10 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
I J Ti )> ?, IttS. 
deners of the district of Chesterfield in aid of the Fund, and accompany¬ 
ing this a request that the money should be equally divided among the 
twelve gardeners he named, and so to appear in the subscription list. 
It was pointed out that as these sums would appear as donations, and 
as a donation to carry a vote at an election must amount to £5, this 
sum of £31, divided into twelve equal portions of £2 11s. 8d. would 
not be sufficient to carry individual votes. It was therefore agreed that 
the Committee of Chesterfield gardeners should be requested to nominate 
six of their number, so that a sum of £5 could be placed against their 
names, and thus secure six votes. The sum of £12 9s. was announced 
from seven local secretaries, and in addition the West Kent Gardeners’ 
Society at Bexley Heath sent a donation of one guinea. The sum of 
13s. Id. came from the collecting box at the Chrysanthemum Exhibition 
of the Chiswick Horticultural Society, and 18s. 6d. from the box at the 
Chiswick Apple and Pear Congress. A donation of five guineas was also 
received from Mr. W. McKenzie. In consideration of the services 
rendered to the governing body of the Imperial Institute, Sir Somers 
Vine wrote stating that the sum of five guineas had been voted to the 
Gardeners’ Orphan Fund, Mr. Barron having suggested it should take 
that form. Mr. Thos. H. Harroway, Vicarage Street Nursery, War¬ 
minster, was appointed Hon. Local Secretary for that district. A letter 
was read from Mr. William Thomson of Clovenfords, Galashiels, re. 
ferring to the lack of support to the Fund from the Scotch gardeners, 
and attributing it to the fact they believe Scotch children would 
have no chance of election to the benefits of the Fund. The sum of 
£35 11s., the amount necessary to meet the quarter’s grant to the 
children on the Fund, was ordered to be paid. 
- Royal Meteorological Society. —The usual monthly 
meeting of this Society was held recently at the Institution of Civil 
Engineers, 25, Great George Street, Westminster, Dr. W. Marcet, F.R.S., 
President, in the chair. Dr. G. Adkins, Mr. T. M. Blake, Mr. C. J. 
Bromhead, Dr. A. Newsholme, Dr. E. P. Thurstan, Rev. Dr. T. T. Wilkin¬ 
son, and Dr. F. M. Williams were elected Fellows of the Society. The 
following papers were read: —1, “On the Prolonged Spell of Cold 
Weather from September, 1887, to October, 1888,” by Mr. C. Harding, 
F.R.Met.Soc. During the fifty-nine weeks, ending the third week in 
October, there were but four warm weeks in the north-west of England, 
and only five warm weeks in the south-west of England, whilst in the 
latter district then was not a single warm week between March 12th 
and October 22nd. The mean temperature for the whole period was 
dealt with for the twelve districts into which the Meteorological Office 
divides the whole area of the United Kingdom, and with the single 
exception of the north of Scotland the weather for the period ending in 
October this year was the coldest of any during the past ten years. At 
Greenwich the temperature dnring the fourteen months was below the 
average on 312 days out of 427, or 73 per cent., and in July there was 
not a single warm day, the temperature being continuously below the 
average from June 27th to August Gth. The means for July 11th and 
12th were colder by several degrees than those for March 9th and 10th. 
2, “Report on the Phenological Observations for 1888,” by the Rev. 
T. A. Preston, M.A., F.R.Met.Soc. Vegetation was generally backward 
throughout the season. In the south-west of England and south of 
Ireland plants were earlier than usual, but not elsewhere. In February 
they were from one to four weeks later, and gradually gained ground 
till June. In the south of Ireland they were slightly in advance of the 
average in June and July. In the south-west of England they just 
reached the average in July ; whilst in Guernsey they were a fortnight 
later. Fruits generally were a failure, very few really ripened, and 
from want of sun were deficient in flavour. Haymaking was 
unusually late, as much as five weeks; it began in July or August, 
and was not entirely finished till late in September. Much of it 
was spoilt or secured in bad condition. Straw was plentiful, and 
though the corn was not an average crop, the fine October enabled 
farmers to secure a better one than could have been expected. Roots 
were often a failure, and Potatoes were much diseased. 3, “A Winter’s 
Weather in Massowah,” by Capt. D. Wilson Barker, F.R.Met.Soc. This 
gives the results of four-hourly observations during December, 1887, to 
February, 1888. The highest shade temperature was 95°, and the 
lowest 68°. 
CIDEB. 
The correspondent from Suffolk (page 588), who says that 
cider is not made in the eastern counties, is not alone in his opinion. 
I remember hearing of an Oxford undergraduate, who was so 
pleased with the bottled cider obtained in his college that by favour 
of the common-room man he took a dozen back with him to his I 
home in Suffolk. The universal verdict there was that it was very 
good, and our friend was asked to try and find out where this ex¬ 
cellent stuff was made. The college butler revealed the secret at 
last. “We get it,” he said, “from the makers in a village in 
Norfolk called B.” B. ! he knew it well. It was not ten miles 
from his own home, where he was born and bred, but he had never 
before heard of anything being made there. It must be a dozen 
years at least since I last had any of this Norfolk cider, and I dor 
not know whether it is still made at B ; but it certainly was, to my 
taste, the best bottled cider I ever had ; and, though of long 
residence in East Anglia, I write “ without prejudice,” as the 
lawyers say, for I am a Somersetshire man by birth, and wide was 
(and is, I believe) the reputation of the famous cider Apple which 
was raised in my grandfather’s garden. 
This Norfolk cider (at all events the sort I found so good) was 
not made to keep. It required to be had in at the right time, when 
it was “ ready,” and drunk within a month or two. Like the real 
Yarmouth “ longshore ” bloaters cured without salt, it was much 
superior to my taste to any which would keep. I do not know 
that there were, or are, any particular mysteries in the manufac¬ 
ture different from other cider ; but I daresay a good many have, 
heard stories (how true I do not know) of the horrible things put 
into cider at a certain stage to “ fine ” it, or “ refine ” it, or some¬ 
thing. Raw meat, I have been told, is commonly used. The acid 
at that stage is so strong, I have been informed, that it will 
absolutely eat up and destroy anything of that nature, so that no 
trace is left. I should advise a good “ pinch of salt,” however, in 
swallowing all that is heard on the subject; but undoubtedly cider 
is extremely acid at a certain stage, and the common stuff of the 
west generally remains so to the uninitiated. Many a thirsty and 
heedless guest has rued the moment when he accepted the 
hospitable invitation of a western farmer to a “ drap o’ zider.” - 
Marvellous is the ability possessed by a Devonshire or Somerset¬ 
shire labourer for putting away untold quarts of this wonderful 
liquid, and the intoxication at length produced by it is said to be 
different in some respects from that which comes from beer or 
spirits, for a Somersetshire man’s definition of being drunk is,. 
“ When a man can neither stand, nor sit, nor yet lie, without being 
held.” 
There is a story told by a Lancashire man who for some reason 
or other went down to Cornwall and worked at the china-clay 
digging. He knew nothing of cider, which was the only drink to 
be obtained in those parts, and was probably accustomed to use 
spirits when he did have a drinking bout. It was not long before 
a rainy day occurred, and our Lancashire friend being soon pretty 
well wet throughout, turned into the nearest public house, after 
the manner of his kind, to get wet within too. Here he was found 
towards evening by some of his companions sitting at a large table 
and soberly but mournfully contemplating a vast array of empty 
jugs. “Well! mate,” said they, “ how do you get on ?” “Slow,’” 
he replied, “ wonderful slow! Here have I been sitting along of 
this beastly stuff ever since eleven this morning, and I ain’t no 
drunker than when I come in.” 
A very great virtue has been claimed for cider : that it cures, 
the gout. I will not say this is untrue ; but when it does cure 
gout it is, I expect, strictly upon the homoeopathic principle of 
“ like cures like,” for it gives it to me to a certainty, and 1 have 
not dared to taste a drop for many years. —W. R. Raillem. 
P.S.—If any of this might give offence, or wo’n’t do, excise it or 
use it as you will. I thought it might pass muster at Xmas, 
time. As to the first story, I am inclined to think, on further re¬ 
collection, that I have undervalued it. That the Oxford under¬ 
graduate was a Norfolk man, and his home the next village to 
Banliam (the name of B), I thought it would not do to give an 
advertisement.—W. R. R. 
[Yes ; it has passed “ muster.” Humorous stories agreeably 
told give no offence at the story-telling season ; and as it is “ Xmas 
time ” we give the village an advertisement.] 
AUTUMN BERRIES, FOLIAGE, FERNS, AND GRASSES-. 
In connection with many of the autumn exhibitions of Chrysan¬ 
themums prizes are frequently offered for stands, epergnes, or baskets 
dressed with hardy sprays collected from the shrubberies or hedgerows, 
and a very effective feature they make. The combination of the many 
bright berries with the more subdued but lovely tints found in the 
foliage of many of our deciduous trees and shrubs, gives a good relief to 
the eye from the many bright flowers around them in the exhibition. 
There were some pretty arrangements at Kingston-on-Thames, and also 
at Winchester, in epergnes, which attracted much notice from the 
visitors, ladies being the chief, and in many instances the most artistic 
and successful exhibitors. Much larger scope is given to the exhibitors 
