312 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[ October 6, 1892. 
fCHR 
^ 3 
Pt*>L 
HIH 
u 
M 
Portsmouth Chrysanthemum Show. 
This great Show is fixed for November 2nd, 3rd, and 4th. A balance 
sheet of last season s Exhibition has been received, and shows a deficit, 
the first for eight years. Supporters of the Society are desired to do 
their utmost on its behalf, and if their efforts are supported by favour¬ 
able weather there is little doubt that the lost ground will be more than 
regained. 
Chrysanthemums in Finsbury Park. 
The twelfth annual display of Chrysanthemums in this park is now 
open to the public daily at ten o’clock. It will be at its best some two 
or three weeks hence.—J. Melville. 
Chrysanthemums in Batters ea Park. 
Will you kindly announce in your next issue of the Journal of 
Horticulture , that the Exhibition of Chrysanthemums in Battersea Park 
will be open to the public on Saturday, the 15tli October, in the frame 
ground, near the Albert Bridge entrance 7—J. J. Coppin, Superintendent. 
National Chrysanthemum Society. 
The autumn Exhibition of Chrysanthemums and other flowers will 
take place at the Royai Aquarium on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday, 
October 1-th, 13th, and 14th; and it is confidently expected the 
display of October-flowering Japanese varieties will be very fine 
The Conference meeting arranged for Wednesday, October 12th, to con- 
sider the proposed enlargement of show boards for Japanese blooms, 
wi take pla.ee m the Library of the Royal Aquarium at 7 p.m Sir 
Edwin Saunders, President, in the chair, when it is expected that 
Messrs. C. E. Shea, R. Falconer Jameson, E. C. Jukes, and W. Herbert 
Fowier, among others, will read papers or take part in the discussion. 
It is hoped the members of the Society will attend the Conference. 
Chrysanthemums at Impney Gardens. 
For some years now—in fact, as long as Mr. R. Parker has had 
charge of them, these gardens have been celebrated for Chrysanthemums. 
and judging from the fine condition of the plants when I saw them a 
few days since they are not likely to lose any of their prestige during 
the coming tournaments. The plants are somewhat tall (1 feature 
which is characteristic of all the collections I have recently seen in 
Worcestershire), very strong, having stout stems, well furnished 
with dark green thick leathery leaves almost to the base. The 
buds were mostly well developed and seemingly well timed, a point 
Tvr hlC B ? ecially marks the work of a n experienced cultivator, such as is 
Mr. Parker. 
- ^ * he < : ime , 0f my visi , t ( Se P fc ember 25th) most of the plants were 
’f kt airy houses, such as would suit them admirably. About 
bOO plants are grown as standards for large blooms, ten or twelve plants 
each being grown of all the best recognised exhibition varieties. Half a 
do Z en good plants of Richard Parker, the new golden yellow sport from 
Miss Haggas now being sent out by Mr. N. Davis I noticed. Several 
plants each of the following new varieties, all of which Mr. Parker 
thinks are very promising, are being grown :-Edwin Beckett, Mrs. 
E Beckett Miss L Cope, Le Verseux, W. Tricker, R. C. Kingston, 
W. K. Woodcock, J. S. Dibbin, President Harrison, and Miss M. Wight- 
man. Most of these are likely to be seen upon the exhibition boards 
in November. A new American variety named Mrs. P. Rider, bronze 
and yellow, is just expanding its florets, and gives promise of being a 
valuable addition to our list of October-flowering varieties. It is verv 
dwarf with good foliage, and produces brightly coloured large flowers 
Mr. Parker thinks highly of it. 8 ‘ 
f Ia addition to the 600 standards, about 100 plants are grown as large 
fie ° r^ sk f s . decorative purposes. These average about 3 feet in height 
and 2 feet in diameter are clothed with good foliage down to the pot 
and appear to be capable of carrying twelve to twenty fine flowers each’ 
One well known and popular variety (E. Molyneux) will this season be 
absent from Mr. Parker s stands. The reason of this is that shortly 
after the final potting an inexplicable disease broke out amongst the 
bushes and standards of this variety, causing the leaves to curl and the 
plants to assume a stunted starved appearance. The same thing has 
been noted in previous years by other gardeners and with other varieties, 
but it is generally limited to one variety in each case. It would be 
interesting to know if anyone can give a cause or cure for this. 
Parkfield, Worcester. 
At this fine place the gardens are well managed. The glass houses 
are very numerous, and perhaps the finest feature of them is the grand 
nniW° U ° f °S' At present, however, my subject, is only Chrys- 
l 0£ ^ eSe t b ? ut 500 are S rown as standards for large 
blooms, though not for exhibition. 8 
The plants, though not so strong as those at Impney, are still very 
Ipne^Bi baL U h d0Ubted1 / pr ° duCe fiQe flowers - ^particular attempt 
appears to have been made to time them so as to have early and late 
flowering varieties in a special period, as has been done very successfully 
at Impney ; consequently many are late, and the flowering season will 
thus be somewhat lengthened. 
Witley Court Gardens. 
Here Chrysanthemums are a great feature, about 800 plants being 
grown as standards with three blooms each. They are in most cases 
very tall but somewhat lacking in strength, the wood being less stout and 
the foliage smaller than of those at Impney. Many of the Japanese 
varieties have been allowed to go on to the terminal blooms, hence they 
will be rather late, smaller than if crown buds had been taken. The 
finest feature of this collection is about 100 plants of the “ Queen ” 
family. They are strong and will give good flowers. 
Abbbrley Hall. 
On looking over the extensive and well kept gardens here one 
must come to the conclusion that failures are nowhere to be seen. 
That high culture prevails throughout is evident. Under such cir¬ 
cumstances it would be strange if Chrysanthemums were only second 
rate. Although no exhibiting is done, the flowers being required only 
for home display, the plants approach more closely to the Impney 
standard of excellence than any others I saw in the county. About 500 
are grown as standards and 200 as bushes. Anna Hartzhoin is now in 
flower, carrying fine deep blooms. There will be a grand display here 
during November.— W. K. Woodcock. 
REVIEW OF BOOK, 
A Manual of Chemical Technology, By Rudolf von Wagner, trans¬ 
lated and edited by William Crookes, F.R.S., from the 13th 
Enlarged German Edition as remodelled by Dr. Ferdinand Fischer 
London : J. & A. Churchill, 11, New Burlington Street. 
The publication of an English edition, revised by a competent 
authority, of Wagner’s colossal work on chemical technology will be 
welcomed by students of all classes, and not the least by those who are 
animated by a laudable desire to acquire a sound basis of scientific 
knowledge. It is important in estimating the value of such a book as 
this to note that it is not one dealing with theories and general laws, 
but one abounding in practical information on a wide range of subjects, 
and therefore a real help to those who aspire to something more than a 
superficial acquaintance with the enormous field that is embraced in the 
term “chemical technology.” It will be gathered that it is far from being 
limited in its scope to information on horticulture or botany, neverthe¬ 
less its pages are a store from which few horticulturists who aim at a 
combination of scientific and practical knowledge can fail to draw with 
advantage. The character of a closely printed volume of 968 pages, 
embellished with nearly 600 engravings, cannot be conveyed with 
anything like full justice by a few references and extracts ; nevertheless 
it will be well to refer to some points of special interest to horticulturists 
in order to give some idea of its general usefulness. 
The work opens auspiciously with a consideration of fuel, and on the 
first page is a table showing the respective heat values of wood, peat, 
lignite, coal and anthracite. They are given in thermic units, and are 
as follows .—Wood, 4100 ; peat, 4500 ; lignite, 5700 ; coal, 8000 ; and 
anthracite, 8200. The last-named material has therefore a double 
advantage in its high heat value and non-smokeless character, and its 
use in gardens may be expected to extend. The information on ther¬ 
mometry that follows is of considerable interest. The first spirit 
thermometer (Moriani’s) was, we learn, made in 1640, and it was 
Fahrenheit (1709) who first used mercury. Tables are given showing 
how the scales of Fahrenheit, Celsius (Centigrade), and Reaumur can 
be converted into each other. The recognised value of wood charcoal as 
a plant food will lend interest to the chapter on the manufacture of 
charcoal, although it is not with this object that the subject is so fully 
dealt with and so freely illustrated. The same remarks apply to 
heating. 
A considerable amount of valuable information is scattered through 
the volume on the substances and preparations used as food for plants. 
Ammonia is dealt with at great length, and both inorganic and organic 
sources of it are pointed out. Of the latter coal is indicated as the most 
important. “ In the production of coal gas and coke,” we read, “ it 
yields up its nitrogen as ammonia, which is obtained as gas liquor. The 
ammonia of the gas-water may be utilised in various ways. Where fuel 
is cheap, and crude ammonium sulphate, or crude sal-ammoniac, a 
marketable article, the gas-water may be at once neutralised by an acid, 
and the liquid thus obtained evaporated. This is done in a sal-ammoniac 
factory at Liverpool, where, during the colder season of the year, 
300 cwts. weekly of this salt are prepared. Generally, however, the 
gas-water is submitted to a process of distillation, and the ammonia 
evolved converted into sulphate, as in Mallet’s apparatus, or into sal- 
ammoniac, as in Rose’s apparatus.” The value of urine as a source of 
ammonia is pointed out, and it is also stated that “ by the destructive 
distillation of animal substances, such as bones, hoofs of horses, refuse 
horn, skin, hides, decayed meat, &c., there is obtained a series of pro¬ 
ducts, among which ammonium carbonate prevails.The 
organic matter of these substances contains from 12 to 18 per cent, of 
nitrogen, the organic matter of bones contains 18 per cent, of nitrogen, 
and, as the organic matter amounts to about one-third the weight of the 
bones, these contain about 6 per cent, of nitrogen.” Bones, therefore, 
may serve us as a source of nitrogen as well as a source of phosphorus. 
The methods of preparing sulphate of ammonia, one of our most valuable 
