February 24, 1900 
THE GARDENING WORLD 
405 
Forestry.— Among those recently elected members 
of the Royal Scottish Arboricultural Society are 
Mr. R. Stewart, Baronscourt, Mr. D. Crombie, 
Powerscourt, and Mr. John Robson, Baronscourt. 
Sweet Pea Bicentenary Celebration.—As we go 
to Press, a committee meeting is announced to be 
held on Friday, the 23rd inst., at 5 p m., by kind per¬ 
mission, at the Horticultural Club, Hotel Windsor, 
Victoria Street, London, S.W., to consider matters 
of importance. 
Rhyme and Roses.—From a spirited and witty 
conversationalist we received the following rhyme. 
It was begun in a manner as though to tell us some¬ 
thing interesting about Archbishop Tait, of Canter¬ 
bury, and his pet Roses, but ends suddenly—and 
here the joke comes in with a pretty piece of allitera¬ 
tion :— 
'* There was an Archbishop named Tait, 
Who dined with a friend at 8 8 ; 
But I am sorry to state 
I cannot relate 
What Tail's tete-a-tete ate at 8.8 ! ” 
Scottish Horticultural Association.—We have 
before us the twenty-third annual report upon the 
work and transactions of the well known Horticultural 
Association, commonly termed "The Scottish,” a 
title suitable, because brief, and familiarly under¬ 
stood. The meetings continue to be held at 5, Saint 
Andrew Square, and each month the interest in the 
papers read, and in the plants, &c. exhibited, steadily 
grows. The syllabus for the present year almost 
entirely confines itself to the outdoor section of 
gardening, and possibly the culture of hardy plants, 
and notes of reference upon them are more applic¬ 
able to the land which proves so befitting for them. 
The membership continues to increase, five life 
members and 237 ordinary members having been 
added to the roll during the year. It is with touch¬ 
ing reference that the report bears upon the loss 
sustained in the deaths of Mr. M. Dunn, and Mr. 
W. M. Welsh, men whose p’aces in office it will be 
difficult to so satisfactorily fill. The strawberry 
conference, and Rose Show, held in midsummer, were 
once more an unqualified success. Were the seasons 
more to be trusted, we should certainly expect to see 
a big public’ summer show. Even while we all regret 
to know that the Chrysanthemum Show was some¬ 
what behind in amount of receipts compared with 
many previous years, it, yet, is very satisfact ry to 
say that fifty guineas were handed over to the Lord 
Provost's War Fund. With regard to the Chrysan¬ 
themum Show,, it appears to us a laudable step the 
association has taken in giving a census of the 
varieties shown. Ttie regard for Chrysanthemums 
is even fresher in the north than in the south. The 
balance to the credit of the association amounts 
to over £777. 
Carnation Ethel Crocker is now " running " the 
greatly vaunted pink variety, Mrs. Thomas W. 
Lawson, for popular favour. 
Gardeners’ Charity Guild.—It is with much 
pleasure that we record the fact that His Grace the 
Duke of Fife, K.G., has consented to head the list of 
patrons of the forthcoming concert in aid of the 
Gardeners’ Royal Benevolent Institution, March 
14th. 
Flower Shows.—As at this time of the year 
secretaries and committees usually prepare the 
schedules for the summer shows, it may perhaps be 
a suitable opportunity to otfer a few suggestions to 
the promoters and managers of amateurs’ exhibi¬ 
tions. It is a common experience amongst secre¬ 
taries, that it is no easy matter to introduce novelties 
of sufficient attractiveness to interest visitors to the 
shows, consistently at the same time with the main 
object—the encouragement of horticulture. The 
following suggestions may have been already adopted 
by some societies, but there are many shows held in 
various parts of the country where the ideas are not 
in vogue. In plant and cut flower classes the rule is 
to offer prizes for foliage, flowers or a combination 
of both, which is pleasing only to the eye. Some 
flowers and plants, however, have an additional 
characteristic, appealing to the sense of smell. In 
many well known instances, both beautiful and in¬ 
significant flowers combine a delightful perfume, 
while the greatest possible variety is found in the 
quality of that perfume, and in the flowers. A flower 
with a sweet perfume, adds much to its own attrac¬ 
tiveness. To make this note of practical use, I 
would suggest that classes, grouping such plants and 
flowers,should be opened as for (1) collectionsof plants 
bearing sweet-scented flowers; (2) collections of 
plants with perfumed foliage; (3) collections of 
sw T eet-scented garden flowers (cut); (4) collections of 
sweet-scented wild flowers (out). Such an arrange¬ 
ment of classes might induce hybridisers to pay 
more attention to the development of perfume- 
yielding plants. There is another section which 
although it is attractive enough, is but seldom seen 
at the shows. I refer to the “Everlastings.” A 
class for a limited number of varieties would en¬ 
courage the cultivation of these useful flowers. The 
Clematis is now one of the gayest of flowering plants, 
and a class for a group of several varieties in pots 
would form an easily cultivated and an attractive 
exhibit. Many flower shows could be made in cer¬ 
tain classes to assume a more pleasing appearance. 
It is distressing to a show visitor who has a special 
liking for a particular flower, to see it staged in a 
plain square box. Same ot the choicest and most 
useful flowers in the garden are often so exhibited. 
Another serious drawback to this method of staging, 
is that no clue is obtainable of the habit of the plant. 
Especially is this disadvantage felt with new varieties. 
No cut flowers should be shown without accompany¬ 
ing foliage of some sort.— W. H. Wharton. 
Watch and Spray is an Americanism for 
orchardisfs. 
Duke of Cambridge’s Fence at Kingston. —On 
Wednesday, the 14th of February, the Surrey County 
Council were able to report a successful issue to their 
action against the Duke of Cambridge in respect of 
an alleged encroachment at Kingston Hill. The 
Duke has compromised, and, in addition to putting 
back a fence across the land enclosed, he has dedica¬ 
ted to the public use a strip of land 30 ft. long, at 
present forming a portion of the frontage of adjoin¬ 
ing premises. He also agreed to pay /40 towards 
the costs the Council had incurred in the action. 
Experiments in Manuring.—One way and another 
there is a fair amount of " Snapshot ” writing on the 
subject of how to manure, and what to use when 
manuring. Perhaps it is from the disjointedness of 
these persistent jottings that so little practical result 
seems to accrue. Yet now and again we do find the 
essence of much labour and thorough experiment 
crystallised down to a pretty little paragraph. The 
very full experiments undertaken by Mr. F. W. E. 
Shrivell, supervised by Dr. B. Dyer down at Thomp¬ 
son's farm, near Tonbridge, in Kent, have been 
neatly tabulated, and are very clear to follow. The 
experiments bear more directly upon the manuring 
of true market gardeners’ crops, so that their sphere 
is probably distinct from the Rothamsted trials of 
Messrs. Gilbert & Lawes. Mr. Shrivell's experi¬ 
ments really have been to find out in a thorough 
manner whether it is cheaper to grow market produce 
with heavy dressings of dung, as has been done hither¬ 
to,or light dressings. In the event of the crops requir¬ 
ing heavy dressings of dung, whether it would b? 
more economical to replace part of those dressings 
with nitrate of soda, phosphates, and potash. Then 
again, it was an important matter to know whether 
dung could be dispensed with altogether, and simply 
the chemicals enumerated used. The results have 
been already given prominence to, and any one de¬ 
sirous of obtaining fuller information need only 
apply to Mr. Shrivell. Experimenting with fruits, 
potash was used on Strawberries, but with calami¬ 
tous results. The best method is to use dung and 
small quantities of chemicals. Per acre of Straw¬ 
berries the following proportions have been named : 
—Dung, 25 loads, 2 cwt. of nitrate of soda, and a 
small dressing of phosphate. On chemicals alone 
the Cabbage tribe are found to succeed much the 
best. All the experiments go to show that a less 
quantity of dung might always be used, and small 
quantities of chemical manures made to do duty. 
Brussels Sprouts, after a trial of five years, have 
produced much better crops from the special use of 
chemical manures alone. Good dung, of course, is 
looked on as the sheet anchor of the whole work, but 
it, in conjunction with chemical manures, produces 
the finest results. Chemical manures in quantity 
sufficient for an allotment plot of 100 square yards 
are given as superphosphate of lime or basic slag, 14 
lbs.; kainit and nitrate of soda, 10 lbs. each. The 
superphosphate and kainit should be applied and dug 
in during autumn, and the nitrate given to the crops 
as they advance in growth. The ground upon 
which the experiments are worked is remarkably 
poor, it having been specially chosen to be so. Each 
crop is weighed, and careful records are kept, so that 
the work done is valuable now, and is becoming more 
and more so. 
* "B" 
ORCHID NOTES & GLEANINGS, 
By the Editor. 
Vanda amesiana.—This very pretty Indian 
species, with its delightful fragrance, its substantial 
white flowers, with their pink hued lip, is among the 
flowering Orchids of the moment at Kew. On 
the whole, this Vanda commends itself to lovers 
of Orchids, perhaps more so than the some¬ 
what fastidious Phalaenopsis amabilis, and others of 
this genus. The above-named subject is floweririg 
side by side with the Phalaenopsis, suspended in a 
basket, and is somewhat out of season. Usually 
May and June finds V. amesiana in greatest pro¬ 
fusion. 
Platyclinis glumacea.—There is nothing re¬ 
markable about this well known Orchid with the 
pale, tea-coloured, tail-like, drooping racemes, to 
call for special note, further than to point out that 
Utility Poultry Club, Laying Competition.—The laying competition of the Utility Poul ry Club 
ended on February 13th, after a duration of sixteen weeks, and the result of the laying as sent by Mr. 
Jas. Robinson, of Clitheroe, Lancashire, is given below. A full report will be published later, the 
preparation of the statistics and data which it will contain has taken too long for its inclusion now : — 
Pen. Breed. 
1st Month. 
2nd Month. 
3rd Month. 
4th Month. 
Total. 
Egg?. 
Points. 
Eggs. 
Points. 
Eggs. 
Points. 
Eggs. 
Points. 
Eggs. 
Points. 
Order- 
I.—Bl. OrpiDgtoDS .. 
29 
38 
. . 21 
42 
.. 26 
52 .. 
42 
84 
.. 118 
236 
.. 7th 
II.—Bf. Leghorns 
I 
2 
16 
32 
• • 23 
50 .. 
19 
38 * 
.. 61 
122 
.. 16th 
'HI.—Bf. Orpingtons .. 
63 
126 
.. 52 
IOI 
16 
32 -- 
20 
40 
.. 151 
293 
.. 3rd 
IV.—Minorcas 
15 
30 
•• 7 
14 
35 
70 .. 
37 
74 
• • 94 
188 
.. nth 
V.—Langshans 
16 
29 
.. 38 
76 
.. 26 
52 - - 
52 
104 
.. 132 
26l 
.. 4th 
VI.—Wh. Leghorns .. 
*9 
37 
.. 10 
20 
•• 3 
6 .. 
38 
76 
.. 70 
2 39 
.. 14th 
VII.—Ba. Ply. Rocks .. 
9 
18 
.. 19 
38 
•• 13 
26 .. 
23 
46 
.. 64 
128 
.. 15th 
VIII.—Wh. Leghorns .. 
24 
48 
.. 0 
O 
.. 27 
54 •• 
5 ° 
100 
. . IOI 
202 
.. gth 
IX.—Faverolles 
16 
•• 34 
68 
•• 3 i 
60 .. 
50 
100 
.. 124 
244 
.. 5th 
X.—Bf. Leghorns 
13 
26 
.. 18 
36 
.. 26 
52 -. 
39 
78 
.. 96 
I92 
.. 10th 
XI.—S. Wyandottes .. 
55 
110 
.. 60 
120 
•• 49 
98 .. 
59 
118 
. 223 
446 
.. 1st 
XII.—Bl. Leghorns .. 
16 
32 
.. 27 
54 
•• 44 
88 .. 
32 
64 
.. ng 
238 
.. 6ih 
XIII.—G. Wyandottes.. 
21 
4 1 
.. 12 
24 
.. 21 
42 .. 
26 
52 
.. 80 
259 
.. 13th 
XIV.— Br. Leghorns .. 
9 
.18 
.. 41 
82 
.. 50 
100 
61 
122 
.. 161 
322 
. . 2nd 
XV.—G. Wyandottes . . 
0 
0 
.. 0 
0 
-- 37 
74 .. 
66 
132 
• • 103 
206 
.. 8th 
XVI.—Anconas 
N.B. 
0 0 .. 2 4 .. 28 56 .. 50 100 
* One Pullet died at the beginning of the month. 
In scoring 2 points are given for every egg weighing over ij 
.. 80 
OZ. 
160 
.. 12th 
Prizes.— 1st, Mr. C. Bird, Eaton Bray Lodge, Dunstable, Silver Medal, £3, Mr. S. Hunter’s £1 ; Mr. G, 
A. Palmer’s value 10s. for best pen of Wyandottes, 2ud Class Certificate of the club. 2nd, Mr. Wm. Wilson. 
Scar Head, Torver Coniston, R.S.O., £3, Miss Wilson-Wilson’s value 15s., Mr. H. B. Beeney’s value 
15s. (for best non-sitting hen). 3rd, Mr. Wm. Richardson, Staplefield, Crawley, Sussex, £2, Mr. J Dunn’s 
value £1, 4ih, Mr. T. Garnett, Radeclyfle, Clitheroe, £1, Mr. Jas. Robinson's value £1 5th, Mrs. 
Austin, Allscott, Wellington, Salop, Mr. Meech’s value 15s. 6ih, Mr. G. Peirson, Kirkby Thore, 
Penrith, Mr. R. Heaton’s value 15s. Mr. J. Atherton, Stone House Farm, Burnley (Pen IV.) is awarded 
Mr. G. Pierson’s value 10s. for best pen judged from show standard.— B. W. Horne, hon. sec., 49, Gloucester 
Gardens, London, W., lyth February, iqoo. 
