180 
THE GARDENING WORLD. 
November 23, 1889. 
materially affected, injuriously. AVe could no 
more exhibit such flowers of Etoile de Lyon as 
were the grand blooms Mr. Molyneux exhibited 
at Kingston the other day, or Mr. Cannell has 
shown, than we could, to use an old but still 
useful simile, drive six omnibuses abreast 
through Temple Bar. 
To exhibit these gigantic flowers in anything 
like suitable form, we should have to enlarge 
all our show flower boxes 6 ins. by 4 ins. at 
least, an appalling prospect all round. Probably 
that fact, and it is one which comes home to 
everyone, will, more strongly than any other 
reason, serve to check any anxiety to possess 
merely big flowers, and will, perhaps, lead to 
a greater desire for quality, as distinct from mere 
size. Mr. Molyneux’ blooms, measuring some 
12 ins. over, were, without exception, the 
finest of the new French giant yet seen, and 
they were beautifully coloured. In that 
respect the Hampshire grower is more fortunate 
than is the general body of those who have 
given the variety a trial. Its comparative 
uncertainty may therefore help to keep its 
growth within bounds. 
It would not be at all a bad idea were the 
National Society’s Committee to offer prizes 
for twelve Japanese blooms for size, and 
twelve ditto for quality; and let them^ be 
shown in their stands side by side. Were 
that course taken we should find all agreed 
on size, but not all on quality, and therefore 
it would be highly educational to secure the 
opinions, as to what is quality, of some of our 
leading growers. 
J Plants in Schools. — That was an exceed- 
1 ingly pretty practice described in our columns 
of last week in an extract from The Scotsman, 
from the pen of our esteemed northern friend, 
Mr. W. Thomson, of Clovenfords. It always 
has been the case—we suppose it always will 
be so too—that the Scotch people should have 
a higher appreciation of the value of education 
than is found in the south. It is very difficult 
to take any step in advance here without 
raising a senseless outcry against over-educa¬ 
tion ; and were the London School Board 
to propose following in the path of the Glasgow 
Board, and furnish plants to their numerous 
schools, the fiercest opposition would be raised 
against what should be so pleasing and accept¬ 
able a suggestion. 
We envy our northern friends their advanced 
knowledge and intelligence; but our back¬ 
ward condition is due relatively to that 
incapacity to realise the advantages of educa¬ 
tion which marks the average Briton. When 
all our schools are put under public control, 
then may we hope to see education presented 
in more attractive forms, and children taught 
that there are sermons in plants as valuable 
as may be found even in books. In some of our 
London schools the teachers, wishing to give 
their rooms a little air of the country, them¬ 
selves furnish a few plants, which are most 
scrupulously cared for by the children. In 
others the children themselves bring a few 
plants, such as they are, which remain until 
holidays intervene, when they are taken home 
till school begins again. 
We saw recently in a western district school 
a plant of Tradescantia trained up to the 
window, not a happy selection or method of 
culture, but a few little Musks, Creeping 
Jennys, Aspidistras, Petunias, &c., would be 
most welcome were only a dozen allotted to 
each room. If those who have plants to spare 
in abundance would visit some of our schools 
they would the sooner realise the need for 
some little charm being added to school life. 
- ~ >X< ~ - 
Glasgow anti West of Scotland Horticultural 
Society.—The directors of this society announce that 
they have decided to hold their next spring show in the 
City Hall, Candleriggs, on March 26th, 1890 ; and that 
the society’s annual autumn exhibition will be held at 
the same place on September 3rd and 4th, 1890. 
A New Copper Label.—A firm of seedsmen in 
Philadelphia, U.S.A., is introducing a new plant 
label, made of prepared copper, very thin, and cut 
with two free ends for tying. The material is said to 
he so thin, soft and pliable, that any name can easily 
be indented upon it with a pointed instrument, and it 
cannot be obliterated except by hammering. 
The Horticultural College, Swanley.—We learn 
from the daily papers that the Board of Agriculture has 
awarded a'Gcvernment grant to the Horticultural 
College at Swanley, after inspecting the work of that 
institution, as carried on under the chairmanship of 
Mr. J. C. Johnson, J.P., ex-Mayor of Newcastle, &c. 
Gardening Engagements.—Mr. William Little, 
gardener to Albert Putter, Esq., Kinmouth, Perth, as 
gardener to Lady Aylmer, Donadea Castle, co. Kildare, 
Ireland. Mr. J. Wyke, late gardener at Eccleshall 
Gardens, Staffordshire, as gardener and steward to 
E. P. Westby, Esq., Roebuck Castle, Dundrum, near 
Dublin. Mr. Jeffery, many years gardener at Conduit 
Lodge, Blackheath, as gardener to Mrs. Crundwell, 
The Moat, Eltham, Kent. 
Gardeners’ Royal Benevolent Institution. — At a 
meeting of the committee held on the 19 th inst., it was 
determined to add fifteen pensioners to the list in 
January next ; six without election, in accordance with 
Rule vi., and nine by election, out of an accepted list 
of twenty-five candidates. The committee also resolved 
that a farther sum of .£500 should be invested in the 
Two and three-quarter Per Cent Stock, making the 
total amount of the Reserve Fund £22,500. 
The Lombardy Poplar.—In the course of a recent 
lecture on sports before the Ealing Gardeners’ Mutual 
Improvement Society, Dr. Masters alluded to the 
Lombardy Poplar (P. nigra pyramidalis) as affording an 
illustration of variations produced by stages of growth. 
He mentioned that the Lombardy Poplar is simply a 
fastigiate and Cypress-like form of growth of our 
English Black Poplar, P. nigra. It is only natural 
that many should have assumed it to be a distinct 
species. The tall, adpressed, columnar shape of the 
tree forms a striking feature in our landscapes where it 
is sparingly used ; but on the Continent, where it forms 
immensely long avenues bordering intolerably straight 
roads, it becomes wearisome and monotonous in the 
extreme. 
Gunnera scabra.—At the Exeter Chrysanthemum 
Show, last week, Messrs. R. Veitch & Son showed a fine 
spike of fruit of Gunnera scabra, grown by Major Foster, 
of Cullompton. This plant does well in the west of 
England, and, apart from its interesting fruit, is well 
worth growing for its noble foliage. By the side of a 
pond or a piece of ornamental water it is very happy, 
and has a rugged beauty all its own. It is a pity it is 
not oftener seen. The same gentleman exhibited three 
cobs of Maize as ripe and full grained as if they had 
been grown abroad. Considering that in the young 
state the cobs are a delicious vegetable, and that it 
makes a very ornamental plant, it is well worthy of a 
a place in any garden—large or small. 
Mr. W. H. Rogers, of Southampton.—We are 
pleased to learn that so excellent a member of the 
nursery trade as is Mr. W. H. Rogers, J.P., the well- 
known nurseryman, of Red Lodge, Bassett, South¬ 
ampton, has been, by a large majority of his townsmen 
in the corporation, elected an alderman, a post he will 
hold for the next six years. Some day, perhaps, we 
may see a public dinner promoted by the Royal Horti¬ 
cultural Society or the London trade, to which every 
member of the seed or nursery trade or gardener in the 
kingdom holding public office shall be invited. It 
would, indeed, be a gratifying reunion, and one which 
many would like to join. We could then heartily 
welcome the Mayor of Worcester, Alderman Rogers, 
and some others, in such a fashion as to let 
them realise that horticulturists honoured in their 
native towns or districts were not less honoured by their 
fellows in the busy metropolis. 
Berlin Chrysanthemum Show.—The Berlin show 
was held on the 15th, 16th and 17th instant, in 
the handsome Floral Hall, Charlottenberg. There was 
a good programme, including classes for exhibition 
plants, best varieties for cut blooms, best for market 
work, &c. The competition was not strong, there 
being only sixteen exhibitors. The plants certainly 
looked bad, probably from the lack of good soil, 
English loam beiDg unknown in Berlin ; still some fair 
blooms were obtained. By far the best -were those of 
Carl Spindler, Esq. (gardener, Mr. Weber 1 ), of Spinders- 
feld, who carried off the Gold Medal with a group of 
about 150 plants, with some very fair blooms. The 
group included Lady Selborne, Feter the Great, 
Cullingfordi, Empress of India, M. Mousillae, Yal 
d’Andorre, Amy Furze, Hiver Fleuri, C. Wagstaff, 
Mon. Tarin, Bouquet Fait, Edwin Molyneux, and Belle 
Paule. He also had some good cut blooms. Messrs. 
Haage k Schmidt, Erfurt, also exhibited some fair cut 
flowers, but the visitors all drifted towards a table on 
which some cut blooms were staged, and which were the 
best in the show, but they proved to be English, and 
from the firm of Messrs. Reid & Bornemann, of Syden¬ 
ham, London. 
The Mildness of the Season.—The exceptionally 
mild nature of the season, not only at present, but for 
some considerable time past has had the effect of pro¬ 
longing the flowering period of some things and of 
starting others into bloom earlier than usual. Various 
pompon, Japanese, and other Chrysanthemums in 
villa and public gardens are quite gay, as well as 
Wallflowers, Stocks, Daisies, Christmas and Lenten 
Roses, Japan Anemones, Heaths, Ranunculus cortuste- 
folius, Phlomis fruticosa, Arabis procurrens, Phlox 
repens, Primroses, Auriculas, Erigeron philadelphieus, 
E. mucronatus, perennial Asters, common Marigolds, 
Polygonum vaccinhefolium, Helianthus multiflorus 
plenus, Caltha palustris flore pleno, and Schizostylis 
coccinea. The last named is quite in season, and seems 
to be enjoying the cool but mild weather, although it 
is a native of the Transvaal in the sunny south of 
Africa. Marsh Marigold (Caltha palustris) does not 
usually flower till late in spring, and is therefore 
greatly out of season. Another aquatic—namely, 
Aponogeton distachyon, also seems to enjoy the weather 
in open-air tanks. 
The Winter Motli.—Under this heading a corre¬ 
spondent of the Hunts County News calls the attention 
of fruit growers to the Cheimatobia brumata, which is 
making its appearance on standard fruit trees, and 
which is very destructive to the blossom and young 
leaves. “ To give an idea how they increase in numbers 
I caught a female which had 260 eggs in it, and I have 
seen as many as 200 of these destructive insects caught 
on one Apple tree in one night. When newly hatched 
in spring they are of a grayish colour, and not thicker 
than a horse’s hair, but when fully grown they are 
yellowish green, about f in. in length. About the end 
of May they let themselves down by a thread, when they 
attack Gooseberries and eat holes in them, thus causing 
them to drop off; the crops have been known this 
season to have been destroyed in less than a week. 
Afterwards they go into the soil and lay in a pupa 
state until the following autumn, when they appear as 
a moth in their perfect form. As the female is wingless 
and has to crawl up the stem of the tree to deposit her 
eggs in the fruit buds, I have tried various methods, 
but the best one is to paint a band of composition 
about 3 ins. in width around the stem of the tree, and 
as they crawl up they are caught in it and so destroyed. 
I may add that the birds cannot destroy the pests, as 
they do not appear in the day, but come up from the 
soil at night time, when you can watch them at their 
work.” 
The Hall and Fraser Memorial.—Below we give 
the fifth list of subscriptions announced up to date, 
which brings the amount up to over £397. 
Messrs. Sander & Co. 
Mrs. Robert Crystal, Glasgow 
F. Tautz, Esq., Studley House 
John Cowan, Esq. ... 
Chas. Toope, Esq., Stepney 
Mr. W. Osborne, Fota Island 
Mr. John Seden 
Mr. Howell. 
“W. R.” ... . 
Mr. W. White, Dorking ... 
Mr. E. Jenkins . 
£ s. d. 
5 0 0 
5 0 0 
2 0 0 
1 1 0 
1 0 0 
10 0 
0 10 6 
0 10 6 
0 10 0 
0 5 0 
0 5 0 
Collected by Mr. H. G. Smyth, at the 
N.C.S. Show, Royal Aquarium— 
G. Mayor, Esq. 
Mr. W. Holmes . 
Mr. W. Howe . 
Mr. Crute ... ... 
Mr. F. Wilson 
Mr. J. Roberts . 
“ J. H. W.” . 
Mr. N. Davis 
Mr. Dow . . 
Mr. Ballantine . 
Mr. S. Deards 
Mr. H. T. Brangwin . 
Mr. W. May... 
Mr. J. Reynolds . 
“A. B.” . 
“J. M.” . 
Mr. Jos. Arnold 
2 2 0 
0 5 0 
0 2 6 
0 2 6 
0 2 6 
0 2 6 
0 10 
0 5 0 
0 2 0 
0 2 6 
0 2 6 
0 2 0 
0 2 0 
0 2 0 
0 2 0 
0 2 0 
0 2 6 
Second list of subscription sent by 
Mr. W. Thomson, jun., Cloven¬ 
fords— 
John Gair, Esq., Falkirk... ...5 5 0 
Messrs. Austin & McAslan, Glasgow 3 0 0 
AY. Saunderson, Edinburgh ... 1 1 0 
Messrs. Ireland & Thomson, Edin¬ 
burgh ... ... ... ...110 
Mr. Keeling, Riding Mill... ... 0 10 0 
W. Little, Esq., Galashiels ... 0 5 0 
Dr. Paterson, Bridge of Allan 
(second list) ... ... ... 0 15 6 
Mr. D. Mitchell, Comely Bank, 
Edinburgh ... ... ...10 0 
