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THE GARDENING WORLD 
December 31, 1887. 
essentially does^ga^dening associate itself with 
our pleasure, that few things feel the pinch of 
poverty more readily than gardening does, 
therefore, some brighter light let in through 
livelier trade and commerce is very welcome. 
Had we looked at the condition of horticulture 
of late through the golden glasses of Orchid 
sales for instance, we might have assumed that 
all was prosperous and contented. But in this 
particular instance “ all that glitters is not 
gold,” and the ephemeral prices of Orchids 
show only a limited aspect, and one which has 
nothing to do with gardening generally. 
In two directions there has been depression. 
In many of our grand old gardens the property 
of the landed interest, and maintained by high 
agricultural rents in the past, is now felt 
the pressure of depression. In that direction 
there seems to be no immediate hope of im¬ 
provement, except so far that many surplus 
estates and, with them, fine old gardens, may 
pass into the hands of the aristocracy of 
wealth—the successful men of business—and 
thus be once more resuscitated. In the market- 
garden trade there has been some depression 
too, but much of that has been due to bad 
seasons, Avhilst the competition of foreigners 
has to some extent, by home enterprise, been 
overcome, and will be more so, we think, as 
the years roll on. Altogether we believe the 
new year opens not inauspiciously for horti¬ 
culture, and in that belief we wish all our 
readers a very pleasant and prosperous Hew 
Tear. 
—_—- 
Royal Horticultural Society. —A special general 
meeting of the Fellows will be held at 12 o’clock noon, 
on Tuesday, January 10th, in the conservatory, to 
confirm the resolutions passed at the meeting held on 
December 13th. The following is a list of the dates on 
which the meetings of the Fruit and Floral Committees 
will probably be held in 1888 :—January 10th, February 
14th, March 13th and 27th, April 10th and 24th, May 
8th and 22nd, June 12th and 26th, July 10th and 24th, 
August 14th and 28th, September 11th and 25th, 
October 9th and 23rd, November 13th, December 11th. 
Almonds and Raisins.—Under this title is published 
the Vegetarian Society’s Annual for 1888. It is a 
small pamphlet of some four dozen pages, for the modest 
sum of sixpence, and contains some pleasant as well as 
amusing reading. The frontispiece is a portrait of 
the Rev. Professor J. E. B. Mayor, M.A., president 
of the society, and this is followed by an article giving 
a short account of his life, and the motives that induced 
him to adopt vegetarian principles. Other articles that 
follow treat of the “Simplification of Life,” “How to 
remain Healthy, Live Cheaply, and become Rich,” and 
others in a similar strain. To those who have already 
adopted the simple vegetarian system of living it will 
no doubt supply some information and be read with 
pleasure, while at the same time others may be in¬ 
duced to join the ranks. As is quite natural, fruits 
form an important article of diet in this method of 
living, and are treated of in an interesting way in 
“A Gossip about Fruits.” Animal food is not, how¬ 
ever, wholly rejected by those who adopt the vegetarian 
principles, considering that milk, eggs, cheese, and 
butter are used. 
Royal Horticultural Society of Ireland _At the 
council meeting held on Saturday, the 17th inst., 
James F. Lombard, Esq., in the chair, the schedule of 
prizes for the shows of 1888 was submitted and adopted, 
and the following dates fixed for the several exhi¬ 
bitions :—Spring Show, 26th of April ; Summer Show, 
28th of June ; Autumn Show, 23rd of August; Winter 
Show, 15th of November. 
Farming World Almanac. —A great amount of 
information of a practical kind for farmers and those 
connected with farming generally is contained in this 
Annual; and while the laying down of pasture grass, 
rotation of crops to suit certain conditions and circum¬ 
stances, and British ensilage are of the greatest import 
to farmers, there are other subjects that would interest 
readers more generally. Of these might be mentioned 
‘ The Growth and Manufacture of Indian Tobacco,” 
“Poultry of the Farm,” and similar articles. “Practical 
Bee-keeping,” although not purely and simply horti¬ 
culture, is so closely allied to it as to form interesting 
reading to gardeners. “ Finger-and-Toe, or Club-Root 
in Turnips,” should interest horticulturists as much as 
anyone from the fact that the fungus causing the disease 
attacks various other members of the Brassica tribe, 
such as Cabbages, Cauliflower, &c. In a lengthy 
article describing some experiments, the cause of the 
disease is ascribed to a fungus ; while unsuitable soil, 
and the practice of manuring with certain substances, 
has the effect of lowering the vitality of the plant, and 
so inducing or favouring the growdh of the fungus. 
The publisher is Mr. James Macdonald, 63, Princes 
Street, Edinburgh. 
Boronia megastigma.—Few gardeners probably are 
now unacquainted with this deliciously scented winter- 
flowering greenhouse plant, whose presence is indicated 
by the fragrance of its flowers, even when r the latter, 
owing to their inconspicuous character, are not 
suspected. They are in the form of small drooping 
cups of a dull brown colour externally, and, although 
yellow internally, this is not seen when the flowers 
retain their natural position. There is a fine stock of 
a new, or, rather, improved form at Forest Hill, where 
it may be seen in the nursery of Messrs. J. Laing & 
Sons. The flowers are larger, better scented, and the 
plants themselves are of handy size for greenhouse or 
conservatory decoration ; and, although the branches 
are ordinarily very slender and twiggy, they are in this 
instance comparatively strong and well furnished with 
foliage. 
Chrysanthemum carinatum, Cloth of Gold.—Under 
this name a deep yellow single-flowered variety is 
grown at Dropmore, Bucks, which may be, and we 
believe is, grown as a yellow Marguerite. Being an 
annual, however, it loses in value compared with the 
sub-shrubby and evergreen forms of C. frutescens, wfith 
white or pale yellow flowers, as in the L’Etoile d’Or 
variety. In the present case, the flowers, or rather the 
rays of the flower heads, are as bright in colour as those 
of C. segetum. The value of the latter would be greatly 
enhanced if grown for winter-flowering purposes, as 
Cloth of Gold is, proving very ornamental at this season 
of the year, when little of that kind is obtainable. The 
foliage of the last-named is much more finely divided 
than in our native corn-field weed, and constitutes an 
admirable background to the flower heads. 
Cherry Pie. — Any form almost of this old- 
fashioned greenhouse plant, the Peruvian Heliotrope, is 
acceptable at this season of the year ; but the improved 
garden forms should be more so, although we rarely 
see them growm for winter-flowering purposes, or, at 
least, not so often as they ought to be. Most gardeners 
who require blooms of this kind in winter are con¬ 
tented with the ordinary small-flowered form. A 
variety named Mina is now flowering in the nurseries 
of Messrs. H. Cannell & Sons, Swanley, Kent. The 
plants are small and bushy, bearing large trusses of 
good-sized flowers of a pale blue or mauve colour, with 
a white eye. The familiar perfume given off by them 
is as strong as that of any, and the flowers are highly 
suitable for mixing amongst cut blooms. Although the 
Heliotrope will pass the winter in a cool greenhouse 
safely enough, a temperature similar to that required 
by greenhouse plants generally, in order to keep them 
growing slowly and to develop their flowers, is necessary 
also in this case. 
Christmas Island.—Letters have been received from 
H.M.S. Egeria, Commander Pelham Aldrich, con¬ 
taining particulars of a visit she has recently made to 
Christmas Island, which she was ordered to explore 
for scientific purposes. Christmas Island is situated in 
the Indian Ocean, in latitude 11 deg. south, longitude 
105 deg. 30 min. east ; it is 1,100 ft. above the sea, is 
twelve miles long and eight miles broad. The Egeria 
reached the island on the 30th of September, and 
remained there until the 10th of October. The officers 
and men told off for exploring purposes found that the 
whole place was composed of coral and rock ; notwith¬ 
standing this, however, it is covered almost completely 
with trees and shrubs, the former, which are of large 
dimensions, seeming to grow literally out of the rock 
itself, earth surfaces being conspicuous by their absence. 
It is uninhabited by human beings, nor could any 
traces of animals be discovered ; but sea-birds swarm 
over every part of the island, and about 400 wood 
pigeons were shot by the explorers while they remained 
there. No fruits or vegetable matter fit for consumption 
could, however, be found, nor the existence of any 
supply of fresh water, and the belief is that the vege¬ 
tation of the island is dependent for nourishment on 
the dews and the heavy rains that fall. The various 
specimens collected of birds, plants, and insects, care¬ 
fully preserved on board under the direction of Mr. 
Lister, the well-known naturalist—who went specially 
to the island iu the Egeria—will be sent home for the 
British Museum and Kew Gardens. 
AZALEA INDICA DEUTSCHE 
PERLE. 
We have several times made reference in these 
columns to this grand Indian Azalea, and now furnish 
our readers with an illustration of it. As its name 
indicates, it is of continental origin, and might safely be 
described as the best double white ever introduced. 
There are larger-flowered ones in cultivation, but the 
present, no doubt, derives its popularity from the 
regularity and rounded eharacter'of its flowers, together 
with their long-lasting properties, and their purity of 
colour. Owing to the loose arrangement of the seg¬ 
ments of the corolla, there is an absence of the stiffness 
and rigidity of flowers that are so fully double as to 
form a solid mass. The individual blooms are about 
the size of those of a Gardenia, for which they consti¬ 
tute an admirable substitute for cut-flower purposes. 
They have also been compared to the Eucharis, a fact 
which says much for their purity of colour. Small 
plants, when well grown and ripened, produce a great 
profusion of bloom, which may be cut, wired, and used 
in endless ways where white flowers are required. As 
a commercial plant it has proved to be one of the best 
introductions of recent years, and is now extensively 
grown for market, where its flowers, when cut with an 
inch or two of stem, find a ready sale. 
-->£<-- 
TUBEROUS BEGONIAS. 
Those who wish to raise seedlings to bloom freely 
during the coming summer should now begin to bestir 
themselves ; for in the case of doubles, more especially, 
it is well to commence early. I have them here just 
showing a third leaf, and even the singles I shall sow 
this week. We use a compost half leaf - soil, half 
loam (sieved fine), with a liberal addition of rough 
sand, the whole being first made sufficiently hot in an 
old boiler to destroy all seeds, grubs, &c.; the pots, 
crocked half-way up, are then filled to the rim with 
this mixture, after which they are watered and left for 
lialf-an-hour to drain. As we keep our “crosses” in 
separate packets, we usually sow a pot of each, mixing 
a very small pinch of seed with a teaspoonful of fine 
silver-sand before sowing. We add no further cover¬ 
ing, either of soil or sand. Every morning all pots 
which show the least sign of dryness on the surface are 
sunk nearly to the rim in a large shallow pan of water, 
which we keep ready for the purpose, and when wetted 
are returned to their shelf close to the glass. They are 
never watered overhead. 
As to when to prick out, my experience is do not be 
in too great a hurry. The seedlings which have a 
strong third leaf will, when pricked out, beat those 
which with infinitely greater trouble you had handled 
at an earlier period. When the plants thus pricked 
out have a leaf or two as big as a shilling we pot into 
small shallow pots, which we have had made for that 
purpose. Ordinary small pots would do well enough, 
no doubt, but I am a great believer in something 
between a pan and a pot for Begonias at all stages of 
growth, their tendency being to root sideways and not 
downwards. We keep our forcing house at from 70° 
to 75°, with as little variation as possible, spreading a 
few mats over the glass on frosty nights. I may add 
that our beds of singles, sown in January last year,’ 
were a sight to behold during August and September, 
large round thick-petalled flowers of various colours 
being borne on stout short stems just above the foliage, 
the plants flowering with the greatest profusion until 
the unusually early frost. No one with moderate care 
need despair of having a fine show with seedlings the 
first year. I had a bed of all named varieties last 
season, which made a melancholy exhibition beside the 
above. —Somersetshire Hector. 
-- 
OUTDOOR CHRISTMAS CHRY¬ 
SANTHEMUMS. 
I have before me on my table, as I write, a large 
vase and jardinette of Chrysanthemum blooms collected 
from an open southern wall recently, and that had no 
protection, except a tiffany curtain ; hence the heading. 
One of your correspondents, Mr. E. Dumper, Summer¬ 
ville Gardens, Limerick — himself a noted grower 
of show blooms—had been acting, with Mr. Moore, 
Glasnevin Botanic Gardens, and myself, as judge at our 
local show on the 5th ult., and came to see my wall 
Chrysanthemums. The demise of a relative took me 
afterwards to another part of Ireland ; but even now I 
should like to ask permissiou to thank him for his 
appreciative description (from memory) in a subsequent 
issue of The Gardening World. Now, I do so, not 
at all so much for his kindly references to me, as 
