444 
JOURNAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER. 
May  26,  1898. 
Weather  in  London. — The  weather  in  the  Metropolis  during  the 
past  seven  days  has  been  very  changeable.  On  Thursday  and  Friday  it 
was  wet  almost  the  whole  of  the  day,  but  on  Saturday  it  was  brilliantly 
fine  and  very  warm.  Sunday  was  %vet  in  the  morning,  but  clear  lateri 
while  on  Monday  afternoon  a  little  thunder  was  heard,  and  the  air  was 
close,  as  was  it  throughout  Tuesday.  On  Wednesday,  at  the  time  of  going 
to  press,  it  was  dull  yet  dry. 
-  Weather  in  the  North. — The  weather  has  again  been  very 
variable  during  the  past  week.  On  the  morning  of  the  18th  there  were 
between  2^  and  3°  of  frost,  and  there  was  a  recurrence  of  frost  on  the 
following  morning.  Several  days  were  bright ;  but  generally  a  cold 
easterly  wind  has  prevailed,  and  rain  has  frequently  fallen. — B.  D., 
S.  Perthshire. 
-  Gardening  Appointment.— Mr.  W.  Pilgrim,  foreman  at 
Hackwood  Park,  Basingstoke,  has  been  appointed  gardener  to  Sir  George 
Meyrick,  Bart.,  Bodorgan,  Anglesey,  N.  Wales. 
-  Vagaries  of  Primroses.  —  I  am  greatly  obliged  to 
“  St.  Albans  ”  for  his  kindly  note  (page  430).  The  writer,  however, 
has  never  met  me  at  Shipley,  as  he  suggests,  as  I  never  was  there. 
Possibly  there  may  be  another  “  A.  D.”  in  the  world  who  is  a  little 
less  notorious.  Why  does  “  St.  Albans  ”  vary  his  botanical  nomencla¬ 
ture  of  the  common  Primrose  by  calling  it  in  one  place  Primula  acaulis 
and  in  the  other  P.  vulgaris  ?  The  term  acaulis  is  one  of  doubtful 
correctness,  but  is  sometimes  applied  to  the  double-flowered  section. 
The  Cowslip  is  P.  veris,  and  a  red  form  is  P.  veris  rubra,  whilst  the  true 
Oxlip  is  usually  called  P.  elatior.  Still  it  is  just  possible  that  the  Oxlip 
is  but  a  large  coloured  form  of  the  Cowslip.  There  can  be  no  doubt  but 
that  the  variation  in  the  colour  of  the  flowers  of  the  wild  Primroses 
“St.  Albans”  mentions  was  due  to  the  presence  in  the  soil  of  iron,  or 
some  similar  chemical  or  mineral  ingredient.  But  soils  of  that  description 
are  rare,  and  their  influence  on  Primulaceae  more  rare.  That  it  is  not 
permanent  is  evidenced  by  “  St.  Albans  ”  when  he  tells  us  that  whilst 
seedlings  of  these  plants  growing  in  the  same  soil  gave  coloured  flowers, 
those  that  were  planted  or  naturally  grew  on  the  giass  plot,  not  having 
similar  soil,  but  one  doubtless  devoid  of  iron,  reverted  to  their  pristine  hue 
of  sulphur.  Doubtless  the  cause  of  variation  in  colour  found  in  this  case 
applies  in  every  similar  case.  I  have  seen  tens  of  thousands  of  wild 
Primroses  transferred  to  ordinary  soils,  such  as  that  of  the  Thames  Valley 
for  instance,  and  have  never  seen  any  colour  variation  on  the  flowers  in 
after  years.  That  is,  I  think,  general  experience. — A.  D. 
-  What  Will  the  Summer  Be  ? — Writing  under  ihe  depressing 
influence  of  a  pouring  wet  day,  perhaps  I  am  for  that  reason  unduly 
pessimistic  in  assuming  that  we  shall,  or  may,  have  a  wet,  cold  summer. 
I  do  not  assume  that  because  we  are  having  a  wet  and  rather  cold 
May,  but  I  fear  it  because  a  wet  summer  is  practically  due.  No  one 
can  wish  such  a  result,  because  did  it  come  it  would  be  in  many  ways 
a  national  calamity.  Of  course  we  have  had  wet,  cold  summers,  before. 
Those  who  are  specially  observant,  and  note  carefully  the  nature  of  each 
season,  could  tell  us,  no  doubt,  very  accurately  how  many  wet  summers 
we  have  had  during  the  past  twenty  years,  and  even  the  average  of  wet 
ones  for  the  now  fast-passing  nineteenth  century.  Mr.  Edward  Mawlev 
could,  no  doubt,  give  on  that  point  much  useful  information,  and  perhaps 
he  could  also  give  his  opinion  as  to  the  probable  nature  of  the  weather 
for  the  coming  summer.  In  entering  into  any  speculations  as  to  pro¬ 
bables,  we  must  not  forget  that  a  considerable  rainfall  was  due  to  us 
ere  the  mouth  of  May  began.  During  this  month  a  good  deal  has  been 
done  to  equalise  matters,  although  the  balance  is  probably  yet  on  the 
dry  side.  But  Nature  is  commonly  very  erratic,  and  often  so  far  from 
being  content  to  indulge  in  comparative  balancing,  rushes  into  extremes, 
and  either  burns  us  up  with  long-continued  drought,  or  floods  us  with 
excessive  rains.  Our  ideal  weather  and  season  is  found  when  balances 
are  evenly  adjusted.  But  if  the  rain  should  presently  cease  and  fine 
weather  follow,  then  should  we  be  entitled  to  look  for  a  year  of 
marvellous  production.  So  far,  what  the  weather  will  be  a  week,  a 
month,  or  a  year  hence  is  enshrouded  under  a  veil  we  cannot  lift. — 
An  Old  Gardener. 
-  Calceolarias  AT  Reading. — A  correspondent  informs  us  that. 
there  is  a  more  than  usually  fine  display  of  these  gorgeous  early  summer 
flowers  in  the  establishment  of  Messrs.  Sutton  &  Sons  on  the  outskirts  of 
the  town.  As  the  result  of  continuous  striving  for  higlier  excellence,  the 
home  exhibition  is  said  to  be  better  than  ever,  and  worth  a  long  journey 
to  see. 
Rose  Psyche. — This  is  a  new  Polyantha  Rose  that  was  raised  by 
Mr.  G.  Paul,  jun.,  of  the  firm  of  Messrs.  Paul  &  Son,  Cheshunt,  from 
a  cross  between  Crimson  Rambler  and  Bennett’s  Golden  Fairy.  It  was 
shown  at  the  Drill  Hall  on  April  26th,  when  the  Floral  Committee  of 
the  Royal  Horticultural  Society  gave  it  an  award  of  merit.  As  may  be 
seen  in  the  illustration  (fig.  83,  page  443),  it  partakes  largely  of  the 
character  of  the  Crimson  Rambler,  but  is  not  perhaps  quite  so  strong  in 
growth.  This,  however,  may  be  changed  in  the  course  of  a  few  seasous 
If  such  prove  to  be  the  case  we  are  of  the  opinion  that  a  modicum  of 
the  extraordinary  popularity  which  has  been  accorded  to  Crimson  Rambler 
will  be  passed  on  to  its  progeny.  Psyche  is  very  floriferous,  and  the 
individual  flowers  are  of  good  size  and  substance,  the  colour  being  pal*- 
rose  pink. 
-  Royal  Meteorological  Society. — The  monthly  meeting 
of  this  Society  was’  held  on  Wednesday  afternoon,  the  18th  insL,  at  the 
rooms  of  the  Royal  Astronomical  Society,  Burlington  House,  Mr.  F.  C. 
Bayard,  L.L.M.,  President,  in  the  chair.  Mr.  R.  H.  Scott,  F.R.S.,  read  a 
paper  on  the  frequency  of  rainy  days  in  the  British  Islands.  He  had 
taken  the  number  of  rainy  days  in  each  month  at  forty  stations  for  the 
twenty  years,  1876-95,  and  then  divided  that  number  by  the  total  number 
of  days  in  the  month,  and  so  ascertained  the  resulting  percentage.  The 
greatest  excess  of  frequency  is  always  on  the  extreme  north  and  west 
coasts.  June  is  the  month  with  the  least  number  of  rainy  days,  but  in 
July  the  summer  maximum  of  rain  occurs,  bringing  the  well-known 
Lammas  floods.  In  October  the  weather  becomes  decidedly  showery, 
and  the  distribution  begins  to  assume  its  winter  type.  November  is  the 
month  with  the  greatest  frequency  of  rainy  days.  Mr.  F.  J.  Brodie  read 
a  paper  on  the  abnormal  weather  of  January  last,  which  was  one  of  the 
most  remarkable  winter  months  on  record.  The  month  was  singularly 
dry,  with  an  absence  of  snow  or  sleet — a  somewhat  unusual  feature  in 
January,  even  for  any  individual  station,  but  far  more  remarkable  as 
applying  to  the  country  as  a  whole.  The  special  feature,  however,  was  ■ 
the  striking  absence  of  severe  frosts,  the  frequent  prevalence  of  unusually 
mild  weather,  and,  as  a  result,  the  abnormal  warmth  of  the  month, 
especially  in  the  more  northern  parts  of  the  kingdom.  The  mean  tempe¬ 
rature  was  generally,  over  the  whole  country,  about  5°  above  the  average, 
while  at  many  places  situated  in  the  more  northern  parts  of  the  kingdom 
it  was  more  than  6°  above  the  average. 
-  The  R.H.S.  Autumn  Fruit  Show.— We  have  received  the 
schedule  of  the  Exhibition,  which  will  open  at  the  Crystal  Palace  on 
September  20th  and  close  on  October  1st.  In  addition  to  the  usual  classes 
for  gardeners  and  nurserymen,  with  substantial  money  prizes  for  the 
former,  cups  and  medals  for  the  latter,  two  new  sections  are  provided — 
one  of  substantial  importance,  the  other  an  interesting  experiment. 
The  first  of  these  sections  is  for  market  gardeners  only,  forty  prizes 
being  offered  in  twenty  classes  for  the  packing  of  diflerent  kinds  of 
fruit  for  market  that  are  in  use  at  the  time  of  the  show.  The  prizes 
range  from  £2  to  10s,  and  an  instructive  display  should  be  forthcoming. 
The  next  new  section  is  entitled  “  Special  district  county  prizes  ”  in  two 
classes— (A)  Apples,  six  dishes,  distinct,  four  cooking  and  two  dessert ; 
(B)  Dessert  Pears,  six  dishes,  distinct.  The  prizes  offered  are — first, 
£1  ;  second,  15s.,  in  ten  classes,  the  first  open  only  to  Kent  growers. 
Seven  others  to  groups  of  counties  (specified),  as,  for  example,  “  Open 
only  to  growers  in  Surrey,  Sussex,  Hants,  Dorset,  Somerset,  Devon,  and 
Cornwall and  so  on  throughout  England  and  Wales,  with  a  class  each 
for  growers  in  Scotland  and  growers  in  Ireland.  A  similar  plan  was 
projected  and  carried  out  in  connection  with  the  Great  Show  in  the 
London  Guildhall  in  1890.  The  R.H.S. ,  however,  goes  a  step  in  advance 
in  offering  to  add  third-class  single  fares  to  prizewinners  from  their 
nearest  railway  station  to  London.  It  must  not,  after  this,  be  said  there 
is  no  enterprise  in  the  premier  Society,  or  that  it  does  not  offer  inducements 
to  provincial  growers  to  compete  at  its  shows.  These  classes  are  open  to 
“  gardeners  and  amateurs  only,”  and  growers  of  good  fruit  in  the 
different  counties  may  now  turn  their  attention  to  what  will  undoubtedly 
be  by  far  the  greatest  fruit  show  of  the  year.  We  have  heard,  but  hope 
the  rumour  is  not  true,  that  these  shows  are  not  likely  to  be  continued 
if  there  is  not  an  increase  in  the  subscriptions.  The  published  list  is 
certainly  far  short  of  the  sum  expected — £100,  the  number  of  subscribers 
being  less  than  fifty  ;  but  more,  it  is  hoped,  may  follow,  and  save  what 
is  really  a  great  national  fruit  show  from  extinction. 
