516 
THE GARDENING WORLD 
April 14, 1888. 
In making these remarks it need hardly be 
said that we have not the slightest desire to 
disparage the kindly efforts of those who, 
under very adverse circumstances on both 
occasions, sent loads of plants to make up 
the shows; we rather want to urge that as 
a new departure has been taken by the 
Society, a more complete change should be 
instituted in the character of its meetings. 
We hold that to term such meetings “shows” 
is misleading, and open to the great objection 
that the London public, accustomed to the 
tine flower shows at the Crystal Palace, and 
to receiving such good value for their shillings 
in the case of other popular “ shows,” may 
feel that they are hardly fairly treated, 
when they enter the Drill Hall and find 
displays which, in general effect, are inferior 
to those made by many less pretentious 
societies; and it would he highly injurious 
to the R. H. S. that such an impression as 
this should get abroad now that it is en¬ 
deavouring to raise its character in the public 
estimation. So far from calling the meetings 
“ shows,” and by such means trying to induce 
the public to attend them, we should much 
prefer to see them made more attractive to 
horticulturists generally, -and to the Fellows 
especially, by inviting subjects for exhibition 
of a really distinctive and meritorious charac¬ 
ter, whether old or new, the former especially 
if displaying evidence of good cultivation. 
Quality or novelty should be the distin¬ 
guishing characteristics of the subjects dis¬ 
played, and if the Society must hold public 
exhibitions in London, we believe it would 
he greatly to its interest to hold them distinctly 
from the meetings of the Committees. 
To carry out this idea some alteration 
would have to be made in the rule which 
forbids the removal of any subject exhibited 
at the meetings until the ordinary hour of 
closing, and which, at present, militates 
against the exhibition of many perhaps small 
hut interesting and, possibly, beautiful things. 
It has long been no uncommon thing to hear 
the remark, “ I should have brought so and 
so with me, but must be off home before the 
show closes.” Such an arrangement as this is 
clearly an unfortunate one, because it is all 
these, even if little, yet interesting, things 
which go to make the Committee meetings 
interesting and attractive to the genuine plant 
lover. How often has it been our lot to see 
some little and perhaps unobtrusive plant 
holding a sort of levee all day, whilst banks 
of gay, perhaps, but still only ordinary deco¬ 
rative subjects, have secured only a passing 
glance. It would be an immense gain if 
encouragement were given to members of the 
committee, Fellows, and others to bring up 
their little contributions, by granting leave 
for their moderately early removal. 
In this way an increased zest and interest 
would be given to the meetings, but it cannot 
be done by allowing the paying visitors to 
have all the consideration. Of course, the 
shilling of the merely idle man who may be 
curiously disposed is as good as the shilling 
of the bond fide gardener, amateur or pro¬ 
fessional, but the gain to horticulture, and 
to the Society indirectly, in securing the 
latter class of visitors would be great, and 
if such can be found among the busy pro¬ 
fessional and mercantile community of London 
so much the better. In any case we are 
assured that not mere bulk or show, but 
sterling quality allied to excellent cultivation, 
or, perchance, some rare novelty, will more 
than repay the true gardener for his little 
expenditure. Much more might profitably be 
said on this subject, but for the nonce we 
must conclude with a general expression of 
our anxiety that the Society’s meetings 
should be made real horticultural gatherings, 
and, if possible, so far marking time that 
each gathering shall exhibit in an ascending 
as well as broadening scale, the gradual 
progress of British gardening. 
The Hampstead Chrysanthemum Society’s Annual 
Exhibition is announced to be held at the Vestry Hall, 
Haverstock Hill, on November 14th and 15th. 
Grass Seeds for the London Parks.—Messrs. James 
Carter & Co. have again been selected to supply the 
Grass seeds required for the London Parks under the 
control of the Metropolitan Board of Works. It will 
be remembered that Messrs. Carter’s firm received 
similar orders last year, and the Grass seeds then sup¬ 
plied have given great satisfaction. 
The Scarcity of Water.—Mr. Edward Hull, F.R.S., 
states in the Times that the snowstorms we have lately 
experienced will do a great deal towards replenishing 
our springs, and thus avert, or at least materially 
mitigate, the threatened drought. His reasons for 
this statement are that snow is far more effective than 
rain for the replenishment of springs, because the 
process of percolation goes on slowly, and the water 
thus finds its way down the fissures and planes of 
lamination and jointage which ultimately lead down to 
the underground reservoirs. 
New Recreation Ground at Acton.—The Acton 
Local Board having invited plans and tenders for 
laying out and planting their new recreation ground, 
we understand that the plans and estimate of Messrs. 
J. Cheal & Sons, Lowfield Nurseries, Crawley, have 
been accepted. The ground is twenty-five acres in 
extent, and will comprise a cricket ground, tennis 
lawns, bowling green, summer houses, band stand, 
arbours, rustic bridges, and a number of ornamental 
beds and plantations, the contract price being .£1,997. 
As Acton is deficient in open spaces near its centre, 
this new recreation ground must prove a great boon to 
the community. 
United Horticultural Benefit and Provident Society. 
—The usual quarterly meeting of the committee of this 
society was held on Monday evening last, at the Cale¬ 
donian Hotel, Adelphi Terrace, Strand, Mr. E. Berry 
in the chair. The committee report that twenty-four 
new members have been added to the roll during the 
quarter, making a total of 250 benefit and 30 honorary 
members. The committee earnestly hope that many 
more gardeners and others connected with horticulture 
generally will avail themselves of the opportunity of 
joining this excellent society. Information respecting 
the rules may be obtained from the secretary, Mr. W. 
Collins, 5, Martinhoe Terrace, Martindale Road, 
Balham, S.W. 
YeUow-margined Negundo.—The ordinary varie¬ 
gated form of the Ash-leaved Maple (Negundo aceroides 
variegatum) has its leaves with a broad white margin, 
and constitutes a beautiful object in the shrubberies of 
the pleasure grounds, parks, and gardens of this 
country, especially from Edinburgh southwards, in all 
the more favourable parts. A new variety obtained 
from seed, and having its leaves margined with a 
beautiful yellow, is announced by the Revue de VHorti¬ 
culture Beige. The name there given to it is Acer 
negundo marginata aurea, and it is said to be more 
vigorous and possessed of more ample foliage than the 
older variety, while the variegation is very constant. 
If so, there is a grand future before it when it becomes 
disseminated in this country. 
A Giant Chestnut Tree.—Mr. Charles Joly, of Paris, 
wishes to establish a commission to keep watch over 
and preserve venerable old trees, and makes special 
mention of an aged specimen of the Sweet Chestnut 
(Castanea vulgaris) in the island of Madeira, upon a 
property which belongs to the Count of Carvalhal. 
The height of the tree is estimated at more than 
150 ft., and at 3 ft. above the soil it measures 35 ft. in 
circumference. There is a chamber in the centre of 
the trunk about 5 ft. square, and 6| ft. in height. 
The tree is still in full vegetative vigour, but like all 
other colossal trees of this kind, it would be difficult to 
indicate its age. 
A new variety of Dieliorisandra.—The Revue de 
VHorticulture Beige for the current month gives a 
beautifully executed figure of Dichorisandra pubescens 
toeniensis. The blue flowers are produced in terminal 
spikes or racemes, and in themselves are pretty enough; 
but as a garden plant its chief value will depend on 
the variegated foliage, the individual leaves of which 
are lanceolate acuminate, more or less purple on the 
under surface and bright green on the upper, and 
marked with two broad milky white bands about equi¬ 
distant between the midrib and margin, and having 
also narrow green lines running through the white. 
The stems are branched and not simple, as in an old 
variegated-leaved species named D. vittata. The 
new comer appeared spontaneously in the Botanic 
Garden of Brussels, in the soil of a case in which Cocos 
Weddelliana had been imported from Brazil. 
The Anglo-Danish Exhibition.—Although the lower 
half of the Horticultural Gardens at South Kensington 
is now abandoned to the gravel heaps of the projected 
Imperial Institute, the upper portion, recently vacated 
by the Royal Horticultural Society, will form an 
admirable locale for the forthcoming Anglo-Danish 
Exhibition, which will be opened by the Princess of 
Wales on the 14th May next. The conservatory will 
naturally form a most attractive adjunct to the exhi¬ 
bition, and the fact that the_ energetic secretary of 
the Anglo-Danish Exhibition is Captain Bax, the 
late assistant secretary of the Royal Horticultural 
Society, will doubtless induce those who formerly visited 
the gardens so often to do so again while the exhi¬ 
bition is open. The Princess of Wales, with her 
characteristic tender-heartedness, has desired that the 
surplus arising from the exhibition—and we trust it 
will be a large one—shall be devoted to the benefit of 
the British Home for Incurables at Clapham. Thus, 
like one of the most beneficent missions of flowers 
themselves, the object of the exhibition is to soothe and 
comfort the sick and suffering. 
Fungus in Cutting Benches.—Mr. John Thorpe 
says, in The American Florist :—“ In my new under¬ 
taking I have found some difficulties, owing to the fact 
of being strange to the position and general adaptability 
of the houses, and for the first time in ten years the 
cutting-bench fungus has troubled me somewhat. 
During the last week it occurred to me to try what 
effect the washing compound Pearline, being a strong 
alkali, would have upon the fungus. About three 
table-spoonfuls were dissolved in a quart of boiling 
water, to which was added three quarts more of cold, 
making one gallon. The cuttings were watered 
thoroughly and repeatedly. This seemingly destroyed 
all traces of the enemy, and I shall continue to use it” 
Dispersal of the Seed in Pinus insignis.—At a 
recent meeting of the Scientific Committee, Dr. Masters, 
alluding to the great differences that exist in the 
species of Pinus as to the time at which the constituent 
scales of the cone separate in order to liberate the seed, 
showed a series of cones of Pinus insignis, the oldest of 
which bore the date 1864. In this all the scales were 
widely separate. The most recent cones dated from 
1877, and in them the scales were not at all separated. 
Between these two extremes cones were shown ex¬ 
hibiting almost every intermediate stage of separation. 
It is to be remarked that the separation begins generally 
just above the centre of the pendulous cone on the side 
furthest away from the branch, at the place where the 
obliquity of the cone, due to the free exposure to light 
and air, and the absence of obstacles afforded by the 
branch was greatest, and that it follows a spiral course 
towards the base of the cone. The scales separate in 
successive spiral coils, till at length all, except a few 
at the base and apex tespectively, and which are 
probably sterile, are separated one from the other. 
Rabbits in Australia.—In a small pamphlet issued 
by Mr. Charles Joly, of Paris, he speaks of the ravages 
committed by rabbits on the sheep pasturage and the 
bark of trees in Australia. So rapidly do these vermin 
increase that powder and shot, poison, traps of all 
kinds, sulphur of carbon, and carbonic acid gas injected 
into their holes have been quite inadequate to cope with 
them. Martens, ferrets, and weasels have been em¬ 
ployed, but all to no purpose. The Government of 
that country has offered 600,000 francs to anyone for 
an invention to effect their rapid destruction. M. 
Pasteur has proposed to do this by inoculating some 
rabbits with chicken cholera, and then, by letting them 
loose, to spread the contagion amongst the wild ones. 
A figure is given of the method of destroying rabbits in 
California by erecting a moveable fence, when all the 
inhabitants turn out for a day, and drive the rabbits 
into this enclosure, where they are killed in a small 
enclosure at one end of the large one. 
Manuring Grass Land.—In the course of an in¬ 
teresting address on ‘ Manures, ’ recently delivered by 
Mr. Bernard Dyer, that well-known analyst said that 
for pastures the best manure was dung in moderate 
quantity ; but he doubted the desirability of applying 
much artificial manure in the first year or two of newly- 
laid permanent pasture. There was also in the market 
now a cheap kind of Peruvian guano, about £7 per ton, 
which was very rich in phosphate of lime, of which it 
contained about 50 per cent. It contained about 5 per 
cent, of ammonia, and was therefore devoid of the 
rapidly stimulating properties which made the richer 
kinds of Peruvian guano so useful for Corn, but un¬ 
suitable for Grass. It also contained about 5 per cent, 
of potash, so that it was an excellent all-round manure 
for pasture. He thought basic cinder might prove a 
cheap substitute for bone dust on land which was poor 
in lime, but at present its value as a fertiliser was not 
fully ascertained. 
