April  11,  1901. 
300  JOURNAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER. 
Weather  In  Iiondon. — Thursday  morning,  the  4th  inst.,  opened 
bright  and  bracing  after  the  previous  evening’s  heavy  rain.  Good 
Friday,  and  each  succeeding  day  up  to  Tuesday,  was  bright  and  most 
enjoyable.  Wednesday  was  mild  but  dull,  with  occasional  showers. 
Weather  In  the  North. — On  several  mornings  of  the  past  week 
there  has  been  sharp  frost,  and  on  the  4th  a  heavy  shower  of  snow  fell. 
But  the  chief  feature  has  been  much  wet.  The  2nd  was  a  day  of 
excessive  rain,  and,  except  on  Sunday,  which  was  fine  in  the  earlier  part, 
more  or  less  rain  has  fallen  daily. — B.  D.,  8.  Perthshire. 
The  Gardeners’  Boyal  Benevolent  Institution. — Her  Majesty 
Queen  Alexandra  has  been  graciously  pleased  to  continue  to  be  a  patron 
of  the  Gardeners’  Royal  Benevolent  Institution,  of  which  her  late 
Majesty  Queen  Victoria  was  patroness  for  fifty  years. 
Royal  Horticultural  Society. — Notice  is  hereby  given  that  a 
general  meeting  of  the  Fellows  of  the  society  will  be  held  at  the  Drill 
Hall  of  the  JLondon  Scottish  Volunteers,  Buckingham  Gate,  Westminster, 
on  Tuesday,  April  23rd,  to  consider  and,  if  approved,  to  adopt  the 
proposal  of  the  Council  to  purchase  on  behalf  of  the  society  for  the 
purpose  of  its  new  gardens,  43  acres  of  land  in  the  county  of  Kent, 
forming  part  of  Rabbits’  Farm,  and  adjoining  the  Little  Boys’  Home  at 
South  Darenth.  Fellows  wishing  to  see  the  property  before  the  meeting 
should  take  the  10  a.m.  train  from  Victoria  (L.C.  and  D.  Railway),  to 
Farningham  Road  Station,  on  Thursday,  18th,  when  some  members  of 
Council  will  be  on  the  spot  to  explain  the  boundaries,  &c. — By  order  of 
the  Council,  W.  Wilks,  Secretary. 
The  Daffodil  Cup. — We  are  asked  to  announce  that  this  cup,  offered 
at  the  R.H.S.  meeting  on  Tuesday,  the  9th  inst.,  not  having  been  awarded, 
owing  to  there  being  one  competitor  only,  will  be  offered  in  competition 
again  on  April  23rd,  as  follows  : — Group  of  Daffodil  blooms  (Poly¬ 
anthus  varieties  excluded)  grown  without  artificial  heat ;  must  include 
some  of  each  section,  Magni-,  Medi-,  and  Parvi-Coronati ;  must  contain 
at  least  fifty  varieties  distinot,  of  thirty  of  whioh  at  least  three  blooms 
each  must  be  shown.  Not  more  than  nine  blooms  of  any  one  variety 
may  be  put  up.  To  be  staged  in  bottles,  vases,  or  tubes,  not  exceeding 
3  inches  in  diameter  at  the  top  (inside  measurement),  and  all  the  stems 
must  touch  the  water.  Quality  of  flower  will  count  more  than  quantity, 
and  correct  naming  and  tasteful  arrangement  will  be  duly  considered. 
Any  foliage  may  be  used,  Daffodil  or  otherwise.  No  prize  will  be 
awarded  unless  there  are  two  competitors  at  least.  Open  to  amateurs 
and  gentlemen’s  gardeners  only.  First  prize,  a  £7  7s.  silver  cup, 
presented  to  the  society  by  Messrs.  Barr  &  Sons ;  second  prize,  silver 
Flora  medal.  Owing  to  the  backward  season  the  Narcissus  Committee 
will  also  meet  on  May  7th. 
Hlppeastrums  and  Other  Flowers  at  Hew. — One  of  the 
greatest  attractions  within  Kew  Gardens  during  any  season  of  the  year, 
but  never  greater  than  in  springtime,  is  the  flower  house  (No.  4)  under 
the  charge  of  Mr.  Garrett.  Hippeastrums  are  at  their  best  at  the 
present  time,  and  amongst  the  numerous  plaDts  filling  the  stages  there 
are  some  exceedingly  promising  seedlings.  The  flower  scapes  are  not 
so  large  or  handsome  as  we  have  seen  them  at  Kew  in  years  past,  yet 
the  colour  of  most  of  the  blooms  is  intense  and  attractive.  One  seedling 
is  carrying  six  full-sized  and  deeply  coloured  crimson-self  flowers; 
others  have  five,  and  many  have  three  and  four.  Amongst  other 
attractive  plants  in  the  same  house  are  standard  and  bush-trained 
Wistaria  sinensis  and  W.  s.  alba,  Callas,  Azaleas,  Primulas,  Eupatoriums, 
Boronias,  Cyclamens,  Cinerarias,  Narcissi,  and  all  the  other  popular 
spring-flowering  bulbous  and  forced  shrubby  plants,  including  Spirsoa 
Van  Houttei,  Prunuses  and  Pyruses,  tree  Pseonies,  Ilex  virginioa, 
Cytisus,  Lilacs,  Japanese  Maples,  and  Acacias  combine  toward  the 
furnishing  of  a  very  attractive  house.  The  Clianthus  puniceus,  with 
deep  crims*n  “  leguminous  ”  flowers  is  a  special  feature  as  a  climber, 
whilst  the  fine  new  Primula  kewensis,  and  the  superior  Aldborough 
variety  of  Anemone  fulgens,  are  other  subjects  of  unusual  interest  to 
the  lover  and  judge  of  plants.  On  Easter  Monday  68,000  people  visited 
Kew  Gardens,  and  almost  as  many  on  Good  Friday,  Saturday,  and 
Easter  Sunday  respectively. 
Great  Britain  ships  firewood  from  Australia  for  her  troops  in 
China.  *  *  *  It  is  a  popular  impression  that  Alaska  is  a  frozen 
zone,  and  that  the  soil  is  barren  and  worthless.  This  is  a  mistake.  The 
sun  is  hot  during  summer,  the  snow  moistens  and  enriches  the  earth, 
and  the  soil  in  the  valleys  is  fertile  and  productive.  Wheat,  Corn,  Oats, 
Barley,  Buckwheat,  Flaxseed,  and  a  considerable  variety  of  vegetables 
and  forage  plants  can  be  successfully  grown  in  many  parts  of  the 
territory. 
Irish  Tobacco  Culture. — The  growth  of  Tobacco  in  Ireland,  we 
are  told,  is  being  fostered  under  exceptionally  favourable  conditions, 
the  Irish  Agricultural  Board  making  praiseworthy  efforts  to  give  the 
experiments  a  fair  trial.  It  has  been  shown  that  very  good  Tobacco 
can  be  grown  in  Ireland.  “  The  climatio  effects  on  the  quality  will  be 
one  of  the  duties  of  the  Board  during  the  present  yeai,”  says  a  Liver¬ 
pool  paper.  We  confess  we  did  not  know  that  Mr.  Horace  Plunkett’®, 
department  had  any  “  climatic  ”  powers. 
Poison  Plants. — At  a  recent  meeting  of  the  Linnean  Society  a- 
report  on  the  poisoning  of  several  parrots  from  eating  Parsley  was 
presented  by  J.  E.  Harting,  who  took  oocasion  to  review  other  instances 
of  plants  poisonous  to  domestic  animals  and  not  to  man,  and  vice  versd. 
Larks,  starlings,  and  finches  eat  the  berries  of  the  Mountain  Ash 
(Pyrus  Aucuparia),  but  they  are  poisonous  to  man  ;  goats  eat  Oak 
twigs  without  any  bad  results,  while  deer  and  cows  are  fatally  poisoned. 
Goats  appear  to  be  very  resistent  against  poisonous  plants  ;  in  a  case 
of  poisoning  from  goat  milk  investigation  showed  that  the  animal  from, 
which  the  milk  had  been  taken  had  been  feeding  on  leaves  of 
Colchicum. 
“He  Was  a  Brick.’’ — When  a  certain  young  man,  a  member  of 
several  social  and  fraternal  organisations,  died,  each  society  determined 
to  outdo  the  other  in  the  matter  of  flowers,  and  great  was  the  display  at 
the  funeral.  A  New  York  newspaper  states  that  one  committee  selected 
a  pillow  of  Belle  Siebrecht  Roses  on  a  bed  of  Immortelles,  and  wanted 
some  highly  original  and  striking  lettering  thereon.  The  florist  showed 
his  book,  but  nothing  that  it  contained  was  suitable.  The  committee 
retired,  and  after  a  long  consultation  ordered  the  words,  “He  Was  a 
Brick  !  ”  Protest  was  in  vain.  The  pillow  must  have  those  words  or  a 
rival  florist  would  be  patronised !  So  the  young  man  went  to  his  last 
resting  place  with  the  inscription,  “  He  Was  a  Brick,”  standing  out  from 
the  pillow  in  purple  letters. 
New  Vegetables. — Were  it  not  that  humanity  are  creatures  of 
conventional  habits,  the  probabilities  are  that  our  sources  of  food 
supply  would  be  very  extensive,  and  we  should  not  be  so  dependent  on 
oertain  known  and  cultivated  species  as  we  are.  Arguing  on  this 
line  of  thought  “  La  Science  Franqaise  ”  puts  forward  the  following 
suggestion  : — “  Our  present  garden  vegetables  are  cultivated  varieties 
of  wild  species;  why  do  not  our  horticulturists  seek  for  other  wild 
plants  that  could  be  introduced  with  profit  to  our  tables  ?  A  fortune 
awaits  him  who  does  this  successfully.  We  may  be  shy,  at  first,  of  a 
dish  of  Iris  or  a  Saxifrage  salad,  but  the  papers  will  relate  how 
Bernhardt  or  Coquelin  ate  and  liked  them,  and  then  the  Iris  and  the 
Saxifrage  will  become  popular,  like  the  Potato.”  The  possibilities  of 
the  vegetable  kingdom  as  a  souroe  of  food  supply  are  immense,  and 
the  suggestion  thrown  out  above  is  well  worth  pondering  over. 
Experimental  Gardening  In  Worcestershire. — The  annual 
report  has  been  issued  in  connection  with  the  experimental  garden 
started  at  Droit wich  five  years  ago.  It  contains  detailed  information 
respecting  the  crops  of  fruit  and  vegetables  grown  on  the  land  under 
various  systems  of  culture,  and  the  tabulated  results  will  be  found  very 
instructive.  The  garden  is  2  acres  in  area,  and  was  previously  part  of 
an  old  pasture,  but  owing  to  liberal  applications  of  manure  the  crops 
have  greatly  improved,  and  especially  Onions,  Celery,  and  Leeks. 
Other  crops  have  improved,  not  only  because  of  the  richer  soil,  but 
because  it  has  been  made  sweeter  by  deep  culture  and  aeration.  The 
garden  is  said  to  increase  yearly  in  interest  and  instruotiveness. 
Vegetables  are  cultivated  under  two  different  sets  of  manurial 
conditions  as  represented  by  plots  devoted  to  stable  manure,  mixed 
chemical  manures,  garden  refuse,  stable  manure,  and  mixed  chemical 
manure,  no  manure,  sulphate  of  ammonia,  nitrate  of  soda,  kainit,  and 
superphosphate  of  lime  respectively.  The  experimental  garden  now 
contains  seventy-six  varieties  of  Apples,  forty-seven  of  Plums,  thirty- 
five  of  Pears,  twelve  of  Gooseberries,  eleven  of  Currants,  ten  of  Rasp¬ 
berries,  and  thirteen  of  Strawberries. 
