March  21,  1901. 
JOURNAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER. 
247 
Mr.  George  Norman,  Y.M.H, 
The  inclusion  of  the  Marquis  of  Salisbury’s  head  gardener  (whose 
portrait  we  here  present)  amongst  four  who  are  newly  added  to  the  list 
of  Victoria  Medalists  of  Honour  in  horticulture  by  the  Council  of  the 
Royal  Horticultural  Society,  will  be  gratifying  to  all  English  gardeners. 
The  Victoria  Medal  is  to  the  horticulturist  what  the  Victoria  Cross  is 
to  the  soldier — both  are  honours  of  high  distinction.  Mr.  Geo.  Norman 
has  been  at  Hatfield  House,  Hatfield,  for  the  past  quarter  of  a  century, 
during  which  time  his  labours  in  all  departments  of  gardening  have  been 
arduous  but  thoroughly  successful.  His  position  as  head  gardener  to 
the  noble  Marquis  demands  a  knowledge  of  the  highest  gardening  in  all 
its  branches,  and  from  what  we  and  many  of  our  readers  have  seen 
either  at  Hatfield  or  at  southern 
exhibitions,  one  has  practical  proof 
of  Mr.  Norman’s  powers.  It  is 
with  exceeding  great  pleasure  that 
we  offer  congratulations  to  our 
worthy  friend. 
- - <*♦•> - 
Royal  Horticultural 
Society. 
Scientific  Committee,  March  12th. 
Present  :  Dr.  M.  T.  Masters  (in 
the  chair)  ;  Rev.  W.  Wilks,  Prof. 
Boulger,  Dr.  Russell,  Dr.  Muller, 
Messrs.  Houston,  Douglas,  Bennett- 
Poe,  Saunders,  Sutton,  Rendle, 
McLachlan,  Michael,  Bowles,  Wors- 
ley,  Hogg,  Chapman,  Gordon,  Prof. 
Church,  and  Rev.  G.  Henslow, 
Hon.  Sec. 
Double  flowers,  production  of.— 
Mr.  Douglas  contributed  the  fol¬ 
lowing  additional  observations  on 
this  subject.  He  said,  “  I  can  speak 
of  the  Carnation  and  Picotee  only 
from  my  own  experience,  and  from 
what  I  have  seen  of  the  garden  or 
German  Stock.  I  have  worked 
upon  the  Carnation  over  thirty 
years,  raising  a  considerable  number 
annually,  and  always  saving  the  seed 
from  the  best  double  flowers,  and 
the  very  best  varieties  in  the  various 
classes.  Taking  the  average  of 
seasons  I  get  5  per  cent,  double 
flowers  as  good  as  the  parents, 
12  per  cent,  single  flowers,  of  every 
shade  of  colour  favoured  by  the 
Carnation.  This  would  leave  83 
per  cent,  of  double  flowers,  but  in 
no  respect  equal  in  form  to  the  George 
parents.  The  finest  lot  of  choice 
varieties  I  ever  had  was  in  a  hot, 
dry  season.  The  plants  were  well  supplied  with  water,  and  many 
one-year-old  plants  produced  upwards  of  200  blooms  each.  I 
remember  discussing  the  production  of  Stock  seed  some  tea  years 
ago  with  Mr.  John  Ward,  then,  as  now,  a  market  grower  at 
Leytonstone  in  Essex.  Speaking  from  his  own  experience,  he 
informed  me  that  he  always  obtained  the  largest  percentages  of  double- 
flowered  Stocks  when  he  saved  the  seed  from  plants  grown  in  pots. 
Subsequently  I  was  being  shown  over  a  large  establishment  in 
Germany,  where  enormous  quantities  of  seed  were  saved,  and  I  found 
that  all  the  best  Ten-week  Stock  seed  was  saved  in  Germany 
exactly  as  Mr.  Ward  saved  his  seed  in  Essex.  Thousands  of  flower 
pots  about  5  or  6  inches  in  diameter  were  arranged  on  a  wooden 
staging  fully  exposed  to  the  open  air,  and  I  was  also  informed  that  it 
was  necessary  to  grow  the  plants  in  this  way  to  make  sure  of  the  seed 
producing  a  large  percentage  of  double  flowers.  The  Poppy  has  a 
greater  tendency  to  produce  double  flowers  than  any  other  plant  known 
to  me,  and  certainly  the  tendency  is  greater  in  rather  exhausted  soil,  as 
can  easily  be  proved  by  allowing  a  bed  to  sow  itself  from  the  previous 
year’s  bloom,  and  the  plants  to  flower  on  the  same  ground  without 
making  an  addition  of  soil  or  manure  to  the  bed.” 
Abutilon  hybrids. — Professor  Marcus  Hartog  sent  the  following 
communication  with  specimens  from  Queen’s  College,  Cork  : — “  I  seud 
you  herewith  specimens  of  some  of  my  new  Abutilon  hybrids.  The  male 
1  was  Abutilon  vexillare,  and  the  mother-plant  a  hybrid  of  the  Darwini 
Boule  de  Neige  type,  which  we  called  ‘  Petticoat,’ from  its  wide  open 
habit.  This  plant  is  an  exceptionally  free  seeder;  its  flowers  are 
orange  streaked  with  brown,  and  its  leaves  show  very  little  trace  of 
variegation.  The  hybrids  all  show  a  marked  transverse  depression  at 
the  insertion  of  the  deltoid  calyx  lobes  on  the  tube,  and  most  of  them 
show  colour  in  the  calyx,  like  the  male,  and  some  sign  of  dpep  red  or 
purple  spotting  in  the  depths  of  the  corolla,  which  in  most  plants  is 
elongated,  like  the  sire.  The  one  that  1  have  called  Blanche  has  a 
much  more  spreading  corolla,  of  more  substance  than  the  rest,  with  a 
clear  tendency  to  become  pleiomerous — to  double,  in  fact.  Variegation 
is  very  irregular,  even  in  the  open  ground,  and  becomes  very  slight  in 
the  winter  quarters.  It  appears  as  a  margination,  gradually  increasing 
till  the  only  dark  green  parts  lie  along  the  greater  veins.  Again,  in  the 
open,  some  of  the  plants  exhibit  a  marked  purpling  of  the  parenchyma 
on  either  side  of  the  veins,  which  I  have  seen  in  no  other  Atutilons. 
All  these  hybrids  agree  in  a  much  more  free  branching  habit,  with 
greater  fulness  of  growth  than  any 
others  that  I  know.  The  more  erect 
_ n  ones  send  out  more  numerous 
lateral  branches,  and  do  not  become 
leggy,  while  the  spreading  ones  pro¬ 
duce  numerous  branches  that  fill  up 
the  centre  of  the  plant,  and  keep- 
it  from  looking  straggly.  The  sum¬ 
mer  flowers  are  at  least  half  as  large 
again  as  the  winter  ones.  The  plants 
were  raised  from  seed  in  the  autumn 
of  1899,  kept  through  the  winter  in 
a  cold  orangery,  where  they  made 
no  progress  to  speak  of,  and  planted 
out  at  the  end  of  May  last  year.  In 
the  autumn  they  were  potted  off, 
and  have  been  kept  in  a  greenhouse, 
far  too  crowded  for  them  to  do  well. 
I  may  note,  that  among  the  Abutilon 
hybrids  that  we  have,  the  roots  are 
almost  always  swollen  with  galls, 
produced  by  the  nematode  Hete- 
rodera  radicicola,  with  which  the 
mould  Thielavia  Hartogi  (Butler) 
co-operates.  These  galls  formed  the 
subject  of  an  interesting  research 
by  Dr.  Butler,  now  cryptogamist  to 
the  Indian  Government,  and  a  pre¬ 
liminary  abstract  of  it  was  published 
in  the  B.A.  Report  for  1900  (Dover). 
I  have  found  the  addition  of  soot  to 
the  soil  useful  in  checking  this 
disease,  though  I  am  not  sure  that  it 
stops  it.  I  take  the  opportunity  to 
show  an  inflorescence  of  a  hybrid 
Saraca  (indica  tetrandra)  raised  by 
the  late  Wm.  Crawford  at  Lakelands, 
Cork,  and  acquired  by  gift  of  his 
executors  when  the  collection  was 
broken  up  at  his  death.  These 
hybrids,  of  which  we  have  five  dis. 
tinct  forms,  are  singularly  orna¬ 
mental  shrubs  for  the  stove,  where 
they  flower  for  nearly  three  months, 
beginning  in  February.” 
Though  interesting  from  a  scien- 
Norman  V.M.H.  tific  point  of  view,  the  Abutilons 
were  not  thought  to  be  improve¬ 
ments  upon  existing  plants. 
Carnation  leaves  decayed. — Mr.  W.  B.  Vernon,  of  Oswestry,  sent 
some  leaves  decayed  at  the  tips,  of  a  pink  Malmaison,  observing  that 
the  browning  of  the  apex  of  the  leaves  occurs  almost  every  year  about 
this  time.  They  were  sent  to  Dr.  W.  G.  Smith  for  examination  and 
report. 
Late-flowering  Chrysanthemum. — Mr.  Holmes  sent  a  blossom  of 
Lady  Canning,  with  the  following  observation “  I  have  never 
seen  a  flower  so  late  as  this  before.  It  was  in  a  pot  in  a  cold  house,  and 
has  been  in  bloApm  since  the  week  before  Christmas.  I  also  seud  a 
fasciated  stem  ot  Daphne  Cneorum.” 
Snowdrops,  diseased. — Dr.  W.  G.  Smith  sent  the  following  report 
upon  specimens  submitted  to  him  : — “  I  regard  the  Snowdrops  sent 
from  last  meeting  of  the  Scientific  Committee  as  attacked  by  the 
Botrytis  stage  of  the  fungus  Sclerotinia  galanthi.  This  was  described 
and  figured  by  Worthington  G.  Smith  (‘  Gardeners’  Chronicle,’  1889)  ; 
George  Massee  describes  it  in  the  *  Kew  Bulletin,’  No.  124,  and  in  his 
latest  text-book  of  plant  diseases.  There  is  no  need  for  me  to 
submit  a  formal  report,  the  name  and  above  references  should  be 
enough  to  mention  in  the  R.H.S.  Journal  report.  I  found  the  Botrytis 
form  of  spore  working  its  way  up  the  green  parts  of  plants  seut ;  now 
these  are  a  shapeless  mass  with  the  Sclerotium  stage  present  in  numbers. 
As  to  remedy,  I  can  suggest  nothing  better  than  the  measures  mentioned 
about  a  year  ago  in  a  report  to  the  oommittee  on  Daffodils  attacked  by 
