88 
THE GARDENING WORLD 
October 12, 1895 . 
The display of Chrysanthemums is now open to the 
public in Victoria, Finsbury, Battersea, Waterlow, 
and Southwark Park. 
Mr. Charles Wakeley, late of the Royal Gardens, 
Kew, has been appointed Horticultural Lecturer to 
the Essex County Council. 
John Shopland, late of Chew Court, has been 
appointed head gardener to Herbert Ashman, Esq., 
Cook's Folly, Stoke Bishop, near Bristol. 
Mr. T R. Butler, who has been with Messrs. J. 
Carter & Co., High Holborn, I.ondon, W.C , has 
been appointed Superintendent of the Marine Park, 
Southend-on-Sea. 
Mr. Walter Laidlaw, foreman to Mr. McKelvie, 
Broxmouth Park, Dunbar, has been appointed head 
gardener at Dunira, Comrie, Perthshire, and will 
enter on his duties at the "new term" (November 
nth). 
Gardeners’ Royal Benevolent Institution —Mr. F. 
Miller, gardener to J. T. Friend, Esq., of Northdown 
House, Margate, has forwarded to the Gardeners’ 
Royal Benevolent Institution the sum of £io ios. 
being the proceeds of an exhibition of two large 
American Aloes or Agaves. 
United Horticultural Benefit and Provident Society.— 
The ninth anniversary dinner of this Society will 
take place in the Cannon Street Hotel on Thursday, 
October 17th, when James H. Veitch, Esq., will 
preside. 
Royal Horticultural Society.—The next Fruit and 
Floral Meeting of the Royal Horticultural Society 
will be held on Tuesday, October 15th, in the Drill 
Hall, James Street, Victoria Street, Westminster. 
The committees will meet as usual at 12 o’clock and at 
3 p.m. A lecture on “ Nut Culture in England ” will 
be given by Mr. J. Omer Cooper. 
Shirley Gardeners’ Mutual Improvement Association. 
—The first of a series of lectures supplied by the 
Hants County Council to the above Society, was 
given on the 3rd inst. at the Parish Room, St. 
Denys, Southampton, when the Council’s lecturer, 
Mr. E. Molyneux, Swanmore Park Gardens, gave a 
most interesting and instructive address on 
“ Vegetable and Flower Gardening for Cottagers." 
Captain E. Gibbs presided over a fair attendance of 
the members and others, and at the close of the 
lecture a hearty vote of thanks was accorded to Mr. 
Molyneux and also to the chairman. 
Distribution of Plants. —Arrangements have been 
made by the Parks Department of the County Council 
for the distribution to the public on the days named 
of any surplus bedding plants there may be at the 
following places Dulwich Park on the 14th inst., 
Ravenscourt Park on the 15th inst., Finsbury Park, 
Myatt’s Fields, Victoria Embankment Gardens, and 
Southwark Park on the i6th inst., Battersea Park on 
the 18th inst., Royal Victoria Gardens, North Wool¬ 
wich on the 21st inst., Waterlow Park on the 22nd 
inst., Kennington Park on the 23rd inst. 
September in the West of Scotland.— As an example 
of the extraordinary fine weather prevailing of late 
Mr. Drummond informs us that in his nursery at 
T-aggandarrock there have been indications of a 
second crop of fruit. Strawberries of the President 
variety had again grown almost to maturity, and had 
the weather continued favourable for a few days 
longer the second crop could have been gathered. 
An Apple tree in the same nursery was also full of 
blossom, and young Apples had fully formed. At 
this season of the year such growth is of rare 
occurrence here.— Oban Times. 
Messrs. Benjamin Reid & Co.—In your issue of 
28th ult., in announcing the death of Mr. Wm. 
Anderson, Aberdeen, you said that he was the sole 
partner of Benjamin Reid & Co., Nurserymen and 
Implement Makers, Aberdeen. This is a mis-state¬ 
ment, which you may permit us to correct. Mr. 
Anderson, at the time of his death, was sole partner 
of the firm of Benjamin Reid & Co., Agricultural 
Engineers, Bon Accord Works, Aberdeen, but the 
firm of Benjamin Reid & Co., Nurserymen, Seeds¬ 
men, and Florists.'founded in 1827, is an entirely 
separate concern, of which we are the sole partners, 
having been associated in it for the periods of forty- 
four and thirty-eight years respectively. Your 
publication of this letter in your next issue will 
oblige— Wm. Gibson & Alexander Hay. 
The Onion disease upon the Continent has been as 
lively lately as an American blizzard and quite as 
destructive. 
The park areas of London extend to 22,000 acres; 
those of Paris, including the neighbouring forests of 
Fontainebleau and St. Germain, to 172,000. 
Messrs. F. Sander & Co., St. Albans, have opened a 
branch establishment at Bruges, near Ghent,Belgium, 
for the cultivation of Orchids, Azaleas, Araucarias, 
Palms, and Bay trees. 
Of 4,200 species of European plants used for com¬ 
mercial purposes, 420 of them are gathered for their 
perfume that is utilised in the manufacture of scents 
and soaps. 
The London County Council are preparing to plant 
trees on the numerous open spaces under their 
control, and especially in Parliament-fields, which 
are at present somewhat bare. Twenty years hence 
Parliament-hill will be approached through a well- 
wooded avenue, which will add much to the beauty 
of this famous eminence. 
Apple blossoms in September. —A singular phenom¬ 
enon is reported from Hungerford. An Apple tree 
in the garden of Mrs. John Matthew is to be seen in 
full blossom, a sack and a half of Apples having 
already been gathered off the same tree, which is an 
old one. 
The Damson crop in Cheshire is the heaviest known 
for years, and the fruit has become such a glut upon 
the market that in great growing districts in Tar- 
porley, prices are as low as 2s. 8d. a hamper. This, 
it is stated, is the lowest price ever reached in the 
country. 
At Gwallon Nursery, near Marazion, Strawberry 
plants are producing a second crop. The fruit is 
large and fine flavoured, and over a hundredweight 
has been recentlv sold by Mr. G. Boswell. Each 
day during the fourth week of September the ther¬ 
mometer has registered from 8o° to 84° in the shade. 
Florists in the United States.—It is said that in 
1800 there was but one small professional florist in 
the United States, while at present there are nearly 
5,000, employing an army of more than 18,000 work¬ 
men, and selling annually near 240,000,000 ornamen¬ 
tal and flowering plants and shrubs. 
Humboldt Park is oneofthefinest parks in Chicago, 
in fact the best laid out, and has fine natural land¬ 
scapes. The area is 200 acres, of which about 80 
acres still remain unimproved; and on these 80 
acres it is expected to get established an arboretum. 
Plans and estimates have been submitted to the 
board. 
Dome from the World's Fair.—The big dome from 
the horticultural building at the World’s Fair, 
which was purchased by the Illinois State Board of 
Agriculture, arrived at Springfield on two trains of 
twenty cars each. The dome will be used in the 
construction of the administration building on the 
new state fair grounds. 
Intelligence in Bees —Mrs. E. S. Starr is a reporter 
for the Philadelphia Ledger, and has been engaged in 
that kind of work for the last twenty years. Her 
hobby is bee culture, and she keeps a hive in her 
office window as an object lesson. Speaking about 
her favourites recently, she said she whisked out the 
bees with a broom and they did not mind it at all. 
They know she is their friend. When walking 
through the park recently, one of her bees lighted 
upon her ; and they recognise her on the street. 
New Epoch in Australian Land Settlement.— The 
Acting-Governor of Victoria, Sir John Madden, Chief 
Justice of the Colony (acting as Governor until the 
arrival of Lord Brassey), in presiding at the opening 
of an exhibition of the products of the Irrigation 
Colony of Mildura, held in Melbourne, on August 
7th, 8th and 9th, 1895, remarked (as reported in the 
Melbourne Argus) :—" He regarded the occasion as 
an epoch in the development of Victoria. Some 
measure of success in land settlement had been 
achieved, but it was quite insufficient. To-day the 
gospel according to St. Chaffey stood revealed. 
The gospel of salvation he believed to those 
Australians who chose to seek it.’’ 
The Snakewood tree of Jamaica has its stem and 
branches hollow. 
A planting machine, invented in America, handles 
successfully Cabbage, Strawberry, Tomato, Sweet 
Potato, Tobacco, and all similar plants. 
Colonial Fruit. —Sir Saul Samuel, Agent-General 
for New South Wales, has received at his office in 
Westminster a small case of fruit which has just 
arrived from Sydney, where it was bought on July 
25th. The interest of the consignment consists in 
the fact that instead of being preserved in an ice- 
chamber in transit the fruit is more cheaply protected 
from decay by a thin innocuous coating, which easily 
peels off. The fruit, which consists of Apples 
Oranges, Lemons, Pineapples, Passion fruit, etc., is 
exceedingly well grown, and apparently in fair 
preservation, but experiments on a larger scale must 
be tried before any final and complete opinion can be 
pronounced as to the success and practical utility of 
the new mode of importation. 
Horticultural Instruction for Schoolmasters —The 
Cheshire County Council have awarded a number 
of scholarships to teachers in elementary schools, 
enabling them to proceed to the Agricultural College,' 
near Sandbach, for a course of instruction in 
practical horticulture, floriculture, and botany. 
The students will meet each Saturday, and will be 
under the tuition of Mr. Nield, the teacher of horti¬ 
culture at the college. An orchard is to be planted, 
and extensive glasshouses and mushroom-houses 
stocked, so that the students will have an opportunity 
of assisting the work. The practical work will be 
supplemented by theoretical lectures in the lecture 
hall. The students are to be prepared for the 
examination held by the Royal Horticultural Society 
in London. 
A Large Pear. —A few days ago we were shown a 
Pear of extraordinary size by Mr. Graeme Ramage, 
grown by him in his pretty garden at Ochiltree] 
Ayrshire. It is one of the Bon Chretien variety, 
finely formed, and is fully one pound in weight. 
The tree being young, it was the solitary fruit 
thereon The Pear was first introduced into Britain 
by that wonderful people, the Romans. England, it 
is said, now excels every country in the world for the 
size and excellence of the fruit. But if Ochiltree 
now in this respect does not excel England, it cer¬ 
tainly is its close rival, says the Cumnock Express. 
Our friends in the south will, maybe, favour us with 
more information regarding this variety. If they 
have have pulled heavier fruits in the open air, I may 
remark that all kinds of fruit have been above the 
average here this season. Apples, Pears, and Plums 
have no doubt been benefited by the abnormally 
light crops the trees carried last year.— N. McFadyen, 
Glaisnock, Old Cumnock, N.B. 
Mr. Chamberlain and Foreign Competition.— At 
the formal opening of the new Dauntrey Agricul¬ 
tural College, West Lavington, Wiltshire, Mr. 
Chamberlain said that in other countries, in 
Germany, Switzerland, Holland, and almost through¬ 
out the Continent, schools had sprung up in every 
district, promoted, fostered, and supported by the 
Government; agricultural colleges, giving the highest 
and the most scientific form of training ; agricultural 
schools for boys of a younger age; and elementary 
schools, giving a practical training, all of them open to 
the public at very low rates, and in many cases abso¬ 
lutely free. In this country it had been left to the 
munificence of a City company, which had no practical 
concern at all with agriculture, to start that experi¬ 
ment, which was fraught, he believed, with conse¬ 
quences of national advantage and importance. 
The right hon. gentlemen went on to say that he 
had the honour, some time ago, to be chairman of a 
Committee of the House of Commons which had to 
consider the subject of small holdings. There were 
two points upon which there was absolute unanimity. 
One was that, all through this great depression from 
which agriculture had been suffering, it was the 
small holdings, the small tenancies, which had 
borne the depression better than the large ones. The 
second point was that, without regard at all to 
economical consideration, there were reasons of the 
highest social and political importance why there 
should be a freer distribution of land among the 
population. If that was true, they must bear in 
mind that they had not done enough to secure this 
by merely providing (as Parliament had since pro¬ 
vided upon the report of that Committee) facilities 
for the acquisition of land by small owners. 
