202 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[ September 5, 1869. 
- York Flower Show and Gala.—T he abstract of the 
Treasurer’s account in connection with the York Flower Show and 
Gala, held last June, was presented at a meeting of the Committee held 
at the North-Eastern Hotel, York, on August 30th. The document 
showed that the Exhibition had resulted in gate receipts amounting to 
£1436, against £1215 in 1888, and that the total income for the year 
had been £1888. The expenditure had amounted to £1723, leaving a 
profit on the year of £164. On profit and loss account this balance was 
reduced to £64, and of this amount it was resolved that the following 
sums be given to local charities:—£40 to the York County Hospital, 
£10 to the York Dispensary, and £10 to the York Lunatic Asylum. 
A number of votes of thanks were also passed. 
- “ A. C. W.” (page 175) depreciates the knowledge of gardeners 
and people in general with regard to edible fungi. He is loud in his 
praise of the Mushroom, which the people north of the Tweed are not 
able to distinguish from a puddock-stool. But of all these fifty 
funguses, which are so ignorantly passed by the Mushroom gatherer, he 
has not a word of praise for a single one of them. There are doubtless 
plenty of edible fungi besides the common Mushroom, but that they 
exist so plentifully as your correspondent would lead us to believe few, 
I think, will agree to. His suggestion about coloured plates I would 
take to be more imaginary than practical. At any rate, I for one would 
not like to stake the results of eating an unknown fungus merely from 
such a description. I am afraid your correspondent after all belongs to 
the majority.—D. G. B. 
- Pelargonium E. F. Crocker. —Those who are partial to 
the more refined tints in bedding-out arrangements should make a note 
of the above variety for such purposes where a bright and attractive 
but not gaudy piece of colouring is required. A sport from Master 
Christine, it contains all the good qualities of that popular variety with a 
decided advance in point of habit, and increased size and substance of 
its petals ; but the chief and most pleasing charm of this fine variety 
lies in the additional depth and brightness of the colouring of its 
flowers. These, borne on stout footstalks in medium-sized trusses with 
the same freedom as is common in the older type of Christine, present 
a concentrated tone of colour of at least treble that of its parent, with 
a pleasing dash of red in its composition which lends a peculiar bright 
and rich character to the original lovely hue, that is the predominating 
feature of the Christine type.—M. C. 
- 1 am disposed to think the Apple Crop is not the general 
failure at first anticipated. Recently I have been through several 
country districts, and was agreeably surprised to see so many Apples on 
trees in farm and cottagers’ gardens. I also noticed numerous trees in a 
few orchards that seem to be very well stocked with fruit. In some 
instances the varieties are of little value other than for cider making, 
but there will yet be a considerable weight of fruit suitable for the 
markets. It is a curious fact that the best crops are on trees growing in 
low positions, or where they more often fail than not. I also found on 
making inquiries that most of the trees bearing good crops this season 
carried few or no fruit last year. They did not flower nearly so 
abundantly as many that failed to set any fruit, and in all probability the 
flowers were stronger and more perfect accordingly. Apples generally 
are growing out well, and fine clean fruit will be gathered.— W. I., 
Somerset. 
- Apples on Pear Trees.—W hat you say in this week’s 
Journal (page 171) brings vividly to my mind “ the days o’ lang syne 
when a laddie.” In the gardens at Dundas Castle, Linlithgowshire 
(which were made by my father in 1814-15 from plans by John Hav, a 
famous garden architect in those days), there was a horizontal trained 
Pear tree on a wall with an east aspect on the right side of the door 
going into the garden from the gardener’s cottage, next the door was a 
Calycanthus floridus (the flowers of which were much esteemed by the 
Dundas family), then the Pear tree, every branch of which was grafted 
by my father with a different sort of Pear (early and late sorts), with 
the exception of two branches near the top of the tree on the left side, 
which were grafted with Apples and full of fruit in the years 1832-33. 
My father left Dundas Castle in 1834. so you will see by this that grow¬ 
ing Apples on Pear trees is no new idea— Charles Ross, Wolford 
Park Gardens, Newbury. 
- Presentation to Mr. Rabone.—O n the occasion of the 
annual Horticultural Show at Alton Towers, August 29th, a pleasant 
incident in the day’s proceedings was the presentation to Mr. Rabone, 
gardener to the Earl of Shrewsbury and Talbot, Alton Towers, of a 
handsome silver cup, accompanied by an illuminated address, to mark 
the twenty-first year of his connection with the Society as Honorary 
Secretary. Mr. Wm. Brown, Elmdon Hall Gardens near Birmingham, 
one of the Judges, and an old friend of Mr. Rabone, was requested by 
the subscribers to make the presentation, and in doing so spoke of the 
testimonial being the spontaneous offering from friends who highly 
esteemed Mr. Rabone, and as some recognition of his unvarying 
courtesy and kindness to all with whom he was brought in contact, 
and to the tact he had always shown in a position of responsibility and 
difficulty. Mr. Rabone, in thanking his numerous friends the sub¬ 
scribers, and stated that “he mentioned with pride that during the 
twenty-one years he had been at Alton there had been upwards of 
600,000 visitors to the Towers, and yet during that time no single 
complaint had been made against himself. He acknowledged the 
unvarying kindness which he had always received from the late and 
the present Lord Shrewsbury.” 
- Stapelia gigantea. —This, some Raffiesias and certain 
species of Aristolochia, are the largest-flowered members of the vege¬ 
table kingdom, and, what is curious, all are most fetid and have lurid 
colours. They agree in no other characters ; they differ altogether in 
habit and botanical affinity ; anl they inhabit widely distant parts of 
the world—namely, South Africa, Malaya, and Brazil. The Giant 
Stapelia is a native of Zululand, where it was discovered by Mr. R. W. 
Plant, a collector, some thirty years ago, and sent by him to the 
Botanical Gardens of D’Urban, whence it was introduced into England 
by Mr. Cooper. It has also been collected by Gerrard, and there is a 
drawing of it in the Kew Herbarium, made by Mr. Sanderson of Natal, 
and specimens from the Umveloo River ; and what is most curious, Mr. 
Brown informs me that he has received from Professor Macowan, of the 
Cape Town Botanical Gardens, a living specimen of the same species 
collected in Namaqua Land, on the opposite side of the African con¬ 
tinent. In this respect it is exceptional, for the species of this genus 
for the most part occupy limited areas ; in other words, are as a rule 
local. The figure represented was sent by Sir George MacLeay from 
his rich collection at Pendell Court, where it flowered in October of 
last year ; and is a cutting from the original plant imported by Mr. 
Cooper. There is a specimen of it in the Royal Gardens, where it has not 
flowered as yet .—(Botanical Magazine, t. 70GS.) 
- Banana Culture in the West Indies. — The edible 
Banana, it is said, is known to seed only in one small spot on earth— 
the Andaman Islands. However this may be, it is universally grown 
from suckers. Its cultivation in the West Indies has vastly increased 
during the past fifteen years, owing to the demands of the United States 
for its cheap, wholesome, and luscious fruit. About 400 or 500 trees are 
planted to the acre, and the plantations are called “ Banana wa ks.” 
In former days any available spot was chosen, usually an abandoned 
cane field, where the ground was most easily prepared for the new crop. 
But experience and competition have brought about more careful 
methods of planting, and the best place for a Banana walk i3 now con¬ 
sidered a valley or hillside with a western prospect. The trees fruit the 
first year, and the expense of cultivation is so small that a bunch of 
Bananas delivered at the sea coast need have cost its owner no more 
than four or five cents, while it may be sold in the winter months for 
from twelve or eighteen cents, and in the spring months for four times 
as much .—(American Cultivator). 
FIGS IN POTS. 
A correspondent —“ J. R.”—desires some information on the 
cultivation of Figs in pots, and thinks he remembers something of 
the kind being treated upon in a paper read before the Royal 
Horticultural Society. He probably refers to the following, which was 
written by Mr. A. F. Barron, and read at one of the meetings some 
years ago. It contains the information he requires, and may probably 
also prove suggestive to others. 
The following remarks are intended to apply chiefly to Fig trees 
grown in pots. There is no mode of culture which has so many advan¬ 
tages, and none for which the plant itself is so particularly well adapted. 
One great recommendation of pot culture is the immense variety that 
can be grown in a very small space, so that by a proper selection of 
varieties an almost continual supply may be obtained. The Fig bears 
more profusely in pots than when planted out, excepting in the case of 
large old trees. The Fig is a gross feeder, and when planted out it is 
difficult, especially while the plants are young, to restrict the action 
of the roots; and thus, instead of fruit, nothing but gross shoots are 
produced. Plants in pots, on the contrary, are perfectly under the 
control of the cultivator, and bear fruit abundantly. Further, the fruits 
produced from plants in pots are generally of a far richer and higher 
quality if proper attention is paid to watering. 
