388 
THE GARDENING WORLD. 
February 22, 1890. 
the kingdom who are placed in similar circum¬ 
stances? These men are by training and 
demeanour gentlemen, and would scorn to 
adopt the practice so successful in one well- 
known case, where an appearance of poverty 
led to liberal “backsheesh.” But even amongst 
the ordinary or professional friends of many 
gardeners, and especially of those who have 
charge of attractive gardens, there is perhaps 
too much thoughtlessness in the appeals made 
to their hospitality. To wish to see beautiful 
gardens is right and proper, indeed is greatly 
to be commended, bnt some thought should 
be given to the pockets of the gardeners, and 
also to the severe strain that is put upon 
their domestic relations. 
Our late friend Wildsmith, all who visited 
Heckfield knew, was a staunch abstainer, and 
was therefore saved one expense, which presses 
very heavily upon many others. Well is it 
for the gardener, who, having regard to the 
strain put upon himself and connections which 
his position exposes him to, is able to exercise 
similar determination! Still, it is but too 
evident that gardeners in show places have a 
strong claim upon the liberality of their 
employers. 
he Royal Horticultural Society.— A 
very loud smile indeed went round the 
Council chamber, and suffused with a sardonic 
flush the faces of the Fellows present at the 
recent general meeting of the Royal Horti¬ 
cultural Society, when the president read out 
the treasurer’s estimate of what he regarded 
to be the pecuniary value of advantages offered 
to the Fellows for their annual subscriptions. 
How we have never wished in any way to 
deprecate the benefits which may result to 
Fellows when they join the society, if they 
will but make use of them. There are the 
numerous meetings at the Drill Hall, the 
grand Temple Show, the Chiswick Conference, 
the run of that garden, right to purchase fruit 
and flowers cheaply, use of the Lindley 
Library, and receipt of the society’s journal? 
These'are numerous privileges, but to set them 
at abnormal or fancy prices is absurd, because 
the Fellows’ estimate of their actual worth to 
them of necessity differs greatly from that 
put on them by the treasurer. 
The fact is, no one can avail him or herself 
of all the privileges, or if they did, it would 
only be at considerable cost for travelling, 
and that is an item which, to a great number 
of the Fellows, is treble and perhaps six times 
greater than their annual subscription. The 
treasurer laid great stress upon the value of 
the journal, putting quarterly issues at 7s. 6d. 
That is ridiculous. The best of our reviews 
can be had at 2s. 6d., compared with which 
for literary value the society’s journal is 
nowhere. Still farther, our horticultural press, 
through its weekly issues, so far discounts the 
journal that its actual worth is greatly 
detracted from. That few or no quotations 
are made from the journal by the gardening 
papers show that after all its information is 
regarded as stale. We cordially wish the 
society all prosperity and success, but strongly 
deprecate that meretricious value should be 
given to its advantages. It would be far wiser 
to take a prosaic view of them, and to invite 
outsiders to become Fellows on bona fide 
grounds, rather than for reasons which are 
romantic. 
oyal Aquarium Shows. —We have received 
^ from Mr. W. Holmes, the superintendent 
of the series of floral and fruit exhibitions 
to be held in the Westminster Aquarium 
during the present year, the schedule of classes 
and prizes. That the series ought to produce 
some capital exhibitions there can be no doubt, 
and as attractions may prove formidable 
rivals to the meetings of the Royal Horticul¬ 
tural Society. There are no less than nine 
exhibitions provided for, commencing next 
month, and running through April, May, June, 
July, September, October, Rovember, and 
January of next year. It is truly astounding 
to find tickets available for the series of the 
nine exhibitions at the remarkably low price 
of Is. 6 d. We should think that thousands 
of these scries tickets will be purchased, as 
it is the cheapest 7s. 6d. worth, allied to 
other attractions, ever put before the public. 
Of course three of the exhibitions include 
those of the Rational Chrysanthemum Society, 
to which other classes ore added. We hope 
that the low offer of admission to this series 
of nine shows will not militate against sub¬ 
scriptions to the Rational Chrysanthemum 
Society also; but it is obvious that subscribers 
to the series are getting, for the Rational 
Society’s three shows, admission at a wonderful 
low rate, as compared with the ordinary annual 
subscription. 
The March exhibition will be devoted to 
forced and hardy spring flowers, and should 
be a very beautiful one. At the end of April 
comes what may prove to be largely a re-hash 
of the Auricula show at the Drill Hall. May 
gives us a variety show—a week before the 
R. H. S. Temple show—but, oddly enough, 
Orchids, just then in their prime, are not 
catered for. The end of June furnishes 
a grand Rose competition and the new 
Pink Society’s exhibition. July will furnish 
Carnations and Begonias ; September, Chry¬ 
santhemums and Dahlias ; October, fruit and 
Chrysanthemums; Rovember, the grand 
Chrysanthemum Centenary exhibition; and 
January, late Chrysanthemums and other 
winter flowers. 
-- 
Gardening Appointments.—Air. Want, as gardener 
to F. Wigan, Esq., Clare Lawn, East Sheen, Surrey, 
in succession to Mr. East, who has left to go into 
business. Mr. Alfred Waters, of Farington House, 
Preston, as gardener to Captain Hopwood, Hopwood 
Hall, Middleton. 
Gardeners’ Royal Benevolent Institution.—It has 
been definitively arranged that the 51st anniversary 
dinner of this institution shall take place on Thursday, 
the 12th of June, at the Albion, Aldersgate Street, upon 
which occasion Mr. Harry J. Yeitch, the treasurer, will 
preside. 
Presentation to Mr. AYaters.—Previous to leaving 
Preston to take up his duties at Hopwood Hall, Mr. 
A. AYaters was presented by his gardening friends in 
the district with a handsome timepiece, as a mark of 
their esteem and regard. The services rendered by 
Mr. AVaters at the monthly gardeners’ meetings were 
very highly appreciated, and much regret was felt by 
all that that assistance could no longer be rendered. 
Mr. Waters suitably acknowledged the compliment. 
Gishurstine.—At this time, when catching cold is to 
be avoided, one means of prevention is to guard against 
damp feet. Gishurstine, manufactured by Price’s 
Patent Candle Company, has for some time been 
largely used by sportsmen on their shooting and fishing 
boots, and is now being applied to walking boots and 
shoes. It has been found that applied even only to the 
soles of ladies’ boots prevents damp reaching the feet. 
Dahlias with Purple Foliage.—About thirty years 
ago there existed in Germany a Dahlia named Deutsche 
Hoffnung, having dark purple foliage, and flowers the 
colour of yellow leather. This Dahlia seems to have 
disappeared, but amongst recent sowings of the single- 
flowered D. gracilis, seedlings have appeared with dark 
purple foliage, recalling that of the lost variety above 
mentioned. Already there are four varieties charac¬ 
terised by similar foliage, but with flowers of different 
colours. 
The Chrysanthemum Centenary Festival.—At a 
meeting of the General Committee of the National 
Chrysanthemum Society on Monday evening, the 
schedule of prizes to be offered at the Centenary Fete 
in November next was passed. Arrangements have 
been made for some sixty-seven classes, the first and 
foremost of which is the grand centenary class for 
forty-eight blooms, twenty-four Japanese, and twenty- 
four incurved, all distinct, the prizes in which will 
be £25, £20, £15, £10, and £5—the largest amount 
ever offered in a single competition for cut blooms. 
Each exhibitor in this class will also be presented with 
a Bronze Centenary Medal. 
Presentation to Mr. D. East.—Last Saturday after¬ 
noon the servants. including the gardeners and labourers, 
in the employ of F. Wigan, Esq., Clare Lawn, East 
Sheen, assembled for the purpose of presenting Air. 
D. East, the gardener, with a handsome marble clock 
on the occasion of his leaving Clare Lawn to embark 
in a new sphere of life. The presentation was made in 
feeling terms, in the names of the subscribers, as being 
a token of esteem and goodwill on parting with an old 
master and friend. Mr. East, who had been in the 
service of the family for close upon twenty-three years, 
gratefully expressed his acknowledgments of the kindly 
gift. 
Monument to the Memory of Benedict Roezl.—The 
name of this traveller and collector is well known in 
this country, as well as on the Continent, for the 
numerous introductions which he made of Orchids and 
other plants of botanical or horticultural value. On 
his return to his native country he did not long enjoy 
his well-earned repose, but succumbed to the conse¬ 
quences of the fatigues and privations which he endured 
during his travels. His countrymen have resolved to 
erect a monument to his memory in the town of Prague, 
Bohemia. The initiative is due to M. Fr. Thomayer, a 
gardener of that place, and editor of Casopis Zahrad- 
niker, who has constituted an international committee 
for the erection of the monument. Every subscriber of 
5 francs (about 4s.) receives a photograph of Roezl. 
Subscriptions are received at the office of L’Illustration 
Horticole, Rue Wiertz 79, Brussels. 
The Latest Big Tree. — If our American cousins 
could not provide the biggest things of every kind the 
world knows, we fear they would die of envy. That they 
have the biggest trees in the giants of the Mariposa 
Grove is true so far as the rest of the world is concerned, 
but now we find even these monsters exceeded by a 
Sequoia found recently about the head-waters of the 
Kaweah River, Tulare County, California, which is 
stated to have a stem, at some 6 ft. from the ground, 
of the astounding circumference of 167 ft., or a diameter 
of about 55 ft. That represents such enormous 
dimensions that the information is hard to swallow. 
Although still of great height, it is said to have long 
since lost its top. As a tree, this monster must be no 
mean rival of the Eiffel Tower, and a long way more 
interesting. AVe should much like to see it. 
The Late Mr. Peter Henderson.—The last number 
of The American Florist, to hand, contains a portrait 
and several eulogistic obituary notices of the late Mr. 
Peter Henderson, the announcement of whose some¬ 
what sudden death on January 17th, in his 67th year, 
was a great shock to thousands of his friends and 
acquaintances in the States, as it will be to his many 
friends in Europe. Mr. Henderson, who was a native 
of Scotland, went to America when a young man, and 
started in business in Jersey City as a market gardener 
and florist, and soon acquired a high reputation as a 
trader, and took a strong lead in the development of 
horticulture in his adopted country. 
Novel Method of Fumigating Greenhouses. — A 
curious method of fumigation, pursued by Mons. C. 
Roman, is recorded in L'Orchidophile. A cylindrical 
block of cast iron, about 9 ins. high and 6J ins. in 
diameter, and furnished with a ring at one end, is put 
into a furnace until it begins to get red hot. Then 
it is placed upon a flat vessel in the hothouse to be 
fumigated, and a tin can or other vessel filled with 
tobacco juice, and having a small hole pierced in the 
bottom of it, is suspended above the block of iron. 
The liquid drops gently upon the heated block. The 
vapour rises very gently without necessitating the 
presence of the gardener. The size of the block of iron 
is calculated according to the quantity of liquid used. 
A litre of nicotine augmented with half a litre of water 
is vapourised by the block in twenty minutes. That 
quantity suffices for a greenhouse of about 60 cubic 
yards, or somewhat over. A litre is a little less than 
a quart of our measure. 
A Virulent Orchid Disease.—At the last meeting of 
the Scientific Committee Mr. D. Morris exhibited 
several specimens of a Cattleya attacked by a fungoid 
disease of apparently a very virulent character. From 
a specimen received about a fortnight ago, Mr. Massee, 
at Kew, had infected two or three healthy plants, and 
in three days the whole of the pseudo-bulbs had become 
diseased. Specimens of similarly affected plants were 
sent by Mr. James Douglas, from a gardener who was 
anxious to know if there was any remedy, as he feared 
his collection was in danger of being destroyed. The 
committee was of opinion that the disease, whatever 
the cause, was of a very virulent character. It was 
not the ordinary “spot” so well known to Orchid 
growers. The specimens were referred to Professor 
Marshall AA’ard, who has already given some attention 
to the subject. 
