344 
JOURNAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER. 
April  16,  1903. 
grubs  are  of  a  fly  of  the  genus  Bibio,  to  which  the  common  St.  Mark’s 
fly  (B.  Marci)  belongs.  These  grubs  are  very  injurious  when  they 
attack  the  roots  of  plants.  They  are  generally  found  in  decaying 
vegetable  matter  or  manure.  They  will  soon  turn  to  chrysalids,  and 
the  flics  will  appear  in  about  a  month.  They  can  easily  be  caught  in 
a  net.” 
The  Horticultural  Club. 
The  usual  monthly  dinner  of  the  Horticultural  Club  was  held 
on  Tuesday,  the  7th  inst.,  at  the  Hotel  Windsor,  Mr.  Harry  J. 
Veitch  taking  the  chair,  and  a  considerable  number  of  members 
and  guests  being  present.  As  usual  on  these  occasions,  at  once 
festive  and  instructive,  a  paper  was  subsequently  read,  and  the 
subject  tins  time  was  “  Horticultural  Progress  and  its  Ex¬ 
ponents.”  Mr.  F.  W.  Burbidge,  M.A.,  V.M.H.,  whose  autho¬ 
rity  and  capability  to  deal  with  tiie  subject  cannot  be  contested. 
The  paper  was  very  comprehensive  in  its  scope,  and  will 
eventually  be  published  in  extenso.  In  a  general  way  Mr.  Bur¬ 
bidge  inciined  to  the  idea  that  the  great  progress  which  has  un¬ 
doubtedly  been  made  in  horticulture  was  evidenced  far  more  in 
the  greater  extent  of  its  practice  than  in  elevation  of  grade  in 
the  resuits  in  the  shape  of  improved  fruits,  vegetables,  and 
flowers,  a  point  which  is  perhaps  open  to  question. 
So  far  back  as  1790,  more  than  a  century  since,  Speechley,  in 
his  celebrated  treatise  on  the  Grape  Vine,  wrote  that  “  there 
never  was  a  period  when  the  science  of  gardening  was  so  univer¬ 
sally  and  so  ardently  cultivated  as  at  present,”  a  statement  which 
is  obviously  fully  as  applicable  to  the  present  day  as  to  that 
far  distant  one.  Progress  is  of  difficult  definition.  Evolution 
is  a  complex  process  even  in  Nature,  but  when  man  steps  in  as 
a  manufacturer,  as  he  does  in  horticulture,  the  disturbing 
elements  of  changing  fashions,  tastes,  and  hobbies  also  come  in, 
and  from  time  to  time  utterly  revolutionise  the  departments  they 
affect.  .  .  1  IT 
At  one  time  taste  runs  riot  in  the  direction  of  carpet  bedding, 
and  every  nurseryman,  whatever  his  individual  taste  might  be, 
had  to  fill  his  houses  and  frames  with  the  fitting  material,  while 
the  gardener  had  to  devote  his  energies  first  to  designs  bizpre 
or  beautiful,  as  the  case  might  be,  and  then  to  keep  these  designs 
in  trim  by  a  constant  conflict  with  Dame  Nature’s  desires  to  .see 
her  children  grow  up.  Then,  hey  presto !  John  Gibson  dis¬ 
plays  his  subtropical  bedding-out  ideas  in  Batter, sea 
Paidi:.  and  an  utterly  different  and  far  more  natural  fa.shion  sets 
in,  and  so  on.  The  redundant  floral  material  introduced,  owing 
to  increased  facilities  of  tran.sit,  gradually  leads  to  a  change  from 
would  be  complete  collections  of  varieties  to  less  comprehensive 
but  choicer  selections  of  the  best.  Hardy  herbaceous  plants 
came  to  the  fore  as  permanent  garden  attractions  instead  of 
transient,  because  half-hardy  bedding-out  plants.  High-class 
gardens  have  increased  enormously  in  number,  hiindreds  being 
.scattered  over  the  country,  where  formerly  tens  existed,  and  the 
demand  thus  created  for  material  wherewith  to  furnish  them 
has  lecl  to  a  far  greater  specialisation  among  the  growers  than 
did  or  could  formerly  exist. 
Especially  is  this  noticeable  in  commercial  horticulture,  many 
nurserymen'  confining  themselves  to  a  comparatively  few 
specialties,  the  immense  benefit  of  concentrated  knowledge  and 
efforts  being  fully  recognised  by  them,  though,  as  pointed  out, 
many  ladies  and  gentlemen  who  complain  of  their  gardeners  out¬ 
turn,  forget  that  this  factor  is  absent  when  they  insist  on  making 
their  greenhouses  and  conservatories  an  omnium  gatherum  of  all 
things,  few  of  which  may  be  really  in  their  proper  element.  Great 
progress  has  also  been  made  in  travelling  facilities,  which  enable 
the”flower  lover  and  grower  to  become  visually  acquainted  with 
the  produce  not  merely  of  his  neighbours  but  of  competitors 
abroad.  The  lack  of  a  busines.s-like  spirit  of  co-operation  among 
gardeners  was  also  alluded  to,  and  the  -tendency  of  the  young 
gardener  to  aspire  to  “glass”  at  the  expen.se  of  a  proper  know¬ 
ledge  of  culture  in  the  open,  which  is  the  right  basis  of  this  busi¬ 
ness.  An  interesting  discussion  followed,  in  which  Messrs. 
Bunyard,  Hudson,  Bolney,  Waterer,  Veitch,  Pearson,  Walker, 
and  Munro  took  part,  agreeing  mainly  with  the  lecturer’s  views, 
and  a  very  hearty  vote  of  thanks  concluded  a  pleasant  and  in¬ 
structive  evening. 
Scottish  Horticultural. 
The  monthly  meeting  of  this  association  was  held  on  Tuesday 
evenipg  the  7th  in.st.,  in  5,  St.  Andrew’s  Square,  Mr.  McHattie, 
president,  in  the  chair.  There  was  a  very  large  attendance  of 
members.  Thirteen  new  members  were  elected,  and  a  dozen 
nominations  were  made  for  election  at  next  meeting.  Mr.  Ser¬ 
vice,  nurseryman,  Dumfi-ies,  read  a  paper  entitled,  “  Shows  and 
Showing.”  The  paper  was  of  great  interest,  and  full  of  inost 
u.seful  hints  as  to  the  conducting  of  flower  shows  and  keeping 
up  their  standard  of  variety  and  quality.  Mr.  Service  took  in 
turn  flower  shows  from  the  village  shows  up  to  the  great  national 
shows,  pointing  out  that  the  small  village  shows  created  a  love 
for  flowere  and  fruits  and  vegetables,  and  by  educating  tastes 
and  enthusiasm,  feed  the  larger  shows  with  competitors.  He 
pointed  out  that  all  committees  should  be  constantly  on  the  look 
out  for  novelty  and  variety  in  arrangements,  so  as  to  keep  up 
popular  interest.  The  paper  was  attentively  listened  to  and 
highly  appreciated.  A  very  varied  and  interesting  discussion 
took  i)lace,  when  many  useful  hints  were  added  to  Mr.  Service’s 
ideas,  but  all  expressed  their  keen  appreciation  of  the  paper  read. 
Mr.  Service  was  very  warmly  thanked  for  his  paper. 
The  table  was  gay  and  interesting  with  a  large  number  of 
exhibits,  prominent  among  which  were  some  beautiful  Orchids, 
including  a  handsome  plant  of  Coelogjme  cristata  alba,  also  nice 
Dendrobiums,  Odontoglossum  crispum,  &c. ,  from  Mr.  Wood, 
Oswald  House.  Mr.  Henderson,  Whitehouse  Loan,  showed  a 
very  handsome  well-grown  plant  of  Schizanthu.s  pinnatus  roseum. 
Messrs.  Dickson  and  Co.,  exhibited  some  very  handsome  plants 
of  Cinerarias,  of  fine  bushy  habit  and  showy  well-coloured  trusses 
of  bloom.  Mr.  Todd,  Musselburgh,  exhibited  handsome  vases  of 
Caroline  Testout  and  Liberty  Roses;  the  quality  of  these  was 
excellent,  the  brilliant  colour  of  Liberty  being  specially  admired. 
Mr.  Todd  also  exhibited  a  handsome  vase  of  yellow  Spanish  Iris. 
Chry-santhemums  were  shown  by  Mr.  Copeland  of  fair  quality  for 
the  .season.  Some  hand.some  heads  of  Scarlett’s  Superb  White 
Broccoli  came  from  Mr.  Scarlett,  Sweet  Hope,  Inverness.  It  i.s 
a  beautiful  white  variety,  very  self-protecting,  and  well  wmrthy 
of  general  cultivation.  A  vote  of  thanks  was  awarded  to  the 
exhibitors.  A  vote  of  thanks  to  the  chairman  brought  the  meet¬ 
ing  to  a  close. 
Newport  (Mon.)  Gardiners'. 
The  usual  meeting  of  the  above  association  was  held  on  the 
8th  ult.,  when  Mr.  J.  Kenward  read  a  paper  on  the  Apple.  In 
this  paper  Mr.  Kenward  dealt  with  the  various  methods  of  pro¬ 
pagation,  viz.,  by  seed,  cuttings,  layers,  grafting,  and  inarching. 
He  then  proceeded  to  point  out  the  best  .situation,  the  necessity 
of  thoroughly  preparing  the  ground  beforehand,  advocating  a 
rather  liberal  use  of  manure.  He  then  dealt  with  the  planting 
and  after  treatment,  by  giving  a  good  thick  coating  of  manure 
as  a  mulch.  Mr.  Kenward  pointed  out  that  it  was  necessary 
to  avoid  planting  varieties  that  did  not  .succeed  in  the  district, 
some  sorts  doing  well,  others  being  continual  failures.  Various 
methods  of  pruning  were  discussed.  He  then  dealt  with  the 
diseases  of  the  Apple,  especially  canker,  dealing  next  with  irrsect 
pests.  In  the  discussion  which  followed,  the  Chairman,  Messrs. 
Basham,  Duff,  Jones,  Preece,  and  others  took  part,  Mr.  Kenward 
meeting  with  considerable  opposition  to  some  parts  of  his  paper. 
Mr.  Kenward  was  accorded  a  hearty  vote  of  thanks  for  his  able 
paper.  The  society’s  Certificate  of  Merit  was  awarded  to  Mr. 
H.  Basham  for  a  well  flowered  piece  of  Dendrobium  Devonianum, 
and  a  vote  of  thanks  to  Mr.  J.  Basham  for  a  good  collection  of 
Apples  and  Pears.  Mr.  Daniels  presided  over  a  fair  attendance. 
— J.  P. 
Isle  of  Wight  Horticultural. 
A  meeting  was  held  at  Warburton’s  Hotel,  Newport,  on 
Saturday,  April  4.  Dr.  J.  Graves,  M.D.,  pre.sided  with  his  cu.s- 
tomary  genial  manner  over  a  fair  proportion  of  members.  A 
paper  was  read  by  Mr.  G.  Brett,  of  The  Mount  Gardens,  Yar¬ 
mouth,  on  “Hardy  Herbaceous  Plants.”  As  this  was  a  young 
gardener’s  first  attempt  at  writing  an  essay,  it  is  extremely 
pleasing  to  record  that  he  acquitted  himself  most  creditably. 
The  opening  part  of  his  paper  described  the  best  situation,  as 
regards  sun  and  .shelter,  for  borders  of  these  plants.  If  lying 
cold  and  wet.  they  should  have  a  good  layer  of  drainage  at  the 
bot.tom,  and  be  well  trenched,  the  better  results  secured  by  a 
properly  prepared  border  more  than  compensating  for  the  addi¬ 
tional  labour  and  expense  involved.  He  next  gave  a  long  list 
of  .subjects  adaptable  for  planting,  methods,  of  progagation  and 
mode  of  planting,  habits,  and  time  of  flowering.  He  advocated 
that  those  borders  should  not  be  dug  annually,  but  merely  have 
the  surface  stirred,  and  allowing  stems  of  plants  to  remain  to  act 
as  a  protection  to  shoots  in  winter  months.  An  instructive  dis¬ 
cussion  ensued.  On  the  proposition  of  the  chairman  a  hearty 
vote  of  thanks  was  accorded  to  the  es.sayist.  The  association’s 
thanks  were  also  given  the  following  gardeners  for  exhibits 
from  their  respective  employers’  gardens:  To  Mr.  Bennet,  for 
a  large  and  beautiful  collection  of  Narcissus;  Mr.  Nibbett,  for 
a  profusely  flowered  specimen  of  Scliizantlms  pinnatus ;  Mr. 
Snook,  for  magnificent  Niphetos  Roses;  Mr.  Parsons,  for  two 
well-grown  and  flowered  Cyclamen  ;  Mr.  Kims,  for  a  bunch  of 
the  pretty  little  Omphalodes  verna ;  Mr.  Butt,  for  flowers  of  a 
good  strain  of  Polyanthus.  The  pretty  N.  Barri  conspicua  and 
Leeds!  types  were  also  exhibited ;  and  a  pot  of  the  lovely  N.  Mdm. 
de  Graaf,  Avhite  perianths  and  pale  lemon  trumpet.,  evoked  much 
admiration.  The  esteemed  chairman  of  this  association  having 
recently  liad  the  honour  conferred  on  him  of  being  elected 
President  of  the  Incorporated  Society  of  Medical  Officers  of 
Health,  Mr.  W.  Tribbick,  in  expressing  to  him  the  sincere  con¬ 
gratulations  of  all  the  members,  highly  eulogised  his  great  .ser¬ 
vices  rendered  to  this  .society,  and  the  pleasure  it  gave  them  to 
be  presided  over  by  this  gentleman,  calculated  to  adorn  even  the 
eminently  high  position  to  which  he  was  called. 
