June 25, 1898. 
THE GARDENING WORLD 
677 
An experiment in the cultivation of Potatos in 
Africa is proposed by the German Government. 
Shirley and Districts Gardeners’ Mutual Improve¬ 
ment Association.—The monthly meeting of the above 
society was held at the Parish Room, Shirley, 
Southampton, on the 20th inst., there being a fair 
attendance of the members, presided over by the 
president, W. F. G. Spranger, Esq. The lecture was 
entitled some “ Asiatic Plants noticed in the course 
of travels in Japan, China and Ceylon,” given by 
W. Frank Perkins, Esq., and being profusely illus¬ 
trated with limelight views of tropical vegetation ; it 
was a most interesting subject. Tea and Coffee 
plantations in Ceylon came in for a large share of 
the descriptive remarks, as also did the family of 
Palms and Musas. A very hearty vote of thanks 
was accorded to Mr. Perkins at the close of his 
lecture. There was a good display of Roses, some 
contributed by Mr. W. H. Rogers, Red Lodge Nur¬ 
sery, being awarded a Certificate. In the com¬ 
petition for three prizes for the best six Roses Mr. 
W. Knapp was first; Mr. J. Hallet, second ; and 
Mr. Vernon, third. Mr. Ladhams, F.R H.S.,sent a 
display of hardy herbaceous cut blooms, and was 
awarded a Certificate for twelve Gloxinias, Mr. E. 
J. Wilcox sent a large number of prints of tropical 
plants in horticultural journals.. 
Messrs. Webb & Sons at Birmingham.—Messrs. 
Webb & Sons, Wordsley, Stourbridge, have an 
imposing stand full of material, grown from the 
seeds they supply, at the Royal Show now in pro¬ 
gress at Birmingham. In the section devoted to 
flowers some magnificent Begonias, Calceolarias, 
Sweet Peas, Stocks, Liliums, Gladioli, &c., make 
a brave show. Vegetables form another meritorious 
collection ; Beans, Parsnips, Cucumbers, Tomatos, 
Cauliflowers, Carrots, Leeks and Onions are repre¬ 
sented, and all are of the best that skill can pro¬ 
duce. The new Peas, Pioneer and Senator, grow¬ 
ing in pots show a profusion of long, well filled 
pods, whilst among the Potatos, Webb’s New 
Motor is conspicuous for its large size and 
splendid quality. Cereals form an important part 
of the exhibit, and here the Hardy Winter Black 
Oat instances a wonderfully heavy cropper that 
stands the most severe winter with impunity. New 
Standard Red and New White Queen Wheat are 
two grand sorts for autumn sowing. Some 
remarkably fine Mangolds and Swedes of last 
year’s growth are eloquent witnesses of the quality 
of seed supplied by the firm. All these together 
with various mixtures of grass seed for lawn and 
meadow sowing, and manures for all sorts of crops, 
constitute a comprehensive exhibit, interesting to 
both agriculturist and horticulturist alike. 
A Classic Legacy of Agriculture —Under this head¬ 
ing Mr. John Mills writes, in Knowledge, about the 
world renowned establishment for agricultural re¬ 
search at Rothamsted, as it has been carried on for 
more than fifty years by Sir John Lawes and Sir 
Henry Gilbert. He says, that “ The time is past 
when practice can go on in the blind and vain confi¬ 
dence of a shallow empiricism, severed from science 
like a tree from its roots. Rothamsted is described 
as a model establishment, where the collaborators 
have elicited information that will ever after serve 
as a foundation on which to build up all future 
scientific knowledge on agricultural chemistry and 
its relation to plant life. The exact data placed at 
the disposal of chemists is without parallel in the 
annals of science. Chemistry and botany have never 
before been brought into more profitable correlation 
than in the Rothamsted experiments. Sir John 
Lawes first commenced operations in 1834, and has 
continued them uninterruptedly even since. He has 
carried on the experiments at his own cost; and, 
furthermore, has endowed the establishment with 
the munificent sum of £100,000 to ensure the experi¬ 
ments being continued after his death. Germany 
followed in the wake of Rothamsted, and now she 
maintains twenty-five experimental stations at the 
public expense, though they were founded by 
associations of agriculturists. The British farmer 
takes more produce out of the soil than is 
done in any other country of the world. The college 
at Glasnevin, near Dublin, receives a Government 
grant, but the colleges at Cirencester, Downton, and 
the Colonial Training College in Suffolk are self- 
supporting. 
The lost Orchids. —Distinguished foreigner: “ O 
John, I have been keeping my eye on the Orchids all 
the evening, but now they are gon e." - John Bull: 
“My dear Mosoo, I’m weally very sorry ; but if you 
'ad been a oss instead of a hass you would ave kep’ 
both heyes on 'em ! ”— Waggs. 
Royal Horticultural Society.—The members of the 
various committees of this society have been invited 
by the council to visit and inspect the gardens at 
Chiswick at 12 noon on the 5th July, and to lunch 
with them at 1.30 p.m The meeting will be con¬ 
tinued till 4.30 o'clock. Last year the meeting was 
well attended, and proved a very pleasant one to 
all participating in the same. 
Preparing for the Prince of Wales at Birmingham.— 
By the special permission of the Council of the 
Royal Agricultural Society, Messrs. Webb & Sons, 
the Queen’s Seedsmen, have decorated the exterior 
of the hall in Four Oaks Park with ornamental 
lawns, flowering plants, Palms, &c. The effect is 
very pleasing, and Messrs. Webb are to be congra¬ 
tulated upon having added so materially to the 
attractiveness of the show yard. The hall was to be 
used for the reception of the Prince of Wales on 
Wednesday. 
Reading and District Gardeners’ Mutual Improve¬ 
ment Association.—The second meeting of the sum¬ 
mer session of the above was held in the Club Room 
on Monday evening last, when Mr. Turton, the 
chairman of the association, presided over a good 
attendance of members. The subject chosen for the 
evening was “ Vegetables in Season,” introduced by 
Mr. H. Wilson, gardener to Mrs. Bland-Carland, 
Lower Redlands, Reading. The varieties principally 
touched upon were Asparagus. Cabbage, Carrots, 
Mushrooms, Tomatos, Turnips, French Beans, 
Vegetable Marrow, Peas, Lettuce, Broad Beans, 
Cucumbers and Potatos. A most profitable discus¬ 
sion took place, some fifteen to twenty members 
giving their experience with regard to the various 
kinds referred to. The exhibits were exceedingly 
interesting, Mr Townsend, gardener to Sir William 
Farrer, Sandhurst Lodge, showing a splendid collec¬ 
tion of tropical and hardy Nymphaeas.amongst which 
were the following N. stellata, N. amazonica, N. 
Lotus, N. zanzibarensis, N. z. rosea, N. elegans, N. 
pygmaea helvola, N. Laydeckeri rosea, N. tuberosa, 
N. alba, N. Candida, N. marliacea carnea, N. croma- 
tella, N. odorata gigantea, &c.; Mr. Wilson, con¬ 
sidering the backwardness of the season, had some 
excellent specimens of Sutton's First Crop Cauli¬ 
flower, Snowball Turnip, Champion Horn Carrot, 
Commodore Nutt and Tom Thumb Cabbage Lettuce 
and Black Seeded Bath Cos Lettuce. Mr. Turton, 
Maiden Erleigh Gardens, had a splendid sample of 
Sutton’s Ringleader Potato. Mr. Smith, gardener to 
Miss Nield, Greenbank, showed nine bunches of 
Pansies, distinct varieties. Mr. Osborne, Junr., 
brought a plant of Streptocarpus, a cross between 
Wendlandii and the hybrid strain. A vote of thanks to 
Mr. Turton and to those who had staged the flowers 
and vegetables brought an enjoyable evening to a 
close. 
- - 
HARDY HERBACEOUS PLANTS. 
Papayer nudicaule —The genus Papaver is noted 
for bright and showy flowers, and some of them as 
is P. bracteatum and its numerous varieties attain 
colossal proportions. The ingenuity of the genus, if 
I may so phrase it, has not been exhausted in pro¬ 
ducing these huge, and it must be admitted, stately 
flowers. In the opposite direction it has run into a 
race of dwarf, tufted plants that flower with surpass¬ 
ing freedom, and over a very long period. In this 
section the Iceland Poppies, varieties of the species 
P. Dudicaule are exceedingly useful subjects for the 
rockery or herbaceous border. The plants vary 
from 8 in. to 15 in. in height, according to the soil in 
which they are growing, and the special character of 
the season. This year growth has been pretty 
vigorous owing to the rainy May and early part of 
June. The flowers, which are large, relative to the 
height of the plant, and the numbers in which they 
are produced, exhibit a variety of shades of white, 
yellow and orange, and they last well when cut aDd 
placed in water, but when intended for that purpose 
should be gathered early in the morning while the 
dew is yet on them. Like other perennial Poppies, 
propagation may be effected by division of the roots 
in spring, and this is, of course, followed when it is 
desired to increase the stock of any particular 
variety that has taken the fancy of the grower, but 
for general purposes a packet of seed will do all that 
is required. Once get a healthy clump of plants, 
and the area they occupy will extend year by year, 
for the self-sown seed germinates freely enough. I 
recently observed a grand lot of plants, most of 
which originated from self-sown seed in Messrs. 
Barr & Sons’ Nurseries at Long Ditton. 
Thalictrum adiantifolium.—Most of the Thalic- 
trums are possessed of ornamental foliage, and some 
of them have in addition very bright and showy 
flowers. In the case of T. adiantifolium, however, 
we have a plant whose small, green-yellow flowers 
in themselves are inconspicuous when taken 
severally, although in the mass they harmonise well 
with the tout ensemble of the plant, since they are 
borne in tall, elegant panicles that form a finish to 
the finely-cut deep green foliage beneath. The 
popular specific name "adiantifolium ” is not at all 
inappropriate, since the small segments or pinnules 
of the leaves are in shape very much like those of 
the common Maidenhair Fern, Aoiantum cuneatum. 
The name T. adiantifolium is the one under which 
the plant is usually to be found in gardens and 
nurseries, but it is synonymous with the T. minus 
of the botanist, and a British plant to boot. This is 
sufficient evidence of its hardiness in even the 
severest winters, whilst to this we may add that it is 
very easily cultivated in any ordinary garden soil. 
It may be increased from divisions, but this is rather 
too slow where quantities of plants are wanted for 
cutting from, so a packet of seed, which germinates 
easily enough, and which may be obtained very 
cheaply, is a good investment. For dinner table 
decoration the foliage will be found invaluable. 
Thalictrum aquilegifolium atropurpureum —A 
fearfully long name is this to bestow upon a poor, 
long-suffering plant. In this case we have an instance 
where both flowers and foliage are ornamental, for 
although the leaves are not so finely cut, nor the 
ultimate segments so small as in T. adiantifolium, 
they are yet handsome and imposing. The flowers 
are produced in huge corymbose panicles, the 
filaments of the stamens really constituting what is 
popularly known as the “ flower,” for the sepals 
which are the only series of floral envelopes left to 
the genus are rather short-lived and soon drop. The 
flowers are not, as the varietal name would seem to 
indicate, dark, but light purple, and the name atro- 
purpureum would be better applied to the stems, 
which are very dark in hue. Propagation is usually 
conducted by division .—Plant Lover. 
—— -t« - 
DOUBLE AND SINGLE PYRETHRUMS. 
The popularity of these is abundantly evidenced by 
the gay displays of their flowers in the hawkers’ 
baskets at the present time. Some of the very best 
varieties in each section are constantly being offered 
from door to door. Many acres of ground must be 
covered by them to produce the abundant supplies 
we see on every hand. They certainly are one of 
the most valuable groups of hardy perennials we 
have, and ought to have a place assigned to them in 
every garden. They will thrive in almost any soils 
with the exception of such as are very cold and 
retentive. Where these conditions prevail special 
preparations must be made as respects drainage and 
the addition of some lighter material, such as sand 
and well decayed manure or leaf soil. Slugs are 
their worst enemies and must be kept in check, 
especially during the early period of growth. The 
month of May is the best time to form fresh planta¬ 
tions. Those commencing their culture should 
procure plants established in pots. When planting 
loosen the balls of soil so that the fresh roots may 
obtain a hold of the soil more rapidly than they 
otherwise would do. Give them plenty of room ; 
2 ft.—provided good strong healthy plants are used— 
will not be too much. Keep them clear of weeds by 
frequently stirring the ground with the hoe. A most 
excellent plan after a stock is secured is to make a 
fresh plantation every year by taking off pieces 
from established plants. This somewhat prolongs 
the flowering season, those already established 
flowering somewhat earlier than freshly planted ones. 
Althpugh they will last for years in the same position, 
better results are obtained by frequent renewals of 
