December 22, 1887. ] 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTA 
OA RDENER. 
559 
BnsnfcSu/S 8 ^ t ?^ tire T d , of bei , ng tortured ? His last reply has a 
arJcannot hrfn Wl Vb \ h °7 ever > done with the absentees, 
the National Phr^ fr, that W L th . 8ach a & reat meeting without them 
ne Rational Chrysanthemum Society must be very strong. Another 
sent I and a7 te I l?a h rtei Say f S0 T t e h i ng 80me members who were pre- 
the other end nVfb 1C ° f What 1 understood them to say, but being at 
w end of the room may not have caught everv word and sentence 
pay Swtters g t W™? 4 1 “ likc to' know if Anderton’s 
3s Gd for a nliin in ^ at S ^°j^ you think, plain reader, if you paid 
You could u° Ug , h good dlnn f - y etnot better I should think than 
a waTteJ sfonnp 1 d Un re ? IaC - e ? f ° r dhe mone y> and “no extras ? ” if 
your ear ^ M ? l Wltb tender obsequiousness whispered in 
tWdr!"’ „n d 1 get . y° u a mce bit of anything more, sir? ” “ No 
« i • i , Qu J te sure Slr > and q ui te satisfied ? ” “ Quite ! ” “ No fault 
w * i “ D .S, 1 ,‘OP'" "N-~, but I soon ,Ul“ 
.. f , “ r ' b “ l l£ - v,:,u showing a sixpence or two, 
and what c °PP ers expected. I say what should you think, 
think that t\ P ld y ° U d °’ ™ der Such circumstances? Why, probably 
mid and fi n f m 11 W m 8 e,tbe r not paid by his employers! or badly 
many did so » ^ °n the safe side slip a bit of silver in his hand, as 
would ha™ 1 n W sald be had nothing but what he collected it 
but if h tb 1 tlm P’ and he and the y might have picked up more; 
barons” whn°d^ yhad , C °a S i 8ted ° f those “ dukes - earls > lords, and 
been allowed »*"v k , S T eb ° d ^ 8 f ea ’ would tbe eollecting dodge have 
oftWM i nP then why should it be practised on the members 
SeaWbnn Chrysanthemum Society? The custom is common 
“ P ^stTrit“ifSr te ‘" er “'- but 1 did ° ot k ™ “>» 
faced a Spl pv ndid eve l ning ’ ha8n,t !t ? ” remarked one ruddy 
renlv , l an .°, ther as tbe y were passing out. “Yes,” was the 
ply, capital, but there has been quite enough begging,” and I am 
c*V™i” ,he poor mitm al0 “ " ten he “< le 
At the meeting of the Royal Horticultural Society’s 
Scientific Committee on December 13th Mr. A. H. Smee brought a 
flower spike of Odontoglossum maculatum, bearing leaves, and partly 
swollen like a pseudo-bulb. The usual arrest and differentiation of 
growth had not taken place, and the result was the production of a 
structure combining the characteristics of pseudo-bulb, leaf shoot, and 
flower stalk. Dr. Masters showed fruits of Cydonia sinensis. This 
plant was received from M. Van Volxem, in whose garden at Vilvorde 
the fruits had been produced in the open air. He also showed drawings 
of malformed flowers of Cypripedium Sedenix from Messrs. Veitch and 
Mr. W. Bull. In one case the lip was greatly reduced in size ; in the 
other, in addition to other changes, there were two lips placed side by 
side. An informal conversation took place as to the action of the 
Scientific Committee in the case of certain contingencies. Mr. Boscawen 
was strongly of opinion that under any circumstances the meetings of 
the Committee should be continued, and, if possible, in or in connection 
with the Lindley Library ; and this opinion was in substance cordially 
and unanimously upheld by the Committee. 
- A northern correspondent writes The weather in 
south Perthshire has, during the past week, been of the most 
variable character, frost, thaw, snow, rain, wind in quick succession- 
A slight snowfall whitened the country during the night of the 17th, 
and on the 18th we had 9° of frost.” The weather has been very 
similar in the south ; on several days there has been a little frost in the 
morning followed by heavy rain in the afternoon or evening, to be 
again succeeded by frost and a few flakes of snow. 
The balance sheet and statement of accounts for 1887 of the 
Sheffield and West Riding Chrysanthemum Society has been 
sent to us. The receipts during the year, including a balance of 13s. 
from 1886, amount to £178 11s. 6d., the expenditure to £174 17s. 9d., 
leaving a balance in favour of the Society of £3 13s. 6d., or £3 Os. 6d! 
in excess of last year. At the annual meeting, held on Monday night 
last, it was decided that the next exhibition be held on Friday and 
Saturday, November 16th and 17th, 1888, so that the fixture does not 
clash with that of Hull, as was the case this year, possibly both 
shows suffering to some extent in consequence. 
On Thursday last. December 15th, the Potato formed the 
subject of a paper read before the Manchester Horticultural Society by 
Mr. I. Robinson. Mr. Bruce Findlay presided, and in the course of an 
opening address concerning the importance of the Potato he observed : 
I ew persons had an adequate idea of the extent to which the Potato 
ministers to our necessities, and even to our luxuries ; but some notion 
may be formed when it is stated that in 1879 we imported from the Con¬ 
tinent 50,18o cwt. of Potato flour, 693 cwt. of Potato arrowroot, 9832 cwt. 
of Iotato starch, and 470 cwt. of Potato starch gum, making, with 
(>S8,910 cwt. of Potatoes imported, an aggregate value of £148,500, 
exclusive of what is produced at home. The imports of Potatoes, of 
course, vary according to our own crop.” 
Mr. F . Robinson’s paper dealt at some length with the his¬ 
tory of the Potato, the appearance of the disease and its subsequent 
progress. Then turning to its commercial importance he gave the fol¬ 
lowing statistics :—From the official agricultural returns published last 
year it appears that there were then 1,364,350 acres planted with 
Potatoes in the United Kingdom, and of this quantity more than 
1 99,858 acres were in Ireland. The cultivation has decreased since 1872, 
as in that year the land planted was a quarter of a million acres over the 
figures of 1886. In addition to this enormous production of our own we 
annually imported extensively. In 1883 our imports amounted to 
257,000 tons, and in the three following years the average was 125,000 
tons per year. The cultivation of the Potato in France is much more 
extensive, for last year there were planted 1,463,251 hectares, which was 
equal in extent to 3,658,128 English acres, and the total quanticy of 
Potatoes yielded was about 41,287,764 tons. He had not been able to 
procure the returns for Germany, but Prussia produced in 1886 
19,000,000 tons. Owing to the number of new and so-called new intro¬ 
ductions it was impossible to state with accuracy the number of varieties 
at present known in commerce. New varieties of a high-class character 
are always required, and concurrently with their introduction and dis¬ 
tribution those of inf rior merit and most liable to disease are discarded. 
He estimated the number to be some 300 kinds of white and coloured 
vaiieties, divided equally between the kidney and round shape. For 
agricultural purposes from 12 to 14 cwt. of Potatoes are planted per 
acre, the crops from which vary according to the variety, state of the 
ground, locality, season, time for planting, and after treatment. But 
under good conditions Early Kidneys may be expected to produce 
4 to 5 tons, Dalmahoy and Scotch Regents 6 tons, Champion, Magnum 
Bonum, and Maincrop 8 tons, and Imperators 8 tons per statute acre. 
Under very favourable circumstances, however, many instances have 
occurred this season where farmers have realised 12 tons, and in excep¬ 
tional cases from 15 to 16 tons of Magnum Bonum and Imperator. 
Among the important points on which there is a difference of opinion is 
the question as to how long one variety will last. In the evidence given 
before the Royal Commission it was stated that none last longer than 
twenty years. This is a subject on which it appears no printed records 
exist, but certainly twenty years is within the mark, as the Ashleaf 
Kidney has been recognised as a standard early variety for the past 
thirty } ears. 
-A NEW London Weather Chart,; by Mr. B. G. Jenkins 
I.R.A.S., has been sent to us. It is designed as a forecast of the 
weather during 1888, including the temperature, fluctuations of the 
barometer, rainfall and prevailing winds, all particulars being duly set 
forth as if they had occurred, indeed, according to the explanation, they 
have occurred, but it all happened in 1826. The author claims that 
“ the moon not only infiuences the weather but is the actual cause of 
it, for it has a hitherto undiscovered cycle of sixty-two years, and the 
weather is a coincident cycle.” It is an interesting theory, an 1 can be 
tested by anyone who likes to check the weather as it occurs with the 
prognostics recorded. The charts are in two sizes, 25 inches by 10 inches 
and 12 inches by 5 inches, the latter printed in extremely small type, 
and are cheap. They are published by Mr. R. Morgan, Westow Street, 
Norwood, London, S.E. 
-The usual monthly meeting of the Belgian Horticultu¬ 
rists was held in Ghent recently when the following were present :_ 
MM. Y. Cuvelier, R. Desmet, E. Delaruye, F. Desbois, J. Hye, M. de 
Cock, L. de Smet-Duvivier, Bauds, and Rosseel, M. Ch. Spae presiding, 
and M. L. Halkin of Brussels acted as Secretary. Certificates of merit 
were awarded for Cattleya velutina and Cattleya superba from M. L. 
Desmet-Duvivier; Cypripedium Amesianum, from M. James Bray ; 
