C8 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
f J .nua y 2?, 18>0. 
—told me that he grows them in a cold frame all spring, and plants out 
about the second week in June, taking care to give them plenty of room 
and air while in the frame, so as to have them robust when planted out. 
—Geo. Gallaher, Kilkerran Gardens. 
- Celosia plumosa pyeamidalis. —It is to be regretted that 
this beautiful plant is not more generally cultivated for autumn and 
winter decoration. For a few years past Messrs. Thomson, nurserymen, 
Birmingham, have devoted attention to the Celosia, and have grown 
fine specimens about 4 feet high, which have been well cultivated and 
flowered, but an effort was made to pot a lot of smaller plants in bloom 
for sale, and with great success. Even up to Christmas they had fine 
young plants to cut from, and during the autumn a number of well 
grown plants averaging about 18 inches in height in 48-pots. Their 
method of growing is this. To obtain specimens sow the seed in March 
in gentle heat, and repot and grow the plants in gentle heat until the 
end of May ; then shift into larger pots, using a compost of loam, leaf 
soil, sand, and a little manure, taking care to give them the final shift 
before the plants show flowers. To have specimens in 48-pots sow early 
ia July and keep the plants in 60-pots until they begin to show flower, 
then transfer into 48’s. The Celosia is of easy cultivation, requiring 
similar treatment to Balsams, and their rich colours and graceful habit 
are strong recommendations. There are two varieties—plumosa and 
spicata, but the former is the best, and there are various shades of 
colour of each variety.—D. S. H. 
- Royal Meteoeological Society. —The annual meeting of 
this Society was held on Wednesday evening, the 15th instant, at the 
Institution of Civil Engineers, iDr. W. Marcet, F.R.S. (President) in the 
chair. The Council in their Report congratulated the Fellows on the 
generally prosperous state of the Society, the past year’s work, though 
not in any respect exceptional, having been thoroughly successful. The 
total number of Fellows is 550, being an increase of twenty-five on the 
previous year. The finances are improving, and the library is over¬ 
flowing. Mr. Baldwin Latham, M.Inst.C.E., was elected President for 
the ensuing year. The retiring President (Dr. Marcet) then delivered 
an address on “ Atmospheric Dust,” which he divided into organic or 
combustible, and mineral or incombustible. The dust scattered every¬ 
where in the atmosphere, and which is lighted up in a sunbeam or a ray 
from an electric lamp, is of an organic nature. It is seen to consist of 
countless moats—rising, falling, or gyrating, although it is impossible to 
follow any of them with the eye for' longer than a fraction of a second. 
It is difficult to say how much of the dust present in the air may 
become a source of disease, and how much is innocuous. Many of the 
moats belong to the class of micro-organisms, which are frequently the 
means of spreading infectious diseases. Many trades, owing to their 
dusty nature, are very unhealthy. Dust, jwhen mixed with air, is 
inflammable and liable to explode. After giving several instances of 
explosions due to fine dust in flour mills and coal mines Dr. Marcet 
referred to inorganic or mineral dust, and gave an account of dust 
storms and dust pillars in India. He then proceeded to describe 
volcanic dust, which consists mainly of powdered vitrified substances, 
produced by the action of intense heat. The so-called ashes or scorife 
shot out in a volcanic eruption are mostly pounded pumice, but they 
also originate from stones and fragments of rocks, which striking against 
each other are reduced into powder or dust. Volcanic dust has a 
whitish-grey colour, and is sometimes nearly quite white. Dr. Marcet 
concluded with an account of the great eruption of Krakaton, in 
August, 1883. The address was illustrated by a number of Jantern 
slides. 
■-- SuMiiAEY OF Meteorological Observations at Hodsook 
Peiory', Worksop, Notts, in December, 1889.—Mean temperature of 
month, 37 0°. Maximum on 17th, 63'8° ; minimum on the 29th, 19'0°. 
Maximum in the sun on the 10th, 80-4° ; minimum on the grass on the 
12th, 15-1°. Mean temperature of the air at 9 A.M., 36-4°. Mean 
temperature of soil 1 foot deep, 38 3°. Nights below 32°, in shade, 
eighteen ; on grass, twenty-five. Total duration of sunshine, twenty- 
five hours, or 11 per cent, of possible duration. We had seventeen sun¬ 
less days. Total rainfall, 1-36 inch. Rain fell on thirteen days. 
Average velocity of wind, 87 miles per hour. Velocity exceeded 400 
miles on two days, and fell short of 100 miles on eight days. A dull, 
calm, and rather dry month of about average temperature ; only one 
fall of snow, and that did not lie long. Observations during the year 
1889, 56 feet above mean sea level.—Mean temperature, 47-8°. Maxi¬ 
mum on the 2nd of June, 83-6° ; minimum on the 4th of March, 16-0°. 
Maximum in the sun on the 2ad of June, 135-8°; minimum on the 
grass on the 13th of February, 0 6°. Mean temperature of the air at 
9 A.M., 47-9°. Mean temperature of soil 1 foot deep, 48-3°. Nights 
below 32°, in shade, 73 ; on grass, 147. Total duration of sunshine, 
1086 hours, or 25 per cent, of possible duration. We had ninety-two 
sunless days. Total rainfall, 26-71 inches ; maximum fall in twenty- 
four hours on the 8th of March, 1-62 inch. Rain fell on 180 days. 
Average velocity of wind, 8-9 miles per hour. Velocity exceeded 400 
miles on thirty-one days, and fell short of 100 miles on ninety-six days. 
Approximate averages for the year Mean temperature, 48-2° ; sun¬ 
shine, 1243 ; rainfall, 25-10 inches. 
- The Weather of 1889.—The year has been, on the whole, a 
normal one except for a rather persistent deficiency of sunshine. The 
winter and early spring were cold, though without any exceptionally 
severe weather ; then followed two warm months of May and June, 
which in turn were succeeded by a cold period lasting to the end of 
October. November was mild and December of about average tempera¬ 
ture, the result being that the mean temperature for the whole year is a 
few tenths below the average. The total fall of rain is just about equal 
to the average ; the largest excesses were in March and May and the 
largest deficiencies in June and November. April was also a wet 
month, while September and December were dry ones. There were only 
two falls of more than 1 inch in twenty-four hours ; both in March. 
Sunshine was very deficient, and the only month in which there was an 
excess was June. Only 1086 hours were recorded in the year, which is 
just a quarter of the time the sun is above the horizon, and is 157 hours 
less than the average of the previous eight years.— Joseph Mallender. 
- The American Florist announces the recent death of Mr. 
John Henderson, and states that “With him horticulture loses one 
of its noblest representatives, loved and honoured by all who enjoyed 
the privilege of his friendship. Mr. Henderson was born in London, 
England, December 5th, 18M, where he received a classical education, ^ 
taking a prize in Greek scholarship at the age of fifteen. He came to 
America in 1856, and settled in Flushing, N.Y., which continued to be 
his home until 1888. He soon became an authority in horticulture 
making a specialty of Roses, and is also author of a standard work on 
grasses. He delivered the first horticultural lecture ever given in the 
Cooper Institute, for which he received a silver medal. He was a life 
member of the New York Horticultural Society and the American 
Institute, constantly officiating as judge at the exhibitions of botli 
bodies, and was also prominent in the Society of American Florists 
and Nurserymen’s Association. He retired from active business last 
year. Mr. Henderson was an accomplished linguist, speaking four 
modern languages with fluency, apart from his acquaintance with the 
classics. Another account in the same paper says, “ Mr. Henderson 
came to this country with a few hundred dollers in his pocket, the 
remnant of a large fortune lost in a disastrous business enterprise. He 
came to Jersey city and began business in a small way in forcing the 
finer kinds of vegetables for the New York market, a business of which 
he knew nothing, but his energy and strong common sense soon enabled 
him to equal and surpass most of his contemporaries. He gradually 
drifted from this business to that of florist, where he was more at home, 
for his training in his father’s firm of E. G. Henderson & Sons, Welling¬ 
ton Road, London, had made him an adept in all florist operations, so 
that by the time he had been in business five years he became noted as 
growing the best plants and flowers sent into the city of New York. 
Although like most business men, be had reverses, yet he successfully 
weathered them all, and two years ago, having amassed a fortune, he 
sold out his immense Rose-growing establishment in Flushing, N.Y., 
to his manager, Mr. Chas. Anderson. As a man no one stood higher or 
gave a greater dignity to our profession than John Henderson. He 
combined the educated polished gentleman with the strong practical 
sense of a business man. Modest and unassuming to a fault, there are 
few men whose memory will be longer revered than that of our friend 
who has just passed away.” 
RUG, NORTH WALES. 
Readers of the Journal who are at all acquainted with Wales or 
Welsh history will at once recognise in the name of the hon. family of 
Rug-“ Wynn ” one of the oldest and most honoured of Welsh names, 
and as becomes the holder of such, the Hon. C. H. Wynn has elected to 
dwell in a spot closely associated with and surrounded by memorials of 
some of the most important events and scenes in the past history of 
Wales. In this neighbourhood did the famous Welsh prince, Owain 
Gwynedd, give meet to Henry II. on the monarch’s incursion to subdue 
the Cymric spirit; and here also did Owain Glyndwr assemble his 
troops, unsubdued still, to go forth to meet Henry IV. More peaceful 
