March 3, 1900. 
THE GARDENING WORLD 
421 
Icicles.—Uniquely pretty in Nature, is the sight 
of long icicles, depending from the bare branches 
and twigs of trees and shimmering in the moonlight. 
Weather in London.—Sunday, the 25th inst., was 
a beautiful day, balmy and sunny, with birds asing- 
ing, and the yellow Aconites, blue Chionodoxas, and 
the drooping Snowdrops shook themselves in sun¬ 
shine. Before then and since then, however, the 
weather has been black and decidedly dismal. 
United Horticultural Benefit and Provident 
Society.—The annual general meeting of the above 
society will take place at the Caledonian Hotel, 
Adelpbi Terrace, Strand, on Monday, March 12th, 
at 8 p.m. Mr. S. T. Wright, superintendent of the 
IRoyal Horticultural Society’s Gardens, Chiswick, 
will preside. 
Ealing and District Gardeners’ Association.— 
"Before the members of the above body,on Tuesday,the 
27th inst., Mr. Alex. Wright, Bucllebury Place, gave 
an extremely interesting lecture, illustrated by slides 
prepared from his own photographs, on " A Surrey 
Garden.” The garden, of course, was that of Falk¬ 
land Park, a large and beautiful one, the chief 
features of which were entirely planned and for a 
long time maintained in capital condition by Mr. 
\W right. 
A Gardener’s Dream.—A member of the Ealing 
f Gardeners' Society, in a few remarks made at the 
meeting of the 27th, wound up by announcing a 
straDge dream he had had on the Monday night. 
iHe dreamt of the surrender of Cronje’s army, an 
event which was verified by an official dispatch from 
' the War Office during Tuesday forenoon. Further¬ 
more, in his dream he heard the joy bells pealing out 
Tor the relief of Ladysmith on Wednesday (but un¬ 
fortunately barren), when he woke himself by an 
exultant shout of "Hip, hip, hurrah ; God save the 
1 Queen ! " 
Sweet Pea Bi-centenary Celebration.— Un- 
• questionably, the popular flower for 1900 will be the 
Sweet Pea, and this is not to be wondered at when 
the ease with which these delightfully fragrant 
! flowers can be cultivated is considered, or when 
1 memory recalls the exquisitely beautiful colour, 
shades, and combinations seen in 1899. The Sweet 
i Pea also shows some amount of variation in form, 
■ which is the most remarkable in these days when 
i hybrid flowers are abundant, for the Sweet Pea has 
1 been evolved by the patience of the florists from one 
species, viz., Lathyrus odoratus, introduced 200 
.years ago. If other proof were needed that the 
Sweet Pea is to be the flower of the year, it is to be 
!»found in the enthusiasm with which the project for 
■ celebrating the bi-centenary of its introduction at the 
i Crystal Palace, Sydenham, on July 20th and 21st 
next, is.being supported by amateurs, professional 
; gardeners, and seedsmen throughout the United 
j Kingdom. On Febuary 23rd the second meeting of 
1 the Celebration Committee was held at the Horti- 
■ cultural Club, Hotel Windsor, Victoria Street, S.W., 
when Mr. George Gordon, V.M.H., chairman of 
1 committee, presided over a good attendance that 
included members from towns as far distant as 
Birmingham and Cardiff. Accepting special prizes, 
and finally revising the schedule, was the chief work 
of the evening, and now this part of the business has 
been completed, we are at liberty to state that thirty- 
four classes are provided, none with less than four, 
and some with five, prizes. These classes range 
from one for 100 bunches of Sweet Peas, with a first 
, prize of £10, down to those for a single bunch of one 
^variety, with first prizes of 8s. It is difficult to see 
"how a more comprehensive schedule could have 
been drawn up, for provision is made alike for the 
small and the large grower, the artizan and the 
millionaire, while the value of the Sweet Pea for a 
home decoration will be demonstrated in classes for 
table decoration, florists' designs, epergnes, baskets 
and bouquets. The total prize money offered amounts 
to £ja°> and in addition to this a fine Champion 
Silver Cup is offered for the best amateur exhibit at 
the celebration show. In no less than nineteen 
classes the prizes are offered by well-known horti¬ 
cultural firms whose names will appear in the 
schedule that will be ready for publication im¬ 
mediately. In the preliminary notice of the com¬ 
mittee, published less than two months ago, the cost 
of carrying the celebration to a successful issue was 
estimated at £300; and towards this sum nearly 
£230 has already been promised. So much success 
having already attended their efforts, the committee 
feels justified in hoping that now the schedule of 
prizes can be obtained upon application to Mr. R. 
Dean, V.M H. (honorary secretary), Ranelagh Road, 
Ealing, W., the further amount necessary to the 
proper carrying out of all details connected with the 
exhibition and conference will speedily be forth¬ 
coming. A decidedly international flavour will be 
imparted to the conference proceedings, as, in addi¬ 
tion to British specialists, Mr. W. Atlee Burpee, of 
Philadelphia, U.S.A. ; Mons. Vilmorin, of Paris ; 
Mr. Benary, of Erfurt, and Mr. Krelage, of Haarlem, 
are expected to attend, and have all meanwhile 
shown practical sympathy with the movement by 
providing special classes. The class for American 
raised Sweet Peas should prove not the least interest¬ 
ing at the forthcoming exhibition. As the forty 
members composing the genera! committee represent 
such a large area of the United Kingdom, it was 
thought desirable, both to facilitate matters and save 
the incurrence of large personal expenses on the part 
of those residing many hundreds of miles away, to 
form a small Executive Committee to carry out the 
remaining details. The general committee will of 
course be called as necessity demands. Those 
gentlemen elected to serve on the Executive Com¬ 
mittee are :—Mr. George Gordon, V.M.H , chair¬ 
man ; Mr. E. Beckett, Elstree ; Mr. C. H. Curtis, 
Brentford; Mr. J. Fraser, F.L.S., Kew ; Mr. H. J. 
Jones, Lewisham ; Mr. J. F. McLeod, Roehampton; 
Mr. H. A. Needs, Woking ; Mr. R. Sydenham, 
Birmingham ; Mr. H. J. Wright, Wandsworth ; 
and Mr. R. Deao, V.M.H., Ealing. 
Maidenhead Horticultural Society.—This old 
society, which has had for its chairman, the past 
twenty-two years, R. Silver, Esq., a well known and 
highly esteemed Maidonian, seems in a moribund 
condition, brought about by various causes. First 
and foremost we must attribute its condition to the 
lack of interest shown by residents in and outside 
the Borough. They neither subscribe to nor even 
attend the exhibitions, which are always first-class 
Any amount of money can be found for regattis, 
football, and cricket, but not so for horticulture. 
Secondly.the wet day of the show last season left the 
society £25 to the bad, £20 of which had to be made 
up by the committee ; and thirdly, at the present 
day the committee are to blame for not providing a 
few ether attractions at the annual meeting held on 
February 16th. The question to be answered was as 
to whether the society should be dropped. On the 
proposition of Mr. Stone, the exhibition was pro¬ 
posed to be continued with the addition of ether 
attractions. This was carried by a majority of those 
present, but unfortunately led to the resignation of 
the late chairman and secretary, who, with others, 
objected to innovations other than horticultural 
exhibits. The meeting, not being able to get any 
further with the business, decided to adjourn the 
meeting until the 22nd. The whole question opens 
up a wide field for discussion in your valuable paper 
as to whether horticultural exhibitions swim or sink, 
and whether such sinking should be prevented at the 
present day by providing harmless and interesting 
amusements.— J. W. S. 
-- 
HARDY FRUIT. 
Never have I seen a better show of fruit buds than 
this year’s promise ; and, if only given a favourable 
time when the respective kinds are in bloom, I pre¬ 
dict heavy crops of Apricots, Peaches, Nectarines, 
Plums, Cherries, Pears, and, as far as I can see, 
Apples too. Of course it is too soon to be over 
sanguine, as it often happens during March and the 
two following months, severe frosts occur, and keen 
cutting north-easterly winds play havoc with fully 
expanded blossoms and young growths; but when 
there is a plentiful supply of the former there is 
always a better chance of part of them escaping, 
such as Apricots and Peaches, as fortunately all are 
not open at once. The past two tropical summers 
are mainly responsible for this, I should say, for 
surely the excessive heat week after week must 
have ripened up every bit of wood where not too 
much crowded. 
By the time these lines are in print the Apricot 
wall will have its glass coping, and a double thick¬ 
ness of herfiog netting hung in froDt a yard or more 
from the trees; and this reminds me of a corres¬ 
pondence carried on last summer in one of your con¬ 
temporaries as to the wisdom of such protection, 
quoting several instances where good crops of fruit 
had been gathered, and no protection whatever 
afforded, mentioning Peaches in particular. While 
quite believing this assertion, and that it is possible 
one may secure a crop, say, two years in succession, 
do the said trees make satisfactory growth as to 
warrant doing away with any such protection what 
ever ? As far as my experience goes I most empha¬ 
tically say no. It may answer if your trees are in 
a very sheltered nook or corner ; but where one has 
from sixty to a hundred yards of wall due east or 
even south-west, something is necessary to guard 
off hail and break the keen cutting winds we usually 
get from now onwards. The latter accounts for a 
good deal of the blister we so often see on Peach 
and Nectarine trees, which must and certainly is 
against clean healthy growths being made, which is 
a great stride towards securing a full crop the next 
season. Of course, in a low lying district, where it 
is generaliy more damp, no one would think of leav¬ 
ing well-flowered trees to themselves, trusting all 
would be well with them whatever the weather.— J. 
Mayne, Bicton. 
KALANCHOE FLAMMEA. 
This useful species of Kalanchoe is, I have seen 
in The Gardening World, offered by Messrs. J. 
Veitch & Sons, for distribution. There is so much 
to recommend this plant, that no doubt in a few 
years it will be considered indispensable for con¬ 
servatory and room decoration. It is a native of 
Somaliland, tropical East Africa ; and should the 
map be consulted for the temperature it requires, 
no doubt it would be put into tropical heat, which 
it does not necessarily require, to flower it success¬ 
fully. Seed sown on the 25th of September, 1897, 
germicatedb/ the 15th of November, the same year, 
having taken some six or seven weeks. These same 
plants were in flower by the middle of June, 1899, a 
period of about one year and nine months, from 
when the seed was sown till flowering time. It may 
easily be increased by cuttings, for a small shoot 
broken off emitted roots lying on the stage. The 
flowers are orange-scarlet, and arranged in a series 
of small clusters, which are so arranged that the in¬ 
florescence is almost flit, or botanically a corymbose 
cyme. The colour is bright and pleasing and the 
flowers last some weeks fully expanded. When 
grouped, the plants can be seen to greater advantage 
Pom above. They require a very parous soil, very 
careful watering, and should not be over-potted. 
During the summer give free ventilation, with plenty 
of light, shading only during bright sunshine, also 
keep the foliage dry.— C. P. Cretchley, The Honeys, 
Twyford, Berks, 24 th February 1900. 
-- 
THE FURZE DEBATE. 
I’m muckle obleeged to ” Alex. Wright ” or "Alec. 
Vricht,” as we wid say, for sympatheesin' wi’ me 
aboot the snaw (p. 407), but as long as the ingle 
bleezes finely at hame, an’ the furnace in the stoke¬ 
hole keeps the watter bilin’, there's nae fear aboot 
me. I’ll nae gang far, but sit siccar eneuch. We 
hed a renewal o' the snaw on Mununday and 
Tyesday, the 19th an’ 20th ult., as weel as an awfu' 
bluffert o’ win’ on the Mununday nicht; the 
Americans wud ca’ it a blizzard. Ony wye ye cudna 
see a stime for the win’ an’ snaw. 
The Furze (sidna this be spelt Funns ?) on 
Bucklebury Common maun be determined to flooer, 
tae dae sae anealh 9J in. o' snaw, and a frost 0’ 18? 
to 20°. It can jist flooer awa as lang as it likes for 
me. I’ll wyte tull the snaw gangs doon the burn in 
snaw broo, an’ then I’ll be in fine time to see the 
Furze. By the bye we mak’ oor beesoms o’ birk, 
hedder, or breem, maistly birk, for the gairden, an' 
I wud raither that than strayvaigin ower the hulls 
leuking for Furze i’ the noo. Mr. Wright says he 
has kept the Furze under notice sin' the third week 
in November, and means tae dae sae for a haill year. 
Eh ! man, but that wud be a lang sit an’ a cauld, 
cauld sit ! I’m gey fleyed he’ll get frozen to the Furze 
buss, an’ in that case his record wid be broken. 
Here awa it taks postie a’ his time to cairry the 
letters and papers, sae under the condeelions I’ll sit 
siccar till the snaw gangs, an' that’ll be afore the 
Furze blaws.— Geordie Tam. 
