December  15,  1898.  JOURNAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER. 
-  The  Durham,  Northumberland,  and  Newcastle 
Botanical  and  Horticultural  Society. — We  are  informed  that 
Mr.  I.  B.  Reid  has  been  appointed  Secretary  of  this  Society  in  place  of 
Mr.  J.  J.  Gillespie,  iun.,  and  that  the  offices  of  the  Society  have  been 
transferred  from  Cross  House  Chambers,  54,  Westgate  Road,  to  Mosley 
Chambers,  30,  Mosley  Street,  Newcastle-on-Tyne. 
-  Woolton  Gardeners’  Improvement  Society.— At  a  recent 
meeting  of  the  above  Society,  Mr.  J.  Heaton,  gardener  to  R.  P. 
Houston,  Esq.,  M.P.,  Aigburth,  who  has  been  fortunate  enough  this 
aeason  in  winning  the  Liverpool  challenge  vase  for  the  first  time,  gave  an 
admirable  and  'concise  paper  on  “The  Japanese  Chrysanthemum  for 
Exhibition.”  Mr.  J.  Glover  took  the  chair,  and  introduced  the  lecturer 
to  the  very  large  audience,  the  latter  soon  making  himself  at  home 
in  hi9  subject,  dealing  with  every  phase  of  cultivation  in  a  free 
and  practical  manner.  An  interesting  discussion  ensued.  Many  members 
contributed  cut  blooms,  Messrs.  Clibran  it  Sons  also  making  a  capital 
show  with  Japanese,  Incurved,  Anemones,  and  single  Chrysanthemums. 
Votes  of  thanks  to  the  lecturer  and  chairman  closed  a  highly  instructive 
and  interesting  evening’s  enjoyment. — R.  P.  R. 
-  Bristol  Gardeners’  Association. — The  presence  of  nearly 
ninety  members  on  Thursday,  December  8th,  to  hear  Mr.  Holbrook  of 
Messrs.  Garraway  &  Co.’s  nurseries  read  a  paper  on  “  Chrysanthemum 
Culture,”  plainly  indicates  that  there  is  no  lack  of  interest  in  the  autumn 
queen  among  the  gardeners  in  the  neighbourhood.  The  reputation  of  the 
essayist  as  a  Chrysanthemum  grower  no  doubt  proved  an  additional 
incentive  to  attend,  for  even  the  most  experienced  growers  can  usually 
glean  some  information  from  the  practice  of  others.  Mr.  Holbrook  told 
with  great  clearness  how  to  treat  them  from  start  to  finish,  and  well 
deserved  the  hearty  vote  of  thanks  accorded  him  at  the  close  of  the 
meeting.  Many  exhibits  of  plants  and  flowers  made  the  meeting  attrac¬ 
tive,  and  a  prize  lor  the  most  interesting  exhibits  brought  to  the  past  five 
meetings  was  awarded  to  Mr.  McCulloch.— Chas.  Lock, 
-  Grafting  Old  Tree  Stems. — I  was  much  interested  in  the 
illustration  given  at  page  435  of  Mr.  Merry  weather  s  very  drastic 
method  of  grafting  old  tree  stems,  as  also  in  his  descriptive  matter. 
I  always  in  grafting  old  trees  preferred  to  behead  hard,  and  especially 
to  clean  stems,  though  not  inserting  so  many  grafts  by  one-half  as 
Mr.  Merry  weather  does.  My  experience  was  that  in  grafting  close 
back  growth  was  more  certain  and  much  stronger  than  is  the  case 
when  it  is  done  on  long  branch  arms,  with  smaller  wood,  as  is  so 
often  seen.  But  I  have  also  seen  where  grafting  of  this  nature  has 
been  done  that  a  branch  or  two  of  the  old  Head  has  been  left  intact, 
to  “  help  to  draw  up  sap  ”  would  be  the  excuse  for  this  practice. 
During  my  experience  I  have  not  found  a  healthy  tree  stem  when 
hard  grafted  to  be  at  all  deficient  in  sap— indeed,  such  branches  rather 
served  to  attract  it  from  the  grafted  arms  where  wanted  to  where  not 
wanted. — AN  Ex-GARDENER. 
-  The  Surrey  Sands. — It  is  an  undoubted  fact  that  tne  county 
of  Surrey  has  sand  largely  predominating  on  its  surface.  It  is  also  an 
undoubted  fact  that  some  of  the  best  garden  crops  I  saw  during  the 
exceeding  drought  of  the  past  summer  was  on  sandy  soils.  In  some 
districts  these  sands  run  very  deep,  perhaps  20  feet,  and  although  the 
lower  layers  seem  to  be  as  poor  as  sand  can  be,  yet  roots  run  deep  in 
them,  and  trees,  especially  with  their  roots  very  low  down,  thrive  on 
them  wonderfully.  So  far  as  garden  crops  are  concerned,  so  much 
depends  on  deep  working.  It  is  doubtless  the  same  all  the  world  over, 
but  so  far  as  these  sands  are  concerned,  few  soils  seem  to  repay  this  deep 
working  better  than  they  do.  We  are  yet  very  much  in  the  dark  in 
regard  to  soils  -  their  constituents  and  productive  capacities  ;  but  when 
we  see  what  has,  devoid  of  deep  working,  seemed  to  be  poor  barren 
worthless  soil  made  to  produce  splendid  crops  by  garden  cultivation,  we 
need  then  no  chemical  or  analytical  evidence  to  show  that  such  soil  is 
capable  of  high  plant  sustenance,  even  in  respect  of  Grape  production ; 
as  I  have  previously  mentioned,  the  crops  seen  on  the  Vines  at  Byfieet, 
where  the  soil  is  a  mass  of  sharp  sand,  bear  conclusive  evidence  of 
its  fertile  capacities.  I  know  that  when  the  Vines  were  originally 
planted  at  Mr.  Berry’s  vineries  some  loam  was  worked  into  the  borders, 
but  both  inside  and  out  there  can  be  no  doubt  but  that  not  only  has  the 
£00ts  got  far  beyond  made  borders,  but  also  that  the  sand  has  permeated 
the  loam  very  largely.  Yet  again  this  season  the  Vines  in  the  long 
houses  there  have  borne  splendid  crops.  Hamburghs,  Muscats,  superbly 
coloured  ;  Gros  Colman  and  Alicante  really  first-rate  lor  market  purposes. 
With  good  culture  and  proper  feeding  market  growers  seem  able  to 
extract  fine  produce  from  any  soils. — A.  D. 
457 
-  Destroying  Tree  Stumps. — Mr.  J.  Miller  of  Euxley  Lodge 
Gardens  often  talks  of  his  experience  in  tree  stump  destruction 
with  the  aid  of  dynamite,  which  he  used  to  obtain  from  the  neighbour¬ 
ing  collieries  when  at  Clumber,  many  ^ears  ago.  When  big  stumps 
had  to  be  removed  holes  were  bored  into  the  centres  of  each  with  a 
stout  augur,  and  a  charge  of  dynamite,  to  which  a  fuse  was  attached 
inserted  into  each.  As  the  force  of  dynamite  in  exploding  is  chiefly 
downward,  there  was  no  danger  attached  to  the  operation  if  ordinary 
care  was  exercised  in  removing  far  enough  away  after  the  fuse  was 
ignited.  The  effect  of  the  explosion  was  to  literally  lift  the  stump  out  ot 
the.  ground,  and  also  to  rend  it  into  several  pieces.  That  method  was 
lar  more  effective  and  expeditious  than  is  the  burning  stumps  out  as 
advised  in  the  “Farmers’  Gazette.” 
-  Fatsia  japonica. — As  a  hardy  plant  this  ought  to  be  more 
widely  tried  in  sheltered  positions  in  mild  localities.  Planted  out  it  otten 
attains  large  dimensions,  and  looks  very  handsome.  The  specimen  at 
Kew,  referred  to  by  “  D  ,”  must  be  a  fine  one.  There  is  a  very  fine  one, 
which  must  be  nearly  if  not  quite  as  large,  in  the  front  garden  of  a  villa 
in  the  southern  suburbs  of  Dublin.  Unfortunately  it  has  been  planted 
100  close  to  the  house,  and  must  now  be  getting  too  large  for  the  comfort 
of  those  in  the  apartment  whose  windows  it  shades.  About  Dubiin  this 
Fatsia  is  a  good  deal  grown  in  the  garden,  and  there  it  is  quite  hardy 
it  is  perhaps  still  better  known  as  Aralia  Sieboldi  than  as  Fatsia. 
—  S.  ARNOTT.  [Plants  are  now  flowering  in  the  open  at  the  end  of  the 
houses  at  Chiswick,  and  are  distinctly  ornamental.] 
-  Clerodendron  splendens  speciosissimum. — How  can  we 
afford  to  let  such  a  superb  stove  climber  as  this  be  almost  unknown  to 
many  of  our  younger  cultivators  !  Such  was  the  thought  on  seeing  some 
young  plants  in  flower  in  Messrs.  Ciibran’s  nursery  at  Altrincham.  But 
it  w  as  more  on  account  of  one  old  stock  plant  trained  to  wires  underneath 
the  roof  of  a  stove  that  I  was  tempted  to  send  this  short  note.  The 
glaucous  green  leaves  full  of  health  were  sufficient  to  attract,  but  the 
large  umbels  ot  flowers  seemed  to  put  everything  else  in  the  shade.  And 
what  a  colour  this  deepest  ot  orange  scarlets  is  !  In  fact,  it  quite  stands 
alone  in  its  beauty  at  this  season  of  the  year,  or,  indeed,  all  the  time  it 
is  in  flower.  Good  fibrous  loam,  with  plenty  of  coarse  sand  and  frequent 
syringings,  seemed  to  suit  it  to  a  nicety.  On  looking  it  up  in  the  dictionarv  > 
I  note  that  it  was  introduced  from  Sierra  Leone  as  far  back  as  1840. — 
A  Visitor. 
-  Topsy  Turvy  Education.  —  Sir  John  Gorst  made  some 
significant  remarks  at  Cambridge  last  Saturday.  Among  other  things, 
he  said:  “If  they  believed  that  education  was  an  advantage  and  even 
a  necessity,  why  should  they  not  rouse  themselves,  and  insist  upon 
that  education  being  given,  and  under  such  conditions  as  regards 
agriculture  that  the  sums  of  money  spent  upon  it  should  be  no  longer 
thrown  away  ?  The  first  thing  he  would  urge  upon  everyone  was  that 
elementary  education  was  the  bedrock  upon  which  the  whole  of  their 
superstructure  must  be  built.  It  had  been  officially  brought  to  his 
knowledge,  over  and  over  again,  the  failures  in  the  attempts  made  to 
train  young  persons  in  technical  knowledge  because  of  their  want  of  sound 
elementary  education.  The  last  ea;e  of  the  kind  came  from  Chelmsford 
111  reference  to  an  excellent  College  which  had  been  established  there 
by  the  Essex  County  Council.  They  had  excellent  chemistry  classes 
there  for  the  education  of  young  farmers,  and  among  other  things  they 
teach  agricultural  chemistry,  and  what  he  had  sent  to  him  on 
December  oth  was  the  report  ot  the  instructor.  This  instructor 
praised  the  industry  of  his  students,  and  the  excellence  of  their  work 
in  the  laboratory,  but  he  made  this  very  remarkable  and  significant 
statement,  ‘Arithmetic,  however,  is  a  weak  point  with  some  of  the 
students,  and  the  calculations  of  the  results  of  chemical  work  have 
proved  a  difficulty  in  these  cases.’  So,  if  these  young  men  were  to 
make  the  necessary  progress  in  technical  instruction,  they  must  go  back 
to  school  and  learn  that  arithmetic  which  ought  to  have  been  taught  them 
years  ago.”  We  suspect  there  is  a  good  deal  of  truth  in  those  observa¬ 
tions,  lor  we  have  reason  to  believe  that  not  a  few  o:  our  young  men  are 
aspiring  to  proficiency  m  the  sciences  and  higher  aspects  of  education 
who  are  lamentably  deficient,  nut  in  arithmetic  only,  but  the  necessari- 
acquirements  of  composition  and  grammar  and  spelling.  This  topsy 
turvy  system  of  education  is  a  mistake,  and  it  would  be  very  much 
better  for  such  men  if  they  were,  at  night  schools  or  otherwise,  to 
perseveringly  strive  tor  pronciency  in  elementary  education  of  the 
nature  indicated.  While  the  facts  are  as  stated,  we  are  glad  to  know 
of  many  bright  exceptions,  and  we  wish  these  promising  young  men 
success.  The  best  educated  of  skilled  and  industrious  workers  are 
bound  to  come  to  the  front  in  the  future. 
