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JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



[ Jane 2, 1870. 



experience with respect to the Archimedean. Having had it 

 in use here, I am now able to give a practical reply to his asser- 

 tions. 1 say that the Archimedean does not possess any of the 

 advantages claimed for it, except not collecting the grass. 



First, with regard to the cut of the grass being perfect, it is 

 ■very imperfect, being ribbed shamefully, as any machine must 

 leave it that, like this, only gives twenty-five cuts per yard. Now 

 this is an important matter touching the quality of work done ; 

 in short, the number of cuts the machine gives per yard alone 

 regulates the evenness of cut or freeness from ribbing. As 

 Green's machine gives about double that number of cuts, it is 

 absurd to compare the qualities of the work done. 



Next, as to which machine cuts the grass with the least 

 labour, I say, Green's ; of course his machine was constructed 

 to collect the grass, and had not the provision to leave it, as 

 ,is the manner of the Archimedean ; but at my suggestion, and 

 with a very slight alteration in no way affecting the principle 

 of the machine, it can now in a moment be made either to 

 leave the grass or to collect it. Surely this is an advantage the 

 Archimedean does not possess ; we are, therefore, now able to 

 compare the machines under much the same conditions. 



The disadvantage of the Archimedean is that in long grass, 

 or on croquet grounds, the grass will have to be swept np after 

 the machine, requiring an extra man, or nearly double the 

 time, which I consider is an almost entire loss in such cases. 

 On short grass, where it is not objectionable to leave the cut 

 grass, the machines would compete on more equal terms j still 

 I find that Green's machine takes less power to push it, be- 

 sides doing its work very much better. One reason is no doubt 

 to be found in the comparative qualities of the cutting blades 

 of the two machines ; Green's are made of the best steel, the 

 Archimedean of common cast iron. I wonder if "Archam- 

 baud " and others who have spoken in praise of the Arohi- 

 medean are aware of the latter fact ; if not, I beg to inform 

 them of it, and I hope that they will give their very serious 

 attention to the qualities of the two metals as affecting the 

 durability of the machines. Before I had had the Archimedean 

 at work three hours I detected very serious snips in both the 

 blades, one an inch long, and, in the worst place, one-eighth of 

 an inch deep ; indeed, for that distance the cutting edge was 

 entirely gone. Now, this aroused my suspicion. My employer 

 being the senior partner in the Kirkstall Forge Company, one 

 of the oldest and largest iron works in this neighbourhood, I 

 sent the blade to their works to have its quality tested, and I 

 enclose their manager's report, which says, " The blade is not 

 steel, but cast iron, or annealed cast iron." The foreman 

 smith then also tested it, and he assures me it was a common 

 quality of cast iron, totally unfit for the purpose intended, and 

 that it was simply ridiculous ever to expect to get a cutting 

 edge on it to stand, if ever it should come in contact with any- 

 thing harder than blades of grass. Surely even " Archahbaud " 

 will not attempt to assert that cast iron is as good as steel for 

 that purpose. I tbink that alone sufficiently answers his ques- 

 tion of, " How about their lasting capabilities when subjected 

 to ordinary and inexperienced hands ? " 



I am sorry " Archahbaud" seems to so vastly underrate the 

 advantages the public derive from competitive trials of such 

 articles as mowing machines ; for my part I cannot conceive 

 any other way of fairly testing them. But then, again, he 

 says, " If the Archimedean has not had any prizes awarded to 

 it in this country, it may be because it has had no opportunity 

 of competition." That it may have that privilege lam author- 

 ised on Messrs. Green's account to offer one of their machines 

 to compete against it for any sum of money, or medal, or prize 

 of any kind, or for a penalty to be paid by the unsuccessful to 

 any public institution the Editors of the Journal may name. 

 I also leave the conditions of trial entirely in their hands, the 

 selection of judges, foe. ; in short, whatever conditions they lay 

 down I agree to. If they think it necessary first to deposit a 

 sum of money in their hands, if they will only name it, it shall 

 at once be forwarded to them. 



I truBt, by thus offering a fair public competition to the 

 Archimedean, to show that I am in earnest in the matter, and 

 I deny entirely " Arceajibacd's " assertion, that with the Archi- 

 medean a man can cut double the extent in the same time 

 that he can with any other machine. — Robi. Featherstose, 

 The Gardens, St. Ann's Villa, Burley, Leeds. 



PEAT SOIL. 



Never keep this by you too long before using it, or in other 

 wordB procure no more peat soil than you are likely to want in 



a season. Many persons who cannot think why their Azaleas, 

 Ferns, &c, do not grow to their satisfaction, will find that the 

 plants have been potted in peat soil that has been long kept 

 before using. Advice of this kind may appear very unnecessary 

 to many good cultivators ; but I know much disappointment 

 arises from this cause. Many of the readers of " our Journal " 

 know I have always advocated fresh-cut turf for potting ; newly- 

 cut peat is quite as desirable.— J. R. Pearson, Chilwell. 



THE FRENCH HORTICULTURAL EXHIBITION. 



The Imperial and Central Horticultural Society of France opened 

 its yearly general exhibition on Friday, May 27th, at the Palais de 

 l'lndustrie, Champs-Elysees, Paris. The horticultural products re- 

 mained on view till yesterday (Jane 1st), bat the objects of art and 

 industry employed in horticulture are to remain till the 20th. 



The fact of the Exhibition being held under the auspices of this the 

 first Society of France would appear to be a sufficient guarantee of 

 the best productions of the country being brought together ; if such is 

 the case, in the present instance it is to be feared that any English 

 person in the habit of visiting good Bhows in his own country would 

 be unfavourably impressed with the great Show of the season. " 



A great many plants are brought together, representing the various 

 departments of horticulture, bat, excepting in three or four they are 

 not of a high standard. These comprise Palms, Cacti, Agaves, Aloes, 

 Euphorbias, annual, biennial, and perennial plants (hardy), and 

 Caladiums. These were very good, but the rest were quite second- 

 rate. That which mates French shows so attractive is the tasteful 

 arrangement, which renders it quite refreshing and agreeable to attend 

 them ; for while the heat is suffocating outside, the cool air that per- 

 vades the interior, with numberless seats invitingly placed, brings the 

 company from far and wide to attend them. This mode of arrange- 

 ment is very well for the above reasons, bat as regards the finding of 

 the classes, and the facility of comparing one lot with another, it 

 becomes embarrassing. 



The plants are placed on, or plunged in, raised banks about a foot 

 high and a yard wide, with nearly perpendicular torfed sides, arranged 

 in one, two, or three rows, according to the size and nature of the 

 plants ; every now and then, at equal distances, the bank is enlarged 

 behind, and Conifers of various sorts are plunged in baskets, large 

 specimen plants from 12 to 15 feet high being supplied by one or two 

 nurserymen. These trees add very much to the agreeable effect pro- 

 duced. All the plants are arranged in groups of no stated number, 

 as sometimes a group may contain two hundred plants, at another 

 time not more than half a dozen. There are no schedules nor cata- 

 logues to be had, therefore for a stranger it is difficult to know where 

 one group ends and another commences, unless they are composed of 

 a different class of plants. 



On entering the first (lay with the impression of seeing what awards 

 are given and to whom, you will be not a little surprised to find groups 

 of gentlemen here and there, with pencils, paper, and lighted cigars, 

 amusing themselves now and then in holding up hands when called 

 upon to award an anxious exhibitor, who is looking on, a medal of 

 one sort or another. These gentlemen are the Judges. A nnmber is 

 placed to each group or single plant, and that is all that is left from 

 their visit the first day. Those, therefore, who require to know the 

 awards mast come again next day, as the gentlemen will not have 

 finished till late on the first day. A.t ten o'clock on the second day 

 the Show is opened, and on entering the first thing to be noticed is 

 two men commencing to place cards with the name of the medal 

 awarded, and the person's name only ; if that person has placed his 

 card or catalogue with his address, all well and good, if not, so much 

 the worse for him. No tickets are placed.with the classes, nor any- 

 thing farther. 



In a pamphlet sent to the members of the Society at the commence- 

 ment of the year, inviting them to take part in the Exhibition, it is 

 stated to comprise newly introduced vegetables, tlowering and other 

 plants for in-doors or oat-doors cultivation ; seedling plants of vege- 

 tables, fruits, or flowers, foe. ; vegetables in season or forced ; forced 

 or preserved fruits ; stove and greenhouse plants ; hardy deciduous 

 and evergreen plants ; herbaceous plants and annuals ; and, lastly, 

 bouquets and table decorations. The recompenses offered to those 

 who were successful in their exhibitions would be in medals — gold, 

 silver-gilt, silver, and bronze. These medals are the following ac- 

 cording to their value, commencing with two large gold medals of 

 honour given by the Emperor and Empress ; one gold medal of 

 honour given by the Prince Imperial ; two large gold medals of 

 honour given by the Princess Clotilde and Princess Mathilde ; large 

 gold medals of honour given by eminent persons ; one large gold 

 medal given by lady patronesses ; one large gold medal given by 

 Marechal Vaillant, President of the Society ; medals from the Society 

 — gold, silver-eilt, large and small silver, and bronze. At all French 

 exhibitions the awards are given in medals, not in money. 



The large gold medal, given by His Imperial Majesty, was awarded 

 to'M. Chantin, hortieulteur, Route de Chatillon, 32, a Paris, for the 

 finest collection of stove plants, consisting of splendid specimen Palms, 

 Tree Ferns, Cycads, Dracaenas, three enormous plants of Cyanophyllum 

 magnincum, a few Orchids, and Alocasias ; altogether fine, healthy, 

 well-grown plants, and which added considerably towards filling up 



