January 3, 1889. ] 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
9 
prior to Christmas ; indeed we were making use of them for button¬ 
holes in seventeen days from the date of starting them. No plant is 
•easier to force. We simply select some of the best spring forced plants 
of the previous spring, stand the pots on the flow pipe in a stove, cover 
■them with straw, and supply plenty of water, and the flowers with 
more or less foliage appear without much delay. We have them with 
as many as fourteen flowers to a spike.—13. 
- Timber Trees in Wensleydale. —Since my last visit to 
Holton Hall I had an opportunity of strolling through the pleasure 
grounds with Mr. Hall, when I noted some very fine Plane and other 
trees. I measured a few at random, of which I send particulars. The 
trees I have measured were fine specimen Beech, 3 feet from the 
•ground, 11 feet in circumference; Ash, 17 feet; Silver Fir, 16 feet 
*6 inches ; Larch, 7 feet 3 inches at 2 feet from the ground ; Yew, 
"English, 15 feet 9 inches, 3 feet from the ground ; ditto, 9 feet 8 inches ; 
Oak, 17 feet 10 inches from ground. In the kitchen garden is a splendid 
'bed of Brussels Sprouts, the finest I have ever seen ; the variety was 
Paragon. The Cotoneasters on the walls look exceedingly bright at this 
time of year. Primroses were in flower at Hawes, ten miles further on. 
—A. J. Brown, Carju-rley, Wensleydale. 
- The Royal Caledonian Horticultural Society’s 
schedule of exhibitions and prizes for 1889 gives the following as the 
■dates upon which the respective shows will be held in the Waverley 
Market, Edinburgh :—Spring Show, April 3rd and 4th, 139 classes pro¬ 
vided mainly for forced plants, but cut flowers, fruit, and vegetables 
.also have classes devoted to them, the prizes ranging from 5s. to £5. 
'The summer Show will be held on July 10th and 11th, 117 classes being 
-enumerated for plants, flowers, fruit, and vegetables, with prizes from 
5s. to £4. The autumn Show is fixed for September 11th and 12th, the 
•schedule comprising 193 classes for horticultural products, besides 
■several for honey. The total amount offered in prizes at the three 
Shows is £800—namely, £292 at the first, £223 at the second, and £285 
at the third. The Society appears to be in a flourishing condition 
'financially, for the result of last year’s work is a balance of £255 5s. 4d., 
the total receipts having reached the sum of £1258 3s. lOd. A list of 
members is also added to the schedule, which includes nearly 600 
names. The Secretary is Mr. John Stewart, 4, Albyn Street, Edin¬ 
burgh. 
- The Australian Irrigation Colonies.—T he Adelaide 
‘Observer gives an account of a visit paid by the Earl of Ranfurly to 
■Chaffeys’ irrigation colonies, and he was so impressed with the successful 
operations that he purchased a large area, and induced some of his 
rfriends in England to do likewise, so that the Earl and three others 
have now 200 acres between them. He speaks confidently of a great 
rfuture for the Australian irrigation colonies, and has, with otherSj 
already planted blocks about 30,000 Vines, 950 Lemon, 1500 Apricot 
300 Fig, and 4000 Orange trees. This year’s planting is over. Next year, 
they hope to go in more extensively in this direction. Speaking of the 
.irrigation colonies, he said :—“ The Messrs. Chaffey have spared no 
•expense in launching out into their irrigation enterprise, so as to make 
Renmark and Mildura quite as successful as the irrigation colonies of 
California. Canals are constructed in all directions, and as soon as the 
•engines are fixed there will be plenty of water. Next year many 
•thousands of acres will probably be under cultivation. An immensity 
•of country has been cleared and channelled, all the good sites have 
■been purchased, and for the best that are for sale four or five times as 
much as the original prices have been offered. A great number of 
people who bought land evidently purchased other sections with a view 
•of speculation. Since the blocks were first taken up some have-changed 
hands at £40 per acre, and I believe at even higher than that. I know 
that £40 has been refused in several instances, and in some cases even 
£100 has been asked.” 
- Facts about Pears.—I can readily endorse all that Mr. 
■Iggulden says in respect to the above subject at page 542. Never do I 
•remember the quality of Pears being so good, especially Beurrc Diel. 
IVc gathered over 1000 fruits of that variety, some of them being rather 
small, and I was under the impression that many of them would never 
ripen, but I have been agreeably surprised to find that every one was of 
•good quality. No doubt poverty at the root is one of the great evils 
•of fruit of inferior quality. We have a row of espalier trained Pears 
120 yards long, which have been planted about thirty years. For some 
years previous to 1888 the fruit had not been of the highest order, either 
as regards quantity or quality. In November of that year, we removed 
all the soil and bared the roots, cutting away all the useless roots, and 
gave each tree a couple of barrowloads of good manure and old burnt 
refuse mixed together, and filled in the old surface soil. A little was 
done in the way of reducing some of the spurs, which had become much 
too crowded, and a decided improvement was apparent in 1887, at the 
latter part of which we were able to take out a large number of useless 
spurs. This summer the trees have borne remarkably well good fruit 
and of good quality, and we are now busy completing the removal of 
more useless spurs, and getting the trees more to our satisfaction. With 
Mr. Iggulden I think perhaps plenty of moisture may have had some¬ 
thing to do with giving Pears a better flavour this year, but whether 
the absence of sun has had a deterrent effect on the ripening of the 
wood remains to be seen.—R. Pinnington, The Gardens, Blachlow 
House, Roby. 
-The Wakefield Paxton Society. —Last week the eleventh 
anniversary meeting of the above Society was held at Councillor 
Lupton’s, the Saw Hotel. Councillor Milncs, the President, was in the 
chair, and Mr. B. Whiteley occupied the vice-chair. There was an 
average attendance of the members. Mr. J. Carter, nurseryman, 
Cowick, and formerly gardener at Outvvood Hall and Portobello House, 
Wakefield, gave his sixth and concluding essay on the cultivation of the 
Vine. Mr. Carter devoted a long and practical paper to the question of 
the best soils for Vine growing, and on this subject he gave much 
valuable information to those anxious to produce Grapes of good size 
and fine flavour. He minutely detailed, from long practical experience, 
the best mode of making up a Vine border, recommended the use of 
natural in preference to artificial manures. He advocated the use of 
lime, chalk, blood, soot, &c., but said that caution should be exercised in 
their use. A short discussion followed the reading of the paper, after 
which, on the motion of Mr. J. G-. Brown (Stanley), seconded by Mr. E. 
Fenner (Sitndal), and supported by Mr. H. S. Goodyear, a hearty vote of 
thanks was accorded to Mr. Carter. The President formally presented 
Mr. George Morris of the Post Office with a teacher’s bible, with notes, 
maps, &c., in recognition of his kindness in having during the past three 
years collected the subscriptions for the window garden Exhibition. 
The President alluded in very complimentary terms to Mr. Morris’s 
courtesy and kindness, and his remarks were endorsed by several of the 
other members. Mr. Morris having replied, Mr. B. Whiteley proposed a 
vote of thanks to the President for his liberality, and this was seconded 
by Mr. G. W. Fallas, and heartily carried. 
- At a meeting of the Edinburgh Botanical Society last 
month, Dr. Craigie, the President, congratulated the Society on the 
retention of the Royal Botanic Gardens to the public, and spoke 
eulogistically of the efforts put forth to this end by Professor Balfour. 
Mr. A. Galletly, of the Museum of Science and Art, made some “ obser¬ 
vations on the wood of certain resin-producing trees,” and Professor 
Balfour read a paper by Dr. Aitehison on “ The Source of Badsha or 
Royal Salep.” Dr. Cleghorn exhibited and described coloured drawings 
of Indian plants by native artists, and Mr. George Bird contributed 
notes on some of the rarer plants found on the Dovrefjeld, Norway/ 
last July. Mr. Philip Sewell detailed botanical observations that he 
made during the voyage of the “Labrador.” Unfortunately, the 
“ Labrador” had not been able to reach the Yenesei, where Mr. Sewell 
had hoped to botanise, but lie had opportunity to observe and collect 
plants on the desolate regions north of the Urals. He found the con¬ 
tinuous swamps covered with a monotonous growth of coarse grasses 
and Sedges. Upon some of the drier banks there were evidences that 
in the short summer gay flowers were to be found, but they did not 
exist in such profusion as had been described by Siberian travellers 
visiting the regions farther to the south. Hills there were none, unless 
elevations of 100 feet or so were deserving of that name. Many of the 
more scarce plants were those of the higher Scottish mountains, though 
this resemblance was not by any means so marned as was the resem¬ 
blance between the floras of Lapland and Scottish mountain tops. 
Winter had given signs of approach when Mr. Sewell left the Yugor 
Straits in the last days of September. Snow fell abundantly, and there 
were slight frosts. Mr. Sewell exhibited some of the rarer plants that 
he found, and mentioned that some of them had not before been known 
as belonging to the Siberian regions. 
_ The Gardeners’ Orphan Fund. —A meeting of the Com¬ 
mittee of this Fund took place on Friday evening last at 6 P.M., Mr. 
George Deal in the chair, there being as usual a large attendance of 
members. A letter was read from Mr. S. Knight announcing the death 
of Mr. C. Howe, The Gardens, Benham Park, Newbury, a member of 
the Committee and local Hon. Secretary for that district. A letter was 
read from Mr. O. Thomas, The Gardens, Chatsworth, enclosing the sum 
■ of £31, the proceeds of the entertainment recently given by the gar- 
