488 



The Weekly Florists' Review* 



OCTOBER 6. 189S. 



rules and regulations governing these 

 exhibits may not be amiss. 



A fee of $2 is charged for each va- 

 riety entered. This entry tee enti- 

 tles the exhibitor to submit the vari- 

 ety before as many committee.^ as he 

 may desire. Six blooms are required 

 of each variety shown and to be elig- 

 ible must be such as have been tested 

 at least two years. No member o^ a 

 committee shall show his bloom be- 

 fore the committee of which he is a 

 member. Varieties scoring 8.5 points 

 are entitled to the society's iirst class 

 certificate. Foreign varieties may also 

 be entered and certificated under the 

 same conditions. Varieties exhibited 

 under number must be provided with 

 a name, otherwise the certificate will 

 be withheld. As each year there are 

 new organizations holding their first 

 exhibitions, and as many of these are 

 anxious to adopt scales for judging 

 various classes, it would seem wise 

 that one scale be used universally. To 

 this end I give those adopted by the 

 Chrysanthemum Society of America, 

 which seem to be adequate. 



Scale A. — Scale of points for bush 

 plants and standards, single specimen 

 or any number up to six, in an exhi- 

 bition where the class under consid- 

 eration does not form the chief fea- 

 ture in the exhibition hall. 

 Equality of size and form of plant. 40 



Size of bloom 30 



Foliage 30 



100 

 Scale B. — ,..cale of points for bush 

 plants; exhibits of more than six or 

 for any number of specimen plants in 

 an exhibition where the class under 

 consideration forms the chief feature 

 in the exhibition hall: 

 Equa..iy of size and form of plant. 25 



Size of bloom 2 3 



Foliage 25 



General effect 30 



100 

 Scale C. — Scale of points for plants 

 grown to single stem and one bloom. 

 A height of not over three feet is 

 recommended for plants in this class, 

 and pots not over six inches in diam- 

 eter: 



Compact, sturdy growth 10 



Foliage 30 



Size of bloom 30 



100 

 Scale D. — Scale of points for speci- 

 men blooms: 



Color 25 



Form 25 



Fullness 15 



Stem 10 



Petallage 10 



Size 15 



100 

 In the Chrysanthemum Society Cup 

 contest, which occurs in Philadelphia 

 on the 18th of this month, the blooms 



should be addressed to David Rust, 

 Horticultural Hall, instead of Edwin 

 Lonsdale, as formerly announced. 



ELMER D. SMITH, Secy. 



EUROPEAN NOTES. 



BV HkNKV I. .Ml. IIHLL, 



(Read before the Florists' Club of Philadelphia. 

 October i.isas. I 



Mr. President and Gentlemen of the 

 Philadelphia Florists' Club: — I was 

 surprised, and ratlier taken unawares, 

 when the chairm.-in of your Essay 

 Committee (Mr. Watson) asked me 

 (after I returned from Europe) to pre- 

 pare a brief essay on the most interest- 

 ing things I saw during my travels 

 across the water. He induced me, how- 

 ever, to accept this little duty. 



Leaving. New York .on. the steamer 

 Friederich der Grosse on .June 23d, we 

 arrived at Southampton (after a vsry 

 pleasant journey) on July 1st. I espe- 

 cially noticed, on looking out of the 

 railroad car windows, on my way to 

 London nearly all the track embank- 

 ments cultivated with vegetables and 

 flowers, some of them commercial, but 

 most of them belonging to the resi- 

 dences near by. This seemed quite new 

 to me and most interesting, as they 

 were kept very clean and trim. Ueacli- 

 in? London, and getting myself loca- 

 ted, I started out to look for points of 

 interest, especi.-illy in the horticult- 

 ural line. First I took a trip to Hyde 

 Park and among the interesting points 

 there I noticed immense crowds of 

 fashionable people, both walking and 

 driving. Tlie flower bedding is done 

 here on a mammoth scale. As far as the 

 eye can reach are seen most artistic 

 beds: Violas do most excellently in 

 England; also begonias, the semper- 

 florens and tuberous rooted varieties, 

 as well as fuchsias, heliotropes, etc.. 

 which are used in great quantities. 

 They do much better there llian in this 

 country. The lawns are kept closely 

 cut, which was a great delight to me: 

 the turf was soft and velvety, and rich 

 dark green in color. 



My next visit was to Hampton Court, 

 in the suburbs of London. This was 

 the country seat of the famous Cardi- 

 nal Wolsey, the favorite of King Henry 

 VIIL, and these ma.sinificent gardens 

 extending along the banks of the 

 Thames are among the most pleasing 

 that I have ever seen. Old fashioned 

 flowers abound here: roses of all col- 

 ors climb along the walls and hang in 

 heavy clusters to charm, the visitor. 

 Heliotropes, pansies and violas vie 

 with geraniums, begonias and fuchsias 

 to make a picture never to be forgot- 

 ten. Along the many well kept walks 

 arc great numbers of beautiful Sweet 

 Bay trees, as well as orange :ind lem- 

 on trees, all in immense square tubs, 

 which have movable sides so that the 

 plants can easily be taken out of them. 

 in a grapery, especially built for it, is 

 the famous Hampton Court .irrape vine, 

 a Black Hamburgh, planted by King 

 George IH. in the year ITOs. After 

 three enlargements of tlie house it now 



covers a space of 2,21X1 square feet. 

 When I saw the vine it was literally 

 covered witli immense bunches of fruit 

 not quite ripe, but still very tempting. 

 All the fruit is sent to Her Majesty 

 Queen Victoria for her own persona! 

 use, and for distribution to her friends 

 There are many other interesting feat- 

 ures of the gardens. A "Maze." ir 

 which one can easily v/ander about for 

 a long time without finding his way 

 out, is one of the attractions. The 

 lawns here are also kept in great state 

 of perfe::tion by having plenty of 

 workmen constantly employed with 

 mowers, shears, rakes, etc. One spe- 

 cial feature was noticeable, that is. 

 the absence of the signs "Keep off 

 the Grass," but instead, tl-ere are 

 signs, "Please do not walk on the 

 edijes of the grass." i 



My next place to visit was tlte "Key," 

 Gardens," the school of the best Eng- 

 lish, Scotch and Irish gaix'eners. Next 

 I went to the Mammoth Crystal Pal- 

 ace, witli its large number of flower 

 beds. etc. The next place on my pro- 

 gramme was a visit to Carter iV- Com- 

 pany's extensive seed trial grounds at 

 Mortlake, where I posted myself on th? 

 best things of especial merit. My next 

 trip took me to Sutton & Sons' seed- 

 growing establishment at Reading, 

 .ibout an hour's ride outside of Lon- 

 lon. Thpre, also, I had a most in- 

 teresting trip; everything in the high- 

 est possible state of cultivation and 

 good order. Among the most notable 

 specialties were tuberous, rooted be- 

 gonia blooms, S inches in diameter, 

 mammoth gloxinias, Nemesia Suttoni, 

 giant flowering primulas, streptocar- 

 pus, forcing tomatoes, and others too 

 numerous to mention. 



My next visit was to Belgium, ar- 

 riving at the famous watering place, 

 Ostend, whence I went to Brussels and 

 Ghent: the headquarters for tuberous 

 i'ooted begonias and gloxinias. Great 

 improvements are being made in be- 

 gonias by encouraging and growin,j 

 extensively species which produce 

 their flowers on stiff stems, thrown 

 well aboye the foliage, as well a^ large 

 size of bloom and brilliant colors. 



From Belgium I went to Holland, 

 stopping at Harlem, which is the 

 starting point of the great bulb-grow- 

 ing district. This was certainly a 

 most interesting country: the weather 

 was rather cold and v;et while I was 

 there the first few days, but turned oat 

 fine after the third day. t was well 

 entertained there, especially by Mr. L. 

 Van Wavern. who is one of tlie oldest, 

 largest and most reliable growei"s of 

 bulbs. Of course, I visited a number 

 of other bulb growers, as the bulb 

 farms nearly all adjoin eacli other: I 

 gained a lot of knowledge in Holland, 

 as tlie members of the leading firms 

 were very communicative to me and 

 showed me everything about the bulbs. 



After leaving Holland I made my 

 way to Cologne and from there I went, 

 by way of the beautiful Rhine, with 

 its magniflcent vineyards, to Mainz; 

 thence to Frankfort. The most inter- 



