358 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[ M ly 9, 1889. 
which is to be held in the South Kensington Conservatory and Royal 
Albert Hall at the end of May for the benefit of the Hospital ? 
Promises of assistance in this way will be accepted quite as thank¬ 
fully as money contributions, so I trust I may receive many letters 
from readers, to whom I will send full particulars.—rl am, sir, your 
obedient servant, F. C. Howard, Honorary Secretary, Grosvenor 
Hospital for Women and Children, Vincent Square, S. W. 
- Gardeners’ Orphan Fund.— At a meeting of the Com¬ 
mittee held on Friday night last, Mr. G. Deal in the chair, several 
donations and contributions were announced, including £8 17s. from 
Mr. Allan, Brookhill, South Devon (collected), sums of five guineas from 
Mr. M. Dunn, Dalkeith, Mr. J. Elliott, Fulham, and the profits on 
tickets for St. James’ Hall ; two guineas from Mr. W. Warren, and 
£2 17s. 7d. from Mr. W. Richards’ money box, besides smaller amounts. 
It was decided to invest £500 in the most secure and advantageous 
manner, which can be recommended by reliable financiers. Mr. Lemon 
was appointed a local Secretary for Brighton. Applications from 
fourteen candidates, duly recommended, were received and will be sub¬ 
mitted for election, but only five can be justifiably placed on the fund. 
Many subscriptions are inarrear and should be paid early for insuring 
the right to vote for candidates. 
- A SUBSEQUENT meeting was held for making preparations for 
the Floral Fete in Covent Garden on behalf of the (above 
charity. This is to be opened at 8 p.m. on May 22nd by the Baroness 
Burdett Coutts, accompanied by Mr. Burdett Coutts, in the wholesale 
flower market that was referred to on page 32!) last week. This will be 
one of the great floral events of the season, and held under the imme¬ 
diate patronage of H.R.H. the Duchess of Teck, Her Grace the Duchess 
of Bedford, the Marchioness of Salisbury, Countess Spencer, Baroness 
Bolsover, Lady George Hamilton, Lady Goldsmid, Lady Dorothy Nevill, 
and the Lady Mayoress. Tickets, 5s. each (limited to 2000) will be 
supplied by Mr. A. F. Barron, Royal Horticultural Society’s Gardens, 
Chiswick, and Mr. J. Assbee, Market Office, Covent Garden. The band 
of Her Majesty’s Royal Horse Guards, to be conducted by Mr. Charles 
Godfrey, has been engaged for the occasion. 
-Floral Church Decorations.—T he editor of one of our 
City papers, writing to me privately—and he has singular facilities 
for being accurately informed—tells me in no previous year that he 
can remember have flowers been so extensively employed in Church 
decoration—and this is not confined to Roman Catholics—on Maunday 
Thursday. All over Ireland one of the sights—in fact, an institution— 
on Holy Thursday is “ to visit the churches” and see the rich, chaste, and 
brilliant floral display on and around the altars. Every sect lends 
flowers and give special orders to their gardeners to have them ready. 
This is why the matter is deserving notice in your columns. So it 
becomes a question of considerable importance to all gardeners so 
concerned, what flowers will be most suitable for this purpose, and 
what flowers can be relied on to bloom about Eastertide ? Ferns, 
Palms, and foliage plants always turn in.—W. J. Murphy, Clonmel. 
- Mr. W. B. Hartland writes :— “ I send a bunch each of 
Oxlip William of Orange and Cowslip Hose-in-Hose Sparkler 
for your approval. There is colour in both, 1 think. You can see the 
red one 300 yards distance, and the bed of the Oxlip, all one mass now 
over 3000 plants, is extremely beautiful.” [There appears to be a con¬ 
fusion of terms in reference to the flowers. The red flower, which we 
presume is the one called a Cowslip (Sparkier), is not a Cowslip, but a 
small Hose-in-Hose Polyanthus, very rich and effective. The so-called 
Oxlip William of Orange is not an Oxlip, but a gigantic Cowslip, not 
new to us, and beautiful when grown in a mass. Our correspondent 
also sends a very fine white head of his April Queen Broccoli, and, of 
course, some Daffodils. The flowers were withered in transit.] 
- Mr. W. Divers, The Gardens, Weirton House, Maidstone, 
sends us samples of Salt’s Crimson Perfection and Trince 
Albert Rhubarb in order that we may “ see the difference and judge 
of their quality.” There is a very great difference, the former being 
deep crimson in colour, which is retained when cooked ; very firm, not 
very juicy, and requiring little sugar ; the latter only faintly coloured, 
juicy, brisk, and pleasant, requiring a liberal addition of sugar. It is 
entirely a question of individual taste as to which may be preferred, 
and those who follow Mr. Divers’ advice and example will grow both, 
and both are good, but neither equals in appearance the stalks of the 
Champagne as sent by Mr. Gilbert. We observe this is plentiful in the 
market now, succeeding, and in appearance superseding, the Early 
Red. 
- Just after going to press last week we were informed of the 
death of Mr. James Dickson, gardener to Sir Robert Jardine, Bart., at 
Castlemilk, near Lockerbie, Dumfriesshire. There were not many better 
gardeners nor more worthy men than Mr. Dickson. He especially 
excelled as a cultivator of Grapes, and his record as a grower of large 
bunches is probably unequalled. He did not exhibit the heaviest bunch 
of Grapes in the world, for this was done by Mr. James Curror, at 
Edinburgh, in 1875, weight 26 lbs. 4 ozs., Mr. Dickson’s weighing in the 
Show 25 lbs. 15 ozs.; but he always said that when cut it weighed 
2G lbs. 8 ozs. Its shoulders as tied straight out, measured 2 feet 
3 inches across, and its circumference, following the oontour of the 
shoulders to the body of the bunch, exactly 8 feet. The length of the 
bunch was 2 feet 3 inches. Mr. Dickson was then gardener to John 
Jardine, Esq., at Arkleton, and a few years afterwards was appointed 
to the much larger charge at Castlemilk, and when we called on him 
there we found the gardens in splendid condition. He was not a strong 
man, and lived a good life, which he knew would not be a long one, 
dying of heart disease on April 17th, at the age of fifty. His reputation 
as a Grape grower did not rest on the solitary bunch mentioned. In the 
year 18G!),atthe Edinburgh International Exhibition, the first prize was 
awarded to him for a bunch weighing 16^ lbs. ; in 1870Lis first prize 
bunch at the Royal Caledonian Society’s Show weighed 19 lbs. 5 ozs.; in 
1871 his first prize bunch at the same Society’s Show weighed 18 lbs. 
7 ozs.; in 1872 his first prize bunch at Glasgow weighed 19 lbs. G ozs. ; 
in 1873 at Manchester his prize bunch weighed 16 lbs. 1 oz.; and in the 
same year another bunch at Glasgow weighed 16 lbs. 10 ozs. ; then came 
the bunch exhibited at Edinburgh in 1875, weighing (by the Judges) 
25 lbs. 15 ozs. Is not that an achievement without a parallel in the 
production of large bunches of Grapes ? 
- One of the fifteen candidates recommended by the Council 
for election as Fellows of the Royal Society is Mr. William 
Botting Hemsley, A.L.S., assistant for India in the Herbarium of 
the Royal Gardens, Kew, of whose work the following particulars are 
given. “ Entered the Kew Herbarium in 1863 ; assistance acknow¬ 
ledged by G. Bentham, F.R.S., in preface to ‘ Flora Australiensis,’ 1863 ; 
A.L.S., 1875 ; Lecturer on Botany at St. Mary's Hospital, 1876 ; author 
of numerous papers on Systematic Botany, which, together with his 
larger works, have given him an authoritative position in this branch of 
science ; author of the Botany (five vols., 4to) of the ‘ Biologia Centrali- 
Americana,’ 1879-88 ; joint author with Brigade-Surgeon Aitchison, 
F.R.S., of memoirs on the botanical collections of the several Afghan 
expeditions (Journ. Linn. Soc., xviii., pages 29-113, 1880 ; xix., pages 
148-200, 1883 ; Trans. Linn. Soc., 2nd Ser. iii., pages 1-139, 1888) ; 
engaged by sub-Committee of the Government Grant Committee to 
prepare the ‘ Index Florae Sinensis,’ an enumeration of all known 
Chinese plants (in course of publication, Journ. Linn. Soc. xxiii. 
1886-88, ft «py.).” 
- Daffodils at Cork. —The following varieties are in flower 
at Temple Hill:—Mr. and Mrs. J. B. M. Camm, the latter an immense 
white bloom, and, only that the foliage places it with the bicolors, it 
should be regarded as one of the White Trumpet section ; Edith Barber, 
allied to muticus and P. R. Barr, a small Emperor, are both very dis¬ 
tinct. In chalice flowers, C. J. Backhouse, Sir Watkin (extra fine), 
Princess Mary, Mrs. C. J. Backhouse (very beautiful), semi partitus, 
Barri conspicuus, and Sensation are at their best ; but the most attrac¬ 
tive bloom, that everyone so admires, is Leedsi Duchess of Westminster. 
It is really an extraordinary production, in appearance like a Pancra¬ 
tium. The gentle showers have proved so beneficial that many of the 
blooms are from 5 to 6 inches diameter, and the foliage become broad 
like Emperor. Poeticus grandiflorus, Nelsoni aurantius, and the red¬ 
eyed Bernardi hybrids are also very beautiful. It would be a “ great 
hit ” to get a Duchess of Westminster with a red corona, or a white Sir 
Watkin. This I look forward to. We shall have a great crop of seed 
in the south of Ireland on all the Narcissi this season ; some of the pods 
are now quite swollen.—W. B. II. 
HARD WOODED GREEN LIO L T SE PLANTS 
AT KEW. 
At this season of the year, when bulbs make such a grand 
display, we are apt to pass unnoticed some of the most beautiful of 
all greenhouse plants. There are few that can compare with many 
of these, although I believe their culture has been much neglected 
in private gardens. How many are there who can say that they 
possess a really first-rate collection ? But take stove plants or 
i Orchids, and you will have a host of replies. Thanks, however, to 
