February 27, 1904. 
THE HARDENING WORLD, 
185 
to believe that he also had to be advised. I am perfectly 
a,ware that most places' are undermanned, but we inusit not 
forget even then that a. good and careful master who is anxious 
for the best results-, both for employer and also- himself, would 
ever venture to a young inexperienced one to water any of the 
plants under his care without first advising him. So- I am 
very thankful to “ Japonica” and also- E. Beckett for their 
excellent- advice to usi inexperienced gardeners. I am sure the 
result- will be more than, satisfactory if we follow their good 
advice. We are not all so fortunate as to lia-ve a- master 
tlra-t is willing to- t-each his young men, but are forced to find, 
out for ourselves. Therefore the advice is a good one, even if 
“ Japonica ” does not practise what he preaches. Trevor. 
To the Editor of The Gardening World. 
Sir, —It is with great interest that I have taken up my 
favourite paper—namely, The Gardening World, and read 
the various articles on watering. What struck me in la-st 
week’s issue as really nothing short of a miracle was the 
immediate beneficial results to Geraldine Maya’s plants. See¬ 
ing it presumably comes from one of the weaker sex, per¬ 
haps there is- a slight excuse; but if the writer thinks the 
average gardener so* much- devoid of sense as to take the- note© 
in a serious way, I am sure of many followers of the c-ra-ft willing 
to join me in saying “ too good to- be true.” Mention is also 
made of a foreman,, but he must, have been, careless to act in, 
that capacity if lie- had previously been in the habit- of “ teem¬ 
ing” water everywhere alike before he got a- perusal of my 
esteemed paper with “ Japonica’s ” article therein. What- a- 
great loss his employer previous to this- must- have undoubtedly 
suffered, and oh! the pity “ Japonica, ” delayed so long in 
wielding bis pen, when a, few short .words would have en¬ 
lightened the brain® of tihisi individual and made him an expert 
with the water-can. I would like to say a few words anent 
“Ja-ponica,” but- have intruded too much already; only this- 
article jarred my nerve®, so that meantime he has a respite. 
Buchan Loon. 
Seed Sowing. 
To the Editor of The Gardening World. 
Sir,—R egarding -seed-sowing, I may say that I aim a-t a- 
medium. Like Mr. H. R-owle-s, I am troubled with a. wet, 
sticky soil and -all the pests he enumerates-, t-o> say nothing of 
rabbits. 
Very thin sowing of early crops I have- not found to- answer 
owing to liability to- rot, but- such things as Beans-, lat-e- Peas, 
a-nd all greens, etc., I sow moderately thin, and remove any that 
need it later. I may add that I secure the best see-d obtainable, 
therefore- can rely on it-s- germinating. 
Pests -must be battled with, for I find that slugs aud birds 
will manage the whole-, thick or thin, if allowed to do- so-. 
W. 
Cornish Broccoli Chous.- The Broccoli season in St. Erth 
and district, Cornwall, is now in full swing, and the crops com¬ 
pare favourably with those of former years, except that the 
heads are not so large as usual and the crops about three weeks 
late. In one district several acres of Broccoli had been de¬ 
stroyed by rats, and 700 of the vermin had been killed during 
the last three months. 
Kew Banana Steamer. The fine new steamer “Miami,” the 
second of a new type of fruit steamers being built to the order 
ef Messrs. Elders and Fyffes, Limited, for their Banana traffic, 
was launched at V hiteinch, Glasgow, on the 17th inst. This 
x^ e£ r mer ^. as a l en gth of 363 ft., breadth of 46 ft. 3 in., and depth 
32 ft. 6 in. The vessel has been designed expressly for the 
carnage of Bananas. The hold is insulated with cowhair and 
silicate cotton, and has a capacity for 45,000 bunches. To main- 
am the necessary and uniformly low temperature duplicate 
sets of refrigerating engines will he fitted on the weather deck. 
e aie accustomed to the heating of hothouses by means of 
io -water pipes, but this ship will be cooled by cold brine bein» 
forced through nests of pipes. Circulation of air will be kept 
up by sirocco fans. 
SOCIETIES. 
ROYAL HOKii CULTURAL. 
February 23rd. 
the Brill Hall on Tuesday last was very crowded with exhibits, 
and during the latter part of the afternoon it was almost impos¬ 
sible to see the plants on account ot the crowd of visitors. 
Orchids were very extensively shown, several groups being of 
large size, and very effective on account of the profusion of 
flowers. Other plants well represented were forced flowering 
tree© and shrubs, including Azaleas, also hardy herbaceous plants, 
early flowering bulbs being very prominent. Stove and green¬ 
house plants were also abundantly shown, including the blue 
Coleus, Chinese Primulas, Cyclamen, Italian Hyacinths, fibrous- 
rooted Begonias, and Ferns, the last named being very pro¬ 
minent. 
ORCHID COMMITTEE. 
Sir Trevor Lawrence, Bart, (grower, Mr. AV. H. White), Bur- 
ford, Dorking, exhibited a very large group of Orchids, consist¬ 
ing of well-grown plants, many of them being of large size, and 
profusely flowered. For instance, he had very handsome pieces 
of Dendrobium signatum aureum, D. Melpomene, D. leechianum, 
Cypripediuni aureum Confettdi, O. latha-mia-num, C. Le Douxae, 
and 0. hirsuto-Sailieri. A pan of the latter was shown, which 
appeared to be seedlings, for there- w-as a considerable amount 
of variety amongst the flowers, although all were pale and pleas¬ 
ing colours. Other things well done were Odontogloss-um coro- 
narium miniatum, Miltonia fuscata, Cattleya Trianaei back¬ 
house-ana-, Neottia picta, and Epidendrum porpiiyreum, the latter 
having a drooping panicle of orange flowers. (Silver-gift Flora 
Medal.) 
Messrs. J. Veitch and Sons, Ltd., King's Road, Chelsea, had 
an interesting group of hybrids, including Ph-alaenopsis Hebe, 
with a- red lip, Laeliocatt-leya warnha-mensis, Lc. Myra Dendro- 
biiun Scylla, and D. Kenneth. These two latter have light- 
coloured flowers of moderate size, but- produced in great pro¬ 
fusion and very pretty. A very pretty variety also was D. nobile 
b-allianum. (Silver Banks-ian Medal.) 
Messrs, J. Cypher and Sons, Queen’s Road, Cheltenham, had a 
very showy bank of Orchids, consisting largely of Dendrobiums. 
For instance, they had several well-flowered pieces of D. nobile 
nobilius, -also D. n. pendulum, D. n. statteri-anum (with a very 
large round lip and a dark blotch), D. splendidissimum Stand 
Hall variety, and D. no-bile ba-llianum. A little group- of D. 
barbatulum, with long, drooping racemes of flowers, attracted a 
considerable amount of attention. It- is a small but graceful 
species, and more finely clo-ne than we have seen for some years. 
The green-veined Cypripediuni lawreucea-num, known -as C. 
Maudiae, was very fine, as was C. Go-weri. (Silver Flora Medal.) 
B-. G. Tliwaites, Esq., Chessinton, 23, Christchurch Road,S.W., 
exhibited a group of Orchids consisting chiefly of Dendrobiums. 
For instance, lie had the yellow variety of D. Wiganiae, the 
bearded D. brymerianum, D. nobile burfordi-ense, D. n. AVhit- 
take-r’.s variety (after the style of D. n. nobilius), and D. pallens 
Thwaites’ variety (very choic-e and delicately-coloured form). 
He also had two large- and splendidly-flowered pieces of D. 
nobile murrhinianum, also a pleasing and pale-coloured form. 
(Silver Flora Medal.) 
Jeremiah Cole-man, Esq. (gardener, Mr. AA r . P. Bound), 
Gatton Park, Reigate, also staged a large collection of Orchids, 
consisting chiefly of Dendrobiums. He had fine- pieces- of D. 
Othello Gatton Park variety,D. O. Firefly, and D. Ro-lfeae, with 
a white lip- and a very small blo-tcli at the base-, D. nobile albi- 
florum was slightly tinted with pink, but D. n. album had no- other 
colouring except- a creamy tint on the lip. A variety of Odonto- 
glossum hunnewellianum had a yellow ground, and Vanda Cath- 
carti was also- a striking and rare species. (Silver-gilt Flora 
Medal.) 
Messrs. F. Sander and -Sons, St Albans, had a very exten¬ 
sive group of Orchids, including many large and well-flowered 
plants of Dendrobium wardianum. Interesting also were Phaius 
grandifolius, Cypri-pedium Transvaal, Cymbidium lowianum 
concolor, C. grandiflorum, with twelve flowers, and Laeliocattleya 
Doris Sander’s variety with clear orange apricot flowers and very 
attractive. (Silver-gilt Flora Medal.) 
Kennedy Jones, Esq., Knighto-n-s, East Finchley, had three 
huge and well-flowered plants of Coelogyne eristata. 
Messrs. Hugh Low and Co., Bush Hill Park, Eniield, had a 
small but very interesting and well-flowered group of Orchids 
including fine pieces of Dendrobium cras-sinode, D. spl-endidissi- 
mum grandiflorum, and D. primulinum. The bright flowers of 
the first two named and their profusion were conspicuous. 
