532 
THE GARDENING WORLD 
April 21, 1888. 
And here it is difficult to repress a sigh 
when we remember the many Avonderful 
shows and exceedingly happy and enjoyable 
gatherings which were annually held at the 
Crystal Palace and elseAvhere under the 
auspices of the International Potato ShoAV 
Committee. "Without doubt those exhibitions 
and that committee, through its excellent 
and practical Avork at ChisAvick, not only did 
yvonclers in the Avay of improA'ing the Potato, 
hut also in popularising it, and we are not 
without belief that to the collapse of those 
shows is, to a large extent, due that ncrw 
comparative dulness in the seed Potato trade 
to which reference has been made. That in 
alloAving those popular shows to collapse a 
grave mistake Avas made there can he no 
doubt, and it is to he heartily deplored that 
indifference and neglect on the part of the 
Potato trade permitted so good an opportunity 
as the conference held in St. Stephen’s Hall 
some time since to pass over Avithout a strong 
Potato society being formed out of it. Had 
that been done we might now see an interest 
centred round the Potato, such as at present 
is sadly lacking, and Avhich could hardly 
have proved other than beneficial to the 
trade, as also to the community at large. 
A little boldness, energy and push might 
have been successful; the lack of those 
virtues ended in the conference having no 
permanent results. 
Very likely a severe attack of the disease 
Avould prove helpful in the direction we have 
indicated, but the present healthful crops 
seem only to have lulled growers into a sense 
of, perhaps, false security. We should like 
to see a real Potato society established, unless 
the Royal Horticultural Society Avere Avilling 
to create a strong Potato committee from its 
OAvn body. Of that, however, there is little 
hope, for the obxdous reason that AAdiilst the 
Potato ties connected with the society are 
few, other conflicting interests are strong. 
After all, it seems as if the formation of a 
really practical society, combining the practical 
and the scientific elements in Potato life and 
work, is the best thing to he done. There 
is ample room for it, and in no way need 
it injure, impoverish, or conflict Avith any 
other body. Pew special societies would find 
a Avider field open to it, in Avhich to 
perform really good practical work, than 
Avould a national Potato society. 
-- 
The Royal Horticultural Society and the Market 
Trade.—We understand that a meeting of fruit and 
flower growers, nurserymen and seedsmen, and com¬ 
mission salesmen of Covent Garden, will be held in the 
Covent Garden Club Room, at the Co vent Garden 
Hotel, Southampton Street, Strand, on Monday next 
at 9 p.m. precisely, “to consider the question of 
their co-operating with the Royal Horticultural Society 
in advancing the interests of horticulture.” 
Bacup Floral and Horticultural Society. — This 
new society, which has been established to encourage 
the cultivation of Chrysanthemums, &c., in the neigh¬ 
bourhood of Bacup, will hold its first exhibition on 
November 24th, 1888. Mr. Joshua H. Hoyle, Lee 
Mill, Bacup, is the secretary. 
Important Seed Case : Reynolds v. Jacob Wrench & 
Sons.—In the Divisional Court of the Queen’s Bench 
Division, on Wednesday last, before Mr. Baron Pollock 
and Mr. Justice Charles, an application for a new trial 
was made on behalf of the defendants, Messrs. Wrench 
& Sons, and which was dismissed with costs, the court 
upholding the judgment of Mr. Justice Denman, as 
given in our issue for January 28th last (p. 349). A 
report of the proceedings will be given in our next 
number. 
The Duty of a Gardener to his Employer.—At a 
meeting of the Notts Horticultural and Botanical 
Society, held on the 13th inst., six papers were read in 
competition for the three prizes offered by Mr. S. 
Thacker for essays on this subject. We understand 
that they were all of an interesting character, and 
replete Avith suggestions of an eminently practical 
nature. The whole of the papers had been written 
clearly, with much care, and in several instances with 
conspicuous ability. As the result of a ballot, prizes 
were eventually awarded as follows :—1st, “ Excelsior,” 
Mr. N. H. Pownall, Lenton Hall Gardens; 2nd, 
“Hortus,” Mr. J. H. Walker, gardener to J. Wesley 
Lewis, Esq., The Park; 3rd, “Glewston,” Mr. S. T. 
Wright, Glewston Court Gardens, Hereford. The 
prize winners also received each the society’s Certificate. 
Fruit-growing in Hampshire.—A meeting of the 
fruit growers of south and west Hampshire was held 
last week at Winchester, under the presidency of the 
Mayor, to consider the sale of fruit, and more par¬ 
ticularly Strawberries, at Covent Garden. Mr. R. H. 
Lamport pointed out that 850 tons of Strawberries left 
the district in one season, which averaged £59 per ton 
in value. The railway charges were about 7\ per cent., 
and the commission in London 12| to 15 and 20 per 
cent. After a lengthy discussion it was decided to 
form an association of growers, with a view to adopting 
such measures as will be calculated to obtain for them a 
better return for their produce. 
Royal Agricultural Society.—At the last meeting of 
the council of this society the Seeds and Plants Diseases 
Committee recommended that the fees for the ex¬ 
amination of grass and other seeds (No. 1), for the 
determination of the species of any weed or plant 
(No. 2), and for a report on any disease affecting farm 
crops (No. 3) be reduced from 5s. to Is., and that the 
fee for determination of a collection of natural grasses 
(No. 4) be reduced from 10s. to 5s. The committee 
believe that such reductions in the fees will greatly 
benefit members, and tend to check the sale of valueless 
seeds. 
Rural Gardening. — A very interesting develop¬ 
ment of rural gardening life is seen in the acquisi¬ 
tion by Mr. J. James, of Farnham Royal, recently of 
some admirably situated land abutting on to the 
famous Burnham Beeches, and on some seven acres of 
which, sloping to the south and protected on the north 
by a tall wood, is planted an orchard of standard fruit 
—Apples, Plums, and Cherries. This is just what we 
would wish to see done all over the kingdom where 
soil and site are favourable, and certainly will be done 
when the land can become the property of the occupier. 
Examples of this kind do but serve to show what a 
stimulus would be given on every hand to the culture 
of hardy fruits were the land dispersed amongst tens 
of thousands who wish to become cultivators as well as 
owners. 
Touting for Certificates at Florver Shows. — A 
correspondent writes :—“ Judging recently at a spring 
flower show in a large manufacturing town, I felt 
annoyed at the persistency of a representative of a firm 
in the patent manure trade in pestering the judges to 
award certificates to these manures. I have always 
maintained that certificates cannot be given at a flower 
show to testify to the quality of these manures from 
merely seeing a stand of them there. It is absurd to 
ask for a certificate—it is worse than an absurdity to 
give one. It is not the first time I have been worried 
by this pertinacious gentleman, and on the next 
occasion 1 shall not be very guarded as to my reply.” 
The Red Spider.— “Many years ago I had in my 
employment an active young Irishman who, by show¬ 
ing more than ordinary energy, quickly passed through 
the different grades until he was duly installed as 
foreman. At that time we had been firing a Camellia 
house, and by neglect of keeping a properly moist 
atmosphere the red-spider had made sad inroads. 
. John was duly instructed to syringe the plants, night 
and morning, to destroy it, which he did ; no doubt 
with a double object in view, as the sequel will show. 
John was on all occasions rather demonstrative, but 
one morning he came rushing towards me, his face 
radiant with triumph, Avith his hat off, but clasped in 
his hands in a careful manner, evidently having 
something of no common value within it. Before I 
had time to inquire what was the cause of his excite¬ 
ment, he yelled out, ‘ I’ve got him ! bedad ! I’ve got 
him at last!’ ‘What have you got,’ I inquired, 
expecting to see something in the Avay of a rat or 
mouse. ‘Arrah, the big divil himself, the blaggard 
that has been doin’ us all the mischief, the rud sphider! ’ 
and opening his hat a villainous tarantula-looking 
fellow ran out, bigger than a thousand red spiders, 
which was quickly dispatched by John’s brogan. From 
that time John learned to know what the red-spider 
was, but was never anxious to allude to it afterwards.” 
—From Peter Henderson’s Practical FloHculture. 
A New Use for Farmyard Mauure.—A large factory 
has lately been established on the banks of the Thames, 
below Purfleet, for the manufacture of cardboard from 
farmyard manure, and the proprietors believe they 
will be able to compete successfully in our own markets 
Avith all continental producers. On the river side of 
the great shed in which the board-making is carried on 
are spacious chambers, in which the barge-loads of 
manure are deposited, and where the ammonia is 
separated and foreign matters removed from the straw, 
which is then placed in the boilers, and from them into 
the shed below, when it passes through the usual 
processes for conversion into strawboard. Experiment 
is also being made to convert refuse Hops to the same 
use. The effect of moving from one end of the works 
to the other is very strange. The chambers on the 
river side, stored with tons upon tons of apparently 
nothing but filth, form a striking contrast to the other 
or warehouse end of the mill, Avhere the glossy amber- 
coloured board is arranged in piles. It requires 150 
tons of manure a day to keep the machinery in full work. 
Bracken Fern Silage.—The North British Agri¬ 
culturist has published an article by Dr. A. P. Aitken 
shoAving that the common Bracken Fern, which covers 
. the hillsides in many districts, and seriously diminishes 
the value of the pasturage, has been found to be remark¬ 
ably well adapted for ensilage. Samples which have 
been sent for analysis during the past Avinter show a 
very remarkable composition—a very high percentage 
of nitrogenous matter, and especially a very large 
amount of albumen. Whether it has a nutritive value 
corresponding with the analysis given is a matter which 
can be determined only by actual feeding experiments, 
but it is said that sheep eat it greedily and thrive on 
it. It is stated that the all-important essential in 
making Bracken silage is that the plant must be cut 
young—a good while before it has attained its full 
growth—before the curl is off the leaf. If that is not 
done—if, for the sake of securing a greater weight of 
material, the cutting is delayed until the fronds have 
expanded—the opportunity of making silage is lost ; 
the leaf has become hard and leathery, and contains so 
little sap that it will not heat in the stack. There 
must be a high temperature attained in the stack in 
order to produce good Bracken silage. That is a 
matter Avhich cannot be overdone, and the stuff must 
turn out of a black or dark broAvn colour, resembling 
Tobacco roll—compact and juicy. 
-►>*<-- 
PLANTS EMPLOYED FOR ROOM 
DECORATION IN FRANCE. 
"While residing in France during the present spring, 
I have had opportunities of visiting various horticultural 
establishments where plants grown for the above 
purpose is a speciality. Possibly it may interest some 
of your readers if I give a short description of the 
plants chiefly grown, with a few notes on their culture. 
As may be expected, many of the things groAvn are plants 
with which we are familiar, but there are others used 
in France which are as yet but little taken advantage 
of for decorative purposes in Britain. I give a list of 
the principal plants, in the order in which they stand 
as regards popularity. Palms hold the premier place, 
the favourite sorts being Latania borbonica, Phoenix 
daetylifera, Corypha australis, Kentia Belmoreana, 
Areca sapida, and A. lutescens. Next comes the 
Dracaena, represented by the varieties D. rubra, D. 
congesta, D. amabilis, D. terminalis rosea, and D. 
Massangeana. Then follow the well-knoAvn and justly 
esteemed favourites, Aspidistra lurida, Ficus elastics, 
Araucaria excelsa, A. robusta, Aralia Sieboldi, and 
Cordyline australis, which are all well done. 
At this season also large numbers of Azaleas, 
Camellias, and Rhododendrons are to be seen, but 
these are almost wholly imported from Belgium. 
Roses in pots are much in favour, and are well done, 
also a very pretty hardy Fern, Polystichum setosum. 
Following in the Avake of these are a number of plants, 
which as yet seem not to have found much favour with 
the British nurseryman, viz., Rhopala Corcovadensis 
elegans, a most graceful plant, either for room or table 
decoration, and only requiring a very moderate heat for 
its culture ; Philodendron pertusum, a striking plant, 
with broad deeply cut leaves of a leathery texture ; 
Anthericum lineare alba variegatum, very hardy and 
useful; Ophiopogon spicatum fol. argenteum var., 
resembling Anthericum, but more graceful ; Deyeuxia 
elegans variegata, one of the coming plants of the 
future ; Phormium Colensoi (Variegated Flax), very 
hardy and suitable for corridors, &c. ; Laurus cerasus, 
another hardy and useful subject ; Erythrina Crista- 
Galli, a plant bearing bright red, curious shaped flowers, 
with leaves of light metallic green. Olivia miniatum, 
though well known iu Britain, is but little used in 
rooms, while in France, on the contrary, it is much grown 
for this purpose ; it is to be seen in rooms every Avhere, 
and usually looking very healthy, and quite at home. 
