August 2C, 1905 



H ORTICULTU RE 



229 



Echoes from England 



A VISITOR FROM AMERICA AND ENGLISH FRUIT 



At the Royal Horticulture Society's exhibitiou on 

 Tuesday last (August 1st) Mi: J. A. Pettigrew of 

 Boston, U. S. A., sat with the members of tlie fruit com- 

 mittee, and signed his name with the names of other 

 members in a book kept for the purpose. Mr. Petti- 

 grew, in his otllc-i.il .aiiaciiy hail some splendid exhibits 

 to judge. A gol.l iih'ilal was awarded to a collection of 

 gooseberries shown liy Mr.<srt;. James Veitch & Sons, 

 Ltd.. Chelsea. Over one hundred basketfuls were 

 shown and in nearly as many varieties. They made a 

 very ri'markablo dis])lay, when one considers that almost 

 eacii liask.'i contain.Mi a dilferent variety. Cordon 

 trained i;(H,...rlHi iv irces in pots were arranged as a 

 background in thr dishes of fruit and although dwarf 

 they bore remarkable crops of fruit. Of the standard 

 varieties, such as Crown Bob, Whinharn's Industry, 

 Speedwell, Keen's Seedling and many more were well 

 represented. Among the new ones were Golden Gem, 

 Langley Gage and Langley Beauty. Mr. Pettigrew had 

 the opportunity of seeing an exhibit of fruit from one 

 ■of our best growers, Mr. Norman, head gardener to the 

 Marquis of Salisbury. Tlie peaches and nectarines, 

 •grapes and- melons were of the highest quality and the 

 fruit committee awarded the Hogg Memorial Medal for 

 special cultural excellence. Mr. Pettigrew also was 

 fortunate enough to see some of Messrs. Elvers & Sons 

 famous pot-grown fruit trees. They showed several 

 very fine trees in pots of a new peach of theirs called 

 Peregrine. Altogether the exhibits before the com- 

 :mittee of which Mr. Pettigrew was for the time being, a 

 member, were very meritorious. 



NICOTIANA SANDERAE 



By now almost every gardener in this country has 

 probably grown the new tobacco which has been so 

 extensively advertised. It was sent out this ^-ear for 

 the first time by Messrs. Sander & Sons, St. Albans. 

 Some report unfavorably but those who do so must, I 

 think, have only themselves to blame. From personal 

 experience I can say that the new rose-colored nicotiana 

 is all the introducers claim for it. I have tried it as a 

 border plant and have also grown it in a tub. The 

 more symmetrical and more effective plant of the two is 

 the one given tub-culture and a very beautiful sight it is. 

 The flower stems are produced freely and bear an 

 abundance of their bright rose-colored "blooms: a plant 

 thus grown is an object of great beauty. The plant 

 grown in the border is not so compact, it has made much 

 larger leaves and longer flower stalks and in conse- 

 quence is hardly so S3-mmetrical. Nevertheless, it too, 

 is very attractive. During the day the flowers droop a 

 little and partially close but towards evening they are 

 a perfect picture. 



DAT LILIES 



Several new and beautiful varieties of day lily (Hom- 

 erocallis) have been shown lately and at the last meet- 

 ing of the Royal Horticultural Society -an award of 

 merit was given to a new one called Dr. Regel. This 

 was shown by Mr. M. Prichard, Christchurch, Hants. 

 It has rich canary-yellow flowers which are freely pro- 

 <1uced. This new day lily was raised from seed sent 

 from St. Petersburg by the late Dr. Regel under the 

 name of H. Middondorfi. Another very beautiful one 

 is aurantiaca major with large, deep, yellow flowers; 

 they are, however, sparingly produced. 



NEW SHRUBS 



The purple-leaved berberis is a well known and val- 

 uable decorative shrub and von may be interested to liear 



of a new variety of tliis which was shown before the 

 Royal Horticultural Society on August 1st and received 

 an award of merit. It was named macrophylla. It is 

 a large, dark-leaved form that should prove very effec- 

 tive in the garden. Sjiirffia Aitchisoni is a newly intro- 

 duced species which was also shown at the exhibition on 

 August 1st and received a similar award. It is a 

 shrubby spiraea of neat habit, the small creamy white 

 flowers l)eing arranged in dense erect panicles. This 

 was exhibited by Sir Trevor Lawrence, president of the 

 Royal Horticultural Society, and by Mr. Prichard, nur- 

 seryman, Christchurch. The berberis above referred to 

 was shown by Messrs. Paul & Son, Chestnut. Buddleia 

 variabilis is a valuable shrub in this country, its purple 

 racemes of flowers being very handsome. A new variety 

 of this plant called magnilica was shown on August 1st 

 by Messrs. J. Veitch & Sons and it also received an 

 award of merit. xVn elder ( SainlimiK canadensis), a 

 very handsome shrub with flain-h ii.:i,l- ,,{ flowers more 

 than 12 inches across and distinri innnate leafage, was 

 much admired. It was shown by Sir Trevor Lawrence 

 and by Messrs. James Veitch & Sons. Other new 

 plants exhibited before the Royal Horticultural Society 

 on the same day were a new carnation named Roy Mor- 

 ris, a very fine bright scarlet border variety, with long 

 stems; Campanula carpatica White Star, the beautiful 

 flowers some two inches across: Gladiolus Lady Inchi- 

 quin, a charming flower of pale salmon coloring, the 

 lower petals marked with red and vellow (shown Ijy 

 Kclway & Son). 



BRITISH gardeners' ASSOCIATION 



The newly-elected executive council held its first 

 meeting on Friday, July 31, at the Hotel Windsor, Vic- 

 toria Street. The secretary, Mr. Watson, reported the 

 |ii'i-i(v.~ made since June 1. Twenty-seven new mem- 

 Ihi-. Iiad jnined, bringing the total number up to 659 

 and diiuatiuus amounting to £11 17s. had been received. 

 Attention was called to the observatories of Sir William 

 Thiselton-Dyer on the gardener movement recently pub- 

 lished in the Oardoiii'r=' Chronicle, and to the remarks 

 of the Duke of W^-i niiii-i.r at the annual dinner of the 

 Gardeners' lloxnl li.ii,.\ nl^nt Institution on June 16. 

 His Grace then said : "■But the life of the gardener wps 

 not literally a bed of roses, nor were his gains great. 

 He was a skilled workman who gave an infinite amount 

 of pleasure to the community at large by his labor and 

 ingenuity, and yet his wages compared very unfavorably 

 with those of skilled workmen in other branches of 

 industry. Few gardeners could afford to lay by from 

 their wages a sufficient sum to enable them to meet the 

 rainy day or the inevitable prospect of old age." 



The council decided to make arrangements for a con- 

 ference of members and others interested, to take place 

 in October during tlie great autumn fruit show of the 

 Royal Horticultural Society. To this conference, 

 branches of the British Gardeners' Association will be 

 invited to send delegates. A proposal to engage tlie 

 .services of a paid secretary to devote his whole time to 

 the work of the association was considered, but ilie 

 council decided that in the present condition of the 

 association it would be unwise to incur the expenses of 

 a paid secretary and a central office. The council hope 

 before long to make arrangements for monthly meetings 

 to take place in or near the Royal Horticultural 

 Society's hall in Vincent Square concurrently with tlie 

 meetings of the Royal Horticultural Society. 



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