116 
THE GARDENING WORLD. 
October 20, 1894. 
in the agricultural colleges, or in the agri¬ 
cultural departments of colleges devoted to 
the higher branches of education generally. 
A fair extent of ground would be necessary 
for the purpose of practical demonstrations 
in horticulture, for making trials of various 
subjects under the influence of different 
manures, and for the purpose of experi¬ 
menting on the methods of combating the 
fungoid diseases and insect enemies of 
plants, Good systems of rotation of crop¬ 
ping should also form a strong feature of 
the teaching, for, seeing that they are of 
such momentous importance to agriculture, 
they must be equally or more serviceable 
to horticulture, seeing that the _ number 
of subjects, or of different kinds of 
plants taken in hand by the gardener, is 
vastly greater than that the agriculturist 
is ever called upon to undertake. It 
follows, then, that instruction in horti¬ 
culture should be proportionately compre¬ 
hensive. 
-- 
The National Chrysanthemum Society.—The annual 
dinner of this Society will take place at Anderton’s 
Hotel, Fleet Street, on Thursday, November 29th. 
Sir Edwin Saunders, President of the Society, will 
preside, and the musical arrangements are in the 
hands of Mr. J. Mortimer Dudman. 
Manchester Chrysanthemum Show.—We are re¬ 
quested to state that this annual exhibition will take 
place in the Manchester Town Hall on Friday and 
Saturday, November 23rd and 24th, instead of on 
the 20th and 21st, as previously announced. 
Death of Mr. W. H. Lewin.—We regret to learn of 
the death, on the 9th inst., aged 62, at Drumpelier 
Gardens, Coatbridge, N.B., of Mr. W. H. Lewin, 
“ the valued friend and gardener, for nearly 40 years, 
of Sir David Carrick Buchanan." 
Florida Pineapples.—It is estimated that Florida’s 
crop of Pineapples this year will aggregate 50,000 
crates of fully 2,300,000 Pineapples. 
Mr. Thomas Maxwell, for the past two years general 
foreman at Ay ton Castle, Berwickshire, N.B., has 
been engaged and has entered on his duties as 
gardener to Mrs. Fox Tarratt, Ellary, Ardrishaig, 
Argyleshire. 
Messrs. W. L. Lewis & Co., Chaseside, Southgate, 
N., have admitted Mr. F. W. Ashton as a partner in 
the firm. Mr. Ashton has been their representative 
for some time, and no change will be made in the 
style of the fiim. 
Messrs. Dobbie & Co., Seed Merchants and Florists, 
Rothesay, have arranged for a lease of the Chelsfield 
Estate Farm, Orpington, Kent. This farm is finely 
situated thirteen miles south of London, and is 
intersected by the main line of the South Eastern 
Railway. It is about sixty acres in extent and will 
be used by Messrs. Dobbie entirely for seed growing 
purposes. 
National Rose Society.—The annual meeting of this 
Society will take place on Thursday, December 6th, 
the dates and places of the Society’s exhibitions in 
1895 have been fixed as follows : Southern show at 
Gloucester, June 26th ; metropolitan show at Crystal 
Palace, July 6 ; and northern show at Derby, July 17. 
Flowers Growing in the Scilly Isles.—During the 
last six weeks the weather at the Islands of Scilly 
has been remarkably grand, with an almost un¬ 
clouded sky day by day, with but little wind and a 
small supply of rain. The effect of this on the 
Narcissus crop is most marked. They already make 
rows in the beds. It is an indication of the limited 
supply of flowers in the country, when, as is the 
fact, salesmen are already asking for Scilly flowers. 
A larger number of agents from London have visited 
the growers this autumn than for many years past, 
and although acres upon acres of the Narcissus are 
being grown this year more than last, the market, it 
is evident, will not be over-stocked 
New Plants Certificated in Ghent.—At the last meet¬ 
ing of the Belgian Chamber of Horticulture held in 
Ghent, Certificates of Merit were awarded to M. 
Jules Hye for Cattleya Proserpine (Laelia Dayana 
x Cattleya velutina), Cattleya Schilleriana, Cypri- 
pedium Albertianum, and Cattleya labiata autumn- 
alis. To M. Louis Demeyer for Lavateria arborea 
fol. var. To M. J. De Kneef for double Begonia 
Madame Armand de Meulenaere; and to Mr. 
Frangois Dubois for twelve new varieties of single 
striped Dahlias. 
Agave Americana as a food plant.—The Agave 
is used as an edible in Mexico, and Mr. Carnegy, of 
Oudh, recommended it for use in India in time of 
famine. Experiments were made at the request of 
the Government of the North-West Provinces and 
Oudh, but the report of these, says The Society of Arts 
Journal, was not satisfactory :—" The result of the 
experiments made here was to show that no 
important addition to the foodstuffs of the people in 
times of famine would be furnished by this plant. 
The difficulty in dealing with it is to get rid of the 
very disagreeable flavour that both the Cabbage and 
the flower stalk have in this countrj .” 
Grape culture in Cornwall.—A Cornish correspon¬ 
dent writes:—"This has been a splendid year for 
Grapes in Cornwall, and tons have been sent to the 
London Markets, but unfortunately prices have been 
far from remunerative. I know of an instance in 
the case of one grower in the neighbourhood of Land’s 
End, who sent a large consignment to Covent Garden 
Market, with the result that for the trouble of grow¬ 
ing, cutting, packing, and forwarding he was re¬ 
munerated to the handsome tune of three penny 
postage stamps.” 
Nature’s Help to Gardeners was the title of a 
lecture given on the 10th inst. at Colston Hall, 
Bristol, by Mr. Joseph Hinton, of Batheaston. 
With the aid of coloured sketches, leaflets and a 
blackboard, the lecturer ably showed the ofttimes 
unappreciated aid constantly given the gardener 
(amateur and professional) in the destruction of the 
various kinds of aphides by, amongst others, the 
common " lady bird,” the graceful " lacewing ” fly, 
and the wasp-like striped " balance ” fly, all of 
which, even in their embryo stage, wage unceasing 
war on insects prejudicial to plant life, which 
assistance, he stated, was not to be despised, since 
one green fly could produce no less than 5,000,000 of 
its own species. At the end of the lecture discussion 
was invited, and questions of a very varied nature 
were freely put, all of which were freely answered. 
A cordial vote of thanks was accorded the lecturer. 
Birmingham Gardeners’ Mutual Improvement 
Association.—The first autumn meeting of this 
association was held on the 8th inst., Mr. W. B. 
Latham presiding. A paper was read by Mr. John 
Pope on the Dahlia, with special reference to its new 
development. Mr. Pope gave a brief description of 
the origin of the name, and then a very interesting 
account of the rise and progress of this grand autumn 
plant. Incidentally he mentioned an interesting fact 
—that one of the first pompon dahlias, a variety 
called “ Little Wonder,” was raised at Handsworth 
about thirty-five years ago by a Birmingham button- 
maker named Smith, who was a great enthusiast in 
gro wing all florists' flowers. An instructive discussion 
followed. Some beautiful dahlias and other flowers 
were exhibited by Messrs. Pope (King's Norton), 
Hewitt (Solihull), Turner (Slough), Marlet (Wor¬ 
cester), Keynes (Salisbury), Perkins (Coventry). A 
hearty vote of thanks to the essayist closed the pro¬ 
ceedings. 
International Exhibition of 1895 .—The National 
Horticultural Society of France will hold an inter¬ 
national exhibition of the products of horticulture 
and of objects of art and industry employed in 
gardening or serving for the decoration of Parks and 
Gardens, from the 22nd to the 28th May, 1895. The 
Exhibition will beheld in the Garden of the Tuileries, 
Paris. Prizes are offered in 334 classes for the most 
diversified subjects possible in connection with the 
art of gardening. It would be impossible here to 
mention a tithe of them, but they will be understood 
to be pretty comprehensive seeing that collections of 
Cactiform, Euphorbias, Cacti, Echeverias, Agaves, 
Aloes, Yuccas, Phormium, Araucarias, and all the 
more ordinary classes of exhibition plants are 
included. The awards offered will consist of prizes 
of honour, (such as objects of art and medals of 
honour), gold, large silver gilt, silver gilt, large silver, 
silver, and bronze medals and honorable mention. 
Besides the exhibition there will be an international 
congress of horticulture at which papers will be 
read and discussed on various matters relating 
to horticulture and plant life. This is the eleventh 
congress organised by the National Horticul¬ 
tural Society of France, and it will run its course 
during the same week as the exhibition. The meet¬ 
ings will be held in the Hotel of the Society, 84 Rue 
de Grenelle, commencing at 2 p.m. each day. The 
general secretary is M. Abel Chatenay. 
Tomato culture in the open air.—Mr. Newell who so 
ably presides over the gardening establishment of Sir 
Edwin Saunders, at Fairlawn, Wimbledon Common, 
has recently shown us a very fine sample of Tomatos, 
grown mainly in the open air, but finished off under 
glass. In very few seasons, at all events in the 
neighbourhood of London, can Tomatos, planted in 
the open borders be depended upon to finish off their 
crops, and recognizing this tact, Mr. Newell has 
adopted the simple plan of putting his plants in pots 
and plunging them out, instead of directly planting 
them out, and with the very best results, because 
immediately on the approach of unfavourable 
weather he was enabled easily to house them under 
glass and thus ripen off the fruits in the most natural 
way. A better sample could not be desired, and we 
strongly recommend the simple plan as a means of 
securing a good autumn crop. Mr. Newell used 
10 in. pots, and potted his plants in good fibrous 
loam only, adding no manure, and grew them on the 
single rod system. Twice during the summer each 
pot had a small handful of bone meal applied to it, 
and once a teaspoonful of Clay’s Manure was given 
for a change. The plants were removed to a frame 
early in August, the pots being plunged, and the 
plants layed out regularly on a trellis about a foot 
from the ground. The sorts grown are Sutton’s 
A. J., Abundance and Perfection, and of the latter 
Mr. Newell has had fruits weighing ilb 3 oz., and of 
Abundance, bunches weighing 31b. 9 oz. 
Shirley Gardeners’ Improvement Association.—The 
monthly meeting was held at Shirley, Southampton, 
on the 15th inst., when there was a good attendance 
of members, and W. H. Rogers, Esq., J.P., presided. 
The subject of the lecture was " British Fungi,” by 
the Rev. W. L. W. Eyre, Rector of Swarraton, 
Hants. The Rev. Lecturer said that the subject was 
a very difficult one to deal with, the study of 
"Fungi” having been much neglected during the 
past few years, and there was also a dearth of well- 
written, attractive information, the books on the 
subject being too technical. The lecturer then 
described a number of the species which he had 
before him, pointing out their characteristics and 
the class or family to tvhich they belonged, and also 
their character as food or otherwise. An interesting 
discussion occurred at the termination of the lecture 
on the method of distribution of spores, the lecturer 
contending the minuteness of their form enabled 
them to be distributed by the air, and one of the 
audience advanced the theory that animals would 
take these spores in large quantities with their food, 
thus distributing them in unexpected places with 
their excretion. A vote of thanks to the lecturer 
was most heartily given and acknowledged. There 
was al large display of fungi, collected in the New 
Forest by Mr. Hobby and Mr. Ladhams, Junr. A 
large number of specimens were also contributed by 
the Chairman, Mr. Rogers, Mr. E. Wilcox, Mr. 
Bartlett, Mr. Risbridger, and Mr. B. Ladhams, 
F.R.H.S., representing over 100 varieties altogether. 
Mr. Wilcox exhibited Marguerite Carnations from 
open border ; Mr. Hallett, Victoria Plums, second 
crop; Mr. Arlett and Mr. G. W. Oshen, Pears; and 
Mr. B. Ladhams, hardy perennia’s. 
Begonia municata.—This is one of the best 
known of the older sorts of the winter-flowering 
section of Begonias. Like many more of its 
class, the leaves are of a distinctly orna¬ 
mental character, and the flowers which are freely 
produced upon branching cymes are of a delicate 
pink colour. B. manicata is one of the compara¬ 
tively few plants that always present an attractive 
appearance, but when in flower handsome is the 
the only term that any one with any love for the 
beautiful could fittingly apply to it. It is very easy 
to grow, and should be accorded a place of honour 
in every establishment. It should be grown on 
during the jummer in a stove ; better still, it may be 
plunged in a hot-bed or a forcing pit, for in these 
places it will get the heat and moisture combined, 
in which it, like other member of its class, delights 
to revel. B. manicata is a Mexican plant, and was 
introduced to this country in or about the year 1842. 
Hardy Ornamental Flowering Trees and Shrubs, by 
A. D. Webster. A valuable guide to planters of beautiful 
trees and shrubs for the adornment of parks and gardens. 
Price, 3s ; post free, 3s. 3d. Publisher, Gardening World, 
1, Clement’s Inn, Strand, London, W.C. 
