June  16,  1898. 
JOURNAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER. 
501 
class,  but  there  is  a  fairly  wide  selection  able  to  fulfil  the  conditions 
required.  The  best  white  variety  for  the  latter  purpose  is  The  Bride, 
and  the  next  nearest  in  colour  to  it  is  Ruhens,  creamy  white.  A  deep 
yellow  is  found  in  Perle  des  Jardins,  and  a  pale  yellow  in  Marie  Van 
Houtte.  Anna  Olivier  and  Catherine  Mermet  are  rosy  fleshed  varieties  ; 
Madame  Palcot  and  Sunset,  deep  apricot  colour.  A  good  red  variety  is 
Madame  Lambard. 
These  are  not  weakly  growing  Roses,  but,  on  the  contrary,  they  make 
strong  growths,  which,  however,  do  not  extend  to  the  length  of  those 
previously  named.  As  the  shoots  are  produced  it  is  desirable  to  lay  them 
in,  but  not  so  as  to  crowd  the  growths  unduly.  Allowed  to  ramhle  in  all 
directions  the  shoots  become  stiff  and  unshapely,  which  makes  it  difficult 
to  place  them  in  position  as  may  be  desired.  Weakly  growths  may  be 
cut  out  at  anytime  to  make  room  for  more  vigorous  wood.  Such  will 
produce  the  best  blooms  if  trained  thinly  and  thoroughly  ripened. — E.  D.  S. 
Weather  in  London.  —  On  Thursday  and  Friday  of  last  week 
the  rain  descended  in  torrents  at  frequent  intervals,  this  being  especially 
the  case  of  the  latter  day.  Saturday  was  warm  and  genial,  the  sun 
shining  brightly  the  whole  day,  while  Sunday  and  Monday  were  dull  and 
cold.  On  Monday  night  the  wind  was  high,  and  more  suggestive  of 
November  than  June.  Tuesday  was  dull  and  cold.  Wednesday  a  little 
warmer. 
-  Weather  in  the  North, — Since  the  14th  the  weather  has 
been  dry,  and  the  first  three  days  especially  warm  and  bright.  On  the 
evening  of  Friday  the  wind  again  set  into  the  east,  and  rather  duller  days 
and  a  lower  evening  temperature  have  obtained. — B.  D.,  8.  Perthshire. 
-  A  Plague  op  Flies. — ^A  plague  of  aphides,  or  green  fly,  has 
attacked  the  fruit  gardens  and  orchards  in  certain  districts  of  north  and 
mid-Herts.  Bushes  hitherto  bearing  abundant  promise  of  fruit  are  now 
withering,  and  in  the  Hitchin  district  the  Rose  trees  are  covered  with  the 
diminutive  pest.  It  is  many  years  since  the  gardens  in  Hertfordshire 
suffered  from  a  similar  visitation. 
-  Metropolitan  Public  Gardens  Association. — We  learn 
that  this  Association  has  completed  the  laying  out  of  the  recreation 
grounds  at  East  Street,  S.E.,  and  in  Charles  Square,  N.,  and  these  are 
now  open  to  the  public  ;  while  the  grounds  in  York  Street  and  Kipling 
Street,  S.E..  are  approaching  completion.  The  West  Ham  Corporation 
has  agreed  to  maintain  a  disused  churchyard  at  Plaistow,  E.,  which  the 
Association  had  offered  to  turn  into  a  public  garden.  The  Association 
hopes  to  be  able  soon  to  lay  out  the  Paragon,  S.E.,  and  a  neglected  square 
in  Dalston. 
-  East  Cowes. — At  the  last  fortnightly  meeting  (held  on  June 
8th)  of  the  East  Cowes  Horticultural  Society,  presided  over  by  Mr. 
G.  Groves,  J.P.,  C.C.,  the  first  of  a  series  of  lectures  was  commenced 
by  Mr.  S.  Heaton,  Horticultural  Instructor  for  the  I.W.C.C.  The  subject 
chosen  by  the  members  was  “  The  Cultivation  of  Specimen  Greenhouse 
Plants  for  Amateurs  and  Cottagers.”  Previous  to  dealing  with  the 
various  foliage  and  flowering  greenhouse  plants,  the  lecturer  gave  some 
valuable  advice  on  potting,  watering,  syringing,  feeding,  training,  staking, 
tying,  packing,  staging,  and  labelling  plants.  At  the  close  a  unanimous 
vote  of  thanks  was  accorded  the  lecturer,  on  the  proposition  of  the 
Chairman,  seconded  by  Mr.  Chas.  Martin,  and  supported  by  Messrs. 
J.  Hygate  and  A.  Saunders. 
-  M  ALM  AISON  Carnations, — Amongst  first-class  growers  of  these 
Carnations  a  very  high  place  must  be  given  to  Mr.  McLeod  of  Dover  House 
Gardens,  Roehampton.  This  grower  has  now  a  splendid  collection.  The 
finest,  some  five  dozen  or  six  dozen,  are  in  9 J-inch  pots.  They  are  about 
3  feet  in  height,  and  as  much  through,  and  carrying  many  large  flowers. 
All  are  about  two  years  and  six  months  from  thumb  pots,  and  exhibit 
superb  cultivation.  Mr.  McLeod  favours  dry  treatment,  especially  in  the 
winter,  when  too  much  air  can  hardly  be  given.  Watering  is  done 
sparingly,  and  all  parts  of  the  house  are  kept  dry.  Associated  with  the 
ordinary  pink  and  carmine  varieties  are  younger  plants  of  that  rich  scarlet 
variety,  the  Churchwarden.  These,  as  also  a  large  number  of  younger 
plants  of  the  old  varieties,  in  perfect  health,  and  all  will  next  year 
make  very  fine  plants.  The  large  ones  have  been  in  their  present  pots 
two  years. — D. 
-  Hbuchera  sanguinea. — This  plant,  which  belongs  to  the 
natural  order  Saxifragaceas,  is  now  blooming  very  prettily  in  borders  and 
rockeries.  The  flowers,  rich  coral  pink  in  colour,  are  borne  on  erect 
slender  stems,  arranged  thereon  in  loose  panicles.  The3'  are  useful  for 
cutting,  forming  a  tasteful  decoration  when  placed  in  a  glass  loosely 
with  a  little  of  their  own  foliage.  The  plant  is  quite  hardy,  and  succeeds 
in  a  comparatively  dry  and  poor  position.  A  stock  of  it  may  be  raised 
from  seed,  sowing  in  a  box  and  transplanting  finally  when  large  enough. 
Flowers  appear  the  second  year. — E.  D.  S. 
-  A  Weather  Contrast. — The  contrast  between  the  weather 
of  last  Saturday  and  Sunday  was,  says  a  paragraph  in  the  “  Daily  News,” 
extraordinary.  On  Saturday  we  were  favoured  with  a  burst  of  summer 
warmth,  the  sun  shining  brightly  nearly  all  day,  and  the  thermometer  in 
London  rising  in  the  shade  to  a  maximum  of  77°.  Sunday  seemed  to 
take  us  back  with  a  plunge  into  quite  another  climate,  the  sky  being 
continuously  dull  and  gloomy,  with  a  temperature  at  no  time  exceeding 
.56°.  Saturday’s  reading  was,  in  fact,  8°  above  the  .Tune  average,  whil^ 
Sunday’s  was  as  many  as  13°  below  it,  the  maximum  of  56°  being  about 
equal  to  the  average  for  the  months  of  April  and  October. 
-  The  Weather  last  Month. — The  wind  was  in  a  westerly 
direction  nineteen  days.  Total  rainfall,  2'71  inches  ;  this  fell  on  twenty, 
one  days,  and  is  0‘35  inch  above  the  average  for  the  month.  The  greatest 
daily  fall  was  0"33  inch  on  the  27th  ;  barometer  (corrected  and  reduced), 
highest’reading  30"352  inches  on  the  7th  at  9  A.M.,  lowest  29  126  inches 
on  the  11th  at  9  A.M.  Thermometers  :  highest  in  the  shade,  68°  on  the 
23rd  ;  lowest,  30°  on  the  19th  ;  mean  of  daily  maxima,  56J9°  ;  mean  of 
daily  minima,  39*12°.  Mean  temperature  of  the  month  47*65°,  Lowest 
on  the  grass,  30°  on  the  19th  ;  highest  in  the  sun,  133°  on  the  11th. 
Mean  temperature  of  the  earth  at  3  feet,  49*25°  Total  sunshine 
151  hrs.  45  min.  There  were  five  sunless  days. — W.  H.  Divers, 
Belvoir  Castle  Gardens,  Grantham, 
-  Weather  at  Dowlais. —Total  rainfall  for  the  past  month, 
4*23  inches,  which  fell  on  twenty-one  days  ;  greatest  fall,  0*44,  which 
fell  on  the  25th.  Mean  maximum  temperature,  60*8°  ;  highest  reading, 
82°  on  the  23rd  ;  mean  minimum,  37°  ;  lowest  reading,  26°  on  the  15th 
and  I6th.  Below  freezing  point  on  five  nights,  and  was  under  40°  on 
eighteen  nights.  The  surrounding  hills  were  covered  with  snow  in  the 
second  week,  and  snow  also  fell  on  the  1st  of  June,  with  the  night 
temperature  down  to  32°.  There  were  eight  sunless  days,  the  total 
amount  of  sunshine  only  reaching  ninety-four  hours,  or  forty-seven  less 
than  in  April.  The  wind  was  in  the  W.  and  N.W.  on  sixteen  days,  and 
in  the  E.  and  N.E.  on  eight  days,  and  has  been  bitterly  cold  throughout 
the  month.  On  the  18th  and  19th  it  was  blowing  quite  a  gale,  and 
was  piercingly  cold  ;  quite  a  repetition  of  the  gale  we  had  in  March.  On 
the  afternoon  of  the  22nd  we  had  a  very  heavy  hailstorm,  with 
stones  of  a  very  large  size,  doing  a  great  amount  of  damage  to  various 
foliage,  especially  Chrysanthemums,  the  plants  afterwards  presenting  a 
sorry  spectacle. — Wm.  Mabbott,  Gwernllwyn  House.  Dowlais. 
-  Supplying  Flowers  to  Schools  prom  the  Public 
Parks. — The  School  Management  Committee  reported  that  they  had  had 
their  attention  called  by  their  Chairman  to  a  report  as  follows  from  the 
British  Embassy  at  Berlin,  giving  the  arrangements  made  in  Berlin  for 
supplying  primary  schools  with  flowers  from  the  public  parks  :  “  In  the 
town  gardens  here  (Berlin),  and  especially  in  *  Humboldt-Hain,’  flowers 
are  gathered  in  proportionate  quantities  during  the  summer  months  of 
the  year,  and  are  placed  at  the  disposal  of  the  upper  grade  and  lower 
grade  municipal  schools,  at  their  desire,  and  also  at  the  disposal  of  private 
schools  for  a  consideration,  for  the  purpose  of  furthering  the  study  of 
botany.  The  flowers  are  sent  to  the  schools  in  especially  ordered  carts 
twice  a  week  ;  they  are  sent  in  bundles,  each  bundle  containing  fifty 
specimens  of  the  same  species  of  plant,  and  only  one  bundle  falls  to  each 
botany  class.  The  names  of  the  plants  which  may  be  expected  during 
the  week  are  published  every  Sunday  in  the  public  Press.  Flowers  from 
the  town  gardens  are  not  supplied  for  the  decoration  of  schools,  or  making 
presents  of  them  to  scholars.”  The  Committee  were  of  opinion  that  similar 
arrangements  might  possibly  be  made  in  London,  and  with  a  view  to 
achieving  that  object  recommended  that  letters  be  addressed  to  the  London 
County  Council  and  to  her  Majesty’s  Office  of  Works,  setting  forth  the 
arrangements  which  were  now  made  in  Berlin  for  supplying  flowers  from 
the  public  parks  to  the  elementary  schools,  and  inquiring  whether  some¬ 
what  similar  arrangements  could  not  be  made  for  the  benefit  of  pnblio 
elementary  and  other  schools  in  London.  On  the  motion  of  IVIr.  Graham 
Wallas  it  was  decided  that  letters  be  addressed  to  the  London  County 
Council  and  to  her  Majesty’s  Office  of  Works  with  reference  to  supplying 
flowers  to  schools  in  accordance  with  the  terms  of  the  report. 
