January 9, 1904. THE GARDENING WORLD. 39 
Society and Association Notes. 
Botanical Society Dinner. —The members of the Star Inn 
Botanical Society, Wigan, held their annual tea party and social 
at the Star Inn. 
* * * 
Ipswich and East of England Horticultural. —The annual 
meeting of the above was held at the Town Hall on Tuesday 
evening. A highly satisfactory balance-sheet was presented. 
The profit for the year worked out at £42 13s. lOd., and there 
is a balance at the bank of £36 13s. 7d., in addition to which 
£16 was repaid for loans by the committee and secretary, and 
£10 was paid to the Daffodil Society as a donation. The secret 
of the success is considered to have been the way in which the 
officials pushed the year’s shows. 
Beckenham Horticultural Society. —“Wall and Water 
Gardens” (illustrated with lantern slides), by John Gregory 
(past Kewite), was the subject on the 1st inst. Illustrations weie 
given showing how by the aid of wall gardening unsightly places 
could be made beautiful; the wall garden at Lord^ Rothschild s 
(Gunnersbury) was exhibited as an example. Water gardens 
were clearly shown how useful they were to a garden where pos¬ 
sibly nothing would grow satisfactorily. The illustrations were 
greatly appreciated, as they were good examples of what could 
be done by the ordinary garden labourer without much expense, 
to hide places in the garden which would otherwise be objec¬ 
tionable. Mr. Gregory was heartily thanked for his lecture. - 
On January 8th Mr. George Bunyard, A .M.H., of Maidstone, 
gave a lecture on “ A Talk on New Fruits.” 
° * •* * 
Reading and District Gardeners’ Mutual Improvement 
Association. —At the last fortnightly meeting of the above asso¬ 
ciation Mr. F. Bright, of The Garden, White-knights Park, 
Reading, dealt in a most practical manner with Fuchsias and 
their culture. Mr. Bright is a well-known grower of this popular 
flower, and his plants, standing from 8ft. to 10ft. high, at the 
Reading Horticultural Shows always prove a leading feature. 
The subject was treated under the following headings;—Cut¬ 
tings, potting, staking, tying, stopping, flowering, wintering, 
treatment in spring, shifting, top-dressing, etc. An excellent 
discussion followed, in which Messrs. Neve, Cox, Burfitt, 
Alexander, Lever, D. Dor©, Hinton, C. J. Dor©, Wynn, House, 
Lees, Durrant, Fry, Exler, Townsend, Gibson, etc., took part. 
The varieties recommended for specimen plants were:—Dark 
colours : Charming, Elegans, Brilliant, Masterpiece, Clipper, 
Wiltshire Giant. Light colours: Western Beauty, Miss 
Balfour, White Queen, Jubilee Queen, Mrs. Bright, Grand 
Duchess. The only exhibit was a collection of variegated Kale, 
staged by Mr. J. Gibson, The Gardens, Danestield, Marlow, the 
heads showing two or more distinct coloursi of every conceivable 
shade. 
* * * 
Bristol and District Gardeners’ Mutual Improvement 
Association.— This society held its usual meeting at St. John’s 
Rooms on Thursday evening, the 30th ult., Mr. W. E. Budget! 
presiding, supported by Mr. W. A. Greenslade, both gentlemen 
taking a deep interest in the work of the society. The chairman 
introduced Mr. Clarke, representing the Bath Association, 
and invited him to give his lecture on “ Rock Plants.” The lec¬ 
turer, who is well known as a specialist in this branch of the 
horticultural world, must be congratulated on his most ex¬ 
haustive and interesting paper. He carefully explained the 
formation of the rock garden to the minutest details, explaining 
the different soils, aspects, the plants most suited for 
planting in crevices, niches, ravines, etc. He strongly advised a 
careful study of the subject before attempting to simulate Dame 
•Nature, and by such study alone would the builder be success¬ 
ful. Insect pests also claimed the lecturer’s attention. All 
through his lecture his audience gave every attention, and by 
the hearty vote of thanks it was proved beyond doubt how in¬ 
teresting the evening had been. Several members of the Bath 
brethren accompanied Mr. Clarke, and they, too, received a 
warm welcome from their Bristol friends. Prizes for two pots 
Roman Hyacinths were awarded to (1st) Mr. Jones and (2nd) Mr. 
George White (gardener, Mr. Price). A Certificate of Merit 
went to Mr. F. C. J. Fisher (gardener, Mr. Shelton) for a 
plant of Dendrobium formosum. 
* * * 
Sutton’s Angling Association. —Twenty guineas in valuable 
prizes were distributed in the Reading Room of the Royal 
Seed Establishment on Friday, December 18th, amongst the 
score of anglers noted, Mr. Arthur W. Sutton, J.P., pre¬ 
siding. Messrs. Sutton’s cheque, £15 12s. (two-thirds of the 
total receipts), and the prize item of £20 17s. formed the nucleus 
of the balance-sheet presented by the lion, secretary and trea¬ 
surer, Mr. R. Bowsher, who also briefly reported the chief 
feature of the season, a record entry in the roach class of 46 fish 
—46 lb., 25 averaging 1^- lb., while the Wednesday afternoon 
gross weight totalled nearly 2g cwt. The president, Mr. M. J. 
Sutton, J.P. ; vice-presidents, Messrs. A. \Y. Sutton, J.P., L. G. 
Sutton, and M. H. F. Sutton, also the lion, secretary and trea¬ 
surer, Mr. R. Bowsher, were returned unopposed by an enthu¬ 
siastic constituency, the chairman and Mr. M. H. F. Sutton 
(who was also present) both responding with warm assurances 
of the firm's interest in matters piscatorial. Regarding the com¬ 
position of the committee, a novel element was introduced by 
Mr. Arthur Sutton, and duly converted into a resolution, to 
the effect that any member making the best record as a prize¬ 
winner should be elected on committee for the ensuing season, 
thereby ousting the one with the lowest record ; thus Mr. 
Knight, aforesaid, succeeds Mr. Chalk in the Cabinet for 1904. 
Mr. Smith offered a suggestion to the meeting that a subscrip¬ 
tion list be inaugurated in support of the Thames Restocking 
Fund as some slight, restitution for the depletion occasioned in 
some measure by the association : this was adopted. Prize¬ 
winners, 1903 : (1) A. Knight, 1st perch, 1st miscellaneous, 2nd 
pike, 3rd chub. (2) A. E. Jacobs, 1st roach, 2 “firsts” and 1 
“ second ” matches, 4th roach. (3) W. H. Stacey, 1st roach, 
7th roach, 1 “ first ” and 4 | seconds ” matches. (4) W. R. 
Smith, 3rd roach, 5th roach, 2nd match, 2nd miscellaneous, 
1st chub. (5) S. Warrilow, 1st chub, 2nd roach, 1st match. 
(6) W. W. Albury, 1st roach, 4th perch, and 2nd match. (7) 
A. Potts, 1st pike. (8) C. Cooper, 2nd chub, 4th roach. (9) 
R. S. Griffin, 3rd pike, 1st pike. (10) H. Belcher, 6th roach, 
2nd match, 2nd miscellaneous. (11) R. Bowsher, 5th perch, 
4th chub, 2nd consolation match. (12) C. Hunt, 2nd perch. 
(13) C. Goseltine, 1st match. (14) G. Taylor, 3rd roach. (15) 
A. Kirby, 3rd perch. (16) W. Hancock, 2nd juniors’ roach, 
3rd match. (17) T. Appleby, 1st juniors’ roach. (18) W. H. 
Chalk, -5th roach. (19) E. Spong, 2nd match. (20) H. Swain, 
2nd pike. (21) H. T. Morgan, 3rd juniors’ roach. (22) D. 
Cooper, 1st consolation match. Note.—Only non-prize-winners 
in the series of monthly roach matches are eligible for the “ con¬ 
solation ” match. 
NEWS OF THE WEEK. 
Death of Mr. W. Cocks.— The funeral took place on the 
26th ult., amidst every mark of esteem, of Mr. William Cocks, 
the well-known fruit grower and market gardener, who expired 
after a lingering illness on Wednesday at the age of 63. 
* •* * 
Unwholesome Bananas. —A middle-aged man, William Bain, 
pleaded guilty at St. Rollox Police-court- Bailie George Raggart 
on the bench—when charged with having, on the 19th ult., ex¬ 
posed for sale on a barrow in St. James’s Road 18 lb. or thereby 
of Bananas which were unwholesome, unsound, and unfit for 
human food. The fiscal stated that the fruit was very much de¬ 
composed. A fine of 5s., with an alternative of three days’ 
imprisonment, was imposed. 
* * * 
Water Culture of Seedling Oaks-— By procuring fresh 
acorns as they fall from the trees in autumn and suspending 
them singly in bottles or glasses of water, they will germinate 
in spring and make little trees during the first summer. The 
acorn must only be partially submerged in water, just suffi 
cient to enable the embryo to absorb moisture and throw out a 
root into the water. 
* * * 
Onions Failing to Form Bulbs.— Mr. W. Miller, of Berks- 
well, Coventry, seems to have had an unusual experience in 
the cultivation of Onions during the past season. He states 
that they failed to form any bulb, but in autumn appeared like 
so many Leeks-. Many of our correspondents have shown that 
there was no particular difficulty in growing even large bulbs, 
though considerable care was necessary in ripening them off 
properly. Surely something must have been wrong with Mr. 
Miller’^ method of cultivation. 
* * * 
■School Gardening in Kent. —In order to stimulate gardening 
and kindred pursuits among the 70,000 children attending the 
rural schools in Kent, the Education Committee are considering 
the best means of establishing a school-garden competition. 
This has already been worked out privately in some school- 
gardens, and it is now proposed to divide the gardens into small 
plots and to give one to each of the older scholars, and to offer 
