February 13, 1904. 
the gardening world. 
145 
“ Some Marvels of Plant Life,” with illustrations, was the 
title of a lecture at the Royal Albert Institute, Windsor, on 
Tuesday last, and was .given by the Rev. W. Spiers, M.A., 
f.e.m.s. 
* ■*■ * 
Mr. T. W. Turner, for a number of years general foreman 
in the Royal Horticultural Society’s Gardens, Chiswick, has 
been appointed superintendent of grounds, Royal Hospital, 
Chelsea. 
* * * 
Gardeners’ Royal Benevolent Institution, —The Liverpool 
auxiliary of this society will hold a grand smoking concert 
to-day (Saturday) at the Bear’s Paw, Liverpool. The 
programme before us is highly ornamented with coloured pic¬ 
tures of three fancy Pansies on the outside of the folded card, 
and is something different from anything we have seen of the 
kind. The auxiliary was established on October 27th, 1902, 
and we note, from the report for 1903, that £50 13s. 2d. was 
collected, and of this sum £37 17s. was sent to the treasurer 
of the institution. A number of guinea and a few higher dona¬ 
tions were obtained from different people, and the remainder 
was derived chiefly from admission to the concert. 
* * * 
Illustration Orchards in Canada. —The system of illustra¬ 
tion orchards seems to have, been very successful in Canada, 
where they are spreading themselves over the Eastern provinces. 
It is now announced that arrangements have been made by the 
Government of New Brunswick, through the Department of 
Agriculture, with the owners of several farms in the province 
to establish and direct the management of a number of illustra¬ 
tion orchards throughout the m'ovince, with a view to- encourag¬ 
ing and improving the fruit industry of the province. The under¬ 
taking is to> commence next spring, and is to be carried out 
along lines similar to those in Nova Scoria, and to which 
reference has already been made in the “ Land Agents-’ Record.” 
* * * 
Codlin Moth in May. —On the 26th ult, Mr. Saunders made 
the following contribution to this subject discussed at the pre¬ 
vious meeting of -the Scientific Committee of the Royal Horti¬ 
cultural Society:—“I cannot, find that more than one brood 
has -ever been noticed in England of the Codlin Moth, though 
two broods are common on the Continent and in America; and 
on the other side of the Atlantic three broods have been known. 
In this country the- moth leaves the chrysalis in May, and lays 
her eggs very soon afterwards. The caterpillars are hatched in 
the course of a- week cr ten days, and remain in the Apple three 
weeks or a month ; being full fed, -they leave, the fruit to fall to 
the ground, and make their way to the nearest tree stem, and 
crawl-up it until they find a suitable place to. pujjate in. If 
they cannot find a tree, a post or paling or even dead leaves will 
provide them with a shelter. The object in putting bands 
round the trees is to provide the caterpillars with hiding places, 
where they may be found and destroyed. They are not sticky, 
but made of folded canvas or sacking, or even hay or straw 
bands, and should be put on as -soon -a.s any ‘ windfalls ’ are 
found.” 
* * * 
■ Maggots in Moss Litter. —Mrs. Ho-rsele-y sent samples with 
inquiries to the Scientific Committee of the R.H. S. on the 26th 
ult. Mr. Saunders reports as follows:-—“The grubs found in 
the moss litter manure were those- of a fly -belonging to- the 
genus Bibio, but I cannot tell the name of the species, several 
of which are very common; -perhaps the one best kno-wn is the 
St. Mark’s fly (Bibio M-arci), s-o called from its generally appear¬ 
ing about St, Mark’s day (April 25th). These flies are quite* 
black, and are rather more than half an inch in length ; their 
bodies are rather thin, and the- wings -are net very transparent, 
and measuring about l^in, from tip to tip. They fly in a very 
clumsy manner, and may be found crawling over plants, etc., in 
great numbers for a day or two, and then they disappear alto¬ 
gether. The flies may be easily -caught in a butterfly net. If 
poultry are kept, I should spread the manure- -about and let 
them pick and scratch it over, for they will sc-on pick out the 
grubs. Mixing nitrate of soda with the manure might be tried, 
but I am not sure whether it would have much, effect on the 
grubs, as I have -not heard of any experiments having been made 
on, them. They are undoubtedly injurious to -the roots of plants 
at times.” 
* * * 
Phylloxera anu Table Grapes. —The Minister for Agricul¬ 
ture, New South Wales, has received the first portion of a report 
from M. Blunno, departmental viticulturist, referring to phyl¬ 
loxera, as the result of his recent visit to Europe. M. Blunno, 
"whilst travelling, made particular inquiries as to the possibility 
of danger in spreading phylloxera through the medium of the 
fruit of table grapes. Everywhere he received the same answer, 
that Section 2 of the Berne International Convocation of 1881, 
which provided for the free unlimited traffic of table grapes 
still holds good, as there was not the slightest danger of spread¬ 
ing the insect by such means. The fact that any of the signatory 
States are at liberty to withdraw, and thenceforth act inde¬ 
pendently, but that instead of any withdrawal taking place the 
union still remains intact, shows unquestionably that the States 
have good reason to be satisfied with the agreement. 
* * * 
Wasted Effort with Tomatos.— A very good illustration of 
the disappointment which in the majority of seasons awaits those 
who attempt to cultivate Tomatos in the open in this country is 
given by the report of an experiment carried out by the Agri¬ 
cultural Education Committee of the Somerset County Council. 
The seeds were sown under glass on March 25th, and the plants 
potted off singly, and after having been well hardened they were 
planted out on May 27th and 28th. There were five plants of 
each of 24 varieties -120 in all—and although the border faced 
south, and was sheltered from the west and east winds, less-than 
two dozen ripe fruits were gathered from the whole of the plants. 
We all know that la.st year gave us an exceptionally wet and 
miserable summer ; but the lesson is none the less one to take 
to heart. . Most of our summers are too unfavourable to give a 
really satisfactory yield of Tomatos grown in the open. 
* * * 
The Japanese F^oual Calendar.— The Japanese are a nature- 
loving people, and frequently give practical expression to their 
feelings by taking a holiday simply for “ flower-viewing.” At 
the proper season the entire nation, so to sp-e-ak, takes a “day off 
and turns out on a big picnic to see the Plum-blossoms, or the 
Cherry-blossoms, or the Maples, or the Chrysanthemums. The 
programme of Japanese floral festivals was originally arranged 
says the “ Open Court,” on the basis of the old lunar calendar 
so long in vogue m Japan. By that calendar the New Year came 
m about January 21st to February 18th, so that- it was from 
three to seven weeks behind the Occidental solar calendar. But 
w,i-n Japan adopted the Gregorian calendar the floral festivals 
were changed -as well as the emblematic flowers of the months, 
ihe following is the reconstructed floral calendar, every fruit 
ami plant of which has a meaning : —January, Pine ; February, 
lum ; March, Peach ; April, Cherry ; May, WistariaJune, 
iris; July, Morning Glory ; August, Lotus; -September, 
Seven Grasses ’ ; October, Maple; November, Chrysanthe¬ 
mum ; December, Camellia. 
* * * 
To Improve the British Climate.— In reference to the exces¬ 
sive rainfall of the past summer and its disastrous consequences 
to farmers, Mr. John Henry Knight, Barfield, near Farnham, 
wiites to the “Morning Post” :—Can -science do -anything to 
make o-ur climate drier? I think it can. About 150 or 200 
years ago the West of France was threatened with a great 
disaster. Tho sand fchtrowm up by the Atlantic was creeping 
inland, carried by the westerly winds, covering valuable farms 
and meadows. The encroachment of this sand was stopped by 
planting a very large district with Fir trees. The traveller of 
the peisent day from Paris to the Spanish frontier passes through 
more than a hundred miles -of this forest, which not only averted 
disaster, but is now a very valuable property. As forests -are 
known to increase the rainfall I would suggest the plantincr of 
trees, largely under careful supervision and protection-, in’ all 
available spaces in the West and South of Ireland and in parts 
of Cornwall. In 15 or 20 yoars the trees would draw the rain 
from the clouds rolling off the Atlantic, and our British climate 
would be drier and possibly in winter a little colder. It would 
be a dry cold, however, and not the damp- cold we have at pre¬ 
sent. It may -be objected that the cost would be great—which 
it undoubtedly would be, but the gain would be very great in 
many ways. Be-sides, the fores-t-s would in a few years be 
extremely valuable. The world’s supply of wood is rapi-dly 
diminishing.” J 
* * * 
Chloroforming Plants.— Last year, about this time or a 
little later on, we recorded some experiments with the etherisa¬ 
tion of plants with the object of bringing them earlier into bloom 
by forcing afterwards than they could be without previous pre¬ 
paration. Since then it seems that M. Leblanc has been making 
experiments with chloroform, and reports the results to the 
Societe -Central© d’Horticulture de Nancy, and says that his 
experiments were quite -successful. On February 19th last 
he -chloroformed some plants of Azalea mollis, giving them about 
half -the quantity he would have used had it been ether, and 
exposing the plants to the action of the vap-o-ur for about 43 
