736 
THE GARDENING WORLD 
July 21, 1894. 
pNSECTS AND THUNDERSTORMS.-A weck 
or two ago, all cultivated plants in the 
open air most subject to the attacks of 
insects of the Aphis tribe, were, at least 
in the Southern counties, literally covered 
with various members of that very exten¬ 
sive and enormously productive family. 
Washing with one or other of the numer¬ 
ous insecticides was fast becoming a 
toilsome and expensive necessity, detracting 
alike from the profits and' pleasures of the 
growers. But with the welcome storms 
which recentl}'^ passed over the South of 
England, almost the whole of these insects 
disappeared. The destruction was so 
general and complete, that many as usual 
in such a case were led to believe that there 
must be some mysterious agency at work 
that is deadly to insect life during heavy 
thunder storms. We notice how uneasy all 
insects appear, how each endeavours to 
find what cover it can, and that sometime 
after the heavy downpour of cold rain the 
majority are found to be dead, their bodies 
remaining to tell the wonderful tale of 
destruction. But what of the cause of the 
decimation ? Is it so very mysterious ? On 
the contrary the problem is an easy one to 
solve by any careful observer. It is simply 
this, that the cold rain wets their food and 
brings on excessive purging, particularly 
in the case of caterpillars, which leave 
only half empty skin to show where they 
have been. 
-- 
Mr. William Angus, for two and a half years gar¬ 
dener at Cheswick, Beal, has been engaged as gar¬ 
dener to James Ogston, Esq., Norwood Hall, Cults, 
Aberdeen. 
The National Chrysanthemum Society’s Annual 
Outing, July 23 rd, 1894 .—Mr. Owen Thomas writes 
from the Royal Gardens, Windsor, to say that “ The 
members of the National Chrysanthemum Society 
have permission to see the East Terrace Flower Gar¬ 
den, Windsor Castle, between the hours of g a.m. and 
II a.m., on the occasion of their visit to Windsor 
on the 23rd inst .—Richard Dean, Hon. Ssc. 
Midland Carnation and Piootee Show.—This annual 
exhibition, which is to take place in the Botanical 
Gardens, Edgbaston, Birmingham, on Saturday, 
August 4th, promises to be one of the largest and 
best ever held in the Midlands. The prize list 
certainly must be considered good enough to tempt 
all lovers and growers of these flowers to pay the 
show a visit. 
Potato Disease in Scotland.—Mr. Findlay, of 
Markinch, early last week, sent to a northern con¬ 
temporary a number of Potato leaves taken from a 
field in Fifeshire. The leaves in question were 
already badly marked with the dreaded Potato 
blight; and should the weather continue dull and 
muggy, there is no reason to doubt that the 
disease will spread with great rapidity. This 
is an unusually early time of the year for the 
disease to make it appearance. Mr. Findlay states 
that in all his experience he never saw it so early in 
the season. 
A libel action at Manchester.—At the Manchester 
Assizes last week Mr. Bruce Findlay, Secretary and 
Curator of the Botanical Gardens at Old Trafford, 
brought actions for damages against a former mem¬ 
ber of the Council of the Manchester Royal Botani¬ 
cal and Horticultural Society, Mr. Benjamin 
Armitage, of Sorrel Bank, in which he claimed £1000 
as damages for an alleged libel ; and against the 
Manchester City News for a similar amount, for pub¬ 
lishing the same, and obtained a verdict in his favour 
in both cases,with £2^ damages and costs against Mr. 
Armitage, and 40s. and costs in the case of the news¬ 
paper. 
Royal Horticultural Society.—The next meeting 
of the Society will be held in the Drill Hall, 
James Street, Victoria Street, Westminster, on 
Tuesday, July 24th, when the National Carnation 
and Picotee Society will also hold its annual exhibi¬ 
tion. At 2 30 a special general meeting of the 
Fellows will be held at the offices, 117, Victoria 
Street, to consider the adoption (or otherwise) of a 
new bye-law relating to life subscriptions. At 3 p.m. 
it is expected that a paper on " Filmy Ferns ” will be 
contributed by Mr. J. Backhouse, of York. 
The Swiss Seed Control Station.—The last issue of 
the North British Agriculturist contains a portrait of 
Dr. Stebler, the Director of the Federal Seed Con¬ 
trol Station, Switzerland, which is the only institu¬ 
tion of the kind in the Old World, is an admirably 
equipped establishment, and the importance of the 
use it serves is fully vouched for by the fact that 
practically all the grass seeds bought by British seeds 
men from Continental growers are purchased subject 
to analysis by Dr. Stebler. Immense numbers of seed 
samples of home growth are also sent by British 
seedsmen to be tested by Dr. Stebler in regard to 
their germinating qualities. The cost to the Swiss 
Federal Government of maintaining this establish¬ 
ment is only /1600 per annum, the balance of the 
cost of maintaining the station being covered by the 
fees charged for seed analyses. At the Dairy Con¬ 
ference, Mr. Jesse Collings, M.P., severely com¬ 
mented on the fact that a wealthy country like Great 
Britain did not possess a similar, establishment. 
Dr. Stebler is well known to agriculturists all the 
world over by his standard work on " The Best 
Forage Plants," which has been translated into 
English by Professor M’Alpine, the botanical 
adviser to the Highland Society. 
Prices of early Potatos in Sco'.land. —Fifteen 
separate lots of growing Potatos of from three to 
eight acres each were sold last week, by public 
auction, at Campbelton, Goldenberry, and Hunter- 
ston, in the parish of West Kilbride. In several 
cases the prices realised compare very well with 
those of last year, but in others, where the fields 
had been badly frosted, the lots went at a very small 
figure. The highest price realised was for a field of 
4 acres 3 roods of dons, which brought /31 per 
acre. The other lots went as follows :—7 acres dons 
and seedlings, £^o los.; 7 acres Suttons and Regents, 
£2^ per acre ; 6 acres 3 roods dons, £22 los.; 4 
acres 3 roods Sutton’s Abundance, £20 los.; 8 acres 
Sutton’s Regents and Seedling, and another lot of 
4 acres Sutton’s Regents, £20 ; 5 acres 3 roods 
Sutton’s Abundance, £ig los.; 6 acres Sutton’s 
Regents, ;^i8 los.; 3 acres Beauty of Bute, £i?>‘, 
fiacres Sutton’s Seedlings, ;^ifi ; 4 acres Sutton’s 
Abundance and Parkhead Beauties, £1^ \ 7 acres 
Sutton’s Regents, badly frosted, £1^ ; 4 acres of the 
same class of Potato, ;^i4 ; and 4 acres Dons, badly 
frosted, /ii los. 
- ^ -- 
A WALK IN THE 
COUNTRY. 
How few of us, even among those who are well 
versed in garden flowers, know the riches of our 
own country’s flowering plants, or how easily a walk 
can be found within a short distance of London 
when at every step fresh beauties are to be found 
all around us. I for one must certainly be classed 
among the know littles on this subject; but living as 
I do in the country on the borders of Surrey and 
Sussex, I thought last week that I would walk a 
portion of the way home, and chose accordingly a 
walk over the Surrey Hills, leaving the train at 
Marden Park Station, recently re-named Wolding- 
ham, to take the train again some two hours later at 
Oxted Village, which lies some three miles to the 
south, the train passing through the hills in a tunnel 
of more than a mile in length. 
The day was bright with full sunshine, and as I 
had chosen a morning train, the flowers were out at 
their best, including Mr. "Jack Go-to-bed at noon," 
which was bearing not only its large yellow flowers 
but also its seeds, which no doubt are used by the 
fairies for their " July weex ’’ when they have their 
grand tournament at battledore and shuttlecock. 
Marden Park used to be the breeding establishment 
of the late Mr. Hume Webster, and it was at his 
sale just two years ago that a Derby winner, George 
Frederick, was knocked down for the petty sura of 
fio guineas. 
The path to Oxted runs along the side of the line 
till the entrance of the tunnel is reached, and here I 
picked the Wild Carrot just coming into bloom, with 
its beautiful fern-like leaves, and Timothy Grass 
with blue anthers, which made it quite a striking 
object. The Dove's-foot Geranium was very plenti¬ 
ful, and shone out brightly amidst the Bird’s-foot 
Trefoil. At the mouth of the tunnel there is a foot¬ 
path leading to the rifle butts, and here the flowers 
began to assume greater importance'jon''account of 
their size, colouring and perhaps rariety. The Sweet 
Marjoram was just beginning to flower. This is 
one of the plants to which our forebears attributed 
wonderful health-bringing qualities, and was used by 
them in swete powders, swete bags, and swete wash¬ 
ing waters, as well as for physicke to comfort the 
outward members of the bodie and the inward also. 
The language and the spelling are culled from one 
of our most venerated herbalists. 
The path followed up the hill by the side of the 
tunnel, the course of which was marked by the large 
air holes, and on the debris which had been taken 
out I found many very large snail shells, yellowish 
in colour, and of the diameter of from one to two 
inches. I know not if these were dug out of the ground, 
but I never came across a living snail that inhabited 
so grand or painted a palace. On these heaps was 
growing the Vipers Bugloss, a stately plant and well 
worthy of naturalization in gardens, growing as it 
does some four feet high in the two chief stems, and 
sending out smaller flowering stems at a distance of 
two feet all around—a king or queen encircled by 
the court. The flowers too, are useful for "cup," 
though on this particular day, however conspicuous 
the flower was, the cup was even more so by its 
absence. 
In the wood close by the Wood Spurge was grow¬ 
ing under the Beech trees, a strange looking plant, 
like a perfect little tree, out of which grows from the 
root a fine branch of flowers larger than the little 
tree itself. Here too, I found the Rest Harrow, 
with its large, pink, pea-like flowers, another flower 
worthy of a place in the garden were it not for its 
spreading propensities, which would render it, as its 
name implies, very difficult to get rid of. The plant 
I found was without spines. Here too, was the 
Wild Mignonette, scentless, though prettier, as a 
flower, than the cultivated variety. Close by the 
Salad Burnet was showing its crimson-pink brushes ; 
its leaves are very beautifully cut, and would be of 
good service for decoration. They taste very like 
Cucumber, and were eaten in salad in times gone by, 
hence its name. At no great distance I found our 
only member of the Cucumber family, the Red 
Bryony, flowering in great luxuriance. I did not, 
however choose either of these plants as a substitute 
for Improved Telegraph at lunch when I returned 
home. 
I certainly think that the most striking flower I 
met with was the Black Mullein. This and an allied 
kind which may have been the Moth Mullein, was 
blooming most plentifully on all sides. Growing 
about three feet in height it would be an admirable 
garden flower, and I find that it lasts well as a cut 
flower, the stems I gathered continuously opening 
fresh blooms. The Teazle was here, too, in bloom, 
an insect killer though not an insect eater. The 
Field Scabious was just coming into bloom, and 
close by—so close that the flowers were intermingled 
—were the flower-heads of the Round Rampion. I 
certainly should have taken them (wrongly) for the 
young flowers of the Scabious had it not been that I 
have a plant in the garden exactly like it. The 
Basil Thyme, a common Basil, was frequently to be 
met with. 
The height of the bills here is about 850 ft., and 
then comes a deep depression allowing of fresh air 
holes being driven for the tunnel, and here are the 
rifle butts. The land here is common or Heath land, 
with the sweet-smelling Wild Thyme growing, and 
at the edge of the woodland which bounds it, the 
Rock Rose was growing in the greatest profusion. 
Here I came across a Ring Snake with a beautiful 
golden collar, showing up very prominently against 
its olive-grey skin. I was walking in shoes, so 
I ran. How strong is prejudice! for I might just as 
well have caught it and brought home for my little 
boys to play with, and bring up as a pet. What a 
lovely flower is the Centaury, blooming in the sun 
with its delicate pink flowers. Here I was 
surrounded by them. 
As I neared the southern portion of the hills, I 
picked the Clustered Bell-flower, hitherto only known 
to me as a garden plant. The path gradually 
ascends until all of a sudden the view to the south 
breaks forth. If it be for this view alone I would 
advise anyone to undertake this country walk. On 
the descent, I found the Opium Poppy, the Sanfoin 
and the Black Horehound, the latter showing that j 
had again neared the dusty roads and dwelling houses. 
The road leads past St. Mary’s Church, at Oxted, 
