8 
JOURNAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER. 
Royal  Horticultural  Society. 
The  next  fruit  and  flower  show  of  the  Royal  Horticultural 
Society  will  be  held  on  Tuesday,  July  8,  in  the  Drill  Hall,  Buck¬ 
ingham  Gate,  Westminster,  1 — 5  p.m.  A  lecture  on  “  Ornamental 
Trees  and  Shrubs”  will  be  given  by  the  Rt.  Hon.  the  Earl  of 
Annesley. 
Raid  on  Mushroomers. 
A  vigorous  campaign  against  Mushroom  gatherers  is  being 
carried  on  in  Yorkshire.  Beside®  ordering  the  payment  of  costs 
and  damages,  the  Lowden  magistrates  have  imposed  fines  ranging 
from  5s.  to  10s.  on  each  offender.  The  damage  done  to  growing 
crops  is  said  to  have  been  considerable,  and  Mushroom  gathering 
to  have  become  an  intolerable  nuisance. 
Alpine  School  of  Gardening. 
The  popularity  of  the  carefully  tended  Alpine  Garden  (says 
the  “  Daily  Mail  ”)  is  not  limited  to  the  British  Isles.  On  the 
Schneeberg  Mountain,  in  the  Styrian  Alps,  a  school  garden  has 
been  established  as  a  sort  of  educational  medium  for  school 
children  and  the  public,  who  are  expected  to  study  the  botany 
of  the  indigenous  plants. 
The  Age  of  Trees. 
The  estimation  of  the  age  of  trees  by  means  of  the  number 
of  rings  visible  in  the  wodd  is  well  known  to  be  subject  to  many 
exceptions.  By  pinching,  or  pruning,  or  grafting,  a  second  layer 
of  wood  may  be  formed  in  one  year  in  a  shoot.  The  explanation 
is  that  the  pinching  or  other  operation  brings  about  a  state  of 
rest,  and  less  sap  is  directed  to  the  wound.  But  when  the 
adjacent  buds  begin  to  grow,  the  afflux  of  sap  is  increased,  and 
a  fresh  zone  of  wood  is  the  result. 
Cheap  Strawberries. 
'1  he  fine  weather  has  greatly  improved  the  prospects  of  the 
Strawberry  crops.  On  Saturday  at  Covent  Garden  about 
/0,0001b  of  Strawberries  were  received  from  Southampton  alone. 
In  Cheshire  and  Denbighshire  the  yield  is  anticipated  to  be  the 
heaviest  of  recent  years.  A  C'ovent  Garden  dealer  on  Saturday 
said  that  the  long  spell  of  wet  had  not  done  the  Strawberries  any 
harm;  it  had  only  kept  the  fruit  from  ripening.  The  fruit  would 
be  cheap  again  when  the  full  supplies  began  to  arrive. 
Chelsea  Physic  Garden. 
Except  the  Botanical  Garden  at  Oxford,  whose  Li  unman  beds 
were  destroyed  by  the  zeal  of  some  reforming  Philistine,  the 
Physic  Garden  at  Chelsea  is  the  oldest  botanical  garden  in  Eng¬ 
land.  It  has  chosen  the  present  month  to  inaugurate  its  work  of 
larger  usefulness  as  a  garden  with  laboratories  of  the  best  kind 
for  the  use  and  instruction  of  botanical  students.  Unhappily, 
the  current  year  has  witnessed  a  loss  to  the  garden  which  cannot 
be  replaced.  Its  Cedar  tree,  the  oldest  Cedar  in  England,  is 
dead.  The  famous  Gingko  tree  is  alive,  but  has  been  shut  out  of 
the  garden  by  the  “improvements.”  But  trees  are  not  being 
treated  very  well  in  London  this  year. 
Royal  Scottish  Arboricultural  Society. 
A  general  meeting  of  the  Royal  Scottish  Arboricultural 
Society  is  to  be  held  at  Edinburgh  on  July  18  next,  under  the 
presidency  of  the  Earl  of  Mansfield.  A  considerable  amount  of 
business  of  a  varied  and  interesting  character  has  been  placed  on 
the  agenda.  Special  attention  is  directed  to  the  forestry  section 
of  the  Highland  and  Agricultural  Society’s  Show  at  Aberdeen  on 
July  15  to  18.  The  show  will  include  a  forestry  section  organised 
by  the  Royal  Scottish  Arboricultural  Society,  similar  to  that  held 
at  Inverness  last  year.  The  hope  is  expressed  that  a  large  number 
of  members  will  attend  the  show.  An  informal  meeting  cf 
members  is  to  be  held  in  the  directors’  room  in  the  showyard  on 
Thursday,  July  17,  at  twelve  noon,  when  a  discussion  will  take 
place  on  the  exhibits,  and  the  best  means  for  improving  the 
section.  The  local  secretaries  are  Mr.  James  Wilson,  B.Sc., 
Department  of  Agriculture,  Marischal  College,  and  Mr.  John 
Clark,  forester,  Haddo  House,  Aberdeen.  The  paper  also  con¬ 
tains  an  intimation  of  the  annual  excursion,  which  is  to  be  a 
tour  in  Sweden. 
Ju]y  3,  1S02. 
Strawberries  in  Plenty. 
The  glorious  weather  has  so  improved  the  prospects  of  the 
crop  of  Strawberries  in  Cheshire  and  Denbighshire,  that  the 
heaviest  yield  of  recent  years  is  anticipated. 
Nine-leaved  Shamrock. 
Finding  a  nine-leaved  “  Shamrock,”  a  farm  labourer  at 
Groningen,  Holland,  sent  it  to  Queen  Wilhelmina,  who  accepted 
the  gift  and  rewarded  the  donor  with  £2  Is.  8d. 
Cold  Storage  Steamers. 
A  new  line  of  refrigerator  ships,  owned  by  a  British-American 
syndicate,  is  to  be  established,  with  direct  service  from  New 
Orleans,  New'  York,  and  Boston,  to  Bristol,  England.  The  New 
Orleans  line  is  to  carry  California  fruits. 
World-famed  Trees  in  Peril. 
A  great  forest  fire  is  raging  in  the  Tuolumne  Mountains  in 
California.  The  famous  Tuolumne  Grove,  which  contains  some 
of  the  largest  trees  in  the  world,  is  threatened  with  destruction. 
A  number  of  soldiers  and  civilians  are  fighting  the  fire,  but  it  is 
doubtful  whether  they  will  be  able  to  save  more  than  a  portion 
of  the  Grove.  • 
Commemoration  Oaks. 
Some  of  the  Colonies  will  not  be  without  English  Commemora¬ 
tion  Oaks  this  year.  Last  November  an  Eton  tradesman  sent  a 
bag  of  acorns,  picked  up  in  Windsor  Great  Park,  to  Australia. 
He  has  just  received  a  letter  from  Melbourne  in  which  the  writer 
says:  “The  little  Oaks  are  doing  well.  They  have  several  leaves 
on  them  now.” 
Covent  Garden  Indignant. 
Many  of  the  retail  dealers  at  C'ovent  Garden  are  loud  in  their 
expressions  of  indignation  at  the  publicity  which  the  “  slump  ” 
prices  in  Covent  Garden  have  gained,  as  they  say  it  has  been 
spoiling  their  market.  But  the  wholesalers  have  little  sympathy 
with  the  retailers,  for  they  say  that  in  a  crisis  like  that  of  last- 
week  the  retailers  do  nothing  to  help  them  out  of  it,  but  by 
keeping  up  their  prices  make  it  all  the  worse. 
Hull  Fruit  Trade. 
The  Hull  fruit  trade  has  suddenly  and  considerably  improved 
this  week,  and  the  merchants  are  looking  forw  ard  to  a  busy,  season. 
The  improved  train  service  from  Paris  to  Boulogne  will  make  a 
great  difference  to  Hull  traders,  inasmuch  as  delays,  sometimes 
extending  to  half  a  day.  will  be  avoided.  Fruit  is  now  carried 
across  France  in  special  ventilated  trucks,  and  shipowners  are 
•making  provision  to  preserve  its  freshness  in  transit  over  sea. 
The  Goole  steamer  Mopsa,  for  instance,  which  has  begun  its 
regular  sailings  to  Boulogne,  is  provided  with  a  novel  apparatus 
which  keeps  its  deck  cargo  in  a  current  of  cold  air.  This  ex¬ 
periment  has  awakened  a  good  deal  of  interest,  and  it  is  likely  to 
be  extended. 
The  Blue  Rose. 
A  story  has  gone  abroad  again  regarding  an  impossible  blue 
Rose.  The  facts  of  the  case  are  that  a  Mr.  Donald,  a  Scottish 
gardener,  who  has  been  for  seventeen  years  in  the  United  States 
>f  America,  recently  brought  over  a  sturdy  plant  (a  Wichuriana- 
Rambler  cross),  hoping  to  have  it  in  flower  for  the  Rose  Confer¬ 
ence  held  last  week  at  Kensington.  On  board  ship  he  may  have 
jocularly  remarked  that  the  novelty  was  “  a  blue  Rose,”  and  a 
journalist  being  at  hand,  gave  the  story  wings.  The  plant,  was 
safely  housed  in  the  stove  at  Chiswick,  having  been  cared  for  in 
a  special  Wardian  case  during  its  voyage,  but  even  with  the 
warmth  of  the  hothouse,  the  buds  were  not  expanded  sufficiently 
to  show  the  floral  characters.  The  N.R.S.  folks  may  see  this 
new  American  visitor. 
Our  Fruit  Imports. 
The  following  little  table  shows  the  quantities  of  certain 
fruits  imported  into  the  United  Kingdom  in  the  week  ended 
June  21,  1902,  together  with  the  quantities  in  the  corresponding 
week  of  the  previous  year: — 
Fruit,  Raw. 
1901 
1902 
Apoles 
cwt... 
1,053 
216 
Apricots  and  Peaches,  cwt.. 
615 
339 
Bananas 
bunches . . 
31,803 
48,162 
Cherries 
cwt.. 
45,427 
12,220 
Currants 
..  cwt.. 
185  . .  i 
5C0 
Gooseberries 
cwt.. 
5,302 
4,883 
Grapes.. 
..  cwt,. 
135 
267 
Lemons 
cwt.. 
42.749 
1?,6SS 
Oranges 
cwt . . 
23,121 
71,507 
Pears  .. 
..  cwt.. 
961 
50 
Plums  .. 
cwt  . 
. .  — 
59 
Strawberries. . 
CWt.. 
8,014 
7,r  1  » 
Unenumerated 
..  cwt.. 
2,247 
8.3 
