260 
THE GARDENING WORLD 
Dec. 27th, 1884. 
(Sarkmng Sttsrdhwg. 
The meetings of the Fruit and Floral Committees of 
the Royal Horticultural Society, in 1885, have been 
fixed for the following dates :—January 13th; February 
10th ; March 10th and 24th ; April 14th and 28th; 
May 12th and 26th ; June 9th and 23rd; July 14th 
and 28th; August 11th and 25th; September 8th; 
October 13th, November 10th ; and December 8th. 
The Scientific Committee will meet on the same dates, 
except during the recess, August to October. 
The volume of The Botanical Magazine for the 
current year is dedicated to Mr. John Ball, a former 
President of the Alpine Club. 
Mb. Ireland, sent us from Headfort, Kells, on 
December 17th, a bunch of lovely Anemones gathered 
that day amongst frost and snow ! 
Messrs. James Carter & Co.’s Fade Mecum for 1885, 
the first of the new Season’s Catalogues to hand, 
besides being profusely illustrated with woodcuts of 
innumerable flowers and vegetables, contains coloured 
plates of various choice strains of florist’s flowers, 
and of the new Sukreta Potato, which was afrarded 
a First-Class Certificate at the last International 
Potato Show; and which it appears was named 
Sukreta, after a village in India, where the raised was 
severely wounded during the mutiny. 
Messrs. 'James Yeitch & Son’s admirable new 
catalogue of vegetable and flower seeds which came 
to hand last week, contains illustrations and descrip¬ 
tions of several novelties which this firm will send 
out during the ensuing season. 
The Christmas Number of The Gardeners’ Magazine, 
published on Saturday last, is by far the best sixpenny 
worth of seasonable literature that our contemporary 
has yet issued. Both illustrations and text are 
excellent. It is published at 4, Ave Maria Lane, E C. 
Mr. William Priest, who lately left New Battle 
Abbey Gardens, has been engaged as gardener to the 
Earl of Eglinton, at Eglinton Castle, Irvine, in 
succession to Mr. Gray. 
Messrs. Sutton & Sons, of Reading, have received 
a Royal Warrant appointing them Seedsmen to Her 
Majesty the Queen, after being honoured with Her 
Majesty’s commands for thirty consecutive years. 
The Agricultural Gazette Almanac for 1885 (Vinton 
& Co., 30, Hampstead Road), besides containing much 
information that is interesting to agriculturists only, 
includes much that is useful to gardeners who have 
charge of land or stock. We note that its price has 
been raised to a shilling, but it is worth the money; 
and we also see an announcement in its pages that 
The Agricxdtural Gazette is to be reduced in price to 
twopence. 
CHARLES W. SHAW. 
We deeply regret to record the death, on Monday 
morning last, of Mr. Charles W. Shaw, editor of 
Gardening Illustrated. Mr. Shaw’s condition had for 
a considerable time been the cause of great anxiety 
among his friends, but he bore up so bravely against 
his malady—consumption—and had rallied so often, 
that few thought his end was so near. We ourselves 
and many others who knew him intimately, and who 
appreciated his quiet, unassuming and kindly ways, 
have lost in Charles Shaw a warm personal friend. 
Mr. Shaw began his gardening career at Ted- 
dlesley Park, Lord Hatherton’s seat in Staffordshire, 
and served afterwards as a journeyman in one or 
two gardening establishments in the north of London. 
Subsequently he became foreman at Cobham Park, 
Surrey; at Netley Castle, near Southampton; and lastly 
at Sherborne Castle, Dorset, under Mr. Pragnell. About 
ten years ago he left Sherborne to join the staff of 
The Garden, and on the foundation of Gardening 
Illustrated he became the editor of that paper, the 
success of which, in a very great measure, is due to 
his sagacity and industry, and the sound practical 
knowledge which he brought to bear on its pages. 
Though for some months past physically unequal to 
much labour, Mr. Shaw kept on working until the 
18th inst., and may literally be said to have died in 
harness. He has left a widow and one child to mourn 
his loss, and many warm friends who regret his early 
death. 
THE MISTLETO. 
The Mistleto (Viscum album) is familiar at Christ¬ 
mas in the Midland, Southern, and Eastern counties 
of England, but it is said to be little known in the 
north or in Scotland. There are not a few conflicting 
accounts of the origin of the name Mistleto. Some 
think that this parasite is named from the mistle- 
thrush, instead of that early songster being named so 
from feeding on its viscid berries in winter. By 
others it is held that Mistleto is derived from the 
Anglo-Saxon (Mistolan) bird-lime, from mistle, and 
tan, a twig. It is also held that the word is derived 
from mist, excrement. What other connection there 
is or can be between mist and mistleto, it is difficult to 
see. The name is the same, viz., mistel or mistil, in 
all Germanic languages, and its root is this view 
of it, migh, mingree. Whatever may be its position 
now, the Mistleto was in former times a mystic plant, 
and as an old writer says, “ It is not a matter of 
surprise that a plant of such peculiar aspect, and which 
occurs in such a remarkable position as the Mistleto, 
should have awakened the attention of various races, 
and exerted influence over their religious ideas. It 
played an especially important part among the Gauls. 
The Oak was sacred with them, their priests abode in 
Oak forests, Oak boughs and Oak leaves were used in 
every religious ceremony, and their sacrifices were 
made beneath an Oak-tree ; but the Mistleto, when it 
grew upon the Oak, was peculiarly sacred and regarded 
as a divine gift. It was gathered with great ceremony, 
on the sixth day after the first new moon of the year; 
two white oxen which were then for the first time 
placed in yoke, were brought beneath the tree; the 
sacrificing priest (Druid) clothed in white garments, 
ascended it, and cut off the Mistleto with a golden 
sickle; it was caught on a white cloth held beneath, 
and then distributed among the bystanders. The 
oxen were sacrificed with prayers for the happy effects 
of the Mistleto. A beverage was prepared from this, 
and used as a remedy for all poisons and diseases, 
and which was supposed to favour fertility. A remnant 
of this seems to exist still in France, for the peasant 
boys use the expression, ‘ au gui l’au neuf,’ as a new 
year’s greeting. 
“It is also a custom in Britain, to hang the Mistleto 
to the roof on Christmas Eve; the men lead the 
women under it, and wish a Merry Christmas and a 
Happy New Year. Perhaps the Mistleto was taken as 
a symbol of the new year, on account of its leaves 
giving the bare tree the appearance of having regained 
its foliage.” 
The Mistleto is said to be the only true parasitical 
plant indigenous to Britain, as at no period of its 
existence does it derive any nourishment from the 
soil, or from decayed bark, like some of the fungi, &c. 
There is but one species, and it is an evergreen. 
“ The branches are numerous and forked, covered 
with a smooth bark of a yellowish-green colour. The 
leaves are entire, tongue-shaped, and produced in 
pairs upon very short foot-stalks. The flowers are 
male and female in different plants, which accounts 
for some large bushes of it never bearing berries; 
axillary, and in close, short spikes. Neither male 
nor female flowers have a corolla, the parts of fructi¬ 
fication spring from the calyx. The fruit is a 
globular smooth white berry, covered with a viscous 
substance ; these berries appear in winter. The root 
insinuates its fibres into the woody substance of the 
tree, and thus derives nourishment from the plant. 
The whole forms a pendant bush of from 2 ft. to 5 ft. 
in diameter. It grows on various trees, chiefly fruit- 
trees, or on the thorn, oak, maple, ash, and even 
pines.” Such is a popular description of the plant. 
The means by which this singular plant is propa¬ 
gated is still a debatable point. Old Gerarde says, 
“ This excresence hath not any roots, nor doth 
increase himself of his seed, as some hath supposed; 
but it rather cometh of a certain moisture and sub¬ 
stance gathered together upon the boughs and points 
of the trees, though the barke, whereof this vaporous 
moisture proceeding, bringeth forth the Mistletoe.” 
But it seems to be held by some that the field-fare, 
mistlethrush, and blackbird are the principal agents 
concerned; but whether by rubbing the superfluous 
seeds adhering to their beaks on the bark of trees, or 
by passing them through their bodies, remains, and 
is likely to remain, matter for doubt and discussion. 
“ Germination having taken place, the Mistleto 
maintains its singularity. 'While the young root of 
almost any other plant descends, that of the Mistleto 
first rises upwards, and then bends over till it reaches 
the body of the substance to which the seed is attached. 
The extremity of the radicle having affixed itself to 
the bark, if more than one has sprung from a single 
seed, the embryos separate from it, and become 
distinct plants. When the Mistleto germinates on 
the upper side of a branch, the shoots bend up¬ 
wards ; if on the under side, they descend ; and 
when on the side of a perpendicular trunk, spread 
horizontally. The roots penetrate through the 
bark, between the inner bark and the soft wood 
when the sap is most abundant, and as the 
tree advances in age become embedded in the solid 
wood, absorbing the ascending and returning sap, and 
preventing its circulation, and then the parasite 
flourishes until the tree itself decays.” 
The Mistleto can be propagated by artificial means. 
When the Rev. F. D. Homer resided at Kirkby Mal- 
zeard, Ripon, he obtained many patches of Mistleto 
on his Apple-trees by rubbing the berries on the under 
side of the bark of a young branch, the viscid matter 
surrounding the seeds causing them to adhere to the 
wood. Others have successfully adopted the same 
course. It is said that January is the best time for 
the operation ; but the operator must be prepared to 
have the seeds removed by prying birds. During the 
summer following the operation, each seed, if it ger¬ 
minates, will throw out two claw-like members, which 
attach it firmly to the bark. In this state it remains 
until the next April, when the first pair of leaves 
commence development. He that attempts to propa¬ 
gate Mistleto in this way must needs be patient.— Quo. 
— g~- v——a — 
A NEW NEMOPHILA. 
One of the finest new annuals that was exhibited in 
1883 before the Floral Committee was the subject of 
the accompanying illustration, Nemophila atomaria 
atro-ccerulea, which was exhibited by the raisers, 
Messrs. James Carter & Co., who include it in their 
list of novelties for the ensuing season. Those who like, 
and who grow the light blue Nemophila insignis—and 
who does not ?—will welcome this variety for its deep 
ultramarine blue colour, which is rendered all the 
more striking by the pure white centre and zone of 
black purple. The plant has a neat spreading habit of 
growth, and is remarkably floriferous. Its beauty and 
great usefulness for the flower-garden in providing a 
colour not at all common in other flowers, have been 
well recognized by all who have seen it, including the 
members of the Floral Committee, who awarded it a 
First-Class Certificate. 
—s=^±s<>s*=~=s— 
CHRISTMAS FLOWERS AT 
SWAN LEY. 
Vivid recollections of previous winter feasts of 
flowers at Swanley tempted us on Saturday last the 
most unpleasant day in town that Londoners have 
experienced for some months, to journey down to 
“ The Home for Flowers,” in the hope and expectation 
that if the weather was as bad there, there would, at 
all events, be something worth seeing to repay us for 
the pilgrimage, and we were not disappointed. If any 
brother florist has a touch of melancholy let him 
repair to Swanley at once. The trip will cure him, or 
we are very much mistaken. Since the Messrs. 
Cannell have pitched their tents, or rather, we should 
say, built their little village of glass, at Swanley, they 
have always had a grand display of flowering Pelar¬ 
goniums to show their winter visitors, but this year it 
is, if anything, finer than ever. The principal show- 
house, that containing the single-flowered varieties, 
and which, like all the other houses in the nursery, is 
a span-roofed structure and 100 ft. long, is literally 
crammed with flowers, and such flowers! The 
summer bloom is as nothing compared with the 
present show. The trusses all round are as large, 
the pips are, if anything, larger, and the colours for 
brightness and intensity are quite incomparable. 
Conspicuous among the pink-coloured varieties is 
Constance, one of the very best in the section; Edith 
Little is a very pleasing flower, a soft shade of blush, 
with a white blotch at the base of the upper petals; 
a gem. Evening Star, of a similar shade, is also very 
fine. Aurora Boreale, a light scarlet, suffused with 
salmon, is also A 1; so also is Edith George, pink 
