560 
JOUR^\AL  OR  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER. 
-  ,T 
})eceaib«  lO,  1896. 
for  »  moment,  or  when  the  wording  of  the  schedule  is  distinctly  trans 
gressed  (in  which  case  they  have  no  optioB).”i  The  italics  are  in 
the  code..  The  negative  indicates  the  positive  clearly  enough,  for 
the  natural  corollary  is  that  they  must  not  disqualify  in  the  absence  of 
a  clear  “  intention  to  deceive,”  or  if  the  “  wording  ”  of  the  schedule  is 
not  infringed. 
We  think  our  correspondent  has  arrived  at  his  verdict  in  the  absence 
of  material  evidence — the  York  schedule,  and  so  far  the  “majority”  is 
against  him — good  man  though  he  be.] 
Weather  in  London,— The  dull  weather  that  prevailed  at 
the  time  of  going  to  press  last  Wednesday  culminated  on  the  evening  of 
that  day  in  rain,  which  continued  at  intervals  over  Thursday  and  Friday. 
On  the  latter  day  it  was  accompanied  by  very  high  wind.  Eain  fell 
on  Sunday  morning,  but  the  sun  shone  in  the  afternoon.  Monday  was 
finer,  with  a  frosty  night,  but  rain  came  again  on  Tuesday.  To-day 
(Wednesday)  it  is  wet. 
- Northern  Weather. — Following  the  sharp  frost  of  the  30th 
ult.  and  the  Ist  inst.  there  has  been  a  return  to  dull,  cold  weather  with 
easterly  winds.  Several  days  have  been  showery,  and  some  evenings 
very  wet,  while  there  was  an  inclination  to  frost  on  the  mornings  of 
Sunday  and  Tuesday,  followed  in  both  instances  by  rain.  —  B.  D., 
S.  Perththire. 
- Koyal  Horticultural  Society. — The  next  Fruit  and  Floral 
meeting  of  the  Royal  Horticultural  Society  will  be  held  in  the  Drill  Hall, 
James  Street,  Westminster,  on  Tuesday,  December  16th,  1  to  4  p.M. 
New  Fellows  will  be  elected  at  three  o’clock. 
— —  Fruit  Committee. — May  I  ask  you  to  be  so  kind  as  to  allow 
me  the  use  of  your  columns  to  ask  the  members  of  the  Fruit  Committee 
to  come  to  the  next  meeting  on  December  16th,  prepared  to  revise  the 
pamphlet  “  Fruits  for  Cottagers,”  published  in  1892  ?  About  65,000 
copies  have  been  distributed,  and  a  new  edition  is  now  wanted,  and 
the  expediency  of  revision  has  been  suggested. — W.  WiLKs,  Sec. 
-  Poultry  and  Caterpillars. — A  correspondent,  in  sending 
the  following  paragraph  from  “  Science  Siftings,”  observes  that  it  may 
not  always  be  advisable  to  use  poultry  as  caterpillar  destroyers,  and 
suspects  that,  under  certain  atmospheric  conditions,  the  juices  of  some 
caterpillars  become  poisonous  if  eaten  by  birds  in  quantity  : — 
“  M.  Giraud  notes  a  fact  that  merits  the  attention  of  poultry  farmers. 
He  has  observed  numerous  cases  of  poisoning  in  ducks  following  their 
feeding  on  caterpillars,  especially  those  of  the  cabbage  moth.  After 
from  six  to  twenty  hours,  according  to  the  number  of  caterpillars 
eaten,  poisoning  manifests  itself  by  loss  of  appetite,  great  weakness, 
tottering  steps,  accompanied  sometimes  by  symptomatic  movements, 
finally  by  diflScalty  of  breathing  and  often  death,  after  an  agony  of 
variable  duration,  during  which  the  beak  and  claws  grow  pale.  The 
lesions  disclosed  by  an  autopsy  consist  chiefiy  in  an  inflammation  of 
the  digestive  passages.  The  disease  is  not  always  fatal.” 
- A  Silver  Banksian  Medal  for  Allotment  Culture.— 
The  Council  of  the  Royal  Horticultural  Society  has  very  kindly,  through 
its  Secretary,  the  Rev .  W.  Wilks,  presented  to  the  Technical  Education 
Committee  of  the  Surrey  County  Council,  a  silver  Banksian  medal  for 
presentation  to  Mr.  Harvey  Hopkins  of  Carshalton,  an  ex-policeman, 
whose  finely  cropped  and  cultivated  allotment  received  the  highest 
number  of  marks  of  all  the  allotments  judged  last  summer  by  the 
County  Council’s  horticultural  instructors.  The  medal  will,  we  under¬ 
stand,  shortly  be  presented  to  the  recipient  at  a  public  function,  to  be 
attended  by  Mr.  E.  J.  Halsey,  J.P.,  Chairman  of  the  County  Council, 
Mr.  Cosmo  Bonsor,  M.P.,  and  other  gentlemen.  This  act  on  the  part  of 
the  B.H.S.  to  some  extent  marks  a  new  departure,  and  an  excellent  one^ 
obviously  capable  of  extension  to  other  County  Councils,  which,  like 
that  of  Surrey,  give  special  encouragement  to  both  allotment  and 
cottage  garden  culture  in  their  respective  areas.  It  would  add  immense 
interest  to  such  work  no  doubt  were  one  of  these  medals  annually 
awarded,  and  they  might,  perhaps,  be  given  to  allotments  and  cottage 
gardens  alternately.  Once  well  known  there  could  be  no  doubt  but  that 
competitions  for  the  medals  would  be  very  great,  and  superior  cultivation 
consequently  promoted.  The  Royal  Horticultural  Society  can  make 
its  influence  for  good  widely  known  in  the  direction  indicated. 
- The  Agricultural  Rates  Act, — Magisterial  decisions  have 
been  arrived  at  at  Norwich  and  Wandsworth  to  the  effect  that  green¬ 
houses  erected  in  market  gardens  are  for  the  purposes  of  the  Act 
regarded  as  “  land,”  and  that  the  occupants  are,  therefore,  entitled  to 
the  same  reduction  in  rates  as  are  occupiers  of  agricultural  land. 
-  Royal  Meteorological  Society.— At  the  ordinary  meeting 
of  the  Society,  to  be  held  at  Great  George  Street,  Westminster,  on 
Wednesday,  the  16th  instant,  at  7.30  P.M.,  the  following  papers  will  be 
read  ; — “An  attempt  to  Determine  Velocity  Equivalents  of  Wind-Forces 
estimated  by  Beaufort’s  Scale,”  by  Richard  H.  Curtis,  F.R.Met.Soc. 
“The  Winter  Climate  of  Egypt,”  by  H.  E.  Leigh  Canney,  M.D., 
F. R.Met.Soc. 
-  National  Amateur  Gardeners’  Association.  —  At  the 
meeting  of  this  Society  at  the  Memorial  Hall,  Farringdon  Street,  on 
2nd  inst.,  a  lecture  was  given  by  Mr.  E.  T.  Cook  on  “Some  Ways  of 
Making  Gardens  Beautiful,”  illustrated  by  many  charming  views  shown 
by  oxy-hydrogen  light.  The  views  showed  how  much  is  lost  to  gardeners 
by  not  grouping  the  plants  more,  and  paying  more  attention  to  the 
treatment  of  shrubs  in  parks; 
-  Corrugated  Iron. — Seeing  on  page  660  that  you  invite 
readers  to  give  their  experience  of  using  the  above,  1  take  the  oppor¬ 
tunity  to  send  you  one  or  two  facts.  Whilst  at  Torquay  we  grew  Melons 
on  one  side  of  a  span-roofed  house.  A  ridge  of  soil  was  put  up  about 
16  inches  wide,  and  the  same  in  depth,  on  corrugated  iron  sheets,  no 
drainage  being  used,  the  sheets  being  slightly  sloped  to  each  end  from 
the  middle  to  take  off  surplus  water.  Nothing  whatever  was  placed 
between  the  sheets  and  soil,  and  no  injurious  effects  resulted ;  in 
fact,  the  four  years  that  I  was  there,  the  crops  each  year  were  a  perfect 
success.— J.  Wilkinson. 
-  Edgbaston  Gardeners’  Mutual  Improvement  Associa¬ 
tion. — The  second  annual  dinner  of  this  recently  formed  Society  took 
place  on  Thursday  last,  when  some  fifty  persons  sat  down  to  a  sumptuous 
repast.  Mr.  G.  Jevons  occupied  the  chair,  and  Mr.  G.  H.  Jevons  the  vice¬ 
chair.  The  Secretary  (Mr.  W.  Groves)  read  a  short  report.  The  Society, 
he  said,  consisted  of,  up  to  the  present  time,  forty  male  members  and  ten 
female  members  ;  the  former  paid  in  2d.  per  week,  and  the  latter  l^d., 
and  drew  3b.  and  Is.  6d.  respectively  as  a  dividend.  He  sincerely 
hoped  the  number  of  members  would  be  doubled  by  the  time  of  their 
next  dinner,  also  that  it  was  in  contemplation  to  include  lectures  and 
discussions  upon  matters  horticultural  at  future  periodical  meetings. 
Songs  and  recitations  formed  a  part  of  the  recent  convivial  assembly. 
-  A  Garden  in  the  Isle  of  Wight.— It  is  quite  true  that 
many  of  our  clergymen  make  excellent  amateur  gardeners,  and  take 
special  interest  In  one  or  two  things.  I  recently  had  occasion  to  call  on 
Mr.  Ewbank,  St.  John’s  Vicarage,  Ryde,  where  I  was  delighted  with  the 
admirable  arrangements  of  thousands  of  herbaceous  plants  that  find  a 
home.  During  the  summer  a  visit  to  this  garden  will  amply  repay  any¬ 
one  interested  in  horticulture.  At  present  there  is  a  grand  display  of 
the  gaudy  coloured  Schizostylis  coccinea,  whilst  here  and  there,  in  the 
sheltered  nooks,  an  Iris  will  unfold  its  blooms,  one  of  which  I  received. 
In  this  garden  plants  of  the  New  Zealand  Flax  (Phormium  tenax)  grow 
luxuriantly  without  the  shelter  afforded  them  in  the  North  of  England. 
There  is  also  a  huge  plant  of  a  Poinciana  raised  from  a  fourpenny  packet 
of  seed,  which,  contrary  to  general  opinion,  grows  and  blooms  profusely 
in  the  open  air  ;  whilst  an  Exogonium  and  a  Mandevilla  cover  a  large 
portion  of  the  front  part  of  the  house,  the  former  not  yet  deprived  of  all 
its  magnificent  purple  coloured  flowers. — S.  IJeaton. 
- Wakefield  Paxton  Society. — Programme  of  Meetings  for 
the  Fourth  Quarter,  Session  1896-97. — December  12th,  “Cities  of 
Modern  Europe,”  illustrated  by  lantern  slides;  Mr.  A.  S.  Nicholson 
December  19th,  “  The  Exotic  Fernery  Mr.  W.  H.  Vere.  Dec.  26th 
Musical  Evening  by  the  Wakefield  Harmonic  Society.  1897. — 
January  2nd,  “A  Chat  on  Small  Birds  (Finches),”  illustrated;  Mr. 
G.  Parkin.  January  9th,  “  Soils  and  their  Management ;”  Mr.  J.  L. 
Pickard,  Leeds.  January  16th,  “  Natural  History  Myth  and  Mystery,” 
illustrated  by  lantern  slides ;  Major  Norwood.  January  23rd,  “  Rambling 
and  Scrambline  amongst  the  Alps,”  illustrated  by  lantern  slides  ;  Mr. 
J.  W.  McPherson,  B.A.  January  30th,  “  A  Visit  to  a  Dutch  Bulb  Farm  ;” 
Mr.  A.  H.  Pearson,  Chilwell  Nurseries.  February  6th,  “  Man  and  Mother 
Nature;”  Rev.  A.  Chalmers.  February  13th,  “  The  Use  of  Plants  and 
Flowers  in  Art,”  illustrated  by  lantern  slides  ;  Mr.  J.  Swire.  Feb.  20th. 
"Mimicry  of  Nature;”  Mr.  G.  Bott.  February  27th,  “All  About  a 
Daisy  Mr.  A.  E.  Benney,  Bradford.  March  6th,  annual  meeting.— 
G.  W.  Fallas,  T.  H,  Mountain,  Hon,  Scot. 
