294 



JOUBNAL OF HOBTIOULTOEB AND COTTAGE GARDENEB. 



[ April 15, 187S. 



plants jast after yoar reporter had completed his notes, that the 

 omission is attributable. — J. Etekaebts, a Director of the Royal 

 Horticultural and Agricultural Society in Antwerp. 



ANEMONES AND THEIR CULTURE. 



When I look at the lovely beds of semi-donble Anemones 

 now in blossom in my garden, the intensest brilliance side by 

 side with the softest harmony of colour, I think how much 

 those lovers of spriug flowers miss who do not treat these beau- 

 tiful blossoms with somewhat more care than is usual. Be- 

 sides their beauty of form and exceeding richness and variety 

 of tint, which I scarcely dare to dwell on lest it should seem 

 exaggerated, the Anemones possess the great charm of pro- 

 ducing blossoms all through the dark days of winter, to which 

 their brightness forms such a cheering contrast. The bed I 

 now speak of has supplied me with continuous bouquets from 

 last October up to the present day, the size of the flowers 

 of course increasing with the advance of spring, which is 

 the meridian season of their beauty ; but if there is a mid- 

 winter open-air bouquet more lovely than a flat vase filled 

 with scarlet Anemones along with blossoms of the large Christ- 

 mas Rose white as a snowdrift, I can only say I have never 

 seen it. 



Observing so many spring flowers praised in your Journal 

 I have often wished to say a word for the Anemones, but the 

 old Baying, " No Irish need apply," has hitherto deterred me. 

 However, last week having shown my flowers to several florists, 

 their hearty exclamation that they had never before seen such 

 beautiful Anemones, tempts me now to give my mode of treat- 

 ing ihem, in the hope that others may have equal enjoyment 

 in their blossoming. 



Having saved the seed the preceding May, in March or in 

 April I select a piece of good ground in a warm situation. I 

 have it well dug and made fine, and then over the surface 

 I have spread a layer of fresh cow droppings collected from the 

 pasture; this is dug in from 5 to 6 inches deep, and then some 

 weU-rotted leaf mould is mixed with the upper 2 inches of the 

 bed ; it is raked fine, and all is ready for sowing. I then take 

 the seed and mix it with my fingers in some sand that has a 

 little moisture — just enough to make it adhere to the seeds, 

 and thus separate them. I next sprinkle the seed thus prepared 

 over the bed, not too thickly ; and having ready some fine 

 mould, I with the hand shake enough over the bed to cover 

 the seeds, but not bury them. 



Whenever weeds appear they should be pulled up while 

 they are yet so small that their removal will not disturb the 

 Anemone seedlings, which are tardy in appearing and slow in 

 their first growth ; but by August they should be sending up 

 flower-stems, a few only at first, but increasing every week, 

 until by the end of October the bed is well filled with blossoms, 

 to continue so all winter until spriug adds fresh vigour to its 

 splendour. 



I enclose some blossoms pulled to-day, so that they may 

 speak for themselves. — L. L. 



[We never saw more beautiful specimens of the semi-doable 

 Anemone. — Eds.] 



PEARS-EASTER BEURRE. 

 Thanks to the contributors of our Journal for their various 

 hints on different kinds of Pears. If thought worth recording, 

 I send the experience of a gentleman on the ripening of Easter 

 Beurre Pears. He planted a tree fifteen years since, and when 

 it began to bear he carefully packed the fruit in dry sand and 

 placed in a warm cupboard, but by this plan they were never 

 worth eating except by cooking them. His new plan he thus 

 describes: " Having had no success in ripening Easter Beurre 

 Pears, after gathering them, last autumn I laid them up on 

 shelves in a shed with Apples, covering them with cloths, 

 where they have been all the winter, and for the last few weeks 

 have ripened perfectly. They are of large and even size, and 

 very valuable. The tree is against a wall." — J. W. 



Sales of Plants. — Mr. J. C. Stevens sold by auction on the 

 8th inst. 447 lots of Orchids, which realised nearly £1.500. 

 The specimens which sold for the highest prices were Den- 

 drobium Falconeri, £5 ; D. crassinode, £5 5s. ; and " a grand 

 mass " of D. Wardianum — seventy bulbs, besides young 

 growths, one hundred guineas. 



On the yth Mr, Stevens sold 318 lota of the late Mr. Philpot's 



stove and greenhouse plants for £470. Anthurium Soherzer- 

 ianum was knocked down for £7 ; Azaleas for from £5 to 

 £G 10s. ; Erica Cavendishii for £10 ; and Hedaroma tnlipifera 

 for £21. 



THE BOUQUET AND HOW IT IS MADE. 



As I have had some experience in bouquet-making I should 

 like to add a hint to "J. H.'s" article. I must differ from 

 him in one or two points, but wUl admit that the flowers 

 named are good for the purpose. I find it impossible to make 

 a good-shaped bouquet with the finest copper wire, as it is not 

 stiff enough to hold the flowers in their place. 



Now the way that I proceed to make a bouquet is thus : — 

 I procure some iron wire stiff enough to bear the weight of a 

 CameUia in any position. I cut this in lengths of about 

 7 inches, and next cut my flowers, and wire every one, whether 

 it has a long stalk or a short one. I next have a stick about 

 the size of a cedar pencil, and 7 inches long, and bind 

 the centre flower to it. This forms a handle, and a good 

 foundation to bind the others to. I use the Indian grass for 

 binding, as the wire cuts the stalks of the flowers and Fera 

 too much. 



I use two sizes of wire, one very fine for wiring double 

 Primulas, Hyacinths, and pips of double Geraniums, &c. ; the 

 other stout for bouquets. By so doing I can make a good 

 bouquet with a very few flowers, which is a great saving in 

 the winter months when flowers are scarce. — P. B. 



THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY— A 

 GROWL. 



Week after week have I intended to write to you, but have 

 put the matter off in the hope that there would be no occasion 

 for this letter, but I have hoped in vain. It is now the 10th of 

 April, 1875, and not one penny of the prize money which was 

 gained last year has been paid by the Royal Horticultural 

 Society, and I write in the hope that if yon take the matter up 

 we poor exhibitors may receive our money. 



I consider that the action of the Council in this matter is 

 perfectly dishonest. In their report and statement of accounts 

 they put down the prize money for 1874 as if it had been paid, 

 and this report is presented at the annual meeting, and, I pre- 

 sume, passed. Now, what right has the Council to issue a 

 false report ? for I maintain that the balance-sheet is a false 

 one which leads the members to suppose that the prizes have 

 been paid when they have not. 



Rose- showing is a source of great expense and discomfort 

 to most men, but to me it is unusually so. I have to drive 

 twenty-six miles at night to catch the London mail, and then 

 have to travel all night and land at that most inhospitable 

 arcade of the Royal Horticultural Society, those " barbara 

 regna," in a state of starvation, and not even a cup of tea 

 can be procured for love or money. Then , when the day is 

 over and we exhibitors come to take away our boxes we have 

 regularly to fight to prevent every bloom being taken by the 

 crowd ; and when you are showing in all the classes your 

 boxes are widely apart, and it is impossible to protect more 

 than one stand. I was asked at the last show a dozen times 

 whether I sold my blooms, and one gentleman calmly asked 

 me, "Do you not come from Paul's?" Mr. Eyles saw a 

 stranger calmly take every Rose out of a stand, and on being 

 asked whether he owned those Roses said, "No; I thought I 

 might help myself !" A lady positively took my Roses away 

 from my box as I was giving them away. Any exhibitor who 

 was there will bear me out in this, and will endorse every word 

 I have said about the arrangements. 



Now, after all this trouble, discomfort, and expense we who 

 have gained prizes are left to " whistle for them," and this 

 from the Society which calls itself "Royal." "The Royal 

 Horticultural Society of England " can condescend to a line 

 of action which would not be taken by the poorest and most 

 insignificant cottage gardeners' horticultural society. I call 

 it simply a breach of faith, and hope you will expose it, 

 and then, perhaps, the Council will be ashamed of them- 

 selves, as they ought to have been long ago. — A Disqustkd 

 Exhibitor. 



[The preceding communication needs no comment from us. 

 The conduct of the Council of the Royal Horticultural Society 

 is most unworthy. If it offers prizes, even if the funds of the 

 Society are not sufficient to pay the prizes, the Council ought 

 to pay them out of their own pockets. They could be com- 



