May 30,1895. 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
473 
Events of the Week. —In the provinces during the coming week 
at least three great shows will be held. On Friday the annual show at 
Manchester opens, on Saturday will be held the Tamworth Pansy and 
Viola exhibition, while on Monday (Bank Holiday) the Southampton 
Society will be holding its show. 
- Weather in London. —During the afternoon of last Thurs¬ 
day there was a heavy fall of rain for about an hour in the metropolis, 
which caused visitors to the Temple show to rush quickly to the tents. 
Since that day, however, beautiful weather has prevailed. 
- Weather in the North. —During the week ending the 
28th inst. the weather has been generally warm and fine. On some 
days thunder occurred, and two or three showers have fallen, but more 
rain would be welcome.—B. D., S. Perthshire, 
- The Paris Exhibition.— The show of the National Horti¬ 
cultural Society of France opened in the Tuileries Gardens on the 
22ad, and closed on the 28th inst., may be termed a success, all 
sections being fairly represented. Hardy flowers from Messrs. Vilmorin, 
Andrieux & Co., and Forgeot & Co. were exceptionally brilliant^ 
Azaleas, Caladiums, and Palms being also well shown. Messrs. F. 
Sander & Co., St. Albans, staged a group of Orchids, Dracaena 
Sanderiana and other plants that attracted much attention, and which 
was adjudged a gold medal. 
- A Royal Cedar at Warwick Castle.—B efore leaving 
Warwick Castle on Monday, the 20th inst., H.R.H. the Prince of 
Wales planted a young Cedar of Lebanon near the site of the historic 
old Cedars which were blown down in the recent gale. Although 
centuries must elapse before this young tree attains to the grand 
proportions of its pioneers, it is interesting to think, and hope, that 
many future generations will look with pleasure on its spreading 
branches, and ascertain by the inscription beneath it that it was 
planted to commemorate His Royal Highness’s second visit to Warwick 
Castle, adding thereby another link in the long line of historic 
associations which cluster around the famous stronghold of the ancient 
midland town. 
- Kew Guides. —The following are the guides on sale at the 
Royal Gardens, Kew:—Key plan and index to the Royal Botanic 
Garden and Arboretum, Kew. Third edition. 1893. Price 2d. Official 
guide to the Museums of Economic Botany. No. 1 ; Dicotyledons and 
Gymnosperms. Second edition, revised and augmented. 1886. Price 4d. 
•Official guide to the Museums of Economic Botany. No. 2 : Monocotyle¬ 
dons and Cryptogams. 1894. Price 4d. Official guide to the Museums 
of Economic Botany. No. 3 : Timbers. Second edition, revised and 
augmented. 1893. Price 3d. Official guide to the North Gallery. 
Fifth edition, revised and augmented. 1892. Price 6d. Guides to 
Museums and North Gallery in one volume, cloth boards. Price Is. 9d. 
Hand-list of trees and shrubs grown in Arboretum. Part I.: Polypetalse, 
1894. Price 8d. Hand-list of Ferns and Fern allies cultivated in the 
Royal Gardens. 1893. Price 6d. 
-Tenth National Co-operative Flower Show. — The 
schedule of this show, just issued, repeats the offer of about 800 prizes, 
including £300 in cash, many bronze, silver, and gold medals, special 
awards and consolation chances. Most of the prizes are, as usual, 
•offered for the produce of workmen’s gardens and labourers’ allotments, 
each section of the kingdom having separate offers. The Council of 
the Agricultural and Horticultural Association seeks this year to enlist 
art student* in the improvement of town gardens by offering prizes of 
£10 for designs of the “ Workman’s Garden of Taste,” contrasted with 
the ” Workman’s Garden Run to Waste.” The competition designs 
are to be exhibited at the Crystal Palace on the 23rd and 24th August, 
when the show takes place in conjunction with the Great National 
Co-operative Festival. Schedules of the show can be obtained without 
charge from Edwd. Oxen Greening, the Hon. Sec., 3, Agar Street, 
Strand, W.C. 
- Fruit from the Antipodes. —The “ Oceania ” arrived on 
the 18th instant, bringing the following fruits :—Four boxes from 
Sydney, 9247 from Hobart, 894 from Melbourne, and 130 from Adelaide 
—or a total of 10,275 boxes of Apples. 
- Death of Dr. H. F. C. Cleghorn.— The death is announced 
of Dr. H. F. C. Cleghorn, well known for his work in connection with 
the organisation and development of the Forest Department of India. 
He was for some years President of the Royal Scottish Arboricultural 
Society, and examiner in forestry to the Highland Society. He also 
took a leading part in the founding of the forestry lectureship in the 
University of Edinburgh. 
- Fruit in Kent. —The prospects of the Raspberry crop in 
Kentish grounds are this year, says a local contemporary, very poor. 
The severe frosts of the past winter seem to have affected the canes a 
great deal, and they are now bursting very poorly. Cobnut trees ar® 
generally looking very well, and the show for fruit is a capital one. 
With regard to Plums, reports state that it is mostly trees of the 
Dauphin variety which are showing very patchy for blossom. 
- Fine Fruit Prospects on the Continent. —The orchards 
in the districts round Paris now present a mass of bloom such as seldom 
has been witnessed. Pear, Cherry, and Apple trees are alike loaded 
with flowers. The season is unusually late, but there is every prospect 
of a splendid crop, unless indeed there is any frost. The system of 
protecting fruit trees from frost at the critical moment of fertilisation 
of the pistil by lighting fires in orchards, so that the smoke may have 
the same effect as a cloudy sky, is in some cases being resorted to. 
Gooseberries and Currants are sufficiently advanced to render an 
abundant crop almost a certainty. 
- A Good White Columbine. —Seen in a large number of 
strong plants carrying fine heads of bloom a fine pure white Columbine 
of the garden hybrids is a telling feature beside a garden walk at 
Woodhatch, Reigate. The flowers have longer spurs than are usually 
found on the common strain, and indeed it should not be difficult, 
by careful selection and intercrossing, to develop from it a pure 
white long-spurred form, after the style of chrysantha. Columbines 
are very elegant as found in true species, or even in many of the 
numerous hybrids that have come from intercrossing A. chrysantha 
with A. coerulea or Skinneri, but none of these have yet given us a pure 
white form. The one at Woodhatch therefore merits wide cultivation . 
—A. D. 
- Stephanotis and Ripened Wood. —If you think 
appropriate and likely to produce thoughtful consideration I should 
like to refer to the controversy that was under discussion in the columns 
of the Journal of Horticulture last autumn, on the question of 
“Ripened Wood.” In the issue of November 15tb, 1894, page 444,“A 
Sceptic ” states that a correspondent “ makes a remarkably bad shot 
considering that Stephanotis floribunda blooms on the young growth.” 
True it does, but it also blooms on the old growth if well ripened. I 
am sending you a length of 1894 autumn growth with four fully 
expanded trusses on it, with young growth from the same showing other 
trusses.—F. W. B. [The examples were as stated. They were clean 
and healthy, but not novel. It is common enough to find Stephanotis 
flowers on growths of the previous year, and sometimes at nearly every 
joint.] 
- The Effects of the Winter. —In one important respect 
horticulture this spring is, says the “ Derby Mercury,” suffering some¬ 
what severely from the severe winter, the ravages of snails and similar 
ground insects being more than ordinarily destructive. The reason is 
that the lengthy frost, instead of retarding the operation of these little 
pests, has actually favoured them, for it has almost completely annihi¬ 
lated the mistletoe thrush, whilst song thrushes are nearly as scarce. 
These birds in early spring—and, indeed, all through the winter in open 
weather—feed on numbers of snails and their eggs. Early Peas, it is 
said, have suffered greatly by the small white snails, and in many 
gardens even the Asparagus heads are taken before they can fairly 
break through the ground. The robin, too, though a hardy little bird, 
has also considerably diminished in numbers, and other indigenous 
insectivorous birds have suffered to an equal degree. It is consequently 
to be hoped that the present warm weather will continue, and that an 
abnormal number of migratory birds—most of which are insectivorous— 
will assist to make up the deficiency. More rain is at present very 
much needed, the ground having been considerably dried by winds. 
The fruit blossom is setting well, and if severe frost keeps off the season 
will be one of the finest for fruit we have enjoyed for some time. 
