592 
THE GARDENING WORLD. 
May 19, 1894. 
anticipate that two lean or barren years 
would come in immediate succession. A 
spell of dry weather in the early spring did 
cause some alarm, but all the same the 
trees bloomed and set their fruits luxuri- 
anti}', the ground crops of every kind grew 
on, and then when at last it broke and 
refreshing rains came, the effect was almost 
marvellous in every direction. 
What a burst of leafage has followed, 
how intensely green and beautiful is the 
herbage, how vigorous the corn, how 
admirable has been seed growth ! In all 
these things how quickly have premature 
fears been dissipated, and what renew'ed 
hope bordering on certainty has now been 
realised. That the drought of last year 
materially affected trade and commerce, 
there can be no doubt. Let whatever other 
causes operate disastrously, as they un¬ 
doubtedly did, especially those connected 
with foreign investments, it is certain that 
one of the hardest blow's given to the 
country was the exceeding sparseness of 
crops resulting from the excessive heat and 
drought. We refer to that fact because it 
emphasises our reference to the connection 
which exists between land produce and 
national prosperity. 
It is true, arising rather out of our very 
imperfect market arrangements and lack, 
even yet, of capacity to fully utilise plenty 
when we have it, that much of our pro¬ 
spective fruit and other produce may be 
sold exceedingly cheap, and thus bring to 
some growers comparatively poor profits. 
Still w'e may well hope to have, as we do 
expect to have, the plenty all the same, and 
that abundance will add enormously to the 
spending power of the nation in other 
directions. 
-- 
New Plants Certificated at Ghent.—At a meeting of 
the Belgian Chamber of Horticulturists, held on the 
6th inst., Certificates of Merit were awarded to IMr. 
F. Desbois for Pteris tremula flaccida cristata, 
Deutzia parviflora, and Impatiens auricoma ; and to 
Mr. E. Bedinghaus a Botanical Certificate for 
Rhipsalis cribrata filiformis. 
A Safe Weed Killer.—An old established firm of 
manufacturing chemists, Messrs. Tomlinson & 
Hayward, of Lincoln, have introduced a new weed- 
killing composition which they call the " Eureka,” 
and which they are sending out packed in a very safe 
manner. To further minimise the risk of accidents, 
they have also slightly coloured and odorised the 
preparation, which is besides put up in a most con¬ 
centrated form, thus reducing the cost of carriage by 
lessening the bulk to be carried. Messrs. Osman & 
Co., 132, Commercial Street, E., are the London 
wholes lie agents. 
Temple Flower Show. —For the seventh year the 
Royal Horticultural Society will hold its great 
annual flower show in the Inner Temple Gardens on 
May 23rd, 24th, and 25th. H.R.H. the Duke of 
York will open the show on Wednesday, May 23fd, 
at 12.30. The band of Her Majesty’s Royal Horse 
Guards (Blues) under the direction of Mr. Chas. 
Godfrey, R.A.M , will be in attendance each day. 
So far all the arrangements for the show have been 
completed, the one thing now necessary being fine 
weather. Any intending exhibitors who have not 
yet sent in their names, etc., should do so at once to 
the Secretary, R H.S., 117, Victoria Street, S.W., 
otherwise their names cannot appear in the official 
catalogue. 
Beckett s Chrysanthemum Cup and Tube —Mr. 
Beckett, of Aldenham House Gardens, Elstree, 
whose admirable cup and tube for displaying 
Chrysanthemum blooms on show boards is so much 
appreciated by exhibitors, has favoured us with a 
sample of a new and improved cup and 
tube which he has just brought out, and 
which seems to us to leave nothing tc be desired 
in an article of this character. The new feature 
consists of a spiral groove in the tube, which enables 
the flower to be raised to double the height of the 
tube without taking the stem of the flower out of the 
water, while at the same time the tube contains an 
improved grip for holding the stem of the bloom. 
The whole of the cup and tube will be made of brass, 
and will further, be made of different shapes, so as to 
be suitable for all kinds of cut flowers. Very simple, 
very strong and very useful it seems to us will be 
the general opinion of it when it becomes known. 
Mr. Beckett informs us that he has handed the sale 
of the article over to the makers, Messrs. W, M. 
Still & Co., 24, Charles Street, Hatton Garden, E.C. 
Peckham Rye Park.—On Monday another lung for 
London in the form of a very charming addition to 
the parks, was formally opened and dedicated to the 
public by Mr. John Hutton, Chairman of the 
_ London County Council. The new park is some 
fifty-one acres in extent, and was purchased from 
the principal proprietor and two smaller owners for 
;^5i,ooo, subject to a life reservation at rental of a 
mansion and fourteen acres of the Homestall Farm 
Estate. The grounds have been preserved and 
adapted rather than " laid out ” by Mr. J. J. Saxby, 
who has introduced, however, gardens and 
shrubberies and a small lake, with island in the 
centre. The place is rich in thorn and hawthorn, 
just now in odoriferous bloom, and is interspersed 
with old elms scarcely meriting to be called stately. 
The park will be perfectly free, but will be fenced in 
and reasonably guarded, and will, it is presumed, be 
cleared and closed after nightfall. Towards the cost 
the London County Council contributed ;^i8,ooo, 
the Camberwell Vestry ^20,000, the Charity Com¬ 
missioners ;^i 2,000, the Lambeth Vestry £soo, the 
Vestry of St. George the Martyr, Southwark,*;^25o, 
and the Newington Vestry /250, besides smaller 
sums by private donors to meet initial expenses. 
The Victoria Lily of the Valley.—This fine strain of 
the sweet-scented Convallariais in very beautiful form 
this year. We saw the beds at Messrs. Hawkins & 
Bennett's, of Twickenham, a few days since. There 
had been on the earlier ones great gatherings of some 
of the finest spikes they had previously seen, and the 
foliage was luxuriant, clean and glossy. When 
Lilies of the Valley are grown under glass, although 
here the lights are movable and shifted from one 
part of a long bed to another, so fast as gathering 
proceeds, the blooms are much purer and finer than 
when left exposed to the weather. Those who trust 
to out-door pickings only have a short season of 
bloom, but where pit forcing in the winter is 
succeeded by some beds covered with frames 
assisted by just one or two small hot-water pipes, 
and thus got into bloom a month before spikes come 
out-doors, then a very prolonged season results. 
That is the practice at Twickenham where vast 
quantities of these Lilies are grown in frames in the 
way indicated. 
The late Mr. George HarJy's Orchids.—The Orchid 
trade has been so flat, stale, and unprofitable, for so 
long a period, that it is quite refreshing to learn of 
the high values that are still set upon real good 
things, as proved by the prices obtained at the 
remarkably successful two days’ sale, conducted last 
week by Messrs. Protheroe and Morris, at Pickering 
Lodge, when a total sum of about £3,000 was realised 
for some 520 lots. The gems of the sale were 
undoubtedly the specimens of Cattleya Mossiae 
Hardyana, a superb plant with fifty leaved bulbs, 
which fetched 165 guineas ; Cattleya Mendelii, Quorn 
House variety, which realised 150 guineas ; Laelia 
purpurata Hardyana, a plant with sixty leaved bulbs 
which was knocked down to a bid of 130 guineas ; 
and a splendid half specimen of Cattleya Skinnerii 
alba, which realised 160 guineas. Other specially 
notable lots were Cypripedium Schroderae splendens, 
£22 : Laelia purpurata Schroderae, 38 guineas ; 
Cypripedium Hardyana (.\insworthii x caudatum) 
30 guineas; Cattleya Mossiae marmorata, 38 guineas ; 
Dendrobium Paxtoni, with 200 bulbs, 10 guineas; 
Cypripedium Laurenceanum purpureura, 12 guineas; 
C. Wallisii, £21 ; Cattleya Mendelii Firthii, 70 
guineas; C. Wagneri, 20 guineas ; C. Skinneri alba 
thirty-seven bulbs, twenty two with leaves, 46 guineas ; 
C. Mossiae, one hundred and fifty bulbs, 15 guineas; 
Laelia grandis tenebrosa, fifty bulbs, 20 guineas ; 
C. Mossiae Hardyana, 12 guineas; C. Mossiae, ii 
guineas; C. Mossiae marmorata, 15 guineas; Laelia 
purpurata, with fifty bulbs, 20 guineas ; C. Mossiae, 
with one hundred bulbs and fifteen sheaths, 40 
guineas; another specimen, with hundred bulbs, 13 
guineas ; Laelia grandis tenebrosa, with one hundred 
bulbs, 43 guineas ; Cypripedium grande atratum, ig 
guineas ; Laelia purpurata Russelliana, 20 guineas ; 
Cattleya Mossiae, with one hundred and fifty bulbs 
and twenty four sheaths, 50 guineas ; C. Warneri, 10 
guineas; and Cypripedium Druryi, 14 guineas. 
Among the principal buyers were F. Hardy, Esq., 
Sir Trevor Lawrence, Bart., W. R. Lee, Esq., Messrs 
James Veitch & Sons, Messrs. B. S. Williams & Son 
Messrs. F. Sander & Co., and Messrs. Hugh Low & 
Co. 
Beet Fungus. —Professor Frank, of Berlin, has 
recently made some experiments, at the instigation 
of the Ministry of Agriculture, on the best method of 
destroying the new Beet fungus, Phoma betae. He 
says: ‘‘ The experiments made up to the present 
time show that the following line of action is to be 
recommended. It has been proved that the spread 
of the fungus can be traced to the seed ; it therefore 
becomes necessary to disinfect it. It should be 
sprinkled with the disfectant and allowed to lie forty- 
eight hours, not steeped, but exposed to the air. It 
must then be washed. Sulphate of copper could be 
used, in a solution of 2 per cent; it, has, however, a 
corrosive effect upon the germ. This is not the case 
when the sulphate is mixed with lime. The phoma 
spores will be killed after forty-eight hours. From 
two to four kilos, of sulphate of copper to one hundred 
litres of water mixed with a solution of from two to 
four kilos, of lime. Carbolic acid in the proportion 
of one per cent, is fatal to the fungus, but tends to 
lower the germinating property. In fields attacked 
with Phoma betae it will not suffice to disinfect the 
seed. Experiments are now in hand to destroy the 
germ of the fungus without injury to the latter. 
Spraying the plants did not protect them from the 
disease. It is, however, to be commended. It has 
been decided by Kruger and myself that, besides kill¬ 
ing the fungus germ, it is a stimulant to the plant. 
It assists in the formation of chlorophyll, respiration, 
and assimilation.” 
- ^ - 
PRESENTATION TO MR. BRUCE 
FINDLAY, 
At the Botanical Gardens, Old Trafford, Manchester, 
on the nth inst , The Dean of Rochester presented 
Mr. Bruce Findlay, on behalf of a large number of 
subscribers, with an address and a service of silver 
plate, and Mrs. Findlay with a gold ring. Mr. 
Robert Tait presided over a large and representative 
gathering. Amongst those present were Mr. O. 
Thomas, Royal Gardens, Windsor, Mr. Blair, Trent- 
ham, Mr. Elphinstone, Shipley Hall, Mr. Goodacre, 
Elvaston Castle, Mr. R. Ker, Liverpool, Mr. F. 
Robinson, Manchester, Mr. E. J. Baillie, Chester, 
Mr. H. Williams, Upper Holloway, Mr. Waterer, 
Bagshot, Mr. Barnes, Eaton Hall, and Mr. W. B. 
Upjohn, Worsley Hall. 
The address to Mr. Findlay was in the following 
terms : " It gives your numerous friends great plea¬ 
sure to intimate that for a consid-irable period a 
large number of nurserymen, seedsmen, and 
gardeners have felt a strong desire to evince their 
high appreciation of the valuable services you have 
rendered to their profession during the thirty-five 
years you have fulfilled the important duty of cura¬ 
tor to the Manchester Botanical Society. In point 
of service, if not in years, you are the senior con¬ 
nection of all the Horticultural Societies in the 
United Kingdom. It is well known that during your 
inte’ligent and successful management the horticul¬ 
tural exhibitions at Old Trafford have occupied the 
highest position and pride of place of all horticul¬ 
tural exhibitions in the country. It is estimated 
that during your curatorship upwards of ^40,000 
has been distributed in prizes by the Manchester 
Botanical Society. It is impossible to calculate the 
beneficial advantages to the amateur and profes¬ 
sional horticulturists and exhibitors which have re¬ 
sulted from your untiring efforts in providing these 
annual floral displays. It therefore gives the 
horticulturists of the United Kingdom great pleasure 
to acknowledge and pay this tribute of regard to one 
who has deservedly established so strong a claim 
upon their esteem. "With this object in view we 
have the pleasure to present you with a silver tea 
and coffee service and a ring to Mrs. Findlay, and 
trust that your life may be long spared to continue 
the valuable work in which you have been so long 
engaged, and with our best wishes for you both now 
and in all time to come,—We are, yours faithfully 
(signed), S. R. Hole (Dean of Rochester), president; 
Robert Tait, chairman; Owen Thomas, treasurer; 
and J. H. Goodacre, honorary secretary." 
