November  1,  1900. 
JOURNAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER. 
397  ‘ 
Recent  Weatber  In  Tiondon. — Considerable  quantities  of  rain 
have  fallen  in  London  since  last  Saturday.  There  have  been  heavy 
showers  on  each  day,  but  more  particularly  on  Tuesday.  At  the  moment 
of  going  to  press  on  Wednesday  it  was  fine  and  very  mild. 
New  Open  Space  for  Tottenbam. — In  one  of  the  most  con¬ 
gested  parts  of  its  district,  the  Tot'enham  District  Council  has 
acquired  the  Chestnuts  estate  of  several  acres.  There  is  a  large 
residence,  which  is  to  be  utilised  as  a  branch  reading  room.  The  ground 
will  be  opened  next  month  by  Mr.  Littler,  the  chairman  of  the  Middlesex 
County  Council,  which  has  contributed  £2000  towards  the  purchase. 
An  Edict  Against  Iiong  Skirts  In  Parks. — The  local  board 
of  health  in  one  of  the  districts  of  Vienna  has  placed  placards  in  all 
the  public  gardens  and  parks  directing  the  women  who  visit  these 
places  to  hold  up  their  skirts  if  they  trail  upon  the  ground.  The  notice 
states  that  as  these  enclosures  a'e  devoted  to  the  recreation  of  persons 
desirous  of  escaping  from  the  dusty  town,  the  authorities  forbid  dust  to 
be  swept  there  into  heaps  by  trailing  skirts. 
Beckenbam  Horticultural  Society. — On  Friday  evening,  Mr. 
Burge  in  the  chair,  the  members  mustered  in  strong  force  to  listen  to 
an  essay  on  “  Bulbs,”  by  Mr.  Harris,  of  Croydon.  The  essayist  passed 
under  review  most  of  the  bulbous  plants  that  are  used  for  the  embellish¬ 
ment  of  the  garden,  both  inside  and  out,  and  touched  upon  their  culture 
generally  ;  and  as  he  proceeded  emphasised  many  points  of  detail. 
Early  planting  was  insisted  on,  and  on  no  consideration  should  crude 
manure  be  used.  Spanish  Irises  received  special  commendation,  on 
account  of  their  ease  of  culture  and  great  variety.  Freesias,  Liliums, 
Ixias,  and  other  of  these  floral  gems  were  dilated  ou.  A  hearty 
vote  of  thanks  was  accorded  to  Mr.  Harris  for  his  excellent  and 
instructive  essay.  The  meeting  room  on  this  occasion  presented  a 
bright  appearance,  for  Messrs.  Peed  &  Sons  had  placed  upon  the  table 
many  varieties  of  the  fibrous-rooted  Begonias,  including  the  beautiful 
Gloire  de  Lorraine,  and  its  white  counterpart  Caledonia.  From  the 
Orchid  houses  of  R.  Simonds,  Esq.,  Woodthorpe  (gardener,  Mr.  Day), 
came  some  splendid  out  blooms  of  Vanda  coerulea,  Lselia  pumila  var. 
pimstans,  and  D.  pbalgenopsis  Schroderianum.  From  D.  Link,  Esq.,  Fair- 
light  (gardener,  Mr.  Trowel),  came  Onoidium  incurvum,  carrying  two 
spikes  of  its  fragrant  flowers  ;  also  some  well-grown  Lily  of  the  Valley. 
To  these  gentlemen  a  vote  of  thanks  was  unanimously  accorded. — T.  C. 
Royal  Horticultural  Society — Fruit  Culture  In  Somerset. — 
Assuming  that  the  illustrations  given  by  Mr.  Ettle  in  connection  with 
hie  recent  lecture  on  mistakes  in  fruit  culture  really  represented  the 
high-water  mark  of  fruit  culture  in  Somerset,  then  is  it  very  evident 
that  the  fruit  culture  instructor  has  much  need  to  be  abroad.  It  is 
difiicult  to  assume  that  in  so  fine  a  western  county  there  is  not  to  be 
seen  any  of  those  higher  forms  of  fruit  culture  such  as  may  be  found  in 
some  counties  nearer  home  ;  but  possibly  such  evidences  are  limited  to 
private  gardens.  But  it  is  not  difficult  to  understand  that  matters  in 
relation  to  fruits,  and  the  illustrations  exclusively  concerned  Apples,  are 
in  Somerset  of  a  very  crude  nature,  seeing  that  the  primary  object  of 
the  growers  seems  to  be  converting  the  fruits  into  a  wretched  body- 
starving  liquid  yclept  cider.  Surely  that  is  a  matter  of  the  very  least 
importance  to  the  Fellows  of  the  Royal  Horticultural  Society.  Indeed  it 
was  only  too  evident  that  hearers  of  Mr.  Ettle  and  observers  of  his  pictures 
thought  that  his  show  was  a  singularly  elementary  one,  such  as  might 
indeed  have  interest  in  a  cider-growing  district,  but  could  have  none  in 
London.  Certainly  it  may  have  led  on  the  part  of  some  hearers  to 
painful  reflections  that  in  this  boastful  and  proud  England  such  things 
should  be.  It  is  charitable  to  assume  that  the  council  of  the  R.H.S. 
in  accepting  the  offer  of  such  a  lecture  looked  for  something  of  a 
far  more  advanced  character.  The  mention  of  prices  paid  for  young 
trees  was  amusing,  and  one  would  like  to  learn  what  Messrs.  Bunyard 
and  Pearson  thought  of  them,  also  as  to  the  condition  of  the  nursery  trade 
in  Somerset,  that  could  turn  out  trees  infested  badly  with  the  woolly 
aphis  as  shown.  The  general  conclusion  is  that  even  now,  in  spite  of  all 
that  has  been  spoken  and  written,  hardy  fruit  culture  is  in  this  country 
terribly  backward,  and  that  not  one  or  two,  but  a  thousand  instructors 
are  needed  to  act  as  fruit  culture  missionaries. — A»  D, 
Royal  Horticultural  Society. — The  next  Fruit  and  Flower 
Show  of  the  Royal  Horticultural  Society  will  be  held  on  Tuesday, 
November  6th,  in  the  Drill  Hall,  James  Street,  Westminster,  1  to  4  p.m- 
A  lecture  on  “  Insecticides,  Spraying  for  Fungi,  &c.”  will  be  given  by 
Mr.  R.  Newstead,  F.E.S.,  at  3  o’clock. 
Devon  and  Exeter  Gardeners’  Association. — The  meetings 
of  the  autumn  session  will  be  held  in  the  Guildhall,  commencing 
punctually  at  eight  o'clock.  Wednesday,  14th  November,  Mr.  H. 
Hemsley,  Royal  Nurseries,  “Herbaceous  Flowers  for  Hixhibition 
Wednesday,  28th  November,  Mr.  George  Ryce,  B.A.,  lecturer  on 
technical  agriculture  for  the  Devon  County  Council,  “  Spraying 
Potatoes  and  other  Plants  with  Chemicals,  to  Prevent  Disease ;  ”  and 
Wednesday,  12th  December,  Mr.  T.  Slade,  Poltimore  Park  Gardens, 
“  Malmaison  and  Tree  Carnations.” 
Camberwell’s  New  Open  Space. — On  Saturday,  in  Sumner 
Road,  a  piece  of  land  formerly  used  for  nursery  purposes  and  the  site 
of  an  old  residence  and  some  greenhouses  having  been  cleared,  was 
declared  open  as  a  public  recreation  ground.  The  step  to  secure  this 
local  boon  was  initiated  in  June,  1897.  In  November,  1898,  the  vestry 
decided  to  purchase  the  site  for  the  sum  of  £1000.  Towards  this 
amount  the  County  Council  voted  £500,  and  the  Metropolitan  Public 
Gardens  Association  consented  to  lay  out  the  space,  generously 
defraying  one  half  the  cost. 
Ztle  of  Wight  Experimental  Garden. — During  the  past  three 
or  four  years  the  Isle  of  Wight  County  Council  has  been  laying  out  a 
garden  at  Newport  for  purposes  of  experiments.  We  are  now  favoured 
with  a  list  of  the  fruits  grown  for  trial  therein,  both  in  the  open,  on  the 
walls,  and  under  glass.  If  the  authorities  wish  to  make  their  reports  of 
value  to  growers  they  must  be  more  explicit  in  their  remarks  on  the 
several  varieties  ;  to  simply  say  “well  known  ”  after  any  fruit  gives  no 
indication  of  its  value  for  cultivation  in  any  particular  form  in  the 
district.  The  selection  of  varieties  is  sufficiently  excellent  to  indicate 
the  presence  of  a  sound  judge,  but  the  spelling  is  too  faulty  for  a 
publication  whose  value  is  presumably  wholly  educational. 
The  Royal  Gardeners’  Orphan  Fund. — It  will  be  gratifying 
to  the  many  personal  friends  of  the  late  Mr.  James  Martin,  so  long 
the  respected  manager  of  Messrs.  Sutton  &  Sons’  nursery  at  Reading,  to 
know  that  as  the  result  of  the  appeal  made  by  the  executive  of  the 
Reading  and  District  Gardeners’  Mutual  Improvement  Association  for 
subscriptions  towards  a  “James  Martin  Memorial,’’  the  sum  of  £135 
has  been  raised  and  handed  over  to  the  Royal  Gardeners’  Orphan 
Fund.  The  committee  of  this  institution  acknowledges  its  receipt  with 
grateful  thanks,  and  will  apply  the  sum  placed  at  disposal  strictly 
in  accordance  with  the  object  for  which  the  memorial  was  raised.  At 
a  meeting  of  the  committee  held  on  the  26th  nit.,  it  was  arranged  that 
an  election  of  candidates  shall  take  place  at  the  annual  meeting  on 
February  15th  next,  and  nominations  for  the  same  will  be  received  by 
the  secretary  up  to  December  21st. 
St.  John’s,  Sevenoaks,  Gardeners’  Society. — “  The  Garden 
and  its  Worth,”  was  the  subject  of  an  interesting  lecture  delivered 
by  Mr.  H.  Cannell,  sen.,  at  the  usual  meeting  of  the  St.  John’s 
Gardeners’  Society.  The  chair  was  taken  by  the  president,  Mr.  Alfred 
A.  Clark,  who  was  supported  on  the  platform  by  Mr.  Arthur  C.  Daily, 
one  of  the  vice-presidents.  The  lecturer  illustrated  his  remarks  by  a 
special  collection  of  very  fine  fruit  and  vegetables,  including  Onions 
of  enormous  size,  some  weighing  3  lbs..  Parsnips  about  3  feet  long, 
Cauliflowers,  Cabbages,  Beet,  Leeks,  and  Carrots.  Mr.  Cannell,  who  is 
a  vegetarian,  pleaded  for  vegetables  to  have  the  first  place  at  a  meal, 
instead  of  the  secondary  place,  as  at  present,  in  most  English  homes, 
and  gave  it  as  his  conviction,  grounded  on  experience,  that  we 
should  all  enjoy  better  health  if  we  ate  more  vegetables  and  fruit 
instead  of  meat.  To  show  the  value  of  some  kinds  of  vegetables  in 
the  winter,  Mr.  Cannell  brought  with  him  a  dish  of  cooked  Beans, 
the  variety  called  The  Czar,  a  white  Runner  Bean.  These  are  much 
larger  than  the  Haricot,  and  can  be  grown  by  anyone  who  has  a 
garden,  however  small.  He  also  brought  a  dish  of  cooked  Gourd,  the 
American  Squash.  Both  these  dishes  were  handed  round  for  the 
audience  to  taste,  and  the  general  opinion  was  that  they  were  excellent. 
Mr.  Cannell  spoke  for  about  an  hour  and  a  half,  and  at  the  close,  after 
answering  several  questions,  was  accorded  a  unanimous  and  hearty  vote 
of  thanks.  The  secretary  of  the  society,  Mr.  B.  Greenway,  then 
proposed  a  very  hearty  vote  of  thanks  to  the  chairman  and  vice- 
chairman,fand  this  was  carried  unanimously. 
