472 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
June 14,1894. 
- Linnean Society. —We understand that at the recent annual 
meeting of this Society Mr. C. B. Clarke was elected President in the 
place of Professor Stewart. Professor Haeckel of Jena was awarded 
the Linnean medal. 
- Cape Grapes. —According to a daily contemporary, a large 
supply of Cape Grapes may be expected this season. Two of the Donald 
Currie boats, it is reported, are being fitted with cold rooms for the 
carriage of fruit, and the Union Company is going to follow suit. 
- Geranium ibericum. —This is very beautiful just now. We 
have grand masses behind a border of white Pinks 40 feet long, and 
the effect is most striking. I have forwarded a few sprays. We 
are completing bedding out fifty beds in a geometrical design on a 
terrace.—C. 
- Sensation Strawberry. — Relative to the inquiry of 
“ J. W. W.” on page 462 last week, Messrs. Laxton Bros, send ns 
heavily laden fruit trusses of this variety, and Mr. J. Smith of Ment- 
more informs us that two-year-old plants bear much better than 
one-year-old. The variety is with him a moderately good bearer, not 
shy. 
- List of New Garden Plants.—W e have received a copy 
of Appendix II. of the “ Kew Bulletin,” which contains a list of new 
garden plants for the year 1893. A brief description accompanies each 
name, and references where illustrations of the plants have been 
published are given. It is a valuable list, and will be appreciated by 
many persons. 
- The Chinese Pink. —According to “ Meehans’ Monthly ” 
this Pink was first sent from China to Paris by missionaries in 1705. 
The double ones were first noted among seedlings in 1719 in Paris 
gardens. Of late years the improvement has been rapid, and to-day 
there are few more satisfactory or beautiful plants in garden borders 
than the improved China Pinks. 
- Stigmaphy'Llon ciliatdm. —This is a charming climbing 
plant of easy culture, which should find a place in every warm house 
where creepers are grown. I noticed a plant trained under the roof of 
the Lily house in the Birmingham Botanical Gardens, and wondered 
why it was not more generally seen, for it is a graceful growing plant, 
resembling one of the smaller growing warm house Aristolochias, with 
opposite cordate leaves and a profusion of bright yellow Oncidium-like 
flowers. It is one of the many beautiful stove plants which are rarely 
seen and yet so valuable for decorative work in any way.—D. 
- Tea-seed Oil. —We learn from the “ Chemist and Druggist ” 
that “ Some of the Ceylon Tea planters are making an organised attempt 
to obtain a sale for their Tea seed in the London market. A parcel of 
seven bags of that article was offered at the drug sal^s recently, but no 
one seemed to know what to do with it, and although the broker 
declared his belief that it was a favourite medicine in China the 
audience remained unmoved. Nevertheless, the Tea seed might have 
been worth purchasing for the sake of the bland oil which it contains, 
to the extent of about 30 per cent, by weight, and which resembles 
olive oil in colour, and somewhat in taste. The seeds are about the size 
of a large Cherry s'.one, and of a deep brown colour.” 
- National Dahlia Society. — We have received the report 
of this Society and schedule of the Exhibition which is to be held at 
the Crystal Palace on September 7th and 8th. We observe that the 
“ Dahlia Analysis,” as prepared for the Journal of Horticulture and 
published on March 22nd, 1894, is republished without acknowledgment 
—no doubt an accidental omission ; and we have all the same pleasure 
in making known the desire of the Committee—namely, the object of 
the Society is to promote the cultivation, improvement, and exhibition 
of the Dahlia. There are three classes of annual subscriptions, the 
payment of either of which is sufficient to constitute membership. 
Members subscribing £1 are entitled to four tickets of admission to the 
Society’s grand Exhibition ; those subscribing 10s. to two tickets, and 
those subscribing 5s. to one ticket. In addition to the annual subscrip¬ 
tions there is also a prize fund, to which donations are earnestly solicited. 
Members alone have the privilege of competing for prizes at the 
Exhibitions of the National Dahlia Society. All members joining the 
Society for the first time this year will be entitled to a copy of the 
“ Official Report of the Dahlia Conference, held at Chiswick, by the 
Royal Horticultural Society in 1690.” Schedules and all information 
may be obtained from the Hon. Secretary, T. W. Girdlestone, M.A., F.L.S., 
Sunningdale, Berks. 
- Gardening Appointments. — Mr. Charles Beckett, head 
gardener to T. H. Bryant, Esq., Juniper Hill, near Dorking, for the past 
thirteen years, has been appointed to a similar position to Sir William 
Pearce, Chilton Lodge, Hungerford, Berks, and will commence his duties 
there the first week in July. Mr. John Baxter, from Clyne Valley 
Nurseries, Swansea, has been appointed head gardener to C. G. Hill, Esq., 
Arnot Hill, Arnold, Nottingham. 
- The Effect of the Recent Frost on Fruit Trees.— 
“ Market Grower,” whose note on page 457 of last week’s issue set forth 
the effects of the recent frost on fruit trees in the Vale of Evesham, 
sends us a spray of Winham’s Industry Gooseberry, the fruit of which 
has not been injured. Accompanying it were branches of Plum trees, the 
fruit, leaves and wood of these, however, presenting a scorched appear¬ 
ance. Serious damage has apparently been done to the fruit crop in 
that district. 
- Ceanothus dentatus. —This Californian species is quite one 
of the best of the genus. It is of neat growth, flowers freely, and is 
perhaps the hardiest of all. When once established against a south wall 
it grows freely, and gives but little trouble in the regulation of its 
shoots. The rich blue flowers composed in roundish clusters are very 
showy. For covering a pillar supporting a verandah the neat growth 
of this Ceanothus renders it especially applicable for such a purpose. 
—E. M. 
- Royal Meteorological Society. —At the ordinary meeting 
of the Society, to be held, by kind permission of the Council of the 
Institution of Civil Engineers, at 25, Great George Street, Westminster, 
on Wednesday, the 20th instant, at 8 P.M., the following papers will be 
read :—“ Fogs Reported with Strong Winds during the Fifteen Years, 
1876-90, in the British Isles,” by Robert H. Scott, M.A., F.R.S., 
” Some Characteristic Featu res of Gales and Strong Winds,” by Richard 
H. Curtis, F.R.Met.Soc.— William Marriott, Assistant Secretary. 
- Cercidiphyllum japonicum. —A pistillate tree of Cercidi- 
phyllum japonicum has produced flowers this year in Mr. John Robin¬ 
son’s garden in Salem, Massachusetts. The Cercidiphyllum, says the 
“ Garden and Forest,” which is the largest and most interesting tree of 
the forests of Japan, is proving itself admirably suited to flourish in the 
climate of the Northern States of America, where it may be planted with 
advantage much more frequently than it is at present. Its peculiar 
habit and the beauty of its curious foliage in early spring, during 
summer, and in autumn, when it turns bright yellow, will add interest 
and variety to our plantations. 
- A Hybrid Spir.®A. —An interesting hybrid of Spirrea Thun- 
bergi with another hybrid has been called Spiraea arguta by Dr« 
H. Zabel of the Forest School at Miinden, in Hanover. A plant 
received by the “ Garden and Forest ” from this establishment flowered 
profusely in the Arnold Arboretum, and was in finest bloom the first 
week in May. It promises to be a valuable addition to the earlier 
flowering kinds. The branches are slender and gracefully recurved, and 
are thickly covered with sessile umbels of flowers, as in S. Thunbergi ; 
but the foliage is not so interesting, inasmuch as the leaves are shorter, 
broader, less abundant, and do not assume bright autumnal colours. 
-Summary of Meteorological Observations at 
Hodsock Priory, Worksop, Notts, for May. —Mean temperature 
of monthj 48'4°. Maximum on the 25th, 65'6°; minimum on the 2l8t^ 
26'4°. Maximum in the sun on the 13th, 123-5° ; minimum on the grass 
on the 2l8t, 18°. Mean temperature of air at 9 A.M., 50-4° ; mean tem¬ 
perature of soil 1 foot deep, 50 9°. Nights below 32°—in shade four, on 
grass fifteen. Total sunshine in month 147 hours, or 30 per cent, of 
possible duration. We had four sunless days. Total rainfall, 1 34 inch. 
Rain fell on nineteen days. Average velocity of wind, 10*1 miles per 
hour. Velocity exceeded 400 miles on two days ; fell short of 100 miles 
on four days. Approximate averages for May.—Mean temperature, 
51‘1° ; sunshine, 174 hours ; rainfall, 211 inches. Although both 1879 
and 1885 were rather colder, both as to mean and extreme readings, we 
have to go back to 1864 (1st June) to find so much damage to vegetation. 
We always live in dread of spring frosts here, being rather low and 
damp ; but the one this year has injured many plants I have not seen 
damaged before. My greatest trouble is the Roses ; I fear many will 
not recover this season. Our promising Apple crop is gone. Strawberries 
and Raspberries are a sorry sight, and Gooseberries have fallen. Every 
Pea flower that was out is cut off. Our garden was very gay with 
heibaceous flowers, but not a single flower is left. Ferns, and in fact 
all young growths, are gone. Ash, Oak, Beech, Walnut, and young 
growths of Laurel and Box are all injured.—J. Mallender. 
