zrz  July  4,  1895.  z: 
JOURNAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER. 
9 
-  Laxton’s  Moxarch'JStrawberry. — A  firat-class  certificate 
was  granted  for  this  excellent  Strawberry  at  the  last  meeting  of  the 
Eoyal  Horticultural  Society,  but  the  notification  was  accidentally 
omitted  from  our  report  of  the  proceedings. 
-  Helexium  maonificum. — This  is  decidedly  one  of  the  best 
of  Heleniums  for  the  rockery,  growing  but  9  inches  high,  and  producing 
its  shapely  deep  yellow  blossoms  on  stout  footstalks.  The  centre  or  disc 
being  almost  black  enhances  the  appearance  of  the  flower  considerably. 
— E, 
-  Bllam’s  Cabbage  — It  appears  to  me  that  this  fine  early 
Cabbage  is  likely  soon  to  suffer  from  a  want  of  selection.  I  always 
depend  on  this  variety  for  the  early  crop,  and  find  it  much  superior  to 
any  other  Cabbage.  This  year  no  less  than  a  dozen  forms  can  be  picked 
out  of  a  good  sized  bed.  Some  are  extremely  coarse  in  growth,  much 
too  tall  for  Ellam’s  true  Cabbage.  It  will  be  a  pity  if  this  early 
Cabbage  is  allowed  to  deteriorate  by  want  of  careful  selection  on  the 
part  of  those  who  are  responsible  for  the  purity  of  the  strain.  Even 
although  we  had  so  many  “rogues”  amongst  the  plants  they  were 
singularly  free  from  “  bolters." — E.  M. 
-  English  and  American  Roses.— In  “  Meehans’  Monthly  ” 
for  June  we  read  : — “  The  great  difference  in  taste  between  English  and 
American  people  is  in  no  way  better  illustrated  than  in  the  popularity 
of  various  florists’  flowers.  In  the  Rose,  for  instance,  the  long,  oval¬ 
shaped  is  the  popular  form  ;  a  roundish  Rose  bud  would  scarcely  have 
sale  in  America.  On  the  other  hand,  the  large  globular,  or  even  some¬ 
what  flattened  kinds,  are  popular  in  England,  and  what  is  true  of  the 
Rose  is  true  of  almost  all  other  flowers  that  are  in  use  by  florists.  In 
Carnations,  for  instance,  the  heavy,  coarse  variety  known  as  Souvenir  de 
ia  Malmaison  is  the  popular  variety  in  England.” 
-  Brodi^A  Howelli. — I  am  indebted  to  Mr.  W.  E.  Gumbleton, 
one  of  our  most  observant  and  accurate  admirers  of  flowers,  for  a  note 
regarding  the  typical  B.  Howelli,  mentioned  in  my  notes  on  B.  H.  lilacina 
on  page  515.  I  spoke  of  B.  Howelli  as  having  purplish  blue  flowers,  but 
I  fear  my  memory  must  have  played  me  false,  as  Mr.  Gumbleton  informs 
me  that  the  typical  variety  has  greenish  white  flowers  with  only  a  little 
colouring  on  the  unopened  bud,  which  disappears  when  the  flower 
expands.  As  the  plate  in  the  “Botanical  Magazine,”  114,  T.  6989,  was 
done  from  Mr.  Gumbleton’s  flowers,  this  is  authoritative,  and  must  be 
taken  as  correct.  I  am  led  to  ask,  however,  if  there  is  not  a  “  purplish 
blue  ”  variety  of  B.  Howelli,  or  if  what  I  have  seen  as  this  species  was 
something  else?  According  to  the  “Dictionary  of  Gardening”  to  which  I 
referred  on  receiving  Mr.  Gumbleton’s  kind  note  B.  Howelli  has 
“  purplish  blue  ”  flowers,  and  the  catalogue  of  one  of  the  leading  London 
'bulb  dealers  says  it  has  “umbels  of  large  white  flowers,  changing  to 
lilac-purple,”  while  the  catalogue  of  the  Dutch  firm  from  whom  I 
received  the  variety  “  lilacina  ”  speaks  of  the  type  as  “white  and  pale 
blue.”  Of  course  this  does  not  affect  what  I  said  as  to  the  variety. — 
jS.  Arnott. 
-  Death  op  Mr.  Alderman  Masters  of  Evesham.  —  It  is 
with  regret  that  we  have  to  record  the  death  of  one  of  the  best  known 
and  most  widely  esteemed  market  gardeners  in  the  Vale  of  Evesham. 
The  “Evesham  Standard”  thus  refers  to  the  deceased  gentleman: — 
“  Mr.  Masters  was  sixty-eight  years  of  age.  He  was  one  of  the  leading 
gardeners  of  the  Vale  of  Evesham,  and  for  about  forty  years  of  his  life 
was  engaged  in  the  staple  industry  of  the  town.  Upon  gardening,  as 
upon  other  matters,  he  brought  to  bear  enterprise,  intelligence,  and 
energy,  which  have  resulted  in  much  advantage  generally  to  the  local 
industry.  In  the  matter  of  gardening,  all  the  knowledge^which  Mr. 
Masters  acquired  by  his  industry  and  resource  he  freely  gave  for  the 
benefit  of  the  public,  and  he  was  a  frequent  contributor  upon  gardening 
and  other  subjects  to  the  local  and  general  press.  His  opinions  upon  all 
matters  affecting  the  gardening  industry  were  widely  circulated,  and 
always  carried  weight.  Mr.  Masters  acted  as  Secretary  a  few  years  ago 
to  the  Fruit  Pests  Committee,  a  Committee  of  Investigation  which  made 
experiments  as  to  the  best  methods  of  destroying  fruit  pests.  To  the 
question  of  railway  rates  as  unfairly  pressing  upon  the  gardening  in¬ 
dustry  Mr.  Masters  gave  characteristic  energy,  and  before  the  revision 
of  rates  he  was  one  of  a  deputation  who  laid  the  views  of  the  gardeners 
before  the  President  of  the  Board  of  Trade.  To  the  local  government 
of  his  native  borough  Mr.  Masters  devoted  much  of  his  time  and  ability. 
He  was  elected  a  Councillor  in  1872,  and  has  been  an  Alderman  con¬ 
tinuously  since  1887.  He  was  elected  Mayor  three  years  inisuccession — 
1888-89-90— and  in  that  position  his  uniform  courtesy  and  scrupulous 
fairness  won  for  him  the  respect  of  all.” 
-  Death  op  Dr,  W.  C.  Williamson,  F.R.S. — This  distinguished 
naturalist  died,  we  regret  to  announce,  on  the  24th  ult.,  in  his  seventy- 
ninth  year.  Dr.  Williamson  was  elecced  Professor  of  Natural  History 
in  Owens  College,  Manchester,  in  1851,  and  subsequently  became  Pro¬ 
fessor  of  Botany  in  that  institution — a  position  he  occupied  until  1892. 
He  had  the  honour  of  receiving  the  gold  medal  of  the  Royal  Society, 
and  the  Woollaston  gold  medal  of  the  Geological  Society. 
-  “Water  Wanted.” — Under  the  above  heading,  on  page  522, 
the  great  difference  is  shown  where  trenching  has  been  done.  We 
trench  all  our  ground  every  winter  where  there  is  no  crop  standing. 
But  it  generally  requires  an  object  lesson  to  convince  men  of  the  value 
of  trenching.  We  have  now  two  plots  which  are  convincing,  and  the 
men  are  determined  to  trench  their  own  gardens  next  winter.  One  of 
the  plots  is  Potatoes,  and  the  difference  is  so  great  that  anyone  would 
think  it  is  another  variety,  and  yet  the  piece  not  trenched  was  Celery. 
The  other  plot  is  Cabbage,  just  half  the  crop  being  on  the  trenched 
ground.  The  ground  was  trenched  in  the  winter,  and  planted  as  soon 
as  the  frost  had  gone.  They  came  in  fit  for  cutting  as  soon  as  those 
planted  in  the  autumn,  and  they  are  nearly  as  large  again  as  the  others. 
— Alpha. 
-  Interesting  Returns.  —  One  of  those  interesting  returns, 
which  would  repay  hours  of  study,  yet  which  hardly  anyone  ever  looks 
at,  has  just  been  issued  by  the  Board  of  Agriculture.  It  is  the  Blue 
Book  containing  the  agricultural  returns  for  1894,  showing  the  acreage 
and  produce  of  crops,  prices  of  corn,  number  of  live  stock,  and  other 
statistics  for  the  United  Kingdom,  British  possessions,  and  foreign 
countries.  From  these  it  appears  that  the  total  acreage  under  all  kinds 
of  crops  in  the  United  Kingdom,  including  Isle  of  Man  and  Channel 
Islands,  was  47,918,830.  Of  this  9,365,887  acres  were  devoted  to  corn 
crops  (including  1,980,228  growing  Wheat),  and  4,486,092  acres  to  green 
crops,  such  as  Potatoes,  Turnips,  and  Cabbage.  For  hay  2,776,226  acres 
were  employed,  and  for  Clover  and  Grasses  under  rotation 
3,086,528  acres. 
-  A  Prolific  Raspberry. — I  saw  growing  at  Riddings  Court, 
Caterham,  last  week,  several  plants  of  a  Raspberry  that  seemed  to  be 
of  unusual  prolificacy.  The  variety  is  held  to  be  a  seedling  product, 
as  it  first  presented  itself  remote  from  other  Raspberries  near  a  Goose¬ 
berry  bush.  For  three  years  the  suckers  were  cut  down  as  a  nuisance, 
but  it  eventually  came  up  so  strong  that  the  gardener,  Mr.  Papworth, 
lifted  and  replanted  them  elsewhere,  and  he  soon  found  it  to  be  in  his  chalk 
soil  a  wonderful  cropper.  The  canes  fruit  to  the  very  top  and  most 
profusely.  The  wood  is  perfectly  smooth  and  spineless,  and  of  a 
whitish  or  mealy  colour.  The  fruits  large,  good  colour  and  flavour. 
Other  and  well-known  varieties  had  their  canes  nearly  killed  by  the 
hard  weather,  but  this  one  is  quite  unharmed.  Mr.  Papworth,  I  think, 
proposes  to  bring  some  fruiting  canes  to  London  to  endeavour  to  get 
the  variety  identified. — D. 
-  Scottish  Pansy  and  Viola  Association.  —  The  second 
meeting  of  the  above  Society  was  held  last  week  in  the  Religions 
Institution  Rooms,  Glasgow.  There  was  a  good  attendance  of  members, 
and  the  quality  of  the  exhibits  was  excellent.  List  of  awards  : — First- 
class  certificate  (seventy-two  points)  to  Fancy  Pansy  Mrs.  William 
Steele,  certificates  of  merit  to  Fancy  Pansies  Maggie  Goodlet  and  John 
Mackie,  Show  Pansy  Busby  White,  Violas  Jessie  Pretswell  and  Nellie,  all 
exhibited  by  John  Smellie,  Pansy  Gardens,  Busby  ;  certificates  of  merit 
to  Fancy  Pansies  Mrs.  R.  Stewart,  John  Jackson  No.  15,  and  Lord 
Salisbury,  all  exhibited  by  Mr.  Campbell,  nurseryman,  Blantyre  ;  first- 
class  certificate  to  Fancy  Pansy  Sir  John  Watson  (sixty-five  points), 
certificates  of  merit  to  Fancy  Pansies  A.  Struthers  and  Willie  Park,  all 
exhibited  by  G.  M’Pherson,  Avondale;  firat-class  certificate  to  Fancy 
Pansy  Colonel  M.  R.  G.  Buchanan  (sixty-five  points),  certificates 
of  merit  to  Fancy  Pansies  Alexander  Lister  and  Jessie  Gillespie, 
exhibited  by  Alexander  Lister,  nurseryman,  Rothesay  ;  certificates 
of  merit  to  Fancy  Pansy  Mrs.  R.  G.  Moir,  Show  Pansies  Leviathan, 
Colonel  Stirling,  Mrs.  D.  M’Neil,  and  Ag.  Kay,  exhibited  by  C.  Kay, 
Gargunnock  ;  certificate  of  merit  to  Viola  Mrs.  Wm.  Haig,  exhibited 
by  John  Duncan,  Fife  ;  certificate  of  merit  to  Violas  Nos.  22  and  18, 
exhibited  by  John  Forbes,  nurseryman,  Hawick  ;  certificate  of  merit 
to  Viola  A.  J.  Rowberry,  exhibited  by  George  M’Leod,  Chingford, 
Essex;  first-class  certificate  to  Viola  Fortunata,  exhibited  by  John 
Baxter,  Broomhouse  ;  certificate  of  merit  to  Violas  Amy  Barr  and 
Garryowen,  exhibited  by  J.  D.  Stuart,  Belfast ;  certificate  of  merit  to 
Viola  No.  1,  exhibited  by  Captain  King,  Lennoxtown  ;  certificate  of 
merit  to  Viola  No.  236,  exhibited  by  And.  Irvine,  nurseryman,  Tighna- 
bruaich. 
