January 16, 1904. 
THE GARDEN 1 NO WORLD. 
45 
JANUARY 16, 1904. UCh c Gardening "WorlcL 
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EDITORIAL NOTES. 
i - 
My Garden Diary for 1904. 
Upder tlxe above title Messrs. Sutton and 
Sons, Reading, issue a garden diary contain¬ 
ing remmcms for every month of the year, 
fioin January to December, on the left-hand 
page. Various other information about 
meteorology, date® of certain. occurrences, 
; and other matters in the form of monthly 
calendars and information concerning the 
rising and setting of the sun and moon, with 
space for mem ora:, da, are given on the right- 
hand page. At the end of the diary are 
some short chapters dealing with bulb®, 
dies, secrets in the raising of certain flower 
>eeds, .lists of annuals, edging plants', and 
"emedie® for certain garden pests. We have 
fad occasion to mention this diary in former 
years, and we must admit there is no falling 
away either in the amount or the value of the 1 
information imparted. 
Front Garden at Buckingham Palace. 
The King is carrying out great alterations 
in front of Buckingham Palace, which will 
have the effect of removing or destroying the 
formal appearance which formerly existed in 
front of the palace, and of giving the whole 
quite the character of a front garden. In 
place of the straight drive there wdl be a) 
large circle of green turf, upon which a fine 
statue of the late Queen Victoria will be 
erected. The statue will be surrounded by 
high electric lamps, which will light up' the 
approach to* the palace beyond. A large 
number of men are employed not only in the 
vicinity of the palace, but also in the 
approaches beyond, where the former aspect 
of things will be greatly changed, and the 
approaches more in keeping with the pre¬ 
sent-day style of adornment in the neigh¬ 
bourhood of a Royal palace. 
An Advocate for Ivy. 
A would-be amateur gardener has been; 
writing to “ V. C.,” stating that in, a, London 
suburb it is almost impossible to grow 
flowers .successfully. We think that siuoli 
absolute statements betray a, lack of knowl¬ 
edge concerning the entire subject of gar¬ 
dening. As, this writer evidently hails from 
Rrixton,, we can assure* him that gardening 
is.carried on successfully by a large numbed 
of people in that neighbourhood, both out of 
doors and under glass. We have also fre¬ 
quently visited a flower show held in that! 
neighbourhood and have been delighted with 
the beauty of the exhibits. In. all the main 
thoroughfares, at least, there are large 
gardens, a portion, being in front and a larger 
space behind, and in. these fruits, flowers, and 
vegetables', as well as flowering trees and 
shrubs, are successfully grown. Unless.this 
writer’s garden is very small and entirely 
surrounded by houses so as to be heavily 
shaded, it is quite possible to grow some¬ 
thing else than Ivy. 
Seed List from Malta. 
The seed catalogue for 1904 sent out from 
the Argotti Botanical Gardens, Floriana, 
Malta, is now on our table. It runs to thirty 
■pages, exclusive of the index, and as a seed 
list it has been very carefully compiled by 
Professor F. Debono, M.D., the director of 
the gardens. The seeds are arranged under 
their respective classes and orders, these 
being given alpha,betically. The genera and 
specie® are also given alphabetically, a, 
method which is very consistent for a botani¬ 
cal garden. For the benefit, of those who are 
not botanical enough to remember the name 
of the order, a full index is given of the 
generic names*. After the names in the 
second column, we have the country from 
which the plants originally came, this being 
followed by the popular name in English, 
accompanied by the popular name in Italian, 
where this happens to be different from ours 
and the Latin. Those who are well versed in 
botanical matters* will find many plants that 
are already cultivated in this country and 
highly appreciated for their decorative value. 
Others given are much less ornamental, and 
seldom found outside of botanic gardens, 
while a few of them would be scarce. The 
object of this catalogue is to enable other 
gardens, botanical or otherwise, to buy or 
exchange seeds with the botanical garden at 
Malta. We have not the slightest doubt that 
many really beautiful things are ■contained 
in the list that are not ,at present in many 
private gardens. Those who have no seeds 
to exchange can buy at the rate of a dozen 
packets for Is. if the selection is left, to* the 
Argotti Botanical Gardens authorities', but if 
they make a special selection a dozen packets 
will cost Is. 8d. Amongst the strangely 
beautiful plants we noted Leonotis Leonurus, 
having rich orange-scarlet flowers, and suit¬ 
able for greenhouse culture. A number of 
Salvias of garden value, also Acacias*, Lathy- 
ius, Convolvulus, Coronilla, and many other 
too numerous to mention, are given. No 
doubt the favourable situation at Malta 
enables many seeds to ripen in the open air 
which would sometimes have difficulty even 
under glass in this count,iy. 
Royal Horticultural Society of 
Ireland. 
A meeting of the above' society was con¬ 
vened by Lady Ardilaun in the Shelbourne 
Hotel, Dublin. She also presided, and was 
supported by many of the important resi¬ 
dent® of that city and the neighbourhood. 
The object, of this meeting was to devise some 
scheme whereby the financial position *of the 
society might be improved. The funds were 
at a veiy low ebb, and this has been going 
on getting worse and worse for some years 
past. Mr. F. W. Moore, of Glasnevin, dated 
the decline of the society from 1879, although 
the climax did not come until a few years 
ago. He also said that it would be a national 
calamity if the society were to cease to exist 
for lack of support. Interest in horticulture 
had recently been revived in Ireland, and 
there was a suggestion that a floral exhibi¬ 
tion should be held in connection with the 
Daffodil or Spring Show, in order to improve 
the funds of the society. This decision was 
agreed upon, and “ that the spring f6te, under 
the name of ‘ La Florale,’ be held in the 
Rotunda on April 14t,h and 15th, 1904.” We 
may also' state that a large and influential 
executive committee, with power - to add to 
their number, was formed. It was suggested 
that there should be contributions of cut 
flowers and plants to that fete, the object, 
being to sell them, with the view of assisting 
to wipe off the outstanding debt of the 
society. 
