut off the Apple trees at 
once on the ground that it sucks the sap of the trees and impoverishes 
them. 
-Lawns at the Imperial Institute.—W e take the liberty 
of directing your attention to the fact that the beautiful bright green 
lawns at the Imperial Institute were sown with our lawn seeds, and we 
shall be glad if you can find room for a notice respecting this in an 
early issue of your Journal.— Sutton & Sons. [We have not had the 
pleasure of seeing these lawns, but the majority that have come under 
our notice in various parts of the country are disappointingly brown 
through the continued drought.] 
- COTONEASTER HORIZONTALIS. —For training against a wall I 
know of no more charming plant than this, the natural growth of which 
lends itself so admirably to this purpose. It grows freely, although the 
foliage is small, and the growth is perfectly flat, each branch having a 
fan-like appearance. Established plants are now in bloom, with a pro¬ 
fusion of miniature pinkish white flowers, probably to be followed by 
berries, but as I have not seen it in a berried state I am unable to say 
for certainty. It is, however, a plant to be sought after, and one of the 
most beautiful wall-covering shrubs we have.—W. D. 
- Everlasting Peas.— So much attention is given to the tall- 
growing forms of Lathyrus, that so pleasing a trailer as Lathyrus 
hirsutus, as seen on the rock work at Kew, is frequently overlooked. 
That it does very well and is quite hardy is evident; growths range 
about 12 inches long, carrying small clusters of from three to four small 
flowers, the standards mauve and the tips nearly white. A pretty 
member of the Leguminose family, but stiffer in growth and rather 
more compact, is Ononis rotundifolia, quite a pretty perennial Vetch, 
flowers borne in small clusters, and of a reddish-pink colour.—D. 
- Early Peas and Potatoes. —We gathered our first dish of 
Suttons’ Ringleader Pea on the 15th inst., from seed sown in the open 
air on the 26th of January. This is the earliest date we have gathered 
Peas here during the last eighteen years. Chelsea Gem, sown at the 
same time side by side, will not be ready for another week. Veitch’s 
Early Ashleaf Potatoes, planted out of a box between the Peas on the 
7th of March, are now in flower, and will be ready for use next week. 
Laxton’s Noble Strawberry, growing on a south border, will be ready 
in a few days. The Peas and Potatoes are growing on a border fully 
protected from the east winds.—J. Smith, Mentmore, BucUs. 
- ’Cute Sparro'WS. —We hear a good deal about sparrows, and 
their ways ; but our birds are behind the times in comparison with 
some over the the water. An American paper says :—“ A man fed 
his fowls upon rice, but, finding that the house sparrows dropped 
down in clouds and robbed the poultry of most of their food, determined 
to get the better of them, and substituted maize. He was astonished 
to observe that the sparrows, finding the grains too large to swallow, 
carried them to an adjacent railway line, and waited for the train to 
pass by, when they were enabled to pick up the crushed meal.” 
“ W. R. Raillem ” would surely “ hesitate to shoot ” such smart birds 
as these. 
- Cyrtodera repulgens.— When some of the Belfast florists 
were over here recently one of them in the flower market remarked that 
the only novelty he had seen there was this plant. That may have 
been an exaggeration, but doubtless market growers are much puzzled 
to find real novelties. I saw it growing largely in Messrs. Bruckhaus 
and Melling’s little nursery at Twickenham the other day. The plants 
have a dwarf, somewhat creeping habit, throwing out runners like 
Saxifraga tormentosa, but the foliage is of a reddish velvety nature, 
and the flowers bright scarlet in colour and close set in the foliage, and 
not unlike those of a giant Mu-k in form. It makes a pretty basket or 
vase plant.—A. 
