188 



JOURNAL OF HOBTICUIiTUEB AND COTTAGE GABDENEB. 



[ September 10, 1868. 



Jane, the Society offered prizes for bouquets of wild flowers. 

 One of these prizes was awarded to the plaintiff by a jury of 

 ladies, but the Society refused to pay the amount (9s. 6i?.). His 

 Honour said the plaintiff had no action at law ; the prizes were 

 presents from the Committee, and there was no law to enforce 

 a present. He did not sit as a .Judge of Appeal between the 

 Committee and the exhibitors. The Committee consisted of a 

 number of gentlemen who knew their business in these matters 

 better than he did, and he should not interfere. Mr. Ferns 

 remarked that he held in his hand the certificate of the award, 

 signed by the Secretary, when his Honour said he might be 

 called and give them some explanation. Mr. Ferns proceeded 

 to question the Secretary respecting the rule of the Society 

 whicli states the decision of the Judges as final, when he 

 pointed out to him that a part of the same rule states that 

 " any prize fraudulently obtained shall be forfeited, and the 

 exhibitor excluded from future shows." He stated that when 

 the Judges came, prize cards were given to them, and they 

 placed them (without any interference) in the order of merit. 

 At all shows it was found exhibitors carefully looked after their 

 own interests, and after these cards had been placed, if an ex- 

 hibitor thought a prize had been obtained unjustly, he would 

 lodge a protest, and the Committee of the Society would have 

 to decide. It was so in this instance : a written protest from 

 another exhibitor, against the prize being given, was sent in — 

 the first and only one in the five years. A number of the 

 Committee, accompanied by the Secretary, inspected the 

 bouquets, and found the protest held good, for this reason- 

 garden flowers were mixed with wild flowers, which was decidedly 

 unfair to the other honest competitors, and against the spirit 

 of the schedule; the plaintiff was told the prize was protested, 

 and the Committee would have to consider about it. 



At their first meeting, held nearly two mouths after the 

 show, it was decided to set aside the award — it was entirely a 

 ^estion of principle. 



His Honour remarked, it only confirmed what he had said, 

 the plaintiff must be nonsuited. 



[We have been asked to give an opinion on this ease ; and 

 that opinion quite agrees with the decision of the Judge, sup- 

 posing it to be true that garden flowers were mixed with wild 

 flowers in a bouquet required and purporting to be wild 

 flowers. For, in legal phrase, the prize awarded to the bouquet 

 containing some garden flowers was " fraudulently obtained," 

 and conecquently within the proviso at the conclusion of the 

 Society's 4th rule.— Eds.] 



ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY'S 

 EXAMINATIONS OF GARDENERS.— July, 1868. 



Mo. 



» o • 



p. W. Burbidge'l .g 



T. Bevan - 



W. Stewart }■ 



R.Barnes j^cc 



.John Smith, R.H.S. Chiswick 



R. Lee Keenan, Royal Gardens, 



Kew 



M. Middleton, ditto 



C. Plllans, ditto 



William Jones, ditto 



Robert lufilis, ditto 



James McGregor, ditto 



David Mc \rdle, ditto 



James R. Pocock, Bickley, Kent. . 

 Robert Mackellar, Colworth, Beds, 



Feuit and Veget- 



iBLE CDI.TCRE. 



2nd class. 



2Qd ditto. 



2nd ditto. 



2nd ditto. 



3rd ditto. 



1st ditto. 



1st class. 



1st ditto, 

 notpassed 

 2nd class. 

 2nd ditto. 

 8rd ditto, 

 notpassed 

 2nd class. 



let ditto. 



No. of 



marks 

 790 

 860 

 840 

 825 

 620 

 950 



1075 

 1125 

 420 

 790 

 800 

 490 

 110 

 850 

 1050 



FLORicni.TuaE. 



1st class. 



2nd ditto. 

 2nd ditto 



1st ditto. 



2nd ditto. 



1st ditto. 



Ist ditto. 



1st ditto. 



2nd ditto. 



l6t ditto. 



Ist ditto. 



Srd ditto, 

 notpassed 



1st class 



Lst ditto. 



No. of 

 marks 

 1060 

 840 

 860 

 950 

 640 

 950 



1140 

 930 

 620 

 900 



1020 

 450 

 260 

 970 



1100 



VISITS TO GARDENS PUBLIC AND PRIVATE. 



MESSRS. JACKMAN & BOK'S, WOKIKO. 



Although this nursery has been established and well known 

 for a great many years, it has been brought more prominently 

 before the public of late by the success which has attended 

 Mr. George Jackman's hybridising of the Clematis ; and it was 

 mainly for the purpose of seeing the varieties he has raised, 

 that on my return from Dorsetshire lately I turned aside some- 

 what in my way. I was very glad that I was enabled to examine 

 them in their own home ; and although this year they suffered 

 jn common with other things, yet they were a siRbt not easily 

 jorgotten. On approaching the nursery from "Woking you are 



at once struck with the mass of blue colour iu all directions. 

 In front of the house were long beds radiant with Clematis ; 

 there were plants in festoons, and showers of blooms hung from 

 the poles against which other plants were trained. Others, 

 again, in pots exhibited their capabiUties as specimen plants ; 

 and others had been allowed to run over large roots of trees, 

 covering them with their beautiful blossoms ; while in the houses 

 Clematis plants were iu process of increase by tens of thou- 

 sands, so as to supply the immense demand which has arisen 

 for them. Last autumn Messrs. Jackman were unable to exe- 

 cute all their orders ; and now that the capability of the Cle- 

 matis as a bedding plant has been sufliciently tested the demand 

 will doubtless very much increase. 



The varieties Jackmanni and Euhro-violaeea are well known . 

 Since then we have had Rubella and Prince of Wales, and now 

 other varieties are coming forward to claim our admiration. 

 Amongst those which I especially admired were the following : — 

 Lady Bovill, a flower of great size and peculiar form ; the 

 colour is a pale lavender blue, and the petals being slightly 

 cupped, almost like an expanded Tulip, give the flower a very 

 peculiar appearance. Thomas Moore, very large, several blooms 

 being 8 inches across; nearly ml the flowers had five or sis 

 petals, the latter number predominating — this is sure to be a 

 favourite. Mis. Bateman, a light lavender, barred with a deeper 

 shade of colour. Sir Eobert Napier, a rich dark purple, with a 

 reddish tint, light centre. Beauty of Surrey, light grey mauve, 

 and fine in character. Magnifiea, reddish purple barred with 

 red. Velutina purpurea, fine darkviolet purple. These are all 

 seedlings, which exhibit very strongly the Lanuginosa blood in 

 them. There is another class which Mr. Jackman is making 

 progress with, in which the Viticella blood predominates, and 

 in these some striking colours will contrast finely with the 

 lavender and blue already produced. As bedding plants they 

 are very useful ; pegged down, cut back closely, and covered 

 with manure, they then shoot out vigorously ia the spring, and 

 soon cover the ground. After the first bloom is over the young 

 shoots, which are being continually produced, come into bloom, 

 so that a succession of flowers is constantly enlivening the bed, 

 and the colours of these varieties of Clematis are so nnuBual 

 in bedding plants that they become doubly valuable. To 

 light up dark foliage, what can be more beautiful than these 

 plants fixed to stakes about 6 feet high, round which cluster 

 on all sides hundreds of the beautiful flowers, varying in 

 colour from light lavender to dark maroon ? And how beau- 

 tiful, too, when they are made to cluster over rustic porticoes 

 or verandahs 1 



This establishment has long been noted for its collection ot 

 hardy plants, especially Coniferse ; and on the lawn in the 

 front of Mr. Jackman's new and handsome residence are to be 

 seen many tine specimen plants ; beautiful examples of Wel- 

 lingtonia. Thuja aurea, Cedriis deodara, Taxodium distichum — 

 a drooping form of it, very beautiful, Cupressus macrocarpa, 

 and Abies Nordmanniana, one of the most beautifvd of our really 

 hardy Conifers. One *f the most curious and beautiful trees 

 to be seen here is a Waterer's Holly. After a heavy fall of 

 snow the branches were broken down, and it suggested itself to 

 Mr. Jackman to leave them thus. They soon began to accom- 

 modate themselves to their new position, and now, while the 

 tree itself is about 12 feet high, it measures quite 40 feet round, 

 resting on the ground, and being a dense mass of beautiful va- 

 riegated foliage. There were many flowering shrubs here, which 

 one does not see so often as they deserve, as Eiielreuteria pani- 

 culata, with its heads of yellow flowers. The Hibiscus (Althrea 

 frutexl, in many fine varieties is here cultivated largely, and 

 this dry season has been peculiarly favourable for the develop- 

 ment of its flowers. Some variegated- fohaged plants, such as 

 Acer negundo variegata, are largely grown. By the broad walk 

 leading down from the back of Mr. Jackman's dwelling house 

 to the main road there is a very fine collection of Coniferte, 

 amongst which some of the Irish Yews, on the top of which had 

 been grafted the Golden Yew, had a very beautiful and striking 

 appearance. 



Close to the nursery stands the district church of St. John 

 with its neat parsonage ; and it added not a little to the interest 

 of my visit to recall that, some years ago, I was a visitor at this 

 little parsonage with a valued friend who is now labouring in 

 a densely populated manufacturing town, and I little thought 

 then that I was so near to the nursery where I was a visitor 

 to-day. Like many ot our leading nurserymen Mr. Jackman 

 is foremost in good deeds, and as churchwarden to this rural 

 parish has thrown bis energies into the cause. I left the 

 nursery with many pleasing thoughts, and I am sure that any 



