308 
THE GARDENING WORLD. 
January 17, 1891. 
that is nasty as well as that which is nice. 
From all this, of course, our lady friends will 
instinctively shrink. Very well then, let them 
have the good sense to leave alone a vocation 
which is well suited for the strength of men 
hut most unfitted for women. 
3 |.ate Winter Chrysanthemums.— The exhi- 
^ bition of these flowers at the Koyal 
Aquarium last week served at least to 
show that it is possible, even in such a severe 
mid-winter season as the present, to have fairly 
good flowers in January, hut none the less 
they rather resemble ghosts of the November 
blooms than real living examples of what 
Chrysanthemums can he. Whilst there may 
he room for doubt whether blooms produced so 
late in the winter are worth presenting in 
public for competition, yet the possession 
through undoubted skill in cultivation of 
blooms so late, shows that they are for the 
season meritorious, and for cutting purposes 
most useful. 
Probably many persons think that a class of 
flowers which begins blooming in July and may 
be said naturally to finish at Christmas has a 
season long enough, so that growers of them 
must just about get tired of one kind. The 
fact that satiety comes at this late period of 
the season is natural, when we reflect upon 
the wondrous size and beauty found in flowers 
in November, and the poor size and quality 
seen a few weeks later; still there are many 
growers who have to furnish large quantities 
of cut blooms in mid-winter, to whom a goodly 
quantity of flowers of late Chrysanthemums is 
exceedingly useful. It is, perhaps, rather 
unfortunate that Chrysanthemum sections 
should have extended at the wrong end. We 
have long been well supplied with summer and 
autumn flowers of many forms and hues, and 
hardly needed a big section of early-blooming 
varieties. Still they came—they have become 
very popular, and are now almost universally 
grown, and have taken the ordinary bloom¬ 
ing season forward from July to October; no 
wonder, then, if by January we should some¬ 
what tire of these flowers, especially that they 
can be produced in mid-winter only in heat 
and under special cultural conditions. We 
may some day, perhaps, get a special mid¬ 
winter blooming section. 
Tk'he Frost. — The weather, until Tuesday 
^ was the despair of all engaged in gar¬ 
dening, and the terror of all who found that 
it deprived them of the means of living. As 
it is we have had enough of severe weather— 
inclusive of frost and snow—to make the 
winter of 1890-91 memorable in the weather 
annals of the nineteenth century. Those who 
have craved for the old-fashioned winters have 
had their fill, and already cry, “Hold, enough!” 
The fact shows that the good old times were 
hard, bitter times, and we have no desire to 
revert to them. Only a year of great 
plentifulness, allied to general prosperity, can 
at all compensate for the hardships that have 
been endured; but it seems impossible that 
we can find compensation for the check to 
the horticultural trade which such unwonted 
and intensely severe weather produces. 
The frosts gave a little occasionally. They 
held the word of promise to the ear, and broke 
it to the hope, for a promised thaw one day 
was succeeded by even more intense frost the 
next, and the last state was worse than the 
first. In our market garden district all is 
despair, the very fields reeking of decay. 
Frost has blasted the Cabbage tribe — so 
hardy—that it is becoming uneatable from 
sheer rottenness and the atmosphere has the 
perfume of a manure heap. Beyond this 
we cannot tell what harm has been done or 
what will be done. 
The chief hope that the harm will be 
minimised lies in the fact that the snow, 
though materially thinned, covered the earth, 
and that prior to the setting in of the frost 
the soil was for the time of year excep¬ 
tionally dry. For this latter reason we shall 
not expect to learn that trees and shrubs have 
suffered greatly. Still, it is not possible for 
such weather as we have experienced long 
to continue without leaving a very black 
mark behind in some form or another. 
UpaE Fuel Bill. —There are' probably many 
plant growers engaged in forcing this 
winter, who, because of the enormous cost of 
firing, are asking not so much whether the 
game is worth the candle, as whether it is 
worth the outlay. If the present great charge 
be found later not to be fully reimbursed by 
the results, it will be exceedingly disappoint¬ 
ing. Very few gardeners engaged in forcing 
but will admit, we think, that the present 
winter’s fuel account bids fair to beat record. 
For that great charge, however, no more 
plants can be produced than have been pro¬ 
duced during previous winters, and the only 
hope of reimbursement lies in the expectation 
that such long-continued bitter weather will 
have so devastated the denizens of greenhouses 
that an unusually large demand will exist 
later. 
Only on that supposition does it seem 
possible that the present great outlay for 
firing can be made to pay. Plants of all 
kinds have suffered more or less, according to 
constitution, very much from fogs and absence 
of sunlight, as from other causes. Of course, 
frost is the most dangerous enemy, and if 
plants are to be kept alive they must be 
battled with at all cost. Electric lighting 
does nothing to create heat. Aids of a less 
pretentious kind are of little value, and 
usually result in disappointment. Only in 
coke and coal can any permanent reliance be 
placed, and these are the great artificial heat- 
producing elements for the whole horticul¬ 
tural world. 
No wonder, then, that the consumption this 
winter has already been enormous, and that 
from a variety of causes the great cold, and 
consequent increased consumption, contributing 
to the additional primary cost of fuel, has 
been largely enhanced. Altogether the lot 
of the gardener, especially if in charge 
of a hot or forcing house, has not been a 
happy one ; and for his sake we heartily hope 
for a speedy change to better and milder 
weather. 
-- 
The Bolton and District Chrysanthemum Society’s 
Show will be held on November 13th and 14th. 
Mr. John Clark, who for nearly a quarter of a century 
had been gardener at Brodie Castle, Nairnshire, died on 
Christmas Day. 
Lee, Blackheath, and Lewisham Horticultural 
Society.—The twenty-fourth annual summer exhibition 
of this society, to which will be added this year a Rose 
section, will be held at The Cedars, Lee, on July 1st 
and 2nd. 
Mr. Robert Farquhar, for many years gardener at 
Fyvie Castle, Aberdeenshire, and well known as a 
specialist in the cultivation of the Potato, has lately 
joined his sons Robert, James, and John, at Boston, 
Mass., U.S.A. 
Wolverhampton Floral Fete.—At a recent meeting 
of the committee of management of this fete, it was 
announced that the profits of the last show amounted 
to £588 15s. Id., of which it was determined to add 
£500 to the reserve fund, and devote the balance to 
improvements in the Park. The committee have now 
£900 invested as the result of their first two shows. 
The next fete will be held on the 14th, 15th, and 16th 
July next. 
The Weights and Measures Act.—This Act, which was 
commented upon last week by our correspondent 1 ‘A.D.,” 
is so imperative to every person who sells anything 
by weight that we give the penalty clause in extenso :— 
“Every person, who after the expiration of twelve 
months from the commencement of this Act ”—says the 
section— “uses, or has in his possession for use, for 
trade, any weighing instrument not stamped as required 
by this Act, shall be liable to a fine not exceeding two 
pounds, or in the case of a second offence five pounds.” 
Another section states that if, in the opinion of the 
Court, the defendant has committed ihe offence with 
which he is charged with an intent to defraud he shall 
be liable, in addition to the fine, or instead of it, to 
imprisonment for two months, and the Court has also 
the power to order the conviction to be published. 
Manchester Horticultural Improvement Society_ 
The fifth meeting of the members of this society was 
held on the 8th inst. Mr. E. G. Hughes presided. 
Mr. W. Plant read a paper on “ Cross-Fertilization and 
Selection.” He said he did not think much had been 
done to improve the quality of fplant production by 
cross fertilization. The process of selection affected 
the Potato plant in an important manner, and no 
other plant had been so improved by crossing and 
good selection. A short discussion followed, in which 
the chairman, Mr. Upjohn, Mr. Lunt, Mr. O Kell, 
Mr. Elkin, and Mr. Brown took part. Mr. Brown 
said he had been told that the main cause of the 
Potato disease in Ireland this season was the sending 
of the large Potatos to market, and the keeping of 
the small ones for seed. 
Widcombe Horticultural Club.—The first monthly 
meeting of this newly formed body was held at 
Widcombe, near Bath, on the 8th inst., the Rev. W. 
T. H. Wilson presiding. Mr. W. Pumphrey has been 
elected president, and after the chairman had made a 
few seasonable introductory remarks, the president 
gave an interesting address, illustrating his remaiks by 
the aid of a magic lantern. Several members brought 
exhibits to the meeting, for which Certificates of Merit 
were awarded, and at the next meeting it is proposed 
to give a few small prizes for cooked and uncooked 
Potatos. 
Hawick Horticultural Mutual Improvement Asso¬ 
ciation_The usual monthly meeting of this society 
was held on Friday, January 9th, when the chief 
business was the reading of a paper on “ Hardy Border 
and Herbaceous Perennials,” by Mr. Joseph Laidlaw, 
West Stewart Place, who is regarded as the best 
authority on this class of plants in the district. Mr. 
Laidlaw duly defined the meaning of the title of his 
paper, described the preparation of the soil, and told 
his hearers how to arrange and select the different 
subjects. The young members he especially cautioned 
not to trust too much to trade catalogues alone, but 
advised them to keep their eyes open when visiting 
flower shows or public gardens, and to carefully note 
for themselves anything that took their fancy. He 
also enumerated a long list of plants which are well 
worth growing for border decoration or for cutting. 
The subsequent discussion was of a most interesting 
character, a good number of the members taking part 
in it. The only subject exhibited was a curiously 
marked Cypripedium insigne from the Buccleuch 
Nurseries. It was also arranged to have a supper on 
the 23rd inst. 
The Grand Yorkshire Gala.—The annual meeting 
of the council and guarantors was held last week. Sir 
Joseph Terry presiding, when it was announced that 
the fete of last year had been an unqualified success, 
thanks in a great measure to the untiring labours of 
the secretary, Mr. W. C. Simmonds, and the committee 
who had so ably supported him. The Lord Mayor 
(Alderman Matthews) was elected president; Sir 
Joseph Terry, chairman of the committee ; Mr. Joseph 
Wilkinson, treasurer ; Mr. W. C. Simmonds, secretary ; 
and Mr. Pearson, auditor. The following gentlemen, 
with the Lord Mayor and City Sheriff (Councillor 
Milward), were elected on the committee for the 
ensuing year:—Mr. R. Anderson, Mr. G. Balmford 
Mr. William Bland, Mr. J. Blenkin, Mr. S. Border, 
Mr. G. Browne, Mr. J. W. Craven, Mr. A. Dunkley, 
Councillor L. Foster, Mr. G. Garbutt, Mr. T. G. 
Hodgson, Mr. G. Kirby, Mr. T. M. Lambert, Alderman 
McKay, Mr. J. Rotherford, Mr. H. Scott, Mr. G. 
Sellar, Mr. W. Stowe-Sharp, Mr. M. Cooper, and Mr. 
J. E. Wilson. A grant of £550 was made to the 
Floral Sub-Committee. 
Chrysanthemum Seed.—A correspondent of the 
American Florist writes To ripen Chrysanthemum 
seed, give the plants all the sun possible, keep the 
temperature about the same as for Roses, and in 
watering avoid wetting the blooms. The seed must be 
set either by insects or hand, this is done by dusting 
the stigmas with pollen, these are thickly studded all 
over the centre of the flowers, besides one at the base 
of each petal, tube-like petals can be gently torn open 
to reach it. Many kinds ripen their pollen before the 
stigmas are ready to receive it, this gives us and the 
