March  24,  1904. 
JOURNAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER. 
253 
The  Journal's  Dahlia  Analysis. 
Tiiis  yearly  feature  of  our  pages  will  appear  in  next  issue.  Mr. 
E.  M  awley  is  the  compiler  of  it. 
Appointments. 
Mr.  N .  Batchelor,  late  gardener  to  Miss  Von  Goetz,  Holiufield, 
Lyndhurst,  has  been  appointed  gardener  to  Dr.  Woakes,  Belvoir 
House,  Farehani,  Hants.  He  adds:  “I  got 'thi.s  place  from  the 
Journal,  which  I  take  regularly.” 
Hybr  d  Pctentillas. 
The  accidental  omission  of  some  words  from  my  note  on  the 
a])ove  on  page  191  makes  it  rather  misleading.  It  should  have 
been  to  tlie  effect  that  “  Ja  aihlilioii  to  the  hybrid  Potentillais 
sold  under  name,  and  which  are  only  dwarf  when  allowed  to 
trail  upon  the  surface  unsupported  by  a  stake,  there  are  such 
species  as  the  yellow  P.  verna,”  &c.,  tVc. — S.  Auxott. 
National  Chrysanthemum  Society. 
The  National  Chrysanthemum  Society  is  making  a  new 
departure,  and  adding  one  more  to  the  number  of  exhibitions  in 
its  programme  of  the  present  year,  by  arranging  for  an  exhibition 
of  C'hrysanthemums  grown  for  market.  A  special  committee  has 
been  formed,  with  Mr.  Robert  Ballantine  as  the  chairman,  to 
arrange  the  details  and  carry  out  the  said  exhibition.  The  date 
has  been  fixed  for  AVednesday,  December  14  next,  and  the  lai’ge 
Essex  Hall,  Essex  Street,  Strand,  has  been  engaged.  A  pre¬ 
liminary  schedule  of  prizes  has  been  prepared  and  issued. 
Gas  Tar. 
This  is  a  bye-product  in  the  manufacture  of  gas,  and  is  an 
excellent  substance  for  smearing  inside  of  flat  traj's  for  catching 
beetles  or  weevils  that  prey  on  foliage  at  niglit,  such  as  the  genus 
Rhynchites,  black  vine,  clay-coloured  and  red-legged  garden 
weevils,  respectively,  Otiorhynchus  sulcatus,  0.  picipes,  and 
O.  tenebricosus,  the  trays  being  placed  under  the  bushes  or  trees, 
and  then  shaken  over  them  after  dark  at  night. 
Tar  water,  made  by  boiling  gas  tar,  Jib  in  2gall.s  of  water,  for 
half  an  hour,  or  until  it  will  readily  mix  with  water,  and  then 
diluting  to  .'iOgalls  with  water,  is,  perhaps,  the  best  deterrent  of 
insects  depositing  their  eggs  on  or  in  plants.  The  tar  water  is 
particularly  valuable  against  the  Marguerite  fly  (Phytomyza 
affinis),  spraying  not  only  on  the  plants  very  lightly,  but  also  on 
the  stages,  <tc.  The  smell  of  tar  is  very  objectionable  to  this 
pest,  also  to  the  celery  fly,  and  does  good  work  on  the  larvse 
on  the  blisters. — E 
Reading  Gardeners’!  Mutual  Improvement  Association. 
The  last  fortnightly  meeting  of  the  above  association  was^ 
held  in  the  Abbey  Hall,  and  there  was  a  good  attendance  of 
members,  Mr.  W.  Barnes  presiding.  Mr.  J.  Crook,  of  Forde 
.4bbey,  Chard,  gave  a  mo.st  interesting  lecture  on  “  Spring 
Flowers,”  confining  himself  princii)ally  to  the  Snowdrop,  Nar¬ 
cissus,  Primro.se,  Iris,  Alyosotis,  Anemone,  and  Chionodoxa.  He 
.strongly  advocated  that  these  should  be  planted  in  as  natural 
a  manner  as  possible,  doing  away  with  all  formality  in  their 
arrangement,  and  growing  them  as  far  as  circumstances  would 
permit  in  the  grass.  A  good  discussion  followed,  in  which 
Me.ssrs.  Barnes,  Townsend,  Powell,  Neve,  Jennings,  and  Exler 
took  part.  The  exhibits  were  exceedingly  beautiful,  consist¬ 
ing  chiefly  of  .spring  flowers,  both  indoors  and  out,  and  compris¬ 
ing  Ghent  Azalea,  Azalea  mollis,  Indian  Azalea,  Polyanthus, 
Blue  Primroses,  Snowdrop,  Lilac,  Deutzia,  Hellehores,  Strepto- 
.solen  Jamesoni,  Tulips,  Primula  floribunda,  and  P.  obconica  from 
Messrs.  W.  Townsend,  Sandhur.st  Lodge  Gardens;  T.  J.  Powell, 
Park  Place  Gardens;  and  T.  Nash,  Bulmershe  Court  Gardens; 
whilst  IMr.  F.  Lever,  Hillside  Gardens,  .staged  .six  well-trained 
plants  of  Myosotis  oblongata  perfecta,  seed  sown  September  2, 
1903;  and  Mr.  H.  Sims,  Fawley  Lodge  Gai'dens,  a  specimen  plant 
of  Cymbidium  Lowianum. 
Obituary  :  Mr.  H.  Herbst. 
We  regret  to  announce  the  death  of  Mr.  Hermann  Herbst,  of 
Stanmore,  Kew  Road,  Richmond,  which  occurred  somewhat  un¬ 
expectedly  on  Friday  last.  Crnuaticn  took  place  at  Woking  on 
Tuesday  afternoon  at  4.30 
Obituary  :  Mr.  Samuel  Ainsworth. 
This  old  member  of  the  London  seed  trade,  so  long  a.ssociated 
with  the  firm  of  Messrs.  James  Carter  and  Co.,  Higli  Holborn, 
and  .so  widely  known,  died  on  the  12th  inst.,  at  the  age  of  seventy 
years.  He  entered  the  service  of  James  Carterdn  1850. 
Cassell's  Dictionary  of  Gardening. 
In  your  issue  of  March  you  print  at  the  head  of  your  list 
“Cassell’s  Dictionary  of  Gardening,”  the  price  of  which  is  men¬ 
tioned  as  21s.  ]\Iay  we  ask  you  to  bo  good  enough  tO'  state  that 
the  book  is  published  in  two  volumes  at  30,s.  the  set,  net? — 
Cassell  .and  Company. 
Fruit  Cultivation  in  Ulster. 
A  few  days  since  a  demonstration  in  pruning  and  the  general 
cultivation  of  fruit  trees  was  given  in  the  extensive  orchard  and 
garden  of  Mr.  Henry  Roso  t'leland,  Bedford  House,  Aloy,  County 
Tyrone,  by  Mr.  Stephen  Magill,  county  instructor  in  horticulture. 
As  the  district  i.s  rapidly  becoming  a  centre  for  fruit  growing  of 
all  descriptions  the  gathering  was  largely  attended,  most  of  the 
f/uit  growers  and  their  gardeners  being  present.  Different  modes 
of  grafting,  budding,  and  pruning  were  shown,  and  the  improve¬ 
ment  of  old  trees  was  explained. 
The  Grass  of  Parnassus. 
The  common  or  English  name  of  this  pretty  little  bog  plant 
is  from  the  Mount  of  Parnassus,  but  on  what  account  is  not  clear 
or  certain.  It  is  the  only  British  .species,  and  is  found  in  bogs, 
principally  in  the  South.  Sometimes  it  is  cultivated,  as  at  Kew, 
and  furnishes  a  very  interesting  little  subject.  It  is  an  exceed¬ 
ingly  elegant  plant  Sin  to  lOin  high,  with  solitary  cream-coloured 
flowei’s,  beautifully  veined.  The  nectaries  are  fan-like,  fringed 
with  white  hairs,  and  terminating  in  yellow,  wax-like  glands.  It 
blossoms  from  August  to  October,  and  is  perennial. 
Spring  Show  at  Croydon. 
In  connection  with  the  Croydon  and  District  Horticultural 
Mutual  Improvement  Society,  an  exhibition  of  .spring  flowers 
(feature.  Daffodils)  and  plants,  will  be  held  at  the  Art  Galleries, 
Park  Lane,  Croydon,  on  Wednesday,  April  20,  1904,  from  3  to 
10  p.m.  The  object  is  to  create  and  encourage  a  love  of  horti¬ 
culture  in  the  minds  of  the  masse.s.  The  admission  is  free,  and 
there  will  be  music  at  intervals.  Application  for  space  for 
exhibits  is  to  be  made  not  later  than  Saturday,  April  10,  to  the 
Hon.  Sec.,  iMr.  H.  Boshier,  02,  High  Street,  Croydon. 
The  False  Alarm. 
The  only  contemporary  record  of  the  lighting  of  the  beacons, 
which  conveyed  to  tlie  Border  country  the  false  intelligence  that 
Napoleon  Bonaparte  had  landed  on  these  shores,  is  contained  in 
the  columns  of  the  “  K<4so  Mail  ”  of  the  day  following  the  event 
and  in  subseciuent  is.sues.  At  the  present  time,  when  the  False 
Alarm  has  just  been  celebrated  by  the  relighting  of  the  signal 
fires  on  the  hilltops  of  the  Borders,  whence  they  blazed  a  hundred 
years  ago,  and  by  a  commemorative  gathering  of  Borderers  in 
Edinburgh,  the  extracts  from  the  “Mail’s”  reports  of  the  inci¬ 
dent  given  in  the  “  Scotsman”  will  be  read  with  intere.st. 
Monster  Hyacinth  Competition  at  Sheffield. 
In  the  early  autumn  the  childien  attending  the  Public 
Elementaiy  Schools  in  Sheffield  were  invited  to  purcha.se, 
through  their  teachers.  Hyacinth  bulbs  in  pots  with  the  under¬ 
standing  that  an  exhibition  rvoiild  be  anunged  in  the  spring 
and  prizes  offered  for  the  best  specimens  from  each  school.  The 
bulbs  were  supplied  I'eady  jiotted,  and  with  printed  instructions, 
at  4d.  each  com])lete.  'riiirteen  thousand  of  them  were  sold, 
and  an  exhibition  was  held  in  the  Corn  Exchange  on  Thursday, 
Friday,  and  Saturday  of  last  week,  when  4,500  .scholar.s 
exliibited  5,000  Hyacinths.  Prizes  ranging  from  one  shilling  to 
half  a  crown  were  offered  to  each  school  department.  Prizes 
were  also  given  for  drawings  of  the  plant  whilst  growing,  and 
also  for  the  best  es.says  on  the  Hyacinth  l)y  children  of  various 
I  ages. 
