196 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[ March 6, ISOO. 
- We are informed by M. Lucien Linden that the meetings of 
L'Oechid£exxe at Brussels will in future be held on the second 
Sunday and Monday of the month. They will be open to visitors on 
Sunday from half-past one to six o’clock, and on Monday from 9 A.M. 
to 12 P.sr., and from half-past one to six o’clock. The morning meeting 
of Monday is specially reserved for members of L’Orchideienne. 
- Blenheim Pippin Apple for Profit.—M r. S. T. Wright, 
who is a stranger to the writer of the article to which he refers, and an 
extensive and successful cultivator of fruit, remarks—“ I fully agree 
with the leader on page 145. I cannot understand any practical man 
recommending the planting of this Apple for profit. If I were asked to 
name varieties not to plant I should head the list with the Blenheim 
and place Peasgood’s Nonesuch second.” 
- Pi'EHS JAPONICA viRGiNALis.—I cannot too highly recom¬ 
mend the foregoing for flowering in a cold house at Christmas and 
onwards. I have a bush plant growing in a pot that is flowering with 
wonderful freedom for its size. It came into flower about Christmas, 
and it appears likely to remain in bloom for the next two months, 
as it appears to put forth fresh buds almost daily. The flowers are 
large and pure in colour. They are slow in expanding at this season 
of the year, and when developed last for a long time. I can heartily 
recommend it.—R. D. 
- Gardening Appointments.—M r. E. Binfield, who has been 
foreman at the Froyle Park Gardens for the past three years, has been 
appointed head gardener to J. Ashley Waller, Esq., Benham Court, 
Newbury, Berks. Mr. William Bowell, for upwards of twenty years in 
charge of the gardens at Stawell House, Richmond, has been appointed 
gardener to Robert Harris, Esq., Shiplake Court, Oxfordshire. Mr. John 
Shute, late foreman at Palmerstown, StrafEan, Co. Kildare, has been ap¬ 
pointed head gardener to Mrs. Daly, Hazlebrooke, Dublin. Mr. John 
Wright, foreman in the gardens of G. T. Clarke, Esq., Talygarn, South 
Wales, has been appointed head gardener to Allen Sarle, Esq., Green 
Hayes, Banstead, Surrey. 
- Ealing, Acton, and Hanwell Horticultural Society 
—This Society has recently changed its title, and for the future it will 
be known simply as the Ealing Horticultural Society. The exhibitors 
at its shows in the future will be residents within the parish of Ealing. 
The summer Exhibition will take place on July 9th. and the autumn 
Exhibition on November 5th, and during the end of July a children’s 
flower show tvill take place. Mr. Richard Dean, who has held the 
office of Hon. Secretary for a period of fourteen years, has retired 
through pressure of other work, and is succeeded by Messrs. J. A. 
Dawes and Geo. Cannon as joint Secretaries. Mr. R. Dean will remain 
as a member of the Committee, and give hia assistance to his 
successors. 
- The Weather in Yorkshire.—W riting on February 28th, 
a correspondent observes; —“ Yesterday about 4 inches of snow fell, 
and to-day we have another slight fall, but the sun and wind have 
dispersed much of it. The cold weather is very beneficial in retarding 
the fruit trees. Peaches and Apricots are crowded with fruit buds. 
Apples and Pears are also promising well, but Plums are likely to be 
very partial. Small fruits are very promising, and although we have 
passed through a very mild winter, it is by no means an early season.” 
- The Weather. —On the 1st of March we registered 12° of 
frost. The day was bitterly cold with a keen north-easterly wind* 
Snow fell during the day to the depth of about 2 inches, barely enough 
to protect vegetation. The frost has been persistent j and somewhat 
severe, as follows—2nd, 14°; 3rd, 17° ; 4th, 20°. The ground was so 
hard that outdoor garden operations were practically at a standstill. 
On the 4th the wind veered to south-west, with a falling barometer 
and a slight rise in the temperature.—G. R. Allis, Old Warden Park, 
Biggleswade. 
Mr. 0. King, Ray Park Cottage, Maidenhead, desires us to 
announce that the annual show of the Maidenhead Horticultural 
Society will be held on Thursday, August 14th, 1890. 
--— An appendix to the 1“ Kew Bulletin” for 1890 just issued 
consists of a list of seeds of hardy herbaceous plants, trees, and shrubs 
saved in the Royal Gardens, and available for exchange with other 
botanic gardens. Thirty-two pages of names bf plants in double column 
are given, with the authorities and the native countries in most cases. 
- Narcissus Ajax pallidus pr^cox flowered with me on the 
2 'lth February. The next of the Daffodils to flower will be N. scoticus 
or N. minor. I have not found the reputed early variety of N. pallidus 
prmcox. named Asturicus, to be so early in flower as the type, although 
growing within 9 inches of each other. N. p-p. Blond Doii I only re¬ 
ceived last year, so that I did not expect to be able to compare it with 
the type this season, so far as regards early flowering. What is the 
general experience of your readers regarding this point ? As regards 
refined beauty I think Asturicus superior to the type. 
- Primula cashmeriana has been in fiower on a south border 
since the middle of December. From a group of some ten plants I have 
always had some in bloom. It is perfectly hardy here in all positions, 
and is very pleasing with its large head of deep violet flowers. The 
thick covering of golden farina on the stems and under side of the 
leaves adds greatly to the beauty of the plants. It is much finer than 
P. denticulata,iwhich it greatly resembles, but which among other points 
of difference lacks the farina on the leaves.—S. Arnott, Kirkcwd- 
hrightsMre. 
-The total Rainfall at Cuckfield, Mid-Sussex, during 
February was 0'92 inch, being 1-40 under the average. The heaviest 
fall was 0 44 inch on the 15th, rain falling on seven days. Highest 
shade temperature was 48° on the 18th; lowest 26° on 28th. Mean 
maximum shade temperature 41-2°; mean minimum 32'0°; mean 
temperature 36-6°. According to old partial-shade readings it is 2° below 
the average. Fruit buds in a forward state ; Crocuses in full bloom. 
Land in fine condition for early crops.—R. Inglis. 
- The annual report of the Oxford Carnation and Picotee 
Union has just been issued, and the published list of subscribers shows 
that there were 380 members to the end of 1889, and of these 104 be¬ 
came members during the past year. The annual subscriptions amount 
to £155 93. The report contains a full statement of the official awards 
and proceedings at the exhibition held in Mr. Dodwell’s garden, Stanley 
Road, Oxford, August Ist, 1889, giving a full list of all the winning 
flowers and their exhibitors. Not the least interesting item of the 
report is a retrospect of 1889 by Mr. Dodwell, in which many of the 
grand newer yellow ground, self, and Fancy varieties are alluded to, 
and these by “ leaps and bounds ” are fast rising in public favour, for 
they are very beautiful and generally possessing good constitutions, and 
the Oxford Exhibition is the place to see them in their beauty and 
extent of varieties.—D. S. H. 
- WiREWORMS AND OiL CAKE. —I can find no good trap for 
catching the wireworm, and have therefore given some time to the keep¬ 
ing of this pest. I find that they will leave Potatoes and other 
vegetables, but the safest trap is oilcake. I therefore put pieces of 
cake in an old hothouse which was infested with every kind of pest, 
and it is no exaggeration to say that I caught thousands of worms. I 
did not write to the Journal, thinking, perhaps, that it might have been 
found out by someone else. Would you inform me whether this is the 
case or not ? It is quite new to many large Kentish growers, who think it 
a splendid idea.— A. Wells Ingram. [The idea is not new, but the 
experience communicated is, all the same, worth recording. It has long 
been taught in books that wireworms eat oilcake till they burst. Some 
that we have tried did not, and our correspondent makes no mention 
of the phenomenon.] 
- Scented Ferns. —The article quoted from the London daily 
papers was very interesting to read, but whether the Drynaria Willdenovi 
is hay-scented or not I am unable to say, never having cultivated it. 
I have, however, cultivated D. coronata, D. querctfolia, and D. diversi- 
folia, but never detected any smell of hay about them. These three are 
well worth growing for ornament and variety, especially for large 
baskets or trunks of trees. There is, however, a beautiful little Fern 
that is distinctly hay-scented, Cheilanthes odora, especially in the 
partially withered fronds. A plant was brought from the south of 
Europe to me some few years ago. It lived for a few years, but for 
want of a suitable house to cultivate it in it gradually died. It 
would not do in an intermediate stove or in any airy greenhouse, neither 
is it sufficiently hardy to be placed outdoors where there is much frost, 
but I should say that good plants may be found in a house similar to 
one at Kew, where cool half-hardy Ferns are grown in a still and quiet 
atmosphere, and not having much fire heat. Another plant, although 
not a Fern, when cut and partly withered, has the scent of new-mown 
hay. It is the Asperula odorata. Sweet Woodruff, a common plant in 
many gardens, and has pretty white flowers in May and June. It grows 
very well under trees or in rockeries, and once planted takes care of 
itself.—A. Harding. 
