February 17, 1894. 
THE GARDENING WORLD. 
388 
about 500 names on the books. Regarding the finan¬ 
cial position of the association, that also was fairly 
satisfactory. The lectures and papers given at the 
monthly meetings during the year had been re¬ 
markably good, and to each of the gentlemen who 
had read papers thanks were due, for so kindly 
coming forward to assist in rendering the meetings 
interesting ; but especially so to Dr. Griffiths for his 
able discourse on chemical manures. The exhibitions 
during the year had been good, and the competition 
keen, particularly for the special prizes, to the donors 
of which the committee expressed their thanks. The 
Saturday afternoon " outings ” had not been so well 
attended as those of the previous year, but some 
very pleasant visits had been made to various nur¬ 
series. Their Liverpool branch, they were glad to 
report, was prospering, and according to the recently- 
issued annual statement, the financial position was 
thoroughly sound. The committee learn with regret, 
however, of the retirement of Mr. Butcher as secre¬ 
tary of that branch, that gentleman leaving the 
district. There had been one more society affiliated 
to them during the year, and the old ones were still 
attached to them. It was particularly gratifying to 
hear from the last report of the affiliated society in 
Tasmania that amateur gardening was making great 
progress at the antipodes. The annual dinner held 
at the Holborn Restaurant in December was well 
attended, and a most enjoyable evening was spent. 
The Chairman, in proposing the adoption of the 
report, remarked that it would be seen from what 
had been read that the association was in a fairly 
satisfactory condition. It was gratifying to be able 
to provide monthly exhibitions, although he had no 
doubt some competitors occasionally went away dis¬ 
appointed. This sort of thing, how'ever, occurred in 
all parts, and it was impossible to adjudicate so that 
all exhibitors won prizes. He thought that the 
gentlemen who kindly officiated at their exhibitions 
discharged their duties in an able and satisfactory 
manner. 
Mr. Needs, in reading the balance-sheet, remarked 
that although the figures may appear small a vast 
amount of work had been done. The total receipts 
for the past year were/72 os. 4d., and the expendi¬ 
ture £']\ 5s. 6d., leaving a cash balance of 14s. lod., 
but other assets amounting to £(> 4s. 2d. On being 
put to the meeting, the report and balance-sheet were 
unanimously adopted. 
Mr. Bateman then rose and said he had a pleasant 
duty to perform, namely, in asking Mr. Sanders to 
accept a fellowship of the association, which the 
committee had decided to confer upon him in recog¬ 
nition of his services to horticulture. In doing this 
Mr. Bateman very appropriately likened the incep¬ 
tion, of the N.A.G.A. and its progress to the sowing 
of a seed and the growth of the resultant plant. 
Mr. Sanders observed that although taken by sur¬ 
prise in this matter, he should have much pleasure 
in accepting this honour, and should always retain 
it as a valuable memento of his connection with the 
association. 
After votes of thanks were accorded the chairman, 
the auditors (Messrs. Wilson and Parker), Mr. Sach, 
for so generously presenting a silver challenge cup, 
and others officially connected with the Association, 
Mr. G. W. Cocke brought forward his resolution 
regarding the increase in the subscriptions. The 
original proposition was that the annual Subscrip¬ 
tion be 5s. for each member residing within a radius 
of twenty miles of Charing Cross. This, however, 
the meeting allowed Mr. Cooke to withdraw, and 
bring forward a substitute to the effect that for 1894 
and hereafter the annual subscription for each mem¬ 
ber be not less than 2s. 6d. or more than los., pay¬ 
able in advance. The proposer of this resolution 
pointed out the absolute necessity of increasing the 
funds of the Association, and by adopting the move¬ 
ment this could be accomplished bethought without 
any detriment. There were many members who 
would willingly give more than 2S. 6d. per year; and 
at the same time there were others, perhaps, who 
for obvious reasons preferred the limited sum. 
These members, however, were, or rather would be, 
on an equal footing, and be entitled to exactly the 
same privileges as those who paid the larger 
amount. His sole purpose in bringing forward this 
motion was to place the Association on a firm basis, 
and he ventured to say that no other society in the 
kingdom gave so much in return for 2S. 6d.—the 
privileges enjoyed by the members were honestly 
worth the proposed maximum subscription. 
Mr. Needs seconded the proposition, but ad¬ 
mitted -that personally he would have preferred 
the original one brought forward. He thought 
something, however, should be done, and would 
gladly support anything to gain that end. Mr. 
Sinclair and one or two other gentlemen strongly 
opposed the motion, but on being put to the meet¬ 
ing it was unanimously carried, the voting being 48 
for the resolution, and eight against it. 
The re-election of officers for the present year 
followed. Mr. T. W. Sanders was voted to be 
president; Mr. D. B. Crane, honorary secretary; 
and Mr. Needs, as honorary treasurer, with the 
usual complement of committeemen. 
-- 
TWO GREENHOUSE FAVOURITES. 
There are several of the Boronias which cannot be 
described as showy, but in some cases their other 
qualities more than compensate for any deficiency 
on the score of mere display. The sub globose, 
drooping flowers of B. megastigma are of a dull 
brownish purple externally, and yellow within. 
Visitors to a greenhouse or conservatory, where it is 
grown, would be apt to overlook the plant entirely, 
were they not irresistibly drawn to the spot from 
whence a powerful and delicious odour is emanating. 
The figure on the left of the accompanying illustra¬ 
tion will give an idea of the character of the 
flowers and leafy shoots of the plant. P'igure No. 2 
(i) Boroxia megajtigma and (2) B. heterophylla. 
represents B. heterophylla, a very graceful and showy 
plant. The drooping clusters of rich carmine 
flowers are produced in great quantity all along the 
shoots of the previous year, and keep up a most 
attractive display from February to April. Both 
are natives of South-western Australia, and are per¬ 
fectly at home in a greenhouse where the tempera¬ 
ture is kept between 45° and 50° while the plants are 
in bloom. It is to be hoped that these beautiful 
New Holland plants will enjoy in the near future a 
wide sphere of usefulness. 
* 1 '*- 
SOIL FOR TOMATOS. 
Now that we shall soon be busy among these plants, 
a few words on the different sorts of compost used 
may not be out of place. I noticed an inquiry 
lately as to whether Tomato borders should be re¬ 
newed every year. The questioner said it seemed to 
be such a great labour to change the soil yearly, and 
added that he had put in fresh scil last year, and 
had had a successful crop. Now I would advise 
him and all others who may be of the same way of 
thinking, to give up all thoughts of saving a bit of 
labour, and to set to work manfuUy, and get the jcb 
done. It is surprising what an amount of such work 
can be got through if a man has good tools, and his 
mind is in his work. 
Renewing the soil for Tomatos is one of the main 
points which lead on to success, and if a grower has 
a clear conscience that he has done his best in this 
direction, it will ease his mind somewhat, should 
anything go wrong with the crop after planting. 
Some growers advocate a poor soil and others a rich 
one for Tomatos, and this difference of opinion is no 
doubt puzzling to the inexperienced beginners—when 
doctors differ who shall decide. Well, what I 
should like to make clear to the novice is this, that 
however good loam may be when fresh, after a time 
it loses its fibrous character, thus rendering it to a great 
extent useless for crops that require the best of food. 
Now Tomatos require fresh turfy loam, taken up to 
the depth of 4 in. or 5 in , and chopped into nice 
workable pieces. Into this when placed firmly round 
the roots of the plants the roots will run freely, and 
the plants will bear abundantly. Thus, instead of 
having a border that is sour, heavy, and rendere 
devoid of nutriment through heavy waterings, 
you will have one that is sweet, affording all thefocd 
that is required to induce fruitfulness, and which 
assuredly will yield a satisfactory return for the 
labour involved.— T. G. Pettinger, Straivben-y Dale 
Nursery, Harrowgate. 
ON EXPERIMENTS WITH 
CHRYSANTHEMUMS.* 
In my previous paper on experiments with Chrysan¬ 
themums [see p. 389, volume ix.], I mentioned 
that May and June were the only months of the year 
that I had failed in blooming the Chrysanthemum. 
But last year I filled up this gap, so that there was 
not a month, not a week, no not a day of 1893, but 
what I could have cut a bouquet of Chrysanthemums. 
Indeed, the only thing that troubles me cow is, that 
I have only twelve short months to grow them, for 
I find that I could just as easily do a year of say 15 
or 18 months. 
As I explained in my last paper how I got flowers 
in all the other months of the year, I will at present 
confine myself to May and June flowers. In 
December, ,1892, and January, 1893, I had a good 
many plants set with flower buds more than what I 
wanted to bloom at any one time, and as what I was 
aiming at was to find out if it were possible to keep 
up a continuous supply of this the most useful deco¬ 
rative flower that we possess, I thought I would have 
another try for May and June Chrysanthemums. 
Amongst those selected for the experiment were the 
following varieties. Mdlle. Melanie Fabre, Puritan, 
Sunflower, Mrs. Irving Clark, W. W. Coles, Edwin 
Molyneux, Mons. Freeman, Wagstaff, Annie Clibran, 
M. Leroy, Viviand Morel, Stanstead White, and 
Mdlle. Lacroix. Most of these would have bloomed 
in the latter end of January and February, so I 
nipped off the buds with about six inches of stem, 
so as to get a strong break. They soon made young 
wood, which I thinned out where required, and grew 
them on with as much air and light as I could give 
them. Most of them flowered in May and June. 
And many of the flowers were as large as exhibition 
blooms, Viviand Morel, and Etoile de Lyon came 
almost pure white. One would have thought that 
with so much air and sunshine the colour would 
have been deeper than in winter flowers. The 
yellows and the whites came quite true, and were in 
every way equal to winter flowers. 
I had tried this experiment before and failed, but 
at that time I pinched in October, and instead of 
making young wood, most of them set small flower 
buds at once, as if determined to flower before the 
year was out. I don’t mean to say that this is the 
only way of getting May and June Chrysanthemums, 
but it is the only way that I have been able to get 
them. 
This year I am trying what can be done with the 
Desgrange family, as I think a great deal of Madame 
and her sports. But there is another use that the 
summer-flowering of the Chrysanthemum might be 
put to, and that is, using some of them for seed. I 
found plenty of pollen on most of them. And I 
would say that Chrysanthemums brought into flower 
in this country in May or June would ripen seed 
with almost any country in the world. But this 
idea is not all my own, so I will tell you how I came 
to think of it. Most of you no doubt know that 
the honey of some flowers makes bees tipsy. Well, 
on the first Sunday of last May, I found myself 
among my blooming Chrysanthemums, when I 
heard the welcome sound of a bee. It was not long 
in finding its way in at one of the ventilators. And 
a big beauty it was, what in some parts of Scotland 
is called a “ ganny nannie,” and in other parts a 
“ bummie.” As they usually do, it commenced 
*A paper read at the meeting of the Scottish Horticultural 
Association on February 6th. 
