422 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[ May 27, 1886. 
incline me to the view that probably the truth lies between the arguers. 
The insect is not the prime agent, as the disease is internal, but, on the 
other hand, the Acari by their attacks greatly aggravate the injury, and 
frustrate Nature’s efforts to cure.” 
- A sample of Calceolaria Blooms from Messrs. Kelway 
and Son, Langport, Somerset, includes some finely shaped flowers, 
varied in colour, seifs, spotted, and laced. Some have white or very 
pale yellow grounds, others gold, and still others crimson. All are 
pretty, and the strain is a good one. 
- Mr. J. Leslie of Perth sends us a small bunch of Chrysan¬ 
themum Fair Maid op Guernsey, which, as he remarks, “though 
not large, are very late, and there are more to come.” The blooms are 
very fine, and must be useful at this time of year. 
- The Brentwood Horticultural Society will hold a 
summer Exhibition in Weald Park, near Brentwood, in connection with 
the Essex Agricultural Society’s Show on June 17th and 18th this year. 
Three hundred prizes are offered in eighty classes, the President’s prize 
for a group of Boses, a silver cup value £5, being one of the principal, 
but the prizes, six stove and greenhouse plants—namely, £6, £4, and £2, 
are the most valuable offered. The Secretary is Mr. Thomas Haws. 
- Mr. F. Taylor writes from Welbeck on the weather and 
BIRDS: —“There were seventy-six martins and ten swallows picked 
up dead on the 15th inst. close round the Abbey. They had perished 
through the cold wet weather, besides an immense number on the grounds 
and lakes. I have not seen a black martin since. There are a few 
swallows, brown sand martins, and swifts or devlins, as some call them, 
left.” 
- The seventeenth annual Show of the Bagshot and Windle- 
SHAM Society will be held in Bagshot Park on June 29th and 30th, a 
poultry show and rural ftte being held at the same time. Fifty-two 
classes are provided for plants, fruits, flowers, and vegetables, the prizes 
varying in amount from 30s. to Is. The Hon. Sec. is Mr. W. H. 
Babbage, Bagshot. 
- Mr. Harrison Weir has succeeded in raising some distinct and 
beautiful Hybrid Phyllocacti, and flowers of several forms which he 
had at South Kensington were very brightly coloured. The majority are 
rich scarlet, but others are more or less tinged with rose, affording very 
delicate shades. 
- The recent Heavy Storms op Rain have caused considerable 
damage in many low districts, much land being under water, and market 
gardens in the valley of the Thames have suffered severely. Many crops 
will be greatly injured, and late-sown seed that has not germinated will 
probably in numerous cases decay in the ground where it is not washed 
away. Peas have been much damaged in several private gardens, and 
other vegetables have had their foliage cut by hailstones. Following such 
a protracted winter, these storms have rendered farming and market 
gardening prospects still more gloomy. 
- Mr. Barr sends us flowers of the Poet's Narcissus, show¬ 
ing how greatly they vary in size, form, and colouring of the cup. The 
variations are certainly considerable, and impart additional interest to this 
favourite flower. 
- Replying to a correspondent, Mr. Thomas Meehan, Editor 
of the “American Gardener’s Monthly,” recently had a note upon the 
fertilisation of plants which is worthy of reproduction : — 
“ Whether the pistils mature before the stamens (proterogynous) or the 
stamens before the pistils (proterandrous) is solely a matter of climate 
or season, and is not a definite character of the plant itself. This, we 
think, has been proved by the writer of this in the ' Proceedings of the 
Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia,’ though we do not 
know that the fact has been recognised by European botanists ; 
certainly by none who have written about the fertilisation of flowers. 
A stamen is excited to growth by a few warm days, while it takes a 
regularly warm ‘spell’ to start the pistil. This is the reason why we 
often fail in getting crops of Hickories, Walnuts, Filberts, and other 
things when there are a few warm days in winter. The stamens 
mature long before the pistils push. Hence when they do there is no 
pollen to fertilise them. In the usual seasons they both push together, 
or the flowers may b9 proterogynous. There is no rule for the influence 
of either parent. The same plant to-day may show a large proportion 
leaning toward the male parent. Seeds of the same cross next year may 
have opposite results.” 
- At a meeting of the Royal Botanic Society of London, held on 
Saturday, Lord Aveland, Vice-president, in the chair, Dr. Cogswell read a 
paper upon Camassia esculenta, the Camass of the North American 
Indians, a Liliaceous plant, whose bulb3 were once a staple food of the 
aborigines of the western slope of the Rocky Mountains, though now it 
has given place in great measure to the white man’s corn and vegetables. 
The season of flowering was held as a high festival by the tribes that 
assembled together to dig up the bulbs, the maiden who collected the 
greatest quantity being estimated the most eligible for matrimony. 
Specimens of the plant in flower from the Society’s garden were shown 
at the meeting. 
- A DAILY contemporary observes that the increase of FRUIT 
production in California is remarkable. Last year over 4500 tons 
of raisins (nearly three times as much as the previous year’s produce), 
750 tons of Prunes, 910 tons of Apples, 950 tons of Peaches, 670 tons of 
Plums, 325 tons of Apricots, 625 tons of Walnuts, and 525 tons of Almonds 
were produced. The yield of honey was 1250 tons. All these quantities 
are expected to be largely increased this year. Orange-growing is still 
on the increase, and 1100 car loads of Oranges had been sent out of San 
Bernardino and Los Angelos Counties by the 1st of April, when the 
exporting season was not over. As the exporting of Oranges from Florida 
finishes by about the time when it begins in California, there is really 
little or no competition between the two States in this branch of 
industry." 
- A CORRESPONDENT of an American paper discourses on the 
extraordinary fruitfulness of the Strawberry in Florida. The writer, in 
the presence of witnesses, counted 138 berries, large and small, on a single 
plant, grown in the open air, in the first week of April. But what is 
more remarkable than the fruitfulness of the crop at a given time is the 
unusually long period during which it continues bearing. Last year 
growers commenced shipping Strawberries to New York and elsewhere on 
the 9th of February, and continued sending them till the end of May. 
As late as the third week of June small quantitities were picked for local 
use. More remarkable still is the fact that this prolonged bearing was all 
from a single variety. 
- We learn that A. H. Smee, E«q., The Grange, Wallington, will 
throw his garden open to visitors on Saturday next, the 29th inst., when 
the usual display of Orchids and other plants will be provided. 
At this time of year The Grange garden is in its best condition, and large 
numbers of visitors avail themselves of Mr. Smee’s liberality. 
- “Willesden” writes, “Will some of your correspondents give 
me information as to School Flower Shows ? What is the best time to 
hold them ? What kind of flowers ought to be grown 1 Is it best to 
furnish the plants to the children, or let them buy them ? What are the 
best means to take to avoid fraud, such as buying plants nearly flowered 
and exhibiting them as their own ? I want rules and any information 
that can be given.” 
-Another large shipment of Fruit from South Australia 
and New South Wales has reached the market for colonial produce 
held in connection with the Colonial and Indian Exhibition. It was 
brought over per the Orient liner “ Cuzco,” and proved to be in excellent 
order. The South Australian consignment consists of a selection of 
Apples, Pears, Oranges, Grapes, Quinces, Almonds, Raisins, Currants, &c. 
A case of eleven Pears weighed no less than 31^ lbs., five of them being 
16f lbs. They were shown in the South Australian Court on the occasion 
of the recent visit of the Queen to the Exhibition, and were much ad¬ 
mired by Her Majesty, the Prince of Wales, and Princess Beatrice, to 
whom a basket of the fruit was presented. The shipment from New 
South Wales comprises twelve cases of various descriptions of Apples 
and Grapes from the district of Orange, packed on an improved system, 
which has resulted in a complete success. The clusters of Grapes were 
perfect. The fruit was exhibited on Tuesday at the Show of the Royal 
Horticultural Society, after which it was exposed for sale in the Colonial 
Market at the Exhibition. 
SPRING-ROOTED HYDRANGEAS. 
“ G. G., Hants," in his remarks, page 408, says striking cuttings of 
Hydrangeas in the autumn is often attended by disappointment. I advise 
“ G. G.,” or anyone else that has not tried, to take the cuttings* during 
