August. I, 1883. ] 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
80 
- Gardeners’ Royal Benevolent Institution.—M r. E. R. 
Cutler writes :—“ As you are well aware, the Committee of this Institu¬ 
tion desired to commemorate the Jubilee year of this Institution by 
placing on the pension list all the unsuccessful candidates at the late 
election, and so clearing up the list. I have the pleasure to inform 
you that at a meeting of the Committee held yesterday it was decided 
to carry out the scheme, and they have placed the whole lot, seven¬ 
teen in number, on the pension list from the 21th June last. It 
may perhaps interest you to know that the pensions are paid 
every quarter, and the first payment will be made on or about 
the 1st of October. I enclose a list of the persons placed on the 
list, and please note the great ages of many of the pensioners, 
and that they reside all over the country, only three in London :— 
James Brown, Croydon, aged 71 ; Edward Spivey, Sawbridgeworth, 76 ; 
George Lambert, Chichester, 71 ; Stephen Evans, Chichester, 71 ; 
Thomas Morley, Cambridge, SO ; Joseph Norval, Chester, 63 ; Elizabeth 
Snow, Taunton, 71 ; James Manaerson, Stoke Newington, 66 ; Elizabeth 
Pollard, Croydon, 76 ; Henry Berry, Dromore, Ireland, 73 ; James 
Edmunds, Fulham, S3; William Fowle, Southampton, 69 ; George 
Fricker, Bourne Valley, 73 ; John Grimshaw, Huy ton, Liverpool, 80 ; 
John Hooper, Bristol, 80 ; Clement Preston, Brixton, 77 ; James Priest, 
Long Eaton, Notts, 63. 
- Bunyard’s Prizetaker Longpod Bean.—S ome pods of this 
variety have arrived from Maidstone. We have seen longer, but never 
better filled pods than these, which contain eight beans each. They are 
perhaps the heaviest pods we have had sent this season, and that is a 
good test of productiveness. 
-Layton’s Jubilee Strawberry.—W e find this variety to be 
the heaviest cropper of any we have (fifty varieties), and when fully 
ripe it is of delicious flavour. Its great merit is that it lasts such a 
long time, and perfects all its fruit. Where large berries are required 
it will be necessary to thin severely.—G eo. Bunyard & Co. 
- A CORRESPONDENT sends the following :—“ In the saloon of 
the Royal train which conveyed the Queen to London on Friday, from 
Portsmouth Harbour, for the purpose of attending the marriage of the 
Princess Louise of Wales, had been placed a tastefully arranged Basket 
of Flowers, comprising Orchids, Roses, Carnations, white Passion 
Flowers. Her Majesty so greatly admired the basket that by her express 
instructions it was removed to Buckingham Palace. Mr. H. Appleby, 
of the Boxhill Nurseries, Dorking, supplied the flowers, the arrangement 
being left to Mrs. Appleby.” 
- Alocasia macrorhiza variegata.—F or decoration during 
the summer months in either a large or small state this Alocasia is much 
admired. That there are good and bad types of it there can be no 
doubt. It is from those in which the markings are clearly defined 
that the offsets should be secured. If these are slipped off with a small 
portion of root attached, and placed in 2^-inch pots, using mainly peat 
and sand with some decayed leaves, they wilLquickly grow into vigorous 
plants, especially if they can have the benefit of a close case in the 
propagating house for a week or two. Afterwards a position close to 
the glass in the stove is suitable. They should be shaded from bright 
sun in the middle of the day. Plants in 4 and 5-inch pots are useful for 
decoration in a variety of ways.—A. 
- Lychnis viscaria fl. pl.— On the rockery and in the her¬ 
baceous borders this Lychnis is one of the most showy of plants, the 
colour being a bright magenta. It is of dwarf growth, and the flower 
3pikes do not require any support. When used for the rock garden this 
Lychnis should be planted in a mass, and not dotted singly here and 
there. The foliage is narrow, forming compact tufts, which is all in its 
favour as a rockery plant. Where the stock is limited the best method 
of increasing it is to take up a few old roots at the end of September, 
pulling them into pieces, no matter how small, if a piece of root can be 
secured to each, inserting them in sandy soil in a cold frame, shading 
from bright sun for a few days, and excluding air for a short time until 
new roots have formed, when abundance of it should be given. If the 
plants are allowed to remain in the frames until the following April 
they will be good to transfer where required, and will flower freely in 
June.—H. 
-Perennial Mignonette.—T here is growing on an old stone 
wall near us a root of Mignonette, about 10 feet from the ground, with 
between sixty and seventy spikes of bloom upon it. It has stood there in 
a south-westerly aspect for the last two winters, and notwithstanding 
the severe frosts we have experienced the blooms are as fresh and as 
sweet as ever. Is not this unusual considering all the others on the 
ground were killed in the autumn?—H. H. [It is unusual to find 
Mignonette thus established and flowering so freely now after having 
remained for two winters in the wall, but it would be still more un¬ 
usual if the plants in the ground continued in the same way. We had 
a plant for years in an old wall, but it did not flower so early as yours. 
The Mignonette is naturally a perennial plant, and when grown in a 
dry place, which induces the formation of woody stems, these remain 
alive through the winter and put forth fresh growths in spring. Grown 
in rich soil in the open border the stems are succulent and 
destroyed by frost. A plant of Mignonette may be kept in a pot for a 
number of years.] 
- Thames Ditton Horticultural Society’s Show. —This, 
the second Exhibition, was held on July 24th, and was in every respect 
a marked advance on that of last year. Groups of plants arranged for 
effect were quite a feature of the Show, six exhibitors competing in 
this class. First honours were accorded to Mr. Card, gardener to 
— Rucker, Esq., for a very tasteful arrangement, a little crowded 
perhaps. It was very closely followed by Mr. W. Palmer, gardener 
to W. F. Hume Dick, Esq., for an exceedingly light and pleasing group. 
Other competitors who showed well in this class being Mr. Simmonds, 
gardener to G. B. Windeler, Esq. ; Mr. Tarr, gardener to Hannibal Speer, 
Esq., and Mr. Kent, Thames Ditton. Fruit and vegetables were well 
and extensively shown, the latter from the cottagers making a good and 
interesting display. Prizes are offered by the Society for the best kept 
allotments, this doubtless conducing to increased cultivation on the part 
of the cottagers. The Royal Horticultural Society offered a Banksian 
medal to the exhibitor gaining the greatest number of prizes, and this 
was won by Mr. W. Palmer. Messrs. Puttick & Shepherd, successors to 
T. Jackson & Son, Kingston, arranged a tasteful group of foliage and 
flowering plants not for competition, and Mr. W. Tayler, Hampton, con¬ 
tributed some good cut Roses. 
- A box of Violas, recently received from Messrs. Collins and 
Gabriel, recalls the great usefulness of the superior forms of these bright 
and cheerful flowers. Blooms of about twenty varieties were received, 
with a brief note of each Champion, a fine telling white, very large, 
makes a handsome bed; Ardwell Gem, the best of the light yellows, 
very free ; Forerunner, a capital bedder in all respects ; Lord Darnley, 
rich and telling in colour, an excellent summer bedder ; Mrs. Chas. 
Turner, a most charming early variety, purple violet, fine form ; Sir 
Joseph Terry, blackish maroon, dwarf, free, and quite unique ; Dawn of 
Day, milk white, splashed and barred with violet blue, distinct ; Lady 
Diana, very free flowering and compact, purple crimson; Queen of 
Violets, dwarf and sturdy, producing abundance of crimson-purple 
flowers of fine form and substance, distinct, violet shading in centre, a 
first-class variety ; Pilrig Park, excellent bedder, free, and very effec¬ 
tive ; Bullion, the best golden Viola, very profuse ; Elegans, lilac mauve, 
distinct; Spotted Gem, makes a lovely bed, very free ; Crimson Gem, 
A1 for bedding purposes, dwarf, compact, free, excellent constitu¬ 
tion ; Archie Grant, rich violet purple, very fine ; Jeffreyana, a most 
compact pure white form, good bedder ; Countess of Hopetown, the 
grandest of all the pure white seifs ; Duchess of Albany, an exquisite 
combination of steel blue and deep violet mauve ; Ethel Baxter, a 
very fine bedder ; and True Blue, dwarf, compact, and an abundant 
bloomer. 
- Woolly Scale on Fruit Trees. —Miss Eleanor A. Ormerod 
writes :—“ I should much like to be allowed to draw the attention of 
your readers who may be interested in fruit growing to the appearance 
or spread of a large white woolly Currant scale which is to be found on 
Black Currant bushes, also on the Red and White kinds, and on the 
Flowering Currant (Ribes sanguineum.) I have also information of its 
being found on the Mountain Ash—the Rowan tree of North Britain— 
Pyrus aucuparia scientifically. This locality is of very practical 
interest, for if it should be found to attack other trees of the Pyrus 
kind—namely, Apple and Pear trees, it will be a very serious business. 
This scale insect is of the same family as the well-known scale insects 
that infest Apple and Plum bark, and lives in the same way—that is, 
by drawing away the juices with its sucker. But it is easily distinguish¬ 
able, and the attack noticeable some yards off, by the female scale 
having an egg-bag of white, woolly secretion. It thus appears, when 
fresh, like a little mass of slightly coirugated white material, about a 
quarter of an inch across, and partly hidden at one end by the brown 
coat of the dead female scale. After a time, when the egg-bags are 
torn and dispersed, the wool coats the twigs, so as much to resemble the 
