92 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[ February 8, 1887. 
weigh 13 one-third ounces. 1 found threei good’shaped berries to-daj to 
weigh half an ounce each, in diameter, 3f in circumference.— 
Stephen Castle, West Lynn . 
CHRYSANTHEMUM RALPH BROCKLEBANK. 
A few weeks ago I paid a visit to Childwell Hall, where the beauti¬ 
ful yellow sport from Meg Merrilies originated last year. The plant had 
been preserved, and was bearing numerous flowers of the parent and its 
sport, the latter all originating from breaks on the stem which last year 
showed one yellow flower. Mr. Winkworth tells me that every cutting 
taken from that stem produced yellow flowers, and that every cutting 
taken from other parts of the plant produced white ones. Fortunately 
there were three tiny breaks between the flower and the junction with 
main stem or the variety would have been lost, as none of the plants 
obtained from cuttings between that junction were of the sport ; all 
shoots except this were removed. I believe Mr. Winkworth has had 
eight first-class certificates for this variety, which he has named after 
his employer Mr. Ralph Brocklebank. With your remarks in the report 
of the Kingston Show, “ that it will make its mark in the future,” I 
fully agree, and Mr. Winkworth is to be congratulated on having fixed 
such a grand variety. 1 may also mention in passing that Chrysan¬ 
themums are particularly well grown at Childwall Hall, and the general 
condition of the garden reflects great credit on the gardener and those 
who assist him.— Thos. Hitchman. 
EAST LOTHIAN STOCKS. 
These do very well sown at this time — the beginning of 
February—though some growers sow them in autumn and have plants 
which begin to flower earlier than do those sown now. However, 
seeds sown at this time produce plants which, if properly managed, 
begin to flower in July, and continue to yield their delightfully 
fragrant trusses until stopped by bad weather. It may be noted 
that these Stocks sometimes assume a bushy perennial habit, and in 
East Lothian, near the coast, I have seen them of large dimensions 
in cottage gardens. In gentlemen’s gardens where they are culti¬ 
vated in rich soil, they are more susceptible to frost aDd damp in 
winter, and do not, as a rule, live over the first year. In the south 
of England, however, I should imagine they would, in dry positions, 
live for years. 
There are now several varieties in cultivation, and as a matter 
of course there is also much difference in the quality of the strains, 
some being of taller growth than others, not so branching, and 
colours not so pure or rich. The white, purple, and crimson are 
perhaps the best for ordinary purposes, the last-named having rosy 
crimson flowers, and of good dwarf habit. The variety known as 
“ scarlet ” is of a washed-out shade of rose, aud is really not now 
worth growing. The white wall-leaved is also very good, the leafage 
being distinct and slightly glaucous in hue. 
The seedlings are very easy to raise. We employ ordinary pro¬ 
pagating boxes for the purpose, using as soil a light open compost, 
merely covering the seeds. A mean temperature of 55° suits them 
very well for starting the seeds, a covering of paper, if the surface 
is exposed to sunshine, serving to prevent the soil drying. If water 
is required, much the best plan of giving it is to partly immerse 
each box in a tank, taking care in doing so that the surface is not 
wetted, the seedlings being exceedingly liable to damp off at the 
surface of the soil if much water is given, and especially if the 
structure in which they are growing be kept moist and close. I 
have found it best to transfer the seedlings to a cool well aired 
structure as soon as the seed leaves are developed. This helps to 
render them much less liable to damp. Another means of avoiding 
losses from this cause is to prick off the seedlings into other boxes, 
the check received in the process rendering the little plants less 
susceptible to the bad effects of moisture. My own method of 
treatment at this stage is to remove the seedlings in their boxes to 
cold brick frames, where they are kept close, and in the course of a 
week or ten days after removal the seedlings are pricked out into a 
bed of soil laid in the bottom of the frame. For a while—longer 
or shorter in time according to the state of the weather—the sashes 
are kept close, but in fine warm weather they receive plenty of 
air. 
We transplant into flowering quarters in April, and as a rule, 
° v . 11 ° P. ts benefited by planting thus early. These stocks have 
a bad habit of making tap roots, and the longer these are allowed 
to grow the more vigorous is the top growth, and the greatei the 
check to the plant when removal take* place. By transplanting 
early, to a very extent this check is removed, and by covering the 
plants with flower pots, one inserted over each, the harmful effects 
of frosts and hot sunshine are averted. In some years the damage 
effected by slugs is very great. The quickest and most effectual 
cure is to handpick the plants for a few evenings. For hot and dry 
positions East Lothian Stocks are very good. Their growth is of 
course somewhat stunted, but the plants flower exceedingly well 
and continuously, and are less liable to damage from early winter 
or late autumn frosts. However, it is necessary to plant in good 
ground in order to have really fine plants, which produce long spikes 
of their highly scented flowers. In cases where only double flowers 
are wanted, the young plants should be set out about 9 inches apart, 
in order that the single varieties may be eliminated in time to allow 
the double ones to fill up. For my own part I do not object to the 
single flowers, as they are very pretty, and withal useful, so that 
we set out at about 18 inches, plant from plant, and leave them to 
flower. 
East Lothian Stocks are very serviceable for pot culture, and 
are occasionally lifted from the ground in autumn and potted for 
flowering in spring ; but as a rule, these lift very badly, and much 
the best plan is to grow in pots all through. The main particulars 
to bear in mind are these. Employ rich open soil. Do not pot too 
firmly, and in repotting save all the roots. Give liberal shifts when 
repotting, and in the matter of water see that there is no stint or 
irregularity. Some plants grow in a way with an occasional drying. 
These Stocks resent the treatment so much, that unless the watering 
be regular there is no use trying to grow them.—B. 
ROYAL METEOROLOGICAL SOCIETY. 
At the last monthly m 'eting of this Society the following papers were 
read :— 
(1) “On the Identity of Cloud Forms all over the World; and on the 
General Principles by which their Indications must be Read,” by the Hon. 
R. Abercrombie, F.R.Met.Soc. The author illustrated the fact of the iden¬ 
tity of cloud forms by exhibiting thirty-seven photographs of different 
kinds of clouds which he had taken in various longitudes, and in latitudes 
ranging from 72° N. to 55° S., including some actually on the Equator. 
Cumulus was shown to be the commonest cloud in the tropics, cumulo- 
stratns and cirro-stratus in the temperate zone, and stratus and fog in the 
Arctic regions. The author considers that ninety per cent, of the skies 
all over the world might be described by the seven well-known typ s of 
cloud:—cumulus, stratus, cirrus, cirro-stratus, cirro-cumulus, cumulo- 
stratus, and nimbus, if by cirro-cumulus fleecy-looking clouds are denoted. 
Although the forms are alike the prognostic value of the same shape of 
cloud is not identical everywhere, for while woolly clouds indicate fine 
weather in England they denote rain in Italy. The author showed that 
the form alone of clouds is equivocal, and that the indications of coming 
weather must be drawn not only from the form but also from the surround¬ 
ings of a cloud, just as the meaning of many words can only be judged by 
the context. This paper was rendered midst interesting by the photo¬ 
graphs being thrown on the screen by Mr. B. C. Wainwright, F.R.Met.Soc., 
from a limelight lantern. 
(2) “ On the Cloud to which the name 1 Roll-Cumulus ’ has been Ap¬ 
plied,” by the Hon. R. Abercromby, F.R.Met.Soc. The author thinks that 
this cloud should be reported as “ stratus ” or “ cumulo-stratus,” according 
as the component masses partdee more or less of the character of one or 
other of these clouds. 
After the reading of these papers the annual general meeting was held, 
when the report of the Council was read by Dr. Tripe, which showed 
the Society to be in a satisfactory condition. The number of Fellows was 
524. The President, Mr. W. Ellis, in his address drew attention to the 
remarks made by Mr. Hawksley at the meeting of the Royal Meteorological 
Society on June 16th last, in which, after acknowledging the indebtedness 
of engineers to meteorologists for the information collected by them concern¬ 
ing floods and rainfall, without which, as he said, it would not be possible for 
engineers to carry on their work efficiently, proceeded to urge on meteoro¬ 
logists the need of more investigation into the causes of the various pheno¬ 
mena connected with their science. The President suggested that this is 
just what meteorologist were always endeavouring to do, pointing out how 
great an amount of labour had already been thus expended, if not always 
wisely, at any rate with every desire to trace out connections and causes, 
any want of success being due rather to the difficulties of meteorological 
inquiry than to any other cause. Referring, then, to the connection of the 
physical sciences, and especially those of astronomy, terrestrial magnetism, 
and meteorology, he drew attention to various contrasts and relations 
existing between them, mentioning how in astronomy strict mathematical 
processes may be employed, whilst in meteorology tentative methods have to 
a great extent to be relied on; a state of development through which 
a tronomy itself had in earlier ages also to pass, giving hope that in the 
confessedly difficult subject of meteorology we may in time pass from 
present systems to others more logical. There has already been progress; 
the preparation of a daily synoptic weather chart made practicable by the 
aid of the electric telegraph, would have been impossible not so very many 
years ago. Again, in astronomy the power of assimilating observations, as 
it were, is mostly in advance of tbe observational power, rendering ever 
greater instrumental means desirable. Not so in meteorology, for the pur¬ 
poses of which instruments can be constructed with accuracy beyond the 
power of adequately employing them, of which the difficulty of ascer¬ 
taining the true temperature of the air is an illustration. Tnis, indeed, 
troubles also the astronomer, the element of air temperature being one that 
enters into the calculation of astronomical refraction, besides which he has 
in various other ways to reckon with temperature effects. After refeiring 
to some popular notions on weather changes so related to the sun and 
moon, as well as to more systematic endeavours made to discover relations, 
in general insignificant, between position and periods of the moon 
and different meteorological elements, the President remarked that the 
modern meteorologist had happily found a wider sphere of work, for trou¬ 
bling himself less about cycles and periods he has seen the necessity of 
studying, by the aid of synoptic charts, the complex and broad phenomena 
of the atmosphere in all their varied relations. Passing on to consider 
some relations between meteorology and terrestrial magnetism, he men- 
