June 15, 1893. ] 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDE NEIL 
479 
- Gardeners’ Royal Benevolent Institution. — We are 
informed that the fifty-fourth anniversary festival dinner will be held 
at the Hotel Mdtropole, on Thursday, June 22nd, 1893. Baron Schroder 
will preside, and a large and influential gathering is anticipated. 
- Gardening Appointment. — Mr. William Robert Coulson, 
for six and a half years general foreman in the gardens of John Cros- 
field. Esq., Walton Lea, Warrington, has been appointed head gardener 
to Joseph Verden, Esq., The Brockhurst, Northwich, Cheshire. 
-A Centenarian Gardener. —As a rule gardeners live a 
long life, but comparatively few reach the age of Mr. John Cuckow, of 
Lenham, who, according to a Kentish contemporary, is now in his 
102nd year, and still in possession of his faculties. Mr. Cuckow stated 
that this year he had cultivated the whole of his garden, which is 
about 9 perches in extent. 
- Lilies at Waltham. —Your printer has a good joke in my 
article on page 463, at the expense of Mr. Paul. He makes me say that 
Japanese Lilies are not cultivated at Waltham, inasmuch as they cannot 
find in that region “ a congenial soul.” The venerable rosarian will 
enjoy this immensely.— David R. Williamson. [Printers will have 
their little jokes when they can, and say the best of the joke in this case 
is that the writer wrote “soul,” and not “soil,” as he perhaps intended.] 
- The London Pansy Show. —In your report of the London 
Pansy and Violet Show of June 6th, at the end of your remarks on the 
trade exhibit of Violas and Pansies you add, “ Messrs. Dicksons & Co., 
Waterloo Place, Edinburgh, competed in this class.” We request you 
to correct this in your next issue, as we did not compete in any class, 
and merely sent a stand for exhibition.— Dicksons & Co., Edinbutgli. 
[We readily insert the correction. Our reporter did not observe any 
card on the stand indicative of its not being in competition.] 
- Grafting in Summer. —It is not generally known, but 
“ Meehans’ Monthly ” says “ that the longer scions can be retarded the 
more certainty there is of success. For instance, if grafts of Pear are 
cut in the winter, and put in the ground like cuttings, they will keep 
green without sprouting for months. The Pear tree to be grafted may 
push into leaf in May, but the grafting may not be done till June or 
later. The unsprouted cuttings used as grafts grow with surprising 
success. The writer has known some of these to be successfully grafted 
even at the end of July.” 
- Chrysanthemums in June.— I send you a few blooms of 
Chrysanthemum Elsie, cut on June 5th, from a plant that came into 
flower early in November, and has flowered continuously ever since. 
Over 100 blooms equal to those sent were cut during April and 
May, quite as many in March, and the plant shows no sign of 
being exhausted yet. This I consider one of the best decorative varieties, 
and certainly an acquisition to a not too numerous section. I grow 
this variety without disbudding, as I do not think it nearly so good as 
when grown in a natural way.—P. S. [Truly a floriferous plant. The 
blooms were as good as we usually see them in November.] 
- Stratagem Pea. —Mr.W. Strugnell, Rood Ashton, writes ;— 
As a second early Stratagem is a fine Pea. We gathered some pods, 
June 1st, from plants raised in boxes the end of January. It is possible, 
considering the abnormally dry and warm spring, these would have 
been almost as forward sown outdoors, because of the check given them 
in planting out from the boxes for want of rain. They had an 
additional check, too, in a rather sharp frost in the evening following 
the planting, although protected by Yew branches inserted thickly 
among the rows. American Wonder sown and planted on the same 
dates on the same border was a little more than a fortnight earlier. 
- Horticultural Club.—O n Tuesday, June 6th, after the 
usual monthly dinner of the members, Mr. Chas. T. Druery, F.L.S., gave 
a very interesting lecture entitled “ Round my Fernery,” which he 
illustrated by a photograph embracing a considerable number of the 
finest forms of British Ferns as grouped in his fernery, and by a 
collection of freshly cut fronds from the most striking specimens. By 
means of these he demonstrated not merely the present great decorative 
value of these native plants, but also the practicability of enhancing 
their attractiveness by crossing, some very charming combinations being 
shown together with the parent forms. He also exhibited a series of 
graduated forms obtained by selective culture alone without crossing, 
and culminating in some of the finest plumose and crested forms 
existing. An interesting discussion followed, in which Sir J. D. T. 
Llewelyn, Bart., Mr. John Lee, and Mr. Cousens took part. Mr. 
J, S, Cousens exhibiting also a number of fronds of good varieties. 
-The Rose Acacia in America.—I t seems curious, says a 
correspondent, that the Rose Acacia (Robinia hispida), one of the most 
beautiful of flowering trees, will not flourish in America. It is said to 
have nearly disappeared from cultivation through the ravages of the 
locust borer. 
- Kalmia angustifolia rosea. —This plant is now flowering 
at Kew. It forms a neat low-growing bush, and produces medium¬ 
sized trusses of bright rose-coloured flowers in great profusion, which 
contrast beautifully with the light green shade of the young 
foliage.—A. 
- Erica cinerea. — Where Heaths can be successfully culti¬ 
vated this beautiful species and its varieties should be given a promi¬ 
nent position. At Kew it is now in full flower, the colour ranging in 
the many varieties from pure white in E. c. alba, to rich purple in 
E. c. atro-purpurea, and deep rose in E. c. rosea. Large patches of 
these varieties, grown on rockwork or the sides of hills, form a most 
attractive feature.—A. 
- Stephanotis Fruits. —I send a double seed pod of Stepha- 
notis floribunda. I have many times had one pod, but never had 
two on one stem before, and should like to know if any of your 
readers have seen the fruits in pairs.— G. Lock. [The fruits are each 
5 inches long, and 6^ inches in circumference, end to end like a pair 
of horns with the points outwards. We have seen similar examples, 
but very infrequently.] 
- Royal Meteorological Society. —At the ordinary meeting 
of this Society at 25, Great George Street, Westminster, on Wednesday, 
the 2l8t instant, at 7 P.M., the following papers will be read :—“ Fifteen 
Years’ Fog in the British Islands, 1876-1890,” by Robert H. Scott, 
M.A., F.R.S. ; “Upper Currents of Air over the Arabian Sea,” by 
W. L. Dallas, F.R.Met.Soc. Mr. E. D. Archibald, M.A., F.R.Met.Soc,, 
will also give an address on “ Australian Climate and Weather,” which 
will be illustrated by a number of lantern slides. 
- Hedysarum multi jugum. —This is one of the most attractive of 
the rarer leguminous plants at present in flower at Kew. Growing about 
18 inches high, it is admirably suited for a front position in the shrubbery, 
whilst it is equally valuable for the herbaceous border or for permanent 
beds on the lawn. The flowers are of a rich rosy purple, and are borne 
on racemes ranging from 9 inches to 1 foot in length, which are produced 
with the greatest freedom during the early summer. A rich, light loam 
is best suited for the successful cultivation of this charming plant.—A. 
- The Odours of Flowers. —In one of his addresses on the 
odours of flowers, Mr. Meehan called attention to the faet that out of 
the 100,000 flowering plants known to botanists, possibly not 10 per 
cent, of them had any odour. The large majority of plants are in fact 
scentless. Among other points he called attention to the remarkable 
circumstance that in many large families there were only one or two 
sweet species ; for instance, in the Mignonette family, of fifty species 
known, only the one in our gardens was sweet. Among 100 of Violets 
there are not a dozen sweet ones. In many other large families also, 
Begonia for instance, the scentless ones are as a hundred to one. 
Among our wild flowers the number of sweet-smelling flowers is very 
slim. 
-What Becomes of the Aphis in the Winter?— Referring 
to this question from Nature, on page 436, Mr. T. A. Sharpe does not say 
what species of aphis is referred to. In my researches for aphides in 
winter I have no difficulty in finding specimens of the Plum aphis in a 
young producing condition on the Plum bloom buds from January 
onward if the weather is mild. These I have shown in connection with 
the lectures under the microscope constantly, and advised fruit growers 
to take precautions by destroying with washes the mothers of millions 
in future generations during the coming seasons. Those who took the 
advice, and acted upon it in a practical form, have had excellent re¬ 
sults. The great difficulty I find to contend against is the fixed idea 
that they come in the “ east winds ” in spring, and no amount of argu¬ 
ment and ocular demonstrations will ever have any effect on some 
persons, and the only way that I see is to teach the young either with the 
aid of microscopes with specimens in different stages of growth and 
destructiveness, or with lantern slides with specimens from Nature. The 
Apple aphis does not appear to be produced in spring from hybernating 
viviparous mothers, as the Plum aphis, but from jet (bright black) eggs, 
which are not so easy to deal with, for as soon as they hatch out they 
retire within the tender foliage and become viviparous mothers in a short 
time, producing young at an incredible rate, curling up the foliage and 
sheltering from insecticides.—J. Hi AM. 
