300 
JOURNAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER. 
September  24,  1898. 
— —  PB^T8TEMOKS.~M6B8r8.  R.  Veitch  &  Son,  Exeter,  send  na 
flowers  of  their  strain  of  Pentstemona.  The  blooms  are  of  considerable 
size  and  substance,  while  the  colouration  ia  particularly  varied.  The 
plants  are  splendidly  flowered,  and  the  strain  is  evidently  one  worthy  of 
careful  trial.  The  specimena  were  grown  from  aeeda  sown  in  January. 
— —  Mushrooms  in  Abundance.— The  crop  of  Mushrooms  which 
has  resulted  since  the  rain  came  after  the  dry  summer  has  been  quite 
phenomenal,  in  many  districts  the  fields  being  literally  smothered  with 
them.  One  farmer,  says  the  “  Rural  World,”  owing  to  the  glut  in  the 
local  markets,  sent  a  large  consignment  to  London,  but  he  is  not  likely 
to  repeat  the  experiment,  the  cheque  in  return  being  a  little  less  than 
the  railway  freight.  There  ought,  however,  to  be  no  diflSculty  this 
season  in  getting  the  “  real  thing”  in  the  way  of  Mushroom  ketchup. 
-  Cosmos  bipinnata.— I  agree  with  « A.  D.”  (page  252)  that 
this  plant  has  beautifully  and  finely  cut  drooping  foliage,  and  for  light¬ 
ness  and  elegance  where  nought  but  greenery  is  desirable  is  all  that  can 
be  wished  ;  but  when,  however,  it  is  grown,  as  in  my  case,  to  produce 
blossoms  as  well  as  leaves,  and  be  an  ornament  to  the  garden  to  the 
extent  of  fifty  plants,  then  I  say  this  is  a  most  disappointing  subject. 
From  t^  8  plants  quoted  I  have  but  one  solitary  bloom—  -a  poor  result  in 
my  opinion,  and  one  not  encouraging  to  the  future  growth  of  this  annual. 
— E.  M. 
— —  A  Correction.— You  will  perhaps  allow  me  to  make  two 
corrections  of  flips  of  the  pen  occurring  in  the  notes  of  a  visit  to  Carton 
on  pages  2i8-9.  For  Hypericum  coris,  H.  calycinum  should  have  been 
written  ;  and  for  Clonsilla,  Leixlip  station  should  have  appeared. 
H.  calycinum  ia  admirably  suited  for  the  purpose  to  which  it  is  applied 
At  Carton  Park  ;  but  to  those  who  know  the  little  Heath-like  H.  coris 
it  would  be  evident  that  there  was  a  mistake  somewhere.  The  little 
station  of  Leixlip  showed  so  much  love  of  flowers  on  the  part  of  its 
courteous  station  master  that  I  regret  a  s'ip  of  the  pen  which  gives  to 
another  any  praise  so  justly  due  to  him. — S.  Arnott. 
-  Keep  off  the  Grass. — The  Duke  of  Norfolk  entertained  a 
Catholic  League  excursion  party  from  South  London,  some  1200  strong, 
at  Arundel  Park,  recently,  and  presided  over  the  dinner.  Before  dinner 
a  rather  funny  incident  occurred.  Warnings  to  keep  ofli  the  grass  were 
much  in  evidence,  and  were  generally  obeyed.  One  person,  in  a  soft 
felt  bat  and  reefer  jacket,  was  observed  crossing  the  sward,  Come  cff 
the  grass,”  said  a  woman  sharply,  ”  ’Tis  the  likes  of  you  that  gets  poor 
people  a  bad  name.  Can’t  you  see  it’s  forbidden  7”  The  pfcrscn  went 
on  smiling,  but  the  woman’s  surprise  was  laughable  to  see  when  she 
found  at  the  dinner  she  had  been  abusing  the  duke  himself. 
*  Torquay  Gardeners’  Association. — We  have  been  favoured 
with  a  copy  of  the  programme  of  this  Association’s  winter  session.  This 
is  reproduced  below,  and  the  subjects,  as  will  be  seen,  are  varied  and 
useful  to  the  craft.  Programme,  189G — 97.  The  meetings  will  he  held 
in  the  Abbey  Road  Lecture  Hall,  at  8  P.M.  Lady  subscribers  to  the 
funds  of  the  Association  may  be  admitted.  The  library  is  open  to 
members  free.  Friday,  October  2nd,  Dr.  R.  Hamilton  Ramsay ;  Presi¬ 
dential  address.  Friday,  October  16th,  Mr.  T.  Viccars,  F.G.S.,  Principal 
of  Torquay  Public  College,  will  lecture  on  “The  World’s  Water 
System.”  Wednesday,  October  28th,  Grand  Chrysanthemum  show  at 
the  Bath  saloons.  Members  will  be  admitted  free.  Lecture  on  “  The 
Chrysanthemum  at  Home  and  Abroad,”  with  special  lime-light  illustra¬ 
tions,  by  Mr.  Fred  C.  Smale.  Friday,  November  13ih,  Mr.  W.  H.  Veale, 
of  The  Elms  (Mrs.  C.  Ichabod  Wright),  ‘’Chrysanthemums:  Howto 
Grow  Big  Blooms.”  Friday,  November  27ih,  Mr.  H.  R.  Jone?,  of 
Kya  Lami  (F.  P.  T.  Struben,  Esq.),  “Apples  and  other  Hardy  Fruits.” 
Friday,  December  lltb,  Mr.  R.  W.  Hodder,  of  Ponsonby  (Mrs.  Trevor 
Barkley),  “  Soils  and  Manures.”  1897.— The  fifth  annual  dinner  will 
be  held  early  in  January.  Due  notice  of  date,  &c.,  will  be  given. 
Friday,  January  loth,  Chas.  H.  Wade,  Eeq.,  M  A.,  D.P.H.,  F.G.S.,  will 
lecture  on  "  Parasitism  in  the  Vegetable  World.  ”  Friday,  January  29ib, 
Mr.  J.  Kiiton  of  Frogmore  (Rev.  0.  C.  Huntley),  “Culture  of 
Gloxinias.”  Friday,  February  12th,  Mr.  H.  A.  Garrett,  Borough 
Surveyor,  “Public  Gardens.”  Friday,  February  26tb,  Mr.  G.  Lee  of 
Upt3n  Leigh  (Miss  Lavers),  “Orchid  Growing  :  Notes  on  the  Culture 
of  Ccelogynes  and  Pleiones,”  (fourth  paper).  Friday,  March  12ih,  Mr. 
J.  Sloman  of  Braddon  Tor  (Major-General  H.  St.  George  Tucker,  C.B  ), 
“Pot  Culture  of  Spring-blooming  Bulbs.”  Wednesday,  March  24h,’ 
grand  spring  flower  show  will  be  held  about  this  date.  Friday, 
March  26th,  Mr.  W.  French  of  Grove  Gardens,  “  Narcissi  and  DaSodils.” 
The  fifth  annual  meeting  for  election  of  oflScers,  Committee,  &c.,  will  be 
held  at  the  conclusion  of  the  session.  Due  notice  of  date  will  be  given. 
The  Hon.  Secretary  is  Mr.  F.  C.  Smale,  laaline.  Avenue  Road,  Torquay. 
I  - Vegetables  at  the  Royal  Aquarium. — “  D.”  (page  272>> 
cannot  have  perused  the  prize  schedule  of  the  N.C.S.  ox  he  would  know 
who  the  judges  appointed  for  the  task  in  November  are.  For  the- 
information  of  “  D.”  I  give  the  names  as  copied  from  the  schedule — 
namely,  Mr,  G.  Reynolds,  Gunnersbury  ;  and  Mr.  G.  Wythes,  Syoni 
House,  Now  “  D.”  can  decide  in  his  own  mind  if  the  adjudicators 
are  likely  to  be  correct,  or  perhaps  he  would  like  to  suggest  to  the 
Committee  others  more  competent  (to  himself).— Nous  Vereons. 
-  Death  of  an  Orchid  Collector.  —  It  is  with  regret  we 
learn  that  Mr.  Richard  Carnow,  one  of  the  most  successful  of  Messrs- 
H.  Low  &  Co.’s  Orchid  collectors,  died  on  his  way  home  on  August 
26th.  Mr.  Curnow  had  been  in  the  service  of  the  Clapton  firm  for 
twenty-two  years,  and  of  that  per’od  had  spent  nineteen  in  travellings 
in  various  countries  for  Orchids  and  new  plants.  He  contracted 
malarial  fever  about  three  months  ago,  and  was  returning  to  England 
during  his  convalescence,  but  succumbed  to  a  paralytic  stroke  on  the 
date  named. 
-  Spawning  Pastures  foe  Mushrooms. — I  was  interested  in 
a  note  by  “  A.  D.,”  on  page  253  of  the  Journal  of  Horticulture,  in  which 
he  says,  “  What  is  needed  is  that  spawning  of  the  best  pastures  for 
Mushroom  production  should  not  be,  as  it  were,  left  to  chance,  but  be 
done  artificially,  so  as  to  secure  constant  crops.”  Now,  as  one  of  your 
readers,  I  should  be  pleased  if  “A.  D.”  would  enlighten  me  as  to  the 
best  wsy  to  do  this.  Several  years  ago  we  went  to  considerable  expense 
with  one  of  our  pastures  with  spawning  it  in  the  spring  of  the  year, 
but  there  were  no  more  Mushrooms  than  usual  appeared  in  the  autumn. 
Probably  we  did  not  go  to  work  ia  the  right  way,  so  should  like  “  A.  D.’” 
to  explain. — I.  G. 
-  The  Choice  of  Apples. — “An  Old  Provincial  Judge”  on 
page  272  gives  some  sound  advice  on  this  subject.  I  regard  it  as  a  great 
m'stake  to  plant  too  many  sorts  of  Apples  in  quantity  of  each  before 
first  proving  their  suitableness  for  the  soil  and  locality.  Too  man^ 
persons  there  are  who,  when  they  have  say  fifty  trees  to  plant,  select 
almost  as  many  sorts.  Now,  if  they  could  first  ascertain  by  some  meana 
which  are  desirable  in  the  particular  neighbourhood ,  so  many  failures 
could  not  be  chronicled.  In  alluding  to  Lord  Suffield  being  but  an 
enlarged  Keswick  Codlin,  I  gather  “  An  Old  Provincial  Judge  ”  looks 
upon  the  latter  as  superior  to  the  former.  In  some  gardens  one  will 
flourish  while  the  other  will  fail.  Certainly  for  market  purposes  Keswick 
Codlin  fails  to  be  appreciated,  while  Lord  Suffield  is  much  sought  after 
by  the  fruiterers  in  the  early  part  of  the  Apple  season.  With  me  neither 
is  a  success,  both  give  us  fair  crops.  I  have  supplanted  both  by  Lord 
Grosvenor,  which  succeeds,  I  may  say,  gloriously  in  our  romewhat  heavy 
soil.  Of  all  early  Apples  for  kitchen  use  I  prefer  this,  but  it  is  a  long 
way  from  being  well  enough  known. — E.  M. 
-  Dry  Periods.  —  We  take  the  following  from  “  Symons’a 
Meteorological  Magazine  ”  for  September  “  Dnder  date  of  August  lat,. 
Mr.  G,  J.  Symons  wrote  to  ‘  The  Times  ’  pointing  out  that  at  Camden 
Square — (1)  The  rainfall  of  the  first  seven  months  of  1896  (8  27  inche8>’ 
is  only  60  per  cent,  of  the  average  for  the  thirty-seven  years — 1359-95. 
(2)  Oat  of  the  thirty-eight  years,  1859-96,  there  are  only  eight  in  which 
the  fall  for  the  first  seven  months  did  not  exceed  10  inches,  only  three 
of  these  cases  occurring  in  the  first  twenty-eight  years  of  the  period, 
while  five  cases  occur  in  the  last  ten  years.  (3)  The  average  for  the 
first  seven  mouths  during  the  twenty-eight  years,  1859-86,  is  14  24  inches, 
while  during  the  ten  years,  1887-96,  it  is  only  11’65  inches.  (4)  There 
has  been  no  month  since  1880  with  a  rainfall  exceeding  5  inches,  or 
with  a  fall  of  thrice  the  average.  Commenting  on  the  above,  Mr.  James 
M .  Fraser  of  Lochmaddy,  in  the  Hebrides,  writes — ‘  The  average  rainfall 
for  the  first  eight  months  of  the  twelve  years,  1834-95,  inclusive,  is 
27  78  inches.  This  year  the  total  for  the  first  eight  months  is  34  86  inches. 
Again,  though  the  average  for  the  first  eight  months,  1884-89,  inclusive, 
is  25’46  inches,  the  average  for  the  first  eight  months,  1890-95,  inclusive, . 
is  SO  11  inches.  These  figures  show  that  there  is  a  heavy  yearly  increase 
in  the  rainfall  in  tbis  district  in  the  first  eight  months  in  each  year. 
I  mention  this  with  special  reference  to  your  ccmmunication  to  the 
“  Times  ”  about  the  beginning  of  August,  on  the  increasing  deficiency  in 
the  rainfall  in  the  London  district  in  the  early  months  of  the  past 
number  of  years.  My  figures  are  from  a  table  which  I  carefully  pre¬ 
pared,  and  I  only  regret  that  my  records  do  not  go  further  back  than 
1884.  It  is  strange  that  the  London  deficiency  should  be  made  up  here 
— the  opposite  extreme  of  the  kingdom.’  This  is  not  the  first  time  that 
attention  has  been  called  to  a  deficiency  in  one  part  of  the  United 
Kingdom,  extending  over  several  years,  being,  in  a  sense,  compensated- 
by  a  similar  excess  in  another  district.” 
