480 
THE GARDENING WORLD, 
June 10, 1905. 
Ulster H.S. 
Ulster’s horticultural show is to be held this 
year at Belfast. The sixteenth annual report 
mentions the loss sustained by the society 
through the death of Mr. Hugh Dickson of 
Belmont. A sum of £200 has been collected 
and invested, the interest to be applied 
towards an annual prize to be called the 
“Hugh Dickson Memorial Prize.” Receipts 
from all sources were £681 Is., and the expen¬ 
diture £686 4s. 2d. 
Devon Daffodil and Spring Flower Society. 
The increasing popularity of this society’s 
show is a guarantee of its future welfare, and 
although the takings have not increased to 
the extent expected, yet they have been suffi¬ 
cient to enable the treasurer to wipe off the 
debit balance with which the year started, and 
to show a small balance on the right side. 
The committee refer with extreme sorrow to 
the death of their late president, the Earl of 
Morley, who was almost the originator of the 
society, and who took the warmest interest in 
its affairs. 
Upton Flower Show. 
It has been decided to hold the eleventh 
annual flower show on August 7th next, there 
are nearly 400 prizes offered for almost every 
variety of plants, cut flowers, fruit, vegetables, 
etc.. including prizes for circular groups of 
plants, flowers, and foliage arranged for 
effect, model gardens, decorations, etc. A 
new departure for which liberal prizes are 
offered is for exhibits in Nature-study work. 
The schedule is in the press. 
Children's Industrial and Floricultural 
Society. 
This is an East End of London association, 
established twenty years ago, which has been 
instrumental in doing an immense amount of 
good to the little members, and bringing much 
sunshine and happiness into their lives. There 
are 500 members, and the president of the 
society is Major Evans-Gordon, M.P., ihehon. 
secretary being Mr. R. Howlett. The objects 
of the society are to train the little ones to be 
industrious and enable them to acquire an 
interest in and a love for the beautiful art of 
floriculture. A flower show is held every 
summer, and prizes are offered for the chil¬ 
dren's exhibits. 
The Earl of Yarmouth aud Young 
Horticulturists. 
The schedule a-d balance-sheet of Bidford and 
District Flower Show, just issued, contains a 
letter from the president, the Earl of Yar¬ 
mouth, in which he points out that the aim of 
the committee is particularly directed to the 
young men of the district, whom they wish to 
encourage to stay and work in the neighbour¬ 
hood instead of migrating to the towns. The 
balance-sheet showed receipts £330 6s. 91d., 
with a balance at the bank of £45 4s. 5d. 
The secretary, Mr. Harry Collins, hopes that 
an effort will be made to secure more entries 
for the prizes offered to gardeners for long 
service, and those for the best-kept cottage 
gardens. 
Working towards the Ideal. 
Says Mr. C. Paul, hon. secretary of the 
Manchester Horticultural Improvement 
Society, writing from the Manchester Royal 
Botanical Gardens : “ I have a good opinion 
of The Gardening World as it is. If it can 
be made more popular, I shall be glad to hear 
of it.” This object has already been achieved, 
judging from the scores of congratulatory 
letters received by us within the past few 
days from many secretaries of societies, 
amongst others. But our ideal of a popular 
gardening paper has by no means been 
realised ; indeed, our ideal, like perfection, is 
so high as to be unattainable. But we mean 
to approach very much nearer to' it. The im¬ 
provements effected thus far must be taken as 
an earnest of better things to be accomplished 
in the near future. 
Diary of Shows and Meetings. 
June. 
3.2th—Widnes Horticultural Society (com¬ 
mittee meeting). 
13tli—Society of Jersey Gardeners (monthly 
meeting). 
14th—East Anglian Horticultural Club 
(monthly meeting) ; Southend Horti¬ 
cultural Show in connection with the 
Essex Agricultural Society (two days) ; 
Sheffield Chrysanthemum Society 
(monthly meeting and exhibition) ; 
Wargrave and District Gardeners’ 
Mutual Improvement Association 
(monthly meeting) ; Nottingham amid 
Notts Chrysanthemum Society 
(monthly meeting). 
15th—Abinger and District Gardeners’ 
Mutual Improvement Association 
(meeting and exhibition) ; Brighton 
and Sussex Horticultural Society 
(monthly meeting) ; Lamberhurst Hor¬ 
ticultural and Sports Society (monthly 
meeting); Wimbledon and District 
Horticultural Society (monthly meet¬ 
ing) ; Westerham Gardeners, Ama¬ 
teurs and Cottagers’ Mutual Improve¬ 
ment Society (monthly meeting). 
17th—Leeds Paxton Society (weekly meet¬ 
ing) ; Huddersfield and District Chrys¬ 
anthemum Society (monthly meeting). 
The Purple-flowered Cytisus. 
(Cytisus Purpureus.) 
Although introduced as long, ago as 1792, 
this showy shrub never appears to have been 
grown on anything like a large scale, and 
even now, when flowering shrubs are so 
popular, one sees or hears of it in compara¬ 
tively few gardens. This is to be regretted, 
as it is quite distinct from all other Cytlsuses, 
and when well done one of the most showy. It 
belongs to Eastern Europe, and is of semi- 
prostrate habit, full-grown specimens rarely 
being more than 12 in. or 16 in. high. The 
branches are from lg ft. to 2 ft. long, slightly 
twisted, with a number of -shallow furrows 
running, along the whole length. The leaves 
are temate, the petioles half an inch long and 
flattened, the leaflets half an inch long and 
ovate. When very young both branches and 
leaves are slightly hairy ; the hairs, however, 
are very early deciduous. The flowers are 
usually borne in threes from the leaf axils, 
and are rosy purple in colour, the colour being, 
deepest on the outside of the standard petal. 
A well-growir specimen may be anything from 
2 ft. to 3^ ft. across, and when at its best 
every branch is a mass of colour. Unlike 
most of the species it suckers freely, and so 
forms a mat-like mass. It is advisable to re¬ 
move worn-out flowering wood to allow young 
branches plenty of room and air. For mass¬ 
ing it is an excellent subject, while for plant¬ 
ing on the rockery it is equally desirable. 
Seeds form a ready means of increase, while 
cuttings may also be rooted. The blossoming 
period is May and early June. Occasionally 
this species is met with in collections of forced 
shrubs, grafted 3 ft. or 4 ft. above the ground 
on Laburnum stocks ; in this way it is, how¬ 
ever, not seen at its best. 
W. Dallimore. 
Bluebells at Kew. —The old familiar wild 
flowers have an abiding charm for most people. 
Crowds' of people have of late been feasting 
their eyes on the banks and walks of Bluebells 
which are still in flower at Kew Gardens. 
These masses of common but beautiful blooms 
have proved a rival even of their aristocratic 
and pampered neighbours in the conserva¬ 
tories. 
* * 45 - 
Horticulture in Ireland. —Thanks to the 
efforts of the Department of Agriculture and 
Technical Instruction, both agriculture and 
horticulture are making great headway in the 
Emerald Isle. During the past twelve 
months marked advance has been made in hor¬ 
ticulture and fruit growing. There are now 
fourteen horticultural instructors, and the re¬ 
sult of their teaching is shown in the fact that 
during that period 170,000 fruit trees were dis¬ 
tributed and 8,000 gardens improved beyond 
recognition. This refers to- cottage gardening 
only. Fruit-growing as a commercial specula^ 
ti-on is receiving a strong impetus. 
* * * 
Canadian Almonds and Olives. —In the 
Similkameen district of British Columbia, the 
Olive trees are in blossom and the Almonds as 
big as beans. In this part of Canada are 
grown immense and increasing quantities of 
Pears, Apples, Peaches, Grapes, Apricots, and 
Prunes. As regards Almonds and Olives, 
these are only an experiment being made by an 
enterprising grower. He believes, however, 
that the cultivation of Almonds and Olives 
will be added to the industries of the Colony 
in the near future. 
* * * 
The Sweet Pea a Native oe Sicily. —It is 
noteworthy that all the variations of Sweet 
Peas are derived from one annual species, a 
native of Sicily, for the record of the Ceylon 
habitat no doubt originated in error. The 
range of variation is, therefore, the more in¬ 
teresting, in that it has not been, up to the 
present, affected by hybridisation, and this 
shows what an amount of diversity may be 
obtained from a pure species. 
* * -si- 
875 Guineas for an Orchid. —A record 
price for an Orchid sold at an auction room 
was obtained last week by Messrs. Protheroe 
and Morris, Cheapside, when a splendid plant 
of three pseudo bulbs, known as the Odonto¬ 
glossum crispum Roger Sander, carrying a 
seed-pod crossed with O. -c. Lucjani, was 
knocked down at 875 guineas. An' Odonto- 
glossum crisiium mundyanum, a plant with 
one pseudo bulb and one growth. Sin. high, 
reached the respectable figure of 230 guineas; 
and an Odontoglossum crispum Lindeni, a 
strong bulb with leaf and one growth, reached 
190 guineas. An Odontoglossum ardentissi- 
mum Queen Alexandra, which had been pur¬ 
chased for the highest price ever paid for a 
single plant in the trade, and which had been 
pointed out to the King and Queen as being 
an Orchid of exceptional beauty and value, 
fetched 160 guineas. These are sensational 
p rices. 
* * * 
From Tibet comes a new yellow Poppy, ex¬ 
traordinary in size, and a Rhermania Angulata, 
brought specially from China; and Cape 
Primroses, introduced for the first time this 
year, were among the exhibits of Messrs. 
Veitcli at the Temple Show. 
