K60 
THE GARDENING WORLD 
June 15 , 1895. 
whereby to irrigate the ground on which 
that useful and highly-esteemed fruit is in 
jeopardy of failure through drought. This 
might easily be effected in gardens where 
there is a stream at a slightly higher eleva¬ 
tion, so that its waters could be diverted by 
means of a drain, piping or other form of 
conduit for the conveyance of water to the 
required plantations. A portion of this 
drain might be permanent, and the rest ex¬ 
temporised according to the situation of the 
Strawberry crop for the time being. When 
the water is not required the drain could 
be shut off at its mouth. Various means 
could be employed for raising water to the 
level of the Strawberry beds ; and surely a 
good crop would repay the trouble of thus 
insuring it. Some of the more enterprising 
American gardeners water their Celery 
patches, as well as Melons and Cucumbers, 
by laying down a drain of two-inch tiles 
about six inches below the surface of the 
soil. The pipes are laid close together, 
end to end, with a slight dip or inclination 
in their course, while the upper end is fur¬ 
nished with a small tank for the purpose of 
feeding the drain. Soapsuds as well as 
clear water are employed, and when poured 
into the tank the moisture gradually oozes 
out from the joints of the tile-piping and 
supplies the roots of the various plants with 
continuous moisture. 
-- 
Haymakinghas been commenced in the Home Park 
at Windsor Castle. 
Gardeners’ Royal Benevolent Institution. —The 
Daily News, of June nth, says:—" Prince Christian 
has accepted the office of a Vice-President of the 
Gardeners’ Royal Benevolent Institution." 
Early Peas.—I have this day, June roth, 
gathered my first dish of Peas, the variety being 
Carter's Lightening. American Wonder sown on 
the same date, will not be ready for another week. 
Chelsea Gem will be ten days later still. Carter's 
Lightening is the best early Pea grown in my 
estimation.— Thos. CockeriV, The Gate House, Wirks- 
wartli. 
United Horticultural Benefit and Provident Society. 
—The usual monthly meeting was held at the 
Caledonian Hotel, on Monday evening last, Mr. 
Nathan Cole in the chair. Four new members were 
elected. It has been decided by the committee that 
the increase of sick pay from 10s. 6d. to 12s., and 
from 16s. to 18s. per week in the two classes re¬ 
spectively, shall commence from the half year 
(July 8th). The treasurer reported that he had 
invested £200 in West Bromwich 3 % Stock. 
Blenheim Palace Gardens. —By permission of the 
Duke of Marlborough, Blenheim Palace and Gardens 
were opened to the public on the 3rd inst. They 
will be open every Monday, Thursday, and Saturday 
until further notice, from noon until 4 p.m. on Sat¬ 
urdays, and from noon until 6 p.m. on the other two 
days of the week. 
Battle of Flowers at Eastbourne. —Arrangements 
are now completed for the Rose Fete week at East¬ 
bourne, commencing on July the 22nd. The pro¬ 
gramme includes a Rose parade, Rose ball, and con¬ 
fetti battle. It is hoped that a first-rate cricket 
match will be arranged for the two concluding days 
of the week. 
The Manchester Show. —In the short notice we 
gave (p. 645) of the Show held in the Royal Botanical 
Gardens, Old Trafford, Manchester, there was an 
omission in the list of gold medals awarded. Messrs. 
Hugh Low, and Co., Clapton, were the recipients of 
one for an extensive exhibit of miscellaneous 
Orchids. 
National Chrysanthemum Society— We are re¬ 
quested to state that the Annual Outing of the 
members of the above Society will take place on 
Monday, July 22nd, in the form of a visit to the 
gardens and grounds of Burford Lodge, Box Hill, 
near Dorking, the residence of Sir Trevor Lawrence, 
Bart., one of the Vice-Presidents of the Society. 
The Carnation and Picotee Union. —The Committee 
of this Union have issued the tenth annual report 
and statement of accounts for last year, and has 
much gratification in announcing that His Grace the 
Duke of Marlborough has accepted the office of 
president for the ensuing year. It is proposed to 
hold the Annual Exhibition on Saturday, July 27th 
prox. 
The Yorkshire Gala.—The thirty-seventh year of the 
Floral and Musical Exhibition of York and generally 
known as theYorkshire Gala, will be held on the 19th, 
20th, and 21st inst. The Great Floral Fete will be held 
in the Bootham Field, when a large sum in the form 
of prizes will be awarded to the successful exhibitors 
of fruit, flowers and plants. 
Royal Botanic Society of London.— Professor 
George Henslow, M.A., on the 31st May, 
delivered a lecture to the fellows and visitors at the 
Gardens, Regent's Park. Taking as his subject “ A 
Century of Progress iu Floriculture," he showed 
specimens of the original wild plants from which 
some of our most admired garden flowers have arisen, 
illustrating with numerous diagrams the various 
stages in the way of cultivation and hybridisation 
they have passed before reaching the perfection of 
to-day. While the changes from the—in many 
cases—insignificant wild flower had been little short 
of marvellous, there was a limit beyond which they 
could not go, and he was afraid that with some few 
of our florists' flowers that limit had already been 
reached. The next lecture will be given on Friday, 
June 7th, when Dr. D. Morris, C.M.G., will lecture 
upon the " Romance of Plant Life." 
European Gardeners and the United States.— The 
Florists Exchange does but express the sentiments of 
a great many gardeners outside of America when it 
says that it is interesting to note the number of 
arrivals of gardeners in the United States from other 
countries. During the year ending 30th June 1894, 
which is the latest period for which the statistics 
have been made up, there arrived from Bohemia, 
two gardeners ; from Hungary, 6 ; from Austria i 
6 ; from Belgium, 2 ; from Denmark, 19 ; from 
France, 13; from Germany 160; from Greece, 16; 
from Italy, 25 ; from the Netherlands, 22, one a 
woman ; from Norway, 5 ; from Russia, 3 ; from 
Sweden, 20; from Switzerland, 14; from Turkey, 
2; from England, 146; from Scotland, 38; from 
Ireland, 54 ; from Columbia, 2 ; from China, 7 ; from 
Japan, 3; from Australia. 3; from the Hawaiian 
Islands, 1, making a total of 569, 535 of whom, 
including one woman, were under forty, and the 
remainder over forty years of age. 
The People's Pa'ace Horticultural Society —The 
summer exhibition of this Society originally fixed 
for July nth will now take place on July 4th, in 
order that their R H. The Duke and Duchess of 
York may be able to visit the exhibition. Their 
Royal Highnesses desire to view the exhibition apart 
from any state ceremonial; and, in order that they 
may see as many of the members as possible present, 
have timed their visit at five o’clock in the evening. 
The Duke of Fife, the President of the Society, will 
preside at the opening ceremony. On the evening of 
the 8th inst., Mr. H. J. Jones, Ryecroft Nursery, 
Lewisham, delivered a lecture on the management of 
Chrysanthemums, before a large gathering of mem¬ 
bers at the People’s Palace ; Harold Bolton, Esq , 
one of the Hon. Secretaries, occupying the chair. 
For something like an hour Mr Jones spoke in an 
easy and colloquial manner, detailing the manage¬ 
ment from the time of the final potting to placing 
the blooms on the exhibition stage, illustrating his 
address at various points by means of object lessons 
and, much to the gratification of the members, many 
questions were put to Mr. Jones, and at the close a 
very hearty and unanimous vote of thanks was 
passed to him. It was one of the best of the course 
of lectures yet delivered. On Saturday the 22nd 
inst., the members of tbe Society will go to Kew 
Gardens by steamboat from London Bridge, a 
commodious boat being chartered for the occasion, 
and it is anticipated that something like 400 mem¬ 
bers and their friends will avail themselves of the 
opportunity. The boat will leave London Bridge at 
2.30 p.m. 
Bethnal Green Gardens. —Another of those oases 
provided through the beneficent action of the London 
County Council to brighten the wilderness of the 
poorer districts of London was opened at Bethnal 
Green. It consists of two plots of six and a half and 
three acres, known as Poor Man's Land, held until 
now by the Charity Commissioners as an appendage 
of the adjacent asylum. The Council gave /6,ooo 
for the land, and, preserving the trees, have laid out 
ample sward bounded by flower beds and shrub¬ 
beries with no more of gravel walks than are 
necessary. A gala show was made by the display of 
flags, the ringing of church bells, and the lively 
music of the Council's brass band in their gay 
uniform of peacock blue. At the ceremony on their 
stand members and officers of the Council, who had 
driven up from Spring Gardens, assembled at eleven 
o’clock, while the people stood round. Mr. 
Torrance, vice-chairman of the Parks Committee, 
began the business by expressing his pleasure at 
placing these grounds free for the recreation of the 
people of that congested locality. Some 200 years 
ago fully fifteen acres were set apart by benefactors 
as Poor Man's Land, but this had been cut down by 
processes not unknown to the nine now taken over 
by the Council. Mr. J. S. Fletcher, chairman of 
the Parks Committee, stated that Mr. Arthur Arnold 
and Mr. Harrison were away on well-earned holiday, 
and that he had received a letter from the Earl of 
Meath, than whom no man had done more to pre¬ 
serve open spaces for the people of London. 
Important to Florists —At a meeting of the Cardiff 
Burial Board held on June 4th at the Town Hall, 
Mr. W. J. Trounce presiding, Mr. H. White raised 
the question of the law referring to the removal of 
flowers from the cemetery. Resolutions had been 
previously passed by the board to the effect that 
flowers once brought into the cemetery could not be 
removed, and Mr. White cited a case in which a 
florist, who was under contract to plant certain 
graves, had taken more plants into the cemetery 
than he actually needed. He xvas about to cart 
away the superfluous plants, when he was prevented 
from doing so by the cemetery manager, who drew 
his attention to the existing resolution. Mr. White 
had received a deputation from Cardiff florists on 
the matter, and on behalf of such gentlemen he 
desired that a resolution should be passed to the 
effect that this rule of the cemetery should not apply 
to any person who might be employed or engaged as 
a florist or gardener.—This was passed. 
Broomfield Collection of Orchids.—The celebrated 
collection of Orchids got together in the course of 
many years by Matthew Wells, Esq., Broomfield, 
Sale, near Manchester, is to be sold on the premises 
on Wednesday and Thursday, June 26th and 27th. 
The plants will be sold without reserve, as Mr. 
Wells is relinquishing their cultivation ; and Messrs. 
Protheroe& Morris, of Cheapside, London, will effect 
the sale, commencing at half-past twelve o’clock each 
day. The collection includes many rare and beauti¬ 
ful species, varieties and hybrids, many of which 
have been described in our pages, during a period of 
several years. Special mention may be made of 
Cattleya Hardyana Wrigley's var., tbe hybrid and 
magnificent C. Lord Rothschild, the hybrid Phaius 
Cooksonii, Laelio-Cattleya broomfieldense, L.-C. 
Phoebe, and L.-C. Wellsiae, all of which we have 
seen and admired while describing them at one time 
or other. Several pieces of Cattleya labiata alba 
will be sold, including the original plant, which was 
accorded a First-class Certificate by the R.H.S., and 
which occasioned so much discussion in our pages at 
the time. Other fine things in the collection are 
Cattleya Mendelii broomfieldense, C. M. Bluntii, 
C M. Reine des Beiges, C. Hardyana Statteriana, 
C. H. Pickering var., C. Percivaliana alba, very rare, 
Laelia purpurata Hardy’s alba, Odontoglcssum 
Pescatorei Pollett’s var., O.Wellsianum, Dendrobium 
nobile nobilius, and many others. 
Orkney Horticultural Society.—A meeting of those 
interested in the formation of a horticultural society 
for the county was held in the Municipal Buildings 
on the 28th ult. Sheriff Armour was called to the 
chair, who, after referring to the association under 
whose auspices flower shows were formerly held in 
Kirkwall, said it was now proposed to form a society 
for the encouragement of horticulture in the county 
by means of an annual flower show. It was then 
agreed to form a society to be called "The Orkney 
Horticultural Association.” Sheriff Armour was 
unanimously elected president ; Mr. W. Dover 
Baikie, vice-president; Mr. M. L. Howman, secre¬ 
tary ; and Mr. T. H. Liddle, treasurer. A strong 
executive committee was also appointed, as well as a 
number of patrons. Rules were adopted, and it was 
agreed to hold the first show in August, the com¬ 
mittee to make all the necessary arrangements. 
The Paxton Society.—At the meeting of the mem¬ 
bers of the above Society, held at the Woolpacks 
Hotel on the 25th ult., Mr. B. Whiteley presided, 
