MiT 31, 1913. 
391 
THE GARDENERS’ MAGAZINE. 
V.. saxifrage, marsh andromeda, tlie 
h<‘llebore, wood violets, and the 
lifter stiU-hwort. 
Eradication of Plant 
Diseases.— At tlie Rome meeting c.f 
i: General Assembly of the International 
ir itute ::'f Agriculture, measures for pre¬ 
renting tlie spread of plant diseases re- 
c, irod full consideration. As the outcome 
of the discussion a c'ommittee was ap- 
Doint^ to draw up a series of resolutions 
that would represent the views to which 
expression had heen given. As the result 
of the work of this committee the following 
r. .nhiticn; were submitted to the General 
by whom they were unanimously 
adopte<l'; (1) The General Assembly recom¬ 
mends that the Governments of the coun¬ 
tries adhering to the International Insti¬ 
tute of Agriculture should, if they have 
not already done so, create a Government 
M irice of phytopathology. (2) Recognising 
the utility of aji international agreement 
upon the means of preventing the diseases 
of plants, it is of opinion that the 
assembling of an inteirnational com¬ 
mission of specialists is indispensable ; 
and it expresses a wish that the 
Government would be willing to follow 
up the initiative it has already taken 
in this question, hy inviting a meet¬ 
ing of the international commission 
as soon as possible, during the month of 
May, 1914, at the latest. (3) It is of 
opinion that at each General Assembly of 
the Institute the specialists of the various 
Governments should meet in a separate 
commission to discuss the results of their 
researches ad studies in the diseases of 
plants. (4) It begs that the countries ad¬ 
hering to the International Institute will at 
once begin to study the various questions 
which the International Commission of 
Phytopathology will have before it, basing 
their study upon the materials which the 
International Institute of Agriculture will 
be able to furnish. 
Model Town Garden Competi¬ 
tion.- are informed by the organis¬ 
ing s^retary of the Ideal Home Exhibition, 
which wUl be held at Olympia from the 9th 
w the 25th of October next, that amongst 
the competitors for the Gold Cup offered by 
the ‘Daily Mail'’ for the best and most 
pracjtical model of a garden, suitable for a 
town and city house, are Messrs. James 
^rter and Co., of Raynes Park ; Messrs. J. 
^eal and Sons, of Crawley; and Messrs. 
• H. Cook, Lim., of Orpington. 
the Byrkley Lodg^e Or- 
• collection of orchids belong- 
illiani Bass is to be sold under 
he hammer of Messrs. Knight, Frank, and 
^y at Byrkley Ixxlge, near Burton-on- 
Irent, early in July next. 
The Fairchild Sermon is, in ac- 
fnr custom that has obtained 
(’hiir 1 preached at St. Leonard’s 
til hn on Whit Tuesday, and 
^ h^i^rticulturists is of considerable histori- 
Fairchild, whom the 
FaiVi a son of John 
in Im: 'u- 
fifteen years of age he was 
noVb^T^.^t * clothworker, but having 
avocation, he devoted his 
wrvmar He became a nur- 
in the gardener at Hoxton 
“nd attainB^“^^t°* eighteenth century, 
foremol . position of one of the 
ficnerti and market gar- 
tune. He was greltly 
ticultiire scientific aspects of hor- 
praef^.! T^u '■^>■*<“'1 in 
b^ame knen^ gardening art, and first 
‘'“ntrihutertL’T « 1«P«' 
“tea to the Royal Society’s • Trans¬ 
actions ” (Fol. XXXJII., p. 127) on the- 
“ Different and iSometimes Contrary Mo¬ 
tion of the Sap in Plante.” His garden 
and vineyard at Hoxton were of muich in¬ 
terest, and w ith reference thereto, Bradley 
\^Tites ill his “Pliilosopliical Aocoiint of the 
Works of Nature” of •‘That curious gairden 
of Mr. Thomas Fairchild at Hoxton, wliere 
I find tlie greatest collection of fruits that 
I have yet seen, and so regularly disposed, 
both for Older in ripening and good prun¬ 
ing of the several kinds, that I do not 
know any person in Europe to excel him 
in that particular ; and in other tilings he 
is no less iliappy in his choice of siicli curi¬ 
osity, as a good judgment and imiversal 
correspondence can procure.” Fairchild 
corresponded frequently with LiniiRMis, and 
in addition to his experiments relating to 
the flow of sap in plants, he devoted con¬ 
siderable time and attention to the investi¬ 
gation of sexes in plants. Dr. Pulteney 
refers to Fairchild as follows: “My plan 
does not allow me to deviate so far as to 
cite authors on the subject of gardening 
unless eminent for their acquaintance with 
English botany. Some have distinguished 
themselves in this way ; and I cannot omit 
to mention with applause tlie names of 
Fairchild, Knowles, Gordon, and Miller.” 
Fairchild published “ Tlie City Gardener ” 
in 1722 at the price of one shilling, and in 
his will he left a sum of £25 for a ser¬ 
mon to be preached annually at the churcJi 
mentioned above on Whit Tuesday “ On 
the wonderful work of God in the Crea¬ 
tion.” It should be added that Fairchild 
died ill 1729, and was interred in the old 
burial ground in Hackm^y Road, now* an 
open space close to Shoreditch Cliurcli. 
The Japanese Larch. —Fifteen 
years since ten plots at Cockle Park Avere 
planted for the purpose of demonstrating 
several important points in forestry, and 
have proved' most useful. According to la>t 
year’s report, w hich has been recently pub¬ 
lished, the most remarkable feature of 
these demonstration plots has been the 
highly satisfactory growth of the Japanese 
larch on poor clay soil. Tliey have out¬ 
stripped the European larch in growth, 
and are free from aphis attacks and larch 
canker, Avhich are so injurious to the 
European species. 
RHODODENDRONS AT 
WESTMINSTER. 
Messrs. John Waterer and Sons, of the 
American Nurseries, Bagshot, Surrey, held 
an exhibition of rhododendrons at tlie Horti. 
cultural Hall during the past week. 
ITie popular Pink Pearl rhododendron still 
holds its own as one of the most lovely of 
hardy-flowering shrubs, and it Avas massed 
here in grand style. It has a rival, hoAvever, 
in Alice, which bears finely-formed trusses 
of lively rose-pink floAvers, and carries these 
boldly on shapely plants that possess an ideal 
habit for bedding. A fine lot of this variety 
filled the central position in the mam group, 
opposite the entrances. Its blooms are 
scarcely so large as those of Pink Pearl. 
4nother lovely new variety is Corona, which 
is heavily flushed Avith coral pink over blush 
pink, and offers a quite neAV effect in hardy 
rhododendrons. Bagshot Ruby is yet another 
new-comer, and its blooms are of a rich glow¬ 
ing red shade that has suggested its title. 
Gomel* AVaterer is not so new, but it is a 
errand modern variety Avith .superb trusses ot 
farge blush white flowers, and the plants have 
a very fine habit. _ , 
Such brilliant red and scarlet varieties as 
Prometheus, Doncaster, Michael AVaterer, 
and Brilliant provided breadths of rich 
colouring in the display, and the A\*hite 
Geort^e Hardy, delicate blush-coloui'ed Mrs. 
E. Stirling, and AA^hite, maroon-blotched 
Francis B. Hayes serA^ed to accentuate the 
glowing colours of the other varieties. 
WINDOW GARDENING. 
\VindoiA' gardening has of recent years 
come in for some share of the increas^ at¬ 
tention giA*en to gardening generally, and 
it has much to recommend it AV'here the 
plants so grown do not shut off any desir¬ 
able view of the garden proper. In liAung 
rooms on the ground floor it may easily 
happen that a roAv of ev’en moderate-sized 
zonal pelargoniums, if standing on the Avin- 
doAV-sill, or on a leA*el witli it, Avill conceal 
a good deal of the garden from the AueAV of 
those sitting at the tnble or anywhea*e away 
from the Avindow. If the outlook is towards 
tlie road, or our neighbour’s house on 
either side, this is all to the good but not 
otlienvise. In the case of first-floor Avin- 
dows on the contrary, Ave cannot usually see 
much of the garden, in any case, unless Ave 
are near the wunclow, and therefoi'e no 
plants of the height ordinarily ustvl for this 
purpose can do much in the Avay of shutting 
out the garden. Notliing is more delight¬ 
ful than a bank of floAvers to look at when 
one wakes on a spring or summer morning ; 
besides which one can liave the AvimloAvs 
wide oj)en at tlie liottom, as many hygieni- 
cally-instructe<l people do noAvadays, AvitJi- 
out being unduly exiiosed to the public gaze 
before one gets up. 
AVhen entering on the tenancy of a house 
one has to take such arrangemente as 
exist, but Avhen fitting them up for oiir- 
seh^es it is a debatable question Avhat 
course Ave shall adopt, though one is very 
much restricted in the choice of boxes or 
bak*onies by the construction of the win¬ 
dows and AvindoAv-sills, and the general de¬ 
sign of the house. The time and labour, 
too, Avhich one is prepared to sjiend upon 
this department of tlie garden is a very 
imiportan\t <‘oiisideration, ibut Avhen the 
plants liaA’e been put in position, it is to 
be assumoil that some lady member of the 
household Avill regard them as her own par¬ 
ticular proA^nce, as with pot plants indoors 
and cut flowers. A good wide window-sill 
lends itself naturally to inoA'able boxes of 
fl()Aver-|K>t w are, pottery, or Avood, and Avlien 
this plan is adopte<l it is very convenient 
to have a duplicate set of boxes, so that 
the Avinter occupants may be ready to put 
in Avhen the summer ones come out, or the 
latter ready to put in w*hen the spring 
plants are lieginning to look untidy. This 
is not absolutely necessary, but it avoids 
intervals betAAcen the seasonal displays 
AA'hen the plants Avould otherwise look coL 
dled—a thing to be aA-oidecl above CA'ery- 
thing in AvindoAv gardening. MoreoA*er, a 
box on the first-floor Avindow-sill is exposed 
to a great deal of Avind, and possibly sun 
also, and plants newlv put in are apt to 
suffer and look uncomfortable for some time 
after being plantetl, and in some cases neA^er 
look so thriftv and vigorous again. 
The alternatiA*e to this method is to keep 
the plants in pote, a more laborious method 
and one entailing a good deal more atten¬ 
tion in the Avay of Avatering, as pot plants, 
if well rooted in the pots, Avill sometimes 
need Avatering once a Aveek, eA*en in mid- 
Avinter, if the prevailing Avinds lie the other 
side of the house, so that the rain does not 
help them. But this method has the advan. 
tage of enabling us to replace any plant 
that is not doing A’ery Avell wdth practically 
no trouble beyond that of keeping a suffi¬ 
cient reserA^e supply. By this means, if we 
do not mind taking the trouble, Ave nee<l 
only put plants in AAdien at their best, and 
only selected ones then. 
A roAv of pots on the bare, open AvindoAV. 
sill is, of course, out of the question, even 
at the back of the house, unless there is 
another roAv in some kind of trough, basket, 
or balcony in front, which Avill conceal the 
pots in it, and the plants in Avhich hide 
