390 
THE GARDENING WORLD . 
May 2, IP 03 . 
Letters to the Editor. 
THE HOME COUNTIES NATURE-STUDY EXHIBITION 
To the Editor of The Gardening World. 
Sir, —The association which held the very successful Nature- 
Study Exhibition last year was organised for that purpose alone, 
and has been dissolved. It suggested, however, in its official 
report, that the movement with which it was so prominently 
identified could, for the present, be best advanced by local 
organisations, the activity of which it had already noted with 
satisfaction. In order, therefore, that the work may be con¬ 
tinued in the south-eastern counties of England which are more 
or less in touch with the metropolis, and as an outcome of the 
efforts of delegated members of the “Middlesex Field Club and 
Nature-Study Society ” and the. “ Selborne Society,” a home 
counties Nature-Study Exhibition is being organised in London 
oi! definite lines, and will be held this year, it is hoped, in the 
gardens of the Royal Botanic Society, at a time convenient to 
teachers. 
Lord Avebury, F.R. S., is chairman of the committee, and 
the list of patrons already includes the Countess of Bective, 
Lady Frederick Cavendish, the Marquess of Ripon, the Earl 
of Aberdeen, the Earl of Stamford, the Bishop of Hereford, 
Lord Herries, the Right Hon. R. W. IIanbury, M.P., the Right 
Hon. Henry Hobhouse, M.P., Sir George Kekewich, Sir Joshua 
Fitch, Sir Philip Magnus, and the officers of the recent Nature- 
Study Exhibition—Sir John Coc.kburn, Mr. C. 'S. Roundell, 
and Mr. J. C. Medd. Upon the committee will be found such 
well-known naturalists, educationalists, and public people as 
the Right Hon. Janies Bryce, M.P., the Right Hon. Jesse 
Pollings, M.P., the Hon. Walter Rothschild, M.P., Sir John 
Hutton, Mr. G. Herbert Morrell, M.P., Mrs. Brightwen, Mrs. 
Franklin, Mrs. Owen Yisger, Professor Henslow, Professor 
Boulger, Mr. A. D. Hall, Mr. Richlard Kearton, Mr. C. J. 
Cornish, Mr. M. E. Sadler, Mr. Harold Wager, Mr. A. J. 
Shepheard, Dr. Kim,mins, and Mr. H. Maean. 
On behalf of the executive committee, and as members of 
the executive of the late Nature-Study Exhibition Association, 
we venture to bring the undertaking to your notice, and to 
intimate that after carefully considering the results and reports 
of last year’s exhibition, the committee lias drawn up a scheme 
with schedules, which may be obtained from the honorary 
secretary, Mr. Wilfred Mark Webb, at 20, Hanover Square, 
w., who will gratefully receive all offers of help in the form 
of prizes, donations, subscriptions, and suggestions as to 
exhibits. 
We sincerely trust that this effort to localise and to promote 
the nature-study movement will meet with the ready sympathy 
and support of all interested in a branch of education so full 
of promise. 
Mary Gurney. 
Frederick Oldman. 
R. Hedger Wallace. 
Wilfred Mark Webb. 
J. Marten White. 
FRUIT GROWING AND ORCHARD PLANTING. 
To the Editor of The Gardening World. 
Sir, —Reverting again to this subject, permit me to state in 
response to the interrogations and assertions of your corre¬ 
spondent “ A. W.” that his views and expressions are not hailed 
with any degree of favour by a very large portion of the general 
public. I was entirely unaware that I had exercised any 
curiosity or ingenuity in estimating the number of trees re¬ 
quired to plant an acre. Any schoolboy could easily tell that. 
Nevertheless, the number has apparently filled a few of the 
vacant brain cells in “A. W.’s” own brain, and startled him 
to no small degree. Plant 4,800 fruit trees on one acre of 
ground, forsooth! The advocates of this mad method of pro¬ 
cedure certainly would be people with a few vacant brain cells 
in their craniums. “A. W.’s” article bristles with absurdities 
which are no credit to’ the writer and in no way appreciated by 
your readers ; so, therefore, on this occasion I shall let them 
go to the most fitting place for them. 
It is gratifying to note that a week’s reflection on the matter 
has enabled “ A. W.” to discover that our enlightened and 
esteemed friend, contributor “ Cal.,” would have a laborious 
and harassing job carrying out the Apples from the middle of 
the thicket. Well, I should say so, too. Then the amusing 
part of the matter is to see how “A. W.” falls foul of me for 
omitting to state how the Apples got to be in the middle of th. 
thicket. “Wa’al!” I should say that a blind man couli 
stand at the end of these intensely thick rows and look alon 
and see; then a dumb man would say, “Oh! they grew there. 
Permit me to suggest to “A. W.” that if he wishes to be th 
pioneer of this method of planting, and if he wishes other peopl 
to follow him on this colossal venture, he most assuredly mus 
write articles to contain more common sense and sound reasoi 
than that which appears on page 312. I do have a faint recol 
lection of having seen the plot of trees in the R.H.S. Garden 
at Chiswick, but took little or no notice of them, and even nov 
could never think of comparing them to an orchard. Hov 
many acres has “A. W.” seen planted 3ft. apart? Unless h 
is able to convince the people on this point I am somewha 
disposed to fancy he may have the satisfaction or dissatisfaction 
of seeing his colossal scheme culminate in conspicuous failure 
and, in haste, I acknowledge that in giving expression to thes 
views and statements, I am perfectly well aware that they ar- 
echoed and re-echoed by vast crowds of the people. 
John C. Peebles. 
St. Fort. 
MY CRITIC. 
To the Editor of The Gardening World. 
Sir, —Your correspondent “ T. S.” still harps on the old string 
I get tired of the same old tune, and as I have already prett 
fully answered him I will only crave a very small corner of you 
space in which to say a few words. “ T. S.” heads his epistl 
“ The Question of Trenching,”’ and then carefully avoids saying 
single word on the subject. He twits me with wandering fror 
the question, but as I have only answered his personal attacks i 
a humble way I will leave my fellow readers to judge who is th 
wanderer. “ T. S.” will perhaps pardon me if I require a sonn 
what less biassed report than lie himself would be likely to offe 
of the success or otherwise of his present operations. A t-hir. 
party would probably be the best judge for mutual satisfaction 
However, as I am only very slightly interested in “ T. S.” and In 
methods the promised report will create very small interest in m 
mind. His last season’s success (?) served my purpose wlie 
writing my article on “ The Preparation of Soils,” and that is a 
far as my interest in the matter goes. Certainly I am alway 
very glad to read the experiences of others when given in th 
columns of our mutual friend The Gardening World ; but d 
not at all care for personal recrimination. 
Now, Mr. Editor, I am afraid that I hardly made my meanin 
quite plain in my last letter. While still of the same opinio, 
regarding anonymous writers, I did not mean that you shoul 
make the signing of al l articles compulsory. I know well enoug 
that that is practically impossible, but what I meant should l’ 
compulsory is the addition of the county in which the write 
resides. This, I think, would be no hardship, and would proy 
valuable in many cases to your readers. C. Blair. 
How Early may' the Daisy Bloom?—M r. Coventry M. Pa 
more says : —“ I noticed yesterday, while on the towpath b. 
tween Kingston and Richmond, several patches of Daisies in fu 
bloom. Is this not exceptional, if not a record ? ” To this w 
reply, Decidedly not. In open winters we have seen them flowe: 
ing on the garden lawn more or less continually from NoveinL 
till spring ; that is, during the period the mowing machine w. 
stored away for the winter. Has Mr. Patmore forgotten th; 
poet’s version of it, that “ the Rose has but a summer’s reigi 
the Daisy never dies ” ? 
Fruit Export to Europe from Castlemain, Melbourne.- 
Large consignments of Apples and Pears are being forwarded 
Europe weekly from the above district. Messrs. Lang an 
Warren, of Haroourt, forwarded 250 cases of Apples and 3C 
trays of Pears to Bremen and Genoa. Mr. Ely is forwardin 
1,000 cases of Apples to Germany and Italy, and Mr. Winkelmai 
of Campbell's Creek, is sending 1,000 cases to London. Muc 
care has been exercised in selecting the most approved varietie 
and in their packing, especially for Pear®, the principle co. 
responding with the American methods, which have- proved s. 
successful for over-sea voyages. Other large growers in the du 
trict have opened up a very advantageous trade with Sydney 
better prices being obtained there than in Melbourne. 
