May 29,18J0. J 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
443 
if a temperature of 65° can be given. The old plants should be removed 
again into heat until other cuttings are ready.—J. T. 
-Ware and District Horticultural Mutual Improve¬ 
ment Society. —This young Society has just completed its first session. 
Meetings have been held fortnightly since last December, and have been 
well attended throughout. During the next four months the meetings 
will be held monthly. On May 6th a meeting was held, presided over 
by Mr. W. M. Alex.ander. A jiaper was read on “ Poinsettia Culture,” 
by Mr. C. Anderson. On the 20th inst. there was a large attendance, 
the Ecv. A. A. E. W. Lofts in the chair. Mr. J. B. Biding read a paper 
on “ Plants for Decorative Purposes.” A lengthy discussion followed, 
to which the essayist briefly replied. The meeting terminated with the 
customary votes of thanks. 
• - Azalea mollis as a Hardy Shrub. —In the pleasure 
ground borders at Highbury, near Birmingham, the residence of the 
Bight Hon. Joseph Chamberlain, M.P., some beautiful varieties of 
Azalea mollis are now in full bloom, and are objects of great beauty. 
The value of A. mollis has long since been recognised for forcing, and 
if instead of turning the plants out of doors as soon as they are out 
of flower they were kept in an early vinery or some house with a 
medium temperature, so as to promote early and vigorous growth, then 
harden it off, failures would be almost impossible. When there are 
spare plants not wanted for forcing let them be planted out in the 
borders, and their beauty will soon be seen and appreciated.—W. D. 
• - Tulipa carinata lutea.—I send flowers of a charming 
Tulip under the above name. They were grown out of doors, and in 
full bloom under the fortnight’s rain and hail we had during a great 
portion of May. Their height is 2j feet, and habit strong. Have you 
seen this colour before 1 It would be a great market bloom. Please 
feel the texture of the petals ? A vase of this and Tulipa Gesneriana, 
and leaves of Epimedium alpinum, is very beautiful, and by gaslight 
even more so. I do not see the variety lutea, or Tulipa vitellina, as 
figured in a contemporary last December, in any trade lists. The 
latter has been also very beautiful on my grounds ; now out of flower. 
—W. Baylor Hartland. [We do not know a Tulip under the above 
name. T. carinata is crimson. The flowers sent are soft canary yellow 
in colour, and the petals are of great substance. It is beautiful for 
decoration, and we grow it, and we think correctly, as T. vitellina.] 
-Sulphate of Copper and the Phylloxera.—T he use of 
sulphate of copper as a check to the ravages of the phylloxera is 
reported on by the British Consul at Barcelona. A Committee of the 
Provincial House of Deputies, it seems, concluded that the poor results 
so far shown had been due to the employment of an inferior article. 
Arrangements were made to favour the import of sulphate free of duty, 
and at a low price ; but for a time very little was asked for. According 
to the Vice-Consul at Tarragona, “ the very few proprietors who took 
the precaution to spray the Vines with a solution of sulphate of copper 
and slaked lime, before any sign of disease appeared, and continued to 
apply the prevention all through the growing season at proper 
intervals, were the only people who gathered a fair quantity of 
Grapes.” 
- The Wakefield Paxton Society. —At the ordinary meet¬ 
ing of the above Society the President (Mr. H. Oxley) was in the chair, 
and Mr. W. Pye occupied the vice-chair. There was an average attend¬ 
ance of the members. Mr. W. E. Corden delivered an essay on “ The 
Cultivation and Cross-fertilisation of the Zonal Pelargonium.” Mr. 
Corden has spent many years in studying and working out by experi¬ 
ment this subject, and the facta which he laid before the members— 
stated in clear and well selected language—were of an exhaustive and 
practical character. He described minutely the methods he adopts, 
which, as is well known, have led to a marked advance in the character 
and variety of this plant and flower. He is well known—not only in 
Yorkshire, but in other parts of the country—as a very successful 
hybridiser, and his essay was listened to attentively, and gave much 
pleasure to the audience. After a long discussion a vote of thanks to 
the essayist was proposed by Mr. B. F. Glover, seconded by Mr. W. Pye, 
and supported by several others. 
- Taking it Easy about Caterpillars.— Mr. .John Higgins, 
Pylle, Somerset, writes to the Daily Xews: —“ I read with great 
respect Mr. Charles Whitehead’s plan for destroying the coming 
caterpillar. But syringing my ten acres of Apple trees with a 
solution of deadly poison—‘ Paris green ’ or ‘ London purple ’—was a 
serious and costly experiment. My orchard swarms with birds which 
another authority recommends me to destroy. Probably the ‘ Paris 
green ’ would have settled them. What was an anxious agriculturist 
to do ? I examined very closely the blossom buds of my trees and 
found them fairly free from insects. The trees are now glorious with 
healthy bloom, and I have thankfully come to the conclusion that 
when God Almighty has arranged for an Apple crop the caterpillar 
must take a back seat along with the late Hessian fly and the 
Colorado beetle—our earlier frights.— John Higgins.” Mr. Higgins 
has cause to be thankful, as many tons of Apples were last year sent 
from Somersetshire to Herefordshire for cider making in the great 
Apple and cider county, in which the caterpillar visitation was so 
great that thousands of trees were entirely denuded of flowers and 
foliage. 
- Nitrate of [Soda. —If we put on half the quantity of 
ordinary manure and sow broadcast 200 lbs. of nitrate of soda per acre 
in addition, ihis will be fully equal to a good dressing of the very 
richest composts, and a great deal cheaper. I say nitrate of soda, 
because it is not only a cheaper source of nitrogen than sulphate of 
ammonia or the organic nitrogen in our different fertilisers, but the 
nitrogen is in just the condition necessary for absorption by the plants. 
I have used it with great advantage on Peaches, Strawberries, Boses, 
Currants, Easpberries, Asparagus, Celery plants. Potatoes, Onions, Beets, 
and nearly all garden crops. For several years we could not raise 
Peaches. The leaves curled up and turned yellow in June and fre¬ 
quently fell off, and in a year or two the tree was dead. For two years 
the trees that have had nitrate have shown little or no symptoms of the 
disease, if disease it is. The leaves had that dark green, luxuriant 
colour that is the characteristic effect of liberal manuring, and, better 
than all, we have had fine crops of Peaches.—J. H. (in The Canadian 
Horticulturist.') 
-Eoyal Meteorological Society. — The usual monthly 
meeting of this Society was held on the evening of the 21st inst. at 
25, Great George Street, Westminster, Mr. Baldwin Latham, F.G.S., 
President, in the chair. The following papers were read 1, “ Bainfall 
of the Globe,” by Mr. W. B. Tripp, M.Inst.C.E., F.R.Met.Soc. This was 
a comparative chronological account of some of the principal rainfall 
records. The earliest record is that of Paris, which commenced in 1689. 
The English records began in 1726. The rainfall observations in the 
southern hemisphere do not extend over a very long period ; at Adelaide 
they were commenced in 18.39, but they do not go back further than 
1866 for New Zealand, The greatest fall in any particular year at the 
stations given by the author was 160’9 ins. at St. Bernard in 1839, and 
the least 3 ins. at Sandiego in California in 1863. By combining the 
stations in the northern and southern hemispheres, the author finds that 
in recent times the years with the highest average rainfa'l were 1878 
1879, and 1883, and the years with the lowest average were 1854 and 
1861. 2, “ Mutual Influence of two Pressure Plates upon Each Other, 
and Comparison of the Pressures upon Small and Large Plates,” by 
Mr. W. H. Dines, B.A., F.R.Met.Soc. 3, “ On the Variations of Pressure 
caused by the Wind Blowing across the Mouth of a Tube,” by Mr. 
W. H. Dines, B.A. F.R.Met.Soc. In these two papers the author gives 
the results of some experiments on wind pressure, which he has made 
mostly on a whirling machine at Hersham, Surrey. From these ex¬ 
periments it seems probable that a decrease of pressure per square 
foot with an increase of size of plate may be taken as a general rule. 
- Fruit Prospects. —With the exception of Pears and Plums 
we have no lack of blossom. I have never, in this district (Durham) 
seen such a good all-round show. Apples, including the following 
varieties, are making a splendid display—Keswick Codlin, Lord Suffield, 
Old Hawthornden, Golden Noble, Golden Pippin, Ecklinville Seedling, 
Newtown Pippin, Peasgood’s Nonesuch, Ribston Pippin, Cox’s Orange 
Pippin, Cockpit, Cellini, Blenheim Pippin, and several newly planted 
varieties. Siberian Crabs have been loaded with flower. Cherries, 
May Duke and Morello, have an excellent appearance just now, the 
former well set and swelling. Apricots are stoning well. Currants 
and Gooseberries are also looking satisfactory. The latter I have never 
seen so early and clean. Strawberries are sending up abundance of 
flowers, and Raspberries are covered with flower buds. I also notice 
a marked improvement in forest trees, being healthy and floriferous. 
The Oaks, Sycamores, Chestnuts, Hollies, and many shrubs are flowering 
better than they have done for some years. Altogether the outlook is 
promising. Should nothing occur to mar our expectations this will be 
one of the most fruitful years the present generation has known, 
—A. B. D. 
- Bournemouth and District Gardeners’ Mutual Im¬ 
provement Association.—T he fortn.'gbUy meetirg of the above 
