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JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
March 7, 1896. 
Events of the Week— On Tuesday, March 12th, the Committees 
of the Royal Horticultural Society will meet at the Drill Hall. The 
annual meeting of the United Horticultural Benefit and Provident 
Society will be held on Monday, the 11th inst,, at the Caledonian Hotel, 
Adelphi Terrace, Strand. 
- Weathek in London. —Cold north and north-easterly winds 
have prevailed since our last issue, accompanied on Sunday and 
Monday with slight fallings of snow, several degrees of frost being 
registered. On Wednesday morning the weather, though somewhat 
milder, was dull and cloudy, with some indications of a much-desired 
change. 
-Weathek in the North. —The frost has not been of great 
severity during the past week. On Thursday, the 28th, there were 4°, 
and a thaw set in subsequently. In the evening rain fell for some 
hours, and with a high westerly wind it seemed that a confirmed change 
was imminent. By midnight frost again set in, and 2°, 5°, 7°, were 
jcgistered on the firit three mornings of March. Sunday was a day of 
intense cold, with a biting wind from the north. On Monday morning 
the thermometer registered 5° of frost, the weather was cold and dull, 
and in the evening somewhat milder, and on Tuesday morning inclined 
to thaw. On Saturday the railway in the extreme north of the country 
was for the fifth time this winter blocked by snow.—B. D., S. Perthshire, 
- Royal Hoeticdltueal Society. —The next meeting of the 
Royal Horticultural Society will be held on Tuesday, March 12th, in the 
Drill Hall, James Street, Westminster. Special prizes are offered for 
Daffodils, and at 3 P.M. a paper by Mr, Collenette of Guernsey on the 
“ Diseases of Tomatoes” will be read. 
-The Gardeners’ Royal Benevolent Institution. —The 
Committee of this admirable Institution have been fortunate in obtain¬ 
ing the consent of the Duke of Fife, K.T., P.C,, to preside at the 
fifty-sixth anniversary festival dinner at the Hotel Metropole on 
June 28Lh next. A large assemblage may be expected on the occasion, 
and a substantial addition to the funds of the Institution. 
- United Horticultural Benefit and Provident 
Society. —The annual meeting of this Society will take place at the 
Caledonian Hotel, Adelphi Terrace, Strand, on Monday, March 11th, 
at 8 P.M. Mr. G. Gordon will preside. We shall be glad to see a good 
attendance on this occasion.—W. Collins, Secretary, 
-The National Amateur Gardeners’ Association.—W e 
are glad to see by the report and financial statement that this 
association of amateur gardeners is in a healthy state. Medals and 
other prizes are awarded for excellence in cultivation by amateurs, 
and instructive papers periodically read by authorities on special 
subjects in connection with floriculture. Mr. W. B. Crane, 4, Woodview 
Terrace, Archway Road, Highgate, is the Hon. Secretary. 
- Death of Mr. Thomas Baines. — We regret to have 
to announce the death of Mr. Thomas Baines, the famous specimen 
plant grower and judge, which occurred on Saturday last at Palmer’s 
Green, near London, as the result of an attack of influenza, cul¬ 
minating in pneumonia. For some years past Mr. Baines had followed 
with much success the occupation of landscape gardener, and he has 
left the stamp of his taste and skill on many estates. Though Mr. 
Baines was such an accomplished plantsman he possessed great know¬ 
ledge in the various departments of gardening. He was an extremely 
active man, physically and mentally, an excellent worker and prolific 
writer. His volume on “Stove and Greenhouse Plants, their Propa¬ 
gation and Cultivation,” is a valuable work of reference, and has been 
helpful to many who have sought information on those subjects. Mr, 
Baines was an extremely genial man, and always willing to give of his 
store of knowledge to all who needed such assistance as he could render. 
He was widely known and highly respected, and a host of friends will 
deeply sympathise with his devoted daughters and valued helpers in 
life in their great bereavement. The funeral is announced to take place 
on our date ©f publication (Thursday) at 11.45 in the Great Northern 
Cemetery, New Southgate, N. Mr. Baines was 72 years of age. 
- “ Kew Bulletin.” —The “ Kew Bulletin ” for February 
contains chapters on Coffee Cultivation at the Gold Coast, Decades 
Eewensis, Agricultural Farms in the Bombay Presidency, Storing Home¬ 
grown Fruit, Iboga Root, New Orchids, Siam Plants, and various 
miscellaneous notes. 
- National Cider Association. —We have received a circular 
on the above subject. The object is the establishment of a central 
organisation representative of all persons concerned, directly or in- 
dirtctly, in the cider-making industry of the United Kingdom in order 
that, when questions which affect their interests arise, they may be 
able to give expression to their views thereon with more force and 
effect through such an organised body than they could individually. A 
consultative committee has been appointed, of which C. W. Radclyffe 
Cooke, Biq , M.P., is the Chairman, and Mr. E. Sansom, 27, Clement’s 
Lane, Lombard Street, London, Secretary. 
- Death of Sir Francis Wyatt Teuscott.—I t is with regret 
that we have to record the death of one of the best known men in the 
City of London, Alderman Sir Francis Truscott, He was elected Lord 
Mayor in 1879, and raised large sums of money for various public pur- 
puses. Sir Francis Truscott was a Magistrate for London, Middlesex, 
Surrey, and Cornwall; a Commander of the Orders of Leopold of 
Belgium and the Saviour of Greece, as well as an Officer of the Legion 
of Honour. He was for many years head of the great wholesale 
stationery firm of Messrs. James Truscott k Sons, Suffolk Lane, and was 
succeeded in that position by bis son, Mr. George Wyatt Truscott, who 
in turn it is expected will become an Alderman, a position for which 
his talents well fit him. Sir Francis took great interest in his estate, 
Oakleigh, East Grinstead, where he made an excellent garden, which 
has been admirably managed for several years by Mr. F. Dunn. 
_ Australian Orchids.— The Government of New South 
Wales has issued a part of the late Mr. Fitzgerald’s extremely valuable 
work on Australian Orchids. It will be remembered that after publish¬ 
ing some eleven parts full of original observations, and enriched by 
numerous admirable plates illustrative of structure and function, 
Mr. Fitzgerald unfortunately died in August 1892. A large number of 
drawings were left, and these, so far as they are sufficiently complete 
for the purpose, the Government has decided to publish under the 
editorship of Mr. Henry Deane. The thanks of all interested in Orchids 
will be most cordially tendered to the Government and to Mr. Deane. 
- The total rainfall at Abbots Leigh, Haywards Heath, Sussex, 
for February was 0 27 inch, being 213 inches below the average. The 
heaviest fall was 0 14 inch on 24th, 0 10 inch of the amount was snow, 
which fell during the first week. The maximum shade temperature 
was 44° on the 24th and 28th, the minimum 6° on the 7th and 9th ; 
mean maximum 35°, mean minimum 21-10°. Mean temperature 28 05°, 
which is 8-41° below the average of the past seven years. From the 
22nd January to the 28th February there has only been four nights 
that the thermometer has not fallen below freezing. March has come in 
milder, with showers.—R. I. 
_ Forcing Lilacs.—T he fragrant flowers of Lilacs are always 
prized when they are obtained early. After being potted they should 
always be kept for a few weeks in the open air, with the pots plunged 
in ashes or cocoa-nut fibre refuse, as the plants respond more quickly to 
the influence of heat and moisture when taken into the forcing 
houses than do those which are lifted and placed under glass at once, 
even if they are brought on slowly. It also frequently happens that 
both Lilacs and Guelder Roses flag badly in bright weather about the 
time the flowers commence to show colour. This may be partially 
prevented by plunging the pots in the open air after lifting, and then 
bringing the plants on gradually in vineries from the time the Vines 
are started.—H. 
_ Death op Mr. Joseph Lakin. —It is with much regret we 
have received intelligence of the death of Mr. Lakin, which occurred at 
his residence. Temple Cowley, near Oxford, on Monday night, the 4lh 
inst. Mr. Lakin had not been in his usual heaUh for some time past, 
and this occasioned his recent retirement from duties connected with 
horticultural societies in which he took an active interest. Mr. Lakin 
was an ardent florist and an excellent man. Our correspondent who 
sends us the sad news, observes ;—“ I saw Mr. Lakin on Sunday after¬ 
noon. He had read the ‘Florist’s Tulip,’ by Mr. Bentley, in the 
Journal, with much interest, and his end must have been, as it were, a 
dream of flowers.” Mr. Lakin was sixty-seven years of age; he leaves 
a widow and two children, one of whom is married. 
