Norember 15,1894. 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
447 
- The Worshipful Company of Gardeners. —Many readers 
will be interested to know that horticulture was represented in the 
procession of the Lord Mayor of London on Friday in last week. The 
Worshipful Company of Gardeners had a car which appeared to attract 
the attention of the public. The base of the car represented a basket 
of flowers, and from its centre rose a temple, with Flora holding a 
wreath. In the front was a figure representing the science and craft of 
gardening, while another, emblematical of renown, was proclaiming the 
trinmph of horticulture. Behind the canopy was a gardener, spade in 
hand, typical of labour, and of the arms of the Company, and at the 
rear of the car was a nymph of Flora scattering flowers. The car was 
drawn by six horses, led by carters in the costume of gardeners of the 
olden times. 
- Cosmos sulphureus. —According to the “ Garden and 
Forest,” a yellow Cosmos, from seed received with those of other New 
Zealand plants, proves to be a variety, or possibly a species, distinct 
from C. sulphureus, Cav., as figured or shown in an herbarium specimen 
from Mexico, collected by Pringle, which has solitary heads on long 
naked peduncles, less finely divided leaves and the entire stem hirsute, 
pubescent and more rigid. By the way, this specimen has very attrac¬ 
tive reddish orange flowers. The variety said to be from New Zealand, 
flowering in August from spring-sown seed, is an annual with numerous 
weak, smooth, branching stems. The flowers are borne on short 
peduncles, are five-petaled and a deep clear yellow in colour, and 1 inch 
to la inch in diameter. Planted out this Cosmos forms a low growing 
attractive plant, useful for a front border. 
-Narcissus and Viola Exhibitions, — The Birmingham 
Botanical Garden Committee has issued a schedule of prizes for 
an exhibition of Narcissus on the 9th and 10th of April next, and fifteen 
classes are devoted to these flowers. An extensive exhibition of Pansies 
and Violas is to take place in these gardens on May 29th and 30th, when 
more than £40 in cash prizes besides massive silver medals of the 
Botanical Society will be given in prizes. Special prizes are given for 
twelve true species of Violas in pots, and for six varieties of double or 
single Violets in pots. The annual exhibition of the Midland Counties 
Carnation and Picotee Society will be held as usual in the gardens in 
August next. A new Alpine garden and rockeries on an extensive scale 
is now in course of construction by Messrs. Backhouse & Son of York, 
and will form a great additional object of interest in these gardens. 
-Scottish Horticultural Association. —At a recent meeting 
of this Association the Secretary read a paper by Mr. William M‘Conochie, 
gardener, Doonside, Ayr, on “ Soils.” The writer of the paper described 
the various kinds of soils, and said that in clay soils the drains should 
never exceed 30 inches in depth, nor more than from 9 to 10 feet apart. 
Beyond that depth no healthy root action could take place. Sandy soils 
containing less than one-tenth of clay were easily worked, but their 
great defect was their non-retention of moisture. They could be 
gradually improved by the application of clay vegetable refuse. Good 
cultivation and intelligent management were essential in all cases. Soil 
properly cultivated would never “ run out; ” while by a course of inju¬ 
dicious cropping the most fertile soil in the world would in time become 
barren. It was therefore of the utmost importance that a rational 
course of rotation should be carried out. In the discussion which 
followed, several members took exception to Mr. M'Conochie’s view as 
to the depth of drains. 
- Fruit Cultivation in Australia. —Colonial papers con¬ 
tain reports of a great Fruit Growers’ Convention and Citrus Fair, 
which has lately been held at the Mildura Settlement, where about 
10,000 acres of land are already under cultivation by irrigation, being 
thus transformed from an arid country into thriving and beautiful 
orchards, the first substantial return yet made (the late season’s) 
amounting to £45,000. The Citrus Fair is described as having furnished 
a magnificent display of fruits and vegetable products in great variety. 
The exhibits of dried fruits, Apricots, Peaches, Figs, Lemons, Nectarines, 
Sultanas, Currants, and Raisins were of excellent quality, as were the 
crystallised fruits, bottled fruits, jams, and jellies. Wines and brandy, 
Olives and olive oil were also among the productions shown, the effect 
being to set forth in a very striking way the productive capabilities and 
hitherto comparatively unknown resources of Australia. It may be 
noticed that an Irish peer, the Earl of Eanfurly, who owns a large 
plantation at Mildura, gained the first prize for Oranges and Lemons. 
There was a great gathering of fruit growers and their representatives 
subjects having a scientific and practical bearing upon the industries 
practised. The “Sydney Morning Herald” remarks that it was a 
grand sight to see over 200 young, sturdy, intelligent, and educated men 
attending these Conferences day after day and listening to the papers 
read and the discussions which followed from 9 A.M to 9 P.M. 
- As exhibiting the remarkable ? Productiveness of the 
Settlements (there are two—Mildura in Victoria and Renmark in 
South Australia) several specimen trees were inspected. A five-year-old 
Lemon tree was found to measure 51 feet in circumference and 18 feet 
in height, and an Orange tree 39 feet round and 12 feet high. Young 
Peach trees, one year and eleven months planted, measured 30 feet 
round and 10 feet high, yielding eighteen months from time of planting 
60 lbs. weight of Peaches, averaging 13 ozs. each. The Washington 
Naval Orange was a great feature of the show, and as it ripens several 
weeks earlier at Mildura and Renmark than in other parts of Australia 
it will have the most advantageous command of the local markets, 
while for export purposes the dryness of the skins of the fruit will 
render it peculiarly adapted for carriage to England and elsewhere. 
The Renmark Settlement has only been developed up to the present 
time to the extent of about one-fourth that of Mildura, but it is con¬ 
templated by the Company (Chaffey Brothers, Limited, by whom these 
great Settlements are being established) to devote special efforts to 
bringing this South Australian Irrigation Colony up to the same point 
of progress within a short period, 
- British Vessels as Fruit Carriers. —A daily contemporary 
says the British Consul at Malaga writes :—“^For some reason or other 
British vessels no longer enjoy the reputation so long maintained in 
this port of being almost exclusively the fruit carriers. It is not 
because they are not perfectly adapted for such purpose, as every year 
sees more care taken with this very essential feature, and in a few 
instances, if any, have lower freights been accepted by their competitors, 
I think the solution is to be found in the fact that as a rule the 
competing vessels are smaller, and also that they come here with space 
sufficient only for a comparatively small number of barrels. The con¬ 
sequence is they get filled up sooner, whereas the larger British vessels 
have often to lie here day after day, much to the prejudice of their 
owner’s interests, and to the possible detriment of the fruit.” 
- Carnivorous Plants in the Sheffield Botanical 
Gardens. —It is stated in a northern contemporary that one of the 
best collections of insectivorous plants to be seen in Britain may be 
found in the Shefiield Botanical Gardens. Professor Denny recently 
gave, in the gardens, an interesting and instructive demonstration upon 
these plants to the students attending a course of lectures he 
has been delivering at Broomhill, on “ Natural History.” Of the 
numerous interesting types which were described by Professor 
Denny were “a specimen of Drosera, the leaves of which showed 
the dead bodies of many victimised insects in various stages of 
digestion ; some beautiful examples of a Cephalotus from Australia, 
in which were pointed out the numerous adaptations for the 
capture of ground game among the insect tribes; an exceptionally 
fine series of the well known Pitcher plants (Nepenthes), from the 
Malay Archipelago. The pitchers in these, and also in the examples of 
Sarracenias, from America, which were examined, were seen to be well 
stocked with the corpses of insects lured to destruction by the plants for 
the purpose of their own nourishment.” 
- Californian Oranges. —For once in the way we hear of a 
thing being overdone in America. It has been reported that Oranges 
have been too extensively planted in California, Mr. Vice-Consul 
Mortimer of Los Angelos says in the Consular report of San Francisco 
that “ the export of Oranges in the district in 1890 was 26,000 tons, in 
1893 it was 67,910 tons, and in 1897, when the Orange groves now 
planted will be bearing, it will be not less than 200,000 tons, unless the 
trees are injured in some way. There are thirty boxes to the ton, and 
the cost per box for the boxes, and picking, packing, and papering, and 
hauling to point of shipment averages Is, 6d. The railway freight to 
New York and other cities in the Eastern States in carloads of 
10 tons is 33 . 6d, per box, making the total disbursements (exclusive of 
middlemen’s charges) 53. per box. The grower, who three years ago 
received 10a. to 16s, per box net, must net 43. per box on Oranges 
grown on land of average value—land worth £40 per acre and the 
commission merchant charges 10 per cent, on prices realised. 
Californian Oranges, therefore, must sell for 10s, per box in the 
Eastern States to make the industry profitable to the grower.” 
