Feb. 14th, 1885. 
THE GARDENING WORLD, 
381 
leaves, boldly variegated with longitudinal bands of 
white. It is a very handsome foliage plant, and 
received a First-Class Certificate. Mr. W. M. Crowe, 
Upton, Essex, sent Begonia semperflorens gigantea 
rosea, a fine free growing and free flowering variety 
raised by Mr. Lcmoine. 
At the Fruit Committee’s meeting, besides the 
Cabbages and the Duchesse de Bordeaux Pear alluded 
to in other columns, the members had to deal with 
large collections of Apples from Messrs. Bunyard & 
Co., Maidstone, and Messrs. II. Lane & Son, Berkliam- 
stead, and a large and very fine collection of home¬ 
grown Oranges from Messrs. T. Rivers & Son, 
Sawbridgewortli. The Messrs. Lane’s collection of 
Apples included fifty-three dishes, and the Messrs. 
Lanyard's fifty-one dishes, and the samples were all 
of good size and colour, and in a particularly good 
state of preservation. The collection of Oranges, 
Citrons, and Lemons from Sawbridgewortli was com¬ 
posed of twenty-three distinct sorts, each shown with 
leaves attached, and all having a very pleasing soft 
shade of colour. One of the Oranges was so good in 
flavour, and so thin in the skin and delicate in 
texture, that the Committee awarded it a First-Class 
Certificate. We understand that it was received from 
St. Michael’s same years ago under the name of 
Sustain, and that it is there grown as a choice fruit, 
but not for general exportation. 
The Annual General Meeting. —In the afternoon, 
what proved to be one of the poorest attended and 
quietest annual meetings the Society has probably 
ever had, was held in the Gallery above the Conser¬ 
vatory, Sir Trevor Lawrence, Bart., M.P., presiding. 
The minutes of the previous meeting having been read 
and confirmed, twenty-three candidates were elected 
to fellowship. The Chairman, in moving the adoption 
of the report and balance-sheet, said his first duty was 
to express on behalf of the Council and the Fellows 
their deep sense of the loss the Society had sustained 
by the resignation of Lord Aberdare, who had been 
their President for the last ten years. They would all 
recognize to the fullest extent the services which Lord 
Aberdare had rendered to the Society. He accepted 
the office of President at a time when the Society was 
torn with dissension, and was altogether in low estate, 
and it was with much regret that they became aware 
that his other engagements no longer permitted him 
to retain the Presidentship. On behalf of the Council 
he would propose a resolution to the effect that the 
Society expressed its grateful acknowledgments of the 
eminent services rendered by Lord Aberdare, who had 
so largely contributed to the extrication of the Society 
from difficulty. The Society had also to regret the 
death of the late Mr. Mangles, whose abilities had 
been unceasingly displayed in its service, and the 
Council had been deprived of a colleague whose ener¬ 
getic assistance they highly valued. The report for 
the past year presented no very remarkable features. 
Allusion was made to the Report of the Apple Congress, 
which had been ably compiled by Mr. Barron, and 
presented features of great interest and importance to 
fruit growers. Its publication had met with much 
favour, and the Council had under consideration the 
question of issuing a new edition. The Daffodil 
Conference had also proved most interesting, and the 
discussion would doubtless result in practical steps 
being taken to effect a needed revision in the nomen¬ 
clature of the genus. 
During the coming season the Council had arranged 
a similar conference on Orchids, which would no 
doubt result in bringing together a very remarkable 
collection of those beautiful plants, though the date 
selected was somewhat late, owing to their having to 
avoid the risk of injury to the plants from spring 
frosts. He regretted that the balance-sheet did not 
present a more favourable aspect, the balance carried 
forward being very small as compared with that of 
the previous year. It was also to be regretted that 
the fellows’ subscriptions had fallen off to a consider¬ 
able extent. The Council desired to express their 
thanks to Sir Philip Cunliffe Owen for the able 
assistance he had rendered to the negotiations with 
the Council of the Health Exhibition. In conclusion, 
he desired to say that the Council would endeavour 
to maintain the efficiency of the practical work 
carried on at the gardens at Chiswick, and their only 
ambition was to promote by every means the interests 
of horticulture.—The resolution relating to Lord 
Aberdare was carried with acclamation, an amend¬ 
ment by Mr. Guedalla falling through for lack of a 
seconder.—The report and balance-sheet, after brief 
remarks by Mr. Shirley Hibberd, Mr. Liggins, Mr. E. 
R. Johnson, and other fellow’s, was unanimously 
adopted. The meeting closed with a vote of thanks 
to the President on the motion of Mr. Haughton. 
Manchester Horticultural Improvement.— 
January 29tli .—At this meeting, which was held as 
usual in the old Town Hall, Mr. Bruce Findlay in the 
chair, Mr. E. Griffiths read a paper on “ Insecticides.” 
Before calling upon Mr. Hughes, the President, 
said that one of the greatest misfortunes which could 
happen to a gardener or a farmer was to have his 
crops assailed by insects. One of the greatest 
judgments that befell the ancients was the sending of 
divers sorts of flies among them, and we read that 
“ their increase was given to the caterpillar and their 
labour unto the locust”—and poor Spain—which had 
been literally turned upside down through terrible 
earthquakes, had during the past year lost something 
like £400,000 through the ravages made amongst 
their vines of that terrible scourge, the Phylloxera 
vastatrix. Whether an infallible agent had yet been 
discovered for the destruction of plant pests, it w T as 
impossible to say; unfortunately, in some cases the 
means employed not only destroyed the insect, but the 
plant also. We all know that very active measures 
are essential in order to keep down the noxious 
insect. 
Mr. Hughes commenced his paper by remarking 
that all genuine insecticides ought to be so effective 
as to dispel any idea of failure when such prepara¬ 
tions are applied in a proper manner. From his own 
personal observation he was led to believe that failure 
in the use of insecticides for the cleaning of plants, 
and thus getting rid of insects and blight, is more due 
to the want of knowledge in the preparation of 
washes, than should be attributed to the insecticides 
itself, and also to the absence of experience on the 
part of the operator in its application, so as to secure 
the results obtainable w’hen such is used by practised 
hands. When carrying out his experiments in the 
production of Fir-tree oil, he made the Manchester 
water the standard of the quality of W’ater suitable for 
the preparation of washes to be used for cleaning 
plants, and, therefore, prepared the insecticide 
accordingly. And it is pretty well known that all 
preparations which are suitable for cleaning the 
foliage of plants should have an alkaline re-action 
just in a sufficient quantity as not to injure the foliage 
or the colour of the petals of flowers. He succeeded 
admirably so far, and completed his preparation in 
every particular so as to produce an insecticide which 
should answer every purpose required, and be a boon 
to the horticulturist. But when he sent it out as a 
perfect article he soon found that the water used in 
different parts of the country varied so considerably 
that when mixed with the insecticide it quite altered 
its character and usefulness, and thereby brought 
about differences of opinion as to its real value. It 
was important that this should be well understood, 
for so long as water which is hard, and contains 
lime and other salts, is used in the preparation of 
washes having an alkaline re-action, so long will the 
operator be subject to failure in the cleaning of his 
plants, and also run a great risk of having the foliage 
spotted or otherwise damaged. It is not generally 
known that spring water is not quite so good for 
general horticultural purposes before it is boiled as it 
is afterwards, but such is the case, as for purposes of 
cleaning and mixing with insecticides there exists a 
very -wide and important difference between the two ; 
and he would recommend that all the water used for 
such purposes be taken from the boiler or hot-water 
pipes, or otherwise boiled, and be used when cool. 
Uniform results might then be expected. Turning 
now to the means of destroying insects which infest 
both hard and soft-wooded plants, he said that a vine- 
house cannot be cleared of the mealy-bug unless 
persistent attention be given to it, and the vine itself, 
while dormant, subjected to an application of 
insecticide made nearly double the strength of that 
used when it is in full leaf. In houses other than 
those for vines the same persistent treatment should 
be followed, and the greasy exudations of the bug 
which are deposited upon the foliage and stems of 
growing plants should be removed by insecticides 
applied with a small brush. For soft-wooded and 
quick-growing plants a comparatively weak solution 
only is required, provided the application be male in 
the evening after the sunset, or in the very early 
morning. The shading of plants under glass from 
the direct action of the sun’s rays will assist very 
materially in keeping down insects. After observing 
that petroleum oil when made soluble in water does 
not, in his opinion, possess any property which can 
make it valuable as an insecticide, he said that in 
tobacco and many of its preparations will be found a 
very useful and efficient insect destroyer when applied 
in the form of smoke. For destroying caterpillars on 
Gooseberry and Currant bushes there is no better 
or cheaper remedy than the powder of white helle¬ 
bore. In conclusion, he said that as to vermin in 
glass houses, the frequent disturbance of the nests 
and breeding haunts is the most effectual method 
of dealing with them, for however many of the stray 
ones may be killed by the aid of the most improved 
apjiliances, their total extinction will only be attained 
by doing away with that for which they live, viz., the 
facility for propagating their species. 
— - Q-= » -- 
IDffars to % (Suitor. 
AN ELECTION OF VEGETABLES. 
The useful lists of Roses which have year after year 
been made by Mr. Hinton have suggested to me the 
idea that a similar list of our best vegetables might 
easily be made if a score or so of our principal 
vegetable-growers would send in lists to the editor of 
the kinds which have afforded them most satisfaction. 
Such lists would prove of great value to amateurs, and 
even professional gardeners might benefit by them. 
If the suggestion meets with approval, I will at once 
send for publication the form in which the lists should 
be sent in to the Editor.— Amateur .— [An excellent 
suggestion which has our hearty approval. We 
shall be glad to hear further on the subject from 
“ Amateur.”—Ed.] 
SUMMER LETTUCES. 
In reply to “ Constant Reader’s ” request for 
information on this subject at p. 350, I beg to say 
that the following varieties are the least liable to 
“ bolt ” that I am acquainted with, as well as being 
the best all-round sorts to grow, viz.:—Cabbage: All 
the Year Round, Grand Admiral, and Victoria; Cos : 
Paris White, Paris Green, and Kingsholme. As 
cultivation has a good deal to do with the “ bolting ” 
or “non-bolting” of Lettuces, it may not be out of 
place to inform “ Constant Reader ” that if the young 
plants are pricked out 4 ins. apart in nursery-beds, as 
soon as they are large enough to handle, that is, 
before they become crowded and consequently drawn 
in the seed-beds, and are subsequently planted out in 
rows 1 ft. apart and the same distance from plant to 
plant in the rows, and afterwards attended to in the 
way of watering when necessary to ensure crispness, 
the varieties above named will not “ bolt ” for a 
couple of weeks after the plants have attained to 
their largest appreciable dimensions. But should the 
treatment of the plants be the reverse of that indicated, 
the result will be most unsatisfactory, loose attenuated 
heads, wanting in crispness and size, and which will 
run before they are half grown.— H. TV. TV. 
POTATOS FOR AN AMATEUR. 
I have read with much interest the correspondence 
in reply to “ A Sussex Amateur’s ” request for 
information respecting Potatos suitable for exhibition 
and good for the table. I agree in the main with Mr. 
Kerr, and consider that to plant Potatos, as “D.” 
suggests, in drills 3 ft. and 3 ft. 6 ins. apart, would be 
a pure waste of ground, as Potatos grown in drills 2 ft. 
and 2 ft. 6 ins. apart will come to as great perfection. 
The soil on which I grow Potatos is a light loam, and 
I dig it 18 ins. deep in the autumn, giving a liberal 
dressing of cow manure, as I consider horse dung too 
hot for the Potato. After the ground is dug, rock 
salt is freely sprinkled over the top to destroy wire 
worm and other insect enemies, and then turf cut one 
year previously is wheeled on to the Potato ground 
and put in ridges, where it is benefited by the action 
