September  1,  1898. 
JOURNAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER. 
161 
interest.  This  plant  comes  from  the  Mediterranean  region,  but  is,  I 
am  led  to  believe,  hardy  here. 
T3  The  Violetta  section  of  the  popular  Violas  is  a  favourite  one  with 
me,  although  I  have  not  yet  seen  a  miniature  Viola  to  supplant  in 
my  favour  Violetta  itself.  A  new  one  from  Dr.  Stuart,  named  King 
of  the  Blues,  is,  however,  a  desirable  acquisition,  and  its  flowers  have 
pleased  me  much  with  their  dark  blue  rayless  colouring  and  their 
bright  yellow  eye.  Since  the  rain  came  the  Violas  have  assumed  a 
happier  look,  and  such  flowers  as  A.  J.  Rowberry,  Florizel,  Speckles, 
Queen  of  the  Whites,  and  Bullion  have  been  especially  good. 
On  the  rockery  Olearia  Haasti  is  unusually  fine  this  season.  The 
dry  weather  seems  to  have  been  congenial  to  this  Daisy  Bush,  and  it 
is  now  covered  ,  with  its  white  flowers,  and  shows  little  of  its 
shining  green  leaves.  In  former  years  it  has  had  to  take  second  place 
in  my  estimation,  as  well  as  in  time  of  flowering,  when  compared 
with  0.  stellulata,  but  this  year  one  is  more  inclined  to  waver  in  one’s 
allegiance.  It  is  thus,  perhaps,  as  well  that  the  two  are  not  in  bloom 
at  the  same  time,  so  that  we  can  still  favour  both. 
Soon  we  shall  see  the  first  of  the  Meadow  Saffrons  and  autumn 
Crocuses.  As  yet  none  are  above  the  surface,  but  I  am  in  almost 
daily  expectation  of  seeing  them  pierce  the  soil.  We  have  still 
Lilies,  and  until  these  and  the  Gladioli  pass  away  we  need  not  weary 
for  the  Colchicums  and  Crocusts  to  come,  and  by  way  of  a  change  the 
beautiful — nay,  exquisite — little  Leucoium  autumnale  has  come  to 
tarry  with  us  awhile.  Japan  Anemones  have  appeared  with  their 
snow  white,  pink,  or  crimson  blooms,  with  yellow  central  boss ; 
Phloxes  are  brilliant,  if  less  fine  than  before;  Anthemises  give  us 
white  or  yellow  Daisy  flowers ;  Hypericums  are  covered  with  paly- 
gold  or  deeper  hued  flowers ;  the  purple-brown  heads  of  Allium 
sphserocephalum  rise  nearly  3  feet  high  ;  and  the  curious  little 
A.  glaucum  grows  in  the  rock  garden,  showing  but  little  beside  some 
of  its  neighbours.  Platycodons  are  very  beautiful  indeed,  and  dwarf 
Campanulas  show  yet  a  good  deal  of  bloom.  With  annuals  and  half- 
hardy  flowers  the  perennials  named,  as  well  as  a  number  of  others  yet 
in  bloom,  show  that  the  fascination  of  the  flowers  yet  remains,  and 
the  promise  of  still  later  ones  reminds  us  that  it  will  be  long  ere  we 
are  left  flowerless  and  forlorn. —  S.  Arnott. 
TOMATOES  IN  THE  SOUTH  OF  FRANCE. 
It  is  well  known  to  most  of  us  what  large  quantities  of  Tomatoes 
are  yearly  grown  in  the  South  of  France,  so  perhaps  a  note  or  two 
from  a  resident  in  the  producing  district  will  be  acceptable.  The 
winter  culture  is  by  far  the  more  important,  as  with  this  the  money 
is  made,  whereas  the  summer  crop  is  unremunerative,  the  present 
price  being  as  low  as  a  halfpenny  the  pound.  The  labourers  feed 
largely  on  Tomatoes.  Their  dinner  in  the  evening  very  often  consists 
exclusively  of  sliced  Tomatoes  in  olive  oil,  with  vinegar,  pepper,  and 
salt  to  taste,  eating,  of  course,  a  good  piece  of  bread. 
For  winter  the  plants  are  grown  in  cold  frames  and  light  glass 
Rouses,  but  mostly  the  former.  This  winter  the  growers  lost  heavily 
by  a  disease  that  destroyed  hundreds  of  plants.  During  the  early 
months  of  the  year  we  had  some  rainy  days  immediately  followed  by 
strong  sunshine,  which  made  the  temperature  in  the  frames  very 
warm  and  moist,  and  so  those  who  did  not  open  wide  their  sashes, 
and  thought  they  could  push  on  their  plants  for  early  prices  under 
these  conditions,  lost  many  frames  of  good  plants.  The  summer  crop 
also  suffered  badly  from  another  malady  caused  again  by  humidity.  In 
many  cases  the  first  planting  had  to  be  thrown  out  entirely. 
As  to  varieties,  the  difference  between  ours  and  the  French  here  is 
very  interesting.  They  grow  almost  exclusively  one  variety,  a  dwarf 
■early  sort,  whose  fruit  is  very  irregular  both  in  form  and  size, 
with  a  poor  flavour.  The  public  do  not  appreciate  the  fine  taste  of 
our  varieties,  and  prefer  their  own.  Home  varieties  would  not  do  in 
•the  frames  here,  as  they  are  too  vigorous  and  not  early  enough, 
-although  they  are  more  productive.  Outside  in  summer  English 
varieties  do  exceedingly  well,  but  are  not  favourites,  as  they  need  staking 
and  tying,  while  the  French  ones  require  little  or  no  attention  in  that 
line.  The  variety  Duke  of  York,  with  its  fine  large  fruit,  makes 
a  good  comparison  with  the  Rouge  Grosse  Hative,  the  variety  here, 
•each,  of  course,  having  its  advantages. 
I  never  see  gardeners  who  write  of  good  varieties  refer  to  a  variety 
we  had  in  Scotland  called  Austin’s  Eclipse ;  but  I  can  strongly 
recommend  it.  Its  productiveness  is  quite  phenomenal,  carrying 
occasionally  as  many  as  twenty  to  twenty-four  good  sized  fruit,  round, 
regular,  and  well  coloured.  The  flavour  is  fine,  and  it  crops  early.  I 
am  sorry  to  hear  Tomato-growing  in  some  districts  is  being  overdone 
at  home,  so  with  “  women  gardeners,”  and  what  not,  I  do  not  know 
what  I  shall  do  when  I  return.  Like  “A.  D.,”  however,  I  do  not 
think  there  is  any  reason  to  fear  an  invasion  by  the  women — at  any 
rate,  not  until  their  ideas  undergo  a  very  considerable  change.— 
J.  H.  S. 
National  Chrysanthemum  Society. 
The  Executive  Committee  of  this  Society  held  the  first  meeting  of 
the  season  at  its  new  quarters,  Carr’s  Restaurant,  Strand,  W.C.,  on 
Monday  evening  last ;  Mr.  T.  W.  Sanders  presided,  there  being  a  fairly 
representative  gathering  of  members.  After  the  usual  preliminaries 
had  been  disposed  of,  the  Secretary  reported  on  the  annual  outing, 
which  was  a  most  successful  one,  and  he  was  unanimously  awarded  a 
vote  of  thanks  for  the  way  in  which  all  the  details  had  been  carried 
out.  Mr.  H.  A.  Needs  was  elected  to  fill  a  vacancy  on  the  Executive 
Committee,  caused  by  the  retirement  of  Mr.  Daniels,  and  a  dinner 
sub-committee  was  elected  to  make  arrangements  and  report  as  to  the 
annual  dinner. 
Referring  to  the  issue  of  a  supplemental  catalogue,  it  was  resolved 
that  the  same  be  deferred  until  after  the  close  of  the  ensuing 
Chrysanthemum  season. 
The  Foreign  Secretary  drew  attention  to  the  formation  of  National 
Chrysanthemum  Societies  in  Italy  and  in  Switzerland,  and  to  the 
desire  expressed  by  the  promoters  of  the  latter  that  English  seedling 
raisers  should  exhibit  some  of  their  novelties  at  the  show  in  Geneva 
next  November. 
Chrysanthemum  Notes. 
Most  of  the  countries  where  Chrysanthemums  are  known  and 
grown  to  any  extent  have  now  their  national  societies,  although 
perhaps  of  all  the  Belgian  one,  founded  some  years  ago,  has  been  least 
heard  of,  if  it  still  exists.  Italy  followed  suit  early  this  year,  and  its 
new  journal,  of  which  No.  1  is  just  to  hand,  promises  to  be  a  publica- 
iion  of  some  interest,  for  it  is  well  printed,  and  got  up  in  very  much 
better  style  than  the  official  organ  of  its  predecessor,  the  French  N.C.S. 
With  such  men  as  Mr.  Briscoe  Ironside,  Dr.  Baragiola,  Messrs.  Longhi, 
Radaelli,  Scalarandis,  and  a  fair  sprinkling  of  well-known  French 
seedling  raisers,  the  first  annual  exhibition  of  this  Italian  Society, 
which  is  to  be  held  at  Milan  next  November,  ought  to  improve  very 
materially  the  financial  and  numerical  status  of  the  Society,  besides 
giving  an  impetus  to  the  culture  of  the  flower,  which  seems  already  to 
have  acquired  some  renown  in  the  northern  portion  of  King  Humbert’s 
dominion. 
Passing  to  Belgium  we  find  Mohs.  0.  de  Meulenaere,  a  well-known 
amateur  grower  and  exhibitor  at  the  Ghent  Shows,  is  still  pursuing 
his  studies  in  the  classifying  and  cataloguing  of  the  novelties.  His 
most  recent  work  is  just  to  hand,  and  is  entitled  a  third  supplement 
to  the  descriptive  list  of  Chrysanthemums  which  was  published  in 
1890,  and  is  thus  brought  close  up  to  date,  the  new  supplement  com¬ 
prising  all  the  novelties  for  the  years  1896—1898,  from  all  sources. 
In  the  new  list  the  compiler  adheres  to  his  previous  method  of 
cataloguing  the  names  under  the  leading  word  of  the  name,  so  that 
research  is  facilitated,  and  the  reader  is  not  left  to  wonder  whether 
the  variety  he  is  looking  for  bears  the  prefix  of  Mr  ,  Mrs.,  Miss, 
Monsieur,  Madame,  or  Mdlle. ;  but  goes  straight  to  the  letter  contain¬ 
ing  the  surname.  _ 
An  interesting  feature  of  these  Continental  Chrysanthemum 
societies  is  their  literary  activity.  All  of  them  publish  at  various 
intervals  a  journal  or  bulletin,  which  enables  members  living  at  a 
distance  to  keep  in  touch  with  the  society’s  work.  Thus  the  French 
N.C.S.  has  its  journal  “  Le  Chrysantheme,”  of  which  the  seventeenth 
number  has  just  been  published.  The  Northern  French  Chrysanthe¬ 
mum  Society  has  for  its  official  journal  the  “  Nord  Horticole,”  and 
the  Paris  Chrysanthemum  Committee  its  journal,  of  which  No.  6  is 
just  out.  In  this  we  find  preliminary  instructions  for  the  Floral 
Committee,  the  rules  and  schedule  for  the  next  Paris  Show,  which 
takes  place  on  the  9th  to  the  11th  November,  in  the  gardens  of 
the  Tuileries,  provision  being  made  for  ninety-four  classes.  The 
literary  portion  comprises  an  article  by  the  Chairman  of  the  Com¬ 
mittee,  Mons.  Lemaire,  on  early  Chrysanthemums,  which  latterly  seem 
to  be  evoking  something  more  in  the  way  of  attention  than  they  have 
hitherto  enjoyed.  Mons.  Oudot,  who  knows  how  to  grow  and  show  big 
blooms,  judging  from  those  we  saw  in  1896,  contributes  a  paper  on 
t  hat  subject,  while  another  paper  gives  the  record  of  a  visit  to  the 
collection  of  Mons.  Molin  at  Lyons. 
The  Swiss  appear  to  be  determined  to  keep  pace  with  the  times, 
and  they,  too,  have  just  organised  a  N.C.S.  with  its  headquarters  at 
Geneva.  The  scope  of  this  Society  is  somewhat  similar  to  the  French 
National  Society,  and  its  work  is  briefly  set  forth  in  the  second  rule. 
