February 7, 1903. 
THE GARDENING WORLD, 
ill 
FEBRUARY 7, .903 Whc Gardening WorlcL 
NOTICES TO READERS AND 
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EDITORIAL NOTES. 
Plant Food and Manures. 
We are solicitous that every branch of 
useful and pleasurable gardening should be 
adequately represented for the benefit of our 
readers. With that object in view, we have 
secured the services of Mr. J. J. Willis, Har- 
venden, who has, for many years past, en¬ 
joyed exceptional opportunities for studying 
the existing relations between plants and 
reils, as well as the constituents of soils, their 
fertility, and deficiency in certain elements of 
plant food, the latter of which have to be 
made good by the aid of man, by the appli¬ 
cation of organic or inorganic ingredients 
■'Inch are termed manures, usually spoken of 
i* natural and artificial, which is simply an- 
jfher way of saying organic and inorganic, 
recording to their origin and composition. 
n manner some of them are termed 
mineral manures, others consisting of decay¬ 
ing animals or their excrement, and decay¬ 
ing vegetable matter, the three latter being 
collectively spoken of as humus, never absent 
from fertile soils. Mr. Willis will deal with 
these in a manner that even the most recent 
recruit to the gardening profession will be 
able to follow if he or she gives his or her 
mind to the subject and follows out the 
reasoning and instruction tendered from 
time to time. 
-—o— 
Croydon’s Disappearing Gardens. 
About the end of the sixteenth century we 
read of a nursery that was kept by Mistress 
Tuggy at Westminster. If she had been 
alive to-day she would have to go much 
further out. Even at Croydon gardeners can 
but regret the way in which the fine old 
gardens are being broken up to make way 
for the builder. Tine enough, the number 
of gardens will be multiplied, but they are 
usually so small that the professional gar¬ 
dener is no longer required to keep them in 
order. We find that many of the beautiful 
gardens have been sold and the ground put. 
into the hands of the builder, so that before 
many years have gone the beautiful rural 
borough of Croydon will be as badly off in 
the matter of gardens as Westminster is to¬ 
day. The builder threatens to annex the 
whole of the beautiful valley all the way to 
Redhill, so that, in the course of a few years, 
these places will in all likelihood be linked 
together and their rural appearance 
destroyed. _ 0 _ 
Retirement of Mr- Hunter. 
Many of our readers will yet have lively 
recollections of Mr. James Hunter, of Lamb- 
ton Castle Gardens, and whose retirement we 
mention in another column. For many 
years lie had been a regular and redoubtable 
antagonist of the exhibitors about Edin¬ 
burgh, Belfast, Manchester, and Glasgow. It 
will yet be remembered that he took the 
Wills 50 guinea prize at Manchester for ten 
bunches of Grapes. His Black Hamburgh 
Grapes on that occasion weighed If lb. per 
bunch. In this respect he excelled himself 
at Belfast on another occasion, when he ex¬ 
hibited a bunch of Black Hamburgh weigh- 
mg 21 lb. 10 oz., probably the largest bunch 
of this variety on record. 
The New Hall of Horticulture. 
The worst fears of some pessimists will 
surely be realised when it is discovered that 
the new Hall is now just commencing to be 
built. As far as we recollect, the Fellows, or 
all of them who were present at the extras 
ordinary general meeting last spring, 
authorised the council to proceed with the 
building of the Hall, and we certainly think 
it is time to commence, if it is tej be opened 
in time for the celebration of the Centenary 
in 1904. Eveiy Fellow is invited to have at 
least a few brick® in the building to his 
credit. 
R.H.S. Awards in 1902. 
During the past year 600 medals of various 
values were awarded by the committees of 
the Royal Horticultural Society. In addi¬ 
tion to these, fifty medals were presented to 
societies affiliated with the mother society. 
A Silver Gilt Flora Medal was also awarded 
to Miss W. M. Butenshaw for having passed 
first in the society's examination. One hun¬ 
dred and eighteen Bronze Banksian Medals 
were granted to cottagers’ societies. Cer¬ 
tificates granted to plants numbered 347 ; 
and in twenty-eight cases were exhibitors 
considered worthy of a Cultural Commenda¬ 
tion for their respective exhibits. Inde¬ 
pendently of the medals for cottagers and 
the examination medal, the total sum of 
awards given by the society during the year 
was 1,025—surely sufficient to show that 
merit is not going unrewarded. 
R.H.S. Progress 
During the past year more Fellows were 
added to the list of the Royal Horticultural 
Society than the whole number on the list in 
1888.' In the latter year, when leaving 
South Kensington, the number of Fellows 
was only 1,108 ; last year they added 1,140 
to the list. The total number of members, 
Fellows, associates, and affiliated societies is 
now 6,228. To give an idea of their strength, 
we may say that the total loss by resigna¬ 
tions and deaths was 236, and that taken 
from 1,140 leaves a numerical increase of 
904—the largest record for any one year ever 
made by the society. For the present year 
the election of fresh Fellows has begun, well, 
so that, all things considered, the prospects 
for the Hall of Horticulture should not 
frighten the society, or anyone in connection 
with it. 
•—o— 
The Alpine House at Kew 
In former years the Alpine House about 
this period of the year has usually been filled 
with Christinas Roses, and Lenten Roses, 
together with some Daffodils and early 
flowering Alpines, of a very varied character. 
At present the house is chiefly filled with 
bulbs, which at present constitute a feature 
of the house. This is an innovation, or, at 
least, a variation upon the usual routine in 
this interesting little house at Kew. The 
bulbs consist chiefly of Irises, Crocuses, Snow¬ 
drops, and Colchicums. We should like to 
see this class of house more generally 
imitated in various parts of the country, 
whether in botanical establishments or other¬ 
wise. There can be no doubt that a large 
amount of enjoyment can be obtained in a 
house even of small dimensions, such as at 
Kew, by anyone possessed of a love for hardy 
alpine plants, particularly those that bloom 
early. Such a house should be intended 
chiefly to protect early-flowering subjects 
which come into bloom during our unsettled 
and uncertain winter, and to render them in¬ 
dependent of weather, and certain to flower. 
