August 7, 18C6. ] 



JOURNAL OP HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



103 



vertently threw it on the floor, where it was Crushed, find my 

 hopes vanished. — Febothahd Gloede, Lcs Sahlong, Seine et 



Manic. 



ORCHARD-HOUSE TREES. 



Home years ago the leaves in my orchard-house rotted at 

 tfieir tips, just as those of " Inqoiber " (page 65). Like him, 

 I showed them to the best living authorities, but could obtain 

 no information. This compelled me to observe and experiment 

 for myself, and the conclusion I came to was that after the 

 morning syringing a drop remained on the tips of those leaves 

 which hung down ; that this drop killed and rutted the tip ; 

 and that when the tip died, the remainder of the leaf was sure 

 to die back. Having arrived at this conclusion, I left off morn- 

 ing syringing, and substituted for it a good damping of tho 

 floor and borders of the house, repeating the same at midday 

 during very hot weather. Since then the foliage has been all 

 that can be desired, and there is even less red spider than 

 before. If any one should object that all orchard-house autho- 

 rities are unanimous as to the necessity of early morning 

 syringing (provided air be given at the same time), and that no 

 one has ever suffered from it except " Inquirer " and myself, 

 I frankly own that I cannot answer the objection, but simply 

 record my own experience. — G. S. 



WOBURN COTTAGE GARDEN SOCIETY'S SHOW, 



AND COTTAGE GARDEN SOCIETIES IS GESEBAL. 



Is these times the gardening and tho general press show no 

 want of attention to exhibitions, whether international, metro- 

 politan, or provincial, that have for their main objects tho 

 advancement of horticulture, and the gratifying, instructing, 

 and elevating the minds of the visitors. Notwithstanding the 

 efforts which have been made through the pages of this Jour- 

 nal, and the shows for working men held in the most densely 

 inhabited parts of the metropolis, there has not, however, as 

 yet been, even among our philanthropists, a due recognition of 

 the love of gardening, the love of flowers for their own sake, 

 the love of the beautiful in all its forms, as among the 

 quietest, most unobtrusive, and yet most successful means of 

 refining the manners, improving the morals, and enlightening 

 the intellects of the labouring classes. 



I wish every success to the village lecture and the powerful 

 arguments of the orator against idleness, filth, and immorality ; 

 but I have even stronger faith in the power of the silent under- 

 mining of prejudices by the every-moment sermon preached 

 by a beautiful well-tended plant in a window — in the influence 

 exerted upon heart and mind, when the idea gains firm hold 

 that a flower-border near the door is better in every way than a 

 nauseous dungheap or an ugly cesspool, both invaluable when 

 kept in their proper place — at the greatest possible distance 

 from the living-rooms, but when near at hand becoming the 

 most fertile sources of uucleanliness and disease. Only let 

 such simple facts and elements of improvement be duly appre- 

 ciated, and then our real exhibitions of cottage garden produce 

 when attempted will not be on such a small scale as they 

 generally are — held in some retired place, and with the humblest 

 attendant circumstances, prompting thus to little curiosity, 

 and, from the small number of the visitors, exerting but little 

 influence ; and then, too, as in the ease of some of our pro- 

 vincial societies, when the encouragement of cottage gardening 

 forms a prominent part of the prospectus, wo should not find 

 the good productions of the cottager huddled into a corner, or 

 placed in some little room by themselves, where very probably 

 they are unnoticed by the great portion of the visitors. It 

 should never be forgotten that a man's self-respect, without 

 which there can be no true manliness of character, is greatly 

 promoted by the consciousness that ho is respected, and his 

 doings noticed and approved of by others, and especially if 

 those others are in a higher social position. 



I had the pleasure of spending the greater part of tho 25th 

 of July at the Woburn cottage-garden fete, tho tents being 

 pitched in a large meadow close to Woburn, and the above 

 forming either the second or third return of the annual treat. 

 After making due allowance for the importance of having the 

 Duke of Bedford aa Patron ; Lord Charles James Fox Russell 

 as President ; seven clergymen and three esquires as Vioe- 

 Presidents ; Rev. J. F. Cumberlfggi as Chairman of the follow- 

 ing Committee — Messrs. Kinns, McKay, Wilson, Lowin, Ward, 



Spragne, Sanders, (lilby, Manning, Woodcraft, Clarke, and 

 Chapman — two tho well-known managers of Woburn and Tin- 

 grith Gardens, and the rest chiefly heads of departments at 

 Woburn, and merchants and tradesmen in the town and neigh- 

 bourhood, all constituting a rare combination of patronage 

 with working energy; — but after making allowance for all this, 

 it seemed to me that the great success of the fete chiefly de- 

 pended on the following circumstances and arrangements : — 



First, That though there was a separate class for amateurs 

 and gentlemen's gardeners, and though many fine things were 

 thus shown for competition, and chiefly not for competition, 

 greatly enhancing by their beauty and variety the interest of 

 the Show as a whole, you were never allowed to lose sight of 

 the fact that the encouragement of superior cottage gardening 

 was the main object contemplated in the meantime, whatever 

 the Society may aspire to in the future. Right or wrong, the 

 fact remains, that many who will not themselves exhibit, and 

 who will not allow their gardeners to exhibit, nor give the 

 smallest encouragement in this direction, will yet heartily co- 

 operate in stirring up competition and emulation among the 

 holders of cottage gardens. 



A second element of success may he found in the largo area 

 from which the Committee of Management attracted the ma- 

 terials for competition. As already hinted at, I have no great 

 faith in the continuance of good results when such a Show is 

 confined to a single parish or a limited district, for in this 

 case something like heart-burning and narrow-minded envy 

 are apt to steal in and take the place of a noble generous 

 rivalry. That man is no stauder-still, but is progressing in 

 that which is good and true, who can thoroughly rejoice that 

 others can do betterthanhe. A wide area does much to shut out 

 a cankering envious spirit. I can form little idea of the space 

 thus influenced by the Society, but along with Woburn nearly 

 thirty parishes were represented on the exhibition tables on 

 the 25th ult. Judging from the number of clergymen who are 

 Vice-Presidents, &c, I should imagine that almost every clergy- 

 man in these parishes would be a supporter of the Society. A 

 goodly number of these gentlemen at the fete did give a tone 

 and character to the assemblage. I am not aware of n.ny reason 

 why there should not be more parishes represented, if the 

 seventh rule of the Society is complied with — namely, " Every 

 parish in the Society shall subscribe not less than £1 before 

 any of the cottagers in that parish shall be allowed to com- 

 pete." To encourage such subscriptions, it is stated in the 

 eighth rule, that a free ticket will be given for every 2s. 6rt. 

 subscribed. 



As an evidence on the one hand of how well the Exhibition 

 was managed, and on the other of the anxiety to have the dif- 

 ferent parishes represented on the winning cards, only one 

 complaint was heard of, and that from those whom all would 

 have been anxious to please— viz., That in the hurry to finish 

 arrangements it had been forgotten to write on the winning 

 cards the parishes of the successful competitors. This was all 

 down in the Secretary's book, and would, no doubt, appear in 

 the certified list, but then it did not appear to the mingled 

 throng of nobility, clergy, gentry, and peasantry who crowded 

 the tents. 



A third cause of success is to be found in the large-hearted 

 liberal resolves of the Managing Committee, that this little 

 garden Society, besides affording an unusual pleasure to work- 

 ing men, should offer attractions to the higher classes to join 

 them. For this purpose a cricket match was arranged be- 

 tween gentlemen of the north and south of the county, to be 

 played on the cricket ground in the park. Different games 

 and races, with prizes, were appointed for the evening, and 

 two bauds were engaged— viz., a Militia band in the grounds 

 of the Abbey in the forenoon, and the band of the Coldstream 

 Guards, under the conductorship of Mr. F. Godfrey, in the 

 Exhibition grounds in the afternoon. 



Lastly, Perhaps one of the chief elements of success was 

 the kind permission of the Duke of Bedford, that the cards which 

 gave admission to visitors to the Exhibition ground should 

 on that day be an open sesame to the splendid I'ark, the rides, 

 and diversified scenery of the picturesque Evergreens, and the 

 charming pleasure grounds, the beautiful flower-beds, the 

 lovely conservatories, and tho classic sculpture-gallery close to 

 the Abbey. 



Through the kindness of Mr. McKay I had a peep of all 

 this, so interesting, in the morning, and greatly delighted I 

 was ; but this delight of the morning seemed to wane and to 

 lessen amid the very same scenes in the afternoon, until it 

 began to rest upon the memory, like an indistinct vision of 





