292 
THE GARDENING WORLD. 
January 9, 1897. 
places. At Hounslow, Middlesex a bed of 
a yellow Viola is as gay as one might expect 
it at the end of March All these flowers 
were in strange contrast to the dense fog 
which prevailed all over the lower portion of 
the Thames valley on Saturday last. The 
weather in Ireland is usually even milder 
than on this side of St. George’s Channel, 
and as far north as Belfast various garden 
flowers are flowering entirely out of season. 
These include purple and red Primroses, 
Godetia, double and white varieties of Lilac, 
pink Hepatica, Stocks, Daisies and gold- 
laced Polyanthus. More seasonable, how¬ 
ever, are the Christmas Roses, Laurustinus, 
Ivy, and the yellow Jasmine (Jasminum 
nudiflorum). Roses continue to open their 
flowers, and may be looked upon as a 
remnant of last season’s growth, which the 
open winter has prolonged thus enabling the 
buds to open. All these flowers as well as 
the abundance of berriesVf various kinds, 
impart a cheerfulness to the garden and 
wayside, and are as much appreciated at 
this dull season of the year as a greater 
abundance would be in summer. 
Jamaica Fruit in London.—Of all the 
s British West Indian Islands,'Jamaica 
is the most prosperous,and a bold attempt 
is being made to improve upon its present 
conditions. A Commission to inquire 
into and investigate the prospects of this 
sugar-growing colony is about to leave 
England and Dr. D. Morris, C.M.G., the 
assistant director of theRoyal Gardens,Kew, 
has been appointed as expert adviser. Of 
more immediate interest is the fact that 
steamers have begun to ply directly between 
Jamaica and London, for the conveyance of 
of fresh fruit. Hitherto what fruit we have 
had from Jamaica has gone by way of 
America, and thence to this country. The 
steamer Port Victor brought the first con¬ 
signment for Messrs. Garcia, Jacobs, & Cu., 
and this appeared in Covent Garden on the 
30th. ult., creating a considerable amount of 
interest both amongst London and pro¬ 
vincial buyers, including wholesale dealers 
from Liverpool, Manchester and Glasgow. 
The market was crowded as is usually the 
case when an innovation on anything like so 
extensive a scale is made. 
The consignment consisted chiefly of 
Oranges and Bananas, the former being 
packed in cases of two sizes containing 150 
and 200 fruits respectively. Fair prices were 
obtained for them, but, it was admitted that 
30 to 50 per cent, of the fruits were out of 
condition owing to their being gathered 
when too ripe and improperly packed. 
Owing to the excited state of the market 
it would be difficult to give anything like a 
correct average price, though from 6s. to 9s. 
were obtained for each case. Experts were, 
however, satisfied with the results of the 
experiment, and considered that when the 
art of packing for long journeys was better 
understood by the consigners, and the proper 
time to harvest the fruits had been as¬ 
certained, success would be almost certain. 
A regular fleet of steamers plying between 
Jamaica and London could not fail to be of 
material advantage both to British cultiva¬ 
tors in the island and to consumers at home. 
Mr. Garcia thinks that there is ample room 
for developing the foreign trade of fruit of 
this nature without encroaching upon the 
domain of the home growers in any way. 
There will always, of course, be a demand 
for Oranges, and that class of fruit is never 
likely to be be grown for market in this 
country. Neither can Bananas be considered 
as competingwith anyhomeindustry. On this 
occasion 1,500 bunches accompanied the 
Oranges, and two-thirds of them were sold 
at 4s. 6d. to 8s. per bunch. 
On the same day as the above another 
consignment of Oranges and Bananas by 
the steam-ship Elderslie was seized by the 
medical officer of the port of London as un¬ 
fit for food in the South-west India Dock. 
The steamer was about to proceed to 
Newcastle, and by arrangement with the 
authorities of the port of London, she was 
to throw the decayed cargo overboard on 
her journey northwards. The fruits had 
been too ripe when gathered, but this will be 
remedied in the future. 
--j-- 
Mr. Harman Payne has been elected a correspond¬ 
ing member of the National Horticultural Society of 
France, in recognition of his services to horticulture. 
Mr. H. F. McMillan, who went from Kew in 1895 to 
to take charge of the Botanic Gardens at Peradeniya, 
Ceylon, has recently exchanged his title of head 
gardener for that of curator. 
Mr. John Addison, who has been gardener to Mrs. 
Lloyd, at Merton Lodge, Hammersmith, over sixteen 
years, has been appointed gardener to Miss Behrens, 
28, Avenue Road, Regent’s Park, N,W., and we wish 
him every success in his new appointment. 
A Stoking Accident. —Mr. John Wiles, aged nine¬ 
teen, employed at Messrs. Brown’s nurseries, Peter¬ 
borough, in making up a greenhouse fire, was over¬ 
come by the sulphurous fumes, and falling in the 
stokehole, his clothes caught fight, and he was 
burned to death. The body was partly calcined. 
Silver Wedding of Mr. and Mrs. Edward Webb— 
On this auspicious occasion Mr. and Mrs. Webb, of 
Wordsley, Stourbridge, were presented with a 
massive silver bowl and a pair of handsome claret 
jugs by the employees of Messrs. Edward Webb and 
Sons, the eminent and well known firm of nursery¬ 
men. 
The Physick Garden at Chelsea is well-nigh the sole 
remnant of picturesque old Chelsea left untouched 
by the brick and mortar fiend. As far as its original 
purpose goes it has long been useless, although kept 
up carefully by the Apothecaries’ Company. Should 
the company give up its charge, it will fall into tbe 
hands of Earl Cadogan. Its value as a site for 
building purposes is obvious, but it would be a 
thousand pities for this, the last of many old 
English botanic gardens, to be lost to posterity. The 
names of Sloane, Banks, Linnaeus, Milltr, and 
Lindley, are all inseparably connected with it, and it 
is full of plants that are aristocrats of their kind, 
since they possess a pedigree dating back to the days 
when their ancestors were first introduced to this 
country. We learn that a project for acquiring this 
spot of many memories is again before the local 
authorities. 
Newcastle Flower Show.—The Durham, Northum¬ 
berland, and Newcastle Incorporated Botanical and 
Horticultural Society held its seventy-second annual 
meeting at 24, Westgate Road, Newcastle, on 
December iStb, Alderman Joseph Baxter Ellis 
presiding. The report for 1896 was read, and, much 
to the sorrow of all the well-wishers of this old 
society, was a most gloomy and disheartening one. 
The past year has been almost disastrous from a 
financial point of view. At the commencement of 
the season a surplus of £344 9s. gd. was in band. 
This has had to go, and even now there is a deficit of 
£26 12s. nd. The spring show, held in the Town 
Hall in April last, caused a loss of £100, due chiefly 
to the unpropitious weather. At the summer show, 
in the Recreation Ground, the'receipts from the gates 
were small, and they were £170 behind. Bad 
weather had much to do with this failure also. At 
the Chrysanthemum show, held in the Town Hall in 
November, another £100 had been dropped. In 
moving the adoption of the report the Chairman said 
that their calamities did not date from last year, for 
taking into consideration the £120 which the Town 
Moor Management had remitted to the society for 
rent, over £goo had been lost in three years. In 
face of these difficulties the council had decided to 
hold only the summer show next year. At the elec¬ 
tion of officers Mr. Eustace Smith, of Benton House, 
was chosen president, and the Mayor of Newcastle 
(Councillor John Goolden), vice-president. Seven 
members of the council were likewise elected. 
Erratum.—Cypripedium Henry Grave.? was raised 
by Messrs. Pitcher & Manda, but was first flowered 
by Mr. Grey, for Henry Graves, Esq., Orange, New 
Jersey, and not by Mr. Henry Chapham, as stated 
on p. 278. 
Royal Horticultural Society.—The first meeting of 
the Royal Horticultural Society in 1897 will be he'd 
as usual in the Drill Hall, James Street, Westmin¬ 
ster, on January 12th, one to four p.m. On or before 
that date the society’s new book of arrangements 
containining particulars of the shows, lectures, com¬ 
mittees, &c., for 1897, and the report of council and 
new list of fellows will be issued. 
Mr. John Stogdon, our youngest correspondent, 
started from Southampton last Saturday for a trip 
to Caps Town and Durban. He will no doubt see 
much that will impress his young and receptive mind, 
and furnish him with much to be remembered con¬ 
cerning the visit in his riper years. While on some 
of his rambles after plants on the Surrey Downs he 
picked up a double form of Cardamine pratensis and 
another of Ranunculus acris. 
A Fine Odontoglossum wilckeanum.—The ground 
colour of the original, and likewise that of most of 
the forms of O. wi’ckeanum coming under our notice 
is yellow. A beautiful form, however, with a white 
ground colour, and rich spotting, turned up at the 
Central Sale Rooms of Messrs. Protheroe & Morris, 
on the 1st inst., and was knocked down to H T 
Pitt, Esq., Rosslyn, Stamford Hill, for 15 gs. A 
true Laelia anceps alba, with pure white flowers, was 
on view at the same time. 
Gardeners’ Royal Benevolent Institution.—Notice is 
hereby given that the fifty-eighth annual general 
meeting of the members of The Gardeners' Royal 
Benevolent Institution will be held at “ Simpson's,’ 
101, Strand, in the County of Middlesex, on 
Thursday, the 14th day of January, 1897, at 3.0 
p.m , for the purpose of receiving the Report of the 
Committee and the accounts of the Institution for 
the present year; electing officers for the ensuing 
3 ear, and other affairs ; and also for the purpose of 
placing twenty pensioners on the Funds — ten under 
Rule III. S , and ten by the votes of the subscribers. 
After the annual general meeting, at the same place, 
at 6.0 p.m., the usual annual friendly supper will 
be held, H. E. Milner, Esq. F.L.S., in the chair. 
Friends of the Institution who desire to be present 
at the supper should communicate at once with the 
Secretary. Secretary, George J. Ingram, 50, Parlia¬ 
ment Street, S. W. 
Reading and District Gardeners Mutual Improvement 
Association assembled at the *■ British Workman .’’ 
Reading, on the evening of December 21st, to hear 
a lecture on “ Rose Growing,” by Mr. John T. 
Strange, of Aldermaston. Mr. Strange is well known 
in the district where he resides as an enthusiastic 
amateur. Dealing first with the question of stocks : 
the Manetti stock was the best for a beginner, but 
it was not suitable for Tea Roses. The Dog Rose 
of the hedges was an excellent stock. The briers 
should be prepared for planting by cutting off all 
suckers, and by carefully trimming the roots. It 
was better to chance their dying after wards, than to 
have long straggling roots which conduced to suckers. 
Deep planting was fatal to the brier. It was conve¬ 
nient to plant in double rows, leaving a space of 
about 12 in. or 15 in. from plant to plant, and 3 ft. 
between the double rows. They should have, if 
possible, a nice open space in the vegetable garden, 
sheltered from rough winds. The height for half 
standards, the favourite stock for Tea Roses, was 
from 2 ft. to 2\ ft. For dwarfs, various stocks were 
used, the first being the seedling brier. In working 
tbe dwarf stocks the object was to get tbe bud as 
nearly as possible upon the roots so as to lessen the 
chances of suckers. When first planted, the roots 
should only be about an inch below the surface of 
the ground, and a good earthing-up could then be 
given to keep them steady. When the time for 
budding arrived, as much of the soil as was necessary 
could be drawn away. Mr. Strange then went on to 
detail the modus operand i of budding. Treating of 
cuttings he mentioned early in October as the best 
time for insertion, With regard to the selection of 
Roses, he believed the hybrid Tea to be the Rose of 
the future. It had been said that Reading soil was 
not good for Roses, but for his part, he believed it to 
be good enough for anything. A vote of thanks to 
the lecturer for his able and practical paper termi¬ 
nated the proceedings. 
