816 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
t October 22, 1891, 
“ The Kitchen Garden,” and “ Flowers of Fame.” Meetings are held 
once a week, exhibits invited, and questions are freely asked and 
answered. The Society is doing good work, and is very popular in the 
district. 
- The Chicago Exhibition. —It is said that half a million 
Pansies, one hundred thousand Roses, and millions of other flowers, 
including every known variety and species, will be seen at the Exposi¬ 
tion. The horticultural exhibit will be on a scale never before 
attempted in the history of the world. Mr. Thorpe, of the floriculture 
division, estimates that the equipment of the horticultural building, 
including the purchase price of plants, will be 350,000 dols , and the 
total expense of the display 750,000 dols. The floriculturists of the 
country will give a large share of the plants. Ten of the 16 acres 
of ground on the wooded island will be planted with flowers. The shores 
of the island will be left wild for scenic effect, and the waters around 
the margin of the island will be bright with Water Lilies and other 
aquatic vegetation, while the interior of the island will be planted with 
Roses, Rhododendrons, and Lilies, besides a vast variety of wild flowers, 
which are at present preserved in a nursery on the island. 
- Inarching Late Grapes on Muscat of Alexandria.— 
Your correspondent, Mr. Craig, page 306, asks for the experience of 
others in the above named matter. I have inarched and budded 
Madresfield Court on Muscat of Alexandria, which is a success, 
producing fine berries and colouring fairly well. Gros Maroc does fairly 
well; in fact I have had some fine Grapes from a rod budded on Muscat 
of Alexandria, but I think the scion is too strong for the stock. The 
scion is very fruitful, but the stock is not quite so fruitful as before the 
Gros Maroc was worked on it. I likewise have Golden Champion 
inarched on the same with good results, and lastly Gros Colman. In 
this case the scion seems to absorb all the fruitful principle of the Vine, 
and has done so for the past two years. The rod of Gros Colman shows 
enough for two crops, and the rod of Muscat side by side has been 
barren. Although the Gros Colman has been very good I do not think 
it good enough to render a Muscat of Alexandria so unfruitful, and at 
pruning time I shall be much tempted to sever the connection.— 
R. Maher, Yattendon Court, Newhury. 
- Rainfall in Hampshire. —Although a considerable amount 
of rain has fallen here during the past week we have not registered as 
much as last year at the same time. Last year on the 9th October 
23-11 inches of rain had fallen, while up to the same date this year 
22-98 inches is recorded. The year 1890 was regarded as heiDg under the 
average ; therefore, we 'still have a quantity to make up. Although 
the rain seems pretty continuous, a great amount does not fall in a short 
time if I except the 6th of the present month, when the record was 
1-19 inch. As showing the great variability of the rainfall at certain 
times of one year, I may instance the first nine days of the present 
month as compared with the same period of last year, when but 0‘23 inch 
was recorded, which fell in two days. This year 2-44 inches is the 
recorded amount, and out of the nine days three were dry. Quoting 
from last year’s register, we have but 1-20 inch to make up for the 
present month. Last year, in the month of October, we had twenty 
dry days, and upon seven others but 0'30 inch fell. Where much 
preparation is required for tree planting the present rains are a great 
boon, rendering the soil thoroughly moist, so that an early start can be 
made.—E. M. 
- The “ American Garden and Forest,” in reporting a meeting 
of the Pomological Society in Washington says that “ The most 
entertaining discussion followed an address by Mr. Meehan on the 
‘ Influence of Heredity and Environment in the Origination of Hew 
bruits. Mr. Meehan spoke without notes for half an hour very 
forcibly to prove the baselessness of the notion that any change in 
varieties could be produced by their surroundings, and he fortified his 
arguments with a wealth of illustrations drawn from human history as 
well as from plants and animals under domestication. Dr. Riley attacked 
the position of Mr. Meehan with great vigour, and Professor Bailey 
added that he was unwilling to allow it to be placed on record that the 
American Pomological Society held heterodox opinions on so capital a 
point, and cited numerous examples of variation in plants which he 
attributed to their environment. Mr. Meehan replied with great good 
humour that his critics evidently did not understand what was meant 
by the term environment; and then Mr. Fernow added that if there 
was doubt as to the meaning of the term environment there was also 
ambiguity in the use of the term variation, which might be structural 
or functional, and it was necessary to know whether we were talking 
about morphological variation or biological variation. The discussion 
became enveloped in a haze of uncertainty, as it appeared that none of 
the gentlemen were quite sure what the others were talking about, and 
it finally closed in a thick fog. It was very instructive and interesting, 
however, to the laymen.” 
- Peculiarities of Hybridism. —Mr. Oberswetter, Austin, 
Texas, says in Meehan's Monthly :—“ I find in Baker’s handbook of 
the Amaryllidem, the most recent authority on this order of plants, that 
it is not yet recorded by science that a hybrid between a Crinum and 
Amaryllis (Hippeastrum) was ever raised ; but I find pleasure to inform 
you that I succeeded in raising a hybrid between Crinum Kirki, pistil¬ 
late, and a hybrid Hippeastrum as pollen bearer. The plant was raised 
this spring. The seed I obtained last year, but did not germinate till 
last spring. I have been trying for years to cross these two genera, but 
never succeeded, so that I thought Nature had interposed insurmount¬ 
able barriers. Last year I tried simply to cross different species of 
Crinums, and when giving pollen to the stigma of a Crinum Kirki, the 
thought occurred to me that it would not do any harm if I put Hippeas¬ 
trum pollen on the stigma before administrating the Crinum pollen. 
I had about five grains of seeds, but owing to mismanagement only two 
plants came up this spring, one a Crinum pure and simple with long 
leaves; the other had a different habit from the start ; the first two 
leaves are not more than an inch loDg, but broad, ovate, and acute. 
Then a perfect leaf was developed over 4 inches long, nearly an inch- 
broad, folded doubly over in vernation, so that it looks somewhat plicate. 
The leaves are much harder to the touch than the leaves of its twin 
plant, appearing as if glazed, light bright green, very upright, bluntly, 
cordate, acute. Since that first fully developed leaf it has just perfected 
another, longer, but of the same proportions.” 
- In Memoriam—Charles Simms.—A name very little known- 
even amongst those who cultivate the flower, in the management of 
which he was such an adept—the Tea Rose, but no one who has ever 
visited the garden of Birch Vicarage but has had something to say to- 
“ Charley.” He was but a lad, but he was a born rosarian, and I have 
never seen a better judge or a more accurate observer. He was quiet- 
and unobtrusive, did not bluster if his employer was beaten, and was- 
the first to acknowledge it when fairly done. So good was his judgment 
that if Mr. Burnside was away at a show, and wanted to exhibit at 
another without going home, it was quite sufficient for him to write to 
Charley and tell him to put up a box of eighteen or twenty-four. It 
would be done without a mistake ; there was no fear of duplicates or 
wrong flowers being put in, and experienced as Mr. Burnside is as a 
grower and exhibitor, he has often told me that he could thoroughly 
rely on him. To his employer the loss will be irreparable. Such lad® 
are few and far between. Once, indeed, poor Charley did make a 
mistake when Mr. Burnside was going to exhibit at the Tea and Noisetter 
exhibition. In his confusion he left the box of “ spares ” behind him 
at the railway station near Birch, and it is quite certain he flogged 
himself about it, although his kind and considerate master took it- 
calmly enough. It was a very great shock to me to receive a note from 
my friend Mr. Burnside that the poor fellow had died under the effect 
of chloroform previous to an operation he was to have undergone, and 
so passed away a young life full of promise, but, who knows, perhaps- 
saved from the evil to come.—D., Deal. 
Early Flowering Chrysanthemums in 1891. 
The progress in these plants in England this season can only be fitly 
described as a revolution. The year commenced in February by the 
reception in this country from France of the catalogues of the French 
raisers, and chief among them was one from M. Dblaux of Toulouse, 
who sent us not only his usual list of late and early varieties, but a 
special catalogue of 125 new sorts, said to be early. It almost seemed 
as if he, seeing that we were beginning to raise some of these sorts our¬ 
selves, meant to show us how insignificant we were, and so we may be 
in that direction, but then perhaps had we not devoted past years to the 
speciality, he and others might not have thought it worth their while to 
grow such sorts at all. Rivalry is useful to promote progress, all thanks 
to our continental friends for their part in the fight. A 3 a matter of 
course, when we read their flowing descriptions, and think of the many 
expenses and the labour we have wasted in growing many poor sorts 
