564 
THE GARDENING WORLD 
May 4, 1895. 
a long time, owing to the slow rate of growth 
in the early stages. The False Acacia is 
almost equally tardy, but both are feathery 
and graceful when they do come. The 
Kentucky Coffee tree, the Catalpa, and the 
Tree of Heaven are amongst the latest to 
clothe their nakedness, but they are worthy 
of waiting for. The bronzy tint of the 
young shoots and leaves of the last named 
is conspicuous till far into the summer, in 
fact till July, before the feather leaves 
acquire their full shade of green. Ever¬ 
greens, such as the Cedars, Pines, Spruces, 
and Silver Firs, although amply clothed 
with foliage all the year round, yet do not 
prevent an unvarying aspect, but assume a 
lighter and more gladsome hue like the rest 
from early summer onward. Mingling with, 
or contemporaneous with the leafing of the 
above, is the blossoming of the Almond, 
Pear, Plum, Cherry, Apple, Hawthorn, 
Horse Chestnut, and many others. Dis¬ 
tinct effects might be obtained by planting 
the trees, which first expand their leaves in 
proximity to houses, and later ones in a 
graduated series farther and farther away. 
The early ones could be seen from the 
windows while the weather is yet cold but 
the impressions of spring warm ; then, as 
the season advances, the beauty of the 
others would attract the owners and 
inmates of the houses farther afield. 
Flowering trees and shrubs might be treated 
in the same way as far as convenience 
might permit. Deciduous trees in the neigh¬ 
bourhood of the house are not only permis¬ 
sible but desirable, seeing that the fall of 
the leaf in autumn when the days are 
shortening and the light failing allow of 
more light to the windows and cheerfulness 
to the interior. 
-«*.- 
An exhibition of Asparagus will be held in the 
horticultural section of the Amsterdam Universal 
Exhibition on the i6th and 17th inst., when Gold, 
Silver, and Bronze Medals will be awarded accord¬ 
ing to merit. A supplementary programme has also 
been issued by the executive for the exhibition to be 
held at the end of July. 
Lindley Library.—Mr. Arthur W. Sutton, of 
Reading, has presented to the Lindley Library a fine 
copy of L. Plukenet's Opera Omnia, six volumes in 
two. Plukenet’s volumes have an historical interest, 
as they serve to fix the date of introduction of many 
garden plants. Plukenet was botanist to Mary, 
Queen of William IIP, was superintendent of the 
gardens at Hampton Court, and at one time had a 
botanic garden of his own not far from the present 
site of the offices of the Royal Horticultural Society. 
Death of Mrs. A. H. Smee.—With sincere regret we 
have to record the death on the 24th ult. of the wife 
of Mr. A. H. Smee of The Grange (My Garden), 
Hackbridge. Mrs. Smee had undergone a long and 
painful illness, and her death is deeply deplored by 
the poor of the district in which she so long resided, 
and whom she was ever ready to help in time of need. 
A Mammoth Nursery—The nursery of Messrs. 
Storrs & Harrison is said to extend for more than a 
mile along the shore of Lake Erie, two miles east of 
Painesville, Ohio. Thirty-nine years ago the Paines- 
ville Nurseries consisted of a few acres cultivated 
for a local retail trade. Now they occupy over 1,200 
acres, have twenty-nine large greenhouses and the 
largest storage and packing cellars in the country. 
Probably no nurseries in the United States are so 
well situated or have the variety of soil so admirably 
adapted to the production .of hardy, healthy, well- 
rooted and well-developed specimens of such an 
immense variety of fruits and ornamental trees, 
shrubs, and plants. 
Saintpaulia ionantha — Dr. Masters showed flowers 
received from Mr. Ernst Benary, of Erfurt, show¬ 
ing a considerable range of variation in size and in 
colour. With reference to this matter, the proposal 
to refer this East African genus to the Chinese 
Petroxosmea was mentioned, and the opinion of Mr. 
C. B. Clarke, the monographer of the order, was 
cited to the effect that until the ripe fruit of Saint¬ 
paulia was examined, and the numerous new forms 
of this order lately introduced carefully investigated, 
it was considered better to retain for the present the 
genus Saintpaulia—though, in all probability, it 
would eventually have to be merged into some other 
genus. 
Royal Gardeners’ Orphan Fund.—At a meeting of 
the Executive Committee, held on the 26th ult., 
special votes of thanks were accorded to Mr. H. J. 
Veitch and others who contributed so greatly to the 
success of the recent annual festival. Mr. John 
Harrison, of Leicester, was elected a Vice-President 
of the Fund. A letter was read fron Mr. N. N. 
Sherwood expressing his desire to at once take 
advantage of the new rule, which enables any one to 
place a child on the Fund on payment of /13 per 
annum. His kindly gift will be known as the 
“ Emma Sherwood Presentation,” for which a child 
will be selected from among those who failed at the 
last election. The special thanks of the Committee 
were accorded to Mr. Sherwood for his generous 
gift. 
National Horticultural Society of France.—The 
International Horticultural Exhibition which will 
take place in Paris in the Gardens of the Tuileries, 
from the 22nd to the 28th inst., promises to be a 
great success. There are already numerous demands 
for admission from exhibitors, both French and 
foreigners, which gives no cause for astonishment, if 
we remember that the Jury will have at its 
disposition objects of art and medals to the value of 
more than 30,000 francs, offered by enthusiastic 
amateurs and by the National Horticultural Society 
of France, which : s sparing no expense to secure for 
its decennial exhibition of 1895 the same success 
which obtained in 1885. A decree of the President 
of the Republic, of the date 3rd April, 1895, 
constitutes the site of the exhibition a real custom 
house, vhich for foreign products does away with 
all the formalities on the frontiers, and for national 
products—those of the octrois of Paris—the ex¬ 
amination being done in the exhibition itself. The 
members of the Jury, selected by the Society, and 
belonging to all nationalities, accept their mission 
with enthusiasm, and offer to assist at the Interna¬ 
tional Horticultural Congress as well as the exhibi¬ 
tion. The Congress will be held in the Hotel of the 
Society during the continuance of the exhibition and 
promises to be most interesting. 
Liverpool Horticultural Association.—At the last 
meeting of the present session, held on the 20th inst., 
Mr. Thomas White presiding, Mr. John Cowan, 
The Vineyard, Garston, read a paper on *' How the 
usefulness of Horticultural Societies and Associa¬ 
tions might be extended.” In his opening remarks 
Mr. Cowan referred to the great strides that had 
been made in the education of gardeners. Exhibi¬ 
tions were considered especially valuable and one 
show each year generally sufficed in most places, 
but he thought that in such centres as Manchester, 
Liverpool, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Dublin, Belfast, 
etc., one or two should not be considered sufficient, 
their aims should be wider than at present and they 
should have power to deal with all horticultural 
matters in their district. The Royal Horticultural 
Society might still take the lead, but that Society 
like the provincial ones still stood in need of much 
improvement. Its Committees should possess the 
fullest confidence of the horticultural community 
and its managers should remember that England is 
greater than London, and not London and all its 
belongings so vastly superior to other parts of the 
country. In Liverpool they had plenty of good 
patrons of horticulture, and the membership of their 
Society should be large in proportion. The govern¬ 
ing body of the Society should be composed of 
gentlemen amateurs, nurserymen and seedsmen, 
and gardeners, with no section preponderating over 
the ethers. The Society should be worthy of 
Liverpool in every sense and of sufficient importance 
to deal with new and rare plants, fruits, and flowers, 
in the way of granting certificates, so that there 
would be no need to send such things to London 
where they often received scant attention. The 
Society should also deal with the education and 
training of gardeners, and grant certificates for pro¬ 
ficiency to their professional members. A discussion 
followed in which Messrs. R. G. Waterman, R. 
Pinnington, J. Stoney, Massey, T. Foster and the 
chairman took part, and a vote of thanks was 
accorded to Mr Cowan for his suggestive paper. 
Royal Botanic Society—At a meeting of this 
Society, held on Saturday, among the objects of 
interest exhibited were a number of growing plants 
of Sanseviera cylindriea, the Bowstring Hemp, 
obtained by dividing one of the stick-like leaves 
transversely into pieces and planting them, when 
young shoots appear at the base, although no signs 
of any node or budding point can be traced upon 
the leaf. The plant is remarkable as producing one 
of the strongest of known fibres. 
-- 
PRICKING OFF SEEDLINGS. 
This is a cultural detail which is, or soon will be in 
full swing in all gardens, and a little extra trouble 
taken in the way in which the operation is carried out 
will be amply compensated for in the strength and 
quality of the plants to be put out in their flowering 
quarters later on. A good start is half the battle,— 
that is the saying, and I am sure it is so with seed¬ 
lings,as regards the way in which they are encouraged 
to make good plants ; for if, on the other hand, they 
are only what I term half handled, what puny and 
miserable objects they are to plant for the decoration 
of beds and borders. If they are poor plants when 
put out and a dry season follows, they are a complete 
failure, and at once gain a damaging character. 
I will call attention to Stocks, Asters, and Zinnias 
in particular. If these have been sown in shallow 
boxes, filled with nice light sandy soil, and placed 
in a pit or frame filled with litter and leaves on which 
was placed a good layer of sawdust, not only to keep 
down any rank vapour that might possibly arise, but 
also to prevent the depredations of slugs which are 
generally secrete 1 among leaves—they will now require 
pricking off, as they must not be allowed to remain 
too long in the boxes drawing one another up, 
particularly if they have come up thickly. The plan 
I adopt is to choose a nice level spot with a hard 
ash bottom, on which are placed shallow wooden 
frames ; a layer of good short rotten manure is put 
into them, firmly trod and beaten down evenly, so 
that it is about 3 in. thick all over the frame, the 
manure I cover with finely sifted soil to a depth of 
an inch or two, beating that down firmly with the 
back of a spade. Prick the seedlings out in rows 
3 or 4 in. apart, give them a soaking of water, put 
on the lights, and keep them shaded from bright 
sunshine. When removing the shading in the 
afternoon give them a slight sprinkling with a fine 
rose water-pot to freshen them up ; they will not be 
long before they make a start, when shading can be 
dispensed with—as too much would cause them to 
become weak and drawn ; give a little ventilation on 
all favourable occasions. 
As the season advances the lights can be drawn 
off altogether during the daytime, and nights as well, 
if there is no likelihood of frost. When planting 
time arrives the plants should be cut out down to 
the hard bottom with a sharp trowel, each plant will 
then have a ball attached like half a brick, and if 
they are conveyed carefully to their quarters, and 
immediately planted, receiving a good soaking of 
water afterwards, they will scarcely show that they 
have been removed. Those who have not frames at 
liberty should place planks on edge around such a bed 
as I have described; after the seedlings are pricked out 
they may be sheltered by hurdles and mats, if lights 
are not available. Should the weather be favourable 
they will soon get hold of the soil, although they 
caunot be expected to come on so rapidly as those 
having the protection of frames and lights. This 
latter plan I always adopt with Celery seedlings, as 
thus they make finer plants, dwarfer, and give 
infinitely less trouble than pricking them out in boxes, 
in which they draw each other up, and are too often 
almost worthless at planting time —Pathfinder. 
-- 
DAFFODILS AT LONG 
DITTON. 
After all the cold winter and the backward late 
spring the Daffodils have now been in their prime 
for some weeks, the early ones assuming the lead and 
taking ” the winds of March with beauty.” The very 
early ones, mostly of the golden type, are now past 
their best, but others have taken their place, and the 
latest consisting of the double forms of the Poet's 
Narcissus will keep up a display till some time in 
