680 
THE GARDENING WORLD 
June 27, 1891. 
it is exciting plenty of work, and giving pleasure 
and enjoyment to myriads of people. Warmth 
in the summer-time is to us an unmixed 
blessing; just as a cold wet period is an 
unmixed evil. All nature seems now to he 
revelling in the warmth, except when the 
north-east winds give us a taste of the coldness 
of that region, and serve to remind us that hut 
for the sunshine they would make us shiver. 
We have the warmest and usually the 
most ripening months of the year yet to come, 
and upon their nature depends now the 
character of our general crops. The British 
Islands rarely suffer from too much warmth, 
especially if we have ample moisture. It is 
only when a long spell of heat means drought 
also, that the' produce of the land is injured. 
Still, warmth always generates more of activity 
and national prosperity than does a cool season. 
At this moment the happiness and welfare of 
thousands depend upon the warmth and 
fineness of the summer season. 
Strawberries. — -We are looking forward to 
J®* an exceptionally fine Strawberry crop this 
season. Some occasional good showers would 
materially help the later sorts, but the bloom 
show has been a splendid one, the breadths in 
most cases resembling sheets of snow-white. 
The bloom, too, being rather later escaped 
the frosts, so that we not only look for a good 
crop, but very fine early fruits. A daily paper 
so long since as June 3rd, announced that Kent 
growers were gathering outdoor fruits. That we 
may take to have been a journalist’s canard. 
When in Middlesex few Strawberries are 
ready to gather at the end of J une, we may take 
it for granted that the ripe ones outdoors in 
Kent are few indeed. But whilst the ripening 
season is this year somewhat late, we cannot 
doubt but that it is likely to be a profitable 
one. 
Certainly we may have, as last year, an 
unusually wet season, but misfortunes of that 
kind seldom come in rapid succession. We 
may yet have too much heat, and thus check 
the swelling of the fruits. That can hardly 
happen to the earlier sorts in any case, and 
very probably Ave shall have some refreshing 
rains before the later ones give out. Straw¬ 
berry plants are not naturally deep rooters, but 
they Avill send down their roots deeply when 
attracted by manure and moisture. Thus it 
always pays to deeply work soil for Strawberries, 
especially as the crop invariably endures three 
years, and not infrequently longer. AYe have a 
Avealth of Amrioties, Avitli none the less some 
feAV old sorts holding their own against all neAV 
comers, so that whilst Ave have so many sorts, 
and good ones, too, Ave have not got far ahead 
of growers of twenty or thirty years ago in 
merit of varieties. 
It says much for Strawberries in a popular 
sense, that they are great labour producers. 
AVe find so much Avork surrounding them in all 
stages, that groAvers of considerable breadths 
in any district bring the labouring classes there 
a real boon. EA r en in our torvns also, the 
Strawberry finds considerable labour for the 
poorest, and even gets into the poorest homes. 
It is equally food for the gods of society, and 
for the submerged. May all concerned in 
StraAvberry culture or trade find the present 
season a very prosperous one ! 
f jipORTED Fruits and Vegetables. — It Avas 
mentioned in a Southampton paper last 
Aveek that there had been vast consignments of 
StraAA’berries and neAv Potatos from France and 
the Channel Islands through that port. Im¬ 
mense numbers of raihvay trucks had beenloaded 
and sent off to London, for, somehoAV, all con¬ 
signments of that description seem to gravitate to 
Avhat is the most important market in the world. 
It is easy to say that Ave ought to he growing all 
this fruit and vegetables ourselves, but that is 
said only by foolish people. avIio forget that 
these great importations are largely due to the 
greater warmth and, consequently, earliness 
of the countries from Avliich they are sent. 
These importations are, of course, added to 
our OAvn produce, because they come on before 
ours are ready. If Ave had a Jersey or South 
of France climate, Ave should hardly present a 
market for the products of these favoured 
districts. That Ave cannot compete Avith them 
is entirely due to the length of our Avinters 
and, consequently, shortness, as Avell as cool¬ 
ness, of our summers. So soon as Ave send 
to the market plenty of home-groAvn fruits and 
vegetables, so soon shall we find the foreign 
trade comparatively closed. But Ave have a 
problem to solve daily in the efficient feeding 
of some five millions of people or more, enough 
to form a population for a large country, and 
Avhich are closely packed into an area of 
some 100 square miles, perhaps. It is the 
most populous area in the Avhole A\ T orld, almost 
every yard of which is abstracted from pro¬ 
ductiveness, and is crammed Avith people 
needing daily to be fed. 
The same density is also found in many 
other parts of the kingdom, and Avere it not 
for our foreign importations, which literally 
make England the market of the Avorld, vast 
numbers of our population Avould either be 
half starved or indifferently fed. Noav Ave 
have good fruits at the command of almost the 
poorest all the year round, and their health 
and comfort is immensely enhanced. No matter 
Avliat may happen, certainly the first duty of 
any Government is to see that its people are 
abundantly fed. 
-- 
The Royal Botanic Society's Evening Fete will be 
held on July 8th, when prizes will be awarded for 
the various forms of floral decorations, bouquets, works 
of art, &e. 
Cliristleton Rose SIioav is fixed for Tuesday, July 21st, 
and the local fruit and flower show will be held on 
September 2nd. 
Edinburgh Chrysanthemum SIioav.— AVe are re¬ 
quested to state that the schedules for the Scottish 
Horticultural Association’s exhibition on November 
19th and 20th are now ready, and may be obtained 
from the secretary, Mr. Robert Laird, 17, Frederick 
Street, Edinburgh. 
New Public Park at Chesterfield.—Messrs. AVilliam 
Barron & Son, landscape gardeners, of Borrowash, have 
been awarded the first prize for their designs for laying 
out Queen’s Park, Chesterfield. The park is 22^ acres 
in extent, and was purchased by public subscriptions 
to commemorate the Queen’s Jubilee. An ornamental 
lake, cricket and football ground, bicycle track, bowling 
green, gymnasiums, &e., are provided in the Messrs. 
Barron’s scheme. 
Gardening Engagement.—AVe have much pleasure 
in stating that Mr. John Lambert, for several years 
gardener to the late Col. AVingfield, Onslow Hall, 
Shrewsbury, has been engaged as gardener to the Earl 
of Powis, Powis Castle, AVelshpool. Mr. Lambert 
during his stay at Onslow gained for himself a wide 
reputation as a grower and exhibitor of vegetables, 
Chrysanthemums, and other plants, and we hope ere 
long to see his name again in the prize lists. 
Stowmarket Horticultural Society.—After a lapse 
of twelve years the inhabitants of Stowmarket have 
decided to establish another horticultural society, and 
arrangements have been made for holding the first 
show under the new management on the first Friday 
in September, in Temple Bar, the grounds of Mr. 
James Gudgeon. 
The Late Mr. Henry Pope.—AVe regret to announce 
the death on the 16th inst., at The King’s Norton 
Nurseries, Birmingham, of this well-known nurseryman, 
who up to within a very brief period of his / jath 
enjoyed wonderfully good health and led a very' 10 'e 
life, though he had passed his eightieth birthday. He 
had been most successful in business, having succeeded 
to his father’s nursery a number of years ago, and 
about twenty years since removed his business to 
King’s Norton. A few years ago he retired, and his 
son, Mr. John Pope, has successfully cariied the 
business on since. 
Strawberries.—Since the publication of the late 
Mr. AVilliam Hind’s little work on the Strawberry, 
now long since out of print, we have not met with any 
new work on the subject so useful and instructive to 
amateurs as one before us from the pen of a A-ery 
successful grower, Mr. AV. H. Harrison, M.A., of 
Shrewsbury. Mr. Harrison’s pleasantly-written pages 
tell us not only how to grow Strawberries, and how to 
protect them and gather them, but also how to eat 
them, which everyone does not know, simple as the 
matter may appear. The publishers are Messrs. Simpkin, 
Marshall, Hamilton, Kent & Co., London; and Mr. 
L. AVilding, Castle Street, Shrewsbury. The price 
is one shilling. 
Fall and Destruction of Palm Trees at Kew.— 
Suddenly, and Avithout any warning, a large old tree of 
Livistona chinensis (Latania borbonica) snapped in two 
about 10 ft. or 12 ft. from the base, and fell with a 
crash in the Palm-house at Kew, on the 19th inst. 
The head of leaves was heavy, and in addition the 
stem was burdened Avith a large established clump of 
Cymbidium pendulum bearing many racemes of bloom, 
besides some other Orchids. Some climbing plants, 
including a fine piece of Philodendron, covered the 
lower part of the stem, and they, as well as other 
plants in the way of the falling tree, sustained consid¬ 
erable damage. The head of the Livistona in its fall 
came in contact with a wire running across the house, 
and connected in some way with an old tree of the 
AVild Date (Phoenix sylvestris), causing the wires sup¬ 
porting that to snap like burnt tow. The stem of the 
Date broke in two about 18 ins. from the ground, and 
the whole came smashing down through the other 
trees in the house, causing considerable damage and 
alarm. Fortunately this happened in the early part of 
the day, before the public were admitted, and the 
young men being out of the way, no one was injured. 
Cereus giganteus.—The large and unique specimen 
of this giant Cactaceous plant in the Palm house at 
Kew has now commenced to grow, and bears two well- 
advanced flower buds on the top. The species is the 
largest of all the Cacti, attaining a height of 50 ft. to 
60 ft. in the arid and almost desert regions of New 
Mexico. It had formerly been introduced to this 
country, but is very difficult to establish. Some idea 
may be gathered of the Kew specimen when it is stated 
to be 14 ft. high, and to weigh half a-ton. It cost £30 
to purchase and import to this country, and it is there¬ 
fore no small satisfaction to know that it has com¬ 
menced to grow and flower under cultivation. 'The 
deeply fluted, almost cylindrical stem may be compared 
to a cannon set on end. 
The High Harrogate Horticultural Society's eleventh 
exhibition will be held on August 18 th, when prizes to 
the value of over £200 will be awarded. The schedule 
is a comprehensive one, and extra attractions are pro¬ 
vided in classes for horses in harness and for leaping. 
Gardeners’ Royal Benevolent Institution.—AVeare 
requested to remind our readers that the Fifty-second 
Anniversary Festival Dinner of the Gardeners’ Royal 
Benevolent Institution will take place at the Hotel 
Metropole on July 8 th, on which occasion the chair will 
be occupied by the Right Hon. Joseph Chamberlain, 
M. P. Those desirous of attending should make early 
application for tickets to the secretary, Mr. George J. 
Ingram, 50, Parliament Street, S.AV. 
Holiday Homes.—Will the readers of The Gardening 
AVorld living among and enjoying the surroundings 
of country life, help the poor children of our 200 
schools and missions to a fortnight’s holiday by the 
seaside, and among the fields and flowers? The number 
of children sent last year was upwards of 4,000. The 
cost per head for the holiday is 10s.—not a large sum— 
and one that can easily be raised by collections in the 
family circle and elsewhere. The holiday is always 
health-giving, though seldom life-saving. It may 
interest your readers to know where our holiday homes 
are. They are at Folkestone, East Grinstead, Thursley 
Common, Chislehurst, Pitsea, and AVindsor. The 
surroundings of these places are as favourable as 
those of the London alleys are unfavourable to health 
and enjoyment. AA r e want all the trifles. Together 
they total up grandly, and if numbers of people think 
what they can send is not worth sending, their kindly 
modesty will deprive many children of the holiday.— 
John Kirk, Secretary, Holiday Home Fund, Ragged 
School Union, Exeter Hall, Strand, IV. C. 
StraAvberry, John Ruskin.— I am growing the 
two new Strawberries, John Ruskin and Laxton’s 
Noble, and gathered the first ripe fruit of the first 
named to-day, June ISth, quite nine days later 
than last year. Noble will not be ripe for a week. 
It looks a nice berry, aud is certainly early ; but I hear 
of some growers who are discarding it on account of its 
want of flavour. —F. J,, Dumfries. 
