January 12, 1S82 ] 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
27 
a month, the least amount being 33 hours in January and 238 in June. 
In 1886 the mean temperature was 45'92° the rainfall 42.43 inches and 
falling on 189 days, and sunshine averaged 99‘4 hours a month. 
- The Chiswick Gardeners’ Mutual Improvement Asso¬ 
ciation. —Mrs. S. A. Lee, F.R.H.S., 4, Arlington Park Villas, Chiswick, 
has, with the object of encouraging original research and observation, 
•ofiered a sum of £10 to be distributed in four prizes for essays on horti¬ 
cultural subjects as defined below. The competition is confined to the 
junior members of the Association, or those under the age of thirty at 
this date,and who have attended any of the meetings during the current 
session previous to this date. A member may competei in one only of 
the two classes. Class I.—Prizes of £3 and £2 to be aw.arded for the 
(two best essajs on any subject relating to horticulture. The writer may 
choose his own subject, and treat of it from a scientific or practical point 
of view, or both. Class II.—Prizes of £3 and £2 to be awarded for the 
two best essays on “ Water, its Use and Abuse in the Cultivation of 
Plants.” The manuscripts bearing a motto, or num dcinlume only, must 
be sent in to Mr. J. Barry, Secretary, not later than 1st April, 1888- 
Competent judges will be appointed to adjudicate upon the essays, and 
the results announced later on by arrangement. 
- Mr. William Jos. Watson, Newcastle-on-Tyne, writes:—“ I 
have to-day (the 9th inst.) recived an intimation from the Awards Com¬ 
mittee of the Royal Mining, Engineering, and Industrial Exhibition, 
ielJ in Newcastle last year, that I have been awarded a silver medal for 
my bed of Conifers and hardy shrubs, and a bronze medal for fernery 
and cabinet combined.” 
- The General Committee meeting of the National Chrysan¬ 
themum Society was held at Andcrton’s Hotel on Thursday, the 5th 
inst., at 7 P.M., the President, E. Sanderson, Esq., in the chair. There 
was a large attendance of members, comprising Messrs. W. Holmes 
(Hon. Sec.), J. R. Starling (Treasurer), R. Ballantine (Vice-President), 
H. Cannell, G. Stevens, G. Gordon, L. Castle, R. Dean, R. Owen, 
C. Gibson, J. Kendall, &c. It was decided that the annual meeting 
■■should be held in Anderton’s Hotel on Tuesday, January 31st, at 7 P.M., 
and that all the General Committee meetings in the present year be held 
an the same place. The Hon. Secretary announced that Messrs. Webb 
and Sons, Stourbridge, had offered their usual special prizes for the next 
November Show, Messrs. Deverill and Eidler also contributing prizes. 
Me.ssrs. H. Cannell & Sons, Swanley, offer valuable prizes for their new 
•varieties, and after considerable discussion it was decided that these 
•classes should be jud,;ed in the ordinary way. A proposal that a 
aneeting of the Floral Committee should be held on the occasion of the 
Midwinter Show, January 11th and 12th, at the Royal Aquarium, West¬ 
minster. Seventeen new members were then elected and two Fellows, 
the Winchester Society being affiliated. Mr. Holmes stated that the 
Lewisham Society owed a considerable sum for subscriptions, which they 
had been unable to pay, and he was directed to request the return of 
ths melals. 
—— Sir Henry Thompson, Hurstside, West Moulsey, exhibited 
«pecimens of A Tuber-bearing Stachys at South Kensington last 
December, but though they were submitted to the Fruit Committee of 
the Royal Horticultural Society, no opinion was expressed concerning 
their food value. This plant has been referred to under the name of 
•Stachys affinis, but it has proved on further examination to be distinct 
■from that species, and is now appropriately termed S. tuberifera. It 
is known in Japan and China, where it is cultivated, and it has also 
received some attention in France, and is known in the Paris market 
«nder the name of “ Crosnes.” The tubers are small, but produced very 
abundantly, and contain about 13 per cent, of starch to 74 of water, 
with a few other matters in small quantities. The tubers are somewhat 
conical in shape, formed of a succession of rings of a consistency similar 
■to that of the Jerusalem Artiehoke. It is said to be hardy, but whether 
it will be of much value as a vegetable can only be proved by experi¬ 
ments on a larger scale than have yet been attempted here. 
-The Annual General Meeting of the Royal Meteorological 
■Society will be held, by kind permission of the Council of the Institu¬ 
tion of Civil Engineers, at 25, Great George Street, Westminster, on 
Wednesday, the 18th inst., at 8 P.M., when the Report of the Council 
will be read, the Election of Officers and Council for the ensuing year 
will taka placa, anl tha President (Mr. W. Ellis, P'.R.A.S.) will deliver 
his Address. The above Meeting will be preceded by an Ordinary 
Meeting, commencing at 7 P.M., at which the following paper will be 
read:—“The Non-Instrumental Meteorology of England, Wales, and 
Ireland, 1878-85,” By G. M. Whipple, B.Sc., F.R.Met.Soc., F.R.A.S. 
- AVe do not know what the writer referred to will think of the 
following note from a leading gardener :—‘ Mr. Thinker ’ has had a 
long holiday. Cannot you persuade him to take up his pen and let your 
readers have a few more of his observations ? I have always considered 
his notes to represent the essence of the Journal and of horticulture. Of 
all the paragraphs he has written there was only one with which I could 
not agree, and that not because I considered him to be wrong, but 
because I was not sure that I was right.’’ 
- “The Weather in the North,” writes “ B. D.,” “has under¬ 
gone a complete change during the past week. The frost gave way on 
the 3rd, since then we have had a good deal of rain and wind. This 
(9th) is a beautiful spring-like morning ; temperature during night 4.5°- 
Snowdrops and Crocuses are well above ground.” 
NOTES ON TOMATOES. 
Some useful notes on Tomates were given by “A Kitchen Gardener ” 
on page 560 (last vol.), and a few additional remarks may be interesting 
and instructing to some readers of the Journal. Like your corre¬ 
spondent, we have had a first-rate crop of Tomatoes last season. They 
were grown in a span-roofed pit between 40 and 50 feet long, and 
afforded a sight which I shall not easily forget. The crop referred to 
was gathered from plants grown in pots (12-inch) and trained to wires 
about 6 inches from the glass. I can fully endorse all “ A Kitchen 
Gardener” says about growing them in a small quantity of soil. AA'e 
fill the pots with about three parts of soil, then top-dress when the 
plants are in full bearing, and towards the end of the season assist them 
with liquid manure. We take three stems from our plants, and find 
them do as well and fruit as freely as plants with one stem, and in this 
way do not require so many plants to fill the house, and less time is 
occupied in watering in summer, and that is something we have to 
study in these times. This year I intend to try some of the newer' 
varieties as well as three or four of the good ohl sorts, such as \’’ick’s 
Criterion, Hathaway’s Excelsior, &c. Our earliest variety will be 
Sutton’s Earliest of All.—G. Hilton, Snrithills Hall. 
GLAZED FLOWER POTS. 
I HAD long noticed that when the soil in a flower pot began to get 
dry it always cracked away from the pot, and that the only way then 
was to plunge the pot, as when watering as usual the water runs between 
the ball of earth and the pot and does not affect the soil. 1 tried flower 
pots glazed inside and out, and 1 found that this did not answer. I then 
tried painting a pot on the outside, and then 1 found a wrinkle. I now 
wanted pots glazed only on the outside, and how was I to get them ? 
ff’he manufacturers would not undertake to make a small quantity, but 
1 got a brickmaker in the neighbourhood to make some and I found the 
glaze. These pots answered admirably. 
Now I found another difficulty : the gardeners thought they would 
be looked upon at shows as marked pots, and set their faces against 
them. If this prejudice be laid aside and a trial of the glazed pots made 
by the Cumnock Pottery Company, I am sure the result would he 
gratifying. It certainly is better than placing a pot inside a pot. The 
(.Ic crease of trouble is something gardeners ought to rejoice at. 1 have left 
pots that under ordinary circumstances would have required watering 
daily two and three days without ill effects. Caladiums in these pots 
simpiy grow to perfection. 1 have had Albert Edward with leaves 
2 feet long by 18 inches broad. Coleuses colour to perfection in them 
also. In fact, most plants do better than in ordinary pots. I hope 
these remarks will lead others to try the plan. 1 daresay other potteries 
besides the one mentioned would supply the article desired. I have no 
interest in the above-mentioned pottery company or any other. I only 
mentioned them as they had supplied me.—D um Spiro Spero. 
EXHIBITING AND JUDGING BOUQUETS. 
I have been watching with interest the articles on this subject, and 
am of the same opinion as Mr. Garner. But referring to individual ex¬ 
hibitors will not serve any good purpose in this discussion. 1 wrote my 
first letter giving my ideas as a successful exhibitor of how bouquets 
should be made and judged, and as I then said I should like to see a 
dozen or more show in every class. How much more credit there would 
be for the winner than when just three or four, or at the outside six, 
show for a good prize. “ Learner ” seems bound to refer to table decora¬ 
tion, and my carelessness, though hundreds saw the table and were of 
very different opinion. 1 have been at several shows since then with 
success, and possibly I have met “ liearner,’’ and with all my careless¬ 
ness secured the first prize. 1 am afraid “Learner” will not make a 
very popular judge if he withholds prizes whenever the table shown is too 
light for his taste. In regard to the expense, I have been over the list 
of prizes, and find that twenty-nine first prizes were taken within ten 
