226 
JOURNAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER. 
September  5,  1895. 
-  The  Scientific  Staff  at  Kew  does  an  immense  amount  of 
literary  work ;  and  it  is  estimated  that  about  3000  printed  pages  of 
botanical  and  horticultural  matter  emanated  from  this  establishment 
during  last  year. 
-  Black  Currant  x  Gooseberry. — A  fruiting  specimen  of 
this  hybrid  was  sent  to  the  Scientific  Committee  of  R.H.S.  by  Mr. 
Culverwell.  It  was  previously  received  and  described  in  the  minutes  of 
the  Committee  for  June,  1890.  The  fruits  are  small,  and  have  a  very 
slight  taste  of  the  Black  Currant.  The  bark  reveals  the  scent  more  dis¬ 
tinctly,  while  the  skin  of  the  fruit  has  the  glandular  hairs  of  the  latter 
mixed  with  the  ordinary  hairs  of  the  Gooseberry. 
-  The  total  rainfall  at  Abbot’s  Leigh,  Haywards  Heath,  for 
August  was  2  81  inches,  being  0  51  inch  above  the  average.  The  heaviest 
fall  was  0  52  inch  on  the  3rd.  Rain  fell  on  sixteen  days.  The  highest 
temperature  was  82°  on  the  22nd,  the  lowest  42°  on  the  25th.  Mean 
maximum,  70'20° ;  mean  minimum,  5r30°  ;  mean  temperature,  60-25°, 
which  is  0  27°  below  the  average.  First  half  of  the  month  rain  every 
day  ;  since  then  beautiful,  bright,  dry  weather,  which  still  continues. 
— R.  I. 
-  Rudbeckia  speciosa. — In  America  this  is  now  in  perfection, 
and  the  best  of  all  the  low-growing  Coneflowers.  It  grows  about  2  feet 
high,  sometimes  more,  and  forms  a  bushy  mass  of  orange-yellow, 
rather  flat  open  flowers  with  very  dark  maroon  centres.  If  you 
wish  to  have  this  showy  perennial  in  fine  form  give  it  rich  moist  land, 
and  an  open  situation  ;  in  a  dry  border  in  summer  it  gets  burned  out. 
In  the  spring  it  may  be  lifted  and  torn  apart  into  many  pieces,  and  all 
of  these  if  planted  will  grow  and  make  fine  plants.  It  is  also  easily 
increased  from  seeds. 
-  The  Chiswick  Show. — Vegetables  are  in  very  fine  form  this 
year,  and  I  am  looking  with  exceeding  interest  for  the  vegetable  show 
at  Chiswick  on  Tuesday  next,  when,  if  there  be  good  competition,  grand 
samples  may  be  anticipated.  Relatively  the  prizes  are  poor  as  com¬ 
pared  with  what  are  commonly  given  at  provincial  shows.  Still,  there 
is  a  certain  charm  attached  to  a  R.H.S.  show  at  Chiswick  that  may 
serve  to  attract  large  numbers  of  exhibitors.  Potatoes  run  rather 
large,  but  I  hope  exhibitors  will  avoid  coarseness.  Cauliflowers  are  in 
splendid  condition.  Carrots  are  large,  but  still  very  clean  and  hand¬ 
some.  Beets  are  good.  Celery  has  been  shown  in  very  fine  form. 
Onions  are  almost  marvellous,  so  fine  and  handsome  are  they.  Tomatoes 
have  rarely  been  seen  in  better  colour  or  condition.  I  have  heard,  too, 
of  some  fine  trade  collections  being  shown,  hut  of  course  the  most  perfect 
samples  may  be  looked  for  in  the  best  competing  collections. — A.  D. 
-  Sweet  Scabious. — How  beautiful  it  is  now,  and  useful  for 
cutting.  It  is  an  annual,  a  native  of  south-western  Europe,  and  a 
highly  esteemed  garden  plant.  The  common  type  grows  about  3  feet 
high,  the  dwarf  form  about  half  that  size  or  a  little  over.  The  flowers 
of  both,  says  a  transatlantic  journal,  are  equally  varied  in  colour, 
running  from  the  darkest  to  the  palest  purple,  also  white,  cherry,  and 
even  yellow.  If  sown  early  in  the  spring  in  a  geeenhouse,  window  or 
frame  and  planted  out  in  May  it  begins  to  bloom  in  July,  and  continues 
in  flower  more  or  less  till  frost.  Really,  it  is  a  biennial,  and  in  mild 
parts,  say  where  the  winters  are  short  and  the  frosts  no  more  than  15° 
in  coldest  weather,  it  survives  the  winter  and  blooms  early  the  next  year. 
Save  seeds  of  the  finest  varieties  for  next  year’s  stock.  When  the  present 
flush  of  flowers  is  about  over  and  the  plants  are  setting  seeds  freely,  cut 
over  all  these  old  flower  heads  to  encourage  a  fresh  supply. 
-  Large  Tomatoes. — I  send  you  a  cluster  of  Tomatoes  (Per¬ 
fection)  thinking  it  worthy  your  notice.  I  have  on  previous  occasions 
HPnt.  you  a  sample  and  notes  of  our  culture.  See  page  294,  October  2nd, 
1890,  and  page  314,  October  5th,  1893.  I  may  add  that  notwithstanding 
I  he  dry  and  sunny  season  our  Tomato  house  has  never  once  been 
damped  down  or  syringe!,  and  no  side  ventilation  given  ;  but  abundance 
of  water  at  the  roots.  We  do  not  now  use  the  brush  for  setting  the 
fruit,  but  trust  to  tapping  the  bunches  when  in  bloom,  which  brings 
about  self-fertilisation,  for  by  using  the  brush  one  cross-fertilises,  and 
if  a  rough  fruiting  plant  is  in  the  house  its  influence  is  too  apparent  the 
following  season  — Thos.  Crosswell.  [The  cluster  of  four  fruits 
weighed  3  lbs.  4  ozs.,  the  largest  fruit  weighing  15  ozs.  They  were 
faultleis  in  shape,  splendid  examples  of  culture.  We  have  also  had 
sent  for  our  inspection  a  Tomato  of  extraordinary  aize.  The  fruit 
scaled  1  lb.  13  ozs.,  measured  17  inches  in  circumference.  The  fruit  was 
grown  by  an  amateur  gardener,  Mr.  R.  W.  Girdner,  Shirley  Villa, 
Palmer’s  Green,  London, 
-  The  Royal  Parks  at  Stockholm  — Mr.  Milner  is  entrusted 
by  H.M.  the  King  of  Sweden  with  the  laying  out  of  a  park  of  1100  acres. 
The  plans  have  been  approved,  and  work  has  been  commenced  with  an 
English  foreman  to  superintend  the  workmen. 
- The  volume  of  “  British  Rainfall  ”  for  1894,  compiled  by  Mr 
G.  J.  Symons  and  Mr.  H,  Sowerby  Wallis,  from  observations  made  at 
more  than  3000  stations  in  the  British  Isles,  has  just  been  published. 
As  in  previous  years,  the  volume  contains  articles  on  various  branches 
of  rainfall  work,  and  on  rainfalls  of  exceptional  interest, 
-  Hop-picking  is  now  in  full  swing  in  Kent,  and  there  are- 
thousands  of  hands  from  the  slums  of  the  metropolis  engaged  at  the 
work.  Hop-pickers,  as  a  rule,  are  a  half-starved  sort  of  class.  They 
look  upon  the  work  as  healthful  recreation  as  well  as  profitable  labour, 
and  are  loth  to  return  to  their  overcrowded  dwellings  in  town  when 
the  work!  is  finished.  Although  the  weather  has  been  favourable  for 
ripening  the  crops  lately  they  are  reported  to  be  very  light  indeed,  some 
say  not  above  half  an  average. — (“  Rural  World.”) 
-  Australian  Apples.— The  Mayor  of  Geelong,  Australia,  who- 
shipped  a  small  consignment  of  Apples  from  that  district  to  London  in 
April  last,  received  advice  from  his  London  agents  to  the  effec'  that 
the  fruit  did  not  arrive  in  good  order,  being  for  the  most  part  overripe, 
especially  so  in  the  case  of  the  Northern  Spy  variety.  The  shipment, 
however,  of  twenty-five  cases  was  disposed  of  at  a  satisfactory 
figure,  an  average  of  Ss.  61.  per  case  clear  of  all  expenses,  but  which 
includes  the  Government  bonus  of  23.  per  case,  being  realised. 
- National  Chrysanthemum  Society. — At  a  meeting  of  the 
General  Committee,  held  at  Anderton’s  Hotel,  August  26th,  Mr. 
B.  Wynne  presiding,  the  Secretary,  Mr.  R  Dean,  announced  the  recent 
death  of  an  old  member  of  the  Society  in  the  person  of  Mr.  Arthur 
Wortley,  and  it  was  unanimously  resolved  “  That  this  Committee  place 
on  record  an  expression  of  the  sorrow  with  which  it  has  heard  of  the 
recent  death  of  Mr.  Arthur  Wortley,  formerly  Secretary  of  the  Stoke 
Newington  Chrysanthemum  Society,  to  which  office  he  was  elected  in 
1851,  and  bears  in  grateful  remembrance  his  services  to  the  Society  in 
that  capacity,  and  also  as  an  old  cultivator  and  exhibitor  of  the  golden 
flower.”  In  consequence  of  the  retirement  of  two  members  of  the 
Committee,  Mr.  G.  Walker  of  Paddington,  and  Mr.  W.  Holmes,  Hackney, 
were  elected  to  fill  the  vacancies,  and  Mr.  McHattie,  gardener  to  the 
Duke  of  Wellington,  at  Strathfieldsaye,  was  elected  to  a  seat  on  the 
Floral  Committee.  The  Jubilee  Sub-Committee  presented  a  compre¬ 
hensive  scheme  for  duly  celebrating  the  jubilee  of  the  Society  next 
year  (the  main  features  of  which  will  shortly  be  announced),  which  was 
unanimously  adopted,  and  a  special  Committee  appointed  to  carry  out 
the  same.  Twenty-three  ordinary  members  and  two  Fellows  were  added 
to  the  Society’s  roll  of  membership. 
-  Potatoes  at  Sulhampstead.  —  My  old  friend  Mr.  Robert 
Fenn  still  retains  strong  faith  in  the  value  of  anti-fungoid  powder 
as  a  preventive  of  the  Potato  disease,  and  he  has  ample  reason  for  his 
faith.  He  grows  in  his  garden  on  the  same  soil  every  year  about  a  row 
each  of  his  best  own  raised  sorts,  and  as  most  of  them  become 
diseased  freely,  generally  they  constitute  excellent  test  means.  When  in 
this  garden  the  other  day  I  saw  International,  Woodstock  Kidney, 
Reading  Ruby,  Prizetaker,  Reading  Russet,  Rector  of  Woodstock,  Eliza 
Fenn,  Early  Regent,  and  many  others,  all  having  healthy,  green, 
luxuriant  leafage.  This  was  evidently  due  to  the  occasional  dustings 
of  the  anti-blight  powder  applied.  Sample  roots  lifted  showed  splendid 
tuber  crops,  entirely  devoid  of  disease.  But  some  150  yards  across  a 
meadow  on  a  headland,  and  grown  there  to  test  chemical  manures,  under 
the  University  Extension  Scheme,  is  a  large  quantity  of  Magnum 
Bonum.  This  breadth  has  had  no  powder  or  any  other  dressing,  yet  the 
leafage  was  becoming  rapidly  black  and  decimated  with  the  fungoid- 
spot.  It  did  seem  as  if  had  the  garden-grown  varieties  been  undressed 
their  tops  must  have  been  fully  as  badly  infected.  Mr.  Fenn  is  still 
employing  Solanum  Fendleri  as  a  possible  Potato  parent,  and  has  made 
new  crosses  this  year  on  hybrid  plants  in  the  first  generation.  No  doubt 
some  interesting  products  may  be  looked  for  in  a  year  or  two.  What 
splendid  crops  of  Apples  are  there  in  the  orchard  on  Manx  Codlin,  Lord 
Suffield,  Wellington,  Cox’s  Orange  Pippin,  red  as  Quarrendens,  and 
many  other  sorts  ;  and  especially  a  grand  cropper  is  the  variety  dubbed 
locally  as  “  Pay  the  Rent,”  a  handsome  greenish  russetty  fruit,  that  is- 
of  good  flavour,  and  keeps  well.  In  all  directions  fruit  trees,  planted 
several  years  since,  have  greatly  aide  I  to  the  va'ue  of  this  pre’ty  Bjrk- 
shire  homestead,— A.  D. 
