November 1, 1890. 
THE GARDENING WORLD. 
133 
firms and private establishments. The first section 
includes tropical fruits ; and the second, semi-tropical 
fruits, a great many of which are seldom grown outside 
of botanical gardens, where they are kept to represent 
economical plants. Some of them that can be readily 
fruited in this country are familiar to us, such as the 
Fine-Apple, Banana, and Orange ; hut the fruiting of 
such things as the Sapodilla Plum (Achras Sapota) the 
species of Anona, the Mango, the Baobab, and the 
Bread-fruit are out of the question for the fruits we 
see are imported. The plants offered for the purpose 
of forming hedges would also seem novel to a Briton in 
many cases. Instances of these are Agaves, Acacia 
Farnesiana, Csesalpina, Gardenia florida, Palms, Tri- 
phasia trifoliata, and some others. It is one of the most 
interesting lists we have received for some time. 
--» >X< -- 
ABUTILON THOMPSONI. 
The foliage of this plant is the most ornamental part 
of it, as the flowers are moderate in size, and of the common 
orange or brick-red type, copiously netted with veins of 
a different hue. The leaves are somewhat five-lobed, 
not unlike those of the Vine, but smaller, and are dark 
green, richly blotched with golden yellow. The plant 
is comparatively dwarf, only attaining a height of 3 ft. 
to 4 ft. when allowed to assume its normal size, and- 
therefore easily accommodated in a greenhouse by 
those who desire to grow it there. The most popular 
use to which it has been put for some time past in this 
country is as a bedding plant in the summer flower 
garden, or more frequently in what is termed sub¬ 
tropical gardening. The foliage forms a fine contrast 
to that of other subjects with green or even dark- 
coloured leaves. Furthermore, the plant may be used 
as a bush or a dwarf standard, according to requirements 
or to the design of the bed. The severe frost of 
Tuesday morning last has cut up the foliage where the 
plants were still standing out. They should at once 
be lifted, pruned hack, removing the damaged leaves, 
potted up and placed in a warm pit to induce them to 
make a fresh start, after which they may be kept in a 
cool place till spring. Those who are unacquainted 
with the plant will see from our illustration the form 
cf leaves and the style of variegation. 
-- 
PRESENTATION TO MR. 
McKELLAR. 
As has been already announced in our columns, Mr. 
McKellar, of Floors Castle, has been selected to succeed 
Mr. Penny as gardener at Sandringham, and on 
Thursday evening of last week his friends in Kelso and 
the neighbourhood entertained him at a dinner given 
in the Queen’s Hotel, under the presidency of Mr. 
Thomson, of Clovenfords, on which occasion he was 
also presented with a very handsome gold watch, and 
Mrs. McKellar with a solid gold bracelet. The young 
men in the gardens also presented Mrs. McKellar with 
a cake basket, and the labourers with a silver pocket 
fruit knife. 
There were about thirty gentlemen at the dinner, 
and while all expressed their deep regret that Mr. 
McKellar was leaving the district, they were proud to 
think that he had obtained, without solicitation, such 
an excellent appointment as the charge of the gardens 
at Sandringham, where they felt certain he would dis¬ 
play all the qualities, as a gardener and a man, 
which had distinguished him at Floors. Mr. Thomson, 
in the course of his speech, referred to the singular 
circumstance that Mr. McKellar was the third gardener 
that had left Floors to serve royalty, viz., Mr. Rose, 
to Frogmore; Mr. Knight, to the King of the 
Belgians ; and now Mr. McKellar, to the Prince of 
Wales. 
Mr. McKellar is succeeded at Floors by Mr. Street, 
late foreman at Penrhyn Castle, the same school from 
which Mr. McKellar came, and we hope he may be as 
successful as Mr. McKellar has been. 
On the previous evening a supper was given to Mr. 
Barnes, who has been six years as foreman under 
Mr. McKellar, at Floors, when a handsome silver watch, 
with a suitable inscription, was presented to him. 
Mr. Barnes leaves at the same date as Mr. McKellar. 
APPLE, ECLINVILLE 
The size of the fruit and the free-bearing character of 
the tree, as a rule, makes this variety of Apple a 
favourite in many gardens. The fruit is large, roundish, 
and considerably flattened on the top, and slightly 
angular round the deep eye. The skin is smooth, and 
deep lemon-yellow, generally more or less tinted with 
green, and thinly dotted all over with russety spots. 
It is in season from October to Christmas, and is 
reckoned a culinary Apple of great excellence. The 
flesh is, however, white, tender, and possesses a brisk 
and slightly acid flavour, which would not be unac¬ 
ceptable to many, even as a dessert fruit. As a matter 
of fact, judging from the rubbishy varieties that find a 
ready sale in the market, especially in a year of scarcity 
like the present, Eclinville would prove a veritable 
dainty. The trees in the gardens of the Royal 
Horticultural Society at Chiswick, in many years may 
he seen heavily weighted down with fruit, as soon as 
the latter attains any size. 
_ _ ♦ _ 
- 
A Hen-and-Chickens Chrysanthemum. — One 
of my Chrysanthemums, Bertier Renclatler, has pro¬ 
duced a curious bloom, which, so far as I know, is a 
novelty. The plant is a very fine one, with three 
flowers. One of these has eight distinct flowers from 
one bud, seven grouped round the side, and one, 
forming a crown, on the top. It is a perfectly compact, 
and (if I may use the expression under the circum¬ 
stances) well-formed bloom. The other two flowers 
show the same tendency, but are not so distinct.— C. T. 
[Bertier Rendatler has often shown this freak.— Ed.] 
CONCERNING FOGS. 
The sudden and somewhat early advent of foggy 
weather brings before us, says The Times, the exceed¬ 
ingly unpleasant character of the phenomenon familiar 
to all, but especially to those who live in large and 
smoky cities, where the incessant gloom and darkness 
interfere so seriously with the ordinary business of 
every-day life, and the irritation produced by the fog 
itself to the eyes, nose, and throat is the fruitful cause 
of disease. 
General fogs, such as those with which we have most 
to do, appear to result from two main causes, and are 
developed chiefly when the distribution of the atmos¬ 
pheric pressure is of the type termed “anti-cyclonic.” 
These causes are (1) The rapid radiation of heat from 
the earth into space during cold, cloudless, quiet 
weather, and (2) the gentle mingling of two air 
currents having such temperature and humidity that 
the mixture is too cold to maintain in the form of pure 
vapour the moisture which it contains. With the 
formation of the first of these classes exceedingly heavy- 
dew is deposited, the fog is formed first during the 
night time, is usually low, is at first confined to the 
lower-lying ground, and as it drifts slowly or hangs 
about during the daytime in the form of “ fog-banks ” 
has not the wetting effect on the objects it envelops 
such as is exhibited by class 2. In it, however, the 
irritating properties referred to above are more strongly 
developed than in the damper fogs. Above this kind 
of fog the sky is brilliantly clear, and it often happens 
that, when the foggy weather is young, not only the 
sun and moon, but even the upper parts of lofty 
edifices may be seen with tolerable distinctness when 
objects only a few feet distant horizontally are quite 
invisible. It will be evident to all who have paid any 
attention to the matter that the fog we have recently 
experienced was at first of this character. In the 
second class the fog is often of great depth, the air is 
very much milder and damper than with that just 
described, and in any brief interval which may occur 
during their prevalence it is frequently seen that the sky 
is cloudy or densely overcast. The water particles, 
too, of which they are composed are often large when 
compared with those, the first class, and are sometimes 
felt on the face and hands like very minute drops of 
rain. During their prevalence water will often pour 
down from the branches even of tall trees as though a 
sharp shower of rain was in progress. 
There are other minor causes of fog over land which 
either produce local fogs or increase the intensity of 
the more general phenomenon when it is prevalent— 
as, for instance, the sudden advent of cold air over a 
relatively warm stream, when the water parts with a 
large quantity of vapour, and this is instantly con¬ 
densed into fog, which marks the course of the stream 
for miles. This was actually the case a day or two ago, 
when the surface of the Thames was seen thickly coated 
with fog before that over the land had begun to be 
developed for the night. 
The position of the densest portion of the fog over 
large cities situated, like London, in the valley of a 
large river, depends on the direction from which the 
faint airs felt occasionally are blowing. Thus a very 
gentle southerly air is often found sufficient to keep 
the southern suburbs clear, while the northern are in 
darkness and gloom, while northerly airs act in pre¬ 
cisely the opposite direction by clearing the northern 
and smothering the southern suburbs. The effect of 
this alteration in the locality of the fog is often extra¬ 
ordinary in producing differences of temperature, in 
various parts of the same town, largely in excess of 
what might be supposed. For fog, when once formed, 
retards the radiation of heat immensely, whether from 
the sun to the earth, or from the earth into space, the 
former effect being noticed most during the day-time, 
the latter at night. A well-marked instance of this 
occurred lately, when the fog reappeared more quickly 
over the London portion of the Thames valley than it 
did over the higher part of the southern suburbs. 
The consequence was that although in both positions 
the shade temperature had been as high as 67° during 
the afternoon, yet at 6 p.m. it had, under the influence 
of a clear sky, gone down to 50° in Brixton, while it 
was 61° in town ; at 9 p.m. it was as low as 43° at the 
higher station, while at the Times office it stood at 55°; 
and later on it fell to 32° in the shade at the higher 
station, but did not go below 42° in the City. 
But it is not only the radiation of heat which is 
retarded. The escape of smoke, sulphurous acid, car¬ 
bonic acid, and ammoniacal gases is also arrested, and 
it is owing to this that a fog which has lasted for any 
length of time over London becomes saturated with 
Abutilon Thompsoni. 
