June 6,1895. 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
497 
- Battle of Flowers at Hastings.—A t a meeting of the 
Committee held recently at the Town Hall it was announced that the 
Corporation had decided to assist in carrying out the project, and that 
upwards of £300 had been promised to the fund for defraying the 
necessary expenses. 
- Iris Statell^e. —This is a Sicilian variety of Iris lutescens, 
and is one of the most attractive Irises, of medium height, which fldwers 
at this time. It has large prominent standards, tongue-shaped, and 
smaller reflexing falls. The flowers are of a pearly white colour, of 
very fine form, and most distinct. It is a fine garden variety and 
excellent for decoration. 
- May Weather at Driffield. —Mean temperature at 9 a.m., 
55'41°. Wet bulb, 510°. Mean maximum, 61-46°. Mean minimum, 
40 97°. Highest, 72’S® on the 27th ; lowest, 33'8° on the 5th. Mean of 
maxima and minima, 51-21°. Mean range, 20-49°. Mean radiation 
temperature on grass, 36 58°. Lowest, 26-4° on the 5th. Kainfall, 
0'60 inch. Number of rainy days, seven. Greatest amount on one 
day, 019 inch, on the 1st.— W. E. Lovel, Observer, {York Road, 
Driffield, 
- May Weather in South Wales. —The following is a 
summary of the weather here for the past month. Sunshine, 234 
hours ; one sunless day. Eain fell on four days. Total amount, 0-96. 
Maximum, 0-48 on the 25th ; minimum, 0 01 on the 12th. The wind 
was in the E. and N.E. till the 22nd, after which it was S. and S.W. 
It was bitterly cold the beginning of the month, and very strong. We 
had a fall of snow on the 17th, since which time it has been much 
milder.—W. Mabbott, Dowlais, Glamorgan, 
- Sussex Weather. —The total rainfall at Abbot’s Leigh, 
Hayward’s Heath, Sussex, for May was 12 inches, being 183 inch 
below the average ; the dryest May in the past fifteen years, with 
the exception of 1893, when the amount was 0 05 inch. The heaviest 
fall was 0-04 on the 17th and 30th. Rain fell on four days. The 
highest shade temperature was 83° on the 30th ; the lowest, 33° on 
the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th. Mean of maximum, 67'18° ; mean of minimum, 
43°; mean temperature, 55 09°, which is 0-58° above the average, 
June came in rather unsettled, and we had some slight showers, 
but Sunday was hot and dry, with a rising barometer. Rain much 
wanted.—R. I. 
- Papaver bracteatum, —I consider this Poppy is an improve¬ 
ment on the better known Papaver orientale, the original type of 
perennial Poppies. The habit of growth of bracteatum is more compact 
than in the case of orientale, less space being occupied by the leaves, 
and the flower stems are stouter, standing quite erect. In point of 
colour bracteatum is more intense in the crimson scarlet of its petals, 
while the plum-coloured hue of the anthers adds very much to the 
lustre of the whole. At the present time I have over a hundred plants 
in two rows by the side of a path, each carrying on an average ten fully 
developed blossoms. The effect produced by such an array of colour is 
easily imagined. In point of hardiness bracteatum is quite equal 
to orientale. A stock of plants can quickly be raised by sowing 
seeds on a well prepared bed any time during June, putting out 
the plants directly they are large enough to handle where they are 
to flower, and giving them some slight mulching material for the first 
year.—E. M. 
- The Edinburgh School of Rural Economy. —We have 
received the prospectus of this school for the session 1895-96, and 
observe that it comprises courses of lectures on botany, agricultural 
chemistry, forestry, and numerous other subjects. In the prefatory 
note it says that “ those who enter these classes ought to have previously 
completed a good general school training, and further that the complete 
course aims at fitting a young man to enter with intelligence into his 
work as a farmer, a gardener, or a forester. It should enable him to 
understand the greater part of the work that he will see in practice, 
and to study for himself any special subject that he may afterwards 
find to be of importance to him.” The lectures commence on the 
second Monday of October, and end on the last day of March. The 
range covered by the whole course is very broad, and should be of 
very material assistance to those students who studied closely. The 
fees, which are moderate, may be paid for any particular course or for 
the whole of the subjects, and for these and detailed particulars those 
desirous of taking advantage of the classes should write to the 
Rev. Professor M. C. Taylor, the University, Edinburgh, who is the 
Secretary. 
- Death of Mr. E. Rush.—T he death is announced of Mr. 
Edward Rush, a well known and much-respected seedsman of Chester, 
who expired on Tuesday, 4th inst., after suffering from heart disease for 
some time. 
■ An Ancient Tree. —Perhaps the oldest tree of which there 
is any record is the Cypress of Soma or Somma in Lombardy. This 
celebrated tree is generally supposed to have been planted the year of 
the birth of Jesus Christ, and on this account is treated with great 
reverence by the inhabitants of that part of Lombardy where it grows ; 
but there is an ancient chronicle extant at Milan which proves it was 
a tree in the time of Julius Cmsar, b.c. 42. 
- Bolton Chrysanthemum Show.— The ninth annual show of 
the Bolton Horticultural and Chrysanthemum Society will be held in 
Albert Hall of that town on Friday and Saturday, November 15th 
and 16th. By the schedule before us we find that though the classes are 
not very numerous the prizes are very good, and should bring many 
handsome exhibits. The Secretary is Mr. James Hicks, Markland Hill 
Lane, Heaton, Bolton, from whom full particulars may be had. 
-Early Strawberries in Cornwall.—W ith a continuance 
of favourable weather the Strawberry crop in the Tamar Valley will be 
early and plentiful this season. Several ripe fruits were picked by Mr. 
Joseph Start of Kelly Gardens, Calstock, on 20th May. Children 
attending Geoffrey’s Endowed School, Landrake, says a contemporary, 
gathered several bunches of fine wild Strawberries from the hedges 
around the village last week, and on Sunday wild fruit quite ripe were 
picked on the railway between Probus and Truro. 
- Tasmanian Apples. — According to a contemporary the 
export of Tasmanian Apples to England this season will amount 
to about 150,000 cases. The Tasmanian Government will guarantee 
freight on 30,000 cases, which will be collected from the growers, but 
shippers of the remainder will make their own arrangements with 
regard to freight. All fruit sent per contract ships will be subject to 
inspection, and any that is not up to the mark will be rejected. 
Cleopatras, Adam’s Pearmains, and Scarlet Nonpareils are to be not less 
than 2J in diameter ; and Sturmer Pippins, French Crabs, and Ribston 
Pippins 24 in diameter. 
- Fruit Culture in the Himalayas. —Is there a future for 
fruit culture in the Himalayas ? Mr. Caley Smith of the Yalumba 
Vineyards, Angoston, South Australia, is of opinion, from observations 
at Darjeeling and Mussoorie, that very much more might be done in this 
direction than has yet been attempted. He further suggests that the 
Government of India should expend £1500 or so a year for the purpose 
of keeping up an experimental orchard, where experiments in hybridi¬ 
sation of various fruits might be made, and their results made known to 
horticulturists by publication in a Government journal of agriculture. 
This plan has, he says, been adopted with success in Australia, Canada, 
and the United States.—(“ Madras Mail.”) 
- A Gigantic Orchard. —The largest orchard in the world is 
said to be that of Elwood Cooper, Barbara, California. It is a tract 
of 1700 acres, and contains 10,000 Olive trees, 8100 in bearing, the 
remainder being young trees, set out during the past year and a half. 
Besides the Olive trees there are 3000 English Walnuts, 4500 Japanese 
Persimmon trees, 10,000 Almonds, and about 4000 other fruit and nut 
trees. The 10,000 Olives yielded 40,000 quart bottles of olive oil last 
year, which found a ready market at 43. per bottle. The nut trees bore 
thousands of bushels of nuts, to say nothing of the Japanese Persimmons. 
Taken in all, it has been estimated that Mr. Cooper’s orchard brings him 
in an income of not less than 750 dollars per acre every year. 
- Linnean Society. —The gold medal of the Linnean Society 
has this year been awarded to Prof. Ferdinand Cohn of Breslau, whose 
name is well known in connection with the “ Botanic Journal,” which 
he has conducted, largely adorned with his own contributions, from 
1870 to the present time. The work of Dr. Cohn extends over half a 
century. He was one of the earliest to investigate the life-history of 
the lower Algae, and to demonstrate that they are not asexual. His 
important paper on “ Protococcus pluvialis,” published so long ago as 
1850, was translated by Busk for the Ray Society. Subsequent papers 
by him, on the mode of reproduction of Sphseroplea annulina, and on 
the development of Volvox, mark a distinct advancement in botanical 
science. The medal referred to was awarded to him at the anniversary 
meeting of the 24th ult., and has been forwarded to Breslau, for his 
I acceptance, through the German Embassy.—(” Nature.”) 
