328 
THE GARDENING WORLD 
April 11, 1903. 
gentlemen of the district and their gardeners. The prizes for 
the evening for a vase of flowers for table decoration were awarded 
to Mr. J. B. Brain (gardener, Mr. F. Atwell), Mr. N. C. Dobson 
(gardener, Mr. Thoday), Mr. W. H. Davis (gardener, Mr. 
Curtis), Mr. A. Baker (gardener, Mr. Orchard), and to Mr. J. C. 
Aiken (gardener, Mr. Clarke). Certificates of Merit went to Mr. 
W. How el Davis (gardener, Mr. Curtis), for Dendrobium wardia- 
num, and to Mr. Coleman (gardener, Mr. Spry) for two pots of 
Mignonette. 
* * * 
Ealing and District Gardeners’ Society. —The gardeners of 
the Baling district brought their session to a close on the 31st 
ult. The occasion was the fifteenth annual dinner, at which the 
Mayor of Ealing (Councillor H. W. Peal, J.P.) presided; while 
the place selected was the Drayton Court Hotel, where the menu 
and the management gave every satisfaction. After the usual 
loyal toasts the Mayor proposed “ Success to the Gardeners’ 
Society” in a felicitous speech. He said that gardening was a 
very fascinating pursuit, which demanded the qualities of 
patience and perseverance. He also referred to the difficulties 
of climate, etc., and agreed that the English gardener had a good 
deal to contend with. The bon. secretary (Mr. W. Roberts) re¬ 
plied in his usual forceful manner, and insisted that mutual im¬ 
provement was necessary to gardeners, their duties being so 
varied that, to obtain anything like success, an exchange of ideas 
was of the greatest possible moment. Councillor Timpson com¬ 
plimented the executive, to which Mr. Geo. Cannon responded. 
Mr. R, Dean submitted the “Donors of Prizes”; while Mr. 
(Jbas. Jones, C.E., emphasised the value of the “Readers of 
Papers.” Mr. Cannon again came in for the “Exhibitors,” 
Messrs. Dack and Hogg being in the fullest sympathy. Mr. C. 
Edwards made an effective appeal to the “ Visitors ; Mr. Wait 
did justice to the “ Press ” ; while 1 Mr. Burgess summed up the 
toast list with the “ Health of the Chairman.” The proceedings 
were interspersed with a musical programme. Thus a successful 
wind up terminated a progressive session. 
NEWS OF THE WEEK. 
Mistake in Name of Exhibitor. —In recording the exhibit of 
R. I. Measures, Esq., on page 295, first column, we inadvertently 
stated that Mr. H. Haddon was the gardener, whereas Mr. Smith 
occupies that, position. 
* * * 
Change of Address. —Mr. David W. Thomson, seed mer¬ 
chant, Edinburgh, has removed to those large and commo¬ 
dious premises at 113, George Street, Edinburgh (West End), 
where all communications should now be addressed. 
* * * 
The Gardeners’ Royal Benevolent Institution. —A sum of 
£67 15s. has just been sent from the Victorian Era Fund to the 
unsuccessful candidates at last election who had previously 
been subscribers to the institution, and a similar amount will 
be sent to them on October 1st next from the same fund. 
* * * 
Wishes to be a Gardener. —Mr. Alexander Wright, son of 
the well-known gardener of that name, and sixteen years of age, 
desires to be apprenticed to the gardening profession. While 
open to an engagement in the south, he would prefer Scotland, 
where his father graduated in the profession. Those who are 
in want of a strong lad should address him at Bucklebury, 
Reading, Berks. 
* * * 
Lewisham Gardener Dies at his Work. —At Lewisham, on 
the 2nd inst., an inquest was held on Joseph Bird, aged 60, a 
jobbing gardener, of 87, Elswick Road, Lewisham, who died sud¬ 
denly on Monday morning in the garden attached to the residence 
of Miss Elizabeth Reid, at 45, Granville Park, Lewisham, in 
whose temporary employment he was. Dr. Arthur Roper, of 
49, Lewisham Hill, said death was clue to syncope following 
degenei-ation of the heart, and the jury returned a verdict 
accordingly. 
* * * 
Kew Gardens.— The “Gazette” of March 31st contains an 
Order in Council transferring, as from that date, to the Board of 
Agriculture, certain power's and duties conferred on the Commis¬ 
sioners of Public Works, as in respect of the Royal Botanic 
Gardens, Kew, by the Crown Lands Act, 1851, Section 22, and 
the Parks Regulation Act, 1872. These powers and duties are 
transferred under the Board of Agriculture Act, because they 
relate to agriculture or forestry, and are of an administative 
character. 
* * * 
Potato Northern Star. —At Louth, Lincolnshire, on Wed¬ 
nesday, the 1st inst., four single tubers of the above-named variety 
were sold by auction by Messrs. John Taylor and Sons, and 
realised the sum of 10s.‘ 6d. The tubers weighed on the average 
realised 2 ozs. each, and the price works out at the remarkable 
sum of £2,575 per tom. . These Potatos were sent, among others, 
to be sold by auction at Louth by that well-known grower of 
new varieties, Mr. T. Ivime, Mareham-le-Fen, Boston, Lincoln¬ 
shire. 
* * * 
Tomatos for Nothing.— We can get naething for naething in 
this world, and michty little for saxpence, unless it be snubs 
and insults. Yet they have been giving away Tomatos for 
nothing in Leeds market during the past week. You could 
have had them for the carrying away. “ How much will you 
give me for those? ’ said a dealer to a visitor the other day, 
Doiniing to 26 boxes of Tomatos. “ Dent want them, was th ■ 
replv. “Give me a bid.” “No,” said the visitor. ‘ Well, Mill 
you" take them for nothing?” The man agreed and made 
arrangements to have the 26 boxes taken away. The fact was. 
the Tomatos were not up to much. There are plenty to be had 
in the market for next to nothing, because the quality is not 
very good and the supply is abundant. A box containing 16 lb. 
may be had for 3d. or 4d. 
* * * 
Delay of Fruit on the Railway. —On April 2nd, at the 
Llandudno County Court, before his Honour Judge Sir Horatio 
Lloyd, William Newmlan, fruiterer and florist, of Llandudno, 
sued the London and North-Western Railway Company to re¬ 
cover £4 5s. 6d., the value of three cases of hothouse Pines 
sent by a London dealer by train from Camden Station to the 
plaintiff at Llandudno on October 9th last. The case for the 
plaintiff was that (lie cases were handed into the custody of 
the company’s London officials in time to be sent by the ordi¬ 
nary fruit train from Camden to Llandudno on Thursday, 
October 9th, and they were due at the latter place at seven or 
eight o’clock the following morning. They did not arrive, how¬ 
ever, and after making several inquiries plaintiff informed the 
officials at Llandudno on the Saturday morning that, provided 
the goods were delivered at eleven o’clock that day, he might 
still have an opportunity of disposing of some of them. It was 
not till three o’clock in the afternoon that the goods arrived, 
and that was too late to sell the Pines. Eventually the fruit 
was sold by the company for 25s., which sum they offered the 
plaintiff, who refused to accept it. Plaintiff claimed only the 
actual amount he had paid for the Pines to the consignor. Mr. y 
Fenna, for the defence, contended that there had been no negli¬ 
gence on the part of the company’s officials. Judgment was 
given for the plaintiff for the amount claimed. 
* * * 
The “ Atlantis ” of Plato.— “ Knowledge ” says that, ac¬ 
cording to the view of Dr. Scharff, the “ Atlantis ” of Plato was 
a reality, and not a myth, Madeira and the Azores having been J 
connected by land with the European and African continents 
so late as the early portion of the human period. This con¬ 
nection was, however, but the last phase of a great Atlantic 
continent, which the author believes at an earlier epoch to 
have extended from Morocco (which was then connected with 
Portugal) to South America, reaching at least as far south as 
St. Helena. The evidence in favour of this former extensive 
land connection has been drawn from a careful survey of the 
whole fauna of the Atlantic islands, which displays marked 
affinities with that of the Mediterranean countries on the one j 
hand and that of South America on the other. That <a land 
connection between Africa and South America existed at a 
relatively remote geological epoch is now generally admitted ; j 
but stronger evidence will, we think, be required before the 
theory that the Azores were in connection with Portugal during 
the human period is accepted. One of the author’s arguments 
is based on the circumstance that so far back as 1385 two of 
these islands were named from their being inhabited respec¬ 
tively by rabbits and goats, at a time when there were no human 
denizens of the group. Hence, it is urged, these animals were 
indigenous, and not, as generally supposed, introduced. 
