676 
THE GARDENING WORLD, 
June 27th, 1885. 
(Sartrmmg Ufotclknir. 
Flower Shows for Next Week. — Monday : Maid¬ 
stone Flower Show 7 . Tuesday : Bagshot and Colches¬ 
ter Flower Show. Wednesday : Royal Botanic Society’s 
Evening Fete.— Croydon, Ryde, Farningham, Cardiff, 
and Farnham Flower Shows. Thursday : Shepperton 
and District Flower Show.—Bath Rose Show.—Bury 
Horticultural Society’s Summer Exhibition.— Reigate 
Rose Show 7 . Friday : Tunbridge Wells Annual Rose 
and Fruit Show. Saturday: Crystal Palace and 
Eltham Rose Shows. 
Oh Friday next, at 6 p.m., the forty-second Annual 
Festival of the Gardeners’ Royal Benevolent Institu¬ 
tion will be held at “ The Albion,” Aldersgate Street, 
the Treasurer, Edward Tidswell, Esq., in the chair. 
It is rumoured that there will be no Chrysanthemum 
Show in the Middle Temple Gardens this year. 
Mr. James Campbell, late gardener to J. Eccles, 
Esq., Farrington House, Preston, has been engaged as 
gardener to Lord Mexborough, Methley Park, Mex- 
borough, Yorks, and is succeeded at Farrington 
House by Mr. A. Waters, late gardener to C. Magniac, 
Esq., Colworth, Beds. 
We are glad to note, for the benefit of those who 
possess copies of The English Flower Garden, that 
Mr. John Murray is now publishing an index to it, 
which contains the names of between 8,000 and 
9,000 plants, with the illustrations indicated by the 
use of italics. Although the arrangement of the book 
is, for the greater part, alphebetical, a good index 
was none the less wanted to enable any one to use the 
book readily. 
Mr. John K. King, seed grower, Coggeshall, Essex, 
has just received a special and Royal warrant under 
seal bearing date 9th inst., appointing him seedsman 
to H R.H. the Prince of Wales. 
Mr. John Jones, gardener to O. O. Wrigley, Esq., 
Bridge Hall, Bury, Lancashire, died on the 3rd inst., 
after an illness of only four days’ duration. Mr. Jones 
had been in Mr. Wrigley’s service for ten years, the 
last six of which he was head gardener, and the 
condition of the vast collection of Orchids under his 
care is a proof of his skill as a cultivator. 
From the present time to the end of October, Mr. 
T. S. Ware, of Tottenham, will keep the half of one 
side of the large conservatory at the “ Inventories ” 
gay with cut flowers of hardy herbaceous plants. 
The wealth of these charming flowers in bloom just 
now is truly remarkable. 
At a meeting of members of the Fruit Committee, 
held at South Kensington on Tuesday, it was decided 
to recommend to the Council of the Royal Horti¬ 
cultural Society that a Pear Congress be held at 
Chiswick in the autumn, to commence on October 
21st; and a provisional committee, consisting of Dr. 
Hogg, Mr. G. Bunyard, Mr. John Lee, Mr. J. Roberts, 
Mr. Woodbridge, and Mr. H. J. Yeitch, with Mr. 
Barron as secretary, was appointed to make the 
necessary arrangements. 
A portrait of David Douglas, the famous botanical 
explorer, to whom we are indebted for the introduction 
of so many good hardy plants, was shown by Sir 
Joseph Hooker at the meeting of the Scientific 
Committee on Tuesday. 
Over 20,000 people visited the Horticultural Exhi¬ 
bition at York on the 18th inst. 
The Hungarian Lilac (Syringa Josikaa).—Though 
not so handsome as the common Lilac (S. vulgaris), 
this is worth growing because of its distinct appear¬ 
ance, and also because it is at its best just as the 
other Lilacs are over, with the exception of the 
Himalayan S. Emodi, which is still later. S. Josikasa 
forms a stouter, more upright-habited bush than the 
common Lilac, with larger and rougher leaves. The 
spikes of flowers, too, are much narrower and erect, 
or nearly so, on the branches, their colour being pale 
lilac. It seems rather more particular than the 
common kind as to soil and situation, for here on 
light dryish spots, where the other thrives perfectly, 
this does not grow in a satisfactory manner. In a 
moister and cooler spot it is, however, thoroughly at 
home.— L. T., in The Garden. 
AUTUMN AND WINTER BERRY¬ 
BEARING TREES. 
The remarks in your last issue, at p. 659, anent 
the flowering of the Holly and the probability of a 
good crop of Holly berries for our Christmas and 
mid-winter decorations, induce me to say that our 
autumn berry-bearing trees give promise of as fine 
a crop as the welcome Holly. Never before have I 
seen the Fowler’s Service tree or Mountain Ash, 
Pyrus aucuparia, and the White Beam, P. Aria, so 
full of flowers as they have been this summer in 
some of the plantations and woods in this district. 
The White Beam has been especially heavily laden, 
the trees being completely borne down by their 
clusters of creamy-white flowers, and no doubt the 
crop of berries will be in proportion, an abundant 
yield, circumstances permitting, as you prudently 
DODECATHEON MEDLi. 
remark, to gladden our eyes during the coming 
autumn. Being in fruit from August to November 
or later, if not destroyed by birds, they come in very 
useful for decorative purposes in our churches at 
Harvest Festivals, for which purpose they are much 
used and appreciated by many of our lady decorators. 
Passing through Cheshire last autumn on one of 
the railways, I noticed some fine trees heavily ladened 
with bunches of coral-red berries, and “ Oh, look at 
those trees, how grand they are !” was the frequent 
exclamation of some of my fellow passengers as we 
sped past first one lot, then another, and truly their 
appearance was really grand.— B. L., LindleyHudders¬ 
field. 
Vriesia amethystina.— This new, Brazilian, Brome- 
liad, with tufted leaves dilated at the base and 
prolonged into a long narrow blade pointed at the end, 
and of reddish colour beneath, has recently been 
figured in The Belgique Horticole. The long yellow 
flowers are loosely disposed in two ranks on an erect 
raceme. 
AMERICAN COWSLIPS. 
In our last we published a portrait of the very fine 
Dodecatheon splendidum, which this week we supple¬ 
ment with illustrations of the best-known of all the 
species, D. Media, and a grand variety of it, D. Media 
giganteum, which Mr. T. S. Ware recently exhibited 
at South Kensington. The first-named plant throws 
up its flower stalks to the height of 12 ins. to 15 ins., 
and bears an elegant umbel of rosy-purple flowers, 
divided into five broad reflexed segmens. The variety 
giganteum, also sometimes called elegans, is about 
a third larger in all its parts, and perhaps of a paler 
shade of colour, though still very bright. 
CLEANING PLANTS. 
The old proverb that “ cleanliness is the mother of 
health” in regard to mankind, is also applicable to 
plant life, and in these days when so much is written 
on the cultivation of fruits, flowers, and vegetables, 
I am inclined to think that too little is said on the 
subject of cleaning plants. Writers on horticul¬ 
tural subjects, at the end of a long chapter on the 
treatment of plants from the seed-pan or the cutting 
pot as the case may be, till the plant is ready for the 
exhibition table, usually wind up with the sound advice 
that it is necessary for the well-being of the plant 
that it be kept clean during all stages of its growth. 
Well, the soundness of the advice cannot be disputed, 
but the operator is left to find out as he can what 
is best to be done for that end, and in many cases 
the cure applied is worse than the disease. This is 
especially the case in regard to amateurs, and it is 
in the interest of such a deserving class that I take 
it upon myself to pen these few remarks, for they 
form no small section of the gardening “fraternity” 
on both sides of the Tweed, and especially in the 
suburbs of our large cities. Amongst this class 
your valuable publication will be found as great a 
boon as it has already proved to more advanced 
professional gardeners. 
Leaving out of the question altogether the high- 
class insecticides that are now offered, I will 
deal with three pests in particular, and which 
are the most troublesome in every garden, viz., the 
green-fly, mealy bug, and scale. The general remedy 
for the former is fumigation, and no doubt it is the 
most effectual remedy, but at the same time it is a 
very dangerous practice in the hands of the inex¬ 
perienced. If a conservatory gay with Pelargoniums 
be fumigated, what a sickly sight often meets the eye 
on entering the house the next morning. To avert 
this wholesale destruction of flowers I find the follow¬ 
ing to be a safe, and at the same time an effectual 
remedy : take 1 lb. of black soap and thoroughly 
dissolve it in five gallons of tepid water; in this dip the 
plants and let them stand for fifteen minutes, then 
water over head, when it will be found that the insects 
have been vanished without doing any harm to flower 
or foliage. I would strongly recommend this plan to 
the Orchid-grower for adoption at this season when so 
many young growths are coming up that the aphis 
likes so much to feed upon, instead of the usual method 
of sponging, which often ends in damage to the young 
leaves. I have treated Masdevallias.Ladias, Dendrobes, 
and many others in this manner when in full bloom, 
but I would recommend that they should always be 
done before the flowers expand. Where fumigation 
has to be resorted to, as in the case of climbers and 
large plants, all plants that are liable to be injured by 
the smoke should be syringed all over before com¬ 
mencing to fill the house, when the smoke will take 
no effect on them. This will have to be done in the 
case of Smilax and such like tender-leaved plants. 
The next in order is the mealy bug: the only sure 
remedy for this pest is constant watching, and killing 
with a little brush and a free use of the syringe with 
clean water. For large plants or climbers on the roof of 
a house, where there is a supply of water, a hose is a 
great acquisition. There may be objections with 
some to using the cold water. Well, at this season, 
there is not the slightest danger. I have under 
my charge a Stephanotis, covering 400 square feet, 
from which hundreds of trusses have been cut within 
the last two months, with from six to fourteen pips 
on each, and still there are hundreds coming on, and 
every one that sees it asks, “ How do you manage to 
