192 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
lebracry 28, 1885. 
was seconded by Mr. Bevan, and carried. A hearty vote of thanks was 
proposed by Mr. Geo. Gordon to Mr. K. Ballantine for his past services 
to the Society, and said that this meeting of members places on record 
its high sense of the great services rendered to the National Chrysan¬ 
themum Society by Mr, Robert Ballantine since the year 1879, first as 
Vice-President of the Society up to 1889, and subsequently as Chairman 
of the General Committee. That it has learned with sincere regret 
that circumstances necessitate Mr. Ballantine’s retirement from this 
important post, and takes this opportunity of tendering him a most 
hearty and enthusiastic vote of thanks. That it has been referred to 
the General Committee to take such steps as may appear desirable to 
mark in some appropriate manner the high esteem in which Mr. Ballan¬ 
tine is held by the members. Mr. H. Cannell, in seconding the propo¬ 
sition, spoke highly of Mr. Ballantine’s services in a lew appropriate 
words. 
There were several proposals for the office of Vice-Chairman, which, 
however, after some little discussion, were reduced to one, Mr. T. W. 
Sander, who was duly elected, Mr. C. Harman Payne was re-elected 
as Foreign Secretary, and Mr. G. C. Ingram was elected Auditor with 
Mr. T. C. Ward in place of Mr. H. Williams, who retires. The proposi¬ 
tion for the re-election of the Secretary, Mr, E. Dean, was moved 
by Captain Hicks and carried unanimously. Mr. T. Bevan proposed 
that the Secretary’s remuneration should be raised to £75 per annum, 
a motion which was referred to the General Committee. 
Some discussion followed as to the alteration of certain rules as 
recommended by the General Committee, resulting in the adoption of 
the following ;— 
Delete rules IV, and V., and substitute the following :— 
Rule IV.— Felloios and Honorary Fellows. —“All persons sub¬ 
scribing 1 guinea and upwards per annum shall be designated Fellows 
of the Society. Honorary Fellows shall consist of those who by reason 
of conspicuous service rendered to the Chrysanthemum have earned a 
title to some special recognition by the Society. Honorary Fellows 
shall participate in all the advantages of membership without payment 
of any subscription.” 
Rule V.— Memiers. —“The annual subscription of a member shall 
not be less than 6s. Subscriptions are due on the first day of March in 
each year. Foreign members shall be admitted to all the privileges of 
the Society on such terms as the General Committee may from time to 
time determine.” 
Rule VI.— Election of Fellows and Memiers, —“Every candidate 
for admission as a Fellow or member of the Society must be proposed by 
a member, and elected by a show of hands at a meeting of the General 
Committee, held in accordance with the rules, or at the annual general 
meeting or any general meeting of the Society, and no candidate who 
may be rejected shall be eligible for re-nomination. The election of 
Honorary Fellows shall take place at the annual general meeting, and 
nominations for Honorary Fellowships must first be recommended by 
the General Committee.” 
Rule VII. — Privileges. — “All Fellows and members shall be 
entitled to vote at the general meetings of the Society. Fellows shall 
be entitled to four passes ; members subscribing half a guinea to two 
passes; and those subscribing 5s. to one pass, to all the Society’s 
exhibitions and meetings of the Floral Committee. Members desiring to 
withdraw from the Society must give notice on or before March Ist, 
otherwise the subscription for the current year must be paid. The 
Committee shall have power to remove from the roll of membership the 
name of any person whose subscription for the past year shall not have 
been paid by the Ist of March following.” 
Rule VIII.— Affiliated Societies. —At the end of the rule add the 
following ;— 
“Note. — No medal or medals of the National Chrysanthemum 
Society offered for competition at any exhibition of an affiliated society 
can be supplied to any person or persons other than the secretary of 
that society. No medal or medals after being ordered by an affiliated 
society and duly supplied can be returned.” 
Rule IX.—Line 3, after “ General Committee,” add "and," 
Line 4, after “shall be elected,” add "ly ballot" as set forth in 
Rule 3. 
The following were duly elected by ballot as the Committee for the 
ensuing year out of seventeen proposed :—Mr, G. S. Addison, Eosebank, 
Thornton Heath, 41 votes ; Mr. T. Bevan, St. Marylebone Cemetery, 
East Finchley, 49 ; Mr. H. Cannell, Swanley, Kent, 25 ; Mr. W. Herbert 
Fowler, Taunton, 23 ; Mr. J. P. Kendall, Templeton Gardens, Roe- 
hampton, 31 ; Mr. G. Langdon, 45, Walsingham Road, Clapton, 52 ; Mr. 
B. Rowbottom, Priory Road, Hornsey, N,, 38 ; Mr. A. Taylor, 5, Vernon 
Terrace, East Finchley, 49; Mr. T. L. Turk, Highgate, N, 32; Mr. 
W. Daniels, 33 ; Mr. C. F. Yeoman, 32 ; Mr. F. Gilks, 30 ; Mr. J. T. 
Simpson, 34 ; Mr. W. Higgs, 30. 
Mr. E. Dean then proposed a vote of thanks to Mr. C. E. Shea for 
the able manner in which he had occupied the chair, this was seconded 
by Mr. Briscoe-Ironside, and carried amidst great applause. 
Mr. C. E. Shea replied in a few appropriate words, and the meeting 
was then brought to a close. 
THE HISTOKY AND CULTIVATION OF THE TOMATO. 
At a recent meeting of the Birmingham Gardeners’ Mutual Improve¬ 
ment Aisociation, held at the Athletic Institute, Mr. J. B. Latham in 
the chair, a paper was read by Mr. A. Coombes, gardener to the Dowager 
Countess of Dudley, Himley Hall, on the above subject. The essayist 
dealt with his subject in a most interesting and practical manner. 
In adverting to the history of the Tomato, Mr. Coombes—remarking 
that it was introduced into this country in 1696 under the scientific 
cognomen of Solanum Lycopersicum, and quoting from “ Macdonald’s 
Gardeners’ Dictionary,” published in 1807—observed that it was described 
as an annual plant with an herbaceous, branching, hairy stalk, rising to 
a height of 6 to 8 feet if supported, otherwise the branches will fall to 
the ground ; and that Miller has found two sorts only, the first as being 
commonly cultivated in the South of Europe, to put into sauces and 
soups, to which it imparts an agreeable acid flavour, and fruit vdVy 
large, compressed both top and bottom, deeply furrowed all over the 
sides, of a red or yellow colour ; the latter sort round, about the size of 
a small Cherry, either red or yellow, flowering from July to September ; 
but not a word as to cultivation, which omission leads one to believe that 
the fruit at that time was not in request in this country. 
Miller described five species under the generic name of Lycopersicum. 
Curiously, however, neither author gives the date (1596) of the Tomato’s 
introduction into this country. Miller, however, gives a short descrip¬ 
tion of its culture, recommending the seeds to be sown on a hotbed in 
March, transplant when fit to handle on another moderate hotbed, pot 
up in May or into the borders of the flower garden ; the plants will grow 
to a prodigious size and produce large quantities of fruit, which in autumn, 
when they are ripe, will make an odd figure ; but the plants emit so 
strong an effluvia as renders them unfit to stand near a habitation or 
any place that is much frequented, for being brushed by the clothes they 
send forth a very strong disagreeable scent. He goes on further to say 
that the Italians and Spaniards eat these Apples as we do Cucumbers, 
with pepper, oil, and salt, and some eat them stewed in sauces, &c. ; but 
considering their great moisture and coldness, the nourishment they 
afford must be bad. He also says that the yellow-fruited variety—pre¬ 
sumably Chrysocarpum—as the Love Apple, directed for medicinal use 
by the colleges in Italian dispensatory. Altogether, we have a rather 
remarkable contrast with the present-time estimation of the fruit. In 
1827 a writer in the “ Gardeners’Magazine ” remarks at considerable 
length of the culture, including Leucocarpum, or the white-fruited 
variety, and used in this country, also in Naples, Rome, and France, 
After giving a lengthened and exhaustive treatment of the culture 
of the Tomato, and including a long list of the best known sorts, select¬ 
ing himself, if confined to a small number of varieties, Challenger, 
Webb’s Regina, Ham Green, and Frogmore Selected. Polegate he 
considered to be one of the very best. 
In concluding the reading of a well-thought-out and instructive 
paper, he suggested that in addition to the usual mode of exhibiting 
Tomatoes— i.e , fruits singly—prizes should be offered for the fruit as 
grown in the bunch form, the better to test the special merits of the 
varieties and the practical ability of the grower—a hint which was 
unanimously acquiesced in by those present. Responding to the vote of 
thanks accorded him, Mr. Coombes confessed that this was the first 
time that he had ever written a paper on horticultural matters, or had 
the pleasure of addressing an audience. 
GLOXINIA CULTURE. 
Although these beautiful plants are more generally regarded as 
summer flowering, they may by a little judicious management be had 
in flower nine or ten months out of the twelve. I will endeavour to 
point out how this end may be obtained. 
Tubers that were properly dried or ripened in the autumn, and which 
have since been kept in a temperature of from 45° to 55°, will now begin 
to show signs of activity. The earliest should be placed in a temperature 
of 65° to 70° in a position near the glass, and must not be disturbed at 
the roots under any consideration, but gradually supplied with water 
of the same temperature as the house. Great care must at all times be 
exercised not to keep them too wet, or to allow any water to lodge on 
the foliage, as they are very impatient of any neglect in this respect. 
Providing all due care and attention is bestowed on them they will 
quickly commence to throw np their flowers, and as soon as this stage is 
reached liquid manure may be applied twice a week with beneficial 
effect. My plants, which were started during the last week of the old 
year, are now just showing for bloom. 
In the potting of Gloxinias there arises a case of “ where doctors 
differ, who shall decide ? ” Some growers recommending shaking all 
the old soil away from the tubers, whilst others say. Do not remove 
any but simply give them a size larger pot; but my own experience 
pertaining to the subject is as follows :—Give the tubers a good watering 
the day previous to that in which they are to be potted, well soaking 
the ball of soil all the way through. The next morning the superfluous 
water will all be drained away, and potting may be proceeded with. 
Turn the tubers out of the pots, remove about half of the soil, and 
place them in the same sized pots. Any that were not well soaked 
should be immersed in water, for to pot them in a dry state is only to 
court failure. As the pots become full of roots the plants may be 
shifted once or twice till they reach 7 or 8-inch pots, which are 
sufficiently large for general decorative purposes. A light rich soil- 
should be given, making it moderately firm. 
After the earliest plants have done flowering they should be 
gradually dried, placed in a cold frame, and allowed to rest for two or 
three months, when they may be placed in heat and treated in the way 
recommended. By this means a continuation of bloom may be obtained 
from the middle of February till well into December, Seeds if sown at 
