December s, 1839. ] 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
487 
After a friendly discussion it was unanimously agreed that a Club 
having for its aim the advancement of the science of horticulture in the 
eastern counties be formed, and with that view a Committee was elected 
to organise future procedure, Mr. Morris of Witton being appointed 
President for the ensuing year. Members were enrolled freely, great 
hopes being expressed of the outcome of the meeting. 
- From Ashton Court Gardens we have received some of the 
earliest and best forced Lilies of the Valley we have ever seer.* 
They are from home-grown crowns, and we hope shortly to give some 
notes on their culture. 
Onion, Black Douglas.—I should like to know the parent¬ 
age of this new Onion. As grown and shown by Mr. Murray it appears 
only as a magnified form of the old Blood Bed, and until I know better 
I shall regard it as such.—K. G. 
- Carnation W. M. Welsh, —This is a recently introduced 
border Carnation of more than ordinary merit. It is a robust grower, 
most profuse in flowering, and as a late variety in the open air it 
attracted my attention above all. The flowers are of average size, the 
colour a clear crimson scarlet, and its general good character, including 
its extra late habit, will recommend it to many. 
- Celosias are not grown so much as they ought to be for the 
embellishment of the conservatory and greenhouse in summer and 
autumn. I have this season seen them arranged with telling effect in 
groups of plants at shows, and their graceful heads adapt them admir¬ 
ably for this use. But the ha'f Cockscomb half Celosia-like heads 
obtained from many packets of seed are not encouraging, and if anyone 
would introduce and perpetuate a strain with perfect feathery plumes 
they would benefit themselves and growers generally. 
- Potato Victorious. —I am glad this new Potato gained a 
certificate of merit at the recent Vegetable Conference. Half a dozen 
years ago ten new seedling Potatoes were sent to me for trial. None 
was specially recommended, all were to go on their own merits. Being 
partial to a good mealy tuber, I began weeding out from my first crop. 
Until this year the variety which has since taken the name of Victorious 
was my only selection from the original ten, and I take as no small 
compliment to myself that I managed to hit on the right sort as well as 
Mr. Laxton. I had no communication with him on the subject all 
through, but the results were parallel. 
- American Blackberries have never won my approval. I 
have been unable to grow or find any of them to merit ordinary praise. I 
have this year travelled almost from Land’s End to John o’ Groat’s, and 
have not once met with a good crop. I have inquired in likely quarters, 
but with no result. How is it ? Are they not grown ; or have they 
failed ? Wild Blackberries have been unusually plentiful this year. A 
good season for them should also be good for the Americans, and yet I 
have been unable to find them. I feel sure if our natives had received 
the same culture as has been given to some of those in question they 
would have produced astonishing crops, and I am inclined to advise 
those who have no wild Blackberries growing in their neighbourhood, 
but who like the fruit, to try a few scores of plants from a friend’s 
hedgerow.— South Wales. 
- Artocarpus Cannoni. —Specimens of this really handsome 
ornamental stove shrub are now in full beauty of foliage at the 
Birmingham Botanical Gardens, and it is a lovely plant for decorative 
work. It was received from Mr. William Bull under the name of Ficus 
Cannoni. The plant is thus described in Nicholson’s “ Dictionary of 
Gardening : ”—“ Leaves alternate, petiolate ; petiole and midrib bright 
red ; upper surface glossy, of a rich full bronzy crimson hue, beautifully 
tinted with purple ; under surface bright vinous red. The leaves vary 
much in form ; some are simple and cordate at the base, with the apex 
irregularly lobate ; some have the apex regularly three lobed, with short 
entire lobes ; others, again, are deeply three lobed, being divided nearly 
to the base, the segments, of which the centre one is the largest, being 
slightly sinuate lobed. This is a most distinct and handsome orna¬ 
mental-leaved plant.” Mr. Latham finds the plant of easy cultivation, 
moisture and warmth being two essential points, and a soil of fibrous 
loam and peat and good drainage. 
- Mr. J. Mallender sends the following summary of meteoro¬ 
logical observations at Hodsock Priory, Worksop, Notts, for 
November Mean temperature of month, 43'2°. Maximum or. the 
7th, C3 0°. Minimum on the 28tb, 28‘1°. Maximum in the sun on the 
7th. 106 - 0°. Minimum on the grass on the 27th, 20-0°. Mean tempera¬ 
ture of the air at 9 A.M., 42 - 8°. Mean temperature of soil 1 foot deep, 
44'8°. Number of nights below 32°, in shade seven, on grass twelve. 
Total duration of sunshine, forty-four hours, or 17 per cent, of possible 
duration. We had thirteen sunless days. Total rainfall, 0 42. Rain 
fell on thirteen days. Wind, average velocity, 8-0 miles per hour ; velo¬ 
city exceeded 400 miles on two days, and fell short of 100 miles on eight- 
days. Approximate averages for November :—Mean temperature, 41'7° ; 
rainfall, 2-04 inches ; sunshine, fifty-one hours. Remarks :—A mild,, 
calm, and very dry month ; rainfall less than half that recorded in 
November in any of the previous fourteen years. 
- Royal Meteorological Society. —The first meeting of 
this Society for the present session was held recently at the Institution 
of Civil Engineers, Dr. W. Marcet, F.R.S., President, in the chair. 
Nine new Fellows were elected. The following papers were read r 
(1.) “ Second Report of the Thunderstorm Committee.” This is a dis¬ 
cussion by Mr. Marriott on the distribution of days of thunderstorms 
over England and Wales during the seventeen years, 1871-1887. Notices 
of sheet lightning are included in the term, “ thunderstorms.” The- 
years of greatest frequency were 1880, 1882, 1884, and 1872, and the 
years of least frequency 1887, 1874, 1879, and 1871. Years of greater 
or less frequency alternate regularly throughout nearly the whole of 
the period. The average yearly number of thunderstorms is about 
thirty-nine. The districts with the greatest yearly frequency are the 
south of England and extreme northern counties, and those with the- 
least yearly frequency are Cheshire, Lancashire, and Yorkshire. The 
greatest number of thunderstorms occur in July, and the least in 
February and December. (2.) “ On the Change of Temperature which 
accompanies Thunderstorms in Southern England,” by Mr. G. M. 
Whipple, B.Sc., F.R.Met.Soc. (3.) “Note on the Appearance of 
St. Elmo’s Fire at Walton-on-the-Naze, September 3rd, 1S89, by Mr. 
W. H. Dines, B.A., F.R.Met.Soc. (4.) “ Notes on Cirrus Formation,” 
by Mr. H, Helm Clayton. The author, who has made a special study 
of cloud forms and their changes, gives a number of notes and drawings- 
on the formation of cirrus under various conditions— e.g., in a previously 
cloudless sky, cirrus bands with cross fibres, cirrus from cirro-cumulus 
clouds, cirrus drawn out from cumulus clouds, “mares-tail” cirrus, &c- 
Curved cirrus clouds, when accompanied by decreasing barometric 
pressure, frequently indicate that a storm of increasing energy is 
approaching. (5.) “ A Comparison between the Jordan and the 
Campbell-Stokes Sunshine Recorder,” by Mr. F. C. Bayard, F.R.Met.Soc. 
As a result of a year’s comparison between these two instruments, the 
author found that the Jordan Photographic Recorder registered nearly 
30 per cent, more sunshine than the Campbell burning recorder. 
(6.) “ Sunshine,” by Mr. A. B. MacDowall. This is a discussion of the 
hours of sunshine recorded at the stations of the Royal Meteorological 
Society. (7.) “ On Climatological Observations at Ballyboley, Co. An¬ 
trim,” by Prof. S. A. Hill, B.Sc., F.R.Met.Soc. This is the result of 
observations made during the five years 1884-1888. 
THE GOLD MEDAL FRUIT ESSAY. 
This essay is now published. It consists of 120 pages, clearly 
printed on good paper, and contains thirty-eight illustrations. Nothing 
is said hero relative to the merits of the work : criticism can he more 
appropriately left to others. We simply print the introduction and 
concluding paragraph. For price, see advertisement. 
“ At no former period was such a widespread desire manifested as 
exists now for improving the condition of the industrial population, and 
for developing the resources of the soil in the production of an adequate 
supply of home-grown fruit. The necessity for the accomplishment of 
these objects is apparent, for on the one hand we have men in abundance 
who, with the aid of sound guidance, could engage usefully in the work.,, 
and on the other the extraordinary fact of not cities and towns only, 
but even country villages, with fruit-growing land all around them, 
largely supplied with Apples grown on the western shores of the Atlantic. 
It is true we have orchards, but of what kind ? In the majority of 
instances they are composed of trees planted generations, not to say 
centuries, ago, which can only bear fruit so small, juiceless, and un¬ 
inviting that consumers naturally purchase the larger and better¬ 
looking imported samples, which are so plentiful and so moderate in¬ 
price. If home cultivators have not had a larger share of profit in pro¬ 
ducing the fruit supply in the markets, where rests the fault ? A num¬ 
ber of answers in the form of allegations are ready to hand, and have 
been so often repeated as to have become common property. Here 
they are:—Obstructive land laws, ecclesiastical charges, oppressive 
railway rates, high market tolls, salesmen’s exactions, shop-keepers’ 
extortions, free trade, and bad climate. Repeatedly have these reasons 
been given in all sincerity as the causes of the great importations of 
hardy fruit. We can admit the full force of all these impediments, but 
it will not be difficult to show that something remains more accountable 
