44 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[ January I", 1SSP- 
next, anil that the Committee be empowered to alter these arrange¬ 
ments if they clashed with those of the National Chrysanthemum 
Society. The sum of £100 was ordered to be set aside as prize money 
for this Show. Votes of thanks to the officers of the Society were passed 
with acclamation, and the proceedings terminated, 
- The January number of “ The Botanical Magazine” contains 
illustrations of the following plants :—Brownea macrophylla (t. 7033), 
a handsome tree, with large globular heads of orange scarlet flowers. 
Olearia insignis (t. 7034), one of the New Zealand bushy Composite, 
with neat flower heads, spreading white rosy florets and yellow disk 
florets, the leaves elliptical and woolly ; it is rather ornamental. Rosa 
iccarnata (t. 7033), a Rose which is said to grow wild in several parts 
of France, and which was known in English gardens 248 years ago, but 
has since been lost sight of until recently. It has single bright rosy 
crimson flowers, and it is suggested that the Hybrid Perpetual variety 
Baroness Rothschild is nearly related to it. It was sent from the Rev. 
Canon Ellacombe’s garden. Streptocarpus parviflora (t. 7036) is a 
native of the Cape of Good Hope, and was raised from seed brought to 
Kew from Grahamstown by Mr. W. Watson in 1887. The flowers are 
small, white, with purple tubes, but are very freely produced, and it is 
likely to become a useful garden plant. 
- A correspondent writes : — “ Mr. W. Bardney read a paper 
“ Spring Flowering Bulbs and their Culture,” before the 
members of the Preston and Fulwood Horticultural Society, at the 
Castle Hotel, on Saturday evening, the 5th inst. Alexander Tullis, Esq., 
the President of the Society, occupied the chair. There was a good 
attendance of members, and several took part in the discussion that 
followed the reading of the paper. Mr. A. Waters,gardener to J. Eccles, 
Esq., Farington House, brought to the meeting a large well flowered 
Cypripedium insigne. Mr. J. Atherton, Hon. Secretary, had examples 
of Cape bulbs, and Mr. Troughton a sport from Palargonium Vesuvius, 
slightly stronger in growth, brighter in colour, with a very decided 
white eye, and said to be equally as free as the parent. The usual votes 
of thanks to those who had contributed to the interest of the meeting, 
to Mr. Bardney and the President, brought a very profitable meeting to 
a close. It is gratifying.to note the, interest that is being taken in these 
monthly meetings at Preston. They are not confined solely to gar¬ 
deners, as several gentlemen attend regularly, give papers, and take an 
part in the discussions.” 
- Chiswick Gardeners’ Mutual Improvement Associa¬ 
tion. —Mrs. S. A. Lee, Chiswick, has, with the object of encouraging 
original research and observation, again very kindly offered a sum of 
£10 10s. to be distributed in prizes on horticultural subjects, as defined 
below. The competition is open to all the ordinary members of the 
Association who have paid their subscriptions for the current year, before 
March 1st. A first prize of £2, and a second prize of 30s., will be 
awarded in each class, provided the essays are in the opinion of the 
adjudicators worthy of the prizes. Members may send in essays on one 
or more of the subjects, but no member shall take more than one prize. 
All essays, bearing a motto or ndm deplume , must be delivered to Mr. J. 
Barry, Secretary, 1, Annandaie Road, Chiswick, W., not later than 
March 1st, 1889. Where a competitor contributes more than one e=say, 
the same nom de plume to be used for each essay. The adjudicators 
will, in accordance with the express wish of the generous donor of the 
prizes, be instructed to pay due consideration in making their awards to 
neatness of handwriting, correctness of spelling, and accuracy of 
grammar, as well as to the information contained in the essays. Should 
the prizes in one or more classes not be awarded, the adjudicators will 
be empowered to award extra prizes in other classes, providing the essays 
are deserving of the awards. Competent judges will be appointed 
to adjudicate upon the essays. The results will be announced, and the 
prizes distributed at the annual dinner of the Association, at the close 
of the session. Class L—Arrangement of the fruit garden, to produce a 
continuous supply of fruit without the aid of glass. Class 2.—Best 
system of cropping the kitchen garden, to ensure a continuous supply 
of vegetables, where no forcing is practised. Class 3—How to maintain 
a gay conservatory throughout the year. 
- Mr. J. Mallender sends the following Summary op 
Meteorological Observations at Hodsock Priory, Worksop, 
Notts, for December, 1888:—Mean temperature of month, 39-5°! 
Maximum on the 5th, 57'4° ; minimum on the 18th, 18 9°. Maximum 
in the sun on the 0th, 90’6° ; minimum on the grass on the 14th 15°. 
Mean temperature of air at 9 A.M., 38'2° ; mean temperature of' soil 
1 foot deep, 40'5. Nights below 32 p , in shade eighteen, on grass twenty. 
Total duration of sunshine in month, forty-three hours, or 19 per cent, 
of possible duration. We had eleven sunless days. Rain, total fall, 
1'84 inch. Maximum fall in twenty-four hours on the 27th, 
DIO inch. Rain fell on thirteen days. Average velocity of wind, 
9\5 miles per hour. Velocity exceeded 400 miles on four days, and fell 
short of 100 miles on five days. Approximate averages for December :— 
Mean temperature, 37 - 2°. Rainfall, 203 inches. Sunshine (seven 
years) thirty-four hours. A mild, calm, and, except for one very web 
day, a dry month, with a fair amount of sunshine and complete ab¬ 
sence of snow. 
- The same correspondent also sends this summary of the year 
1888 Very cold, very dull, and rather dry. The cold was more remark¬ 
able for its long continuance than for its intensity at any particular 
period ; thus from early in January to nearly the end of October there 
were remarkably few weeks in which the temperature was at all above- 
the average. The deficiency in the daytime was also much larger than 
at night. January was a dry month of average temperature, but during 
the next three the mean was nearly 4° below the average. In March 
there was an excess of rain, but in the other two a slight deficiency, 
while both March and April were the dullest since the record began.. 
In May there was an improvement, and though the nights were still 
cold the days were warm and bright, but the rainfall was very deficient.. 
The next three months were very cold and exceptionally dull. June 
and July were the dullest on record, and August nearly so. July was 
also the coldest on .record, and very nearly the wettest. June was 
showery, but the total fall was small, while August would have been 
very dry but for one very wet day. September and October were both 
cold, but dry, fine, and calm, though in the first there was a good deal' 
of haze and mist, which reduced the recorded sunshine. The first few 
days of October will long be remembered for its severe frosts and snow¬ 
storm ; at the end of the month a rise of temperature occurred, and the 
rest of the year was warm. In November the excess was large, and in- 
December moderate ; the former was the wettest, du lest, and most 
windy on record, while the latter was calm, and except for one heavy 
fall very dry. The mean temperature of the year (46'5) is D7 below 
the average The amount of sunshine is less than in any year since- 
observations of it began in 1881, while the rainfall is about 2f inches- 
below the average. 
- The Configuration of Trees. —Professor Fernow, of the- 
United States Department of Agriculture, in a recent paper discusses 
the obscure question respecting the influences under which a tree- 
assumes one shape rather than another. The mechanical forces which 
affect trees externally are mainly gravity and wind. The physiological 
forces, termed by Professor Fernow “ stimuli,” work accidentally and 
occasionally ; they are set in motion by changes in the intensity or- 
direction of light, variation of temperature, instantaneous shocks, sudden- 
pressure, &c. The capacity to react to the stimuli is called irritability,, 
and the various parts react differently to the same stimulus ac¬ 
cording to the types of structure. The internal capacity of part 
of an organ to react to external influences determines the ex¬ 
ternal form and direction of growth. Thus, some plants tend to- 
place their axis towards the acting force, others obliquely or trans¬ 
versely. Changes in the direction of the various parts of trees, 
aside from accidental ones, such as pressure, contact, moisture, and’ 
heat, are mainly produced by light and gravity. The effect of light 
upon root-forming matter is to turn it away, and upon shoot-forming 
matter to turn it towards the light. Certain plant structures adjust 
themselves obliquely across the direction in whieh the light strikes the- 
organ, the result being that the largest surface of chlorophyll-bearing- 
cePs are exposed to the light, and the chemical changes, upon which the- 
growth depends, are induced. Certain plants, such as the Mimosa, have 
the capacity of changing the position of the leaves when the intensity 
of the light is so great as to be injurious. The direction of a branch 
depends, to a great extent, on the degree of illumination of its parts ; a 
greater illumination on one side increases the cell-growth on the other, 
and the rapid strengthening of the shaded side results in a curvature, 
and a new direction of the tip of the branch to Yards the light. The 
action of light on the roots is exactly the reverse ; the illuminated 
part lengthens more rapidly, carrying the growing point away from the- 
light. On the whole, Professor Fernow arrives at the conclusion that 
trees in which the foliage is dense give out more spreading branches, 
while those in which it is less dense exhibit a more erect form of 
branches. 
- The English Apple and Fruit Growers’ Company - 
Limited. —The Statutory First General Meeting of this Company took 
