8e t tember 15, 1887. ] 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
227 
you will, therefore, be glad to hear the blight has not yet been noticed 
here.” 
- Keeping Walnuts. —“ T. H. P.” desires to ask if some of our 
correspondents will inform him of the best methods they have found of 
keeping Walnuts after being gathered and shelled. 
Sherborne Show. —We are informed that the 5-guinea silver 
cup that was offered for a collection of eight dishes of fruit at this Show 
was well won by Mr. Pullman of Frampton Court, Mr. Pragnell being 
a good second, the remaining prizes going to Mr. Perkins and Mr. J. 
Lloyd, Langport, with a mark of high commendation to Mr. Crossman, 
Teovil. There were eight competitors. The Exhibition was held in the 
grounds of Sherborne Castle and was remarkable for the great excellence 
of the fruit and vegetables that were staged. 
- Mr. W. Iggulden writes :—“ Court Pendu Plat, or the 
Wise Apple is unusually prolific this season, all the trees being heavily 
cropped. Most of the fruit are in large clusters. On one branch about 
a yard long I counted forty fruit, and there are plenty more such. One 
short cluster about a foot in length is made up of twenty fruit, not puny 
‘sorumps’ in either ease, but fully developed well-coloured fruit. I 
consider Court Pendft Plat a model dessert variety. The fruits are 
medium sized, of good form and colour, and usually in season from 
December till late in April. If not gathered too soon or before the pips 
are brown, it keeps plump and juicy and is pleasantly flavoured. It is 
particularly well adapted for bush culture.” 
Mr. William Colchester, Ipswich, desires us to say be has 
just received a first-class certificate of merit from the Committee of the 
Sandy (Beds) and District Floral and Horticultural Society for pure 
Ichthemic Guano, the award having been made on the recommendation 
of the six Judges at the recent Show. 
-As stated in our report of the Newcastle-on-Tyne Autumn 
Show, the attendance of visitors had been very large in the three daj s, 
and it was expected the financial results would be as satisfactory as the 
Exhibition was successful from a horticultural point of view. This has 
proved to be the case, for Mr. Jas. J. Gillespie informs us that after 
paying off the debt with which they commenced the year, £127, they 
have a balance in hand of over £500. This is highly encouraging to the 
Committee, and the success is well deserved. 
- “ E. I.” writes :—“ The long-looked-for RAIN visited mid- 
Sussex on the night of the 10th August, and on the following day we 
had our full share of the thunderstorm of that date, the rainfall being 
1*19 inch ; and on the morning of the 4th September we had a similar 
heavy rain, though not accompanied with thunder, P25 inch. We have 
had rain on sixteen days since the 16th August (twenty-two days), 
altogether amounting to 0 inches. The burned-up lawns and fields have 
become green as if by magic, and all trace of the drought has vanished. 
The gale on the 2nd September has done much damage in orchards 
about half the crop of Apples have been blown down in many cases.” 
- From Messrs. Webb & Sons, Stourbridge, comes a box of Asters 
Stocks, and other flowers from the Kinver Seed Farms which well 
indicate the high character of the strains and the good culture they 
receive. The Asters comprise Webbs’ Victoria, and Princess types in 
eight colours, the blooms of capital size and substance. The Stocks are of 
the Imperial Ten Week strain, with massive spikes and fine double 
flowers in several good colours, scarlet, crimson, purple, and white being 
very telling. Large blooms of exhibition double Zinnias were also 
included, with gold-striped French and fine African Marigolds. 
- “One of the best border plants we have for flowering in July 
and August,” writes “ E. M.,” “ is Bocconia cordata. Owing to its 
having thick fleshy roots which descend to a great depth in deeply dug 
soil it resists the drought in an astonishing manner. By the margin of a 
lake or as a specimen on grass this plant is not out of place. The foliage 
is of a distinct colour. A glaucous grey on the under side and a slaty 
green on the upper side of the leaves rendering it conspicuous anywhere. 
It grows from 4 to 5 feet high, each stem being surmounted with a 
long feathery spike of greyish w r hite flowers. A few plants growing 
among the Rhododendrons, where the heads of bloom tower above the 
green foliage of the evergreens, are admirable.” 
- The following summary of meteorological observations 
for August, 1887, at Hodsock Priory, Worksop, Notts, has been forwarded 
by Mr. Joseph Mallender. Mean temperature of month, 58'7°. Maxi¬ 
mum on the Gth, 83-2° ; minimum on the 14th, 35-4°. Maximum in the 
sun on the 6th, 137-9° ; minimum on the grass on the 14th, 27-4°. Mean 
temperature of the air at 9 A.M., 61 -2°. Mean temperature of soil 1 foot 
deep, 59 - 8°. The temperature fell below 32° on three nights. Total 
duration of sunshine in month, 176 hours, or 39 per cent, of possible 
duration ; three sunless days. Total rainfall, l - 45 inch. Maximum fall 
in twenty-four hours on the 30th, 0‘57 inch. Bain fell on ten days. 
Average velocity of wind, 6-6 miles per hour. Velocity exceeded 400 
miles on one day, and fell short of 100 miles on eleven days. Approxi¬ 
mate averages for August.—Mean temperature 60-2°. Rainfall, 2-52 
inches. Sunshine (six years) 150 hours. Another dry and bright 
month, with warm days and cold nights. The rain of the last few days 
was most welcome. 
- Gardening Appointments. —Mr. Thomas Cross has succeeded 
Mr. J. Chesher as gardener to Francis James, Esq., Edgworth Manor, 
near Cirencester, Gloucester. Mr. E. White, late gardener to S. Soames, 
Esq., Cranford Hall, Kettering, is now gardener to Capt. Walker, Rock 
House, Cromford, near Derby. 
- A correspondent would like to mention that he has several 
bushes of Madame Gabriel Luizet Rose coming into full bloom. 
He thought it was not supposed to be an autumn bloomer. His bushes, 
however, we think are not singular in flowering now ; we have seen 
beautiful autumn blooms of this variety. 
-All requiring a large stock in the spring of Mesembryan- 
themum CORDIFOLIUM variegatum for bedding purposes would do 
well to insert cuttings now, that no difficulty may be encountered when 
the time comes for increasing the stock. It often happens that a suffi¬ 
cient number of good cuttings cannot be had when wanted through the 
stock plants intended to supply them being lost during the winter. The 
best method to secure sufficient stock plants is to insert cuttings now in 
a shallow cold frame. If the bottom of the frame be dry, say a thick 
layer of ashes, nothing more is necessary than placing on the ashes 
3 inches thick of sandy soil, refuse from the potting bench sifted, with a 
little decomposed leaf soil and plenty of coarse silver sand, with a layer 
of the latter on the top, pressing all firmly dovn, and sprinkling with 
water through a rose can. Prepare the cuttiDgs about 2 inches long, 
those not having bloom shoots attached are the best, insert them firmly, 
gently water again to settle the soil about them, keep the frame close, 
except giving a little air occasionally to dissipate condensed moisture, 
shading from hot sun. When the cuttings are rooted transfer them to 
boxes or pans, preserve them from frost. These plants will produce 
more cuttings in the spring than old plants lifted. 
- Messrs. William Paul & Son, Waltham Cross, send us 
blooms of Rose Duchess of Albany, a new variety to be sent out 
next spring, and one that is likely to gain considerable favour amongst 
Rose growers. It is of the same habit as La France, equally free and 
fragrant ; the bloom also is similar in build, but it is totally distinct in 
colour, both surfaces of the petals being of a rich dark rose tint. In the 
bud state it is extremely beautiful. For bouquets, buttonholes, wreaths, 
or, indeed, any decorative purpose, it is admirable. A gentleman of 
excellent taste to whom we showed the blooms is quite enthusiastic in 
its praise, and emphatically pronounces it tj be “a true artist’s 
flower.” 
- A correspondent states that, according to a Cologne paper, 
Baron Nathaniel de Rothschild—not the chief of the great plutocratic 
house —has been expelled from Vienna. The Baron is a great florist, and 
in all his villas and castles carries on the culture of rare exotic plants 
upon a very costly scale. The Archduke Karl Ludwig, the Emperor’s 
brother, visited one of the Baron’s gardens during the absence of the 
owner, in order to get a glimpse of some of his rare plants. The Arch¬ 
duke is the foremost patron of art and science in the Empire, and a great 
favourite with the cultivated classes and the people. Baron de Rothschild 
had given the order that no one should be allowed to inspect his forcing 
houses during his absence, but the head gardener conceived that the 
order could not extend to so important a person, and so admitted the 
Archduke. When the Baron heard that his order had been disobeyed he 
at once dismissed the head gardener. The Archduke wrote to the Baron 
begging him to revoke the dismissal. The great monetary prince, how¬ 
ever, would not grant the petition of the Imperial Prince. The Munici¬ 
pality of Vienna were indignant at this rudeness to the most popular and 
