530 
JOURNAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER. 
June  29,  1899. 
Away  from  the  Iris  borders  proper  was  noticed  an  Iris  species  with 
tou^h,  leathery,  stra]>shaped  leaves  (not  in  bloom)  yielding  a  pro¬ 
nounced  odour  of  beef;  and  a  fine  clump  of  the  Plum-scented  Iris 
prismatica  bure  its  blooms  modestly  concealed  in  a  thicket  of  long, 
narrow  foliage.  Many  a  charming  alpine  or  hardy  shrub  was  in  blonm 
and  beauty ;  but,  satisfied  for  the  nonce  with  a  walk  and  talk  through 
the  Dornden  Irises,  we  “hiked”  back  to  breakfast. — K. 
Recent  A\  eather  in  London. — A  return  of  hot  weather  to  the 
metropolis  is  not  generally  appreciated,  and  on  Monday  and  Tuesday 
the  heat  was  intense.  In  the  afternoon  of  the  former  day  it  was 
particularly  oppressive.  On  Wednesday  morning  it  was  close  and  dull. 
A  Shoreditch  Playground. — A  small  plot  of  ground  in 
Ivy  Street,  Shoreditch,  was  recently  opened,  and  the  thickly  populated 
district  obtains  a  recreation  ground.  The  area  is  one  fifth  of  an  acre, 
and  the  London  County  Council  paid  £2100  for  it.  A  few  small  shrub¬ 
beries  have  been  made,  but  the  rest  of  the  land  has  been  paved  and  will 
be  used  as  a  gymnasium.  The  cost  of  the  necessary  work  and  apparatus 
is  £920. 
Death  of  Mr.  T.  W.  Girdlestone. — Everyone  will  be  sorry 
to  hear  that  Mr.  1.  W.  Girdlestone  of  Sunningdale,  very  well  known  to 
rosarians,  and  also  as  President  of  the  Dahlia  Society,  died  on  Sunday  of 
the  complaint  named  apendicitis,  sinking  after  an  operation  undertaken 
to  relieve  the  pain  from  which  he  was  suffering.  Mr.  Girdlestone’s  name  is 
well  known  outside  horticultural  circles,  as  his  school  at  Sunningdale  was 
cne  of  the  great  nurseries  for  Eton,  Harrow,  Charterhouse,  Winchester, 
and  other  public  schools.  He  was  so  universally  popular  amongst  his  old 
pupils  that  his  unexpected  death  will  be  a  great  blow  to  them  and  his 
many  friends,  who,  I  may  say,  are  scattered  over  the  whole  world.  At 
one  time  Mr.  Girdlestone  was  a  very  frequent  writer  on  gardening  topics, 
more  especially  on  Roses,  of  which  he  was  one  of  the  keenest  and  best 
judges,  and  so  close  an  observer  of  their  individual  peculiarities  that,  in 
fact,  he  is  sail  to  have  been  able  to  tell  the  names  of  rare  plants  by  their 
foliage.  His  articles  wore  always  interesting  and  replete  with  informa- 
tion,  and  since  he  gave  up  writing  there  have  been  very  few  who  could 
rival  him  in  the  clear  way  he  was  able  to  impart  knowledge  of  great 
practical  use,  or  in  the  interest  he  gave  to  the  subject  of  Rose  growing. 
At  one  time  he  was  a  frequent  and  very  successful  exhibitor,  but  of  late 
years  had  given  this  branch  of  Rose  culture  up,  and  had  devoted  himself 
more  particularly  to  the  cultivation  of  Dahlias,  in  which  flowers  he  took 
the  greatest  interest.  His  death,  at  a  comparatively  early  age,  in  the 
prime  of  life,  and  the  full  tide  of  his  usefulness,  leaves  many'  of  us 
lamenting  a  friend  who  had  so  many  interests  in  common  with  us,  that 
we  feel  his  loss  to  be  irreparable.  R.I.P.— Charles  J.  Grahame. 
An  Old  Hybridist.— I  trust  that  our  ancient  friend,  Mr. 
Robert  Fenn,  will  have  more  tangible  results  after  his  serious  and  loyal 
ceremony  of  “committing  to  earth”  than  usually  results  to  such 
proceedings.  Interesting  as  was  the  Sulhampstead  function,  especially  in 
Its  element  of  loyalty,  we  may  not  assume  that  the  event  in  relation  to 
Mr.  Fenn’s  horticultural  work  by  any  means  comprised  the  only  act  of  a 
ong  and  earnest  life.  Few  men,  professional  or  amateur,  and  he  is 
essentially  of  the  amateur  order,  have  devoted  more  time  to  inter¬ 
crossing,  cross-breeding,  or  hybridsation  so  far  as  the  Potato  is  concerned 
tuan  he  has.  His  latest  effort,  crossing  Solanum  Fendleri,  a  species  I 
believe  never  before  utilised  for  the  purpose  in  this  country,  with  a 
garden  Potato,  the  old  International  Kidney,  is  of  a  piece  with  other 
efforts,  and  previously  he  has  utilised  Maglia  in  the  same  way.  Still,  so 
ar  these  efforts  have  only  resulted  in  the  production  of  garden  Potatoes, 
and  possibly  the  product  of  the  more  recent  cross  will  come  to  the  same 
^  jng.  But  if  anything  should  tv-nd  to  produce  a  new  strain,  then  the 
most  recent  cross  should  result.  The  desire  to  secure  some  absolute 
isease-resisling  stock  is  the  primary  cause  for  the  work  still  proceeding. 
During  a  long  life  IVlr.  Fenn  has  crossed  and  intercrossed  literally  scores 
of  varieties,  and  at  one  time  succeeded  in  quite  revolutionising  our  Potato 
stocks.  His  labours  never  have  received  the  notice  or  reward  they  deserve. 
iMany  men  have  obtained  honours  and  awards  with  far  less  reason.  But 
our  octogenarian  friend  is  modest,  and  I  fear  in  spite  of  his  efforts  will  not 
be  one  of  the  recipients  of  the  hybridisation  memorial  medals. — A.  D, 
-  Royal  Botanic  Society.— On  Wednesday,  June  2l8t,  the 
annual  floral  lete  was  held  in  the  Society’s  Gardens.  There  were  a  May- 
pole  dance,  a  pastoral  play,  and  military  music.  The  gardens  were 
effectively  illuminated  in  the  evening.  The  horticultural  exhibitors 
included  Messrs.  Barr  &  Sons,  A.  W.  Young  &  Co.,  J.  Prewett,  and 
G.  W.  Piper. 
-  Death  of  Mr.  James  Anderson. — It  is  with  regret  that  we 
have  to  record  the  death  of  Mr.  James  Anderson,  who  passed  away  at 
Glasgow  on  June  16th,  in  his  sixty-eighth  year,  after  a  protracted  illness. 
The  deceased  was  for  many  years  gardener  to  T.  Dawson,  Esq.,  Meadow- 
bank,  Uddingstone,  N.B.,  after  whose  demise  he  established  himself  as  a 
landscape  gardener.  Mr.  Anderson  was  editor  of  the  “Northern 
Gardener.” 
-  Late  Broccolis. — In  thanking  “  South  Yorks  ”  and  “  H.  B.’' 
for  their  notes  respecting  late  Broccolis,  I  observe  that  the  former  intro¬ 
duces  us  to  a  comparatively  little  known  variety  southwards  in  June 
King.  Does  this  differ  from  Metbven’s  June  or  from  Ledsham’s  Late 
White,  or  Sutton’s  Late  Queen,  or  Veitch’s  Model  ?  How  much  I  should 
like  to  see  a  simultaneous  trial  of  these  assumed  distinct  varieties  !  Only 
at  the  recent  meeting  what  was  sent  as  a  new  variety  came  before  the 
Fruit  Committee  at  the  Drill  Hall,  but  a  sample  of  another  late  variety, 
presumably  Late  White,  was  found  superior.  I  hope  an  effort  will  bo 
made  to  give  us  a  good  trial  of  these  Broccolis  shortly.  No  doubt  in 
South  Yorkshire  large  pots  are  common  ;  certainly  those  fine  10-inch 
heads  would  need  ample  pot  room.  I  hope  the  Editor’s  acknowledged 
pair  of  heads  from  Leicestershire  are  not  quite  such  pot-bur.®ter8. — A.  D. 
-  Plow  or  Plough. — As  our  esteemed  and  versatile  colleague, 
Mr.  A.  H.  Pearson,  has  committed  himself  to  the  old  Biblical  and  new 
American  method  of  spelling  plough  as  plow,  will  he  also  define  its  proper 
pronunciation  ?  Now,  if  he  employs  the  words  blow,  glow,  slow,  flow, 
and  many  others  ending  in  “  low.”  he  will  not  find  the  pronunciation 
at  all  harmonising  with  plough  or  “  plow,”  as  pronounced  generally. 
In  all  the  above  words  the  final,  a  “  w,”  is  unused.  Will  Mr.  Pearson 
speak  of  “  plo,”  or  will  he  somewhat  inconsistently  adhere  to  the  common 
pronunciation  of  plough  or  “plow?”  The  English  language,  in  relation 
to  its  immense  number  of  inconsistencies  of  pronunciation,  is  a  very 
hard  nut  for  the  foreign  student  to  crack.  As  Mr.  Pearson  is  becoming 
a  phonetic  reformer  rc  spelling,  will  he  also  reform  pronunciation  by 
calling  plow  plo  ? — D. 
-  A  Channel  Fleet. — Such  is  the  title  given  to  a  booklet 
that  has  been  edited  and  published  by  Mr.  Percy  Lindley,  30,  Fleet 
Street,  for  the  Great  Eastern  Railway  Company.  This  route  to  the 
Continent  becomes  more  popular  each  year,  for  the  simple  reason  that, 
as  Mr.  Lindley  has  it,  one  finds  “  Comfort,  Celerity,  and  Cheapness,” 
three  C.’s  which  eo  far  towards  one’s  peace  of  mind  when  crossing  the 
sea.  The  pamphlet,  in  addition  to  interesting  letterpress,  contains  a 
number  of  illustrations  showing  the  exterior  and  interior  of  some  of  the 
ships  in  the  Company’s  splendid  fleet,  as  well  as  scenes  in  Holland, 
Germany,  Norway,  Denmark,  and  Switzerland,  all  of  which  countries 
are  expeditiously  served  by  the  G.E.R.  boats.  Copies  of  the  booklet 
may  be  obtained  from  Mr.  Lindley  as  above,  or  the  Continental  Depart¬ 
ment,  G.E.R.,  Liverpool  Street  Station. 
-  Drill  Hall  Meetings. — No  one  seems  to  have  anticipated 
seeing  such  a  shew  as  was  that  found  at  the  Drill  Hall  on  the  13th  inst. 
Everybody  had  thought  that  the  Temple  Show  had  so  far  exhausted  the 
energies  of  trade  and  other  exhibitors  that  there  would  have  been  a  poor 
display.  So  far  from  that  being  the  case,  the  show  was  a  remarkably 
good  one,  the  hall  being  well  filled.  What  tributes  are  these  shows  at 
once  to  the  popularity  of  the  Society  and  to  that  principle  of  honorary 
showing.  The  old  Metropolitan  nurseryman,  who  used  at  luncheons  and 
dinners, when  the  toa8t“The  Exhibitors”  was  proposed,  remark,  “You’ve 
only  to  find  good  prizes,  gentlemen,  and  we’ll  make  good  shows,”  would, 
perhaps,  be  surprised  could  he  revisit  the  physical  world  to  see  what 
wonderful  shows  can  be  made  without  prizes.  Exhibitors  may  claim 
that  the  Fellows  and  visitors  at  the  R.H.S.  gatherings  should  be  deeply 
indebted  to  them,  and  that  is  true.  But  the  obligation  is  not  one-sided, 
for  generally  exhibitors,  because  of  the  publicity  given  to  their  products, 
and  the  not  inconsiderable  business  done  in  consequence,  get  a  fair  reward. 
We  saw  evidence  of  that  the  other  day,  when  a  very  fine  group  of  plants 
was  purchased  as  they  stood  to  be  sent  out  to  Vienna.  We  see  here 
illustrated  what  is  a  pretty  well  known  fact,  that  for  horticulture  of  the 
broadest  and  highest  excellence  Great  Britain  stands  first  amongst  nations, 
and  the  R.H.S.  has  done  wonders  in  helpiug  to  create  that  high  position. 
—Observer. 
