S98 
THE GARDENING WORLD 
The Lizard Orchid.—A valuable and interesting 
floral discovery, says the Daily Graphic, has been 
made by the authorities at the Kent and Sussex 
Agricultural College at Wye. For forty years the 
Lizard Orchid has been lost to the British flora, but 
it has been re-discovered on the Kentish Downs, 
where fifteen out of the twenty species of British 
Orchids have been found. Our only hope is that 
the authorities who located the plants will now take 
steps to preserve and increase this plant, which now 
has an interesting history. 
The “Hurst & Son” C C.—The card of “fixtures” 
for cricket matches between the above club and 
friendly rivals has been sent to us, and its impression 
is highly satisfactory. If the club and its members 
and team are as well appointed as the card, or rather 
booklet of tabulations, the " Hurst & Son,” we fancy, 
will be a formidable body to tackle on the cricket 
field. We wish them luck. N. N. Sherwood, Esq., 
acts as president, while Hugh Aiton, Esq., Thos. N. 
Cox, Esq , Wm. Sherwood, Esq., and Ed. Sherwood, 
Esq., are on the vice-president list; Wm.Cox, Esq., is 
the hon. treasurer and chairman of committee; Thos. 
Swift, Esq., is the hon. auditor. There are close upon 
sixty honorary members, which provides the substan¬ 
tiality of this club. The first match was played on May 
13th, and matches continue till theg'h of September, 
of which ten are away from home. Matches com¬ 
mence at 3.30 p.m. on the Saturday afternoons, and 
to reach their ground from the City is an easy 
matter, as from Liverpool Street Station frequent 
trains may be had to Wood Street, a station on the 
G.E.R., from which the cricket field at Wadham 
Lodge, Walthamstow, may easily be reached. 
Edinburgh Seed Trade.—A smoking concert was 
held on Friday night, the 12th inst, in the West End 
Cafe, 139, Princes Street, Edinburgh, under the 
presidency of Mr. Peter Drew, at which Mr. 
Alexander Chalmers, the popular secretary for the 
trade annual gathering, was presented (on the occa¬ 
sion of his marriage), with a handsome marble clock, 
and a very massive gold albert; also a beautiful gold 
bracelet and brooch set in diamonds and pearls, for 
his affianced bride. As a still further mark of the 
very high esteem in which Mr. Chalmers is held in 
the town and elsewhere, an exquisite illuminated 
address was presented to him, containing the names 
of all the subscribers, this being a most elaborate 
work of art executed by the master haDd of Mr. Wm. 
Adamson, 25, St. James Square. In response to the 
touching speech made by Mr. David Mitchell, of 
Comely Bank (who made the presentation), and to 
the toast of his health and future welfare, which was 
most enthusiastically received by the large company, 
Mr. Chalmers made a most feeling reply. The clock 
was supplied by Mr. Robert Sawers, 12, Shandwick 
Place; the albert by Mr. Geo. F. Hamilton, 132, 
Leitb Street; the bracelet and brooch by Messrs. 
Thos. Smith & Sons, 47, George street. 
Shirley Gardeners’ Mutual Improvement Associa¬ 
tion.—The monthly meeting of the above society was 
held at the Parish Room, Shirley, Southampton, on 
Monday, the 15th inst., there being a good attend¬ 
ance of members presided over by Mr. B. Ladhams, 
F.R.H.S. Mr. A. Angell, Ph.D., F.S.I., public 
analyst for the County of Hants, gave a lecture 
entitled “Sexuality in Plants,” illustrated by lime¬ 
light slides specially prepared, and some of which 
were kindly lent by Messrs. Sutton & Sons, Reading. 
The lecturer divided his subject into four divisions — 
the Algae, Mosses, Ferns, and flowering plants, and 
showed on the screen examples of the sexual organs 
of each division, and the method of reproduction. 
The lecturer stated that from his observations of 
plant life he concluded that anything which was not 
in strict accord with Nature resulted in deterioration 
and the liability of plants so treated to various 
diseases, just as in animal life, and the practice of 
propagating some things from cuttings and tubers 
instead of seeds had produced bad results, not being 
in accord with Nature's laws. The Potato was a 
good example. A number of questions were put to 
the lecturer at the close of his remarks, and success¬ 
fully replied to. A most cordial vote of thanks was 
accorded the lecturer, whose address was under the 
auspices of the Technical Education Committee, 
Southampton County Council, and Mr. Angell, in 
replying, took the opportunity to propose a vote of 
thanks to the exhibitors, who had made an excellent 
show. 
Temple Show.—The twelfth great annual flower 
show of the Royal Horticultural Society will be held 
in the Inner Temple Gardens on May 31st, June 1st 
and 2nd, 1899. The admission on the first day will 
be from 12.30 p.m., on the second day from 10 a.m. 
to 7 p.m., and from 10 a.m. to 6 o'clock on the third 
day. The band of H.M. Royal Horse Guards 
(Blues) will perform each day day. The conductor 
of the band is Lieutenant Charles Godfrey, 
R.A.Mus. 
Fruit Catalogue.—Mr. B. Wells, F.R.H.S..Orchard 
Planter and Fruit Specialist, The Fruit Nurseries. 
Crawley, Sussex, has sent us his catalogue of fruit 
trees for the current year. He points out that his 
speciality among fruit trees is the Apple, and he 
propagates nothing but fruit trees. The descriptive 
text is very plain, and as accurate as the compiler 
can make it. The printing and the paper are good, 
and the illustrations contained in the booklet are 
very creditable, in so far as they prove genuine, good 
culture and care, and also as to the extent of his 
work. The value of the catlogue is greatly enhanced 
by the essays on “ Orchard Planting,” " Stocks and 
Trees," and other notices. 
Richardias.—I greatly appreciated Mr. Ethering- 
ton’s notes on the Richardias in last week’s 
Gardening World. I write with reference to his 
remarks on the Cape as their natural habitat. It is 
quite true that they grow most extensively there. A 
friend of mine on his first journey inland from, I 
think, Blantyre (a bit to north), told me of coming 
upon some handsome “ Lily ” plants, and believing 
himself in clover for once, he set to dig them up 
for sending home ; but alas for his hopes ! A little 
further inward he came upon a few more, and yet 
more and more still, until wide expanses of big, 
strong Richardias stood up before him. He then 
was undeceived.— Edina. 
East Anglian Horticultural Club.—At 2, Prince’s 
Street, Ipswich, on Wednesday, 17th inst., this 
Association held its monthly meeting, J. Powley, 
Esq., in the chair. The Ichthemic Guano Company 
had presented a handsome salad bowl as a prize for 
the best essay on " Manures and their relation to 
plant life,” and two essays were before the meeting. 
One of these came from Mr. G. Watts, The Grange, 
Catton, and the other from Mr. James Seames, 
gardener to E. T. Boaraman, Esq., Townclose Lodge. 
Both papers were well received. The judges after 
some consideration accorded the prize to Mr. Watts, 
chiefly because of the explicity of his paper on how 
manures affected the plants. A hearty discussion 
followed, and new members were proposed. Speci¬ 
men Zonal Pelargoniums were exhibited by Mr. W. 
Rush, and Mr. D. Howlett staged a beautiful pure 
white Gloxinia. Fruit and vegetables were sent by 
Messrs. Hind, Harden and Howlett. 
Co-operative World Travel.—We have great hopes 
as to the high-handed way in which things will be 
done in the 20th century ; but leaving these future 
hopes alone have we not wonderful organisations in 
present times. We have before us programmes of 
tours in the British Isles and on the Continent, 
organised by Dr. Henry S. Lunn and Connop F. S. 
Perowne, Esq., 5, Endsleigh Gardens, Euston, 
London, N.W. The British Isles tours embrace the 
Scottish Highlands, The Land of Scott, Shakes¬ 
peare’s Country, and Ireland—north and south. 
There are tours to Geneva and Grindelwald at very 
low prices, and the best of accommodation is 
allowed. For considerably under £10 one can have 
a ten days' tour in Scotland, with first-class hotel 
accommodation. The programmes are admirably 
drawn up and clearly stated. Numerous photos 
lighten up the pages of the tour-books, making one 
wish one were among those who are lucky enough to 
enrol for a journey. 
»l» 
WINTER SPINACH. 
* 
My experience with this valuable vegetable is like 
that of Mr. James Mayne, Bicton, Devon (see p. 
550). I had a large piece of border sown on August 
15th, facing west. The seeds germinated very 
irregularly, but after a shower the rows filled up 
well, and the plants looked very promising until 
after Christmas, when they gradually died off, 
leaving but two or three roots to a row, which were 
dug up, I may say I have seen several gardens in 
this locality, and have not seen a decent bed of 
May 20, 1899. 
winter Spinach yet. Mr. A. Newman, gardener at 
Sanderage Bury, St. Albans, had the best I had ever 
seen early in December, but it all died off about the 
same time that it did here, and he was obliged to dig 
his bed up in the same way as I did. I think too 
it did not make the roots early enough, and the foliage 
being soft when the winter set in caused damping to 
set in.— F. G. Brewer, Oaklands, near St. Allans, Herts. 
COMMON WEEDS. 
Surely " F.D.’s ” measures for exterminating such 
common weeds as Shepherd’s Purse, Chickweed, 
Groundsel, Nettles, and Dandelions are extreme, 
and the last is worse than the first. Labour must 
be cheap and plentiful where any of the methods 
“ F.D.” gives for their extermination is applied. 
Certainly “ trenching to a depth of 5 ft. ” would 
get rid of the weeds, but what about the crops to 
follow. What would the soil be at 5 ft. deep ? It 
might be clay, grav el, rock, or peat; it would not be 
a soil suitable for cropping in 90 per cent, of the 
gardening in the country. All the above weeds are 
easily exterminated by a vigorous and persistent 
application of the hoe.— Ear. 
HYDRANGEA*HORTENSIS. 
The express system of growing the above plant by 
which six to twelve heads of bloom are secured in 
the same time as one must be another step onwards. 
Plants grown with single heads of bloom are gener¬ 
ally what one meets with ; these look well and useful 
but I departed from that mode of growing in favour 
of the one I will describe. 
Having some extra strong plants growing in 12-in. 
pots in flower early one year, I thought it worth 
while to remove the flowers when they were past 
their best and root these shoots by mossing them 
similarly to Dracaenas. This I did by cutting a 
tongue and tying some moss round it with a bit of 
raffia. In three weeks these shoots were well rooted. 
I had as many as two dozen of them on a plant, and 
from ten to twelve plump buds on each. I placed 
each into 3-in. pots in July, and kept them under 
glass till they had taken to the soil; they were again 
repotted into 6-in. pots, and two weeks later were put 
into a frame and kept there till October, when they 
were finally housed in a vinery and kept close up to 
the glass all winter. By the beginning of February 
they began to grow, and nearly every bud showed 
flowers after they had developed half a dozen leaves. 
These were helped by being placed in a warmer 
house and duly attended with liberal dressings of 
basic slag and copious supplies of water. 
By the above treatment these plants turned out to 
be a great success, as many of them had heads of 
bloom 30 in. in circumference and from eight to ten 
heads of bloom each. I have always grown a few 
dozens each year on the above system. I find them 
useful for furnishing material for decorating corridors 
and other places in the mansion or house. If not 
allowed to suffer for want of water they will last a 
long time for purposes as described. 
The Hydrangea is one of the most popular plants 
grown. A proof of that is the enormous quantity 
that is grown for market. It may be dubbed the 
poor man’s plant on account of its conspicuous 
presence in mostly all cottage windows in Scotland. 
The " guid wife ” has a warm place in her affections 
for her Hydrangea, and generally has a host of 
details concerning its presence, the ups and downs 
in its career, how often it has flowered, with dimen¬ 
sions of the same, how often it gets water, and who 
got a cutting from it, as it was a " guid ane.” An 
old tea pot takes the place of a water can, and for 
support to the plant a common occurence is a 
decoction of weak tea from the tea pot.—IF. Angus, 
Aberdeen. 
©leanings faunt ilje Ptnilh 
of Sriencg. 
Royal Horticultural Society.—Scientific 
Committee.—Present: Dr. M. T. Masters (in the 
chair) ; Prof. Church, Mr. Sutton, Rev, W. Wilks, 
Rev. G. Henslow, hon. sec. 
Cattleya malformed.—Dr. Masters exhibited a 
blossom having only one petal, one sepal, and a 
straight column. This reduction to a symmetry of 
» two ” is not uncommon in Orchids. 
Parasitic fungi.—Some interesting communi- 
