382 
THE GARDENING WORLD. 
Chelsea Blue, and the " gigantic ” strain in shades 
of blue, rose, and white. The plants were all well- 
flowered and in first-class condition (Silver Flora 
Medal). 
Messrs. R. & G. Cuthbert, Southgate, sent a nice 
collection of early bulbs. The straw-coloured (so- 
called) Roman Hyacinths were very noticeable here ; 
so also were the Crocuses which were shown in pot¬ 
fuls of named varieties. 
Mr. W. Camm, gardener to Her Grace the 
Duchess of Cleveland, Battle Abbey, showed some 
magnificent sprays of flowers of Bougainvillea specta- 
bilis, and some handsome trusses of the rich orange- 
yellow Bignonia venusta. 
Mr. George Mount, Canterbury, showed a box of 
two dozen cut Catherine Mermet Roses in excellent 
condition. 
Mr. J. George, 14, Redgrave Street, Putney, 
showed samples of his new suspending clip for pots 
or pans. 
At a meeting of the fruit and vegetable committee, 
a Silver Banksian Medal went to Mr. George Mount 
for a collection of Apples in fine preservation. Mere 
de Menage, Cox’s Orange Pippin, Wellington, Court 
Pendu Plat, and Cox's Pomona were in especially 
good condition. 
Twenty-five dishes of Apples were shown in com¬ 
petition for the Veitch flavour prizes. Mr. W. H. 
Divers, gardener to His Grace the Duke of Rutland, 
Belvoir Castle, Grantham, was placed first with 
Cox's OraDge ; and Mr. G. Woodward, gardener to 
Roger Leigh, Esq., Barham Court, Maidstone, 
second with Calville Blanche. 
Of the ten dishes of Pears shown, the first award 
Went to Passe Crassane, shown by Mr. G. Wood¬ 
ward ; and the second to Olivier de Serres, shown 
by Mr. Divers. 
Messrs. Sutton & Sons, Reading, showed two 
magnificent baskets of Sutton’s Superb Early White 
Broccoli, the individual heads being of immense 
size; also a basket of the early Pea Sutton’s 
Bountiful. 
Mr. Owen Thomas, The Royal Gardens, Frog- 
more, sent half a dozen fruits of the new Cucumber 
Every Day. Mr. J. Clarke, gardener to S. W. 
Keene, Esq., Mill Lodge, Barnes, received a cultural 
commendation for a basket of splendid Mushrooms. 
Mr. Miller, gardener to Lord Foley, Ruxley Lodge, 
Esher, sent a collection of Apples and Mushrooms. 
(Bronze Banksian Medal). 
Annual General Meeting. 
The annual general meeting was held in the 
Lindley Library, 117, Victoria Street, at 3 p.m. 
Sir Trevor Lawrence, Bart., in the chair. After the 
secretary had read the notice convening the meeting 
and the minutes of the last general meeting, the 
election of fellows was proceeded with. It transpired 
that 113 new fellows had already applied for 
membership in the new year. Mr. Harry Turner 
and Mr. Geo. Bunyard were appointed scrutineers 
of the ballot. Mr. Pearson proposed, and Mr. G. 
Gordon seconded that a vote of thanks be given to 
the retiring member of the council. The services of 
Mr. Douglas were specially eulogised by the preii- 
dent. 
The report commented upon the fact that the year 
1897 had been a very noteworthy one in the history 
of the society from the fact that it had seen the 
establishment of the Victoria Medal of Honour, 
which had been conferred on sixty recipients who 
had distinguished themselves in various ways in the 
art and science of horticulture. The medal was 
awarded for personal merit only, and was in no way 
connected with prize winning. 
Summarising the work accomplished by the society 
during the year it was stated that twenty fruit and 
floral meetings had been held at Westminster during 
the year, and fifteen committee meetings at Chiswick, 
besides the larger shows in the Temple Gardens, on 
May 26’.h, 27th, and 28th, and at the Crystal Palace, 
on September 30th, October 1st and 2nd. Lectures 
had been delivered at seventeen of the meetings, 
exclusive of those at the Crystal Palace. A total of 
1,008 awards had been made including Certificates 
and Medals of all grades. 
On V/ednesday, July 14th, the council invited all 
the members of committees to lunch at Chiswick, 
and to examine the gardens. Af.er luncheon an 
address on the possibilities of the extended use of the 
gardens was given by Dr. M. T. Masters, F.R.S. 
Dr. J. Augustus Voelcker, M.A.,had been recently 
February 12,1898. 
appointed consulting chemist to the society, and an 
arrangement had been made with him whereby all 
fellows desiring analyses of soils or manures, or 
advice as to either might receive information at a 
very small cost. 
The attention of the fellows was drawn to the 
advantages they might derive from the services of 
the Scientific Committee which was composed of 
gentleman well qualified to advise on all matters 
relating to plants and plant life. The council also 
wished to express thanks to the Director of the Royal 
Gardens, Kew, for allowing Mr. George Massee, 
F.L.S., to give the society the benefit of his know- 
and advice on the matter of fungoid diseases. 
With reference to the principal shows held it was 
stated that both the Temple Show and the Exhibition 
of British Fruit at the Crystal Palace had bean 
attended with great success. It was pointed out, 
however, that the annual continuance of the latter 
show depended upon the subscription of £100 
towards the prize fund. The show involved the 
society in a deal of expense without the possibility of 
a return, and thus it was necessary that some such 
rule should be made. Subscriptions should now be 
sent to the Secretary, 117, Victoria Street, 
Westminster, and if the list proved satisfactory, the 
schedule would then be issued in April, and the show 
for 1898 held on September 29th, 30th, and October 
rst. 
A deputation was sent by the Council in August 
last to the great horticultural gathering at Shrews¬ 
bury, as a result of the courteous invitation of the 
local authorities. Congratulations were expressed for 
the grand display forthcoming at Shrewsbury. An 
invitation for a similar deputation to be sent to the 
Newcastle Show on July 13th, 14th, and 15th, 189s, 
had been accepted from the Botanical and Horticul¬ 
tural Society of Northumberland, Durham, and 
Newcastle-on-Tyne. 
An examination in the principles and practice of 
horticulture was held on April 6th currently in 
va r ious parts of the kingdom, wherever a responsible 
person could be found to superintend. One hundred 
and eighty-one candidates presented themselves for 
examination. It was proposed to hold a similar ex¬ 
amination in 1898 on Tuesday, April 5 th. Candi¬ 
dates who wished to sit should make application at 
once. 
The best thanks of the society were due to all the 
members of committees, and also to those who, like 
Mr. N. N. Sherwood and Mr. C. J. Graham, had 
offered special prizes for competition; likewise to 
those who had contributed either by the reading of 
papers or exhibits of fruits, plants, or flowers to the 
success of the Drill Hall fortnightly meetings. 
It was announced that G. W. Burrows, Esq , of 
the Worshipful Gompany of Gardeners, had offered 
a scholarship of £25 a year for two years at the 
forthcoming examinations. A similar scholarship 
had also been promised by Lord Amherst, of 
Hackney. 
It was also announced that the Rev. George 
Henslow, M.A., had been appointed Professor of 
Botany to the society, and that he would give 
addresses during the year at several of the meetings. 
The number of deaths in the past year had been 
heavy, totalling 53 ; they included many staunch 
and energetic supporters of the society. 
Under the head of ordinary expenditure at Chis¬ 
wick £1,850 had been spent on the general work and 
maintenance of the gardens. Several houses had 
been under repairs, and one entirely rebuilt. The 
receipts for sale of surplus produce amounted to 
£357, making the net cost of the gardens £1,493. 
The statement of accounts for the year was also 
submitted. It showed a totality of receipts amount¬ 
ing to £6,303 13s. 7d., and expenses £5,481 6s. 3d., 
thus leaving a balance in hand of £822 7s. 4d. 
In rising to move the formal adoption of the 
report, Sir Trevor Lawrence said that he was glad 
to see the interest taken by the members in the 
society show itself in a large meeting. In comment¬ 
ing with the information laid before them in the 
printed report, he hoped that the gardens at 
Chiswick would become more and more a credit to 
the society and horticulture generally. The fort¬ 
nightly shows were fully maintained, and they could 
easily be doubled in extent if space permitted. It 
was necessary for London to have a Home of Horti¬ 
culture, but it was largely a question of money. 
The lunch given at Chiswick to the membars of 
Fringed White, Double White, Chelsea Rose, 
committees would, be hoped, be repeated in the 
current and ensuing years. He reminded his 
audience of the many advantages which Fellows 
obtained for their guinea. The increase in member¬ 
ship amounted to 325 during the last year. Sir 
Trevor alluded to an unfortunate mistake in the 
journal of the society, whereby the paper on “ market 
gardening of the Queen’s reign " was attributed to 
Mr. John Moore instead of to Mr. Assbee 
as it ought to have been. In conclusion, the 
Chairman eulogised the work of the treasurer and 
secretary, both of whom were ideal. Dr. Max¬ 
well T. Masters seconded. The motion was passed 
unanimously. Mr. Alex. Dean objected on the part 
of the fruit committee upon the new rule which 
caused the formation of a composite committee for 
the making of the awards to groups of exhibited 
plants. Mr. R. Dean also spoke on the same 
matter. Mr. John Ince made a very amusing 
remark in which he stated that Chiswick was a 
white elephant. A vote of thanks to the president, 
moved by Dr. Ince, brought the proceedings to a 
close. 
- - 
Quescions ado snsrasRs 
*,* Will our friends who send us newspapers be so good 
as to mark the paragraphs or articles they wish us to see. 
We shall be greatly obliged bv their so doing. 
[ Correspondents, please note that we cannot undertake to 
name florists' flowers such as Carnations, Pelargoniums, 
Chrysanthemums, Roses, nor such as are mere garden 
varieties, differing only in the colour of the flower. 
Florists' flowers, as a rule, can only be named by those who 
grow collections of them.] 
Boiler and Two Houses. — Avon: One boiler will 
heat the two houses you mention without any diffi¬ 
culty as far as power is concerned, but the house 
which is situated on a terrace, 8 ft. above the level 
of the lower one will have a tendency to get over¬ 
heated unless the valves are in proper working order 
and can turn off the water pretty closely when 
required. It would be advisable to give the flow 
pipe in the vinery a distinct rise all the way to the 
far end of the house. On the contrary the pipes in 
the greenhouse on the terrace would be inclined to 
get over-hea‘ed by reason of their height above the 
boiler. They might, therefore, be fixed almost level 
in the house, and furnished near the boiler with a 
good stop valve by which you could check and regu¬ 
late the flow of wa’er, or stop it altogether at 
pleasure. If you could arrange to place the flow 
and return pipes fsr the greenhouse entirely outside 
the vinery you could heat the greenhouse without 
affecting the vinery when you wish it to be perfectly 
cool. There should also be a stop-valve by which 
you could turn off the water from the vinery at will. 
Parasites on plant roots. — J. S.: The long, 
slender creature is a worm of the lower order, and 
often breeds in enormous numbers amongst leaf soil 
and other decaying vegetable matter, but we never 
discovered that they did any particular harm, 
though they must have got into the potting compost 
often. These low organisms breed by means of eggs 
which they produce in enormous numbers. We are 
more inclined to suspect the short grub, which is the 
larva of a two-winged fly belonging to the same 
group as the Cabbage Fly (Anthomyia Brassicae) 
and the Rort-eating Fly (A. radicum), being con¬ 
structed precisely on the same plan and about the 
same size. All of them coming under our notice are 
parasites, living on fresh vegetation. The perfect 
flies lay eggs, which batch out giving rise to the 
grubs you sent, the larger one of which was full 
grown and about ready to pass into the pupa stage. 
The latter after its transformation gives rise to the 
perfect fly again. We also discovered the mite you 
mention, but we think it was too lively to be a vege¬ 
table feeder. With regard to remedies we consider 
you adopted the best plan by shaking out the 
Asparagus plants and washing the roots previous to 
repotting them. We believe the worms, and possibly 
the grubs as well,were introduced by the compost, and 
we take it for granted that you were careful to get 
clean soil as far as you could see, and that any leaf 
soil and dung used were free from the vermin. There 
is another grub that sometimes gets introduced to pot 
plants, by the compost containing eggs. We refer to 
the weevils known as Otiorhynchus of which 
there are three, very often too common in 
gardens and plant houses. The grubs are 
fatter and more curved than those you sent us. You 
might lay about some pieces of wood in the houses 
over night to act as traps, to see whether you can 
catch any of the long-snouted beetles known as 
weevils. They are often very destructive to pot 
plants and other subj ;cts. 
Clematis or Banksia? — Sigma: The principal 
climbers on the house you mention are Roses, 
Clematis, Jasminum, Virginian Creeper, and Ivy. 
The most likely of these to litter the ground with 
their fallen leaves would be Roses, probably Tea or 
Noisette varieties, and very likely a free flowering 
