October 21, 1899. 
THE GARDENING WORLD 
117 
Forest Fire Extinguished with Wine.—O: the ioth 
inst. the rapid spread of a forest fire threatened to 
destroy the big vinery on the Santa Cruz Mountains, 
California, when, in the absence of water, the fire 
had to be extinguished with 40,000 gallons of wine. 
Chrysanthemums at Finsbury Park are once more 
staged, for public inspection The number of plants 
grown for this public exhibition amounts to 3.600 
of which more than half, that is, 2,000, are now on 
view. The newer varieties will not be at their best 
for a week or two. 
Weather in London.—The tone of the weather has 
during the past week been even on the whole. 
Sunday was very cold in the early part, but became 
milder during the evening. Oiher mornings have 
opened either cold, mild, or foggy, but have gener¬ 
ally changed in their meteorological conditions dur¬ 
ing the day. Fogs are prevalent. 
The Colour of Fruits in Connection with Judging 
Apples.—I saw the Crystal Palace fruit show, and 
thought it was a grard display, especially of Apples. 
I admired the colour very much ; but in regard 
especially to cooking Apples, is not too much made 
of colour? Are Apples grown for colour only? 
Certainly not. What is wanted for the cook is a 
good soft Apple (aot too much acid) of a good shape 
and good size, so as to have as little waste in paring 
as possible. I maintain that a dish of Apples of the 
same variety of something heavier than a dish of 
coloured Apples ought to get the preference. The 
cook does not send up to table the parings of coloured 
fruit to show the guests that the Apple pie is made 
from coloured fruit. Size, I think, is a better test 
of good cultivation. Colour is often accidental,owing, 
it may be, to the place where the tree is grown ; or it 
may be got on fruit of old trees not very well culti¬ 
vated. As a fact judges, as a rule, give the prize to 
coloured fruit even although very much smaller than 
uncoloured fruit. Is that good judging ?— Onlooker. 
Orchids at the Sale Rooms—Orchid lovers are now 
back to town, to their accustomed occupations, or 
enjoying their gardens at home. The hot weather has 
gone and they want something fresh to brighten their 
Orchid houses, or linger over in expectation of some¬ 
thing choice or unique. At all events, this appeared 
to be the tone of the large assemblage of buyers at 
the Sale Rooms of Messrs. Protheroe & Morris, 
Cheapside, on the 13th inst.; for besides the 60 gs. 
bidden for a variety of Cattleya hardyana, with 
white sepals and petals, many hybrids with no par¬ 
ticular reputation, as well as some choice things, 
changed hands at respectable figures. Cattleya 
Ferdinand Dennis (C. Aclandiae x gigas) changed 
hands for 8£ gs.; Laeliocattleya callistoglossa for 
sums varying from 8 gs. to 14 gs. ; Laeliocattleya 
eximia inversa for 9 gs. and 10 gs ; Cattleya 
Maronii, n gs. each; Laeliocattleya Lafontaine, 
8 gs.; Lc. Lady Wigan, rr gs.; and Cattleya Grand 
Duchess Elizabeth, 12 gs. The parentage of this 
latter was C. Mossiae x C. lawrenciana. The above 
are merely some samples amongst many. 
Devon and Exeter Gardeners’ Association. — The 
opening meeting of the new session of 1899—tgoo of 
the above society took place on Thursday, Oc‘ober 
12th, at the Guildhall, Exeter, when Mr. Fletcher, 
gardener to Colonel Halford Thompson, J.P , read a 
paper on Dahlias. He mentioned the fact of his 
having sent out as many as 100,000 plants every 
year, and had planted out for stock, for market work, 
from seven to nine acres of plants in his past experi¬ 
ence. He confined his preliminary remarks to a 
short description of the history and evolution of the 
Dahlia, and pointed out that it was essentially a 
modern flower. It was without a challenger in its 
season, and we only require to imagine a garden 
without Dahlias to have the picture of a very blank 
area. Mrs. Gladstone was noted as the best show 
Dahlia they had. He thought the most useful of all 
Dahlias was the neat little pompon named " White 
Asters." " The most important, popular, and 
promising 11 of the Dahlia family was, however, the 
Cactus section. Single Dahlias were also vaunted, 
and these had come through peculiar periods of 
appreciation and fluctuation. Dahlias required 
generous treatment, and the best situation in which 
to plant them out, was a good open breadth where 
the soil was heavy, had been worked two spits deep, 
and bad been enriched with manure. Discussion and 
votes of thanks brought the meeting to a close. 
Free Flowers for the People —The usual distribu¬ 
tion of plants and flowers grown in the various 
London parks has been again arranged for by the 
London County Council. The giving away took 
place on the following dates :—Southwark Park, 
October 12th ; Bethnal Green gardens, October 13th ; 
Brockwell Park and Victoria Park, October 17th ; 
Finsbury Park, Dulwich Park, Peckham Rye Park, 
Victoria Embankment Gardens,October i8th; Island 
Gardens, October 19th; Battersea Park, October 20th. 
At the Royal Victoria Gardens,North Woolwich, and 
Waterlow park, the distribution will take place on 
the 24th inst. 
Sevenoaks and West Kent Chrysanthemum Society.— 
The exhibition of Chrysanthemums by the above 
society has been settled for Tuesday and Wednesday, 
November 7th and 8th, in the Club Hall, Seven- 
oaks. Besides the Chrysanthemums, there are 
classes for other exotic plants, and for fruits and 
vegetables. Since the compilation of the schedule, 
the committee has been kindly assisted by the presi¬ 
dent, Mr. Dixon, so that they are able to intimate an 
increase in the amount of the first prizes in several of 
the classes, as follows;—Division I.—Class ‘'A" 
(Open): Twenty-four cut blooms £5, instead of £2 ; 
Class III : Group, £3, instead of 35s. ; Class XVIII. 
(under gardeners): Bouquet, £1, instead of 10s.; 
Class XIX. (under gardeners) : Hanging basket, £1, 
instead of 10s. Division II.—Class XXX.: Group, 
£2 10s , instead of £1 123. 6 d.; Class XXXiV.: 
Specimen plant, 10s., instead of 5s. This repre¬ 
sents a total increase in the amount of prizes of 
£6 ys. 6d. The prizes are very good indeed, and it 
is to be hoped the competitors will have something 
worthy of the Sevenoaks society. 
Blackberries and Punishment —From a daily paper, 
The Journal of Greengrocery , Fruit and Flowers, extracts 
an article written in ridicule of some of the London 
Post Office officials. The writer bad sent some 
Blackberries from Somersetshire to his home in an 
eastern town, in a stout wooden box which was 
accepted by the P.O. authorities at Somerset. From 
very rough usage the box was altogether smashed 
and the fruits mangled. Those to whom it was 
delivered did not, however, complain. But the 
G P.O. folks did. In a few days a letter reached 
him complaining of the possibilities that the juice 
from his Blackberries might have damaged other 
parcels, and pointing out certain paragraphs of the 
P.O. rules and laws for “ explosives, filth, things in¬ 
decent and obscene, of an obscene, or an indecent, 
or grossly offensive character." He v. as summar¬ 
ily cautioned that " senders of such parcels are 
liable to twelve months’ hard labour." The corres¬ 
pondent winds up his critique by saying that 
” Robust nerves are not universal, and such a 
vulgar and ridiculous threat might seriously upset 
the digestion of some simple folk unaccustomed to 
London official manners and arrogance.” 
Ealing and District Gardeners’ Society.—On the 
ioth inst. Mr. A. Pentney, Worton Hill Gardens, 
Isleworth, gave the members of this society a very 
interesting paper on " Hybrid Streptocarpi.” Mr. C. 
B. Green presided. Mr. Pentney exhibited flowers, 
some of which were 2J in. across, to illustrate his 
subject and to show the great advance that had been 
made in the size and quality of these flowers. He 
explained very fully how these results had been 
brought about, and referred at some length to the 
work of hybridisation of these plants, which bad 
been cariied out at Kew and other places. Their 
culture and suitability for cool greenhouse decoration 
received sound treatment ; as did, likewise, the con¬ 
structional parts of the flower; for Mr. Pentney 
insisted that a knowledge of botany was essential to 
enable one to describe the component parts of a 
flower, and to otherwise carry out successfully the 
delicate processes of cross-fertilisation. Mr. Pent¬ 
ney saw no reason why success in plant culture, or 
hybridisation, should not be attained ; because, after 
all, the main thing which contributed to success 
was attention to little things. The chairman followed 
on the same lines and emphasised the value of 
botany to the gardener; for, he said, other things 
being equal, the advantage must rest with the one 
who possessed it. After a good deal of favourable 
discussion, Mr. Pentney received a hearty vote of 
thanks. A vote of thanks was also accorded him for 
some well-grown Chrysanthemum blooms, which he 
staged to show what could be done in small pots. 
Wounds 01 Trees should be painted over to preserve 
them from decay. 
Apple Crops in Missouri.—Only half the Apple 
crop of Missouri will be marketable because of the 
injury of scab and Codling Moth. The State will 
produce about one-fourth a full crop. 
The Temporary Bridge at Kew is now open or the 
public traffic, and proves a more commodious 
structure for the passengers it has to bear than the 
old stone structure built in 1777. On Sundays and 
Bank Holidays it had become positively dangerous 
for the thousands of pedestrians who crossed it on 
their way to Kew Gardens, owing to the number of 
'buses and other vehicles that generally made a dash 
at break-neck speed in order to gain the steep crown 
of the bridge, and then hurried at an equal rate 
down the opposite slope. The parapets of the old 
bridge were always in a chronic state of disrepair, 
and have been mended with wooden beams for 
months past. Refractory horses backing against the 
parapets and knocking them down had many narrow 
escapes from going over the sides of the bridge into 
the Thames. 
Shirley Gardeners' and Amateurs’ Mutual Improve¬ 
ment Association.—The monthly meeting of the 
above society was held on the 16th inst., at the 
Parish Room, Shirley, Southampton, Mr. Ladhams, 
F.R.H.S., presiding over a very good attendance of 
members. Mr. F. W. E. Shrivell, F R H.S., gave a 
lecture on “ Chemical Manures for the Kitchen and 
Market Garden." To prove the efficiency of chemi¬ 
cal manures, he gave a detailed account of experi¬ 
ments carried out at Tonbridge, where a quantity of 
land is divided out into sections, and the sections 
into plots, each plot bearing a distinctive letter, and 
being manured, some with heavy, some with light 
dressings of farmyard manure, others with additions 
of chemical manures, and one plot in each section is 
devoted to the use of chemical manure only. Care¬ 
ful weighing of the produce and checking the 
amounts received for the same has shown the plots 
chemically manured only to produce the heaviest, 
and most remunerative crops, at much less cost for 
manures, tco. Well printed diagrams of five years 
experiments were shown, the amount of crops, value, 
and cost of manures being tabulated in each case. A 
bright discussion ensued, and a hearty vote of thanks 
was accorded to Mr. Shrivell at the close of the pro¬ 
ceedings. Mr. Shrivell in responding, proposed a 
vote of thanks to the exhibitors, many of the members 
having brought fruit, &c., making a very good show. 
“The Firs,” Warwick, Collection of Orchids.—The 
whole of the celebrated collection of Orchids of the 
late Major Mason, J.P., The Firs, Warwick, was put 
up to auc ion by Messrs. Protheroe & Morris, on the 
ioth, nth, and 12.h inst. Something like £3,coo 
was realised during the three days of the sale. High 
prices ruled for choice things. Cypripedium insigne 
giganteum, described as being the best ever seen, was 
knocked down for 140 gs. ; Cattleya Mossiae beilis- 
sima brought 17 gs.; Cypripedium insigne Sanderae, 
34 gs.; Laelia anceps Bull’s White, 15 gs.; a piece of 
Cattleya bowringiana with fifty pseudobulbs, 9 gs.; 
Laelia purnila alba, 9 gs ; Cattleya Mendelii Mor- 
ganiae, n gs.; Cymbidium Parishi, 9 gs.; Dendro- 
bium ballianum, 15 gs ; Cattleya intermedia alba, 
21 gs. ; C. Lord Rothschild, 25 gs. ; C. John Baguley, 
10 gs.; Laelia anceps amejiana, n gs.; Laeliocattleya 
Iolanthe, 18 gs. ; and Laelia purpurata Littleiana, 
20 gs Choice Cypripediums were evidently popu¬ 
lar, 73 gs. being secured for C. lawrenceanum 
hyeanum ; and 85 gs. for another plant; C insigne 
Dorothy, 28 gs.; C. insigne Sanderae, 52 gs.; and C. 
i. Maulei, yellow variety, 31 gs. Cattleyas were also 
greatly in favour, for C. Mendelii Miss Little fetched 
19 gs.; C. Wageneri, 9 gs. and 10 gs.; C. labiata 
amabilis, 10 gs.; C. gaskelliana alba, 9 gs.; C. Skin¬ 
ned alba, 17 gs.; C. labiata alba, 60 gs.; C. Triansei 
gigantea, 10 gs.; C. Trianaei backhouseana, 13 gs.; 
C. Parthenia speciosa, 17 gs.; C. Mossiae Wageneri, 
26 gs. ; C. Mantinii nobilior, n gs. ; C. Ferdinand 
Dennis, 17 gs.; C. superba splendens, and C. Har- 
risoniae splendens, 20 gs. ; and three hybrid 
Cattleyas, 20 gs. Notable also were Laeliocattleya 
Bertha Fournier, 30 gs. ; Lc. Pallas superba, 15 gs. ; 
Lc. Empress Queen, y\ gs.; and Dendrobium 
Phalaenopsis album, 50 gs. Various other Orchids 
ranged from 5 gs. to logs, or 11 gs., all showing the 
demand that still continues for choice, rare, or in any 
way really choice things. 
