116 
THE GARDENING WORLD 
October 23, 1897. 
pretty pattern consists of a light green 
centre, surrounded by a dark zone, to be 
bounded by a double margin of gray and 
green. A Fern-leaved variety, with deeply 
cut leaves was picked up in a batch of 
seedlings. A peculiarly noticeable feature 
of this species is the prominent auricles at 
the base of each segment of the corolla, and 
which leads us to hope that a race of hand¬ 
some varieties could be raised from it, 
differing completely from the better known 
Persian Cyclamen. The culture is of the 
simplest possible description. The natural 
soil is a heavy brick earth, and the surface 
is simply covered with cocoanut fibre and 
kept clean. The flowers are the first to 
appear, followed by the foliage while the 
flowers are yet in perfection. 
We have also seen a smaller but very 
fine bed of this Cyclamen under the shade 
of Elm trees in the gardens of Messrs, de 
Rothschild, Gunnersbury Park, Acton; 
and Mr. G. Reynolds has no difficulty in 
flowering and fruiting the plants profusely 
every autumn. On the edge of the wild 
garden near the Cumberland Gate of Kew 
Gardens, numerous corms are planted 
amongst the hardy Ferns under the shade 
of Elms and Limes. Here the plants have 
been most successful, though they refuse to 
thrive when planted amongst the grass, in 
the same way as Daffodils. 
-f- 
Diamond Jubilee Medal for Sir Trevor Lawrence, 
Bart.—I have the honour to inform you that Her 
Majesty has been graciously pleased to confer the 
Diamond Jubilee Medal upon Sir Trevor Lawrence, 
Bart., President of the Royal Horticultural Society ; 
Her Majesty being herself Patron of the Society.— 
W. Wilks, Sec., R. H. S. 
Victorian Era Exhibition —The Awards Jury of the 
Victorian Era Exhibition at Earl’s Court has just 
awarded Messrs. J. Laing & Sons, Forest Hill, 
London, a Diploma and a Gold Medal in recognition 
of the meritorious way in which they have planted the 
numerous beds in their extensive gardens with 
flowering plants and shrubs. 
Royal Horticultural Society.—The next meeting of 
the committees will be held on Tuesday, October 
26th, at the Drill Hall, for fruit, vegetables, flowers, 
and Orchids. At 1.30 punctually, the President and 
Council entertain at luncheon the 60 recipients of the 
Victoria Medal of Honour granted by Her Majesty's 
gracious permission in celebration of the completion 
of the 60th year of her reign. The lecture announced 
for the 26th will be postponed, and instead thereof at 
3 o'clock the sixty medals will be distributed to the 
recipients by the President in the Drill Hall. 
Death of Mr. Isaac Davies —On Sunday, the 10th 
inst., there passed away one of the old school of 
nurserymen, viz., Mr. Isaac Davies, of Brook Lane 
Nurseries, Ormskirk, at the ripe old age of 85. The 
deceased gentleman was the raiser of many good 
Calceolarias and Pelargoniums forty years ago, and 
many good Azaleas, hardy and greenhouse Rhodo¬ 
dendrons. He also raised several things which will 
live for many years amongst the best productions in 
this way, including Azalea Daviesi, A. Avalanche, and 
Rhododendron praecox elegantissimum. The green¬ 
house varieties, Countess of Derby, Countess of 
Sefton, Lady Skelmersdale, and many others were 
the result of his work.— A. 0 . 
Birmingham Amateur Gardeners' Association.—Mr. 
W. Sanderson read a paper on " Old Time Garden¬ 
ing " before the members of this society, at a meeting 
held at the Technical School, Birmingham, on the 
evening of Tuesday, October 5th. The essayist 
treated the subject in a very full and lengthy way, 
and said that the present day system of growing 
flowers for pleasure or beauty was comparatively 
new, for plants in the middle ages were culitvated 
either for food or medicine. He also described the 
various forms of old gardens, and stated that our 
ancestors favoured the arrangement of growing their 
plants in straight rows in square or oblong beds. 
Mr. Cornwell occupied the chair. 
Death from eating Laburnum seeds.—Bella Jane 
Cartney, the daughter of a farm servant residing in 
the neighbourhood of Strichen, Aberdeenshire, died 
on the 2nd inst. as the result of having eaten some 
seeds of Laburnum the previous afternoon. The 
girl was four and a half years old, and medical aid 
proved unavailing in the effort to ward off a fatal 
result. 
Budleigh Salterton and East Budleigh Cottage 
Garden Society held its annual meeting on Tuesday, 
the 5th inst. The Rev. W. F. Green occupied the 
chair. Dr. Brushfield, the treasurer, reported 
receipts £58, and expenditure £48. This report was 
passed on the motion of Captain Astley Cooper, 
seconded by Mr. Kempson. A sub-committee, 
composed of ladies and gentlemen, was formed to 
revise the prize lists. 
The Lozier Manufacturing Co.—This firm of manu¬ 
facturers of the noted Cleveland bicycles has left 
its former offices at 18, Holborn Viaduct, and re¬ 
moved to 24, 25, 26, and 27, Orchard Street, Oxford 
Street, London, W., where a cycle depot is being 
fitted up, which is declared to be the most 
commodious in the United Kingdom. Besides a 
complete stock of Cleveland bicycles, the company 
has also a complete stock of parts for executing any 
and all kinds of repairs, and, if necessary, to build 
the machine complete. The headquarters of the 
firm are at Cleveland, Ohio. 
Bristol Amateur Horticultural Society.—Mr. E. M. 
Dyer presided at the monthly meeting of this society 
over a large attendance. Mr. E. H. B. Chapman, 
F.R.H.S , M.S.A., of Frome, lectured on "Cacti 
and Succulent Plants." Mr. Chapman has devoted 
a good deal of time to the study of this interesting 
class of plants. He was one of the founders of the 
National Cactus Society. As was expected, he gave 
a most interesting lecture, illustrating the various 
points by means of living specimens, of which there 
were about 100. He gave in detail the characteristics 
of and the methods of culture for many selected 
kinds of Cacti, and fixed the attention of his audience 
throughout. 
Rye Gardeners.—A remarkably good show re¬ 
warded the efforts of Rye gardeners on the 6th inst. 
The vegetables sent by both the cottagers and the 
professional gardeners were first-rate. Mr. F. W. E. 
Shrivell, F.L.S., lectured in the evening upon " Arti¬ 
ficial and other manuring for garden produce." The 
facts and figures he presented were based upon 
practical and extensive experiments made in Kent, 
and were entirely in favour of the use of chemicals 
for producing much larger and better crops. The 
lecturer was “ heckled " by a few of the members of 
the audience, although the experience of others went 
to show that Mr. Shrivell was right in his deductions. 
The Mayor (Alderman Fuller) presided. 
Fordhook Farm, U S A.—There is no more widely 
known firm in the States than that of Atlee, Burpee 
& Co., and no prettier spot than the headquarters of 
the firm at Fordhook Farm, Doylestown, which is 
only an hour's easy run from Philadelphia. The 
methods in vogue at Fordhook are thorough and prac¬ 
tical, as becomes an establishment that is such an 
important factor in the supplying of seed to the 
American continent. The greatest vigilance is 
observed as to the quality of seed supplied to 
customers. Both its vitality and is purity with regard 
to strain and name are fully tested before customers 
are supplied. An idea of what an important item the 
" purity" trials are may be gathered from the fact 
that over 5,000 of these trials took place last season. 
Vegetables and flowers are alike well looked after, 
and many, many acres of land are devoted to the 
plants which are to furnish the seed. Sweet Peas 
are a great speciality of the firm, and much interest is 
taken in them, so much so indeed that last summer 
Mr. Burpee made a journey of 13,000 miles in their 
behalf, including a visit to Britain for the purpose of 
visiting Mr. Henry Eckford’s grand collection at 
Wem, in Shropshire, and seeing the plants in full 
bloom. There is very little glass at Fordhook, 
although a little is required to raise tender plants. 
Visitors are always welcome on any day except 
Sunday, although Wednesday is the usual visitors’ 
day. Escort is in each case provided, and points of 
interest shown, and explained where necessary. 
Tunbridge Wells Gardeners.—Mr. Berwick pre¬ 
sided at the last meeting, when impromptu discus¬ 
sion was the order cf the evening. The chairman 
introduced the question of the cultivation of the 
Apple, and gave his personal experiences as to soils, 
manures, and winter preservation of old and young 
trees. The following were the successful exhibitors : 
—Messrs. Greengoe, for Beet; Palmer, Nectarines ; 
Bridger, Brussels Sprouts; March, Vegetable 
Marrows ; and Verrall, Tomatos. Messrs. Verrall 
& Palmer were awarded Cultural Certificates. 
The London Florists’ Company, Limited.—This is 
the name of a new company recently floated with a 
capital of £30,030, and 17,000 shares were offered for 
public subscription. Preferential allotment was to be 
given to those living in the neighbourhood of the 
nine shops and businesses which the company pro¬ 
poses to carry on. The authors of the scheme point 
to the success of the Aerated Bread Company, 
Welford & Sons, Spiers & Pond, Crisp & Co., andT. 
R. Roberts, as evidence of what may be done by this 
mettiod of working. The statement of profit sub¬ 
mitted covers only one year's working, previous 
results being omitted, as some of the businesses were 
not established. 
Scottish Horticultural Association.—A paper on 
" Horticultural Influences " was read at a meeting of 
the Scottish Horticultural Society on October 5th by 
Mr. R. W. Wilson, gardener at Murdison Castle, 
Newmains. The place of meeting was 5, St. 
Andrew’s Square, Edinburgh, and Mr. M. Todd pre¬ 
sided. It was not possible, said Mr. Wilson, for 
wealth or power to monopolise the blessings derived 
from horticulture, for the gilded-domed conservatory 
might not impart to its lordly owner as much satis¬ 
faction as the widow’s modest plant grown in the 
loftiest tenement of any of the great cities did to her. 
Viewed from many points, they could not fail to 
realise the beneficence of horticulture as a far- 
reaching and divine creation. Mr. Wilson deprecated 
the way in which much of the surplus fruits, flowers, 
and vegetables from the gardens of the wealthy finds 
its way into the market in competition with the 
hard-working, industrious market gardener, and he 
suggested that much of it might be diverted into the 
wards of the hospitals and other institutions for the 
sick with beneficient effects. The immense influence 
for good caused by the laying out of flower beds at 
railway stations could not be estimated, for the 
practice let sunshine into the hearts of thousands of 
travellers daily. Mr. Wilson was heartily thanked 
for his paper. Among the exhibits made on this 
occasion were Asters from Mr. M. Todd, Chrysan¬ 
themums from Messrs. T. Methven & Sons, Holly¬ 
hocks from Ballikinrain Castle, and seedling Carna¬ 
tions from Messrs. Dickson & Co. 
Preston and Fulwood Horticultural Society.—Mr.B. 
Ashton,of Latham House,filled the chair on the occa¬ 
sion of the79th monthly meeting ol this society,which 
took place at the Old Legs of Man Hotel, Preston. 
He briefly introduced the lecturer for the evening, 
Mr. W. P. Roberts, Cuerdon Hall, Preston, who 
dealt with the subject of "Soil." In the course of 
his remarks, Mr. Roberts revealed an intimate 
knowledge of the teachings of science on the forma¬ 
tion of the soil, and he also described very lucidly 
their good and bad qualities, and the various effects 
of the weather upon them. A good soil should con¬ 
tain from 50 per cent, to 70 per cent, of sand, 20 per 
cent, to 30 per cent, of clay, 5 per cent, to 10 per 
cent, of lime and the same proportion of humus. 
Such a soil had enough sand to make it warm 
and porous, and enough lime to decompose the 
inorganic substances present. A bad soil was just 
the reverse, for it contained a superabundance of 
sand, clay, or humus, either of which was hurtful. 
Standing water was hurtful in every way. It made 
the soil cold, for not only does water take longer to 
warm than the soil, but in evaporating cools the 
soil. By draining, the air was allowed to get in as 
the water was drawn out. Speaking of weeds, he 
described them as plants in the wrong place, and it 
was necessary to remove them. In the discussion 
that followed the reading of the paper Messrs. 
Payne, Sykes, and Wood took an active part. Mr. 
Roberts then replied to questions that were raised 
during the discussion. Votes of thanks to Mr. 
Roberts for reading his paper, and to Mr. Ashton 
for presiding brought the business to a close. 
