118 



JOHBNAL OF HOETICULTUEE AND COTTAGE GAEDENEB. 



[ Ausust £8, 1873. 



carry his food ; he cools himself with a fan plaited from the 

 young leaflets, and shields liis head from the sun by a bonnet 

 of its leaves. Sometimes he clothes himself with the cloth- 

 hke substance which wi'aps round the base of the stalks. The 

 nuts, thinned and polished, furnish him with a beautiful 

 goblet ; the dry husks kindle his fires ; the fibres are twisted 

 into fish lines and cords for his canoes. He heals his wounds 

 with a balsam compounded from the juice of the nut, .and 

 with the oil extracted from it embalms the bodies of the dead. 

 Sawn into posts, the trunks uphold his dwelling, and con- 

 verted into charcoal it cooks his food. He impels his canoe 

 through the water with a paddle made from its wood, and 

 goes to battle with clubs and spears of the same hard ma- 

 terial." After this, feeling my incapacity of description, I will 

 say no more about Palms at present. 



Besides the above, M. Yerschaffelt's establishment contains 

 a fine collection of stove plants of every type. Marantas and 

 Dracajnas are numerous and fine, a lot of specimens of D. re- 

 gin.T in high colour standing out effectively. They are strong, 

 too, in the Gesneriacete ; Eucodonias, Nasgelias, Ac, being 

 provided in great variety, while some fine types of new flower- 

 ing Begonias made their presence felt ; but of these, perhaps 

 the finest collection in the world is located at Van Houtte's, to 

 be noticed hereafter. 



M. Verschaft'elt had also an excellent and extensive lot of 

 Camellias and Azaleas ; all the best plants of the former were 

 purchased in my presence by one of our great EngUsh nursery- 

 men. Many fine sorts of Azaleas had their origin here, and 

 amongst the rest the beautiful and free Souvenir du Prince 

 Albert. Perhaps, however, I may be prejudiced in favour of 

 this variety, but I have a reason, and when I tell it Messrs. 

 Terschafl'elt and Van Houtte will both hold me excusable, 

 whether anyone else does or not. What appeared also distinct 

 speciality of JVI. Nuyteu's were Yuccas and Agaves. The latter 

 were especially fine. AVhat a fine and distinct type of plants 

 we have here. There is something intrinsically good about 

 them, and their attractions do not wear out in a season. They 

 are being increased as fast as possible with a confidence that 

 the future will recognise their merits. A more free use of 

 these stately yet graceful and ornamental plants would add a 

 pleasing and diversified feature to many gardens where they 

 are not ; but when beauty of form and substance become as 

 fully appreciated as beauty of mere colour, then will such 

 things be sought after and popularised as they deserve to be. 

 Having just glanced at the outline features of this compact 

 and interesting place, I will add no more beyond a desire to 

 see it and the able and affable manager M. Nuytens once again 

 on some — it may be long — future day. — J. Wbight. 



A YOKKSHIRE FLOWER SHOW. 



We are in the midst of a perfect shower of horticultural ex- 

 hibitions in the West Biding. Nearly every day for the last 

 fortnight there has been an exhibition of flowers and fnuts ; 

 and villages, which from all appearances you would consider 

 most unsuitable for affairs of this kind, astonish you by their 

 energy and the excellence of their shows. Such an exhibition 

 has recently been held at EUand, a large manufacturing village 

 in the heart of the West Biding, and it occurred to me that a 

 few notes respecting it might be acceptable to you. Staying 

 here as I am for some weeks, I thought I would try how Roses 

 would travel in one of Chapman's cases, and so I entered for 

 the Eose prize ; but although a friend saw my Eoses safely 

 delivered to the Great Northern Eailway the day before the 

 show, they have not yet arrived ! So I went jiartly as a visitor 

 and partly as an assistant to my brother, who staged a dozen 

 remarkably fine blooms — i.e., fine considering the time of year 

 and the smoke-laden air which his trees have to breathe. 



This part of the country is the very antipodes to the west of 

 England. The rich people here are the labouring classes, the 

 poor ones as a rule the masters. The colliers round here can 

 earn £4 a-week, and the factory hands 3(U. to £2. They live 

 on the fat of the land, and do not hesitate to buy the most 

 expensive luxuries. Early in the year a collier ordered of one 

 fishmonger SO lbs. of salmon for a small supper which he and 

 his frieud.s were going to have; and as another instance of 

 their wealth and extravagance I can relate the foUowiug true 

 anecdote. At a large fruiterer's shop in Bradford early in the 

 season a gentleman inquired the price of a Pine Apple. " Thuty 

 shillings," was the answer. "Oh, that is too much for me; 

 my p'jrse cannot stand that." A collier was looking in at the 

 window, and when the gentleman withdrew hs enteiel and 



asked, ""RTiat didst thee say t' price of that ere were?" 

 " Thirty shillings," said the shopman. " Here, lap it up, then, 

 lad ; it will do for our Sal. Here's t' brass." I expected great 

 things, therefore, from a population like this, and I was not 

 disappointed. The Show was excellent, the arrangements very 

 good, and the attendance enormous. 



This little Society has a subscription list of £110, and at the 

 last year's show £143 was received at the gates, the greater 

 portion of which sum was derived from lid. entrances. I 

 wonder what the managers of our west-of-England shows will 

 say to this. Elland had a balance this year, after five exhi- 

 bitions, of £150 ; Cleckheaton, another village near here, £650. 

 Indeed, wherever a flower show is held the receipts are enor- 

 mous ; and although this Society gives wretchedly poo'r prizes, 

 yet the entries are most numerous, and the Show of August 19th 

 would compare favourably with any but the largest exhibitions 

 held in the south. Think of the band of the Eoyal Horse 

 Guards (Blue) being engaged at an expense of nearly £80 to 

 perform at an out-of-the-way place hke Elland, besides two 

 small country bands which played when the Guards were 

 silent. 



As to the Show itself : As I have said, it was very good, and, 

 considering om- climate, remarkably so. There were three 

 entries for ten stove and greenhouse plants ; and some mag- 

 nificent specimens of AUamanda Hendersoni, Ixora, Viuca 

 alba, Vinca rosea, &c., were staged by Messrs. W. Pontey, of 

 Huddersfield. The Lihums also were magnificent. I saw one 

 pot plant of LUium lancifolium roseum with forty blooms on. 

 Lilium auratum, too, was very finely shown ; and Caladiums, 

 Lycopodiums, Campanulas, and exotic Ferns were really very 

 fine. The crowd was enormous — I should say at least eight 

 thousand people visited the Show ; and although they were a 

 little rough they were always good-tempered, and were the 

 most critical people on the subject of flowers and music I have 

 ever met. 



There was an immense competition in the cottagers' class 

 for vegetables. Some former inhabitants of Elland who had 

 taken up their abode in America sent over a silver cup to be 

 given for the best collection of vegetables, and, as you may 

 imagine, most cottagers had a try for it. The Committee had 

 to take the greatest care to prevent unfair practices. They 

 saw the vegetables dug up and put in baskets, which were then 

 sealed, and any basket which was open on the morning of the 

 Show was disallowed ; and, indeed, this precaution is very 

 necessary, for we Yorkshiremeu (1 am one), are rather too 

 sharp sometimes. The cottagers think nothing of buying, or 

 borrowing, or begging — I wo'n't say stealing — blooms and 

 vegetables. A man came to my brother and calmly said, 



" WiUiam wants to know it you will give him some Boses 



to show at Elland." " What number of trees has he to 

 show from ':" has he many ?" I asked. "Nay," said the man, 

 " he's nobbut one." And yet this fellow was calmly going to 

 exhibit twelve and six blooms ! It is almost impossible to 

 prevent this sort of thing, but if it go on very much longer it 

 will be a question whether it would not be better to give up 

 horticultural shows rather than let them become a mere market 

 place for all kinds of cheating and larceny. Mr. WilUam Paul 

 has most nobly exposed this system before, and all persou3 

 interested in horticulture will feel that in some way or other 

 it must be put an end to. 



There are only two things which, in my opinion, this and 

 other societies in this neighbourhood should change. They 

 should give better prizes and have better j udges. Seven pounds 

 for ten stove and greenhouse plants (the best prize given), is 

 not much for a society so prosperous as this one to give, while 

 10s. for a collection of twelve Eoses is simply ridiculous. As 

 to the judging yesterday, the least said about it the better. 

 I never saw such judging. I inquired who the judges were, 

 and found them to be local nobodies, gardeners to gentlemen 

 in the neighbourhood. I do not think it can be too strongly 

 urged on committees that liberality in procuring first-class 

 judges is as important for the interests of the show as procur- 

 ing a first-class military band. I think I never saw a greater 

 miscarriage of justice than in the ten stove and greenhouse 

 plants and in the Eoses. In the west of England the first thing 

 we look to is to have good judges. Mr. Charles Turner, " D., 

 Deal," Mr. Peach, and other great florists are always secured, 

 and the exhibitors know that their flowers will be judged on 

 their merits by persons in whose judgment they have the 

 greatest confidence, and I thiuk it will be well if the north 

 take a lesson from the west in this respect. But with these 

 two exceptions no fault can be found with the manager of the 



