1882 .] 
GARDEN GOSSIP, 
111 
a genial condition of the atmosphere, many of the 
trees must certainly perish. Black Currants are 
terribly infested with the fly, and many bushes are 
almost bare of leaves, the ground being covered 
•with them. I have never before witnessed blight so 
profuse and so destructive; and never before was 
there a greater promise of an abundant fruit season, 
the blossom upon all kinds of trees being profuse 
and healthy-looking up to the end of April, when 
the destructive gales and the continued easterly 
>inds, with cold frosty nights, fostered the develop¬ 
ment of such legions of insect pests that the fate of 
the fruit crops was sealed.” 
— 2123 hit Monday was largely utilised by 
'Garden Visitors in different parts of the 
country. It is recorded that 95,000 persons 
visited the Royal Gardens at Kew on that day; 
some 51,000 flocked to the Manchester Botanic 
Garden to witness the grand flower show then open; 
and over 8,000 are said to have passed into the 
Royal Botanio Garden at Glasnevin, Dublin, on the 
same day. The holiday could hardly have been 
better spent than it was by those tens of thousands 
of pleasure-seekers. 
— $t has been proposed to hold a Car¬ 
nation and Picotee Show at Oxford, in con¬ 
nection with the Exhibition of the Royal 
Oxfordshire Horticultural Society, on August 2nd, 
the show to he regarded as supplementary to that of 
the National Carnation and Picotee Society, which 
takes place at South Kensington on July 25. We 
understand that Mr. E. S. Dodwell has been re¬ 
quested to make the necessary arrangements for 
carrying out this proposal, which has our hearty 
concurrence, as it will provide, in consequence of 
the later date, a more favourable meeting ground for 
northern and southern growers than the meeting at 
Kensington will do. To provide the necessary prizes it 
is suggested that the two above-named Societies should 
each vote ten guineas towards a fund to be raised for 
that purpose, and that the remainder, about a similar 
sum, shall be raised by special subscription—say one- 
half from friends of the Oxford Society, and one-half 
from friends of the National Society. We cannot 
doubt the needful aid will be forthcoming, and we 
are heartily glad that Mr. Dodwell’s health and 
strength has been so much recruited by liis residence 
in the country that he is able to undertake the 
supervision of the arrangements. Several donations 
have been already promised. 
— 2The following Presentations have re¬ 
cently been made :—To Mr. J. Miller on 
his retirement from the management of the 
gardens at Clumber, a purse of gold, by a few old 
friends and well-wishers, as a slight mark of the 
esteem and respect in which he has been held during 
his 20 years’ residence in the neighbourhood of 
Worksop.-—To Mr. Thomas Moore, E.L.S., on 
his retirement from the joint editorship of the 
Gardeners’ Chronicle , a handsome silver salver and 
purse of three hundred guineas. The salver bore 
the following inscription : “ Presented to Thomas 
Moore, Esq., P.L.S., E.R.H.S., &c., on his retirement 
from the joint editorship of the Gardeners’ Chronicle 
newspaper, by Friends who value his scientific labours, 
and cherish remembrances of his constant devotion 
to Social Fellowship, and Pure Philanthropy. May 
23, 1882.” 
— JHr. W. T. Thiselton Dyer, Assistant 
Director of the Royal Gardens, Kew, has had 
conferred on him the honour of being named 
Companion of the Order of St. Michael and St. 
George, in recognition of services rendered to the 
various colonial governments in connection with 
colonial botanic gardens, economics, plantations, &c. 
— Che name of Mimulus cupreus Mellori 
was recently given by a conclave of florists to 
a brilliantly-coloured variety of this beautiful 
monkey-flower growing in the garden of Mr. Samuel 
Barlow, Stakebill, Castleton, near Manchester. The 
variety has the same close dwarf habit as the type, 
but its flowers are of a more brilliant crimson scarlet 
than the forms usually met with, so that the plant, 
which is exceedingly free, is also very effective. It 
is supposed to have been raised by the late Thomas 
Mellor, of Ashton-under-Lyne, and was given to Mr. 
Barlow by him; and altogether is so good in every 
way, both as a pot plant and a bedder, that it was 
determined to distinguish it by the name of the 
person who raised it or brought it into notice. 
— Che Ivy-leaved Snapdragon, Linaria 
Cymbalaria, “ the creeping Sarah ” of the 
cottager’s window, yields two pretty varieties. 
The first, named Linaria pallida, which however 
Messrs. Backhouse, of York, make synonymous 
with the second, resembles the type in all respects 
except in the size of the flowers, which are much 
larger and borne in profusion. The second is still 
finer and more desirable, and has been recently sent 
out by Messrs. Backhouse, under the name of L. 
Cymbalaria maxima; it is noted in some of the 
journals as having the habit and appearance of the 
other, but with flowers four times the size, and, 
moreover, they possess a most pleasing fragrance. 
Messrs. Backhouse however say, “ flowers twice the 
size of the ordinary Ivy-leaved Snapdragon ; foliage 
not quite so large and highly pubescent.” It is to 
be hoped that this plant will soon find its way to 
many a rockwork, and many a cottage window. 
— JET. Huet in recommending in the 
Journal cle l’Agriculture the use of Lime as a 
Slug Destroyer, describes an excellent plan 
he has devised of overcoming the difficulty which is 
found in sprinkling the powdered lime under tbe 
leaves or amongst the branches of the plants in such 
a way that it will reach the pests. It is by using for 
the purpose a pair of bellows such as is employed to sul¬ 
phur vines. The result has been perfectly satisfactory. 
The lime should be slaked in the ordinary way, but 
not moistened over much, and after being dried and 
sifted will be ready for use. A handful or so being 
put into the bellows, and latter worked just as it 
would be if the operator were about to sulphur a vine, 
the lime will be thrown out regularly, and will 
diffuse itself through the air like a kind of fog, and 
make its way into the hearts even of the most com¬ 
pact plants. When it has been well dried—an 
essential condition to the success of the experiment— 
it will even remain in the air for a few seconds. 
All the groundlings and slugs which are on the 
surface of the earth will then perish, as will also all 
the snails which have come out of their shells. The 
best time to apply the lime is early in the morning, 
when the dew is on the ground, and the slugs are 
hard at work feeding. If there has been soft rain, 
preceded by drought, the gardener ought immedi¬ 
ately to take advantage of the opportunity, and make 
the tour of his garden, bellows in hand; for it is at 
such a time that the obnoxious creatures will come 
out in the greatest abundance. A few handfuls of 
