March 21, 1895. 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
249 
- Mb. Alfred Odteam, who ia so well known in connection 
with the Koyal Horticultural Society and gardening generally, has, we 
believe, been engaged by Messrs. Sutton & Sons as traveller. 
- The Cheshunt, Woemley and District Horticultural 
Mutual Improvement Society. —A meeting was held in Wormley 
Schoolroom on March 14th at 8 P.M., when a paper was read on 
“Nitrogen, Natural and Artificial Sources of, the Formation of the 
Different Compounds in the Soil, its Uses in the Plant Nutrition, and 
its Value as a Fertiliser.” The paper was read by Mr. J. Grey, and a 
discussion followed, in which many of those present took part. 
-Shirley and District Gardeners’ and Amateurs’ 
Mutual Improvement Association. — The first annual general 
meeting of the above Society was held at the Parish Room, Shirley, 
Southampton, on the 18th inst., the President, Mr. F. G. Sprangrer, 
presiding over a fair attendance. The balance-sheet showed an income 
of £21 78. 9d., and expenditure £20 6s. 5d. Commencing with thirty 
members the Association now numbered 111, which was considered 
very satisfactory progress. Sixteen meetings were held during the 
past year, and the average attendance was forty-six. The election of 
the ofllcers and Committee and some alterations of the rules concluded 
the meeting. 
- Tea Culture in the Caucasus. — We learn that the 
Administration of Imperial Appanages having decided to make experi¬ 
ments in Tea planting in the province of Batoum, in the Caucasus, 
where the climatic conditions are similar to those of the districts of 
China and Japan where Tea is grown, will dispatch a committee of 
agriculturists to Northern India, Ceylon, China, and Japan, in order to 
study the industry, and to bring back Tea plants and Chinese planters 
in order to make the attempt. The Administration has also resolved to 
send Mons. Krasnoff, Professor of Geography at the University of 
Charkoff, to South America and Mexico, in order to make inquiries as 
to certain other tropical plants, the cultivation of which would, it is 
believed, be also practicable in the Caucasus. 
-Wallflowers. —I do not quite understand “ H. D.” (page 225) 
in his reference to Belvoir Castle and Harbinger Wallflowers, as not 
being dwarf. The true Belvoir Yellow is the dwarfest stock of Wall¬ 
flower in cultivation. I grew it largely for many years, the average 
height of the plants being 8 inches, and a little higher when in bloom. 
I do not know of anything dwarfer. Perhaps he has for Belvoir Castle 
that tall loose form which came from Germany, and was sent out as 
Golden Gem—a beautiful yellow variety for cutting, but not at all 
dwarf. Then Harbinger, that is the original stock, was a dwarf 
compact habited selection of the London Market Blood Red. This 
latter is no doubt the finest dark crimson Wallflower we have. Strong 
plants reach to a height of 16 inches in a year, but the average height 
of moderately grown plants would be about 14 inches. The true Harbinger 
was about 10 inches. Probably any stock of the Market Blood Red 
is now sold as Harbinger. Selecting and keeping Wallflower stocks 
true is a work of immense difficulty. One stock should be a very long 
way from another, as the rich perfume and striking colour attracts 
insects, even if the air does not cause an interchange of pollen. Every¬ 
thing in the way of selection is practically settled for this year, and 
many working hard in that direction will have to start afresh.—D. 
- Spurious Mustard and Cress.—A few weeks ago lovers 
of Watercress, that best of all natural salads, were scared out of their 
seven senses by being informed that the herb conveyed into the human 
interior germs of a positively diabolical sort. So great was the popular 
fright that many suburban Watercress vendors retired from business, 
while the owners of beds who had for years made good incomes out of 
the herb gave up its cultivation. It is now the turn of Mustard and 
Cress, another charming salad, to be aspersed. In this instance it is the 
Mustard to which exception is taken by scientific authority. Not that 
it is yet indicted as a disseminator of microbes ; that charge will come, 
no doubt, later on. The assertion is that the herb now sold by many 
greengrocers in combination with garden Cress is the product of Rape 
seed, not of Mustard seed. It can be differentiated from the latter by 
comparison of the leaves, the Rape being of a darker and duller green, 
with a downy surface. There is none of the fresh pungency of flavour 
which characterises the genuine article, while instead of being whole¬ 
some Rape is said to be harmful if consumed in large quantities. The 
reason for substituting it for Mustard is the greater quickness of growth. 
Rape seed strewn on wet flannel and kept in a warm atmosphere will 
be ready to cut in a week, whereas the more slowly growing Mustard 
requires twice that time for maturity. It seems singular that for such 
a trivial gain as this the trade should dishonestly palm off an inferior 
article for a superior. But competition is especially severe we believe 
in greengrocering, and even the smallest profits have to be diligently 
sought for.—(“ Globe.”) 
- Marie Louise Violets. —Mr. J. Anderson sends us blooms 
of this Violet taken from plants grown in cold frames. They are large, 
rich in colour, and deliciously fragrant, and are highly creditable to 
their grower. 
- Fine Cyclamens.—M r. W. Rapley, Harrow Weald House, 
Stanmore, writes“ I have enclosed a few blooms of Cyclamens, of which 
I think the colours very good. All are seedlings of Sutton’s mixed 
strain. The seeds were sown in November, 1893, and the plants were 
at their best at the beginning of February, and averaged fifty blooms 
on a plant. I have quite decided not to grow the plants on the second 
time again if I have the convenience to grow seedlings. I have at the 
present time about 150 seedlings in thumb pots, and as these are all 
whites I hope to have a show of white bloom at the beginning of next 
year.” [We must congratulate our correspondent on the excellence of 
the flowers he has sent us. The diversity of colouration is very rich, 
and the flowers and foliage are of splendid substance. It is evidently a 
grand strain of seeds, and the plants to produce such handsome blooms 
must have been grown in the best possible manner.] 
- The Red Cedar. —Red Cedar (Juniperus virginiana) is the 
wood of blacklead pencils ; and practically the wood in all these indis¬ 
pensable articles, at least in pencils of good quality, is the wood of 
this tree from Florida, where there are great factories belonging to 
German manufacturers, devoted to cutting up Cedar wood into pencil 
stock. Every artist in all the civilised world, every man of letters, 
every school teacher, all the bankers, lawyers, and other men of affairs, 
the men and women who control the world, and all the school children 
who are going to control it, hold every day in their hands a piece of 
this wood. It would be interesting to know, says a transatlantic con¬ 
temporary, what proportion of these men and women, the most intelli¬ 
gent and best educated of the human race, knows anything of the 
origin of these little cylinders of wood, of the character and appear¬ 
ance, and of the name even of the tree that builds them up in its 
long life of slow accretions. 
-Birmingham and District Amateur Gardeners’ 
Association. —Mr. Wm. Dean gave a most instructive and interesting 
paper before the members of the Birmingham Amateur Gardeners 
Association on Wednesday, 13th inst., on “ Gardening Mistakes : How 
to Avoid Them.” He dealt with the subject in three sections—flower 
garden, fruit and vegetable garden, and greenhouse. He said that 
overcrowding was far too common amongst amateurs, and was 
responsible for a good many failures. He advocated the addition of 
fresh soil to the garden every year, and said cleanliness and order should 
be the rule here, as well as in the greenhouse. Ventilation in the 
greenhouse should be given freely and early during the warm weather, 
and watering should be done very carefully. A vote of thanks was 
passed to Mr. Dean on the motion of Mr. Roe. Acting on a suggestion 
made in the course of the discussion, it was decided to invite all the 
members of the Association to assist in compiling a list of hardy shrubs 
and perennial plants growing in gardens in the district which had 
perished and survived the exceptional frost, it being thought that such 
a list would prove a valuable record for those members about to plant 
shrubs and the like.— Wm. B. Griffin, Hon, Secretary, Alcester Road, 
Moseley. 
- The “ Botanical Magazine ” of March contains the 
following subjects :—Heptapleurum venulosum (Araliaceae). — This 
genus is a native to British India and South-eastern Asia. The speci¬ 
men represented flowered at Kew last year. It is sub-arborescent, and 
has the branches dotted with white. The polygamous flowers, which 
are red and small, stand in clusters upon short pedicels and solid 
peduncles, the whole forming a compact branching panicle, having a 
decidedly reddish hue. Disa sagittalis (Orchide^). — Eastern South 
Africa is the home of this genus. The tuber is spindle-shaped and the 
stem clothed with dark brown membraneous sheaths. The flowers, which 
are not an inch in length, have a generally white aspect, touched with 
pale lilac and red. Veronica loganioides (Scrophulariace*).—This plant 
comes from the Southern Island of New Zealand, where it is very rare. 
It differs from any known Veronica, and has been designated Veronica 
epacrida. It is a dwarf shrub. The stems are marked below with 
the circular scars of the fallen leaves, but are red, leafy, and branched 
above. The white flowers stand upon hairy peduncles with pink anthers 
