468 
THE GARDENING WORLD. 
March 24, 1900. 
species is a native of South Atrica. The 
conventional representation of the Sham¬ 
rock on coins, in pictures and sketches of 
various sorts is rather a wooden thing, for 
the three leaflets of the leaf, which in reality 
are perfectly separate, are made to appear 
merely three lobed by the artist. The 
Daily Mail artist was quite exceptional in 
this respect, for the leaflets of his trefoils 
were represented quite separate. In many 
parts of the country the finding of a four- 
bladed Clover was considered lucky and 
held in high esteem, at least by an earlier 
generation. In our experience the four- 
bladed leaf occurs most frequently in Tri¬ 
folium repens. A blackish or purple-leaved 
variety of the latter used to be grown in 
cottage and country gardens generally, in 
the north, and looked upon as the Shamrock. 
In all these cases there are considerable 
differences of opinion ; but the plants have 
the reputation of being native to British 
soil; whereas the Scotch Thistle is often 
represented by a foreigner, and the heraldic 
device of it is an unknown species. 
Budding Wax.—To every pound of beeswax, add 
a lump of resin the size of an egg and one and a 
half tablespoonfuls of raw linseed oil. Boiling is 
then required. 
Gardening appointment.—Sir Ralph Cusack, 
Furry Park, Raheny, has just lost a gccd gardener in 
Mr. W. McClatchie, who has been appointed head- 
gardener to the Right Hon. Sir David Harrel, 
Under Secretary’s Lodge, Phoenix Park, Dublin. 
Royal Horticultural Society.—The next fruit and 
flower show of the Royal Horticultural Society will 
be held on Tuesday, March 27th, in the Drill Hall, 
James Street, Westminster, at 1-5 p.m. A lecture 
on “ Some of the Plants Exhibited ” will be given by 
the Rev. Prof. G. Henslow, M.A., at 3 o’clock. 
The Early Bee.—Bees are at all times particu¬ 
larly interesting but never more so than in the early 
days of spring. We watch the “ bumptious bump ” 
of the four winged hairy aeronaut as he bump, 
bump, bumps himself against the panes of the warm 
conservatory and wonder all manners of things as to 
how he knew March had come and how it fared 
with him all the winter. I saw a humble bee in a 
greenhouse on the 20th inst.— B. 
Proposed Centenary of the R.H.S.—On behalf 
of the Council of the Royal Horticultural Society, 
and in order to allay any anxiety that may be felt by 
the Fellows, I shall be obliged if you will publish 
the following statement :—The general meeting of 
the society held on February 13th, having unanim¬ 
ously adopted the proposal of the Council to cele¬ 
brate the Centenary of the society by the removal of 
the. society's gardens from Chiswick tosomespot 
where the atmosphere is less charged with smoke, 
the Council have inspected several proposed sites 
and have at least one still left to investigate. The 
business is not one which can be hurriedly done. As 
soon as all the suggested sites have been properly 
considered by the Council, a definite proposal will 
be duly submitted to the Fellows.— W. Wilks, Sec. 
Pure Seeds and Proper Seed Beds. — The 
Farmers' Gazette says “ All respectable members 
of the seed trade pride themselves on the superiority 
of their seeds, and, as a rule, justly so. They rest 
their fame upon their products with such confidence 
that most ot the large firms now call their goods 
after their own names. This practice of naming 
varieties after firms, while it has its drawbacks to 
cultivators, offers this decided advantage, that it is a 
pledge of quality, and a guarantee of purity. No 
firm with a character to lose will sell worthless or 
spurious seeds under its own name. The practice 
of sending out varieties in sealed packets, too, is 
another guarantee of quality. In fact, notwith¬ 
standing all the grumbling about inferior seeds, we 
believe we are correct in saying that at no period of 
the history of horticulture have seeds been so good 
or pure as now. Adulteration does not pay. If the 
seeds do not grow as they ought the fault is with the 
grower, not the seller. The conditions for successful 
plant raising are then detailed 
Roll the Lawns.—After so much rain and with 
the mild weather which we lately have had, the grass 
of our lawns has commenced growth. Where the 
soil is light and loose, a heavy rolling at this time 
would very much improve the surface condition of 
the lawn. 
Agricultural Education in Great Britain —A 
very able and valuable paper, embracing the salient 
points of interest and opinions with citations of the 
present condition of British and British Colonial 
agriculture, was given by Mr. R. Hedger Wallace on 
Tuesday, February 27th, before the members of the 
Society of Arts. Sir W. T. Thiselton-Dyer, 
K.C M.G., &c., Director Royal Gardens, Kew, 
occupied the chair. The paper appears verbatim in 
the Society’s Journal for March gth. 
Bud Variations.—Professor Powell, Delaware, 
speaking before the American Pomological Society, 
said that the individual characters of the various 
buds could be taken advantage of by propagators 
in developing earlier and otherwise improved types 
ot plants. He exhibited a series of photographs of 
Crandall Currant, showing great difference in time 
of the bursting of the buds. All these individuals 
had been propagated from one plant, and the diver¬ 
gence in time had been constant for a term of years. 
—American Gardening. 
Botany for the many.—Professor Miall, in a 
recent lecture, has been " beating the drum ” for the 
further advance of the science of botany. Hitherto 
we have had our teaching from the printed page, 
the teacher's diagrams, and skilled orations. Prof. 
Miall would have us all go out into the fields, the 
parks, and the woods, and there, from the book of 
" Nature," study, or rather re-create our jaded selves 
by draughts from the freshness and fund of interest 
which the Nature book possesses. It is very curious 
that our present-day conventionalism should regard 
the artificial and fictitious as more engrossing than 
the great fount of all knowledge, Nature—and botany 
embraces a large part of this domain. 
The voices of the teachers. — On Wednesday 
evening, 28th February, at the Education Depart¬ 
ment, Sir John Gorst received a deputation from the 
National Federation of Rural Teachers, on the sub¬ 
ject of the proposed teaching of agriculture in rural 
schools. The deputation urged, that having regard 
to the number of subjects already in the code, the 
rural schools were comparatively badly staffed, and 
also that they were insufficiently provided with funds 
to undertake this new subject. They also urged 
that the non-agricultural children in those schools 
should be considered as well. In their opinion 
teaching facts about flowers and trees would be much 
more interesting and useful to children than teach¬ 
ing them about soils and manures.— The Chester 
Courant. 
The late Edward Joseph Lowe.—The brief 
allusion we made to the death of this gentleman in 
last week’s issue indicated that he died at his 
residence, Shirenewton Hall, near Chepstow, on the 
10th inst., in the seventy-fifth year of his age. Under 
the signature of E. J. Lowe he was most familiar to 
those who knew him from his publications : Ferns ; 
British and Exotic, British Grasses,British Ferns (pub. 
1867), and his little book containing the remarkable 
lists of garden forms and wild finds of British Ferns. 
His splendid exhibit of rare, choice and valuable 
varieties of British Feres at the Fern Conference 
held at Chis vick, July 23, 1890, is still fresh in the 
minds of those who were present on that occasion. 
Mr. Lowe read a paper entitled “ Hybrid Ferns and 
Crossed Varieties." He had many theories on 
hybrid Ferns and multiple parentage, but unhappily 
for the science of cryptogams it s impossible as yet 
to prove the truth of much that must remain un¬ 
certain owing to the difficulty of observation on the 
part of the would-be hybridist or cross-breeder 
amoDgst Ferns. He carried on a great number 
of biological experiments at Shirenewton Hall, and 
his garden and glasshouses were stocked with all 
sorts of curious and interesting things, but particu¬ 
larly Ferns which were practically everywhere, 
hundreds of them being grown in the open garden 
for which the moist climate of the west and the 
neighbourhood of the Bristol Channel were very suit¬ 
able. He was a founder of the Meteorological, a 
Fellow of the Royal and of many other learned 
societies. 
Helianthus cucumerifolius grandiflorus Giant 
Star.—The illustration of this new Sunflower which 
appeared on p. 444 was lent us by Messrs. H. 
Cannell & Sons, Swanley, Kent. This fact was 
inadvertently omitted in the note describing the 
variety. 
Labelling.—Just a word concerning the article on 
“ Labelling,” p. 454. In planting specimen trees 
and shrubs be sure and put the date of planting on 
the label, as in after years with changes that take 
place, the age of the specimen is often a matter of 
guess work.— A. H. 
Weather in London.—Even though the weather 
has been keenly cold, the force of growth does not 
seem to be greatly restrained. On Sunday evening, 
the 18th inst., sleet fell for a considerable time, mak¬ 
ing paths and roads very disagreeable. Sharp frosts 
have also been registered in the mornings. 
"Waste not, want not.”—A French cultivator has 
adopted a very novel method of fertilising his Chrys¬ 
anthemums. He collects all the old remains of his 
plants, dries them, and then makes a tea or extract 
by boiling them in water. The tea is made use of 
as a liquid fertiliser. All of this, we suppose, is on 
the principle that the hair of a dog is good for his 
bite. 
) 
R.H.S. of Ireland.—The usual monthly meeting 
of the council of the above was held last week at 
the society's offices, 61, Dawson Street, Dublin. Mr. 
J Lawson, J.P., was in the chair. The council 
decided to proffer an address of welcome to Her 
Majesty on her visit to the Irish capital next month, 
and steps will be taken to ascertain whether Her 
Majesty will be pleased to receive such. 
Bottled and Canned Fruits.—Of the fruits 
obtainable in this line from France, there are 
Apricots, Peaches, Greengages and Raspberries, 
these being bottled or canned in syrup. They are a 
great dainty and said to be most saleable amongst 
the respectable classes of consumers. German 
fruits which come in the same way are Strawberries, 
Raspberries, Walnuts, Red Currants, Apricots and 
Pears. The Fruit-Grower points out that the trade 
in these canned fruits is at present entirely in the 
hands of grocers and that when customers go, forced 
to go, to such traders for canned fruit they are open 
to the enterprise of these salesmen who may easily 
secure the trade in fresh fruits, Grapes, Pears, 
Apples, &c. The suggestion is also put forward that 
frhiterers and florists, who combine the two trades, 
should stock these canned fruits. Some of them do, 
but many do not, and it seems a wise idea and one 
worth the advocating that of forming this section of 
trade as part of a fruiterer’s business. 
The Science of Horticulture.—Recently the 
governors of the Norwood Technical Institute, which 
is worked in connection with the London Technical 
Education Board, arranged for a course of six 
lectures on horticulture. Upwards of forty gardeners 
were among those who attended. The success of the 
undertaking has led to a second one being started on 
Wednesday, the 14th inst. While the first series of 
lectures dealt was particularly with points of im¬ 
portance in the cultivation of kitchen garden plants, 
the present pays attention to flowers. Gardeners 
have only too little opportunity given them of acquir¬ 
ing technical instruction and the theoretical side of 
their education is the one which at present suffers 
most. Possibly, the London Technical Education 
Board may in the future be able to do more for herd 
culturists than to assist the Practical Gardening 
School at Regent’s Park, and to award scholarships, 
which can at least only benefit a few. We should 
add that the lecturer at Norwood is Mr. Wilfred 
Mark Webb, F.L.S., who was associated with the suc¬ 
cessful Essex School of Horticulture that arose out 
of the action of the Biological Department of the 
County Council's Technical Laboratories at its com¬ 
mencement and for several years after. Among the 
special features of his methods are the use of rough 
models and written practical instructions and notes 
which latter are manifolded and distributed to all the 
students. These notes are practical lessons for the 
students to work out at their own leisure, and deal 
with leaves, roots, stems, seeds, soils, plant food, and 
other subjects relating to scientific horticulture. 
The Norwood Technical Institute is situated in 
Knight’s Hill Road, West Norwood, S.E. 
