Jmy  aJl,  1898. 
dOURN^iL  OF  HORTICULfURF  aF[D  GOTIAGE  GAnEENER. 
-  Stephanotis  floeibuhda. — Mfi  W,  Drover,  Fareham,  sends 
a  spray  of  Stephanotis  fioribunda  with  twelve  pips  on ;  It  is  from  a 
plant  in  a  bdnoh  pot  growing  in  a  stove.  He  would  like  to  know  if  this 
is  exceptional. 
-  An  Ancient  Tree. — A  well-known  Oak  tree  has  just  collapsed 
in  Cumberland.  This  is  at  Naworth  Castle,  which  is  the  seat  of  the  Earl 
of  Carlisle,  just  on  the  Border.  The  tree  was  a  very  old  one,  and  was 
unable  to  maintain  its  top  growth.  It  was  to  be  seen  near  the  castle  at 
the  entrance  gate,  and,  early  in  the  seventeenth  century,  it  was  famous 
for  being  used  for  hanging  thieves  and  such  like  upon  by  the  famous 
“  Belted  Will  ”  Howard.— (“  Kural  World.”) 
-  Channel  Island  Produce  Co.,  Ltd. — We  have  before  ns 
the  prospectus  of  the  above  company,  which  has  been  formed  to  acquire, 
amalgamate,  and  develop  the  trade  of  certain  well-known  fruit,  flower 
and  vegetable  producing  properties  in  Guernsey.  The  company  will 
acquire  vineries,  nurseries  and  land,  it  being  thought  that  the  expense 
of  working  will  be  reduced  by  the  amalgamation.  The  Directors  of  the 
Company  are  Arthur  Knopwood,  Esq  ,  Chairman  ;  with  Messrs.  J.  Poat, 
W.  Unwin,  and  Thos.  Vernon.  The  Company’s  registered  offices  (_pro 
tern.')  are  at  25,  Budge  Eow,  London,  E.C.,  and  Mr.  A.  F,  Hooper  is  the 
Secretary. 
-  Everlasting  Peas,  — Baisers  of  Sweet  Peas  seem  to  have  so 
entirely  covered  all  the  ground  open  to  them  now,  it  would  be  worth 
while  to  turn  attention  to  the  fine  Everlastings,  of  which  we  have  two  or 
three  distinct  forms,  and  see  how  far  it  may  be  possible  not  only  to 
blend  these,  but  also  to  introduce  into  them  new  colours.  Latbyrus 
grandiflorus,  when  allowed  to  grow  somewhat  wild,  and  especially  to 
form  a  natural  carpet  of  foliage  and  flower,  is  indeed  a  lovely  Pea,  The 
flowers  are  of  the  finest,  and  having  great  substance,  also  of  rich  colour, 
but  with  the  defect  of  burning  or  fading  under  hot  sunshine,  for  that 
reason  it  does  best  in  a  slightly  shaded  place.  Lathyrus  latifolius  we  all 
know  as  the  most  widely  grown  of  Everlasting  Peas  ;  of  this  because  it 
seeds  freely,  several  diverse  colours  exist.  The  pure  white  is  perhaps  the 
best.  1  saw  this  form  recently  in  a  cottage  garden  in  Surrey  on  the 
coolest  side  of  the  house,  and  it  was  very  pure  and  beautiful.  Would 
that  we  could  get  it  to  come  true  from  seed.  A  tinted  form  called  De  icata 
is  very  refined  and  charming,  and  there  is  sometimes  found  one  having 
deeper  coloured  flowers  than  the  typo.  None  of  the  varieties  can  be 
relied  upon  to  come  true  from  seed,  and  here  a  field  is  open  to  the 
hybridists  to  endeavour  not  only  to  fix  them  but  also  to  introduce  some 
other  colours.  Lathyrus  Drummondi,  or  rotundifolius,  with  its  abun¬ 
dantly  produced  and  pretty  reddish  carmine  flowers,  and  Lathyrus 
tingitanus,  flowers  magenta  coloured,  might  well  be  utilised  for  hybrid¬ 
ising  purposes.  It  is  very  improbable  that  the  sweet  perfume  found  in 
Lathyrus  odoratus  will  ever  be  got  into  the  Everlasting  forms,  but  there 
is  a  wide  field  open  for  intercrossing  and  of  improvement  all  the  same. 
New  Sweet  Peas  now  show  little  or  no  advance  on  earlier  varieties. — A.  D. 
-  St.  Louis  Botanical  Garden.— It  will  be  of  much  interest 
to  the  scientific  and  gardening  world  to  learn  the  extent  of  the  damage 
done  to  the  Missouri  Botanic  Garden  by  the  destructive  tornado  that 
recently  visited  St.  Louis.  The  garden  was  in  the  direct  path  of  the 
wrecking  wind  at  its  extreme  western  point.  As  this  was  the  starting 
point  of  the  destruction,  the  garden  suffered  less  severely  than  the 
region  just  to  the  east,  though  the  damage  was  considerable,  more 
efpecially  in  the  timbered  portion.  Something  like  160  trees  were 
either  uprooted  or  broken  off  so  near  the  ground  that  it  was  found 
necessary  to  take  them  out.  Many  of  these  were  rare  and  choice 
plants,  and  an  estimate  of  their  value  would  be  impossible.  More  than 
250  trees  were  seriously  damaged,  many  of  them  having  their  tops 
almost  entirely  carried  away.  Some  of  these,  by  judicious  pruning, 
will,  in  a  few  years,  grow  to  be  beautiful  trees  again,  while  it  is  probable 
that  a  few  will  die.  The  shrubbery  was  badly  whipped,  but  the  damage 
to  it  was  comparatively  slight.  The  herbaceous  plants  were  almost 
totally  destroyed  in  the  exposed  places,  but  these  are  now  all  replaced 
by  reserved  stock.  The  grounds  are  rapidly  being  put  in  order,  and  in 
a  month  it  is  expected  that  all  vestige  of  the  storm  will  have  been 
cleared  away,  and  only  the  vacant  places  left  to  indicate  its  awful  work. 
It  is  fair  to  say  that  the  damage  is  not  so  great  as  to  mar  the  beauty  of 
the  garden,  or  to  impair  its  usefulness  as  a  place  of  instruction.  In 
these  particulars  it  will  not  suffer  in  the  least.  The  injury  to  the 
buildings  was  mainly  in  broken  windows  and  damaged  roofs.  The  glass 
portion  of  the  roof  of  one  large  greenhouse  was  entirely  demolished,  and 
the  roof  of  the  southern  half  of  the  herbarium  and  library  building  was 
carried  away.  By  prompt  action  of  the  employes  in  the  library  build¬ 
ing,  its  contents  received  no  damage  whatever.— (“  Garden  and  Forest.”) 
-  Delphinium  nudicaule. — This  plant  is  well  adapted  for 
growing  on  the  rockery  and  for  flowering  during  June  in  pots,  where 
brightly  coloured  flowers  are  appreciated.  In  pots  4  inches  in  diameter 
plants  can  be  grown  with  several  spikes  of  bloom  of  a  dazzling  red.  Cold 
frame  treatment  at  all  times,  with  the  pots  plunged  in  ashes,  is  the  best 
method  of  culture.  A  somewhat  sandy  soil  is  most  suitable  for  free  growth, 
and  abundance  of  water  when  showing  its  flower  spikes. — GROWER. 
-  Manchester  Rose  and  Fruit  Show.— We  perceive  from  the 
schedule  of  the  show  that  is  to  be  held  in  the  Royal  Botanical  Gardens, 
Old  Trafford,  Manchester,  on  Saturday  next,  25th  inst.,  that  there  are 
seventeen  classes  for  Roses,  ranging  from  seventy-two  blooms  to  a 
twelfth  of  that  number,  for  which  prizes  of  £6  graduating  to  lOs.  are 
provided.  Also  we  note  that  for  twelve  bunches  of  Grapes  a  large  gold 
medal  is  offered  as  the  first  prize,  medium  gold  medal  second,  large 
silver  medal  third,  and  small  silver  medal  to  the  fourth  exhibit  in  order 
of  merit.  Prizes  of  £6,  £4,  £3,  and  £2  are  offered  for  nine  dishes  of 
fruit,  distinct.  We  trust  there  maybe  good  competition,  but  the  sun  is 
roasting  the  Roses — at  least  in  the  South. 
-  Wolverhampton  Flower  Show.— In  the  last  issue  of  the 
Journal  our  reporter  inadvertently  omitted  to  state  that  in  the  amateurs 
class  for  thirty -six  and  twenty-four  cut  Roses  the  Rev.  J.  H.  Pemberton, 
Havering-atte-Bower,  Essex,  was  awarded  the  first  prizes  for  collections 
of  fresh  and  shapely  examples  of  good  substance  generally,  whilst  Mr. 
H.  V.  Machin,  Worksop,  was  a  worthy  second-prize  man  in  the  same 
classes.  He  was  the  only  exhibitor  of  twelve  blooms  of  Tea  Roses,  and 
for  which  the  first  prize  was  awarded.  Mr.  Robert  Sydenham,  Tenby 
Street,  Birmingham,  exhibited  a  most  attractive  display  of  his  ” rustic 
silvered  table  ware,”  elegantly  dressed  with  Sweet  Peas  chiefly,  and 
sprays  of  Smiiax,  than  which  nothing  could  be  more  appropriate.  To 
the  ladies  especially  was  che  exhibit  an  object  of  much  admiration. 
Apropos:  of  the  number  of  single  Rose  blooms  exhibited,  it  was  a  some¬ 
what  singular  circumstance  that  there  were  1896,  corresponding  with 
the  year  in  which  the  show  was  held. 
-  The  Great  HeaT.— Great  heat  was  again  experienced  over 
England  on  Monday,  the  shade  temperature  being  well  above  80°  in 
most  of  the  inland  districts.  In  London,  where  the  maximum  reading 
was  as  high  as  85°,  Monday  made  the  ninth  day  this  month  on  which 
the  thermometer  had  reached  or  exceeded  80°.  So  far,  the  present  is 
undoubtedly  the  warmest  July  we  have  had  in  London  since  1881. 
Fifteen  years  ago  the  shade  temperature  in  July  rose  to  80°  or  more  on 
eleven  distinct  occasions,  the  extreme  maximum  of  95°  on  the  15lh 
being  the  highest  observed  in  the  Julys  of  the  past  twenty-five  years. 
Over  the  southern  parts  of  England  the  combinsd  effects  of  'neat  and 
drought  are  beginning  to  show  themselves  very  clearly,  not  only  on 
grass  lands,  but  also  upon  the  foliage  of  even  the  largest  and  most 
deeply  rooted  trees.  In  London  and  many  other  parts  of  our  southern 
counties  the  rainfall  of  the  present  month  amounts  to  a  mere  fraction 
of  the  average,  the  drought  being  still  most  severe  in  Devonshire  and 
Cornwall.  On  Monday  night  the  atmosphere  seemed  to  be  falling  into 
a  rather  unsettled  state,  but  the  signs  of  coming  rain  were  not  very 
distinct.— (‘‘  Daily  News.”) 
_  Public  Parks  and  Gardens.— These,  says  a  contemporary, 
frequently  show  the  results  of  too  much  alteration  of  the  original  confor¬ 
mation  of  the  ground  and  an  excessive  removal  of  trees  and  shiubs  from 
the  positions  in  which  Nature  planted  them.  This  is  so  in  England  and 
also  in  the  United  States,  for  Dr.  E.  E.  Hale  writes  in  the  ”  Pittsburg 
Dispatch”  ”  We  have  now  a  school  of  hybrid  landscape  gardeners  to 
whom  the  first  idea  is,  when  a  fine  piece  of  God’s  ?iork  is  given  into 
their  charge,  that  they  must  drain  it— and  subdrain  it— and  skim  off  the 
top  of  it,  and  substitute  for  Ferns,  and  grass,  and  moss,  and  wild  flowers, 
the  glories  of  asphalt  and  broken  stone.  Fortunately  for  us  in  America 
there  is  an  escape  from  all  this  nonsense.  You  have  only  to  say  that 
you  are  to  have  a  ‘  forest  ’  without  any  reference  to  the  ‘  park  ’  and  you 
may  give  to  the  people  all  the  joy  which  the  good  God  gives  in  his  open 
country,  and  you  need  have  none  of  the  fuss  and  red  tape  of  the  ‘  park 
garden.  In  a  forest  you  may  leave  the  beautiful  lines  which  Nature 
and  the  God  of  Nature  have  been  tracing  these  33,333,833,333,456  years 
seven  months  and  eight  days  since  the  day  when  the  latest  geology 
teaches  that  the  world  began  to  fly  in  a  separate  orbit.  But  if  you  have 
a  park  you  must  shave  off  this  pretty  bed  of  Anemones,  you  must  fill  in 
that  hollow,  and  cover  the  Trilliums  in  it,  you  must  cut  down  that  clump 
of  Elseagnus,  no  matter  if  it  be  the  only  clamp  within  twenty  miles, 
because  an  avenue  runs  that  way  on  the  plan.  But  if  you  call  your 
pleasure  ground  a  forest,  why,  the  trees  may  grow  just  where  they  were 
planted  and  as  they  were  planted.'* 
