452 
THE GARDENING WORLD. 
March 16, 1895. 
to educate men to better methods of cultiva¬ 
tion, rather than to find out anything new. 
It may be urged with all gravity that we 
already have the Royal Horticultural 
Society’s Gardens at Chiswick large enough 
and sufficient for the needs of horticulture 
in Britain as far as experiments are con¬ 
cerned. From the farmer’s point of view 
it might be argued that the experiments 
conducted and demonstrated by the re¬ 
nowned Lawes and Gilbert, as well as by 
the authorities of the several agricultural 
colleges, have been ample to show what 
can and what cannot be done by the use of 
various manures, chemical and artificial, 
upon soils of a varied character in the pro¬ 
duction of different agricultural crops ; and, 
furthermore, that scientific experiments of 
all kinds are being conducted both on the 
Continent and in America, and that the 
results are being published to the world 
from time to time. 
All this we grant is true and relevant to 
the point at issue, but by far the larger 
mass of the labouring population and those 
in any way connected with the cultivation 
of the soil have little or no means of acquir¬ 
ing this knowledge so promulgated, and 
less opportunity of putting it into practice 
even if they had the ability. It is not 
sufficient to know that such and such facts 
are perfectly well known to science; before 
it is possible for the masses of the com¬ 
munity to grasp the facts and put them into 
practice as occasion may serve, they must 
be brought home to the very door of the 
people in the form of object lessons which 
they can readily understand and put into 
practice in their own gardens or allotment 
plots as the case may be. The scientific 
information gained by the great masters as 
the result of experiment must filter through 
hundreds or even thousands of other 
channels until it can be made universally 
applicable and useful. The ground set 
apart for the purpose of experimental 
object lessons may belong to any private 
individual or any organised body of people, 
so long as it is set apart for experiments 
and demonstrations, and the trials as object 
lessons for the public benefit. No fresh 
acts of parliament would be necessary, nor 
any special organisations of companies. 
The existing machinery if utilised would 
be quite sufficient, namely, the Parish 
Council or the County Council, or any 
others whom they could enlist specially 
conversant with the subject. 
Since horticulture has been added to the 
list of class subjects to be taught in schools, 
the necessity for experimental grounds in 
all parts of the country acquires a new 
significance. Then amongst those who 
would be admitted to the trial grounds and 
see for themselves the benefits and advan¬ 
tages of general and particular methods of 
cultivation, we would enumerate the pupils 
of school classes undergoing instruction in 
horticulture, also allotment holders, and 
gardeners, including the younger ones, who 
should be encouraged to make notes and 
memoranda of all the more important 
trials for their own ultimate benefit. The 
trial grounds might, with great convenience 
to all concerned, form a part of the allot¬ 
ment land not apportioned to holders, but 
specially reserved for the purpose. The 
emulation of allotment holders to outvie 
each other in cultivation, and the stimula¬ 
tion of prizes, should not be reckoned 
sufficient to ensure the best methods of 
culture. Those men should have the 
advantages of object lessons conducted 
and demonstrated by competent men. 
The holders cannot afford it if they had 
the ability to make experiments. Garden¬ 
ers are pretty much in the same position, 
and are limited to the requirements of 
their respective establishments, so that 
they cannot undertake anything special. 
The time and space at their command will 
only allow them to follow the usual routine, 
and in most cases in the old beaten track of 
past experience. 
Under the circumstances, the trial 
grounds would be as much a public as a 
private institution, in fact, a local school of 
horticulture. The assistance of gardeners 
in the neighbourhood should be enlisted for 
the advantage of their experience. For 
the purpose of demonstrations and note¬ 
taking, the summer evenings should be 
utilised for the benefit of gardeners and 
allotment holders who cannot possibly 
attend during the day. The latter would 
of course be there frequently at that time, 
and also on Saturday afternoons. Here it 
would be possible for gardeners to leave the 
beaten track, and their subordinates, always 
moving and never long in a place, could 
not fail to gather up manjr useful hints. 
Deserving institutions of this kind brought 
under the notice of the County Council 
might receive grants for instruction in the 
more special sciences, as well as help in 
other ways. The produce of the soil might 
be sold to help in defraying the expenses ; 
but local aid would be well merited in cases 
aiming at the education and betterment of 
the inhabitants. Practical object lessons, 
continually under the eye of the populace, 
could hardly fail to find many imitators to 
the public advantage. 
-- 
Mr. Boreham, recently foreman in Victoria Park, 
E., has recently been promoted by the London 
County Council to the post of Superintendent of 
Open Spaces South of the Thames, in the place of 
Mr. Wilkie who has resigned. 
Vegetable Show at Chiswick.—The Council of the 
Royal Horticultural Society has decided to hold the 
Special Vegetable Show, on October 15th, at the 
Society s gardens at Chiswick, instead of in the 
Westminster Drill Hall as was proposed in the first 
instance. 
Flower Show Fixtures—The Lea, Blackheath, and 
Lewisham Horticultural Society's Summer Show is 
announced for July 3rd and 4th; and the Reigate 
Cottage Garden and Horticultural Society’s Show is 
fixed for July 10th. 
Prizes for Photographs.—Messrs. James Carter & 
Co., High Holborn, W.C., with a view to obtaining 
the best pictorial representations of their specialties 
in flowers and vegetables, are offering a series of 
cash prizes to be awarded during the present year, 
particulars of which can be obtained on application 
to the firm. 
American Exports.—The export statistics issued by 
the American Treasury Department for the last 
fiscal year shows the total value of the exported 
flower and vegetable Seeds to be £100,836, of which 
sum £21,111 is credited to England. Fifty seven 
different countries are named in the returns of which 
England heads the list Germany coming next with 
£15,942. The total value of plants and Nursery 
Stock exported amounted to £29,253, of which £1,130 
value came to England ; of dutiable plants and 
Nursery Stock sent from England to the States 
the value is stated to have been £3,619. 
New Plants Certificated in Ghent.—The following 
certificates of merit were awarded in Ghent on the 
3rd inst:—To M. Jules Hye, for Odontoglossum 
crispum Duvivierianum, Cypripedium Leopoldianum 
(C. Leeanum superbum x C. insigne Wallacei), O. 
crispum Chestertoni, Cypripedium Osiris, C. Ley- 
senianum, C. Minos, O. heterodon, and O.nevadense; 
to M. De Smet-Duvivier, for Viburnum Tinus foliis 
aureis maculatis, and Anthurium Scherzerianum 
Souv. de Jean Van Geert ; to M. Arther De Smet, 
for Abutilon Sawitzi and a Seedling Anthurium ; 
and to M. Joseph Vervaene, for Azalea Th. Vervaene 
(a fixed sport). 
Death of Mr. Joseph Lakin—Florists of the old 
School all over the country will regret to hear of the 
death of Mr. Joseph Lakin, which sad event took place 
at Temple Cowley near Oxford, on the 4th inst.,aged 
sixty-seven. Mr. Lakin was a born florist and a 
keen cultivator from his youth upwards. For many 
years he was connected with the Oxford County 
Police, and at the time of his retirement a few years 
ago was superintendent of the Chipping Norton 
division of the County. On his retirement he went 
to live at Temple Cowley, where his love for Flori¬ 
culture could be enjoyed to his heart’s content, and 
his name soon became famous as a grower of Tulips, 
Carnations, Pinks, and Herbaceous plants. He was 
a kindly-natured and genial man and warmly 
respected by all who knew him. 
Death of Mr. A. Anderson.—“Cameo" writes : By 
the death of Mr. Alexander Anderson, who for the 
past five years had been foreman of the Herbaceous 
department of the Royal Botanic Garden at 
Edinburgh, at the early age of thirty there has passed 
away a young life which had every evidence of being 
one of great usefulness to Horticulture. A severe 
attack of pneumonia which seized him on February 
27th terminated fatally on the 9th inst. He was 
well known by many of the gardening fraternity about 
Edinburgh, and his kind and genial way made him 
loved and respected by all who knew him. Deep 
sympathy is felt for the young widow, who has had 
two very great trials to bear, her eldest child 
having succufnbed to the same malady just a week 
previous to the death of her husband. 
Climatological Observations for February.—At 
Driffield, Yorkshire (one of the authorised stations 
of the Royal Meteorological Society), the under¬ 
mentioned observations were made for February. 
Unless where otherwise mentioned, the thermometer 
was mounted in the Stevenson Screen at 4 ft. from 
the ground. The mean barometric pressure for the 
month at sea level was 30 067 in. The highest was 
30 53 on the 16th, and the lowest 2970 on the nth 
and 27th. The mean temperature at 9 a m. was 30°, 
but with the wet bulb 29°. The mean maximum 
was 35-3°, and the mean minimum 23®. The highest 
was 43'8° on the 28th, and the lowest—1° on the 8th, 
or 33 0 of frost. The mean radiation temperature on 
the grass was 17°, and the lowest—10°, or 42° of 
frost. The rainfall during the month was -64 in., 
and fell on thirteen days. The greatest amount on 
one day was i2in. on the 27th. We should understand 
that no account was taken cf the fall of snow, seeing 
that the rainfall for the month was but slightly over 
half an inch. 
Chinese Primulas —Few establishments at present 
are without their batches of Chinese Primulas, large 
or small according to the requirements. They have 
come to be indispensable elements in the decoration 
of a place during autumn, winter and spring. The 
high standard to which they have been worked up, 
makes them worthy of this continued attention. A 
box of blooms sent us last week by Messrs B. S. 
Williams & Son, Upper Holloway, as we were going 
to press, again reminds us of the utility and beauty 
of these winter-flowering plants. The blooms were 
of large size and very decided colours. Four of them 
were white varieties more or less distinct,but not being 
under name, and being without foliage, it would 
be impossible to say whether all were sufficiently 
distinct to bear separate names. Their purity was 
shown to the best advantage by the dark greenish- 
yellow eye. In one case the latter was about a third 
of the diameter of the flower and very conspicuous. 
Another flower of great size was dark carmine-purple 
with a crimson eye. A smaller bloom was even 
more intense but of a different hue, and for want of 
a definite name for the colour we should describe it 
as intense, glowing crimson-red. In any case all of 
the varieties sent us were of a high order of merit. 
Wood-pulp Mosaics.—A process has lately been 
invented in Germany for manufacturing floor mosaics 
from wood-pulp. It is claimed that this process is 
distinguished from the known processes of manu¬ 
facturing sectional or mosaic floors by reason of the 
fact that the sections made according to it are not 
liable to any change of temperature, and are, never¬ 
theless, not like stone, but similar to wood in all 
essential qualities. Consul Stern, of Bamberg, says 
that the process is as follows :—Several particles of 
wood, such as saw-dust, fine shavings, etc., are 
soaked in a mixture of shellac and alcohol, so that 
the pores of the wood are penetrated and thoroughly 
dried. A cement, consisting of fresh cheese whey 
and slacked lime, is then prepared. This cement is 
thinned with water, and then mixed thoroughly with 
the already dry wood particles in such a way that 
the consistency of the mass is uniform. Particular 
care is taken to render the cement as thin as possible, 
