February  5,  1903. 
JOURNAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER. 
123 
Societies’  Syllabuses— Schedules'  and  Reports. 
We  liave  received  publications  under  one  or  other  of  the 
above  headings  from  the  secretaries  of  the  following  societies: 
Reading  and  District  Gardeners’  Mutual  Improvement  Associa¬ 
tion;  the  National  Dahlia;  National  Sweet  Pea;  Waterford 
Horticultural ;  the  Royal  Horticultural  Society  of  Southamp¬ 
ton ;  and  the  Grand  Yorkshire  Gala  and  Floral  Fete. 
Gardening  Appointments. 
Mr.  H.  Weaver,  for  the  last  seven  years  foreman  under  the. 
late  Mr.  A.  Calder,  gardener  to  G.  W.  Duff-Arton-Smith,  E.sq., 
Vand  Park,  near  Bangor,  North  Wales,  has  been  engaged  to 
.succeed  Mr.  A.  Calder.  *  Mr.  G.  Tyler,  head  gardener 
to  Mrs.  J.  W.  Jones,  PI  as-y-Bryn,  near  Carnarvon,  North  Wales, 
lias  been  engaged  to  T.  E.  Roberts,  Esq.,  the  same  ]ilace. 
National  Dahlia  Society. 
A  meeting  of  the  committee  of  the  above  society  will  be  held, 
by  kind  permission  of  the  Horticultural  Club,  in  the  Club  Room, 
at  the  Hotel  Windsor,  Victoria  Street,  S.W.,  on  Tuesday, 
February  10,  at  12.45  p.m.  Business:  1.  To  consider  arrange¬ 
ments  for  proposed,  exhibition  at  Manchester.  2.  To  draw  up 
schedule  for  that  exhibition.  3.  Other  business. — P.  W. 
Tulloch,  Hon.  Secretary. 
Birmingham  Gardeners’  Association. 
The  initial  meeting  of  the  spring  session  was  recently  held 
in  the  Vniversity  buildings  (by  the  kind  permission  of  the 
Council),  when  Professor  Hillhouse,  F.L.S.  (the  president  of  the 
association)  gave  a  most  interesting  and  instructive  lecture, 
entitled  ■’  Vegetable  Mechanics.”  A  series  of  experiments, 
cliagi’ams,  and  photographic  lantern  slides  enhanced  the  .subject, 
representing  the  various  organisations  of  plants  and  trees  in 
regard  to  tensibility  and  stability  to  resist  more  e.specially  the 
force  of  high  winds  and  other  opposing  forces.  The  lecture  was 
highly  appreciated,  and  a  hearty  vote  of  thanks  was  accorded 
the  popular  professor. 
Chiswick  Trials,  1903. 
Cactus  Dahlias  and  Border  Chrysanthemums,  only  varieties 
introduced  during  the  last  five  years.  German  Irises^ — Flags. 
Phloxes,  new  varieties.  Poppies — seed  to  be  sent  before  Feb¬ 
ruary  1.  Potatoes,  new  varieties.  N.B. — They  mu.st  be  named 
when  sent;  twenty  tubers  of  each.  Tomatoes,  new  varieties, 
named;  twenty  seeds  of  each.  Peas-,  new  varieties,  named; 
half-pint  of  seed-,  to  be  sent  as  above.  French  Beans,  dwarf  and 
climbing,  half-pint  of  seed.  Anyone  wishing  to  contribute  any 
of  the  above  for  trial  is  I'equested  to  send  two  plants  of  each 
to  Superintendent,  R.H.S.  Gardens,  Chiswick,  London,  W. 
The  Horticultural  Hall. 
The  report  of  the  Council  of  the  Royal  Horticultural  Society 
for  1902  has  been  publi.shed.  It  is  interesting,  and  .shows  a 
state  of  great  progress  in  additions  to  the  Fellowships.  En- 
fortunatel3',  honever,  the  momentous  que.stion  of  the  hall  is 
dealt  with  in  a  manner  that  causes  one  to  ask  whether  the 
C’ouncil  reciognises  the  fact  that  the  Fellows  were  not  prepared 
to  leave  the  whole  scheme  of  arranging  the  plans  and  erecting 
the  new  liall  to  the  Council  without  having  even  the  right  of 
making  suggestions.  When  the  special  general  meeting,  held 
on  March  21  last,  approved  of  the  principle  of  building  a  new 
hall,  and  authorised  the  Council  to  take  the  necessary  steps  to 
enable  the  building  to  be  opened  in  the  year  1904,  this  was 
virtually  a  mere  delegation  of  powers  pi'ovisionall.v,  and  a 
placing  of  the  matter  in  their  hands  as  the  working  executive 
of  the  whole  body  of  the  Fellows.  Not  for  one  moment  did  these 
imagine  that  thej'  were  abdicating  their  functions  of  self-govern¬ 
ment.  Satis-fied  in  the  hour  of  victorj-  (for  was  it  not  a  fight  to 
obtain  acceptance  of  the  hall  scheme?),  the  Fellows  dispei’scd, 
only  to  find  later  on  that  the  Council  intended  to  close  the 
matter  without  submitting  it  to  the  next  general  meeting. 
Those  who  have  criticised  the  plans  since  their  publication  have 
not  a.spersed  the  honest of  intention  of  tlie  Council.  They 
have  exercised  their  right  of  expressing  their  disapproval  of  the 
plans  through,  the  medium  of  the  Press  (disapproval  in  numbers 
to  the  extent  of  nine-tenths,  be  it  noted),  pending  the  meeting 
next  week,  when  they  expect  the  Council  to  submit  these  plans 
for  their  ratification. 
No  Crystal  Palace  Fruit  Show  for  1903. 
In  place  of  the  usual  exhibition  of  British  grown  fruit  which 
has  been  held  for  a  number  of  years  at  the  Crj'stal  Palace, 
&.vdenham,  the  Council  of  the  Royal  Horticultural  .Societ,v  have 
resolved  to  hold  a  joint  fruit  and  vegetable  exhibition  and  con¬ 
ference  in  the  Society’s  gardens  at  Chiswick,  the  show  to  extend 
over  three  da.ys,  the  dates  being  the  last  two  in  September  and 
October  1. 
Weather  in  the  North. 
Almost  continuous  raiji  and  high  southerly  winds  have  pre¬ 
vailed  during  the  past  week.  This  has  caused  great  floods  in 
many  districts  of  the  countrju  Sunday,  however,  was  a  good 
fair  da3^  Monday  also  was  bright  and  pleasant,  with  6deg  fro.st 
during  the  night.-  B.  D.,  S.  Perthshire. 
Sussex  Weather. 
The  total  rainfall  for  the  past  month  at  Abbot’s  Leigh,  Ha^'- 
ward’s  Heath,  was  2.Glin,  being  0.35in  above  the  average.  The 
heaviest  fall  was  0.60in  on  the  4th.  Rain  (or  snow)  fell  on 
twentj'-one  dar’s.  The  maximum  temperature  was  52deg  on  tho 
2nd.  4th,  5th,  and  27th;  the  minimum  ISdeg  on  the  loth. 
Dlean  maximum,  44.13clcg;  mean  minimum,  35.09deg ;  mean 
temperature,  39.()ldeg ;  1.35deg  above  the  average. — R.  I. 
The  Weather  in  the  Neighbourhood  of  Inverness. 
Hie  torrential  rains  of  last  week,  and  the  accompanjdng  winds, 
swelled  the  waters  of  the  rivers  here  to  a  considerable  extent. 
The  Ness  has  come  down  in  high  flood,  so  that  the  beautiful 
islands  ai’e  .submerged,  and  the  rushing  water  is  almost  over¬ 
flowing  its  banks  as  it  flows  through  the  town.  The  Spey  river 
is  a  beautiful  sight.  Near  its  entrance  to  the  Dloraj^  Firth,  on 
Saturday,  it  was  about  a  mile  in  width.  Throughout  its  cour.'-e 
much  damage  has  been  done  to  Turnip  fields,  bridges,  Ac.  Mr. 
Rae,  Tugnet,  had  his  garden  and  greenhouse  completely  sub¬ 
merged.  Fir  trees  have  also  been  uprooted  lyy  the  water  in  its 
course  and  cai’ried  away. — X. 
The  Weather  in  Hamilton  District. 
Last  week  was  a  record  one  here  for  continuous  stormy 
weather.  Ever\’  day  was  characterised  with  high  winds  and 
drenching  rains,  with  the  re.sidt  that  a  gooj  deal  of  damage  by 
flooding  has  been  done  up  and  down  the  country.  The. same 
.date  of  matters  appears  to  have  been  pi'ott.v  general  all  over 
Scotland.  Saturday  night,  however,  had  brought  about  a  more 
agreeable  change.  The  rain  gave  wa.y  to  a  pleasairt  touch  of 
frost,  and  on  Sunday  morning  the  surrounding  hills  were  once 
again  enveloped  in  a  covering  of  snow.  During  tho  day  snow 
began  to  fall  heavily'  on  the  low  grounds,  but  did  not  lie  much. 
To-day  (Monday),  though  there  were  a  few  degrees  of  frost 
during  the  night,  the  ground  is  onh*  covered  with  a  thin  coating 
of  snow. — D.  G. 
MeteoPolo:|ical  Observations  at  Chiswick. 
Taken  in  the  Royal  Horticultural  Society’s  Gardens  at  Chis¬ 
wick,  height  above  sea  level  24  feet. 
Date. 
Direction  of 
Wind. 
Temperature  of  the 
Air. 
1 
Bain, 
Temperature  of 
the  Soil. 
At  9  A.M. 
Lowest 
Temperature 
on  Grass. 
1903. 
January. 
At  9  A.M.  ^ 
Day. 
Night 
At 
1-ft. 
deep. 
At 
2-ft. 
deep. 
At 
4-ft. 
deep. 
Dry 
Bulb. 
Wet 
Bulb. 
43 
CQ 
<S> 
A 
to 
S 
Lowest. 
__  . 
dep. 
deg. 
deg. 
deg. 
Ins. 
deg. 
deg. 
deg. 
deg. 
Sunday  ...25 
s.w. 
48  9 
45-3 
54-6 
460 
0  02 
40  5 
40-4 
43  5 
43  7 
Monday  ...26 
s.w. 
51-1 
490 
52-1 
47-5 
— 
42-2 
41-3 
43  5 
41  8 
Tuesday  ...27 
w.s.w. 
51-6 
480 
62-4 
49-5 
0-36 
43-9 
42-3 
43  7 
43  2 
Wed’sday  28 
s.w. 
46-4 
44  9 
48-4 
390 
— 
44-0 
43-3 
43  9 
31-5 
Thursday  29 
s.w. 
42-6 
40  7 
49-9 
39-0 
— 
42-1 
43  3 
44-1 
29  0 
Friday  ...30 
s.w. 
46-4 
42-9 
50-1 
42  2 
— 
42-6 
43-3 
44-3 
393 
Saturday  31 
s.w. 
42‘7 
39-9 
50-3 
40-3 
C-13 
43-1 
43-5 
44-5 
35-3 
Total. 
Means  ... 
47-1 
44  8 
51-1 
43-4 
051 
42  6 
42-5 
43  9 
38-4 
Very  inikl  weather  has  prevailed  during  the  past  week,  with  drying 
wind  and  bright  sunshine  on  several  days.  The  mean  maxinmin  for 
the  last  seven  days  of  January,  1902,  was  411  deg.,  the  mininuun 
32’3  deg.,  while  the  rainfall  for  the  sameijcriod  was  0'33  ins. 
