March 17, 1900. 
THE GARDENING WORLD 
453 
Weather in London.—After a few charming days 
toward the end of last week, cold weather has 
installed itself,cold but dry, however. 
Death of Mrs. Napper.—We regret to announce 
on March gth, at 28, Tetcott Road, Chelsea, Rose, 
the dearly loved wife of Mr. William Napper, 
formerly of the Exeter Nursery, aged 45. 
Colour Photography.—At a recent meeting of the 
Linnean Society of London, on the 1st inst., Mr. 
W. Saville Kent, F.L.S., exhibited lantern-sides of 
several British flowering plants to show the remark¬ 
able advances which have been recently made in 
colour photography. 
United Horticultural Benefit and Provident 
Society.—The annual general meeting of this society 
was held at the Caledonian Hotel, Adelphi Terrace, 
Strand, on the 12th inst., when Mr. Richard Dean 
took the chair in the unavoidable absence of Mr. 
S. T. Wright through illness. Mr. William Marshall, 
one of the founders of the society, was present, and 
referred in feeling terms to the loss the society bad 
sustained through the lamented death of the late 
Mr. John Fraser, of South Woodford, another of the 
founders. We shall report the meeting more fully 
next week. The secretary and treasurer have been 
unanimously re-elected, and there is a proposition to 
increase the secretary's salary. 
The Carter Commemorative Champion Cup — 
At the forthcoming International Bi-centenary Cele¬ 
bration of the Sweet Pea in July, Messrs. James 
Carter & Co., The Royal Seed Establishment, High 
Holborn, London, offer a handsome Champion Cup 
for the most meritorious collection of Sweet Peas in 
classes 1, 2, 5, 2 6, 27, 28 and 29 of the Schedule now 
being issued to competitors, or the cup may be 
awarded to any non-competing exhibit. The com¬ 
petition in this case is open only to professional 
gardeners and amateurs; and in making their awards 
the judges will be actuated by quality of bloom rather 
than mere quantity in giving their decision. This is 
as it ought to be. 
Dahlia Show at the Royal Aquarium.—An ex¬ 
hibition of Dahlias on much the lines of that held 
last summer, will take place at the Royal Aquarium, 
on September 18th and two following days. A sum 
of nearly £30 is offered in prizes, a portion of which 
has been subscribed by the directors of the Royal 
Aquarium, and the remainder by private subscrip¬ 
tion. Two main objects are sought by the establish¬ 
ment of this show—one is to provide an exhibition of 
Dahlias in central London; the other to afford a 
convenient opportunity for a further exhibition of 
seedling Dahlias. The Aquarium Show will be 
supplemental and not in any way antagonistic to 
the Exhibition of the National Dahlia Society at the 
Crystal Palace on the 7th of September, as all the 
donors to the prize fund are members of the N.D.S. 
Schedules can be obtained of the superintendent, 
Mr. Richard Dean, 42, Ranelagh Road, Ealing, W, 
Bristol and District Gardeners’ Mutual Improve¬ 
ment Association.—The usual fortnightly meeting of 
the society was held at St. John’s Parish Room, 
Redland, on Thursday, 8th inst. A large attend¬ 
ance was presided over by Mr. Chas. Lock. Mr. R, 
Stewart, Snoyd Park, provided the paper,which was 
on the subject of "Peaches and Nectarines." He 
disclaimed at the outset any intention of dealing 
with the culture of the fruits in the open air, and 
confined his remarks to orchard house culture. 
Handling the subject in a masterly way he 
described the structure he thought most suitable, 
the method of preparing the borders for planting, the 
soil best suited to the plants, and the time and 
manner of planting. He also gave a good deal of 
information respecting the pruning and training of 
trees, root pruning,disbudding,and thinning of fruit; 
also, urging care in watering, that the tree may never 
get quite dry on the one hand or very wet on the other. 
Mr. Stewart concluded an able paper by enumerating 
the varieties he thought most useful, and the many 
pests, &c., to which Peaches were liable. A good dis¬ 
cussion followed, and Mr. Stewart was accorded a 
hearty vote of thanks on the motion of the chairman. 
Prizes for three Hyacinths were awarded, Mr. Price, 
first; Mr. Pidgeon, second. Certificates of Merit 
went to Messrs. McCullock and Quick (each for a 
fine specimen of Coelogyne cristata); Mr. White 
(Cymbidium eburneum); Mr. Curtis (Dendrobium 
wardianum); Mr. Price (Dendrobium nobile Cook- 
soni); and Mr. Quick (Dendrobium nobile). 
Orchids at the Sale Rooms.—A fine variety of 
Odontoglossum crispum occasioned some lively 
bidding at the sale rooms of Messrs. Protheroe and 
Morris, Cheapside, on the 2nd inst., and was knocked 
down to H. T. Pitt, Esq., Rosslyn, Stamford Hill, 
for £16. The flowers were of very large size, bold 
in appearance, and white, shaded with rose. On 
the same occasion, Messrs. J. McBean & Sons, 
Cooksbridge, Sussex, sold a small piece of a fine 
variety of Dendrobium nobile for £10. 
Plants and their Food.—Mr. H. H. W. Pearson, 
M.A., continues his fascinating study of the domestic 
larder of plants, in Knowledge for March. " It was 
found during 1898 that in the air of the Royal Gar¬ 
dens, Kew, at a height of 4 ft. 6 in. from the ground 
there was from 27 to three parts of carbon dioxide 
in 10,000 parts of air. Thus, although the stock 
of carbon in the atmosphere taken in the aggregate 
is immeasurably large, it is in an extremely diluted 
condition, and we cannot easily form any idea of the 
vast amount of air which must be drained of its 
carbon in order to supply the needs of the world's 
green vegetation. It has been calculated that in 
attaining its full size, a single tree having a dry weight 
of 11,000 lbs. has abstracted all the carbon from over 
15 million cubic yards of air. The carbon thus 
taken from the atmosphere is not, however, lost to it, 
but sooner or later finds its way back again in the 
form of carbon dioxide from the lungs of animals 
and from burning or decaying organic substances.” 
The Boy and the Board of Agriculture.—One 
small boy at a Northampton Board School has kept 
the Board of Agriculture busy, very much as 
Kipling's Indian civilian kept a department on the 
run for unnecessary information about pigs. He 
saw a notice in the correspondence columns of a 
boys’ newspaper, that the board would willingly 
send pamphlets on insect pests to anyone who 
applied. He applied. The board sent a nice fat 
envelope, addressed to Henry Robinson, Esq., 
officially signed and with O H.M.S. on the front. 
He was much pleased and, of course, told his 
envious schoolfellows how he obtained such a prize. 
Then it was only a question of getting a penny stamp, 
for all the school boys in Northampton to request in¬ 
formation concerning insect pests. The Board of 
Agriculture, having strained its resources to the 
utmost in addressing and licking envelopes, finally 
sent down a special emissary to Northampton to 
investigate the curious plague that was devastating 
the district. Henry Robinson, Esq., has, at least, 
satisfied himself that the resources of the Empire 
are at the disposal of its humblest members.— Daily 
Chronicle. 
Utility Poultry Club —On page 405 we printed 
the result of the laying competition which had been 
under trial during the sixteen weeks preceding 
February 13th, and herewith follows a further re¬ 
port of the competition just mentioned. The hens 
have been under the observation and care of Mr. J. 
Robinson, an expert in poultry management. He 
reports that the proceedings and results have been 
satisfactory. The competitions do not altogether 
determine which is the best breed, but points out the 
best strain of any breed. The site in which the pens 
were placed was open to the west, in a well-drained 
meadow of nice loamy soil, and sheltered around the 
north side by Thorn hedges. The morning food 
consisted chiefly of one-third sharps (or middlings), 
one-third barley meal, and one-third pea meal,which 
was cooked overnight. The afternoon meal had 
been about half wheat and half maize, given alter¬ 
nately, according to the weather. Oyster shell and 
flint grit had been supplied, while miller's dust was 
heavily used as a coating for the floors. The weekly 
expense per head, woerkd out to i 6id., or just over 
three half pence. The weight of eight eggs taken as 
they were laid, and afterwards weighed, from each of 
the sixteen breeds in the competition, was never less 
than 15 oz., nor higher than 18 oz., the differences 
probably explainable by other circumstances. The 
total weight of sixty-four brown eggs was 129$ ozs., 
while in the aggregate, sixty-four white eggs weighed 
133I ozs. The average number of eggs laid per bird 
during sixteen weeks was 27 76, the heavy or sitting 
breeds averaging 31 09, whilst the light or non¬ 
sitting breeds have averaged 24 43. Any further 
particulars in reference to either the competitions or 
the objects of the club, can be obtained from Mr. 
B. W. Horne, Hod. Sec., 49, Gloucester Gardens, 
Hyde Park, London, W. 
A Sad Idea.—A bad instance is recorded by Nord- 
Horticole of the mania for floral decorations. A 
cook conceived the singular idea of replacing the 
Chervil or Parsley, upon a plate of fish, by the 
flowers of Poinsettia. The unfortunate man never 
thought—and it is very excusable—that the latici- 
ferous plant belongs to the Euphorbia family. All 
the guests were more or less seriously inconvenienced 
by the milky juice which spread over the fish. 
Grass Lawns at Ootacamund.—One of the items 
mentioned by the Curator of the Government 
Botanic Gardens and Parks, Nilgiris, deals with the 
establishment of lawns. “ Hurriali " grass (Cynodon 
Dactylon) had been tried, and succeeded for a time, 
but extreme drought for three months killed it out. 
A mixture, in equal parts, of English lawn grass and 
white Clover seed was next tried, and so far has been 
very successful. The combination of grass and 
clover is, therefore, thought to act suitably together 
in that warm region. 
The care of Shade Trees.—So frequent are plant¬ 
ings of trees along our newly-erected streets that the 
proper care of the trees is a subject requiring some 
attention. The Canadian Horticulturist, in its issue 
for February, has an article upon the matter, in 
which it deals with complaints found regularly in the 
growth of these shade trees, and touches on remedies 
for certain of them. "In some cases the cause of 
the unhealthy condition is plainly due to insects, in 
other cases to fungi, but most frequently the cause 
is due to purely physiological conditions, such 
as unfavourable conditions of the soil or 
atmosphere.” Many of the trees are found to 
have been starved. Like animals, trees require food. 
Every year the ground for a yard or more should be 
dug deeply, says the journal, and a dressing of well 
rotted manure or compost applied. This work 
would be rather impracticable. What might be done 
is to furnish a few conducting pipes, these being 
placed vertically into the ground to a depth of 3 ft. 
or so, for the purpose of sub-irrigation. The heads 
of the pipes could rest level with the street. A 
second necessity is free air circulation in the soil. 
Unless air can get down and about the roots they 
become asphyxiated—the roots rot. And to prevent 
too rapid evaporation or too great a drain from this 
cause, the branches must be kept to a due propor¬ 
tion with the roots. All decaying branches or patches 
should be attended to with pruning saw and tar 
brush. 
Reading and District Gardeners.—The large 
attendance of members present at the fortnightly 
meeting of the Reading and District Gardeners’ 
Mutual Improvement Association, on Monday last, 
testified to the increased interest which is now being 
taken in hardy flowers. The subject for the evening 
was “ The formation and arrangement of a hardy 
border with a list of plants suitable for same ” by 
Mr. D. Harris, gardener to Col. Jekyll, Munstead 
House, Godaiming, and it is needless to say that the 
paper was of a very practical character. Mr. Harris 
in introducing his subject said that the field open to 
the outdoor flower garden was a very wide one, as 
the position in which the gardens were placed varied 
so much in character that it was nearly impossible 
to copy. Thus gardeners had each to work entirely 
according to circumstances. He acknowledged the 
great advantage he had derived of working under 
Miss Jekyll from whom he obtained great knowledge 
respecting hardy border plants. The lecturer then 
passed on to describe the best sites, formation of 
same, soil, suitable plants and their arrangement, 
time of planting, &c. A large number of questions 
were asked, and an interesting discussion followed 
in which Messrs. Stanton, Neve, Townsend, Lever, 
Burfitt, Hinton, E. J. Dore, Fry, Exter and Cham¬ 
berlain took part. A feature of the evening was two 
splendid floral exhibits by Mr. F. Lever, The Gar¬ 
dens, Hillside, Reading, and Mr. W. Townsend, 
The Gardens, Sandhurst Lodge, the former staging 
Azalea indica alba, A. Deutsche Perle (grown from 
cuttings),Doronicuro caucasicum, grown in pots, and 
a splendid flowered Dendrobium nobile ; whilst the 
latter staged a beautiful group of Begonia Gloire de 
Sceaux. The president (Mr. C. B. Stevens), in pro¬ 
posing a vote of thanks to Mr. Harris for his paper, 
said that the greatest charm was not so much the 
lecture as was the kind and ready way in which the 
numerous questions were answered. The exhibitors 
were included in the vote. 
