/ 
January  14,  1904.- 
JOURNAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  ANE  COTTAGE 
GARDENER. 
m 
and  why?  He  says  good  cultivators’ of  Chrysanthemums  in  the 
Trade  are  an  exception.  I  say  let  them  compete  more  against 
each  other,  and  then  we  shall  see.  —  Faihness,  Liverpool. 
- - 
Chrysanthemum  Critique  Controversy. 
I  refrained  from  replying  to  “  Sadoc’s  ”  I’emarks  on  page 
•j79  on  your  issue  of  December  24  until  I  had  seen  the  result 
of  the  .audit.  I  (piite  admit  that  my  scope  of  practical  ob.serva- 
tion  is  not  as  extensive  as  I  .should  like,  nevertheless  I  grow 
about  200  plants  each  year,  and  usually  see  some  of  the  leading 
collections  in  various  parts  of  the  country.  La,st  year  I  visited 
over  thirty  of  my  friends,  several  of  them  on  more  than  one 
occasion,  comparing  notes  carefully  with  each  of  them,  and 
my  voting  paper  for  the  last  audit  included  42  out  of  the  first 
oO  Japanese,  31  out  of  36  incurved,  and  8  out  of  the  12  novelties, 
V  hich  last  number  would  have  been  9  had  I  thought  Be.ssie 
Godfrey  c.ame  under  the  heading  of  novelties.  I  simplv  quote 
these  figures  to  show  that  my  judgment  coincides  fairly  well 
with  the  other  thirty-nine  voters.  It  is  passing  strange  that 
W.  R.  Church  should  head  both  the  li.st  of  “  Sadoc’s  ”  non- 
successful  varieties  and  the  li.st  of  the  50  best  J.aps.  “  Sadoc  ” 
.says:  “  Ho  th.at  wins  hesit.ates  not.” 
The  forty  electors  would  all  .apparently  hesitate  before  di.s- 
carding  W.  R.  Church.  Has  “Sadoc”  any  variety  to  sugge.st 
in  place  of  W.  R.  Church?  Mrs.  J.  Lewis  under  the  different 
climatic  conditions  of  1901  w.as  exceptionally  fine  everywhere, 
and  what  blooms  of  this  variety  I  saw  exhibited  l.a.st  year,  in  my 
limited  judgment  still  entitle  it  to  rank  amongst  our  very  best 
whites,  and  except  that  it  wants  .a  little  more  coddling  in  its 
early  stages  than  some  varieties,  is  a  fairly  easy  one  to  grow. 
Given  a  normal  .sea.son,  I  expect  to  see  as  good  blooms  of  Mrs.  J. 
Lewis  as  ever,  also  of  Mrs.  Barkley  and  J.  R.  Upton.  Like 
“Sadoc,”  I  would  ask  the,  to  me,  unan.swer.able  que.stion :  How 
can  a  list  of  fifty  varieties  be  made  up  without  them? — A.  H. 
The  Weather  of  1903. 
Tlie  several  rainfall  tables  published  on  page  19  serve  to 
remind  your  readers  how  varied  is  the  amount  recorded  by  the 
observers  whose  names  and  districts  are  given.  The  mea.suring 
of  the  rain  is  a  most  interesting,  and,  indeed,  a  valuable  study 
for  the  gardener,  and  one  has  only  to  consult  “British  Rainfall,” 
published  for  .so  many  j^ears  by  the  late  Mr.  Symons,  and  now  by 
Dr.  Mill,  to  learn  what  a  large  and  increasing  attention  is  paid 
to  this  daily  routine.  Not  only  should  the  rain  be  measured, 
but  temperatures  also,  which,  if  they  do  not  serve  any  practical 
purpose,  are  nevertheless  most  interesting  for  comparative  re¬ 
ferences.  “  D.  C.,  Hamilton,”  bewails  the  fact  that  of  the  365 
days,  185  were  wet.  Though  we  cannot  rise  to  such  figures  as 
55.52in,  we  can  go  one  better  in  numbers  of  wet  days,  namely, 
189.  “  D.  C.”  might  have  given  his  table  showing  the  monthly 
measurements. 
In  the  Thame.s  valley,  where  floods  were  so  severe,  one  would 
almost  have  expected  a  higher  score  than  Mr.  George  Groves 
aiives  from  Temple  House.  The  number  of  wet  days  enumerated 
there  is  remarkable;  yet  the  total  is  nearly  an  inch  less  than  our 
record  with  189  rainy  days.  The  average  for  the  eight  preyious 
years  here  is  26.82in;  thus  the  excess  of  1903  is  18.98in.  There 
were  sixty-two  frosts  during  the  year,  thirteen  of  this  number 
being  in  April,  and  one  on  May  13. 
The  highest  temperature  (90dcg)  occurred  on  July  11,  the 
corresponding  minimum,  12deg,  or  20dog  of  frost,  happened  on 
January  15.  It  is  noteworthy  that  during  the  hottest  daj^s  of 
the  summer  the  night  temperatures  should  read  so  low.  On 
four  days  from  Jvdy  7  to  July  14  the  thermometer  fell  to  40dog. 
cooled  by  a  north-westerly  wind.  October  seemed  universally 
wet.  At  Alton  Mr.  Yates’  record  is  11.37in;  Glasgow  district, 
8.29in ;  at  Temple  House,  8.83in  ;  and  at  Rood  Ashton,  7.49in. 
The  year  1903  may  be  .said  to  have  created  a  series  of  records 
tlu'oughout  its  cour.se  :  they  were  so  numei’ous  that  their  record 
would  take  up  much  space  to  recount,  even  in  an  horticultural 
aspect.  A  few  prominent  ones  may  be  summed  up  thus:  rain, 
frosts,  slugs,  weeds,  abnormally  small  fruit  crops,  and  higher 
coal  and  seed  bills. 
These  are  only  a  few ;  but  they  are  ample  to  make  one 
shudder  on  a  summarised  reflection,  for  the  high  co.st  of  upkeep 
aiid  smaller  returns  from  the  garden  tend  to  disturb  both  the 
pleasure  and  profit  of  horticulture,  viewed  from  its  several 
PC!  nomic  aspects.  For  several  years  there  has  been  a  weaken¬ 
ing  of  ground  springs,  and  a  dearth  of  water  has  been  an 
outcry  both  from  rural  and  town  population.  The  ample  rains 
of  1903  will  for  a  time,  it  is  hoped,  remove  the.se  troubles,  and 
at  thei  same  time  fortify  those  trees  whose  roots  work  deeplv 
into  the  hitherto  dry  regions  of  the  earth’s  surface.  Though 
Di  ■  e  xcess  of  rain  has  called  forth  so  uinversal  an  outcry,  itr 
i"fl!U‘nce  will  assurediv  be  accredited.  — AV.  S.  { 
Gadding  and  Gathering. 
Badium. 
On  Sunday  afternoon,  January  10,  Di'.  \V.  R.  Hampsou 
deliv'ered  a  lecture  on  radium,  iji  the  Alhambra  Theatre,  London. 
There  was  an  excessive  demand'for  seats,  and  tlm  audience  hoard 
the  lecturer  with  steadfast  interest  for  an  hour  and  a  half. 
Radium  is  a  substance  extracted  from  pitchblend  and  other  rocks, 
and  its  extraordinary  minuteness  may  be  judged  from  the  fact 
that  to  obtain  half  a  thimbleful  of  it  eighty  tons  of  material  had 
to  be  treated  with  fire  and  acids.  Its  estimated  value  is  £90,000 
per  ounce.  Radium  has  the  remarkable  property  of  constantly 
emitting  light  and  power  (heat)  for  years  and  j-ears  without 
perceptibly  losing  weight.  Dr.  Hampson  said  that  theory  bid 
them  believe,  however,  that  it  must  lose  weight,  even  though 
the  finest  chemical  weighing  scales  had  not  been  able  to  register 
any  lo.ss  in  the  few  years  in  which  radium  has  been  known.  He 
said  that  the  radium  emanations  became  tran.smutecl  into  helium, 
which  has  hitherto  only  been  known  as  existing  in  the  sun  ;  for 
radium  emanations,  when  transmuted  in  tubes  of  liquified  air, 
give  exactly  the  same  spccti'oscopic  registration  as  helium.  This 
is  very  remarkable,  and  is  a  line  for  further  investigations.  With 
reference  to  diminution  of  the  weight  of  radium,  the  lecturer- 
stated  that  it'  three  or  four  pounds  of  the  substance  were  pro¬ 
cured,  and  could  be  tested  after  a  lap.se  of  teir  years,  doubtless 
an  infinitesimal  loss  would  be  registered. 
The  discovery  of  radium  by  Madame  Cui-e  (a  Polish  lady  by 
birth,  and  wife  of  the  distinguished  French  savant)  had  de¬ 
molished  Dalton’s  theory  of  the  inde.structibility  of  atom.s — a 
theory  which  had  been  a  very  u.seful  one  to  scieirtists  for  the 
la.st  hundred  years.  Hitherto  it  had  been  thought  that  the 
atom  was  the  ultimate  particle  of  matter,  but  the  study  of 
uranium,  radium,  and  similar  subjects  in  recent  years  had  led  to 
the  abandonment  of  that  belief. 
By  simple  experiments  Dr.  Hampson  showed  the  varying 
powers  of  volatibility  possessed  by  water,  chloroform,  ether,  ancl 
carbolic  acid,  as  evidenced  in  the  different  times  taken  by  each 
to  evaporate  or  “  dry  up  ”  when  poured  over  paper.  The 
“  drying  ”  proce.ss  .simply  meant  that  the  molecules  of  ether  or 
chloroform  had  greater  energy  and  power  of  emanation  (i.e., 
jumping  up  or  flying  off)  than  those  of  the  water.  So,  with 
radium,  its  energy — its  power  to  throw  off  light  and  heat — was 
estimated  at  from  3,000  to  1,000,000  times  as  great  as  that  of 
any  combustible  or  volatile  commodity  hitherto  known.  The 
power  possessed  by  half  a  thimbleful  of  radium  is  sufficient  to 
raise  500  tons  one  mile  high. 
At  present  it  is  premature  to  speak  of  the  possibilities  of  its 
practical  utility.  It  has  been  applied  in  light  cases  of  cancer, 
and  has  appeared  to  perform  a  cure.  The  pathologists’  theory  is 
that  as  radium  emanates  heat  and  light  with  terrible  and  never- 
ending  energy,  it  kills  the  disease  “germs”  in  the  tissues.  In 
one  sense  its  power  is  allied  to  that  of  the  Rbntgen  rays.  It  is 
a  significant  fact  that  Monsieur  Cure’s  arms  were  spot-burned 
in  places  by  his  experiments  upon  himself,  and  that  these  spots 
took  a  very  long  time  to  become  whole  again.  The  .scientists 
say  that  if  they  can  learn  to  control  the  transmutation  of  radium 
in  one  form  (the  comparativ-ely  useless)  into  another  (which  is 
eminently  useful),  a  great  gain  will  be  ensured  to  the  world  of 
science  and  industry. 
Offices,  Laboratories,  Workshops. 
Those  who  are  constantly  passing  between  fhe  Strand  and 
Fleet  Street,  London,  will  doubtle.ss  have  noticed  the  recent 
erections  of  corrugated  iron  houses  a  little  higher  than  where 
Dane’s  Inn  is.  Aldwych,  which  is  one  side  of  the  new  crescent, 
though  as  yet  unbuilt,  has  its  course  already  paved  for  a  distance 
of  some  hundred  yards  or  more.  Facing  this  new  paved  way 
are  these  buildings,  which  are  being  prepared  as  the  printing 
offices,  for  eighteen  months  to  come,  of  the  “  Morning  Post  ” 
newspaper.  The  builders  are  Humphreys,  Limited,  of  Knighfs- 
bridge,  S.W.  The.se  erections  are  very  cheap,  and  very  durable. 
They  are  light,  very  strong,  convenient,  and  can  be  made  quite 
ornamental.  The  basement,  and  for  two  feet  above  the  surface 
of  the  pavement,  is  of  cement,  with  a  level  top.  On  this  top 
lies  a  stout  wooden  beam,  the  whole  length  of  the  building. 
Uprights  of  a  suitable  breadth  and  stoutness  (in  this  case  seem¬ 
ingly  Ijin  planking)  are  set  upon  the  horizontal  beam,  and 
another  beam  lies  along  their  upper  ends.  Thus  the  framework 
is  of  fairly  stout  timber,  and  the  windows  and  doors  occupy  con¬ 
siderable  space.  When  these  are  fixed,  concrete  is  filled  into 
the  interspaces,  parallel  boards,  of  course,  being  placed  face  to 
face  a  couple  of  inches  apart  that  is.  flush  with  the  outer  edges 
of  the  uprights  —  so  as  to  form  a  mould  in  which  the  cement  .sets, 
the  boards  being  then  taken  away;  but  gravel  or  spar  is  firJ 
pressed  thickly  and  evenly  into  the  concrete  surface. 
Stage  by  stage  this  cementing  business  is  comph'ted.  and 
cross  or  horizontal  pieces  of  planks  are  laid  flat  and  tightly 
between  the  unrights  aforementioned,  the.se  cross  pieces  being 
3ft  or  4ft  apart,  one  above  anotlier.  The  interior  side  of  tin- 
walls  is  made  of  corrugated  irou  nailed  to  laths,  so  that  there 
is  really  an  outer  or  front  wall,  say  2in  thick,  of  concrete  and 
