68 
THE GARDENING WORLD 
October 5, 1889. 
had long died out. It was urged that a 
representation to the Council should be made 
to the effect that copies of all the proceedings 
and jiapers be furnished to the gardening 
papers as early as possible, and Mr. Hibberd 
kindly undertook to forward the representation 
to that body, joining cordially in its spirit. 
It is worthy of remark that in relation to 
the Conference proceedings, so far as pub¬ 
lication was concerned, no restrictions were 
imposed on the Committee of Management, 
and that body should have dealt with the 
matter as within its purview. We have 
been assured that the reports of the various 
committees of judges are looked forward to 
with exceeding interest, and fully believe 
such to be the case; but if long deferred, 
all interest in them will have passed away. 
Even as a matter of justice to the gentlemen 
who formed these committees, it is but right 
that the outcome of their labours should be 
made as widely known as possible, otherwise 
the bulk of their work will have been in 
vain. 
pples. —It seems to be understood, so far as 
we can learn, that a big show of Apples 
will be furnished at the Westminster Drill Hall 
on Tuesday next, October the 8th. How it 
happens that several trade growers should thus 
simultaneously agree to show of this, that, or 
the other of their special products it is difficult 
to understand, except it be on the assumption 
that each one is similarly influenced by the 
possession of the products of the season ; but 
should the Apples form, as is anticipated, a big 
feature on Monday next, it will seem to be par¬ 
ticularly perverse that the afternoon lecture 
should be upon a topic so utterly wide of the 
general nature of the exhibition as Conifers. 
No doubt Mr. Coleman is well posted in that 
subject, but it seems to be terribly out of place, 
and we have no doubt but that had someone 
having special qualifications undertaken to read 
a paper on Apples, especially in relation to their 
development during the past twenty-five years, 
a large and interested audience would have 
been found. Mr. Wildsmitli’s paper on Pears 
at the following meeting will doubtless find 
ample material on the tables for illustration, 
and we hope for him better fortune than has 
attended some of his predecessors in the matter 
of an audience. We look on Tuesday next— 
should anticipations be realised—for a very 
interesting, as well as a remarkably full, display 
of our favourite hardy fruit. Generally, 
samples have been wonderfully good, if none 
too plentiful, and many varieties little known 
have been collected and fruited this year, so as 
to enable the Apple-loving public to determine 
how far old and little-known varieties may yet 
possess merits hitherto hardly recognised. 
he Planting Season.— Nurserymen gener¬ 
ally are doubtless wishing for a moist 
October, that the soil may be well saturated 
before the planting season is fairly upon us. 
That all plants and trees sent out from 
nurseries should do well when planted is 
the desire of all honourable traders, because 
such result gives confidence to purchasers, and 
leads to extended trade in following seasons. 
To gain that successful result in planting, it 
is well to have the soil in the needful condition 
of happy moisture which is neither too wet 
nor too dry, and which in that state is so 
encouraging to roots to make fresh growth. 
Roots in the winter are necessarily dormant, 
so far as joint activity with the foliage is 
concerned, but on their own account they 
seem to be ever active. We have but to 
lift trees or shrubs in the autumn and lay 
them in by the heels for later planting to 
be enabled to find conclusive proof of the 
activity of the roots even when the heads 
make no growth whatever. It is for this 
reason autumn planting is found to be so 
advantageous, as by the spring the roots have 
become fully established in the soil and pre¬ 
pared to give the head all needful sustenance 
when nature compels the sap to move. Trees 
or shrubs planted in the spring find that 
natural demand made upon them just at the 
moment when the roots are dissevered from the 
soil, and unable to render assistance until 
late in the season. 
It may be that some comparatively tender 
things are best left till the spring before 
transplanting, but on the whole, and especially 
in the case of deciduous trees and shrubs, 
fruit trees and bushes, from the middle 
of October until the middle of December, 
the weather being fairly open, is the best 
time for general planting. 
-- 
The Nursery of SI. Van Houtte.—We understand 
that the large nursery business of M. Van Houtte, at 
Ghent, has been converted into a limited company, 
and will in future be conducted under the title of 
“ Etablissement Iiorticole, Louis Van Houtte pere.” 
Chiswick Gardeners’Association.—On October 11th 
M.. Shirley Hibberd will deliver an address on “Green 
Leaves ” before the members of the above association. 
Southend Chrysanthemum Show.—The annual 
Chrysanthemum show at Southend will be held on 
Wednesday, November 13th. 
Preston and Fulwood Horticultural Society.—The 
second monthly reading for the season, in connection 
with the above society, will be given in the large room 
of the Castle Hotel, Market Place, Preston, to-night 
(Saturday), when Mr. Alfred Waters, The Gardens, 
Farington House, will read a paper on “ Brief Notes 
on Peach Culture,” dealing with it under the heading 
of failure versus success. 
Frost in Perthshire.—A correspondent from Perth¬ 
shire writes us that the Chrysanthemum growers have 
been put on the alert for the safety of their plants, and 
that after registering nearly 4° of frost on the 22nd of 
September, Tropreolums, Dahlias, French Beans and 
Tuberous Begonias were cut down and rendered useless 
for the season. 
United Horticultural Benefit and Provident 
Society.—The annual dinner will take place on Wed¬ 
nesday, October 23rd, at the Cannon Street Hotel, 
when Mr. N. N. Sherwood will preside. For prices of 
tickets and other details see our advertising columns. 
The Dalston, Haggerston and De Beauvoir Town 
Amateur Chrysanthemum Society. — The second 
annual show of this society, which was started last 
year, is to be held on the 14th and 15th of November 
in the Albion Hall, Albion Square, Dalston. The 
posters are now in circulation, and contain a list of 
prizes offered. 
Irish Heaths. — Mr. Alfred Gaut writes : — The 
Irish Heaths, Menziesia polifolia, polifolia alba, and 
purpurea are very pretty objects when planted in corners 
of shrubberies, or by the side of woodland walks in 
clumps or masses. The flowers are much larger than 
the generality of British Heaths, and are very elegant 
drooping from short pedicels in loose terminal racemes. 
Polifolia is pink, and the others are white or purple as 
their names indicate. They will succeed in any soil 
where the Rhododendron will flourish, and when they 
do well are always much admired. For table decora¬ 
tion in light glass ware, mixed with fine flowering 
grasses, they are exceedingly pretty and graceful. 
Ealing and District Gardeners’ Society.—The first 
meeting of the members of this society following the 
annual meeting, is to take place on Wednesday, the 
9 th inst., when Mr. Shirley Hibberd will deliver an 
opening address. He will be followed by Mr. Richard 
Dean, who will treat of “The Origin of the Various 
Types of Dahlias and their Characteristics ” ; also by 
Dr. Masters, the Rev. Percy Myles, and Messrs. J. 
Hudson, A. Wright, A. Dean, and J. Fraser on appro¬ 
priate and interesting subjects. On the 30th inst. the 
members will give a musical entertainment in aid of 
the Gardeners’ Orphan Fund. There will be no 
meeting on the evening of November 6th, that being 
the date of the annual exhibition of Chrysanthemums, 
&c., of the Ealing, Acton and Han well Horticultural 
Society. 
Ampelopsis bipinnata.—Introduced from Virginia in 
1700, this species has not met with the same favour as the 
common species, or even Vitis tricuspidata (Ampelopsis 
Veitehii), one reason probably being that the foliage 
does not assume the brilliant red colouration of those 
species in autumn. The foliage is, however, very 
ample, beautiful, and of a rich glossy green ; each leaf 
is bipinnate, with ovate, acute, coarsely serrated leaflets. 
The flowers are small, green, and of no importance, 
succeeded by globose berries, but which are not freely 
produced in this country as a rule. During the 
summer months growth proceeds with great rapidity, 
so that whether planted against a wall or trained over 
an arbour or fence, a large space is quickly covered. 
It is therefore a woody climber of great beauty, whose 
value for the above-mentioned purposes can hardly be 
over-estimated. Being quite hardy it is a great pity it 
is not more largely utilised. Some fine plants of it 
may be seen on an east aspect wall in the gardens of 
the Royal Horticultural Society at Chiswick. 
Peach, Early SUver.—Mr. P. W. Fairgrieve, gar¬ 
dener to the Dowager Duchess of Athol, Dunkeld, one of 
the most reliable authorities on hardy fruit in Scotland, 
said, in conversation at the recent Edinburgh show, 
that as a Peach of general usefulness he regarded the 
above as the best variety in cultivation. A cor¬ 
respondent has ordered it on his recommendation. 
We observe some of the English fruit lists describe it as 
requiring a warm climate, but its success in Perthshire 
does not corroborate this. 
Devizes Chrysanthemum Exhibition.—This is an¬ 
nounced to take place in the Corn Exchange on Tuesday, 
November 12th. This is to some extent a novel ex¬ 
hibition, because it is in aid of charitable work. There 
is in existence in Devizes a benevolent society that 
holds every year a bazaar and sale of useful articles, 
and in connection with this bazaar a competitive ex¬ 
hibition of Chrysanthemums, which draws enormously. 
Some of the best-trained plants we have ever seen are 
shown there, and the quality of the cut blooms is 
always high. By way of interesting the ladies, prizes 
are offered for baskets of hardy autumn foliage, with or 
without berries, and a great many pretty designs are 
staged. Prizes are also offered for nine plants of 
Primula sinensis, and some grand specimens are grown 
by Mr. Hale, gardener to C. N. May, Esq., one of the 
honorary secretaries. The arrangements of the ex¬ 
hibition are admirably carried out by Mr. Thomas 
King, The Gardens, Devizes Castle, an experienced 
hand at this kind of work. 
Collision on the Clyde and Drowning of a Gar¬ 
dener.—We learn with great regret of a collision on 
the Clyde between the Caledonian Railway steamer, 
Madge Wildfire, and the steam yacht, Osprey, whereby 
the former struck the latter amidships, cutting her in 
two, with the result that three men were drowned. 
One of these was Mr. R, C. Fraser, gardener to R. B. 
White, Esq., of Arddarroch House, Loch Long, N.B. 
The steam yacht was the property of the latter, and on 
Saturday last (28 th September) the skipper waited at 
Greenock for the arrival of the train from Glasgow 
which contained two passengers for him, namely, 
Mr. W. Hall, of Upper Tulse Hill Road, Brixton, 
grower and trader in Orchids and Mr. Fraser above 
mentioned. They had not proceeded far on their 
way to Arddarroch House when the melancholy 
accident happened. Mr. Fraser was well known 
as an Orchid grower, and was formerly gardener 
to R. H. Measures, Esq., having charge of the 
splendid collection of Orchids at The Woodlands, 
Streatham Hill. He went to Arddarroch House only 
a year ago to take charge of the fine collection there. 
He was, therefore, well known to the fraternity about 
London and its neighbourhood, and his untimely death 
will be much deplored in gardening circles. Both 
leave wives, and there are some children. 
-- 
THE MADAGASCAR PERI¬ 
WINKLE. 
Those who have not made an acquaintance with this 
old-fashioned plant, will see by our illustration that it 
is altogether different in habit from the other species in 
cultivation. It is the Vinca rosea of the botanist, and 
being a native of Madagascar and various other tropical 
countries it is more tender than the rest, but may be 
grown in either a stove or greenhouse. For many 
years past it' has been very popular as an exhibition 
plant, and large specimens may still be seen at flower 
shows during the summer months. Small plants will, 
however, flower freely and prove useful at this season, 
for so long as it is kept growing it will continue to 
flower. We have seen it in bloom in almost every 
month of the year. The oval or oblong-lanceolate 
leaves are always of a cheerful, light, shining green 
colour, and thickly clothe the short upright stems ; 
they require no training whatever if merely grown as 
small specimens. The flowers are produced in the 
axils of the upper leaves, and are salver-shaped, similar 
to those of the common Primrose, but have a longer 
and more slender tube, with a flat, lively, rose-coloured 
limb and a darker eye. There is a white variety (V. 
rosea alba) which has the segments pure white, but 
retains the deep rose-coloured eye, and is accordingly 
very pretty. 
