272 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER, 
March 28,1896. 
■with a girth of from 20 to 30 feet, several tons of earth adhering to their 
roots. No one in the neighbourhood can recollect such wholesale 
destruction ; houses were unroofed, chimneys down, pinnacles blown 
ofiE the church, and stacks overturned. The full extent of the damage 
is at present unknown, but it must be very serious.—C. C., Tlirapston. 
Weather in London. — In and around London during the 
past week the weather has been somewhat changeable. On Sunday 
last a severe gale blew over the metropolis, doing considerable damage 
in some districts. Cold east winds have chiefly prevailed, though on 
most days accompanied by bright sunshine. Rain fell heavily early 
on Wednesday morning, and at the time of going to press the atmo¬ 
sphere was dull, and drizzling rain still falling. 
- The Weather in the North.— There has been little sun¬ 
shine during the past eight days, and more or less rain has fallen daily. 
Saturday was very wet, and Sunday disagreeably cold and showery with 
a keen N.W. wind. Monday, too, was gusty, with cold showers ; and 
Tuesday morning bright, with an inclination to frost. The higher hills 
are again white with snow.—B. D., S. Perthshire, 
—— Violets and the Frost. —I enclose a few Marie Louise 
Violets for your inspection. The frames containing the plants were 
well covered with mats and short straw, but nevertheless the plants 
and soil were frozen. Great care was taken to thaw them very slowly, 
leaving protecting material on, and giving air at the back for about ten 
days. Whether this precaution paid or not may be proved by the 
splendid blooms we now have.—G. Gregory, Came. [The blooms sent 
were highly creditable.] 
-Cheshire agricultural and Horticultural College. 
—At a meeting of the Agricultural School Committee of the Cheshire 
County Council on Monday, Mr. William Neild was appointed head 
gardener and instructor in horticulture at the Cheshire Agricultural 
and Horticultural College, Saltersford Hall, Holmes Chapel. The 
appointment is a tangible recognition of the ability of Mr. Neild, and 
the announcement will afford the highest satisfaction to his many 
friends in the Altrincham district. 
- Mushroom Spa'WN.— “ Saynor ” (page 234) in one of his 
pruningg makes a reference to Mushrooms. I should like to make a 
pointed one, and it is this. It is not wise to purchase the cheapest 
spawn, as it may not be cheap in the end. For several years I bought 
what I termed cheap spawn, and had good results from it, but last 
year I procured spawn nearly double the price, and I might say with 
double the results achieved. One bed we started cutting from the 
middle of December, and now, March 14th, are still at it, and from the 
present appearance bids fair to last some time longer. Another point 
worth notice in the Mushrooms obtained from this spawn is the great 
amount of flesh compared with those from the previous spawn.—B. M. 
- Wallflowers. —It is so seldom that the pithy notes penned by 
“ D.” exhibit any want of comprehension, that it is a pleasure to 
enlighten him on a point which he admits he does not “ quite under¬ 
stand ” (page 249). The reason why I wrote of Belvoir Castle and 
Harbinger Wallflowers as not being dwarf, is that we have types now 
which are much dwarfer. “ D.” speaks of the true type of Belvoir 
Castle as being 8 inches in height, and when grown in poor firm soil I 
admit it is quite possible to have them as dwarf as that, but the shoots 
lengthen so much before flowering commences that the plants are often 
double that height by the time they are in full beauty. Harbinger and 
Blood Red have the same tendency in a greater degree, and although I 
have at various times obtained seeds from several different sources the 
results were the same ; still I have hitherto regarded Belvoir Castle as 
the dwarfest Wallflower in cultivation, but I am growing a variety this 
season which under exactly the same treatment only attains a height of 
from 4 to 6 inches by the time the plants are placed in the flower 
garden in October. Hence I do not continue to class our old favourite 
among the dwarf Wallflowers. The new one I hope to say more about 
later on.—H. D. 
- Lachenalia Nelsoni. — Mr. Wm. Allan, Gunton Park 
Norwich, writes :—“ I have just now a mass of bloom of the best of 
all the Lachenalias, the one raised and named after Mr. Nelson, and 
which was admirably pourtrayed in the Journal of Horticulture for 
March 14th, page 231. This very valuable winter and early spring¬ 
blooming plant, so far in advance of any of the old varieties, will 
perpetuate the name of that good and genial man who was so much 
beloved by all gardeners who were fortunate enough to make his 
acquaintance.” [Magnificent examples of L. Nelsoni accompanied this 
interesting note. ] 
- Importations op Onions. —In 1893 we paid foreigners for 
Onions imported into England the trifle of £783,405. Egypt sold us 
Onions to the value of £193,163, Spain £191,655, and Holland £132,255. 
These were the three largest items. The total quantity imported from 
all British possessions only came to the value of £2551. We bought 
from France to the tune of £108,724. The supply receivedfrom Germany 
was much smaller, amounting to £35,140. Last year the value of 
imported Onions dropped to £765,049. Home-grown Onions used to be 
a safe-paying crop with fair weather, but prices, says a contemporary, 
have been so forced down by foreign competition that in 1894 the growers 
lost heavily. 
- Weather and Garden Notes. — It will perhaps be 
interesting to some to learn the effects of the frcst on some plants in a 
smoky locality in Lanarkshire. Not a vestige of green can be seen 
upon Wallflowers; the Primula tribe is much injured. Aubrietias are 
healthy, even the tender sorts are not injured. This is probably due to 
the absence of snow, as these plants suffer when there is snow along 
with frost, through flakes bringing down the sulphurous acid which 
abounds in the district. Vegetables are spoiled, yet curiously enough 
Parsley is safe. The leaves of Strawberry plants are blackened, but 
the crowns are plump and fresh. Snow does not protect all our plants 
in smoky districts where there is much sulphurous acid in the atmo¬ 
sphere.—W. T. 
- Necessity of Air for the Roots of Trees. —It is a well- 
known fact, that when plants are growing it is just as necessary to 
have air for the roots as for the leaves, and the failure to meet desired 
success is often as much due to compactness of the soil, thereby exclud¬ 
ing air, as the want of proper food. Under-draining, for instance, is of 
more value in furnishing air to the soil than in merely getting rid of 
the water ; because when the water goes away, air fills the places 
occupied by the water. When plants are not growing—that is to say, 
when they are in a dormant condition—air is not necessary. Plants 
will, says “ Meehans’ Monthly,” live under water for weeks, in the 
winter time, without injury, when to be a couple of days without water 
when they are growing, would cause their immediate death. This 
lesson is of immense value to the practical cultivator—it is at the 
bottom of the greater part of a plant grower’s success. 
-Royal Meteorological Society. —At the meeting of this 
Society on the 20th inst. Mr. W. N. Shaw, F.R.S., delivered a lecture on 
“ The Motion of Clouds Considered with Reference to their Mode of 
Formation,” which was illustrated by experiments. The question 
proposed for consideration was. How far the apparent motion of cloud 
was a satisfactory indication of the motion of the air in which the cloud 
is formed. The mountain cloud-cap was cited as an instance of a 
stationary cloud formed in air, moving sometimes with great rapidity. 
Ground fog, thunder clouds, and cumulus clouds were also referred to in 
this connection. The two causes of formation of cloud were next 
considered, viz., (1) the mixing of masses of air at different temperatures, 
and (2) the dynamical cooling of air by the reduction of its pressure 
without supplying heat from the outside. The two methods of for¬ 
mation were illustrated by experiments. A sketch of the supposed 
motion of air near the centre of a cyclone showed the probability of the 
clouds formed by the mixing of air being carried along with the air 
after they were formed; while when cloud is being formed by expansion, 
circumstances connected with the formation of drops of water on the 
nuclei to be found in the air, and the maintenance of the particles in a 
state of suspension, make it probable that the apparent motion of such 
a cloud is a bad indication of the motion of the air. After describing 
some special cases Mr. Shaw referred to the meteorological effects of the 
thermal disturbance which must be introduced by the condensation of 
water vapour, and he attributed the violent atmospheric disturbances 
accompanying tropical rains to this cause. The difference in the 
character of nuclei for the deposit of water drops was also pointed out, 
and illustrated by the exhibition of coloured halos formed under special 
conditions when the drops were suflSciently uniform in size. 
