194 
JOURNAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER. 
August  2(),  1897. 
Weather  in  London. — Lain  has  fallen  at  frecjuent  intervals  on 
almost  every  day  of  the  past  week,  and  at  times  the  showers  have  been 
very  heavy  indeed.  Tuesday  was  perhaps  the  worst  day,  as  it  rained 
almost  without  cessation  from  eight  o’clock  in  the  morning  until  after 
midday.  Wednesday  morning  was  cool  and  dry,  rain  falling  heavily  later. 
-  Gardening  Appointments. — Mr.  Geo.  Ilollingworth,  for 
some  time  gardener  to  Lord  Tredegar,  Tredegar  Tark,  Newport,  Mon., 
has  1  een  appointed  in  a  similar  capacity  to  Miss  Talbot,  ^Margam  Lark, 
Port  Talbot,  Glamorgan,  in  succession  to  Air.  J.  Muir,  who,  we  believe, 
has  been  made  assistant  agent.  Mr.  J.  Bannerman  has  been  appointed 
gardener  to  J.  Lawrence,  Escp,  Oakland,  Kenley,  Surrey. 
-  Shirley,  Millbrook,  and  Freemantle  Horticultural 
Society.  The  thirt3’’-second  annual  Exhibition  of  the  above  Society 
was  held  on  the  18th  inst.  in  Whithedwood  Park,  Shirley,  Southampton, 
kindly  lent  by  W.  Perkins,  Esq.,  J.P.  The  entries  were  over  600,  and 
the  exhibits  were  staged  in  two  large  marquees.  The  quality  of  the 
exhibits  was  high,  and  the  attendance  a  record  one. 
-  Outdoor  Tomatoes. — When  visiting  the  well-kept  gardens 
of  K.  Wingfield,  Esq  ,  Ampthill  House,  Bedfordshire,  I  was  much  struck 
with  the  Tomatoes  Mr.  Empson  had  planted  round  the  outside  of  the 
several  houses  in  a  southern  aspect.  The  plants  have  made  splendid  growth 
and  are  carrying  superb  crops  of  fruit,  especially  good  being  Chiswick 
Bed,  Polegate,  Hackwood  Park,  and  last  but  not  least  Viceroy,  a  variety 
which  should  be  much  more  largely  grown.  In  one  of  the  houses  a 
plant  of  Stephanotis  floribunda  was  one  sheet  of  bloom. — J.  H.  L. 
-  National  Chrysanthemum  Society. —  A  meeting  of  the 
General  Committee  of  this  Society  was  held  on  Alonday  evening  last  at 
Anderton’s  Hotel,  Fleet  Street,  when  Mr.  T.  W.  Sanders  occupied  the 
chair.  The  minutes  of  the  previous  meeting  having  been  read  and 
confirmed,  and  various  correspondence  disposed  of,  it  was  announced  by 
the  Secretary  that  a  vote  of  condolence  had  been  forwarded  to  the  family 
of  the  late  IVIr.  Robert  Owen,  who  it  will  be  remembered  died  suddenly 
somewhat  early  in  the  year.  Owing  to  this  sad  event  a  vacancy 
on  the  Floral  Committee  was  created,  and  it  was  resolved  that 
Mr.  Gleeson  be  apppointed  to  fill  the  vacancy.  The  Secretary 
feported  as  to  the  annual  outing  last  month,  which  was  described 
as  a  successful  and  interesting  excursion.  Respecting  the  early 
show  of  Chrysanthemums,  Dahlias,  and  Gladioli,  to  be  held  next  month, 
it  was  resolved  that  medals  of  the  Society'  be  awarded  to  miscellaneous 
exhibits  in  the  same  wa^’  as  at  the  other  shows.  Twenty-five  new 
members  were  elected,  and  the  Higham  Hill  and  Walthamstow  and  the 
Barnstaple  Societies  were  admitted  in  affiliation.  There  was  a  fiiir 
attendance  of  members  for  the  time  of  year. 
-  Portulagas  .41’  Beading.— The  most  brilliant  display  of 
these  truly  lovely  fiowering  summer  annuals  I  have  ever  seen  is  now 
open  to  view  to  anyone  in  Messrs.  Sutton  &  Sons’ London  Road  Nursery, 
Reading.  Hitherto  their  show  of  these  flowers  has  been  restricted  to  an 
18-inch  margin,  just  within  the  nursery.  This  year  they  have  a  border 
6  feet  wide  and  some  120  feet  long  farther  into  the  nursery,  literally 
covered  with  single  and  double  varieties,  and  when  1  saw  the  mass  on  a 
bright  sunny  day  recently  it  presented  the  loveliest  of  floral  beds  that 
could  anywhere  be  seen.  Those  who  know  Portulacas,  know  also  what 
singularly  beautiful  hues  are  found  in  the  flowers.  No  matter  whether 
double  or  single,  although  1  prefer  the  singles,  there  ai’e  the  whites, 
creams,  yellows,  apricots,  roses,  carmines,  magentas,  scarlets,  crimsons, 
and  others  not  easy  to  describe.  Then,  too,  it  was  alwaj's  a  traditional 
aspect  of  the  raising  of  Portulacas  that  seed  be  sown  in  shallow  pans 
in  warmth  under  glass,  the  little  plants  later  being  pricked  out  into 
other  pans  to  give  growing  room,  then  finally'  transplanted  into  the  open 
ground.  A  maximum  of  trouble  was  thus  given,  and  oftentimes  with 
great  damping  off  as  a  result.  The  Messrs.  Sutton  k  Sons  have  practi¬ 
cally  killed  that  objectionable  tradition,  for  they  sow  seed  in  shallow 
drills  on  a  warm  border  at  the  end  of  April,  keep  the  surface  clean  and 
moist.  If  the  plants  be  too  thick  they  may  be  somewhat  thinned,  but  if 
sown  n  ith  care  no  trouble  on  that  head  w'ill  be  given,  and  very  soon  one 
of  the  loveliest  conceivable  of  floral  carpets  will  be  found. — D. 
-  Veitch’s  Main  Crop  Pea. — This  splendid  midseason  Pea 
has  undoubtedly  come  to  stay,  and  should  speedily  secure  a  place  in 
many  gardens.  The  plant  is  of  robust  constitution,  produces  heavy  crops 
of  large  pods,  and  only  attains  a  height  of  3  feet.  In  fact,  it  supplies 
what  we  have  long  reejuired — viz.,  a  main  crop  Pea  of  dwarf  habit, 
possessing  at  the  same  time  all  the  good  qualities  of  the  taller  growing 
varieties.  In  addition,  Veitch’s  Main  Crop  withstands  drought  better 
than  any  variety  I  am  acquainted  with,  notwithstanding  the  fact  that 
the  present  season  has  put  it  to  a  severe  test. — H.  D. 
-  Shirley  Gardeners’  Association. — The  monthly  meeting 
was  held  at  the  Parish  Room,  Shirley,  on  Alonday,  the  16th  inst.,  when 
Mr.  B.  Ladhams,  F.B.H.S.,  presided.  Mr.  S.  Heaton,  F.B.H.S.,  lecturer 
for  the  Isle  of  Wight  County  Council,  gave  an  address  on  the  diseases  of 
plants.  The  lecturer  dealt  with  the  subject  under  three  headings  — 
namely,  parasitic  and  insect  attacks  ;  second,  deleterious  gases  in  the  air 
or  otherwise  produced  so  as  to  affect  nutrition  ;  and  third,  a  redundancy 
or  deficiency  of  air,  light,  moisture,  and  w  armth. 
-  Big  Gooseberry  Competition. — A  novel  competition,  which 
may  be  regarded  as  an  appropriate  incident  in  this  the  “Big  Gooseberry” 
season,  was  held  last  week  by  Messrs.  Stuart  &  Mein,  seed  merchants 
and  nurserymen,  Kelso,  when  the^’  awarded  a  handsome  gold  medal  to 
the  one  of  their  customers  who  sent  them  the  heaviest  and  biggest 
Gooseberry.  The  firm,  who  make  a  speciality  of  Gooseberries,  invited 
their  customers  to  forward  the  largest  berries  they  had,  a  large  and  highly 
successful  exhibition  being  the  result.  The  champion  Gooseberry  was  a 
specimen  of  Ringer,  a  deep  olive-green  skinned  variety,  weighing  22  dwt. 
The  grower  was  Mr.  T.  E.  Aliddleton,  Radcliffe-on-Trent.  Numerous 
specimens,  weighing  17  to  20  dwt.,  came  from  the  well-known  prize 
Gooseberry  growers’ districts  in  Lancashire  and  Cheshire,  several  from 
Yorkshire,  Nottinghamshire,  Staffordshire,  and  one  from  Macduff  in  the 
north  of  Scotland.  The  heaviest  berries  were  Ringer,  Bobby,  London, 
I.ord  Derby,  and  Queen  of  Trumps.  Growers  complain  that  owing  to  the 
dryness  of  the  season  berries  in  size  and  quality  are  hardly  up  to  the 
average  this  year.—  (“  Kelso  Mail.”) 
-  Renovating  Herbaceous  Beds. — Many  plants  have  such  a 
tendency  to  increase  by  suckers  from  the  roots  and  form  dense  mats 
or  clumps,  that  the  soil  is  often  overtaxed  to  supply  sufficient  nourish¬ 
ment.  In  most  cases  it  is  best  to  dig  up  the  beds,  divide  and  replant 
them,  selecting  the  younger  and  healthy  divisions.  The  w’riter  has  in 
mind,  in  this  connection,  instances  of  beds  of  Achillea  millefolium 
rubrum.  Aster  tataricus,  Helianthus  Maximiliani  and  mollis.  In  some 
cases  of  the  larger  growing  kinds  it  was  found  satisfactory,  says 
“  Meehan’s  Monthly,”  to  hoe  out  the  plants  in  10  to  12  inch  paths  through 
the  bed,  early  in  the  summer.  This  relieves  the  plants,  and  the  growth 
generally  will  fill  out  in  a  short  time,  so  that  the  mass  effect  will  be 
undisturbed.  The  Sempervivum,  or  House-leek,  is  a  freejuent  example  of 
this  overcrowding.  Each  mature  plant  produces  several  offsets  on 
comparatively  short  stems  each  season.  As  these  offsets  mature  and 
develop  their  offsets,  all  parts  being  thick  and  fleshy,  there  is  but  one 
natural  consequence.  Replanting  of  these  may  be  done  at  any  time, 
using  large  or  small  shoots.  Although  having  little  root,  the  succulent 
leaves  and  stems  make  the  transplanting  perfectly  sure.  Thinning  them 
out  will,  in  most  cases,  answ'er  as  w’ell  as  taking  up  the  bed. 
-  Securing  F'ruit. -  1  read  with  much  interest  your  article  on 
“Fruit  Growing  and  Selling,”  page  164,  but,  to  my  mind,  such  a  season 
as  the  present,  of  far  greater  importance  would  it  be  to  tell  your  readers 
how  to  secure  a  crop  of  fruit.  Personally,  1  am  only  an  amateur  with  a 
comparatively  small  walled-in  town  garden,  but  1  have  within  the  past  few 
months  been  about  pretty  much,  not  only  in  Ireland,  but  in  England, 
and  my  position  of  almost  fruitless  Pears,  Plums,  Cherries,  Nectarines, 
and  Apricots  in  the  open  air  is  almost  the  rule  wherever  I  went  in  some 
of  the  best  managed  gardens  in  Great  Britain.  I  and  manj-  otfiers  would 
therefore  thank  you  or  any  of  your  numerous  readers  and  correspondents 
who  could  give  any  practical  hints  for  securing  better  crops.  It  is  not  the 
soil,  for  other  years  my  trees  had  heavy  crops.  It  is  not  the  varieties, 
for  I  have  about  twenty  varieties  of  Pears,  and  a  dozen  of  Plunu*,  equally 
deficient,  and  so  of  (  berries.  I  can  hardly  admit  it  is  mismanagement, 
for  1  have  had  good  crops  other  years,  as  already  stated,  but  I  am  alwaj’s 
glad  to  learn.  I  cannot  say  precisely  what  the  immediate  cause  of 
failure  has  been  this  year,  but  I  think  here  there  have  been  two  main 
causes,  if  not  more.  1,  Root  drought  and  imperfect  nutrition  last  year  ; 
and  2,  an  unfortunate  spell  of  frost  at  night,  just  as  most  of  the  aforesaid 
fruit  trees  were  in  blossom,  with  the  result  of  destruction  of  the  organs  of 
fructification. — W.  J.  Murphy,  Clonmel. 
