520 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
Decamber 6, 1894. 
- The Total Kainfall at Abbots Leigh, Haywards 
Heath, Sussex, for November was 5' 28 inches, being 1-61 inch above 
the average. The heaviest fall was 1‘58 inch on the 11th, Kain fell 
on seventeen days. Nearly the whole amount fell duiing the first 
sixteen days, and for the week ending the 17th, the week of “ the flood,” 
3 89 inches of rain were registered. Maximum shade temperature, 
61® on Ist ; minimum 32° on 22nd, Mean maximum, 50 21° ; mean 
minimum, 39 29°, Mean temperature, 44'74°, which is 2-30° above the 
average of six years.—R. I. 
-Ancient Specimens of Plants, — According to a daily 
contemporary, the herbarium of the Museum of Egyptian Antiquities 
at Gizeh contains specimens of plants five and six thousand years old. 
It was the custom to garnish the mummy with leaves and flowers, some 
of which have preserved their hue to this day. The flowers most 
frequently met with in the tombs are the Lotus (white and blue), the 
scarlet wax-like blossoms of the Pomegranate, the common red Poppy, 
the Crocus, and a Chrysanthemum (Chrysanthemum coronarium). 
S:»fEron, Celery, the Onion, and the Leek are also found buried with the 
dead, 
- The Richmond Allotment Holders’ Association.— 
Realising that the local Horticultural Society's show was held too early 
in the summer to suit the allotment holders, and being anxious to 
promote a spirit of emulation, the above Association last year organised 
a special exhibition of produce from the allotments, and it proved to be 
a great success. Rendered ambitious by that success, the Association is 
already actively engaged in preparing its schedule for next year, and in 
addition to some good special prizes offered by eminent seed firms, have 
secured from Messrs. Cannell & Sons of Swanley one of their handsome 
county scarfs, with good money prizes, which will be open to cottage 
garden and allotment associations only in the county of Surrey, for 
collections of garden produce. This should create exceeding interest, 
and is thus specially referred to because it presents for the first time, at 
least in the county of Surrey, a really county competition. If public 
spirit be in other districts as in Richmond, a severe contest ought to be 
furnished. It is a description of contest we should best like to see 
promoted by so important a body as the County Council, but 
expenditure in that direction may be outside their functions. If that 
be so, then all the more heartily should be welcomed the offers of 
outsiders, even if bat seedsmen. A similar competition has in Kent 
already been instrumental in provoking very great interest and keen 
competition.—D. 
-Lopping Overhanging Branches—Lemmon v. Webb — 
This appeal from a judgment of the Court of Appeal involved a question 
as to whether the owner of land is entitled to cut off the branches over¬ 
hanging his land of trees growing upon the land of an adjoining owner, 
and came before the Lord Chancellor, Lord Macnaghten, and Lord 
Davey at the House of Lords last week. Mr. Warrington, Q.C., and 
Mr, R. F. Norton appeared for the appellant ; and Mr. Crackanthorpe, 
Q.C., and Mr. T. Ribton for the respondent. The appellant, Thomas 
Warne Lemmon, is the owner of an estate called Ewhurst Place, near 
Guildford, which is bounded on the south by an estate called Malquoits, 
belonging to the respondent, Walter Webb. On the southern boundary 
of the appellant’s estate there were many trees, some of considerable 
age, which overhung a lane or roadway on the respondent’s estate, and 
forming a means of access for carts and waggons to a farmyard. 
The respondent, without notice to the appellant, cut off and trimmed 
some of the overhanging branches, which he said interfered with the 
user and enjoyment of his property. Thereupon the appellant com¬ 
menced an action for a declaration that the respondent was not entitled 
to do this, for an injunction, and also for damages for trespass. Mr. 
Justice Kekewich held in effect that the branches which overhung 
the respondent s land and interfered with his property constituted a 
” nuisance of omission,” it being negligence on the part of the 
appellant to allow the branches to overhang the land, and that the 
person suffering the nuisance was entitled to abate it, but only on 
giving notice. As no notice had been given, his Lordship held that 
the cutting was wrongful, and gave judgment for the appellant for £5 
damages, and costs. The Court of Appeal, however, reversed this 
decision, and gave judgment for the respondent, but having regard to 
the obscurity of the law as to notice made no order as to costs. 
Hence the present appeal. The contention on the part of the appellant 
was that the branches could not be cut' off without his authority, and 
that the judgment of Mr. Justice Kekewich was, in fact, correct, because 
the respondent gave no notice before cutting off the branches. Their 
Lordships, without calling upon the counsel for the respondent, upheld 
the judgment of the Court of Appeal, and dismissed the appeal. They 
were of opinion that notice was not a necessary step before proceeding 
to abate the nuisance. Appeal dismissed accordingly, with costs. 
MR. WILKS AND THE JOURNAL OF THE EOYAE 
HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 
I HAVE received so many marks of sympathy and kindness from so 
many of the Fellows of the R.H.S. during |my long and trying illness 
that I am loth to ask them (if you will allow me to do so through your 
columns) to grant me still one more indulgence, but it is necessitated 
by my past illness, 
I am not without hope that the ordinary work of the Society (thanks 
in a great measure to the diligence of the Assistant Secretary) has not 
suffered much from my compulsory absence at times, but unfortunately 
the one department which I keep more especially in my own hands, 
the Journal of the Society, has fallen somewhat in arrear, whilst at the 
same time the amount of “ matter ” for it is unusually heavy, so much 
so that I find it quite impossible to publish the whole of it at Christmas. 
I have therefore obtained the consent of the Council to publish the 
Hardy Tree Conference and Crystal Palace Fruit Conference Reports 
at Christmas and to defer the ordinary volume of the Journal till 
March 1895. I venture, therefore, to ask this further kindness of my 
horticultural friends—viz,, that they will endorse the consent of the 
Council and will grant me the further ten or twelve weeks for the 
editing of the remaining portion of volume xvii, of the Journal. The 
reports of the two conferences are in the printer’s hands and will be 
issued as volume xviii. at Christmas or New Year without fail.— 
W. Wilks, Secretary B.II.S. 
[It would have been impossible for any man to have done more than 
Mr. Wilks has under the circumstances in question, and few would have 
striven to do so much. His stout heart has sustained him, and Fellows 
of the R.H.S. who know the particulars of the case will willingly wait 
for the issue of the work in the hope of its editor’s complete recovery.] 
THE HERBACEOUS BORDER. 
The time has now arrived when the occupants of the herbaceous 
border will need overhauling. Especially is this so when the borders 
have been undisturbed for several years, and great masses of the varied 
rhizome-rooting plants have assumed huge dimensions, overgrowing 
their weaker brethren in the struggle for supremacy. A word on the 
re-arrangement of such, with a short list of the most useful varieties for 
cutting and other purposes, may not be out of place in these 
columns, for nothing to my mind is so interesting, instructive, or so 
useful as a well kept herbaceous border. 
In the first place it will be necessary to lift all the plants possible 
out of the border, many of them by this time having died away or have 
been cut down. These may all be placed in their species conveniently 
near the scene of operation, and covered with mats or litter to 
prevent the roots drying. Such plants as Helleborus niger and its 
varieties that bloom from now onwards would be best undisturbed, also 
such as Gentiana acaulis, Hepaticas, and others that are very impatient 
of root disturbance, need not be removed unless absolutely necessary. 
The same remark applies to Snowdrops, Crocuses, Scillas, and other 
bulbous plants that flower in midwinter and early spring. These are 
best planted afresh as soon as they have gone to rest after flowering. 
Supposing all these unseen (as yet) plants are properly marked, ie,, their 
whereabouts defined, the next operation is to apply a dressing of good 
decayed manure or leaf mould if the soil is at all heavy. Nothing is 
better than the decayed leaves and manure of an old hotbed. This 
should be well incorporated in the border, a fork being the best 
implement in case of any bulbs being disturbed, a spade often cutting 
these in halves if carelessly used. All stray roots and weeds should be 
picked out, and the border dug so as to slope to the walk. I would also 
advise a number of neat but durable labels or short stakes to be 
prepared for placing as a mark, or the name of the plants as they are 
planted, otherwise much confusion may arise. Some of the plants 
will require a special preparation in order that they may thrive, but 
this will be understood as not applying in a general sense to the 
requirements of the bulk of the occupants of the border. 
We will suppose the border to be 10 feet wide, and in arranging 
the plants some regard to the height of the various plants must be 
observed. For instance, all plants 6 to 12 inches high ought to be 
planted 1 foot from the edging; those from 1 to 2 feet high a yard or so 
from the edge, and so on in like manner until the callest growers of 
from 5 to 6 feet find a place at the back of the border. For placing as 
a background, all tall and strong growers can be selected from the 
following, their heights averaging 4 to 6 feet or more:—Telekia speciosa, 
yellow; Helianthus multiflora and varieties; Verbascum formosum, 
yellow; Thalictrum rogosum, yellow; Delphiniums, all shades from 
purple to palest blue, magnificent plants for effect. Aster novse-angliae 
and varieties make fine masses for the background with their reddish 
purple flowers, and the Everlasting Pea (Lathyrus latifolius), with rose 
coloured flowers, is a very welcome plant, but requires support when 
growing. Pyrethrum uliginosum, with large Daisy-like flowers, is also 
a very conspicuous plant.— Geo. Dyke, Stulton Mall Gardens, 
