192 
THE GARDENING WORLD 
November 24, 188.8. 
first, the natural reluctance of British gardeners 
to adopt methods which are of foreign origin : 
and second, the late seasons, which until the 
present year proved to he favourable to 
Potatos under ordinary cultivation. Practi¬ 
cally, although the protective moulding system 
has been advocated some four years, yet the 
present is the first real opportunity which 
has offered to submit it to a practical test, 
and so far as the Chiswick experience has 
gone it seems to have come out of the ordeal 
with singular eclat. TTe hope that next year, 
not only at Chiswick but universally, fair 
trials of the method will be made, without 
waiting to see first how the season will turn 
out. If the summer should prove warm and 
dry, and the Potato crop be healthy, no harm 
will have been done; but if the summer 
should be cool and moist, then the trial will 
be of exceptional interest, and it may be 
proved of inestimable value. Ho intelligent 
grower of Potatos should refuse to give Mr. 
Jensen’s method a fair test next year. 
Fruit Tree Growth. —Some surprise has 
been manifested because trees generally, and 
fruit trees carrying moderate crops of fruit in 
particular, have made so little growth compared 
with the anticipated result, having regard to 
the wet season. Two things, however, have 
to be taken into consideration : first, that the 
very abundant rains, whilst so thoroughly satu¬ 
rating the soil which is ordinarily cultivated 
during the growing season, had not reached 
the roots, the soil about which had become 
excessively dry prior to the trees making their 
annual growth; and second, the lack of 
warmth and sunshine was inimical to the 
development of growth, as warmth is abso¬ 
lutely essential to making of wood. The real 
test of the value of the present year’s abundant 
rains may be looked for next summer; when, 
with most probably fairly good seasonable 
■weather, and the soil about the roots well 
moistened, we shall find trees existing under 
exceptionally favourable conditions of culture. 
What is to be the deduction from that 
anticipation 1 Some fruit growers will, per¬ 
haps, argue that as the trees are thus certain 
to develop wood freely, we should prune and 
thin very freely this winter in preparation. 
Others will hold that a big crop of fruit seems 
pending, especially of Apples, and that the 
fruit crop will absorb all the extra force 
derived from the moisture. But too liberal 
thinning is apt to engender excessive growth, 
whilst moderate thinning leaves a greater leaf 
area. To absorb the sap, we rather advise 
that thinning be done moderately; indeed, 
moderate thinnings yearly are always better 
than heavy cuttings out occasionally. Yery 
much must depend upon the present state of 
the trees and their fruit promise, but under no 
ordinary conditions of culture ought trees to 
need very severe thinning. 
- ►>*<- - 
Sheffield Botanic Garden.—We understand that 
Mr. Ewing, who has for many years been curator of the 
Sheffield Botanic Garden, has lately retired on a well- 
earned pension. 
Death of Mrs. Laxton.— The death is recorded as 
having taken place at Bedford, on the 17th inst., of 
Jane Maria, wife of Mr. Thomas Laxton, aged fifty-four. 
Municipal Honours.—Mr. D. T. Fish, of Hardwick, 
Bury St. Edmunds, is now Mr. Councillor Fish, for on 
November 1st he was elected to a seat on the Bury 
Town Council. It is an honour to which an intelligent 
gardener like Mr. Fish can reasonably aspire. Why 
should not the horticulturist as well as any other 
profession seek to govern his fellow men in municipal 
matters if qualified to do so ? 
Gardeners’ Royal Benevolent Institution.—The 
fiftieth annual general meeting of the subscribers to 
this institution will be held on the 16th of January 
next, when fourteen pensioners will be added to the 
list, and we understand that at the annual friendly 
dinner which will take place after the election of 
pensioners, the Very Rev. S. Reynolds Hole, Dean of 
Rochester, has kindly consented to preside. It will 
interest many of the friends of the institution to know 
that on Wednesday next the veteran secretary enters 
upon his seventieth year, and in January he com¬ 
pletes the forty-sixth year of his official connection 
with the institution. It may be stated also that a 
committee has been appointed to consider the most 
fitting manner of celebrating the Jubilee. 
United Horticultural Benefit and Provident 
Society.—The usual monthly meeting of the above 
society was held on the 12th inst., Mr. J. Wheeler in 
the chair. Two new members were elected, and the 
committee reported that the holding of the recent 
dinner had been the means of considerably strengthen¬ 
ing the position of the society. On the motion of 
Mr. J. Hudson, seconded by Mr. G. Wheeler, it was 
resolved that the best thanks of the meeting be 
accorded to Messrs. Williams and Laing for sending 
and arranging in the dining hall such beautiful groups 
of plants ; to Mr. Chard for arranging the flowers on 
the tables ; to Messrs. Cannell, Lowe, Thompson and 
other friends for fruit and cut flowers ; and to Miss 
Belval and her friends for their enjoyable musical 
entertainment. The rules of the society can be had 
on application to Mr. W. Collins, 9, Martindale Road, 
Balham, S.W. 
The Clonmel Chrysanthemum Show, held on the 
13th inst., was again a gratifying success, notwith¬ 
standing the generally unfavourable season, and the 
fact that almost all the local growers lost some of 
their finest blooms through premature damping off. 
Four local growers exhibited groups 60 ft. square, and 
all good—the best coming from Mr. Crehan, gardener 
to Mrs. Malcolmson, Minella ; and the same exhibitor 
was also successful in several other classes. For 
twenty-four incurved blooms the highest honours fell 
to Raymond de la Poer, Esq., of Kileronah, Kilkenny, 
who also had the best twenty-four Japanese, beating Mr. 
T. Phelan, of Spring Gardens, and Dr. Gamer in a close 
competition. The best incurved bloom staged was 
Mr. R. de la Poer’s Princess of Wales, and the best 
Japanese, Mr. Clibborn’s flower of Ralph Brocklebank. 
The display of fruit was limited but good, and an 
interesting feature of the show was a pretty group of 
Orchids and other flowering plants shown by G. 
Gough, Esq., Birdhill. 
A Raspberry and Blackberry Hybrid.—At the last 
meeting of the Scientific Committee, the Rev. G. 
Henslow drew attention to the foliage of a supposed 
hybrid received from Mr. Yicears Collyer, of Leicester. 
The plant blossomed, but bore no fruit this season. The 
flowers were exactly like that of the Raspberry, as well 
as the tomentose under surface of the leaver; but the 
method of forming the quinate leaf out of the ternate 
agreed with that of the Blackberry, as follows :—The 
simplest form of leaf is a single oval leaflet near the 
flowers. This becomes lobed at the base, and so two 
leaflets are given off, forming the ternate leaf. From 
the basal pair in the case of the Blackberry two more 
are given off, and thus form a quinate leaf, the lower 
four leaflets being nearly “palmate.” In the Rasp¬ 
berry, however, the second pair of leaflets are given off 
from the terminal leaflet, just as were the primary pair; 
consequently the five leaflets now form a more decidedly 
pinnate leaf. In the hybrid in question, although in 
all other features it agrees with the Raspberry, yet in 
this one particular it resembles the Blackberry. As 
no fruit was produced a comparison could not be made 
with them. 
Effect of Light on the Growth of Trees.—Professor 
Fernow, of the Forestry Department of the United 
States, in a recently issued report remarks that it is 
well known that light is necessary for the development 
of chlorophyll, and, therefore, for the life of all green 
plants, and especially for that of trees. The heat alone 
which accompanies the light is not sufficient, although 
the relative influence of the light and heat on the 
growth is still an open question, as well as the relative 
requirements in light of different species of trees. In 
the case of forest weeds, which in forestry serve as an 
indication of the amount of shade which the trees exert, 
and with that their capacity of impeding evaporation, 
some require full sunlight for their development, others 
are averse to a high degree of light. The Yew will 
thrive in the densest shade, while a few years over¬ 
topping kills the Larch ; the Beech will grow with 
considerable energy under partial shade, where the 
Oak would only just keep alive, and the Birch would 
die. When planted in moist places all species are less 
sensitive to the withdrawal of light. In the open, 
Maples, Elms, Sycamores, and others grow well and 
make good shade trees ; in a dense forest they thin out 
and have but scanty foliage. Conifers, such as Spruces 
and Firs, which preserve the foliage of several years, 
have perhaps the greatest capacity of growing under 
shade, and preserving their foliage in spite of the 
■withdrawal of light. 
The Gardeners’ Orphan Fund: Concert at 
Chesterfield. — The gardeners of the Chesterfield 
district were the means of a very high-class musical 
entertainment being given in the Stevenson Memorial 
Hall, Chesterfield, on Wednesday the 14th inst., the 
proceeds of which are to be devoted to the above 
object. The hall had been beautifully decorated with 
flowers and autumnal foliage for the occasion, in fact, 
such decorations had never before been seen in Chester¬ 
field, and as was expected, there was a large audience. 
The whole of the decorations were carried out by the 
committee, under the direction of Mr. Owen Thomas, 
Chatsworth, local secretary to the fund, assisted by 
Mr. Foster, chief Orchid grower at Chatsworth. The 
committee was composed as follows: Messrs. 0. 
Thomas, H. Smale, Bloxham, Kelson, Hutton, 
Fletcher, Polkinghorne, Leighton, Jenkins, Harebell, 
Surgery, and Parkes. The Hon. and Rev. R. E. 
Adderley took the chair, and at the interval he 
remarked that he felt indebted to the promoter^ of 
the entertainment for the honour they had paid him 
in offering the position of chairman on that occasion. 
The object of the concert was a very laudable and 
commendable one, and it was a real pleasure to him 
to see such a large and delighted audience present. 
He never saw more beautifully effective decorations, 
and they reminded him of the fact that of all God’s 
creations, flowers were ever pure and lovely. The 
music had, he felt sure, been appreciated as it deserved 
to be, and he sincerely congratulated the promoters of 
the concert on the general success they had achieved, 
and trusted the financial result would be satisfactory. 
Lectures on Horticulture at the Heriot-Watt 
College.—On the 16th inst., Mr. John Wilson, B.Sc., 
gave the first of a series of lectures on horticulture at 
the Heriot-Watt College, Edinburgh. The desirability 
of establishing the class had, it seems, been under the 
consideration of several Scottish horticulturists for 
some time ; but it was only recently, when Mr. D. P. 
Laird took the subject up, that, with the aid of the 
principal of the coRege, the matter was brought to a 
successful issue. The course has been instituted to 
provide systematic instruction in the application of 
certain branches of science to the practice of gardening. 
Each department will be treated so as to meet the 
requirements of gardeners and others interested in 
horticulture. The subjects of instruction will include 
the following :—(1) General principles of horticulture. 
(2) Seed germination, root and leaf action, influence of 
light and heat, soils, manures. (3) Propagation by 
buds, cuttings, layers, grafting, inarching ; effects of 
stock on scion ; sports or bud variation ; formation of 
flowers and fruit. (4) General treatment of plants : 
planting, training, pruning and its effects. (5) Land¬ 
scape gardening : formation of gardens, materials and 
appliances. (6) Garden structures ; heating and venti¬ 
lating. (7) Culture of (a) stove plants, lb) greenhouse 
plants, (c) ornamental shrubs, alpine and herbaceous 
plants, ( d) fruits under glass, ( e ) hardy flowers, (/) 
culinary vegetables. (8) Improvement of plants by 
crossing, hybridising and selection ; fertilisation ; single 
and double flowers. (9) Town or domestic gardening, 
its utility in affording a healthy recreation. (10) 
Diseases of plants, their cure or prevention ; insecti¬ 
cides, &c. The class meets on Friday evenings at 
seven o’clock, and the course will terminate on the 7th 
March, 1889. 
At the meeting held as above intimated Mr. Wilson 
indicated the various heads of study embraced in the 
course, and the results which might be expected to be 
derived by students passing through it. He first 
briefly alluded to the practice of gardening in olden 
times, and passing on to consideration of the art as it 
now existed, he held that it might be assumed that it 
was as far forward as ever, and that there was a growing 
desire to help it still further on. The formation of the 
class, he said, was an indication of the tendencies of 
the time. Depression of trade undoubtedly had done 
much to affect pure gardening, but not to such an 
extent as to justify the commonly heard phrase that 
“ Gardening is done.” Gardening must be subject to 
modification through the inevitable alteration of social 
conditions. It was for them to accept the inevitable, 
and to be fully equipped to make the most they could 
of the altered circumstances. The lecturer then 
narrated the subjects of study. With regard to town 
or domestic gardening, he urged that a taste for horti- 
