'[ember 14, 1903. 
THE GARDENING WORLD. 
941 
ovembe r rT;9«3. *3Chc Gardening World. 
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EDITORIAL NOTES. 
form Wanted in Aberdeen. 
Several correspondents interested in thei 
lfare of the Royal Horticultural Society of 
lerdeen are clamouring for a reform in 
ier to increase the popularity of the show 
iongst professional gardeners. It would 
ini that many of the professional gardeners 
ve left off exhibiting for one reason or the 
ier, and the writers think it is due to the 
it that the schedule of prizes was arranged 
as to suit particular classes of exhibitors, 
le division is for amateurs, and another for 
e working class. The agitators fail to' find 
difference between the two classes of ex- 
bitors, and think that if the tyro sets of 
izes were amalgamated in one it would 
ace those competitors in their proper divi¬ 
sion and leave half the prizes now spent upon 
them to be devoted towards the encouragei- 
ment of professional gardeners. There are 
those who think that two sets of exhibitors, 
termed respectively amateurs and cottagers, 
have been pulling- the strings for their own 
benefit, thus saving the two' classes from com¬ 
peting in one division of the schedule, and 
thereby having more prizes in their favour. 
London Wild Flowers. 
Mr. W. Clarkson Birch has been collecting 
the wild flowers to be found in Fulham, ai 
borough of London of some 250,000 inhabit¬ 
ants. These chiefly consisted of leaves and 
flowers, but not the root of the plants. The 
market gardens of Fulham have now all but 
disappeared, their place being occupied with 
bricks and mortar, and veiy soon there will 
be very little space left for plants outside the 
front gardens that may exist. Notwithstand¬ 
ing- this state of matters, he found 140 
species of flowbring plants in the borough. 
Many of these he picked on places lying 
waste and ready to be built upon, as well as 
rubbish heaps. A number of the plants 
which he enumerates are, of course, to be 
found on the banks of the River Thames, and 
we are not surprised that such should exist 
in. that part, of London. Two interesting 
finds consisted of Galinsoga parviflora and 
Tetragonia crystallina. The first-named of 
these has no doubt been blown across the 
river from the other side, as it is more than 
particularly abundant in some of the market 
gardens higher up the river. The* plant 
originally escaped from Ivew Gardens, and 
is now ai very bad weed in several parishes, 
being more difficult to exterminate than 
Groundsel. The Tetragonia may have 
escaped from some garden, or have come with 
packing of some sort from Peru. It may be 
described as a. weed of commerce, and may 
possibly be grown in gardens occasionally 
for the purpose of garnishing, in the same 
wav as the true Ice Plant, which is a Mesem- 
bryanthemum. We know also that Tetrar 
gonia expansa, or New Zealand Spinach, is 
more or less cultivated by market gardeners 
in this country as a substitute for the 
ordinary Spinach, which is liable to be 
attacked and destroyed by a fungus. Other 
interesting plants found in Fulham were the 
Lucerne, Harebell, Oxtongue, scarlet Pimper¬ 
nel, Mallow, and London Rocket. 
—o— 
Midland Reafforesting Association 
For many years past certain parts of Staf¬ 
fordshire and Worcestershire have been 
known as the Black Country, owing to the ab¬ 
sence of trees and the huge mounds of debris 
drawn out of the coal mine® and tipped on 
the surface. As the result of a public meet¬ 
ing held in Birmingham on February 12th of 
this year, the association was formed with 
the object of promoting the reafforesting of 
waste grounds in the Midlands. At one time 
in its history the Black Country was covered 
with forest. Within recent times some at¬ 
tempts have been made to replant it, and 
portions} have succeeded, while other planta¬ 
tions have not been SO' successful. The fact, 
notwithstanding, remains that' these pit 
mounds or spoil banks may be planted with 
several species of tree that will thrive suffi¬ 
ciently to completely cover them, if indeed 
they do' not develop to' the size of timber 
trees. Some of these old pit mounds are 
represented by photographic illustrations in 
a pamphlet issued by the association, and, 
judging from these, it seems that the Black 
Country might be replanted or reafforested 
to the great advantage of the inhabitants. 
About 14,000 acres are ready for immediate 
development, the ground lying idle owing to 
the cessation of tipping rubbish there. The 
association thinks that ultimately about 
30,000 acres may be planted in the same way 
when the coal pit owners and other mining 
companies cease to throw their rubbish there. 
That would be equivalent to a district of 
seven square miles. Some of the trees that 
have already grown to useful size are Poplar, 
Willow, Ash, and Sycamore. The two last 
named have the highest •commercial value, 
but we see no reason why the wood of the 
Poplar and Willow should not also be suffi¬ 
ciently valuable, seeing that they are so ser¬ 
viceable for the making of bats and various 
other articles which require a pliable wood, 
to say nothing of their medicinal value. 
Hitherto the people in this country have been 
allowing the foreigner to find out the medi¬ 
cinal value of such trees, and to sell to us the 
article which we might very well produce for 
ourselves, seeing that the trees in question 
thrive practically in almost any part of 
Britain. We hope the association will re¬ 
ceive every encouragement in proceeding 
with the replanting of the Black Country. 
-—o— 
Bristol and District Gardeners. 
The syllabus of the Mutual Improvement 
Association of Gardeners in the Bristol dis¬ 
trict shows that papers have been, or will be, 
read at the fortnightly meetings from Octo¬ 
ber 7th to April 28th inclusive. It seems 
that the annual meeting is held at the close 
of the session at the last-mentioned date, 
whereas annual meetings of most societies 
are held before commencing a new session or 
a new year. Tiie papers to be read are of a 
very varied character, including “ Hardy 
Perennials,” “ Hardy Fruit,” “ Chemical and 
Other Manures,” “ Bouquet Making,” 
“ Greenhouse Climbers,” “ Rock Plants,” 
“Orchids,” “Tomato Culture” “Cacti,” 
“ Floral Decoration,” “ Woody Greenhouse 
Plants,” “ Hardy Trees and Shrubs,” etc. In 
addition to the reading of papers, exhibitions 
are held at each meeting, and prizes are 
awarded for some or other subject which is 
here named for each of the meetings. 
