272 
THE GARDENING WORLD. 
December 80, 1893. 
In the gardening ranks none of special 
note have fallen, but still many have dis¬ 
appeared who could ill be spared. Let ns 
hope that their places may be as ably and 
worthily filled. The year has not been 
distinguished by any special horticultural 
event. There have been numerous and 
very fine exhibitions, some above, some 
below the average, but on the whole it 
has been a normal time. Happily horti¬ 
culture does not depend for its expansion 
on competitive exhibitions. Other and 
greater causes are operating to help its 
advancement, especially so being the greater 
spread of education and the development 
of cultured tastes and habits amongst the 
people. 
1894. —We will not rush hurriedly into 
ecstasy, and shout “hail, new year.” 
The time for all that nonsense has passed, 
the age is now more practical and prosaic, 
and has, or rather is, learning to estimate 
each succeeding year at its proper value. 
What most of us feel is that each new year 
brings its anxieties, its labours, its respon¬ 
sibilities, and these are found weightier to 
the average than are the joys which some 
enthusiasts so effusively anticipate, and so 
sadly fail to realise. It is a pity that so 
many persons yet should make fools of 
themselves over the birth of the new 5'ear 
as they do, for one year is after all but like 
another as two peas, and so the years will 
be as long as time endures. 
After all there can be no doubt but that 
some sort of inspiration comes to the human 
mind with the new year, because it marks 
the period of change, though it be but very 
slow, from winter’s depth to spring's first 
breaking. W'^e all, but especially those en¬ 
gaged in gardening, realise that the turn in 
the tide of the seasons has come which 
will assuredly lead on to the period of 
beauty, of warmth, and of productiveness, 
and in that respect we are justified in so 
far hailing the new year, because it takes 
us further from winter and nearer to sum¬ 
mer. Whilst most heartily and truly we 
wish for all our readers and friends a 
prosperous year—one, indeed, of compara¬ 
tive health and happiness—we know but 
too well how inoperative human wishes 
are. But we may wish so much all the 
same. It is so much better to put aside 
the customary glamour that surrounds the 
season and be severely practical. 
After so abnormal a season as the past 
one has been, we expect that of 1894 
be of a very prosaic character, but these 
normal or prosaic seasons are the best for 
us all. There are no special events of 
more than ordinary interest looming in the 
near future. We shall keep rubbing along 
as usual, everyone doing their best. More 
than that man or woman can hardly do, 
but if so much be done in all directions, 
high and low, 1894 will not have been born 
or have existed in vain. Again and again 
do we wish most heartily a happy and pros¬ 
perous new year. 
INTER Flowers. —Whilst there has 
been, thanks to the open weather, so 
great an abundance of flowers in the mar¬ 
kets, there is some reason to believe that 
the lowness of prices complained of is due 
first to the great concentration of the 
abundance of bloom on the Christmas 
season, and secondly to the wonderful 
counter attractions presented on every 
hand at this time of the year, for solicita¬ 
tions to spend money in a thousand other 
ways meet us on every side. Some growers 
have not had much cause for complaint, 
others have had much to find fault with, 
but then quality has much to do with 
the pecuniary result, and sometimes choice 
of market. 
The winter so far has been wonderfully 
favourable to late Chrysanthemums. There 
has l)een no damping, and all summer fore¬ 
casts as to unduly early blooming have been 
falsified. Of course everybody now takes 
to growing Chrysanthemums for market, 
hence there has been a perfect flood of 
bloom on sale. It is perhaps rather a pity 
in this respect that the plants can be so 
easily done, for they have literally become 
everybody's, and it is seen in some direc¬ 
tions just as easy to produce ten thousand 
as it is a few hundred. Still the Chrysan¬ 
themum has proved to be a wonderful aid to 
the grower and the salesman. The flowers 
being plentiful and cheap have brought 
them within the reach of the poorest, and 
it is indeed a satisfaction to know that 
merely in the great employment ol labour 
required, apart from the joy they carry at 
this dull period of the year into myriads of 
homes, our market flower growers at 
least can say that they, during the great 
winter festive season, have done nothing 
to promote dissipation, but have rather 
aided to that which is the reverse. 
With such open weather we seem to 
feel as if the Squill, the Snowdrop, and 
the Crocus should be blooming. At least 
these bulbs must be becoming restless. 
The White Hellebores, however, are na¬ 
turally blooming and [only needing some 
little shelter from rain to be pure and beau¬ 
tiful. Would that we had more of such 
hardy blooming mid-winter flowers. Violets 
in frames are still plentiful, and the Violet 
will remain, as it were, for ever a highly- 
favoured flower. As to forced flowers of 
many kinds, we And these in rich profu¬ 
sion, though none perhaps are more lovely. 
Oddly enough some of our simplest and 
hardiest of flowers still remain the most 
popular with everybody. 
The Reigate Rose Show has been fixed for July 4th, 
1894. when it will be held in conjunction with the 
annual exhibition of the Reigate Cottage Gardeners’ 
Society. 
Death of Mr. Spode.—We regret to learn of the 
death at Brighton, on the 22nd inst., of Mr. Josiah 
Spode, of Hawkesyard Park, Rugeley, aged 70. Mr. 
Spode was a liberal patron of horticulture, and the 
fine specimen stove and greenhouse plants cultivated 
by his gardener, Mr. Chapman, have been a leading 
feature at the Botanic and other metropolitan shows 
for many years past. 
Gardeners’ Royal Benevolent Institution. — The 
annual general meeting of the subscribers to this 
Institution will be held at “ Simpson’s,” loi. Strand, 
W.C., on Wednesday, January 17th, at 3 p.m., when 
an election will take place for fifteen pensioners, three 
of whom it is proposed to place on the pension list 
in accordance with Rule III., Section 5. The re¬ 
maining twelve have to be selected from a list of 
thirty-six candidates. 
Dr. Fream, who has won for himself a position 
second to that of no one else in the country 
as a well-informed and most reliable writer on 
agricultural science and agricultural subjects gene¬ 
rally, has been appointed to the post of agricultural 
correspondent for The Times, in succession to Mr. H. 
F. Moore, late editor of The Mark Lane Express. 
Some two years ago. Dr. Fream was appointed 
editor of the Royal Agricultural Society’s Journal, 
which post he still holds with much acceptance to 
all concerned. 
The Fertilisers and Feeding Stuffs Act —In conse¬ 
quence of this Act, which comes into operation on 
January ist next, and which places upon County 
Councils the duty of protecting farmers from the 
sale of inferior manures and feeding stuffs, the High¬ 
land and Agricultural Society has decided that the 
grants hitherto given for analysis of manures and 
feeding stuffs through local analytical associations 
shall be discontinued after ist March next. 
The Potato Trade.—"An old Potato Grower.” 
questions the statement that has been generally made 
that there is a glut of potatos in South Lincolnshire. 
He says: "As an old potato grower of nearly fifty 
years standing, I should beg to contradict the state¬ 
ment. I should believe there is less by one to two 
tons per acre on the average than last year. Many 
did not grow until the middle of July, and did not 
get big enough,” 
Honour to Mr. F. Burvenick, Senr.—A Royal Resolu¬ 
tion of December 3rd, 1893, decreed the Civic Cross 
of the first-class to Mr. Burvenick, professor at the 
State School of Horticulture, Ghent, in recognition 
of the valued services he has rendered to the School 
during a career of more than 35 years. 
Technical Education in the North.—A most useful 
course of lectures in horticulture is now being given 
at different centres in Northumberland, under the 
auspices of the County Council. The course consists 
of four lectures, embracing instruction in all 
branches of a subject so necessary in rural districts, 
and illustrated by numerous diagrams and lantern 
slides. In the lecturer, Mr. Jas. Wilson, jun., 
F.R.H.S., St. Andrews, the Committee has chosen a 
man who combines theory and practice in such a 
way as to be able to overcome the prejudice which 
exists in many against the introduction of science 
into such a suhject.—Newcastle Daily Journal. 
The Royal Show at Cambridge.—The schedule of 
prizes issued by the Royal Agricultural Society for 
the show to be held at Cambridge from June 25th to 
29th contains classes for whole-fruit jams, bottled 
fruits, and preserved fruits for dessert purposes. 
The exhibits must have been prepared exclusively 
from fruit grown in the United Kingdom in the year 
1893, and not less than four nor more than twelve 
kinds of fruit must be shown in each exhibit. Each 
receptacle must contain not less than 2 lbs. and not 
more than 4 lbs. The exhibits must be contained in 
glass jars, bottles, or other transparent receptacles, 
which must be covered and labelled with the name 
of the fruit which they contain. No trade mark or 
trade label will be permitted on the receptacle. The 
exhibitor is to certify that the jams or preserved 
fruits exhibited are a fair sample of his own make 
of the season of 1893. The judges will be instructed 
to take into due consideration the appearance and 
suitableness of the receptacles in which the fruit, 
etc., is contained, the arrangements for excluding air, 
and general neatness. 
Raising Fallen Tre s.—Writing of the great 
damage done to trees in Scotland by the recent 
storm, a correspondent reminds landowners that 
prompt measurers will often save damaged trees 
from destruction. Where they have been blown 
over with a mass of soil attached to their roots, as is 
generally the case with conifers, they are easily re¬ 
placed in an upright position, and will grow and 
thrive as well as ever if the work is properly done, 
and precautions are taken to prevent the wind from 
swaying them too much. There is scarcely a well- 
managed domain in the country where some fine 
tree does not exist which has been upset by a storm, 
and restored again by the skill and ingenuity of 
those employed to carry out the work. As a notable 
instance of this, the writer cites a restoration of the 
fine old lime-tree avenue at Duns Castle, Berwick¬ 
shire, after many trees were upset in it by the Tay 
Bridge gale in 1879. The largest tree raised was 12 ft. 
6 in. girth at 6 ft. from the ground, and was com¬ 
puted to contain 300 cubic feet of timber; and all 
the trees varied in height between 70 and 80 ft. The 
avenue at the present day shows, after fourteen 
years, very little sign of the fearful damage it 
suffered in that memorable gale. 
Parona paniculata—a New Climber.—Mr. R. D. 
Hoyt, of the Exotic Nurseries, Seven Oaks, Florida, 
sends us a pretty and well preserved spray of this 
climber, with the following remarks: " The plant is a 
very strong climber and some of the panicles are 3 ft. 
long. It came from Cuba without name, and has 
just flowered. I find that flowers last several days 
after being cut, and as they are produced in the 
greatest profusion it might prove of value to florists.” 
The plant is, as stated above, Parona paniculata, 
and although our correspondent got it from Cuba, 
it is a native of the East Indies, and not of Cuba or 
any other of the West Indian Islands; undoubtedly 
it has been introduced there from tropical Asia, as 
several other plants have been. The plant is an 
annual fast growing, somewhat woody, twining, high 
climbing, downy vine, with ample much branched 
panicles of small, somewhat tubular, white flowers, 
and the leaves are cordate, 2 and to 3 and ij ins. 
