112 
THE FLOKIST AND POMOLOGIST. 
[ July, 
a plant to the depth of 4 in. Before placing the 
guard in position some fine cinder-ashes should be 
spread on the surface of the soil round about the 
plant. The slugs will not attempt to scale the zinc 
ramparts, and they do not care to thrust themselves 
through the soil under its walls, the gritty particles 
of the ashes not being at all to their liking. As 
plates of perforated zinc are by no means expensive, 
a number of guards can be had at a comparatively 
small cost. They should be used without any paint 
or colour being placed on them. 
— iiiftR. Knight, of Floors, lias recently 
given the result of his experience as to the 
efficacy of a weak solution of Paraffin for 
the Destruction of Scale, as recommended some 
few years since. His plan was to syringe the plants 
infected with bug and scale with a wash made up 
in the proportion of one wineglassful of paraffin oil 
to four gallons of water. The oil and water require 
to be kept thoroughly mixed with the syringe—one 
squirt into the can and one on the plant. This was 
used with Oranges, Gardenias, Crotons, and many 
other plants which had bug and scale on them, and 
while the young leaves were not in the least injured, 
it proved certain death to the insects. 
— £t is easy to strike Mignonette from 
Cuttings, provided the proper time and the 
proper cuttings are chosen. Cuttings from the 
open ground in the autumn probably will not 
strike; but the small shoots which the larger 
cuttings produce will root at once. Many cut¬ 
tings are lost entirely through this being over¬ 
looked. The small growths that many larger cut¬ 
tings make will invariably strike readily, whereas 
the effort to produce them usually ends in the loss 
of all, if advantage has not been taken of these 
secondary shoots. 
— 5The London International Horticul¬ 
tural Exhibition is now definitively fixed for 
1880. It has been postponed in consequence 
of the present depression in trade, the counter, 
attraction of the Royal Agricultural Society’s Show 
in 1879, and the fact of the Antwerp Show falling 
also in 1879. The “International” Committee in 
the meanwhile will take such preliminary steps in 
reference to securing a suitable site as may seem 
desirable. Sir D. Cooper, Bart., is Chairman ; Mr. 
T. Moore, F.L.S., Honorary Secretary; and Dr. 
Masters, F.R.S., Hon. Secretary for the Congress. 
— 2Ue read in the Garden that Meconopsis 
aculeata has lately been flowering on the 
rockwork in Messrs. Backhouse’s nursery at 
York. This truly majestic poppy of the Himalayas 
has large bluish-purple flowers, which are borne in 
profusion on a long spike, the plant growing a 
couple of feet in height, the pinnatifid leaves four 
to eight inches in length, and the attractive flowers 
two to three inches in diameter. Unlike Meconopsis 
nepalensis, which is not much more than a biennial, 
this beautiful species is a true perennial. 
— &T Kew, the Aponogeton spathaceum, 
lately introduced from the Cape, has lately been 
flowering for the first time. It proves to be a gem 
in its way. The leaves are rush-like and erect, not 
floating on the water. The inflorescence is quite a 
miniature of that of A. distachyon, the flowers being, 
however, more thickly disposed ; they have a pretty 
touch of blush-pink, but, unfortunately, are without 
the perfume of the more familiar species. 
©bfttiatg* 
— JWr. John Cunningham, of Auricula 
renown, died on March 28, at Paisley, at the 
patriarchal age of eighty years. As a raiser 
and cultivator of Auriculas he has left a worthy 
name in the annals of floriculture. Among his 
seedlings distributed by name are John Waterson, 
grey edge; Peter Campbell, Tam o’ Shanter, Souter 
Johnnie, and John Read, green edges; Mrs. Campbell 
and Miss Campbell, white edges; and a fancy 
variety with a yellow ground named Golden Maid. 
He disposed of the greater part of his best novelties 
to the late Mr. Peter Campbell. One of his produc¬ 
tions was a dark self, which he thought very highly 
of, and named in memory of the late Rev. George 
Jeans, but it is to be feared this is lost. 
— ®he Bev. B. H. Margetts died at 
Lyddington, near Uppingham, on June 10, at 
the age of 31. Mr. Margetts, who was for¬ 
merly curate of Finedon, near Wellingborough, was 
a successful cultivator and exhibitor of Chrysanthe¬ 
mums at the exhibitions of the Northampton 
Chrysanthemum Society. He was an ardent florist, 
with a great penchant for the Auricula, and was 
both a subscriber to and an exhibitor at the exhi¬ 
bitions of the Southern section of the National 
Auricula Society. Of late years his health had 
not been good, and a fit of severe haemorrhage of 
the lungs caused his death in a week. His col¬ 
lection of Auriculas, at his own request, will pass 
into the hands of his dearly loved friend, the Rev. 
F. D. Horner, to be kept for his sake. 
— IffR. George Wheeler, nurseryman, 
Warminster, Wilts, died on June 10, at the 
age of 87, full of honours and amid the deep 
regrets of many friends. The late Mr. Wheeler’s 
father went to reside in Warminster in January, 
1773, and established himself there in a small way 
of business as a nurseryman ; here on August 2, 
1791, his son George was born. In September, 
1805, he left home and obtained employment at 
Fonthill Abbey, the residence of W. Beckford, 
Esq.; here he remained till 1808, when he went to 
Miller and Sweet’s nursery at Bristol till March, 
1811, when he engaged himself to Jonathan Salter, 
nurseryman, of Bath, for whom he worked till 1813, 
going from thence to Bowood, the residence of the 
Marquis of Lansdowne, remaining there about a 
year, when he went to London, and obtained em¬ 
ployment in Messrs. Gray’s and Malcolm’s nurseries. 
In 1816 he returned to assist in his father’s nursery, 
which, on the death of the latter in 1819 or 1820, 
became his own, and he has carried on business 
there ever since. Here he worked up a general 
nursery business, taking in florists’ flowers, and if 
not the first, was one of the first who budded the 
Rose. The first spotted Calceolaria was raised at 
his nursery, also the first double Fuchsia, named 
Sir Colin Campbell, which was figured in the Florist 
for 1859. His love for plants was unbounded, and 
especially for herbaceous and alpine plants; he 
sent out Delphinium alopecuroides and Wheeleri, 
Tigridia Wheeleri, and other good things in this way; 
also Genista praecox, a fine early-flowering cream- 
coloured Broom. The late Mr. George Wheeler 
will perhaps be best known by his Imperial Cabbage, 
which, as grown and selected at Warminster, is one 
of the finest cabbages in cultivation. He was one 
of the judges at the late George Glenny’s great 
Dahlia show at Salt Hill, in 1838. 
