Mare'i 7, 1889. J 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
195 
with soil place the cyanide in a flower pot saucer, then stand the flower 
pot on, not in the saucer. The worms are driven out or killed.—C. J. 
- Mb. J. Mallender sends the following Summary of 
Meteorological Observations at Hodsock Priory, Worksop, 
Notts, for February. —Mean temperature of month, 37-2°. Maxi¬ 
mum on the 1st, 56-7° ; minimum on the 12th, 16’8. Maximum in sun 
on the 11th, 115-5° ; minimum on grass on the 13th, 0 - 6°. Mean tem¬ 
perature of the air at nine a.m., 36-7°. Mean temperature of the soil 
1 foot deep, 37-3. Number of nights below 32°, in shade fourteen ; on 
grass twenty-three. Total duration of sunshine, forty-seven hours, or 
17 per cent, of possible duration. We had five sunless days. Total 
rainfall, 1-60 inch. Rain fell on eighteen days. Average velocity of 
wind, 14 - 5 miles per hour. Velocity exceeded 400 miles on nine days, 
and fell short of 100 miles on one day. Approximate averages for 
February ;—Mean temperature, 40 - 2°. Rainfall, 1-63 inch. Sunshine, 
58 - 5 hours. A cold windy month, with rather deficient sunshine. About 
the average downfall, the latter consisting chiefly of snow. 
- The March number of the “ Botanical Magazine ” just to hand 
is an extraordinary one, for the plates and descriptions do not correspond— 
that is, five plants are represented in the figures and the descriptions of 
five other totally different plants are given. It is not a case of trans¬ 
position as has occurred before, but one series of plates has become mis¬ 
placed, though the numbers on figures and descriptions are identical. 
It is evident that it must have been left to someone very unfamiliar 
with plants, for associated with a description of Eremostachys laciniata 
(a member of the Labiatae) we have a figure of Lilium nepalense ; with 
a description of Delphinium Zalil, an illustration of an Orchid, probably 
a Sarcochilus ; and with the letterpress for Calandrinia oppositifolia, 
a plate of a yellow flowered Opuntia. It will be necessary to re-issue 
the corrected sheet of letterpress with the next number, and we must 
reserve our remarks upon the plants represented until the matter is put 
Btraight. 
- Muscari botryoides. —A small group of this beautiful spring . 
flowering bulb is at present very attractive in No. 4 greenhouse, Kew, 
The group consists of two dozen pots of Muscari and about half that 
number of Lily of the Valley, and one would travel a good distance 
before seeing as much beauty and gracefulness contained in so small an 
area. As the Muscari, or Grape Hyacinth, is so easily cultivated, it is a 
great pity that it is not more generally grown as a pot plant and used 
for decoration along with the ordinary Hyacinths, Convallarias, Narcissus, 
&c., the treatment in many respects being very similar. To obtain good 
free flowering plants it is advisable to repot the bulbs as soon as they 
lose their leaves, for root action commences very soon afterwards, and 
if not potted before this takes place they will receive a severe check. 
The soil used in potting should be a light compost of loam, leaf mould, 
and sand. Seven or eight bulbs may be placed in a 4 or 5-inch pot, 
2 or 3 inches under the surface of the soil, and potted moderately firmly. 
The pots may then be buried in cocoa-nut fibre, ashes, or in a spare 
border of the garden. From the middle of December onwards they will 
require to be examined occasionally, and the plants removed to a cool 
frame as they start into growth.—K. 
- No. 26 of the Kew Bulletin is devoted to a list of seeds of 
hardy herbaceous annual and perennial plants grown at Kew in 1888. 
It is said that “ these seeds are available for exchange with Colonial, 
Indian, and Foreign Botanic Gardens, as well as with regular corre¬ 
spondents of Kew. The seeds are for the most part only available in 
moderate quantity, and are not sold to the general public. As compared 
with the list previously published Kew Bulletin,’ February, 1888), it 
will be noticed that the number of names inserted in this list is far 
fewer. This has arisen on account of the unfavourable conditions ex¬ 
perienced during the summer of 1888, when, owing to prolonged rains 
and absence of sunlight, many plants did not mature seed. The list has 
been now arranged in alphabetical order : this it is hoped will render it 
more convenient for purposes of reference. E very effort has been made 
to correctly determine the nomenclature of the plants in the list. As 
far as it goes it serves as a record of the herbaceous species cultivated at 
Kew, which have matured seed during the past year. It must be remem¬ 
bered, however, that a considerable portion of herbaceous plants grown 
at Kew, as already explained, cannot be included in the present list.” 
Previously the plants had been arranged in their natural orders, which 
rendered an index necessary ; now that is not required. The authorities 
for the names are given, with the native country and the principal 
synonyms. Twenty-six pages are given, containing in double columns 
not less than 2000 names 
- Tarring Vines. —Referring to the note on this subject by 
“North Wales,” page 172, I would ask the readers of the Journal have 
they ever noticed a difference between the stems of Vines which were 
tarred, and in those which were not so treated ? I mean, has it been 
noticed how quickly the bark dries after the rods are syringed as com¬ 
pared with those to which no t * was applied ? I have noticed a differ¬ 
ence in the manner the Vines started. For instance, in a house which 
was planted mainly with Black Hamburghs, the Vines ten years old, for 
three or four years were painted with tar and soil. Each year they broke 
very weakly indeed for Vines of that age, although they appeared to be 
well treated in other ways, but annually bore a good crop of Grapes. 
After syringing the rods dried quickly, remaining moist for a very short 
time only. This year the tarring was discontinued, and the Vine rods 
washed in the same manner as recommended in the Journal a short 
time since, with the result that they are now breaking much more 
satisfactorily, the growths promising to be more vigorous than in the 
past. It may be that the tar mixture prevents the moisture soaking 
into the bark of the Vine—the object for which the Vines are syringed 
to a great extent. A house full of Muscats has had the rods tarred 
during the last three years, the present one inclusive. At this date they 
have not “ broken ” in a satisfactory manner, being somewhat uneven 
and weak besides. No more of the “ tarring business ” for me, whether 
this be the cause or not.—S. 
- The February issue of the “ Botanical Magazine ” gives a 
figure and desciption of Strelitzia Nicolai, which differs from the 
better known S. Augusta in “ its larger bracts and flower, and in 
the hastate combined petals, which are further of a pale blue colour.” 
Sir Joseph Hooker says :—“ The date of introduction of this fine plant, 
which, seeing the stature it has attained, must have been cultivated in 
European botanical gardens for a great many years, is unknown ; nor 
has its native locality in South Africa been ascertained. In habit and 
foliage it so closely resembles the familiar S. Augusta (see ‘ Bot. Mag.,’ 
t. 4167), that before it flowered it was naturally supposed to be that 
plant. S. Augusta was introduced in 1791 by Francis Masson, but there 
is no record of where he procured the plant. Thunberg, who discovered 
S. Augusta during his travels in S. Africa (1772-1775), gives as its 
habitat, in his 1 Prodromus Flora Capensis,’ the Pisang River in Anteniqua 
Land. These names I do not find in any map or gazeteer, but I pre¬ 
sume the latter to be the Oliphant River from the following facts. 
Burchell, the famous botanical traveller in South Africa, never met 
with S. Augusta except in the Cape Town Botanical Gardens, but he 
says that its Dutch name is ‘ Welde Pisang,’ the Wild Plantain, Pisang 
being the Malay name of the Plantain, which this Strelitzia resembles 
in foliage, and Thunberg’s Anteniqua may be assumed to be the region 
of the Onteniqua Mountains, through which the Oliphant River flows. 
This identification of the river is confirmed by a reference to the valuable 
work of another South African botanical traveller, the late James Back¬ 
house, the founder of the famous nurseries at York. In his instructive 
and interesting ‘ Visit to Mauritius and South Africa,’ which he under¬ 
took for philanthropic purposes, Backhouse only once mentions seeing 
Strelitzia Augusta, and that was at Plattenberg Bay, a bay on the coast 
some 300 miles east of Cape Town, and where the Oliphant River falls 
into the sea. It would be as interesting to know the geographical area 
occupied by S. Augusta as to discover that of S. Nicolai.” 
- In the same issue of the above-named work figures are also 
given of Styrax Obassia (illustrated in the Journal of Horticulture, 
page 513, 1888) ; a distinct and pretty Persian Iris, named Meda, related 
I. Chamreiris and I. olbiensis ; the well-known hardy Opuntia Rafines- 
quii; and an Australian Dendrobium D. gracilecau’e, with small pale 
yellow flowers, spotted with purple. 
FLORAL DECORATIONS. 
At a recent meeting of the members of the Ealing and District 
Gardeners’ Mutual Improvement Society a paper, invested with a good 
deal of interest and instruction, was read by Mr. Prewitt, Swiss 
Nursery, Hammersmith, upon “ Floral Decorations.” The lecture was 
made all the more entertaining and explicit by the aid of a stand with 
which Mr. Prewitt had provided himself, and by which he was consider¬ 
ably assisted in explaining his views. He said 
In giving a paper on “ Floral Decorations,” I have kept almost 
strictly to what are termed table decorations; first, because when a 
young gardener can dress stands suitable for a dinner table he has little 
else to fear in regard to any other kind of decoration of a floral character 
he may be called upon to execute ; and also because I think if there is 
one particular kind of decoration the gardener of the present time 
ought to study, it is the decoration of a dinner table. I must at the 
outset carry you back with me a period of about twenty years to show 
what progress has been made in this branch of our profession. At that 
