592 
THE GARDENING WORLD. 
May 20, 1893. 
To-day our horticultural Press furnishes 
all the needful data to enable exact history 
to be written. Fifty years ago no such 
data was to be found, hence the value of 
such information as Mr. Dodwell has sup¬ 
plied, and which we could wish to see 
many others doing in relation to florists’ 
flowers in general, whilst they live to pre¬ 
pare it. We have no reason to suppose 
that floriculture in its highest or most exact 
form will ever decay, indeed, so long as 
flowers are grown so long will men strive to 
evolve from out of them the most perfect 
floral conceptions ofwhich Nature is capable 
of producing. 
he Spring Flower Shows. —With the 
heat that has been so long prevalent 
it does seem irregular to write of the May 
flower shows as belonging to the spring. Still, 
in so doing we are but following tradition. 
Really they are so plentiful in London now 
that we have hardly time to breathe, and 
at the close of the month may well cry, 
hold, enough for the present. Hardly had 
the Drill Hall meeting been cleared away 
last week when a brilliant exhibition was 
prepared at the Crystal Palace, and that 
was immediately succeeded at Earl’s 
Court on Saturday by an opening show, a 
very pleasing display and a delightful 
function. 
Then on Wednesday of the present week 
there was the usual Botanic Show, always 
a very beautiful, if not a very extensive, one, 
and yet furtherin the week there was, on the 
18th, a great Orchid Show at Earl’s Court, 
whilst on the following day opens the great 
Whitsuntide Exhibition at Old Trafford, 
Manchester, when Mr. Bruce Findlay, who 
is rarely a false prophet, promises one of 
the grandest Orchid shows ever seen. And 
so far as the present year is concerned he 
may be right, for it is certain that down 
south Orchids are so forward, and the 
a tmosphere being so dry they are not keeping 
well, so that the usual grand show in the 
Temple Gardens may be shorn of some of 
its customary Orchid attractions. 
With that display always before, and 
we hope again, a truly grand exhibition of 
flowers and other products, we shall be 
next week pretty well satisfied, and for a 
time may well be glad to rest. 'We have 
no desire to see bad weather interfering 
with the success of any of these shows, 
but probably there is not one person who 
would not all the same regard a heavy 
rainfall as a great blessing. Happily, 
after the present glut of shows is over we 
shall narrow down next month to a few 
that will be all the more acceptable. 
/^ooseberries.— It is true that for the 
proverbial Gooseberry pie we need 
not xvait until Whitsuntide, early as that 
festival comes this year, for earlier still is 
the season, and there are already plenty of 
the incisively sharp fruits in the market. 
But the Gooseberry is this season the sub¬ 
ject of a severe insect affliction. We have 
seen extensive breadths of bushes that, so 
far from being of the normal green tint, are 
literally reddening unto death with red 
spider. In all such cases it is morally 
certain that not only will the season’s crop 
of fruit be a very poor one, but, still further, 
that the bushes will so suffer that they will 
hardly be of much service next year. 
It is obvious that here we have a 
difficulty which is not easy to grapple with. 
It is so easy to write about insect pests 
and how to destroy them, but it is so very 
difficult to utilise those antidotes on a large 
scale. A breadth of a few dozens of 
bushes need trouble no one, but when it is 
a breadth of thousands, then the difficulty 
is considerable, Of course there would 
be no antidote like that found in frequent 
rainfalls. Plenty of moisture at the roots 
and a humid atmosphere might work 
wonders, but such a state of things is long 
delayed, and in the meantime every 
additional dry day is but extending the 
evil. When every leaf is eaten up it may 
be that the insect pests will prey upon the 
Currant foliage, or perhaps upon that of 
the top trees. 
So far as is possible there seems to be 
no better course than to well wash the 
bushes, and ere dry smother with sulphur, 
for soot is too obnoxious when fruit is on 
the bushes. After a few days of this coat¬ 
ing, another washing may be given to 
cleanse where there is plenty of water, and 
who just now has that, and to spare ? 
rtificial Rain. —That some extra foolish 
questions are asked in the House of 
Commons is made but too evident by the 
query put to the Minister of Agriculture the 
other day, as to his intentions respecting 
the artificial production of rain. When 
people are so credulous as to accept as 
gospel all the wonderful stories that come 
from America, they will, of course, believe 
anything. If these American experiments 
in artificial rain production had been 
successful, then we should not have read of 
frequent complaints of drought. It is 
very true that here we have great need for 
rain, although with us it is very far from 
being so bad as in some other countries. 
But in spite of our oceanic surroundings 
and with what is, or should be, a highly 
vaporous atmosphere, yet would it be impos¬ 
sible by any aerial experiment with 
dynamite or by producing violent atmos¬ 
pheric concussions to obtain the rain we 
so sadly need. The fact is there is, or at 
least for the past several weeks has been, 
no humidity in the air, and therefore none 
to draw down. If we would have artificial 
rain we must look to more mundane causes. 
Perhaps some day science may enable us 
to utilise the ocean, to remove its saline 
properties, and then cast it in the form of 
rain in enormous quantities over vast areas 
of land. That, however, is but a dream of 
to-day when it is so dry, to be only 
scorned and condemned when it is wet. 
The worst aspect of the present dryness 
to us seems to be the possibility of its very 
long continuance even, all through the 
summer. That is, indeed, something terrible 
to contemplate. However, we have 
Gilbert White’s evidence that when, in 1776 
up to May 30th, the fields were burnt up 
and naked, and the Barley not out of the 
ground—and matters are not so bad as that 
yet—with ten days’ rain so wonderful a 
change was wrought that the earth then 
bore the promise of plenty. 
--j—- 
Gardening Engagement.—Mr. Thomas Gray, late 
gardener to Captain Smyth, Ballynegall, Mullingar, 
has been engaged as gardener to J. B. Houston, Esq. 
Orangefield, Belfast. 
Herbaceous Calceolarias.—At the Cheltenham 
Show, last week, Messrs. Sutton & Sons were 
awarded a Medal for a fine exhibit of their strain of 
herbaceous Calceolaria, the only medal ever awarded 
by the society for a similar collection. 
The Gardeners’ Silver Wedding Presentation to Mr. 
and Mrs. Veitch.—The subscribers to the handsome 
Silver Wedding present made to Mr. and Mrs. 
Harry J. Veitch last summer will be glad to know 
that the committee who had the matter in hand 
have this week concluded their labours by the pre¬ 
sentation to Mrs. Veitch of the portrait of her 
husband in oils, which the subscribers decided upon 
last autumn. The completion of the portrait has 
been delayed somewhat longer than was anticipated 
owing to certain unavoidable contingencies which 
arose, but it has lost nothing in value on that account, 
the artist selected, Mr. George Clausen, having suc¬ 
ceeded in securing an exceedingly life-like and 
successful three-quarter length portrait. We may add 
that the portrait, with the sanction of Mrs. Veitch, will 
be on view at the Chelsea Nursery all next week, where 
it can be seen by any of the subscribers who may be 
coming up to town for the Temple Show 7 . 
New Plants Certificated in Ghent. —At the meeting 
of the Chamber Syndical of Belgian Horticulturists, 
held on the gth inst., Certificates of Merit were 
awarded to M. Leon Poelman for Vriesia Malzinei 
rubescens, Nidularium rutilaus, X. Marechali, and 
Vriesia Kitelliana; to M. Louis De Smet for 
Asparagus albens; to M. A. Van Imschoot for 
Streptocarpus species, Masdevallia Heathi, and 
Medinilla Teysmanii; to Mr. Ed. Pynaert for 
Miltonia vexillaria punctata, and Phyllocereus 
hybride; and to Mr. Jules Hye for Odontoglossum 
Wilckeanum Vinckeanum, Laelia purpurata var.. 
Cattleya Mendelli var., Odontoglossum Verbeecki- 
anum, Cattleya Gaskelliana alba var., Imschootiana, 
and Laelia grandis tenebrosa. 
American Foresls.—From statistics presented to 
the Forestry Congress at Philadelphia it appears 
that the woodlands of the United States now cover 
450,000,000 of acres, or about 26 per cent, of the 
area. Of this not less than 25,000,000 acres are cut 
over annually. It was also stated that while the 
wood growing annually in the United States 
amounted to 12,coo,000,000 of cubic feet, the amount 
cut annually is just double that enormous quantity, 
besides a vast amount destroyed by fire, and not in¬ 
cluded in the estimate. The country’s supply is 
being depleted therefore (says Mr. J. E. Jones) 
twice as fast as it is being reproduced, which 
clearly goes to show that a timber famine in America 
is approaching quite rapidly. 
Scottish Horticullural Association.—An examination 
took place at the close of the season’s lectures under 
the auspices of the Scottish Horticultural Asso¬ 
ciation with the following result Science : 1, 
Ernest Waller, Leith Walk Nursery; 2, G. C. 
Paton, Morton Hall, Liberton ; 3, Oswald Clark, 
Morton Hall ; 4, L. S. Sinclair, West Coates 
Nursery ; 5, Wm. Jobson, West Coates Nursery ; 6, 
William Milne, Newhailes, Musselburgh. Hardy 
Fruit : 1, Oswald Clark, Morton Hall; 2, William 
Milne, Newhailes ; 3, George Beach, Morton Hall; 
4, G. C. Paton, Morton Hall; 5, Wm. Jobson. West 
Coates Nursery; 6, William Douglas, East Dud- 
dingston. The money for the lectures was provided 
by the Edinburgh Corporation. 
The Drought in the West of England. —West 
Cornwall, up to the time of writing has (says our 
correspondent) escaped the heavy storm of rain and 
hail which did so much damage to fruit trees and 
gardens generally in the eastern part of the county 
on Monday. So violent was the storm at Crediton 
that Potatos and other produce were literally removed 
wholesale from their growing positions. Leaves 
were absolutely cut from the trees. In other parts 
the rain was more gentle and came as a blessing after 
the two months of drought experienced, and where 
everything seemed to be failing for lack of moisture. 
In West Cornwall, all fruit, except Cherries is 
abundant. These are, apparently, withering when 
half-grown in the drier places. There is but little 
moisture found rearer than 18 in. from the surface, 
which is somewhat extraordinary on a soil which is 
naturally of a damp description. Strawberries are 
as plentiful in Cornwall as Blackberries in autumn. 
The Climate on the West Coast of Inverness-shire.— 
Dr. Ogilvie Grant, medical officer for the county of 
Inverness, in a recent report states, with reference to 
the climate on the west coast, that the average tem¬ 
perature of the county is equablerhaving no great 
extremes of heat or cold. The average temperature 
of the past year was 45 6 ; the highest average, 46 6, 
being at Kyleakin and Monach on the west coast; 
the lowest 44 7 and 44'8, being noted at Inverness 
and Fort Augustus. On the shores of remote, wild, 
and inaccessible Loch Hourn, Mr. Birkbeck has 
demontrated in a practical way the mildness of the 
climatic conditions :—“ There in the open air such 
plants as Lapageria, Dracaena, Darlingtonia, Cam¬ 
ellia, &c., plants that are considered tender about 
London, have flourished in the open air at Loch 
Hourn Head for six or seven years. All Chili plants, 
and most of the New Zealand shrubs, thrive in this 
