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JOURNAL OP HORTICULTUBE AND COTTAGE GAEDKNEB, 



t December 4, 1873, 



circular sent round to the Fellows by Sir Daniel Cooper, Bart., 

 and that issued by the Council showing the other side of the 

 question. It seems that all the trouble and difficulty is with 

 these terrible Commissioners. It seems that they are masters 

 of the situation ; but are they as a body opposed to horticul- 

 ture in any of its branches ? Whether they are or not, it is 

 evident that as far as the South Kensington property is con- 

 cerned some definite arrangement between them and the Society 

 ought to be made. At the same time the fact ought not to be 

 lost sight of, that the present Council cannot be blamed in 

 the least for any of the complications in which the Society is 

 involved. If some arrangement can be made to hold the Com- 

 mittee meetings and a certain number of shows at South Ken- 

 sington every year, and Chiswick to be relieved of the oppressive 

 burden of rearing thousands of bedding plants for the flower 

 garden, and flowering plants for the conservatory, at South 

 Kensington, I for one will gladly subscribe a guinea annually, 

 and lose no opportunity in trying to get others to do the same. 

 It will require a long pull, a strong pull, and a pull all together. 

 Voting by proxy will be necessary if gardeners from a distance 

 become subscribers. They are not their own masters, and a 

 large number of them could not make it convenient to attend 

 at South Kensington to vote. — James DoucLis, Loxford Hall 

 Gardens, Itford. 



BOYAL BERKSHIRE ROOT SHOW. 



Messes. Sutton & Sons, Reading. 



VisiTOBS to London or residents who have been accustomed 

 to admire and, it may be, to wonder at the exhibition of roots at 

 the Smithfield Club Show, would be considerably surprised 

 •were they told that in comparison with the Show which I 

 now notice it is hardly worth mentioning ; for while all that can 

 be seen there are a few stands of the best roots of each kind, 

 there is to be seen in this magnificent collection floor after floor 

 filled with roots in the various classes of Mangold Wurzel, 

 Swedes, Turnips, Carrots, etc., and these exhibit the very highest 

 proofs of skill in cultivation. 



Spacious as was the place provided for the exhibition last 

 year, and commodious as were the arrangements, everything is 

 this year far beyond it. The alterations made in this the largest 

 seed establishment in the world, and which have lieen noticed 

 in the Journal, have given such facilities for the display that no 

 public building that I know of could provide such opportu- 

 nities; while tile neatness with which all is managed, the room 

 given to each root to be shown in its fulness, the care with 

 which everything is labelled, make it really a place of great 

 profit and interest to all who desire to see what good seed and 

 good cultivation can do. There is no opportunity of hiding the 

 defects of one root by the excellence of another, but all must 

 stand out on their own merits to be seen and handled by critical 

 connoisseurs. 



The very general character of the exhibition may be gathered 

 from the fact that amongst the exhibitors we have royalty 

 represented by Her Gracious Majesty and H.R.H. the Prince of 

 Wales, the aristocracy by the Duke of Marlborough, the Marquis 

 of Bristol, the Marquis of Aylesbury, Lord Bridport, the Earl 

 of Durham, Lord Cnraoys, Lord Calthorpe, Sir G. B. Middleton, 

 Bart., Sir Charles Russell, Bart., Sir Paul Hunter, Bart., the 

 Hon. Mrs. Hay, R. Benyon, Esq., M.P., J. Walter, Esq., M.P., 

 H. AUsopp.Esq., M.P.; the farmers and agriculturists by Messrs. 

 G. & J. Perry, Messrs. Tagtr, PuUen, Cave, Bulford, &c. ; while 

 from the Central London District Schools, the Easthampstead 

 Union, and the Metropolitan Schools at Sutton most creditable 

 collections are sent in. The prizes are awarded to competitors 

 from Worcester, Wantage, Lyndhurst, Burton-on-Trent, Bed- 

 ford, Canterbm-y, Chipping Norton, Waterford, Llanfair, &c. 



In looking round the exhibition one is struck with the mar- 

 vellous size of some of the specimens, and no less with their 

 symmetrical beauty, and each of these points has been taken 

 into consideration by the Judges. Great size may be attained 

 at the expense of quality ; and for a Swede to be ever so large, 

 if it have at the same time a flat crown on which the water can 

 lodge, or large rootlets which take away from the useable part of 

 the root, it is sufllcient to stamp it as only second-rate; but when 

 "we see a conical top, as in the case of the Champion Swedes, 

 one tap root, and no side rootlets, we have then the greatest 

 amount of food with the least waste possible, and the Swedes 

 do form, I think, the most striking feature of the Show. Not 

 that there is any inferiority in other classes ; here, for instance, 

 is the competition for Sutton's Mammoth Red Wurzel, and 

 amongst the Marquis of Aylesbury's lot is a root which now 

 weighs 43 lbs., altliougb it has been for some time cut and every 

 leaf is trimmed-o£f, while the total weight of twelve roots ex- 

 hibited by Mr. Cave is 390 lbs. ; tor Sutton's Champion Swede, 

 twenty-four roots, there are one hundred entries, and some 

 of the lots weigh 3 cwt. 2 qrs. 11 lbs. and 3 cwt. 1 qr. 7 lbs. 

 Perhaps the most taking root iuthe Show is the Golden 'Tankard, 



Mangold, tor which the Messrs. Sutton obtained the Royal High- 

 land Society's gold medal last year; it is so beautifully formed 

 so regular, and the flesh so golden and containing ao much 

 saccharine matter, that it must, without doubt, be largely grown 

 by agriculturists for its many excellent qualities. 



The collection of Potatoes, Onions, and other vegetables is 

 very large and of first rate quality. This may be gathered from, 

 the single fact that those collections which obtained the prizes 

 at the Royal Horticultural Society, South Kensington, three 

 weeks ago come in only as third here, while a large number of 

 splendid tubers are entered for the prizes for tliose tine Potatoes, 

 Sutton's Red-skinned Flourball and Hundredfold Fluke Potatoes, 

 which certainly have more resisted disease than any other, and 

 which are, when properly used, of first-rate quality. As to 

 Onions, we think it is altogether impossible to surpass the 

 specimens of Improved Reading Onion exhibited by Mr. Cave 

 and Colonel Goodlake, large in size, well shouldered, and conical 

 so as to throw-off the wet. — Le Roi Cakotie. 



NOTES ON LILIES.— No. 7. 



LILIDII LEICHTLINII. 



This was, I believe, first imported by Messrs. Veitch among 

 some other Lily biUbs from Japan. Its habit is very graceful,, 

 and the yellow flowers with dark spots very beautiful. This 

 season several of our pots in the orchard house had defective 

 blooms. Whether this was owing to the plants having had a 

 check from the May frost, or from a sort of blight-like spot 

 which attacked some of the leaves, we have not yet been able 

 to prove. One of the most beautiful heads of flower we had 

 this season was from a plant on a rockwork border facing east, 

 on soil principally composed of loam. I exhibited L. Leicht- 

 linii first at South Kensington in September, 1870, when it 

 received a first-class certificate. — George F. Wilson. 



CARPET BEDS AT STOKE ROCHFORD. 



The advocates of the carpet system of bedding have good 

 reason to be pleased with the position it has already attained. 

 In places where there were formerly only one or two beds, you 

 may now see them by the dozen, and the system is fast ex- 

 tending. It is not my intention in this paper to enter info 

 the merits or demerits of this or any other system of bedding. 

 We must adopt the plan which finds most favour with our em- 

 ployers, be it carpet, ribbon, or any other system of bedding. 



The three large beds in the plan are in the gardens at 

 Stoke Rochford, the beautiful seat of Christopher Turner, 

 Esq., and were planned and arranged by Mr. Dell, the intelli- 

 gent garden manager. It will be seen that the beds are of 

 considerable size, and being placed longitudinally on the grass 

 they occupy a considerable space of ground. As a proof of 

 how the beds were admired, ladies and gentlemen in walldng 

 over the grounds would pass by beds filled with flowering 

 plants ; but mark ! when they came to these beds they would 

 stop to admire, and examine them again and again. 



'The three beds were composed of very simple materials, 

 blended together in a most effective manner, and they did Mr. 

 DeU very great credit. The beds are raised G inches above the 

 level of the grass. From their large size one might readily 

 imagine it would be somewhat diflieult to get at the plants in 

 the middle to pinch, peg, or \veed, as might be necessary; bnt 

 by having a strong plank, of sufficient length to reach across 

 the bed, placed on two low tressles, there is then no difliculty 

 in reaching any part without injuring the plants. The follow- 

 ing numbers refer to all three beds : for instance, No. 1 is in 

 every bed Golden Feather, and the same with all the numbers ; 

 they apply to every bed : — 



1, Pyrethrum Golden Feather. This is withont doubt the 

 best and most effective of all golden-coloured plants, either for 

 edgings or the centre of beds. It can be cut to any heigW 

 required, and it will grow in almost any soU or situation, and 

 will always look bright. 



2, Mesembryanthemum cordifolium variegatum, a good 

 grower which soon covers the beds ; it delights in a light sandy 

 soil. 



3, Colens Verschaffelti, n. well-known kind, and very tellicg 

 when it grows well. 



4, Amaranthus melancholicus ruber, nuo dark foliage; re- 

 quires pinching to keep it dwarf. 



5, Alternanthera paronychioides. It has fine, bright, small 

 leaves. Very pretty when planted in sufficient numbers as 

 here . a compact grower and requires little pinching. 



6, 'Alternanthera amcena, one of the best and brightest when 

 it grows well. 



