426 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
November 8,1894. 
- Messrs. Sutton & Sons’ Potatoes. —The Potato disease 
being very prevalent this year, the Messrs. Sutton & Sons’ display of 
disease-resisting Potatoes at the National Chrysanthemum Society’s 
show which opened at the Royal Aquarium, Westminster, on Tuesday 
last, was inspected with much interest. Among other varieties 
introduced by the firm and staged were Windsor Castle, Satisfaction, 
and Magnum Bonum, which, it is said, have been untouched by the 
disease. Many other heavy cropping early sorts, valuable as being 
ready to lift before the disease sets in, were also exhibited, there 
being twenty-nine varieties arranged in imposing heaps. 
- October Weather in South Wales.—T he following is a 
summary of the weather here for the past month. Sunshine, sixty- 
one hours five minutes ; number of sunless days, nine. Number of 
days on which rain fell, fifteen. Total depth, 8'54 inches. Maximum, 
1’99 inch on the 26th; minimum, 0 01 inch on the 11th. The month 
was very dry till the 22nd, 0-47 inch of rain only having fallen up 
till then, but from the 23rd to the 26th inclusive, 4'73 inches were 
registered, and from the 23rd to the 31st, 8’07 inches. Cold easterly 
winds prevailed until the rain came, since which the wind has been in 
a westerly direction.—W. Mabbott, Tho Gardens Givernllwyn House, 
Glamorgan. 
- Bulbous Violet in the Himalayas.—A very interesting 
addition to the Flora of British India is due to Mr. J. H. Lace, to whose 
zeal the herbarium at Kew owes many valuable contributions from 
Baluchistan and the North-western Himalaya, It consists, says the 
“ Kew Bulletin,” in the discovery of a curious little bulbous Violet in 
Bussabir, at an elevation of about 10,500 feet. It is not a new species, and 
it has even been collected before within the limits of the Flora of British 
India. It was, however, mixed up by Dr. T. Thomson in the Flora of 
British India with another species, and so completely lost sight of that 
it has since been described twice under different names. The specimens 
referred to above, as gathered within the limits of the Flora of British 
India, were collected by Griffith, probably in Bhootan, and by Sir Joseph 
Hooker, near Lachen, in Sikkim, at 12,000 feet. Griffith’s locality is not 
ascertainable with certainty, as the labels belonging to bis specimens 
have evidently been mixed. The plant is called Viola bulbosa, and the 
flowers are said to be white, lower petals striated with purple, 
- Green Stuffs.—U p to the present everything points to a 
mild damp winter. In any case the heavy mild rains are not conducive 
to hardening of the Brassica tribe, and should some severe frosts come 
presently, as they may, it is feared that green stuffs will suffer mate¬ 
rially, The present appearance of every sort or kind is one of great 
luxuriance. It could hardly be otherwise, seeing that the whole season 
has been remarkably favourable to growth. Autumn Giant Cauliflowers 
are both fine and very abundant. Unless a severe check comes these 
will probably hold out to the end of the month. Then Brussels Sprouts 
are wonderfully plentiful, though rather looser or coarser yet than last 
year, but we shall have better sprouts a little later on. Savoys are all 
too early, indeed only very late plantings bid fair to be of much use. 
Then there are numerous White Cabbages and Coleworts, whilst Spinach 
is abundant and Turnips in great plenty. On the whole there is, for 
profit, far too much of these things just at present, and market growers 
would, for that reason, welcome some hard weather that would thus 
help to send up prices.—A. D. 
- Some Spring Hardy Foliage Plants,— How very little 
use is made in flower gardens in the spring of real hardy foliage plants. 
Take for example the golden-tipped Stonecrop, or Sedum acre aureum. 
This is a very beautiful carpeting plant, and may be grown anywhere. 
The points of the shoots come of a creamy white hue in the late winter 
and spring, and because of that variegation the plants do not bloom. 
It will bear transplanting bodily or anyhow else, or even pieces of the 
shoots broken off and dibbled in thickly soon leads to the formation of 
a dense carpet, Sedum glaucum is also useful for similar purposes. 
Then there are the variegated Arabises, The most free grower is the 
silvery albida, which has hairy leaves, and the prettiest and most 
compact is lucida variegata, which has smooth glossy leafage of a 
golden hue. This is a capital edging plant, and stands well for two or 
three years. The golden blotched double Daisies seem now to have 
very much fallen out of cultivation, and yet they are wonderfully 
pretty, and a good blotched form of the double red is when in bloom 
very effective. The golden-tipped Thyme is dwarf, spreading, hardy, 
and very easily increased. The Golden Balm, too, is very useful, though 
that is much taller. A very striking plant is the Golden Valerian ; this 
is hardy, its pleasing leafage turning to a rich golden yellow late 
in the winter, and remains so for some two or three months. It is a 
hardy perennial, but useful only in the spring. The blood red leaved 
Sweet William also may be used as a companion plant. It is hardy, 
easily raised from seed, and has effective dark coloured foliage that 
is unusually fine. Seed should be sown the preceding May or 
June.—A. D. 
- Evergreen Oaks. —It is stated that in South America among 
the mountains the Evergreen Oak begins to appear at about 5500 feet, 
and is found up to the limit of the continuous forest, which is about 
10,000 feet. The valuable Cinchona tree, from which Peruvian bark is 
obtained, has a range of elevation on the mountain slopes running from 
4900 to 9500 feet. 
-National Amateur Gardeners’ Association. — At the 
monthly meeting of this Association, held under the presidency of 
Mr. T. W. Sanders at the Memorial Hall, Farringdon Street, E.C., on 
Tuesday last, Mr. Brian Wynne gave an excellent lecture, dealing 
primarily with gardening and noted horticulturists of the past three 
decades. There was a fair attendance of members, who appeared to be 
interested in the many incidents that were mentioned. Chrysanthemums 
and fruit made a good display at the exhibition held in connection with 
this meeting, and silver medals were won by Mrs. D, B, Crane of High- 
gate, and Mr. H. A. Needs, Woking. 
- Weather in October at Broughty Ferry.—T he first half 
of the month was pleasant, although we had showers almost daily from 
the 4th to 13th. On the morning of the 19th there was a keen frost, 
the thermometer on the grass going down to 19®, indicating 13° of frost, 
which blackened all tender vegetation ; and on the morning of the 23rd 
11® of frost was registered. The mean temperature of the month was 
45 3°, being 2° below the average of the last twenty years. The rainfall 
for the month was 3-50 inches, being 0'85 inch above the average of the 
last twenty years. Rainfall for the ten months of 1894, 26 30 inches, 
being fully 2 inches above the average for the first ten months of the 
year,—J. M. 
- Physalis Alkekengi. —“ A. D.” (page 404) has done a timely 
service in praising this plant. It is not, however, the “ Cape Goose¬ 
berry” but the “Winter Cherry ” which is the English name of the 
plant, which, by the way, the French call Cerise en Chemise. The 
Cape Gooseberry is P. peruviana or P. edulis, which seems now to be 
considered only a variety of peruviana. “A, D.’s” note reminds me 
that the new Winter Cherry figured in the Journal of Horticulture 
(page 343) as P. Alkekengi Franchetti is in some of your contem¬ 
poraries described as an annual. P. Alkekengi is perennial, and the 
new variety should also be of perennial habit.—S. Arnott. [Physalis 
Alkekengi Franchetti is a perennial.] 
- The Weather Last Month. — October was showery all 
through. There were only five days on which no rain was recorded. 
We had no frost worth mentioning until the night of the 2l8t, when 
9° were registered, which cleared off Dahlias, Heliotrope, and all tender 
flowers, also French Beans, and caused a large number of leaves to fall 
from forest trees. The wind was in a northerly direction nineteen days. 
Total rainfall was 3‘11 inches, which fell on twenty-six days, the 
greatest daily fall being 0 56 inches on 26th. Barometer—Highest, 
30’266 at 9 a.m. on 1st; lowest, 28‘784 at 10.45 p.m, on 24th. Tem¬ 
perature—Highest in shade, 63° on 12th ; lowest, 23° on 22nd, Mean 
daily maximum, 54 03° ; mean daily minimum, 41-29° Mean tempera¬ 
ture of the month, 47-66° ; lowest on grass, 19° on 22nd ; highest in sun, 
110° on 8th. Mean temperature of earth at 3 feet from surface, 50 93°. 
Total sunshine, sixty-six hours forty-five minutes. Four days were 
sunless.—W. H. Divers, The Gardens, Belvoir Castle, Grantham. 
- November Peas and “ New ” Potatoes. —I herewith send 
a few Green Peas picked on the 5th of November for our first shooting 
party; Having read two years ago in the Journal of Horticulture of a 
Pea named Success as being a good late variety, I secured some seed. I 
have grown this Pea for two seasons, and can fully testify to its good 
quality and usefulness as a late variety. I also enclose a sample of new 
Potatoes from seed harvested the beginning of last May. The weather 
here has been mild up to this date, with the exception of 2° of frost on 
two successive nights, the 22nd and 23rd of October.—W. Roberts, 
Peniarth, Towyn. [We have never seen Peas in November equal to the 
sample sent. The pods are large, green, and scimetar shaped, most of 
them containing eight seeds, some nine, and one of them ten peas, 
green and in excellent cooking condition. The Potatoes resemble 
samples dug from frames in May.] 
