1877. ] 
GARDEN GOSSIP. 
23 
if, instead of being carted away by tbe dustman, it were worked into the ground 
at this season of the year. It is not required on light soils, but it greatly tends 
to make heavy and retentive soils more workable.—D. 
GAKDEN GOSSIP. 
are pleased to find that the efforts being made to secure a Southern, 
Show of the National Auricula Society,, are likely to lead to a 
f successful issue. A conference of gentlemen interested in the advance¬ 
ment of Floriculture was held as already announced at South Kensing¬ 
ton, on Xovember 8,when the following resolutions amongst others were unanimously agreed 
to:—“That the invitation to hold an exhibition of Auriculas in London in 1877 be accepted, 
and that the gentlemen present do form a Committee, with power to add to their number, to 
carry out the same. That Francis Whitbourn, Esq., Loxford Hall, be requested to be Presi¬ 
dent; that Mr. Charles Turner be Vice-President; and Mr. Dodwell be Hon. Secretary. 
That a subscription list be opened for the purpose of obtaining the funds needed (from £50 
to £70), to ensure the display which it is desired to produce. At a subsequent meeting held 
on December G, the Hon. Secretary reported that Mr. Whitbourn had kindly accepted 
the office of President, and promised a donation of £5 to the prize fund. Mr. Turner 
reported that the Crystal Palace authorities would make arrangements to hold the Show 
on Tuesday, April 24, and offered a donation of £10 to the prize fund, which offers were 
accepted. At the same meeting Mr Turner, Mr. Douglas, and Mr. Dodwell were appointed 
a Sub-Committee, to draft a schedule of prizes to be submitted to a future meeting of 
the Committee, and were instructed to provide therein certain prizes for Polyanthuses. The 
list of subscriptions promised already amounts to upwards of £56. 
Burbidge announces tlie speedy publication of a new book 
specially devoted to propagation and hybridism in plants, under the title of Culti¬ 
vated Plants, their Propagation and Improvement. Amongst the subjects to be 
treated on are Natural Propagation; Hints on the Improvement of Fruits, Vegetables, and 
Flowers; Propagating-Houses, Pits, Frames, &c.; Seed-Saving and Seed-Sowing; Trans¬ 
mission of Seeds, Plants, Cuttings, and Pollen from Abroad; Artificial Propagation ; Hy¬ 
bridising and Cross-Breeding; Bud Variation or Sports; Notes on the Parentage of Existing 
Hybrids; and a Propagator’s Calendar. The work thus seems to be a popular vade-mecum 
on all the many interesting points connected with the hybridisation, propagation, and 
improvement of plants. ^ 
-3In the greenhouse, Niel Rose,, planted out, will now (January) 
be bursting its buds freely, and it should be smoked before the shoots grow 
much. The plant should be provided with free and liberal doses of manure-water, 
and if practical, a top-dreasing of rotten dung and soil mixed, and if plants have to stand 
on tbe bed in which they are grown, this top-dressing may be again covered with gravel or 
river-sand. This Kose, Mr. Knight observes, is really worth a house to itself, for with liberal 
treatment it may be more or less in flower half the year. There are few places where it 
gets enough room to develope itself. 
- the meeting of the National Carnation and Picotee Society, held 
in Leeds on the 15th ult., -it was unanimously resolved to hold two exhibitions 
in the northern districts during 1877, one at Manchester, and the other either at 
Leeds or Bradford, as may bo locally arranged. A liberal subscription was commenced as a 
nucleus of the necessary pi'izes. It was further unanimously resolved that the schedule of 
prizes shall be founded on the suggestion of the President, as given in a recent paper in the 
Florist and Pomologist, and that in the classes for single specimens there shall be no re¬ 
striction as to the number of times a variety should win. A proposal for a third show of the 
society, to be held in London, making three in the season, mooted in some correspondence 
i-ead by Mr. Dodwell, was received with acclamation by the meeting, and it was understood 
would be pressed forward so soon as the arrangements for the National Auricula Society’s 
