646 
THE GARDENING WORLD. 
JuneUl, 1887. 
growth; but then, no labour is better employed 
than in weed destruction, for the motion of the 
soil which kills weeds helps the cultivated 
plants greatly, and the weather which induces 
weed growth as readily promotes good plant 
growth also. Those gardeners who bed-out, 
in the old rut, myriads of tender plants—and 
had found the weather too cold to permit of 
the work being performed in May, as usual- 
have found the recent rain a valuable aid and 
their labours greatly ameliorated by the ample 
soaking the soil has received. It is half the 
battle in bedding-out to give the plants a 
good start, and they have received that this 
year. 
The chief difficulty, perhaps, incidental to 
the heavy rain has been found in the resusci¬ 
tation to life of myriads of slugs, which have, 
in the cold weather, had a long rest; but slugs do 
comparatively little harm to established things, 
and need most watching for among seedlings 
or newly planted things, especially Asters, Zin¬ 
nias, Stocks, Marigolds, &c., all of which the 
pests eat up in quick time if they are not dealt 
with in a drastic fashion. TTe prefer dustings 
of fresh slaked lime, in the evenings, when 
the slugs have come out in search of food. 
Two or three such-.dressings prove most effec¬ 
tual. This season sees not only a wonderful 
bloom on trees, but also on Strawberry plants; 
indeed, a more abundant and finer bloom has 
rarely been witnessed. That means a big crop 
of fruit, and as Strawberry plants are, perhaps 
more than any other fruit produced, susceptible 
to drought, the recent soaking has—for the 
coming crop of one of our most acceptable 
fruits—exceeding value. 
So far, the season has been one of singular 
excellence for really hardy plants ; it is true 
they were tried somewhat a few weeks since 
by drought, but with showers and somewhat 
gloomy skies, they revived and since have 
made wonderful growth. We doubt whether 
hardy plants ever had a better time of it than 
recently, and the late rains have now so 
established them, that it is hardly possible that 
other than an excellent season can be in store 
for them. It is true, the season which favours 
hardy plants most—one fairly moist and cool 
—is not the best suited for tender things ; but 
we cannot have all we want. A hot, dry season 
may bring most enjoyment, but it can hardly 
be the most profitable for the land. A really 
model season is one giving ample sun heat, 
tempered by occasional cloud and frequent 
heavy showers, but with. more drought in 
August than in June. There are few matters 
about which more ignorance commonly exists, 
than with regard to the need of the soil in the 
matter of moisture. We have not for the past 
two or three years had what may be termed 
an average amount of rain, and sub-soils in 
many districts are yet dangerously dry. 
The general public get to think that a few 
showers are ample for the requirements of trees 
and crops, and if the dust be but laid, that 
seems sufficient. To them a watering of 
twenty-four hours duration, such as visited us 
the other day, is regarded as subjecting them 
to needless discomfort and waste. Really, such 
soakings are needed monthly in most districts 
in this country, all the year round, for drain¬ 
age and other civilising operations have gravely 
affected the storage capacities of the soil, and 
we find vast bodies of rain water filtering away 
with astonishing rapidity. Rain gauges are 
valuable, but soil tests of some three or four feet 
in depth are much more so. The least need for 
abundant moisture is found in deeply-trenched 
soil; but, rmfortunately, whilst trenched ground 
represents a limited area, untrenched or very 
shallow-worked ground represents almost all 
the Kingdom. We have, therefore, ample 
reason to be grateful for the recent rains, and 
hope more may be, in good time, forthcoming. 
We have great pleasure in announcing that Mu. 
Charles Herrix, an excellent young gardener, 
who was for many years at Chalfont Park, Uxbridge, 
has been selected from a large number of applicants for 
the vacancy at Dropmore created by the death of the 
late Mr. Philip Frost. Mr. Herrin has our hearty good 
wishes for his success in his new home. Dropmore is a 
grand place, and merits the best possible care and 
supervision. 
The Hereford Rose Show has been unavoidably 
postponed from July 8th to the 15th. 
Mr. G. Kixg, lately gardener at Wolsey Grange, 
Esher, Surrey, has been engaged as gardener at 
Glencliess, Loudwater, Rickmansworth. 
Messrs. Fisher, Son & Sibray’s Hands worth Nur¬ 
series, Sheffield, were visited on Whit-Tuesday by 
some of the members of the Sheffield Floral and Horti¬ 
cultural Society, and delegates from other societies in 
the Yorkshire Association, to the number of about 
seventy in all, and they were much pleased with their 
outing. 
Mr. Johx Williams, late gardener to E. Fowler, 
Esq., Ashgrove, Pontypool, Mon., has been engaged 
as gardener to J. B. Allanson, Esq., Bryn Seiont, 
Carnarvon. 
Mr. Richard Painter, lately gardener at Trevarno, 
has been engaged as steward to Col. Tremayne, at 
Carclew, Cornwall. 
The special Jubilee Medal, given by Messrs. W. 
Wood & Son for the best dish of Strawberries at the 
late Manchester Show, was won by Mr. Chuck, 
gardener to P. Thelluson, Esq., Brodsworth Hall, 
Doncaster, and not by Mr. Baerlein, as stated in 
our last. 
A most interesting plant — 'Wormia Burbidgei, a 
native of Borneo, and figured in the Botanical Magazine, 
1880—is now in flower at the Botanical Gardens, 
Birmingham. The genus Wormia is nearly allied to 
the family of Hibbertias of our greenhouses, and has 
large handsome foliage, with large-sized, single, pale 
yellow flowers of considerable beauty. 
A meeting of the sub-committee appointed to make 
arrangements for holding a general meeting of the 
supporters of The Gardeners’ Orphan Fund on July 
12th, was held at Chiswick on the 3rd inst., when 
good progress was made with the revision of the rules 
and regulations which will be proposed for adoption at 
the general meeting of the subscribers to be held on 
July 12th. 
Mr. W. Gallop, gardener to H. M. Middleton, 
Esq., Bradford Peverell, won the five guinea cup, 
offered at the Bath and West of England Society’s 
Show at Dorchester, for the best specimen Orchid, 
with a plant of Odontoglossum pulcliellum, bearing 
forty-five spikes of bloom. Mr. J. Powc-ll, gardener, 
Ilsington house, took the ten guinea cup for a col¬ 
lection. 
It is proposed to hold an International Exhibi¬ 
tion in Glasgow next year, in which sections will be 
devoted to Horticulture and Arboriculture. Amonjr 
the subjects enumerated, we note ornamental trees and 
shrubs, flowers, illustrations of and materials used in 
floral designs, plant-houses, and garden implements 
and furniture, &c. 
The Jubilee Mask and Revel, which are to recall 
the old days of Gray’s Inn, will be held, probably, on 
the first Saturday in July. The scenery is to depict 
Gray’s Inn Gardens as they were planted by order of 
Francis Bacon on the 24th April, 1600. The items are 
thus set out in Mr. Doutliwaite’s history of this year 
“66 Elms at 9 d. apiece, eight Birch trees at 8d., 16 
Cherry trees at 12^., 36 Eglantines at 12 cl., 18 Apple 
trees, 200 Eglantines, 1,000 red Roses, and 200 Osiers 
at £1 15s.” 
Mr. F. E. Tripp, hon. secretary of the Flower 
Distribution Branch of the Kyrle Society, 14, 
Nottingham Place, W., expresses the hope that although 
the backward spring has this year diminished the supply 
of flowers, there may still be some available for distri¬ 
bution among the poor of London. A special appeal is 
made for plants in pots, which can be used for the 
wards of hospitals and workhouses ; and Mr. Tripp 
will be obliged if those who are kind enough to promise 
contributions will not send them to the office, but 
communicate first with him, when he will give addresses 
to which they may be sent direct. 
SMALL AURICULA GROWERS. 
I am sure I speak the sense of many “ Small Auricula- 
growers ” when I say that the three responses accorded 
to my petition for information have been warmly 
welcomed on a wide scale. Mr. Fite’s notes in The 
Gardening World of this date are so interesing that I 
venture to ask if he will kindly tell us a little more. 
Especially I should like to learn whether his frames 
stand on the ground like Melon boxes, or are raised above 
it as the late Dr. Horner, a celebrated Auricula-grower, 
recommended. I suppose the canvas, the carpet, and 
the tarpaulin were put on in the evening and removed 
in the [morning, for how, otherwise, could the plants 
get the light so essential to them in the crucial month 
of March, even if the frames admit air freely from 
below ? Light and air, I have always understood, are 
life and strength to the Auricula at all times, hut par¬ 
ticularly when the flowering period is drawing near. 
The secret of Mr. Fife’s success, I therefore gather, 
lay in raising the night temperatures, and I for one am 
very grateful for the hint. Tarpaulin, one can see, 
would keep in the heat as well as keep out the rain, 
and the ingenious contrivance is worthy of adoption by 
all who have the time and will take the trouble to tuck 
up their frames at night, in their canvas sheets, carpet 
blankets and tarpaulin counterpanes, and to untuck 
them in the morning. 
As to the watering, I think it quite likely that I 
may have been over-timid, as Mr. Fife suggests. The 
warnings of that most successful of all Auricula- 
growers, the Rev. F. D. Horner, against stagnant 
damp in the pots, especially in cold weather, have 
impressed me almost more than any of his most 
valuable injunctions, and I have always felt it would 
he well to err, if err one must, on the side of scantiness 
rather than excess. The tendency of the plant to rot 
seems in itself a danger signal against very free water¬ 
ing ; but still, as I have said, I probably have been too 
cautious, and to Mr. Fife I owe a new-born courage. 
While on the subject of watering, I should like to 
ask whether anyone who reads The Gardening 
World has tried the experiment of standing newly 
potted Auriculas in about f in. of tepid water before 
patting them into the frames where they are to be 
kept close and shaded for a few days ? Mr. Horner 
expressly discourages rvatering (in the common acepta- 
tion of the term) at that time, and I have no sanction 
of his for the other plan. But I have found that the 
plants flag less if this half-hour’s refreshment is granted 
them before they go into the retirement so conducive 
to their recovery, especially if the weather is warm. 
This year I have not had a single drooping leaf, even 
after the severe surgical treatment that was in some 
cases necessary. 
Once more I thank “ R. D.,” “J. K.,” and Mr. 
Fife very cordially, and I look forward with pleasure 
to hearing more, and perhaps even seeing—who can 
tell ?—some little etching of those nice warm frames, 
both at bed-time and after the riveil has been sounded. 
— C. A. G., June 1th. 
-- >x<~- 
HERBACEOUS AND ALPINE 
PLANTS IN FLOWER. 
Axdrosace coronopifolia. —The pure white starry 
blossoms of this species have a pretty effect just now in 
a border at Pendell Court, Bletchingley. They are 
arranged loosely and gracefully on slender pedicels, 
which gives the plant a freer and less lumpy habit 
than most other species in British gardens generally 
possess. The plant is biennial, but renews itself 
annually by shedding its seeds around the site of the 
mother plant. The seedlings make starry rosettes of 
leaves by autumn, and flower freely in spring. 
Fritillaria lusitanica. —The flowers of this are 
produced singly on stems about 2 ft. high, and are 
pendent, bell-shaped, and deep brown, except near the 
mouth internally, which is mostly yellow, spotted 
with brown. They are not strikingly ornamental, but 
present a quaint dignity amongst other spring flowers 
of gayer and more brilliant hues. Flowering speci¬ 
mens may be seen in the borders at Pendell Court, 
Bletchingley. 
Petasites vulgaris (The Butter Bur or 
Bog Rhubarb). — A fine sub-tropical effect is 
produced by a large mass of this British wilding, on 
the banks of a little stream in “My Garden” at The 
Grange, Hackbridge. The moisture, within easy reach 
