422 
THE GARDENING WORLD. 
March 7, 1891. 
to last week, and who was also present at the 
same meeting, was a much younger and heartier- 
looking man, hut still we know too well how 
often it happens that those who look the 
strongest are the soonest taken. 
"When the first two months of the year show 
such a record of mortality in the profession 
as Mr. Haycock, Mr. Dominy, Mr. Casey and 
Mr. Cutler, we are indeed led to wonder who 
will live to see another year. Let us hope that 
milder weather will prove more merciful to the 
living. As to Mr. Cutler, it is to be held 
remarkable that he should have lived to 
complete his fiftieth year of service with the 
Gardeners’ Royal Benevolent Institution, 
which he did so much to create, and also that 
he should have received in life that which, had 
it not been so provided, would have been his 
memorial. Happily it was so, and as memorials 
now are in such a bad way, it is a matter for 
congratulation that we are saved the necessity 
of promoting another in this case. 
The best memorial to Mr. Cutler is to be 
found in the Benevolent Institution and its 
large body of pensioners. It will not be an easy 
matter to fill the place thus vacated by death, 
but with the work so far accomplished it will 
be the less difficult for others to maintain what 
is thus established. So well was that work 
done, it would seem impossible that in any 
hands it can now go wrong. 
ptHE Soot Plague. — The late prolonged 
visitation of fog forms the burthen of 
complaint from several suburban correspond¬ 
ents, all of whom declare that last week the 
soot deposit through smoke or fog exceeded 
all previous experience. Our readers who 
garden and reside outside of London have not 
had alone to endure all the torments of a 
soot visitation, for it has been very difficult 
to get about the metropolis without being half 
choked and blackened like a Zulu. Still, we 
can very well understand how very disastrous 
to vegetation is such a soot coating as was 
the deposit of last week. The very soil was 
blackened, and glass made almost opaque, so 
dense was the soot deposit. 
Why it should have been so it is difficult 
to understand, but although we had fogs in 
abundance during the winter, none were of 
such foulness as those of the more recent date. 
Perhaps it was this later and most abominable 
visitation which provoked Lord Woolmer, 
M.P., to invite the appointment of a Royal 
Commission to inquire how far it may be 
possible for legislation to deal with or mitigate 
the nuisance. The Scientific Committee of 
the Royal Horticultural Society have a sub¬ 
committee at work seeking to elucidate the' 
nature of fog — a subject on which we 
thought most persons were agreed. Lord 
"Woolmer evidently thinks he knows, and 
that it is so intolerably bad as to have 
become unendurable. We entirely agree 
with him, but still can hardly see how fogs 
are to be mitigated by legislation, unless the 
consumption of smoke by all fires and 
furnaces be made compulsory. That is, how¬ 
ever, a drastic course which we think Par¬ 
liament is not yet prepared to adopt. The 
fact that fogs have been very general, shows 
that they are not alone of London—though 
the “ London particular ” is certainly peculiar 
to itself—and we doubt whether they are 
anywhere more foul, ’Whosoever can purify 
fog will indeed be a benefactor to the com¬ 
munity. 
7W inter Drought.— It is difficult to avoid 
yet farther reference to the month just 
passed, because it seems to stand upon record 
as the driest month yet recorded in meteor¬ 
ology. Certainly we have had some remark¬ 
ably dry summer months, that of June, 1887, 
for instance, when in some parts of the 
country not one particle of rain fell. But 
in relation to the February we have just come 
through, there is the scientific record that in 
no place apparently where accurate records 
are kept in England has more than 
one-hundredth of an inch of rain fallen, 
an amount far too small to be worthy of 
notice. 
Practically over the entire area of the 
kingdom no rain fell, hence we have, so far, 
a month of February almost unique in 
history. We do not presume that such an 
unusual winter drought can be long con¬ 
tinued ; indeed, there are already reasons for 
fearing, in the changed aspect of the weather, 
that what February has denied, March will 
more than return. That some considerable 
rain-fall is needed there can be no doubt. 
Planters have found the dry weather admir¬ 
ably fitted for carrying out their desires, but 
all the same they are now looking with 
some anxiety for the rain which is required 
to moisten the soil and establish the newly 
planted things. 
Still, a downright wet March would be an 
undoubted evil. When soil has become so 
to very dry, it is apt, under heavy rain pressure, 
become hard and clammy. In such condition 
nothing can be worse for planting or sowing, 
and March is the great cropping month. A 
couple of inches of rain will do no harm, 
especially if not delivered all at once; but a 
drowning rain-fall would prove very disastrous. 
We must hope for the best; but still, it is 
inevitable that the knowledge of the unwonted 
dryness of February should provoke some 
anxiety lest the spring months should have 
to make good the deficiencies of the winter. 
TgiHE Bird Pest.— We wish to offer to our corre- 
spondents who have so kindly responded to 
our request as to information respecting the 
action of birds during the recent winter 
weather upon fruit trees and bushes, our cordial 
thanks for their communications. Our con¬ 
clusion is that on the whole the mischief 
wrought has been very partial, and without 
doubt has been done in particular weather, 
under special conditions. It is often urged 
that were food of an acceptable nature supplied 
to birds just when they might be expected to 
attack trees, the mischief would be greatly 
minimised. 
That is, of course, matter for actual experi¬ 
ment, and might not always be effectual. But 
just as certain classes of birds are the most 
destructive anywhere, and those not song birds, 
we find as a rule the greatest harm done where 
there is most cover for them. Private gardens, 
of course, are almost always associated with 
ample tree and shrub cover. The cover may be 
useful in giving warmth and shelter from strong 
winds, but of course it presents a dangerous 
harbour for birds, and in such case what more 
natural than that the feathered tribe should 
utilise their cover for attacks upon gardens. 
We should have very little compunction as to 
shooting the depredatory finch or the voracious 
sparrow, as neither adds to nature’s vocalisation. 
Still farther, it may be regarded as well, if 
not illegal, to destroy the nests of these trouble¬ 
some creatures. In market garden areas, where 
there is no other cover than the orchards 
themselves afford, we hear few complaints of 
birds. It is where fruit areas are limited, and 
cover is considerable, that birds not only mostly 
do congregate, but are most harmful. We are 
now fast getting beyond the stage of danger 
for buds, as they are rapidly expanding. A 
week or two of mild sunny weather, and they 
will be too far advanced to offer the birds any 
of that food they seem so fond of. 
--»x<-- 
Death of Mrs. Dominj’.—We regret to state that Mrs. 
Dominy died at Chelsea on the 26th ult, aged seventy- 
seven, surviving her husband only a fortnight. 
Mr. Hickman, the respected old foreman at Messrs. 
James Yeitch & Sons’ seed trial grounds at Chiswick, 
also died the same week. 
A Princely Legacy. —The French journals, and 
more recently L’Illustration Horticolc, announce that 
M. P. Tchihateheff, the Russian traveller and naturalist, 
whose death at Florence we mentioned a short time 
ago, has bequeathed to the Academy of Sciences the 
sum of 100,000 francs, intended to aid scientific 
exploration in the less known countries of the East. 
One of the best works of P. Tchihateheff is the 
Natural History and Geology of Asia Minor. 
Baiting the Slugs.—A very efficacious means of 
getting rid of slugs, consists in serving them with beer 
in terrines (earthenware pans or flats) filled almost to 
the brim, and sunk in the tan, sand, soil, or ashes. 
These insects are very fond of that beverage, and it 
only remains for to destroy them.— Bulletin cl'Arbori¬ 
culture, &c. 
The Cypresses at Verona.—The most remarkable 
Cypresses actually existing in Europe are probably the 
beautiful examples to be seen in the garden of Comte 
Justi, at Yerona. They have attained a great height, 
and tradition supposes them to be 500 years old.— 
Bulletin d'Arboriculture. 
Preston anil Fulwood Horticultural Society.—The 
thirty-fifth monthly meeting of this society will be held 
in the large room of the Castle Hotel, Market Place, 
Preston, this (Saturday) evening, when Mr. J. Hathaway, 
of the Gardens, Lathom House, will read a paper on 
“ The Cyclamen, and How to Treat it.” 
A Cure for Fog or Moss.—Get ammoniacal liquor 
from a gas work, and apply it to bushes or trees, 
it will remove fog or moss. This liquor does not 
injure the plant, and is a good fertiliser. I do not 
mean tar, but water, which any gas manager will sell 
very cheaply. The water, as well as the lime that has 
been used in purifying the ordinary coal gas, if applied 
to Turnip land, prevents finger-and-toe in Turnips.— 
Gas Manager. 
Creosote.—This is a substance prepared from the 
distillation of wood tar. When the wood tar is 
distilled till the residue acquires the consistence of a 
pitchy mass, the liquid collected in the receiver is 
formed of several distinct layers, the lowest of which 
contains the creosote. The process of extracting the 
creosote is an intricate and tedious one. The substance 
is composed of carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen, and the 
following analysis may be taken as an average one : — 
Carbon, 72'3 ; hydrogen, 7 "6; oxygen, 20T. 
The Adulteration of Manures.—We learn from a 
daily paper that an important conference was held at the 
House of Commons on Tuesday afternoon between Mr. 
Channing, M.P., and other promoters of the Artificial 
Manures Adulteration Bill, and leading representatives 
of the Chemical Manure Manufacturers’ Association. 
The deputation included members of some of the 
largest firms in the United Kingdom. The association 
are heartily in sympathy with the object of the Bill— 
the checking of the frauds in the manufacture and 
sale of manures and feeding stuffs—but stated a 
number of objections to the machinery and details of 
the Bill. 
The Recent Great Frost.—At the last meeting of 
the Meteorological Society, Mr. C. Harding read a 
paper on the great frost of 1890-1. It was shown that 
over nearly the whole of the south-east of England 
the mean temperature for the fifty-nine days from 
November 5th to January 22nd was more than 2° 
below the freezing point, whilst at seaside stations on 
the coast of Kent, Sussex and Hampshire the mean 
was only 32°. In the extreme north of Scotland as 
well as in the west of Ireland the mean was 10° warmer. 
In the southern midlands and in parts of the 
south of England the mean temperature for the fifty- 
nine days was more than HE below the average, but in 
the north of England the deficiency did not amount 
to 5°, and in the extreme north of Scotland it was less 
*than 1°. At many places in England the frost was 
continuous night and day for twenty-five days, but at 
coast stations in the north of Scotland it in no case 
lasted throughout the twenty-four hours. In Regent’s 
Park, where skating continued uninterruptedly for 
forty-three days, the ice attained the thickness of over 
9 ins. The frost did not penetrate to the depth of 2 ft. 
below the surface of the ground in any part of England, 
but in many places, especially in the south and east, 
the ground was frozen for several days at the depth of 
1 ft., and at 6 ins. it was frozen for upwards of a month. 
In the neighbourhood of London the cold was more 
prolonged than in any previous frost during the last 
100 years, the next longest spell being fifty-two days in 
the winter of 1794-5, whilst in 1838 frost lasted for 
fifty days, and in 17S8-9 for forty-nine days. 
