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JOURNAL OP nORTICULTUEl'; AND COTTAGE GAEDENER. 



Ill 



The Fruit and Floral Committees have their own propar 

 work to do. They were instituted to judRO of, and to certifi- 

 cate, new and rare plants and fruits, and subjects grown at 

 Chiswick. Add ordinary flower-judging to their work, and their 

 apeciality ceases. On the other hand, the Society has its gala 

 day each week, and for this day such minor exhiljitions would 

 be suitable attractions. It already shows on that day examples 

 of its own culture at Cliiswick. Why should it not endeavour 

 to supplement its own little shows with an occasional com- 

 petition on the sweepstakes principle, and give us the oppor- 

 tunity of judging by comparison how far the Society is leading 

 the world in gardening ? If it cannot join in the sweepstakes, 

 which, perhaps, it ought not, it can at all events stimulate its 

 own cultivators to increased exertion by some little bonus each 

 time that the merit of its own productions is pre-eminent. 

 But the majority of the Fellows prefer small talk; and their 

 daughters love to see and be seen, to listen to the band, and to 

 listen to compliments, and these Mr. Berkeley never pays 

 them. Mr. Bateman is more gallant, I own, but even his 

 pretty speeches are, of necessity, too general to be very telling. 

 Now, although I flatter myself I am too good a horticulturist 

 to desire to convert our fine old Society into a mere fashion- 

 able resort, I confess to a weakness for pretty faces as well as 

 for pretty flowers ; and as I cannot think the brave old horti- 

 eulturists of the palmiest days of the Chiswick fries could 

 have feared any ill results to their loved pursuit from bright 

 eyes and gay dresses, from music and flirtations, I propose a 

 time and place for the new shows whicli will secure these at- 

 tractions. 



Let us, then, Mr. Editor, have your support for holding minor 

 shows of florists' flowers on Saturdays, or if not on Saturdays, 

 on ^yednesdays. On these days there is " no House," and 

 surely our Senators are entitled to some consideration ; there 

 must be a goodly sprinkling of flower-lovers among them. 



The time, however, for holding the shows might, if they 

 provide the prizes, well be left to the exhibitors. If they think 

 that snatched glimpses of their flowers in the Council room 

 will serve their purpose better than prolonged examination of 

 them in the conservatory, there is nothing more to be said, 

 and I shall regret that I have already said so much. — Another 

 F.E.H.S. 



ORNAMENTAL AND FLOWERING SHRUBS. 



KoiHiKG in gardening is more remarkable than t'.ie immense 

 number of Roses, Dahlias, Hollyhocks, Pansies, Chrysanthe- 

 mums, Antirrhinums, Pelargoniums, Fuchsias — but I must 

 stop — "The Gardeners' Year-Eook," under the heading of 

 " New Flowers of the Year," is conclusive as to the futility of 

 enumerating all the genera, to say nothing of the varieties 

 following in battalions. True, there are no species in " New 

 Flowers of the Y'ear," but the species which we see one 

 year iu the list of " New Plants," we may find in the next with 

 a host of varieties all advancing by rapid marches from the 

 "starry" to the "circular" and "globular outline;" some 

 " excellent," others " distinct," " very fine," " beautiful." 

 Then we have " Vice-President, a decided improvement on 

 Chairman," " a colour much wanted," " a superb and beauti- 

 ful introduction," " fine variety for exhibition," " well adapted 

 for bedding," and, to crown all, the " gem of the season." 

 Indeed, so numerous are the varieties, so curious in name, and 

 iu garb so very rich, pretty, splendid, beautiful, delicate, and 

 dazzling, that we are truly astonished at the assemblage, 

 and wonder whence they have come and whither they are 

 bound. The whence is found in " The Year-Book," biit the 

 whither who can tell? and we should never, perhaps, know, 

 only sometimes among new flowers something is not equal to 

 thedescription.or itmay be worthless. I think it will be agreed, 

 without a dissentient, that the number of new flowers raised 

 and sent ont every year by the trade in this country, as well as 

 in France, Belgium, Holland, and Germany, is very remarkable. 

 Even the Japanese Chrysanthemums, though the idea of those 

 '_' Bagged Jacks " ever being of any use was ridiculed upon their 

 introduction, on being subjected to British improvement have 

 been influenced by it, and the " first fruits of a rich harvest " 

 have resulted from Mr. Salter's labours. Many interesting 

 varieties have been raised at the Versailles Nursery, and are 

 there to be seen ; some, " D., Dial," says, being like " penny 

 spiders," paper cuttings, or having spots hke Orchids, and ail 

 curious, which latter I should think they must be if at all like 

 the parents. They will, most probably, supply a gap, but I 

 doubt if the gap will yet be well filled. 



It was in 1834 or 183.5 that the Chinese Chrysanthemum, at 

 that time a " Ragged Jack," was subjected to British improve- 

 ment, and many fine varieties wore raised at Oxford and at 

 other places in Kngland, and in the Channel Islands, especially 

 Guernsey, and we have seen this once starry flower brought 

 to a state of great perfection by the persevering skill and in- 

 dustry of the hybridiser, whilst the splendid specimens seen at 

 our winter exhibitions, show the improvement not to be confined 

 to the raising of new varieties, but to be equally manifested in 

 the art of culture. The consequence of this improvement, not 

 only with the Chrysanthemum but with other plants as weU, 

 is a demand for new plants, which is met in two ways : — First, 

 by importations from the Continent ; and secondly, by the vast 

 number of hybrids and cross-breds raised by nurserymen, 

 amateurs, and gardeners in this country, as well as by our 

 neighbours on the Continent. 



From the date of the establishment of flower shows this 

 demand has gone on increasing, and developed such extensive 

 ramifications that many think it would be well if all new 

 varieties were subjected to a strict scrutiny before being sent 

 out, thus saving money, time, labour, means, and disappoint- 

 ment. This, however, would not prove of any great avail in 

 stopping the rage for new flowers. The new and rare is the 

 prize most coveted, and, no doubt, is a most lucrative business 

 to those most intimately connected with it. So long as the 

 fashion is all for new plants, so long will all lovers of garden- 

 ing seek to possess themselves of something more rare and 

 beautiful than their neighbours. Thus flower shows by exciting 

 in gardeners, professional and amateur, a spirit of emulation, 

 have done much towards improving the science of floriculture. 



Now, without wishing in the slightest degree to discourage 

 or diminish the prevailing and increasing taste for flowers (for 

 their care is a great source of health and enjoyment to many 

 not as yet imbued with the same ardent taste for shrubs 

 as they have for flowers, because a like spirit of emulation hag 

 not been provoked by the metropolitan, still less by the pro- 

 vincial flower shows), I am in the firm belief that the agency 

 so productive of a taste for flowers, would be equally effective 

 in promoting a taste for ornamental and flowering shrubs. I 

 am certain that the offering by the Loudon societies of prizes 

 commensurate with the object, would secure a response 

 worthy of the occasion, and secure a highly instructive and 

 desirable exhibition. There cannot be a doubt, that once a 

 spirit of emulation excited, a taste for shrubs equal to that for 

 flowers would spring up, and spread by the provincial societies 

 throughout the country. Once create a taste, and the demand 

 will increase, and proportionate supplies will be forthcoming. 

 This we know to be a fact, as only last spring Mr. William Paul 

 exhibited a splendid collection in the Royal Horticultural 

 Society's gardens, thereby proving that wo have only to en- 

 courage a taste and demand for shrubs, and we shall have 

 caterers ample for our wants. 



Though the principle of hybridisation or cross-fecundation 

 was known in 1717, in the time of Bradlej', yet it was not until 

 the year 1830 and subsequently that any one thought of ap- 

 plying it to produce new and more beautiful varieties of flowers, 

 notwithstanding that through its agency remarkable results 

 with Apple, Pear, and other fruit trees had been obtained by 

 practising it in times prior to 1830. Florists, even, before the 

 establishment of flower shows never thought of cross-fecun- 

 dation as applicable to the production of new and beautiftJ 

 varieties of fiowers, but by the most extraordinary and xm- 

 exampled patience were content to wait till in self-coloured 

 varieties some accidental combination of favourable circum- 

 stance of soil, climate, and culture induced a " breaking " of 

 colour in the parent, and a variation thus attained was trans- 

 mitted iu a greater or less degree to the progeny. 



The march of improvement in flowers dates chiefly from 

 the establishment of flower shows. The attention paid to the 

 raising of fruits bears no comparison to that bestowed upon 

 the raising of new and beautiful plants or flowers ; it has for a 

 long time slept as regards the majority of professional and 

 amateur gardeners. Though it may at times have made itself 

 active, yet it is only now beginning to arouse itself from the 

 long sleep it has taken since the days of Knight ; but we now 

 have the taste for fruits revived, not to any great extent mora 

 than formerly by horticiUtural societies, but by the introduc- 

 tion of orchard houses, and the greater facilities afforded by 

 cheap glass for proving the seedlings. It is true there has 

 been a great influx of Pears and other fruits, but many are 

 utterly valueless, all our old varieties stiUjholding their ground, 

 and every day becoming more prominent. That we are sadly 



