fHE GARDENING WORLD. 
455 
May 23, 1903. 
NEWS OF THE WEEK. 
Tice Royal Oak, Titchfield, Hants, is now prostrate on the 
ground, and is chiefly remarkable for the shortness and massive¬ 
ness of its trunk. The branches are neither very lengthy nor 
numerous, many of them having been carried away apparently. 
The roots are now quite bare, projecting into the air. 
* * * 
Diminutive traction engines are gradually being adopted by 
market gardeners instead of horses for taking their produce to 
market. One of these locomotives was in the autumn put on the 
road between Islewortli and Covent Garden. Now several are to 
be seen at three o’clock in the morning pufling along Piccadilly 
with towering loads of vegetables behind them. 
* 
Bothy for the King’s Gardeners. —No expense has been 
spared to make the gardeners at Frogmore thoroughly comfort¬ 
able in the new houses which have been erected for them by the 
King’s command. The block of buildings has an imposing 
entrance hall, whilst all the rooms are amply furnished. Bath¬ 
rooms are provided, and there is also a library and reading- 
room. 
* * * 
Fkuit in Sydney, New South Wales, is dearer than in Mel¬ 
bourne, possibly dearer also than in London. At a meeting of 
wholesale and retail fruiterers, it was declared that the Italians 
had to a large extent secured a monopoly of the fruit trade, 
and were charging about 100 per cent, more for the fruit than 
they had paid for it. The season for fruit locally was over, and 
fruit had to be obtained from Victoria and Tasmania. Not¬ 
withstanding the high prices, there is more fruit consumed in 
Sydney than in any other town of the Commonwealth. 
* * * 
Tree Planting at Edinburgh. —After inspecting the Castle, 
on their recent visit to Edinburgh, the King and Queen passed 
on to Colinton, where the King opened a new fever hospital. 
After the ceremony Lord Rosebery escorted the Queen through 
the grounds, in which Her Majesty planted an English Elm and 
remarked, “ It’s a bonnie tree.” Presently the King came up, 
and with a smile remarked that the Queen had stolen a march 
upon him, and forthwith proceeded to plant another. He tackled 
the operation of shovelling the soil about the roots with great 
vigour. The Queen was presented with a bouquet of flowers. 
* * * 
Rare British Plants. —To those interested in our British 
flora an opportunity is now presented of examining a few rare 
plants which are now on view' at the Free Library, Southport. 
As the plants are grown from wild specimens, and in pots or 
pans, they will remain at the library during the forthcoming 
week. The first to claim attention is Silene acaulis, the moss 
champion, or ladies’ pincushion. This is a most charming 
British plant of very humble habit, yet aspires to make its 
home upon all the high summits of our loftiest mountains. 
Although the little moss champion is extremely rare in this 
country, confined in its geographical range to the mountains 
of Westmoreland and Cumberland, yet in Scotland it is fairly 
abundant, especially upon rocks composed of mica, schist, or 
calcareous schist, such as we find in the Breadalbane and the 
Clova mountains. Gentiana verna and other choice things are 
also on view. 
* * * 
Death of a Noted Nursery Hand.- The death of Mr. David 
Jackson, J.P., occurred on Saturday, the 9th inst., at his resi¬ 
dence, 5, Kinnoull Causeway, Perth. Deceased, who was 84 
years of age, had been ailing for some time past, and the end was 
not unexpected. Ex-Bailie Jackson has had a long and interest¬ 
ing career. Born in the Bridgend district of Perth in January, 
1819, he received his early education at Kinnoull School. 
Shortly after entering his teens, Mr. Jackson entered the old- 
established firm of Messrs. Dickson and Turnbull, nurserymen 
and seedsmen, and throughout his long life he has continued 
to take a very keen interest in botany and horticulture, and it 
is not too much to say that few men in the district possessed a 
Wider and more varied knowledge of the vegetable world than 
he did. For the long period of sixty years Mr. Jackson was in 
e ®eivice of Messrs. Dickson and Turnbull, and his was cer 
iruc' H * e h° r 'l to be proud of. He entered the firm as a boy in 
iooo, and left it an honoured servant in 1893. He had a long 
connection with the Royal Horticultural Society of Perthshire, 
and was secretary for the unusually long period of over twenty- 
hve years, from 1846 to 1871. J 
Big Broccoli. —Air. Robert Knight, of Darsham, has just 
cut a gigantic Broccoli from his garden. The flower measures 
3 ft. 4 in. in circumference and 13 in. across, and weighs 13J, lbs. 
* * 
Mr. William Falconer, formerly of Dosoris, and latterly at 
Schenley Park, Pittsburgh, U.S.A., is now superintendent of 
Allegheny Cemetery, having entered upon his duties on the 1st 
inst. The Department of Public Works is now trying to tempt 
him back to Schenley Park with an offer of 4,000 dollars annually 
as salary, a figure at which he is at present engaged. 
* * * 
The Gardeners’ Royal Benevolent Institution. —The secre¬ 
tary informs us that he has received the following communica¬ 
tion :—“Marlborough House, Pall Mall, May 15th, 1903.—Sir, 
—I am desired by the Prince of Wales to forward you the 
enclosed cheque for £20 as a contribution from His Royal High¬ 
ness towards the funds of the Gardeners’ Royal Benevolent 
Institution. I am also desired to add that His Royal Highness 
hopes that your annual festival in aid of the funds of this 
charity will meet with the success which it so fully deserves.— 
I am, Sir, your obedient servant (signed), W. Carrington, 
Lieut.-Colonel, Comptroller and Treasurer to H.R.H. the Prince 
of Wales.—To Geo. J. Ingram, Esq., the Gardeners’ Royal 
Benevolent Institution, 175, Victoria Street, S.W.” 
* * * 
Retirement of a Well-known Gardener. —Mr. Jasper 
Slater, a well-known figure in gardening circles, has just retired 
from active work after serving twenty-seven years as head gar¬ 
dener to David Ballantyne, Esq., of Sunnybrae, Walkerburn, 
Peeblesshire. Previous to that Air. Slater was gardener for 
twenty years with the late Admiral Scott, of Wooden, near 
Kelso, during which time he was a regular and successful com¬ 
petitor with plants, fruits, and vegetables at the principal 
south-country shows, carrying off the premier prize for stove 
and greenhouse plants at the International Show held at Kelso 
m the early seventies. But perhaps Grape and Apple culture 
received his greatest amount of attention. His services were 
always in request as a judge, his decisions ever giving the 
greatest satisfaction. Mr. Slater in his earlier years received 
a thorough training in several well-known gardens and nur¬ 
series south of London. Air. Slater in his retirement has the 
hearty good wishes of all the surrounding gardeners and other 
friends, by whom he is highly respected.— Reres. 
* * ii- 
Self-Advertising Flowers.— In “Knowledge” for May, Air. 
R. Lloyd Praeger has an interesting article on the umbel-bear¬ 
ing plants. The flowers of these plants are usually arranged 
in compound umbels. “ That is,” writes Air. Praeger, “ the 
flowering stem divides into a number of branches which spring 
from one point and reach about the same level; at which level 
each branch again similarly divides, each division bearing a 
terminal flower. The result is a large circular flatfish surface 
of blossoms. The advantage to the plant of such an arrange¬ 
ment is that it renders the inflorescence conspicuous—adver¬ 
tises the flowers to the honey-feeding insects, which come, and 
by their visits carry the pollen from plant to plant. In all 
our Umbelliferae each flower is quite small; but the result of 
this aggregation is a most conspicuous inflorescence. Aloreover, 
the outermost flowers of the umbel are often irregular, their 
outer petals, which alone of all the flowers have room for ex¬ 
pansion, being considerably enlarged, thus further assisting to 
render the flower-mass conspicuous. We may note the same 
device carried still further in the flat flower-masses of the 
Guelder-rose, which belongs to an allied order. In this shrub 
the petals of the outer flowers have been developed at the ex¬ 
pense of the essential organs, and these outer blossoms consist 
merely of a large white corolla—a pure advertisement—while 
all the business of the plant is carried on by the comparatively 
inconspicuous flowers which are massed in i..e centre of the 
cluster. The flowers of the Umbelliferae are of simple structure. 
There is little room or need for a calyx, and it is adherent to 
the ovary, and its free part, which forms the conspicuous pro¬ 
tecting sepals in so many flowers, is wanting. The small petals 
are five in number, wide-spreading, notched, usually of light 
colour—white, or less commonly pink or yellow. The stamens 
are five, long and spreading between the petals. The middle of 
the flower is occupied by a disc in the centre of which rise two 
styles. The honey lies open to all comers. There is no guard¬ 
ing of the approaches to the flower, or to the nectary ; no pro¬ 
vision for the visits of any particular kind of insect. In con¬ 
sequence, all kinds of insects visit the flowers—flies, beetles, 
bees, moths, ants—both flying and crawling creatures.” 
