Deccember 28, 1889. ] 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
551 
doors is a failure until you have given the system a fair trial ; and 
■when you have done that I have no hesitation in predicting you 
will agree with Mr. Record and myself that it is possible to pro¬ 
duce as good crops of Peaches on outdoor walls at the present 
time as were ever produced before Peach houses became so plenti¬ 
ful. —Lancastrian . 
To our Readers. —At this, the season of good wishes, we desire 
that all our readers will believe in the sincerity of our hopes that they 
will largely share in all that is embodied in the time-honoured senti¬ 
ment— A Merry Christmas. 
- Mr. Richard Parker.—I beg, with your permission, to offer 
my hearty congratulations to Mr. Richard Parker, both on his success as 
an exhibitor, and also on his being strong enough and fair enough to 
admit the assistance of his foreman, Mr. Crooks. This is, to a persever¬ 
ing and industrious man, a great encouragement, and deserving men 
appreciate such recognition of their services.—R. Kirby, Ovilton Ball, 
Leeds. 
- The Birmingham Gardeners’ Association.— At the meet¬ 
ing on the 10th inst. Mr. John Pope, nurseryman, read a paper on “ The 
Big Gooseberry,” pointing out that many of the large Lancashire prize 
varieties were generally very little known outside of the prize Goose¬ 
berry growing districts ; and urging that many of these large varieties 
should be more cultivated and used as dessert fruits, as several of the 
prize varieties attained a large size and possess excellent flavour. 
Varieties of excellence in this respect were named, and the cultivation 
and enemies of the Gooseberry has in the shape of insects were re¬ 
ferred to. 
-Chrysanthemum Shows.—T he Bradford Society will hold 
their annual Show on Friday and Saturday, November 7th and 8th ; 
the Croydon Society’s Show is announced for November 12th, 1890. 
- The Raisin Crop op California this year is reported to 
be a failure. Rain came during the dry season, and being wholly un¬ 
prepared for it, the result is much greater damage than would otherwise 
be probable. Drying Grapes for raisins has in many places superseded 
the making of wine, which has been overdone in California. 
- It is said the late Mr. John Ball, F.R.S., has bequeathed his 
botanical library and herbarium to Sir Joseph Hooker, to the Director 
of the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew for the time being, and to the 
President of the Royal Society for the time being, requesting them to 
give the same to such person or persons or public institution in this 
country, the British colonies or elsewhere in the world, as they or any 
two of them may select, with the sole object of promoting the knowledge 
of natural science. Right is, however, reserved for Kew to select 
previously such specimens or books as it may want. 
- Quillaia saponaria. —At a recent meeting of the Linnean 
Society Mr. Thomas Christy exhibited some bark of Quillaia saponaria 
from Chili, which has the property of producing a great lather, and is 
extensively used for washing silk and wool. It is now found to solidify 
hydrocarbon oils and benzoline, and thereby to ensure their safe trans¬ 
port on long voyages, a small infusion of citric acid rendering them 
again liquid. The plant named is a hardy evergreen shrub, a member 
of the Rose family. It is a native of Chili, and was introduced to this 
country in 1832. 
- The Economic Museum, Calcutta, has completed and de¬ 
spatched the first instalment of important Indian fibres required by 
the Indian Office for presentation to the Museums of the Royal 
Botanical Gardens at Kew and Edinburgh, and to the Chambers of 
Commerce at Dundee and Manchester.— (Nature.) 
- American Apples. —The exports of Apples from all American 
ports for the week ending November 23rd, as reported by A. C. Lom¬ 
bard & Sons, were 48,211 barrels, including 8933 barrels from Boston, 
12,277 barrels from New York, 27,001 barrels from Montreal. For the 
season the total exports have been 371,608 barrels, including 81,081 
barrels from Boston, 90,244 barrels from New York, 162,626 barrels 
from Montreal, 23,733 barrels from Halifax, 12,000 barrels from Anna¬ 
polis. For the same time last year the total exports were 784,500 
barrels, including 196,011 barrels from Boston, 242,319 barrels from 
New York, 291,692 barrels from Montreal, 64,484 barrels from Halifax. 
Boston’s week’s shipments were 8482 barrels to Liverpool, and 451 
barrels to London. 
- We are informed that Prop. Bornmuller, Director of the 
Botanic Garden at Belgrade, has started on a twelve-months botanical 
tour through Asia Minor. Beginning at Amasia, he will travel through 
the country between the courses of the Kisil-Irmak and Euphrates 
southward to the completely unexplored mountains of Ak-dagh. 
The Botanical Gazette says that this country has only once been 
explored, thirty-five years ago, by the Russian botanist Wiedemann. 
According to the some authority, Prof. Bornmuller is a young and very 
successful explorer, with a great deal of experience, especially from his 
long journey in 1886, through Dalmatia, Monte Negro, Greece, Turkey, 
East Bulgaria, and Asia Minor. His original collection will be 
transferred to Weimar, where it will be carefully gone through by 
Prof. Hausknecht. 
- Birds a Friend to the Gardener. — One of the few 
sources of enjoyment in the garden, Christmas week, is a walk in 
front of my outdoor protected wall Chrysanthemums, to observe the 
late blooms expanding. You may be surprised to hear the open-air 
temperature here to-day is 50° Fahr., and the frost has not injured a 
petal under the canvas framework. To-day I was greatly amused 
watching four small birds, something larger than wrens, colour greyish 
green with white wing splashes, black head, darting nimbly from bloom 
to bloom turning over the petals, and evidently feeding on aphides. 
Would some ornithophile say what this useful lively little bird is? I 
have never noticed them in towns before, and they evidently find 
my Chrysanthemum screen a comfortable night retreat. Would it 
be the lesser spotted woodpecker (Picus minor) ? It is, I believe, an 
insect feeder.—W. J. Murphy, Clonmel. 
- An extremely bright Californian plant is figured in the 
“Botanical Magazine” for the present month (t. 7092). This is 
Clintonia Andrewsiana, which has its flowers in a dense terminal 
umbel, and the colour is described as “ dark claret purple,” though it 
is depicted of a bright rosy red. Mr. J. G. Baker says :—“ Clintonia 
is a genus of baccate Liliacem, which contains six species four of 
which are North American and two East Asiatic. This is the only 
species in which the flowers are at all showy. In all the others they 
are greenish-white. Two of them were figured long ago in the 
‘ Botanical Magazine ’ (tabs. 1155 and 1403), both under the name 
of Smilacina borealis. C. Andrewsiana is very local, being confined 
to the coast ranges of California, from Humboldt County to Santa 
Cruz. No specimen existed at Kew, either in the herbarium or the 
garden, till very lately. Our drawing was made from two plants that 
flowered last June, one in the herbaceous ground at Kew, and the 
other in the Botanic Garden at Edinburgh, from which it was kindly 
sent to the Royal Gardens by Professor Bayley Balfour. It requires to 
be grown in a shady position in a bog or peat bed.” 
- Carnation Mrs. Reynolds Hole.— I can speak with con¬ 
fidence in favour of this Carnation for outdoor flowering. We have a 
good number of border varieties which succeed well in a cold heavy soil, 
and the one in question was the most admired of all last season. The 
colour is very pleasing, and quite distinct amongst Carnations and other 
flowers. For flowering out of doors the blooms do not split the calyx, a 
great point in its favour. It is a good grower, producing “grass” 
abundantly. New plantations are made annually early in October, and 
if a mulching of sifted vegetable refuse and wood ashes is applied 
between the rows the plants stand the winter well, but we always con¬ 
trive to have them well rooted at planting time by layering early and 
using plenty of sandy soil, old potting refuse, to which is added some 
leaf soil. Into this the roots run more freely than they would into the 
ordinary garden soil, thus we are enabled to lift the rooted layers with a 
good ball of earth attached. The planting of a new bed in this manner 
gives scarcely any check to the plants, certainly much less than where 
Tate layering is practised, and ordinary soil used, especially if it be 
of a heavy character.—E. M. 
_ The following botanical appointments are announced :—The 
Directorship of the Botanic Garden at Berlin, vacant by the death 
