56 



HORTICULTURE 



January 19, 1906 



Chrysanthemums 



THE MARKET SHOW. 



On the ]2th December last there was held in the 

 Foreign Flower Market at Covent Garden a chrysanthe- 

 mum ahow that would probably appeal to many Ameri- 

 can florists. Organized by the National Chrysanthe- 

 mum Society, it is entirely different from the ordinary 

 shows of the society and is intended to display the pop- 

 ular flower from a purely commercial standpoint. We 

 see none of the big show blooms we meet with at the 

 ordinary exhibitions and there is but little attempt at 

 artistic display in the arrangement. Most of the ex- 

 hibits are medium sized blooms of such varieties as can 

 be easily sold in bunches and they are chiefly if not 

 wholly set up in bunches on tables. 



Names of prize winners will be of no use to American 

 readers, and the show need only be superficially treated 

 there being abiiost a monotonous repetition in every 

 case of the way in whicli the flowers were staged. 



Twenty classes were provided for collections of 12 

 blooms, for bunches of singles, for plants, for yellow, 

 bronze white, pink and crimson marked chrysanthe- 

 mums in three vases each, for the best novelty, for 

 packed boxes and for memorial designs. 



Some of the chief varieties represented were Old 

 Gold, Frank Hammond, Mile. Therese Pankoucke, 

 Winter Cheer, Nagoya, Mrs. F. Judson, Pink Victoria, 

 Yellow Thompson, Cullingfordi, Phobus, Buttercup, 

 Guy Hamilton, Exmouth Crimson, all in the large 

 flowering sections. 



Singles were staged in considerable variety, there 

 being in several of the collections Earlswood Beauty, 

 pale yellow; Mrs. .D. B. Crane, pink; Clibran's Yellow; 

 Kitty Bourne, yellow ; Lily, a large creamy white ; Win- 

 nie Wells, yellow; Sylvia, bronze; Earlswood Beauty, 

 pink; Pet, rosy pink; Ryecroft Belle, lilac purple, etc. 



In the special class for whites, Mile. Therese Pan- 

 koucke, Heston White, Mrs. J. Thompson and Guy 

 Hamilton were all freely shown. 



Messrs. Cragg, Harrison and Cragg had a fine dis- 

 play, the best in their mixed collection being Mile. 

 Louise ChaTvet, Mile. Therese Pankoucke, Mrs. G. 

 Beech, a noble yellow incurving Jap., Prank Hammond, 

 Yellow Thompson and many more. Mr. Prickett, an 

 old grower, had another mixed collection in which 

 decorative and other varieties were freely shown. Mr. 

 P. Ladds, a large market grower, had some fine samples 

 of Framfeld Pink, Mme. Paolo Radaelli, Violet Lady 

 Beaumont, etc. 



The show excited a good deal of interest and many 

 visitors besides market men were present. 



More About Fences 



Mr. Editor, permit me to add my endorsement to the 

 remarks of Mr. Cameron anent the fence question in 

 your issue of Dec. 8. It is timely, particularly so from 

 the standpoint of a gardener. The members of that 

 craft as a rule have hitherto held their opinions to 

 themselves more than they should regarding things per- 

 taining to civic beautification. We gardeners errone- 

 ously assume that our whole burden of responsibilities 

 should be confined to the narrow limits of a green- 

 house and its immediate surroundings, content to shine 

 at times in the garden periodicals by illuminating their 

 columns with our respective erudite knowledge of green- 

 fly and aphis punk lore, etc. 



By association and training there are none better qual- 

 ifled than gardeners to have a say in matters concerning 

 suburban and city landscape harmony. It is belittling 

 on our part not to take part by word at least, if not by 

 deed, alongside those that are doing valiant work in 

 obliterating pest-holes as well as eye-sores, by their well- 

 directed efforts in arousing to action the indifferent 

 larger portion of the community. 



If the ordinary sedate fence has aroused the ire of 

 friend Cameron, what says he about the chromo- 

 bespattered fences that are so hideous and plentifully 

 met with everywhere? Nor should our respective opin- 

 ions be conflned to fences; let everything unsightly be 

 handled without gloves. My specialty, Mr. Editor, 

 while friend Cameron takes care of the fence, will be 

 to draw attention to the foul-smelling, slime-begirt, 

 ramshacide pile-wharves, that have done, for so many 

 years, and are still doing duty for this historic and 

 esthetic city of ours. 



There is nothing in my opinion that detracts from 

 a city in dignity and refinement, and impresses the 

 stranger more unfavorably at first sight, than a cha- 

 otic, nondescript frontage on the water. It certainly 

 is not calculated to impress the visitor with lofty ideas 

 as to the esthetic and enterprising proclivities of the 

 people that are responsible for such unseemly con- 

 ditions. It has also a direct anomalous bearing on 

 other municipal undertakings in proportion to the 

 excellency of the latter as the case may be. For in- 

 stance, the park system radiating from the outskirts of 

 the city and extending away into the distant suburbs 

 is justly a source of great pride to Bostonians, not only 

 for their ampleness, but for their artistic and substan- 

 tial layout, which will become more apparent as years 

 roll by. Thus, then, a well-regulated balance of civic 

 improvement is upset, as one outstrips the other beyond 

 comparison. 



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