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JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
July 26,1894. 
- The Midland Carnation and Picotee SociExy.—The 
exhibition of the Midland Carnation and Picotee Siciety will beheld 
at the Botanical Gardens, Edgbaston, on Saturday, August 4th. Liberal 
prizes are offered in the schedule, which contains no fewer than forty- 
two classes, the majority of these being devoted to Carnations and 
Picotees. Mr. vV. Dean, Dolphin Koad, Sparkhill, Birmingham, is the 
Honorary Secretary, and from whom further particulars may be 
obtained. 
- Proposed Viola Conference.—W e are requested to publish 
the following :—The necessity for a Viola Conference is admitted on 
all hands and by everyone. The remarkable increase in the cultivation 
of Violas in recent years, the constant influx of new beginners to the 
ranks of growers, and the enormous number of new varieties now being 
introduced, are more than sufficient reasons for an effort being made, 
annually if possible, to formulate authoritative opinions on the best 
new and old varieties. Such opinions will serve the double purpose of 
indicating to new beginners what is best in Violas, and to raisers what 
flowers they must take for standards in their efforts to improve. Such 
work as that proposed to be undertaken by the Conference, if faith¬ 
fully done, cannot but have an important and lastingly beneficial effect 
on Viola culture. The first Conference is to be held at the Edgbaston 
Botanical Gardens, Birmingham, on Friday afternoon and evening, the 
3rd August, 1894. The subjects for discussion on the occasion are:— 
1 st, “ Large-flowered Varieties as Bedding Plants, and the best varieties 
for the purpose, according to colour,” introduced by Mr. William Dean. 
2 nd, “ Large-flowered Varieties for Exhibition Purposes,” introduced 
by Mr. Wm. Cuthbertson and Mr. A. J. Rowberry. 3rd, “‘Violetta’ 
or Miniature Varieties,” introduced by Mr. George Steel and Mr. George 
McLeod. Lists to be drawn up setting forth the opinion of the Con¬ 
ference as to the best varieties of each colour for bedding. Further 
particulars and iifcrmation can be obtained from Mr. William Dean, 
Sparkhill, Birmingham. 
- Packing Grapes for Exhibition. —I should like to 
supplement the practical hints upon this subject by an “Exhibitor,” 
page 1 of the Journal of Horticulture, by saying that I have found 
ordinary steel knitting needles decidedly useful for securing the bunches 
to the show boards for travelling long distances by rail, or over rough 
roads by conveyance in carts not too well fitted with easy springs. By 
cutting the needles in two, sharpening one end, pushing this through 
the point of the bunch close to the stem, and by a gentle tap or two 
making it fast in the stand underneath the bunch, this prevents the 
bunch oscillating, and is thus a certain means of safe transit. No 
difficulty need be experienced in thrusting these needles through the 
point of the bunch amongst the berries, as they need not be put in in a 
perpendicular manner, being just as useful in a slanting direction. The 
needles are easily withdrawn when the show is reached by the aid of a 
pair of pliers. Especially when the stands are made at an acute angle 
these fixing pins are a valuable adjunct to the exhibitors’ paraphernalia. 
—E. M. 
- Cultivation of Vanilla in Tahiti.—T he cultivation of 
Vanilla has been carried on in the island of Tahiti for several years, but 
is limited to a few districts only, that of Papara supplying more than 
half of the quantity sent into the market. The native mode of culture 
is, as a rule, simply to plant the cuttings of the vine under the shade of 
trees, and then to leave them to grow and twine round supports as best 
they can. Occasionally attention is paid to keep the vines trained round 
the trees and to prevent them from attaining a greater height than 
9 feet, so that during the inoculating season the flowers may be reached 
without difficulty. Shade, though not dense, is absolutely necessary 
during the growth of the Vanilla vine to ensure a successful crop of 
beans. About one year from the time of planting the vine commences 
to flower, and the inoculation, which then takes place, must be carefully 
attended to ; this is generally carried out by women and children, whose 
light hands are best suited for the delicate operation. In from six to 
nine months from the time of inoculation the bean will be ripe for 
picking and curing. The native method of curing is to keep the beans 
alternately indoors rolled in cloths, and outdoors during the day spread 
on mats exposed to the sun, for periods of three or four days at a time, 
until they are dried and ready for the market. The disadvantage, by 
drying on mats in the open, of having beans frequently wetted and 
deteriorated in value by sudden showers before there is time to get them 
under cover, has made itself apparent to many native planters who now 
dry their Vanilla in boxes with glass covers similar to those used at the 
Temarua plantation, in the district of Papara, which is under foreign 
management. In this plantation great attention is paid to trimming 
the plants and keeping the ground clear from weeds; the vines are 
trained on well selected supports, and the process of inoculation is 
invariably carefully attended to. It may here be remarked that low 
prices in the market one season may render the native planter so 
indifferent to his interests that his plantations may be left entirely 
neglected the following year, the flowers even not being inoculated.— 
(“ Kew Bulletin.”) 
- Potato Disease in the Isle of Wight. —The past week has 
been very wet and cold. There are still heavy hay crops lying about* 
some partially made, and others still left standing through lack of 
labourers to cut it. I have been watching every day for the Potato 
disease, and on Friday the 20th it made its appearance in a plot of Lady 
Truscotts, and also in a plot of Early White Beauty. I immediately had 
the haulm stripped and carted away to arrest its progress. I have 
heard of others being attacked in the neighbourhood, and two cottagers 
in a low lying district had theirs all cut off quite a fortnight ago, and 
nearly half of the tubers are decayed.— C. Orchard. 
- Pot Marigold Prince of Orange. — There is no other so 
brilliantly effective an orange flower in gardens that I know of and so 
attractive as is this common hardy pot Marigold. Even the rich 
orange African Marigold, so fine and bold in the autumn, does not after 
all convey to the eye so glorious an orange hue as do the broad flatfish 
petals of Prince of Orange. I saw a large mass of it in the Reading seed 
grounds last autumn, where it was wonderfully striking. I have seen 
plants of it in bloom just recently in the flower borders at Claremont, 
where it was even amidst the heavy showers most beautiful. The old 
pale forms, and even the pretty striped yet inconstant Meteor, fail 
altogether to give so brilliant effect that is afforded by this fine double 
orange self variety.—A. D. 
- Aquilegias. —To those who, like myself, cannot afford the 
luxury of Orchid cultivation, I venture to recommend the culture of the 
Aquilegia, whose various forms—all of them extremely graceful and 
fascinating—are producing splendid effects in my garden this year. 
Among the finest of these are Ccerulea hybrids, californica hybrids, 
canadensis, Skinneri, the primrose-hued Chrysantha (a native of Cali¬ 
fornia, which I understand A. californica is not), A. glandulosa, 
A. siberica, and A. Stuarti, of which the last mentioned was sent to me 
by its raiser. Dr. Stuart of Chirnside, to whom (though I do not know 
him personally), I am also indebted for several of his latest Viola 
productions. Mr. Harry Turner and many other florists are ardent 
cultivators of the Aquilegia, and affirm that it is a formidable rival 
of the Orchid. Aquilegias possess two most important attributes for 
garden decoration—great vigour of constitution, and marvellous flori- 
ferousness. In many instances their reign is of extraordinary duration, 
Aquilegia chrysantha blooming continuously for at least two months. 
David R. Williamson. 
- Monstrous Cone of Pinus Pinea. —The Kew Museum is 
indebted to the Comte de Paris for a specimen of a monstrous 
development of a cone in this species, which so far as can be judged 
from previous published notices is in some respects unique. The cone, 
which is apparently fully developed and normal, has produced, says the 
“ Kew Bulletin,” from its apex a stout leafy shoot, which at first only 
6 inches long, after severance from the parent tree lengthened to more 
than a foot, and produced three branches. The shoot is in fact in no 
way different from a normal branch, and the feature of interest about 
it is that it was able to continue its growth for some time at the 
expense of the nourishment derived from the cone from which it 
sprang. The circumstances are fully described in the accompanying 
letter from the Comte de Paris, who writes :—“ I have in my possession 
what I consider as a very curious botanical phenomenon, and I would 
gladly present it to the Kew Museum. It is a frondiferous cone of 
the Pinus Pinea, out of the upper end of which has grown a young 
tree just as a Pine Apple grows out of the crown of that fruit. 
Generally these cones fall only after having discharged their seeds. 
This one fell on the ground (how I do not know) with the seeds still 
in it. It was picked up in a large Pinar or Pine forest which I own 
by one of my keepers a day I was out shooting. The young tree was 
then about 6 inches long. The woodmen of this country say they 
never saw anything like it. I took the cone home and left it on a 
table about the middle of February. It went on growing for a 
month, made a stem more than a foot long with three branches, and 
even threw out new shoots. About the end of March, although it was 
watered, it ceased to grow and died, although the needles did not fall 
and preserve their colour.” 
