September 20, 1894. 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
271 
- Writing in a transatlantic contemporary, Mr. J. H. Hale 
gives it as his opinion that the Japanese Plum will in a few years 
revolutionise Plum cultivation in Connecticut, and that this delicious 
fruit will become as abundant and cheap in the home and the market 
as Apples or Peaches. 
- Edelweiss Plants with Boots.— We learn that the Tyrol 
Landtag has put a fine on the sale of Edelweiss plants with roots, in 
order to prevent the destruction of this beautiful and singular plant. 
But the law is not applied to some parts of Tyrol, such as Enneberg, 
where the plant .grows in such profusion that it might be mowed, and 
there is no fear of its disappearance. 
- Inferior Apples. —“ Lincoln ” writes :—“ I should like to 
know whether other readers of the Journal have experienced the same 
in regard to inferior Apples as I have this year. In many parts of 
Lincolnshire the Apple crop is exceedingly poor, and what fruits there 
are appear to be of a very inferior quality. Most of the Apples are 
small and ‘ cramped,’ whilst those of a moderate size are for the most 
part poor in colour and insect-eaten.” 
- Cactus Dahlias.—T he new, or as termed. Pompon-flowered 
section of Cactus Dahlias, bids fair to make a very popular one. Mr. 
Cannell started the section with his Gem, a very perfect Cactus, flowers 
most profusely borne—just, indeed, in growth like to a Pompon variety, 
and it has been followed by several others. We are gradually getting 
away from the large loose flowers of the earlier types and their coarse 
leafy habits. Still, there is immense room for improvement in the 
matter of flowering habits and growth.—D. 
- Botany. —“ Meehan’s Monthly ” regrets that the department 
of botany, technically known as morphology, has not received the 
attention from general plant-lovers that it deserves. It is taught as a 
general principle that every part of a plant is but leaf blade modified. 
But few students fully appreciate the fact that a leaf, a branch, a bud, 
a flower, with all their many interesting particulars, might have been 
some other organ than what they are but for the varying intensity of a 
growth wave, and again that this intensity is influenced by varying 
powers of nutrition. It gives an interest to every species of plant 
unknown to the last generation. The plants of the natural order Com- 
positae afford better opportunities for comparing the facts of morphology 
than probably those of any other class. It is especially interesting to 
compare a composite with an umbelliferous head. 
- Presentation to Mr. McPhearson. —At the general meet¬ 
ing of the Wolverhampton Gardeners’ Association, held at the Society’s 
rooms on Tuesday last, Mr. Geo. A. Bishop, Chairman, presented Mr. 
McPhearson with a silver English lever watch and gold chain, which 
had been subscribed for by members of the Association. Mr. 
McPhearson has resigned his position as head gardener at Waterdale 
Gardens, and left the town, which necessitated his resigning the 
position of Treasurer of the Society. The members and friends wishing 
to show their appreciation of Mr. McPhearson’s personal worth 
subscribed in a few minutes at one of the general meetings enough to 
purchase a watch and chain worth £10. Mr. Hughes gave an 
excellent paper on the Dahlia, which was much appreciated by about 
sixty gardeners who were present. The Society is in a very flourishing 
condition, and doing excellent work in the district. 
- Wakefield Paxton Society.— On Saturday evening, Sep¬ 
tember 8th, at the meeting of the members of the above Society, Lieu¬ 
tenant Goodyear presided, and Mr. B. Whiteley was in the vice-chair. 
There was a good attendance. Three weeks previously Mr. John Burton 
of Dirtcar gave a lecture on “ A Visit to America Long Ago,” and 
although he spoke for an hour and a half he was unable to deal with his 
subject as thoroughly as he intended. Acting on a suggestion which 
was made on that occasion he consented to deliver the remaining por¬ 
tion of his lecture on a subsequent occasion, and he fulfilled his promise 
on this occasion, when he again spoke for nearly an hour and a half. 
Mr. Burton gave many interesting and amusing details, and his able and 
eloquent remarks were again very attentively listene 1 to and warmly 
applauded. The soil in many parts of America was light, very much 
like dust, and heavy rains converted it into mud and puddle. Mr. Burton 
alluded to some of the incidents which occurred during the voyage to 
and from America, he described its fauna and flora, and amplified the 
remarks he made on the previous occasion on the burning of the prairies, 
and the Falls of Niagara. Mr. Herbert Chapman proposed a vote of 
thanks to Mr. Burton for his interesting lecture, which closed the 
meeting. 
- Carnation Buccleuch Clove.—M r. J. Forbes of Hawick 
has favoured us with blooms of the above Carnation. The flowers are 
white, heavily rose-flaked and clove-scented to an exceptional degree. 
The growth of the pliant is sturdy, and the blooms are produced in great 
profusion. Though the variety is new, it has already received five first- 
class certificates, and these will he ample evidence of its merits. 
- Monsieur Edouard Andri? figures and describes, in a recent 
issue of the ” Revue Horticole,” a new variety of the common Lilac, 
which has been named Chamsethyrsus. It is the well-known habit of 
Syringa vulgaris to send up suckers, but in this variety each of the young 
shoots bears a truss of flowers at its extremity as it issues from the ground, 
so that it looks as if a flowering branch of Lilac had been cut oS and 
thrust into the ground. 
- Bedding Pelargoniums. —Whilst nearly all Pelargoniums 
of the Zonal flowering forms have proved failures this season under the 
heavy, beating rains, exception may be made in favour of the double 
Ivy-leaved forms that have roughly pegged down done so much better. 
Souvenir de Charles Turner I saw in a couple of beds the other day 
at Hackwood Park was charming, flowering freshly and profusely when 
Zonals had hardly a decent bloom to show. Probably not many persons 
have yet bedded that fine variety.—D. 
- Begonia Carrieri.—A dwarf pale pink variety of the small 
flowered shrubby section makes a very pretty change among summer 
bedding plants. I noticed it doing well at Audley End, and Mr. Vert 
spoke very favourably of its qualities as regards propagation and general 
effectiveness. It certainly looked charming among the many good 
things in the flower gardens at this fine old place, and this, too, in a 
summer which has not been a favourable one for flower gardening. 
But this part of the country had evidently been drier than some, and it 
was surprising to me to hear that a soaking wet day was doing much 
good.— W. H. Divers, Belvoir Castle Gardens, Grantham. 
- Ayrshire Gardeners’ Mutual Improvement Associa¬ 
tion. —At the last monthly meeting of the above Society Mr. Thomas 
Gordon, Ewenfield Gardens, Ajr, read a paper entitled "The Orchard 
House.” Although the last paper of the session, it by no means proved 
to be the least interesting, Mr. Gordon doing full justice to his subject. 
He also exhibited a collection of Pears of large size and flue quality 
grown in the orchard house at Ewenfield. At the conclusion Mr. 
Gordon was accorded a hearty vote of thanks. The Chairman, Mr. 
Halliday, intimated that the annual general meeting would be held on 
Thursday evening, October 4th, when office-bearers for the ensuing 
session would be elected. 
- Propagating Leucophyton Browni. —Very few persons 
indeed there are who do not admire this silver-leaved summer bedding 
plant. Yet how often do we see an indifferent stock of plants prepared 
for planting in the beds in May ? Too many persons depend on 
the old roots instead of working up a stock of new plants annually, 
which is a simple matter. Cuttings 2 inches long are taken off 
the top of the plants in the beds and dibbled into shallow boxes 
filled with sandy soil towards the end of September, and the boxes 
placed in a close cold frame. Daring the early part of April the plants 
are transferred to a temporary sod-built frame filled with old refuse, 
potting soil and leaf mould, where robust compact growth is made prior 
to planting them out in May.—E. M. 
- Shirley and District Gardeners’ and Amateurs’ 
Mutual Improvement Association. —The monthly meeting of the 
above Society was held at Shirley, Southampton, on Monday the 17ch 
inst., the President, Mr. W. F. G. Spranger, presiding over an exception¬ 
ally good attendance of the members. *• Hardy Flowers for Garden and 
House” was the subject of a most interesting lecture given by Mr. A. 
Dean, F.R.HS., Lecturer on Horticulture for the Surrey County 
Council, and who was formerly a resident of Shirley. Mr. Dean’s 
lecture, which took him one and a half hour to deliver, was a very 
exhaustive description of the various hardy flowers to be found in bloom 
in the garden throughout the year, and the cultivation and soil necessary 
for a few was described, and also the county from which they have been 
brought. The lecture was beautifully illustrated by a charming 
exhibition of no less than 284 varieties of hardy flowers set up by 
Mr. B. Ladhams, F.R.H.S. Mr. Wilcox, Mr. Bartlett, and Mr. Jones 
also added specimens of various flowers to the exhibition, Mr. Bartlett 
showing a Vallota purpurea that was a marvel of inflorescence. Mr. E. 
Molyneux, Swanmore Park Gardens, is to give a lecture on "Wall Trees 
and Espaliers ” at the next meeting. 
