June  25,  1903. 
JOUR^\AL  CF  UOETIguLTURE  AFD  COTTAGE  GARDENER. 
557 
Capturing  Garden  Slugs. 
A  Canton  gardening  entliusiast,  writing  to  the  “  estern 
Mail,”  says  that'  he  has  found  out  a  simple  and  effective  way 
of  capturing  garden  slugs.  “A  few  days  ago,”  he  writes,  ‘‘some 
pieces  of  Orange  iieel  had  been  thrown  into  my  front  garden,  and 
when  picking  them  up  I  noticed  several  slugs  adhering  to  them, 
and  more  on  the  soil  where  the  peel  had  been  laid.  Since  then 
I  have  placed  Oi’ange  peel  both  in  my  front  garden  and  also 
amongst  my  vegetables,  and  this  morning  I  killed  upwards  of 
sixty  slugs.  Surely  nothing  more  simple  could  be  wished  for.” 
National  Chrysanthemum  Society  s  Outing. 
The  annual  outing  of  the  members  of  this  society  will  take  place 
on  Monday,  July  13,  a  visit  to  be  made  to  the  gardens  and  grounds 
of  Park  Place,  Henley-on-Thames,  by  the  kind  permission  of  Mrs. 
Noble.  Arrangements  have  been  made  by  which  the  party  will 
leave  Paddington  (Great  Western)  Station  at  10.30  p.m.  to 
Reading,  calling  at  Ealing  and  Slough,  and  on  arrival  embark 
at  Caversham  Bridge  on  the  River  Queen  steam  launch,  and 
proceed  to  the  landing-stage  at  Park  Place.  Dinner  will  bo 
served  in  the  grounds  at  2  p.m.,  after  which  there  will  be  an 
inspection  of  the  gardens;  tea  will  be  served  at  5  p.m.,  and  at 
6  p.m.  the  return  journey  will  be  made  so  as  to  catch  the  fast 
train  to  London  at  8.25  p.m.  from  Reading,  which  stops  only  at 
Ealing.  The  cost  of  return  rail  and  river  journey,  dinner,  and 
tea  is  10s.  6d.  Tickets  can  be  obtained  of  the  secretary,  Mr.  R. 
Dean,  Ealing,  W. 
The  Abnormal  Rains. 
There  is  a  lamentable  dread  prevailing  as  to  the  summer’s 
prospects  just  now  hanging  in  the  balance.  Dire  disaster  has 
already  been  suffered  by  frost  and  flood,  and  at  the  time  of 
writing  we  are  still  apparently  some  distance  removed  from  the 
edge  of  the  proverbial  wood.  It  is  said  that  for  eighty  years 
such  weather  has  not  been  experienced.  Whether  this  be  true 
is  dependable  on  actual  records,  but  certainly  worse  weather, 
resultant  worries,  and  actual  terrors  could  scarcely  be  conceived. 
Ep  to  the  present  time  the  year’s  rain  amounts  to  23.14in,  nearly 
ll^in  more  than  was  measured  last  year  to  the  end  of  June.  The 
heaviest  fall  occurred  on  Friday,  June  19,  namely,  1.15in,  which, 
by  a  curious  coincidence  is  exactly  the  same  amount  as  the  record 
of  last  year,  falling  on  June  13.  This  inflicts  much  hardship  on 
both  gardener  and  farmer,  the  hay  crops  by  the  river  sides  being 
absolutely  ruined. 
In  this  neighbourhood  one  instance  occurred  where  only  three 
aci'es  of  grass  remain  to  the  farmer  unflooded  out  of  his  total 
acreage,  and  it  is  said  that  flooded  grass  makes  valueless  hay. 
Not  only  is  there  the  calamitous  rain,  but  such  extremely  low 
temperatui'es  and  sunless  days  as  well,  influences  that  tell  so 
harshly  in  the  garden  and  field,  few,  if  any,  crops  advancing  with 
the  pace  that  is  characteristic  of  the  summer.  Never  before  in 
living  memory  were  the  gardenei’s’  hopes  .so  severely  shattered, 
for  in  succession  one  crop  after  another  has  beep  reduced  ir, 
their  prospect  and  promise  to  partial,  and  in  many  instances 
actual,  failure.  As  a  rule,  the  gardener  is  endowed  with  a  recu¬ 
perative  and  resourceful  fund  of  hope.  Should  one  crop  fail 
thoughts  are  turned  to  another  as  a  compensating  fund  ;  but 
this  year  these  thoughts  have  had  so  many  rude  shocks  which 
are  not  recoverable  during  this  and  the  coming  seasons.  The 
following  tables  may  be  interesting  to  some  readers  as  showing 
the  actual  and  comparative  rain  of  the  curi’ent  year  measured 
here ;  — 
13  .s. 
Tu  silay,  June  9 . 0’i7 
Wednesday,  June  10 .  ..  ..  0  75 
Thursday,  .Tune  11  ..  ' . 0‘52 
.Saturday,  June  13 . OUO 
Sunday,  June  14 . 1-02 
Monday,  June  15 . 0'83 
Tuesday,  .Tune  16 . 0.33 
Friday,  June  19 . 1-15 
— W.  Strugnell,  Rood  Ashton.  £  30 
Rose,  Mrs.  John  Laing  as  a  Standard. 
The  figure  on  page  555  is  from  a  photograph  by  Mr.  C.  Jones, 
and  represents  this  excellent  Rose,  which  is  one  of  the  best  varie¬ 
ties  for  standards,  as  it  is  also  in  the  foreground  as  a  bush,  being 
strong  in  growth. 
Azalea  Sigismunde  Rucker, 
IMessrs.  R.  and  G.  Cuthbert,  of  Southgate  Nurseries,  Middle¬ 
sex,  are  the  chief  cultivators  and  introducers  of  the  gorgeous 
Azaleas,  particularly  the  A.  mollis  and  sinensis  vai'ieties  and 
hybrids.  The  photograph  of  A.  indica  Sigismunde  Rucker  repre¬ 
sents  a  typical  floriferous  plant,  with  lilac-rose  and  saffron  red 
blotched  flowers,  and  this  is  a  much  i^rized  and  noted  variety. 
Dr.  Cooke  as  Linnean  Gold  Medallist. 
A  gold  medal  is  annually,  awarded  to  a  distinguished  botanist 
alternately  with  a  zoologist,  who  may  have  rendered  signal  service 
to  science.  This  year  the  medal  has  been  awarded  to  M.'C.  Cooke, 
\  .M.H.,  M.A.,  LL.D.,  F.R.S.  Dr.  Cooke  has  had  a  distin¬ 
guished  career,  as  our  notes  some  months  ago  exemplified. 
Ivy-clad  Trees. 
Writing  to  the  editor  of  the  “Irish  Times,”  the  undersigned 
says: — “Lately  I  went  through  five  counties,  and  it  was  painful 
to  see  such  a  vast  number  of  trees  clothed  in  their  shrouds  of 
Ivy.  Irish  gentry  are  either  ignorant  that  Ivy-covered  trees 
make  bad  timber  and  eventually  get  killed,  or  they  are  too  lazy 
and  apathetic  to  have  the  Ivy  removed ;  so,  in  a  few  years,  Ireland 
will  be  denuded  of  trees.  The  county  surveyors  are  an  intelligent 
bodju  Could  they  not  be  induced  to  .save  the  trees  on  the  road¬ 
side?  Two  or  three  minutes  devoted  to  each  tree  would  do  it, 
and  after  the  first  year  it  would  not  need  a  minute  per  tree. 
Nature  makes  trees  deciduous  that  they  may'give  least  resistance 
to  winter  storms.  Ivy  takes  advantage  of  the  artificial  growth  of 
trees  to  shroud  them  with  leaves,  and  man — in  Ireland — will  not 
remove  the  parasite  An  immense  number  of  trees  were  blown 
down  by  the  last  storm,  nearly  all  of  them  because  they  were 
covered  with  Ivy. — J.  R.  Magrath,  Colonel.  Baun-aboo,  near 
Wexford.” 
Notes  from  Hamilton,  N  B. 
The  temperature  of  last  week  was  uniformly  low  for  the  month 
of  June.  The  winds  wei'e  bitterly  cold,  and  blew  with  persis¬ 
tence  from  the  north.  On  every  morning  there  were  strong  signs 
of  frost,  and  on  Saturday  (20th)  Ideg  was  registered.  With  the 
exception  of  a  few  cold  showers  we  have  not  been  favoured  with 
rain  for  nearly  a  month.  Garden  crops,  though  later  than 
ordinary,  are  looking  well,  and  what  fruit  the  devastating  frosts 
of  April  left  undestroyed  are  also  looking  satisfactory.  Straw¬ 
berries  aijpear  as  if  they  are  to  be  a  light  crop.  They  are  in¬ 
variably  so  if  a  good  soaking  is  not  received  at  the  earlier  stages 
of  the  flowering  period.  *  *  The  Pharmaceutical  Society’s 
officials  in  Glasgow'  do  not  believe  in  possessing  authority  and 
not  using  it.  They  are  again  on  the  warpath  for  the  “poison” 
sales. — D.  C. 
Meteoroloiical  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. 
Rain. 
Temperature  of 
the  Soil. 
At  9  A.M. 
Ijowest 
Temperature 
on  Grass. 
1903. 
June. 
At  9  a.m. 
Day. 
Night 
At 
1-ft. 
deep. 
1 
At  I  At 
2-ft.  4-ft. 
deep.'  deep. 
Dry 
Bulb. 
Wet 
Bulb. 
43 
CO 
« 
A 
to 
5 
•43 
GO 
Q> 
S 
o 
J 
deg. 
deg. 
deg. 
deg. 
Ins. 
deg. 
deg.  deg. 
deg. 
Sunday  ...14 
E.N.E. 
49  1 
47-8 
51-5 
44-5 
1-20 
53  0 
55-3  54  0 
43  7 
Monday  ...15 
E.N.E. 
49-7 
49'3 
58-4 
48-5 
0-73 
53-2 
54-6  54  0 
49  4 
Tuesday. ..16 
S.S.E. 
56  9 
51-2 
58-4 
45-4 
0  24 
53-4 
54-2  53  9 
42-8 
Wed’sday  17 
N.W. 
54-3 
51-0 
66-4 
45-7 
0-28 
540 
54-3  53-8 
35-6 
Thursday  18 
N.W. 
54-3 
49-0 
58-6 
41-8 
— 
56-5 
55'0  53-7 
34  7 
Friday  ...19 
E  N  E. 
49  0 
46  2 
56-6 
46-5 
0-79  ' 
56-5 
55-3  53-7 
46-2 
Saturday  20 
N.E. 
48-9 
46-7 
53-2 
46-2 
540 
55  0  53-7  1 
1 
460 
Total. 
, 
Means  ... 
51-7 
48-7 
57-6 
45-5  ' 
3  24 
54-4 
54*8  ;  53  8 
1  1 
42  6 
Verv  dull,  cold  weather  with  rain  on  five  days. 
