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JOURNAL OF HORTICULTDKE AND COTTAGE GABDENEB. 



[ August 6, 1»74. 



required. 3, It will put the amateurs quite out of the field, 

 lor no amateurs coulfl, or would if they could, engage to con- 

 tribute to Bueh an exhibition. 1, It would do away with all 

 real rivalry, for it would be simply a contest of big battalions. 

 End not of real culture. 5, If the formality of the present 

 system is complained of, I do not see that it is one whit less 

 formal to huddle together in a lump some twenty thousand 

 Hoses than to place them as they are now placed in boxes, 

 r., I do not think that the beauty sought for would be obtained ; 

 i!; is one thing to arrange flowers for an evening fc-te, another 

 to arrange them to be seen by daylight, and after a few hours 

 masses of half-faded flowers, as seen at some places in France, 

 ere by no means pleasing objects. 



I might, like Dogberry, add other reasons to my sixthly and 

 l.v=iUy, but I have said enough to express my decided objection 

 to the proposed alteration. — D., Deal. 



BEDDING GEBANIUMS. 



I THINK, with the exception of Eoses, it would be difficult to 

 name a tribe of flowers ia which the public is more generally 

 interested than in bedding Geraniums. Everyone having a 

 !;arden cultivates them more or less. In some places they 

 nre planted by the thousand, in others clumps dotted about in 

 mixed borders give colour which is much required after the 

 spring flowers are out of bloom. As conservatory plants they 

 are, perhaps, still more valuable. Cultivated with less trouble 

 than most others, less liable to the attacks of insects, and con- 

 f inuing in bloom longer than any other tribe, no wonder they 

 »re favourites. They have one great fault — they bear carriage 

 badly when in full bloom. 



For years I have raised thousands of seedlings, every flower 

 carefully crossed with my own hands, with the hope of getting 

 a few superior or different to those previously raised. Dr. 

 Denny, of Stoke Newington, is also an extensive raiser, whilst 

 ilr. Laxton, of Stamford, has taken the double ones under his 

 care. Besides these, many persons try their hands at raising 

 a few seedlings most years, the result being that no class ol 

 plants has been more improved than this. Most persons, per- 

 haps all, act from mixed motives, and it may be questioned 

 whether the ambition to be the producer of new beauties in a 

 favourite class of flowers or fruits is not as strong a motive as 

 the hope of pecuniary reward. One thing is certain — those 

 who raise a good plant wish to be known as its raiser, and they 

 feel aggrieved when others adopt their favourites without ac- 

 knowledgment. In 187.3 several of us who were thus interested 

 agreed to offer prizes for our seedlings, to the exclusion of all 

 varieties except our own, that the public might have an oppor- 

 tunity of seeing what we had effected. Dr. Denny and I 

 offered £7 7s. each to be thus competed for, and others followed 

 suit. The show was to be held at Kensington in July. The 

 Eoyal Horticultural Society also offered prizes, open to all 

 varieties — i.e., to anyone. AVe were glad to think that all, and 

 ourselves as well, would have the opportunity of seeing our 

 pets compared with those raised by others. Mark the result. 

 The Society made no stipulation that the raiser's name should 

 be attached to the plants shown, and I had no sooner entered 

 the Show than Mr. Gibson, after having congratulated me on 

 the beautiful plants shown by Messrs. Catlin and Brise, added, 

 "But you must take care, for others are very close at your 

 heels. Amongst the kinds shown for the best twelve new 

 varieties are sorts about as good as yours." As may be 

 imagined, I was soon in search of these rivals. "What was 

 my astonishment to find eleven out of the twelve plants 

 staged were my own kinds, but the exhibitor had forgotten 

 to attach the raiser's name to them. Finding several other 

 collections contained varieties of mine, all without acknow- 

 ledgment, it struck me our object, at any rate 'mine, was 

 defeated. My object was a purely selfish one : I wished to see 

 my sorts well grown and brought in comparison with those of 

 others ; and no doubt those who offered similar prizes under 

 similar conditions were also disappointed, for I was the only 

 one who repeated the offer this year. 



Now, I think the object of the Society in offering prizes for 

 new plants ought not only to be the enabling the members and 

 visitors to judge what is the best worth cultivation, and to re- 

 ward the growers, but to do honour to the raisers of the best 

 virieties. As it is now, good things are welcomed, those who 

 produce them are ignored. Charity ought to be performed in 

 secret; but when we as a rule see objects of art and things of 

 value sent out by men who wish to be unknown, then and then 

 only need we be ashamed of our desire to be recognised. It is 



unjust that persons should be assisted in taking credit to them- 

 selves that belongs to others. Let us have a fair field and no 

 favour. Let the Society offer good prizes worth trying for, for 

 collections, subject only to the conditions that name and 

 raiser's name be attached to each plant, and then those in- 

 terested in the matter will, I have no doubt, willingly help to 

 find the funds. But if it is to be done it should be done at 

 once. Time is necessary to prepare plants worth exhibiting. 

 J. E. Pearson, Chilwell. 



FEOME KOSE SHOW. 



Will you allow me to write a few lines concerning a most 

 commendable effort that has been made by some gentlemen at 

 Frome Selwood, Somerset, to hold a good Rose show '.' 



For some three or four years we have had what is called a 

 Rose club at Frome, and also at Warminster, two towns where 

 the Rose is, I may say, worshipped. I do not know, by the way, 

 why the term " club " is given to our httle affairs, except that 

 they are so small that perhaps our committees hesitate to call 

 them societies. The schedules of our show have hitherto 

 been very simple affairs, and the rules of the club rather too 

 simple in my opinion. We give prizes for twenty-four, twelve, 

 six, and even one variety of Rose ; but we only allow members 

 to take one club prize, which makes it rather a poor look-out 

 for outsiders like myself to travel eighty miles for one prize ; 

 but it is for the honour of the thing, and also for the encourage- 

 ment of Rose-growing that these clubs have been formed, and 

 the wise men who originated them think that one way to bring 

 about this latter desideratum, is for there to be every reason- 

 able probability that each exhibitor should take some sort of a 

 prize. But for the encouragement of outsiders, as well as 

 other members of the club, Mr. Keynes, of SaUsbury, and 

 Messrs. Durbin,and Pavitt, of Bath, give extra prizes which may 

 be carried away in addition to the one club prize, so that you 

 may (as I am happy to say I did this year) carry away four 

 first prizes. 



This season, however, the Frome club determined to do 

 something great, and after great efforts on their part actually 

 gave an open prize of £20 for twenty-four distinct varieties, 

 three blooms of each. At least they divided £20 in this way : 

 First prize £15, and second prize £3. This great inducement 

 brought some of the largest growers in England. Cranston 

 thought it worth his while to send all the way from Hereford ; 

 Prince came himself from Oxford with most magnificent speci- 

 mens from his seedling Briar, which perfectly astonished me. 

 Their marvellous freshness, considering the hot night we had 

 and the long journey, their robustness (the date was July 19th) 

 at the time of year, their form and colour, indeed their " good 

 all round " condition was wonderful. Mr. t'ant — the brave, 

 the enterprising, the grand grower from Essex, came with 

 blooms that would have been superb if they could but have 

 been seen the night before. Mr. Bennett, of Stapleford, put 

 in an appearance, and one, too, which was so good that in any 

 other company he would have been facile priiiceps. Last of 

 all in enumeration, but first in merit, as the Judges decided, 

 came my friend the veteran grower from Salisbury — the, may I 

 be pardoned if I say, historical " Johnnie Keynes." Fresh 

 from his nurseries with Roses cut that very morning, or at 

 least the night before, came the good old man, and what a 

 sight his boxes were ! " In to a day, my dear sir ; in to a 

 day ! " he told me at Salisbury two days before, and indeed he 

 was, as his JIoss Roses proved. I went round them carefully, 

 and I think I never saw before such a good general bloom as he 

 had. "Oceans of bloom" is the only phrase I can employ; 

 and ah ! Messrs. Editors, what joys, as I write this, does this 

 term cause me ! I saw long lines of every Rose I love. I saw 

 thousands of such Roses as Lefebvre, EothschUd, Baumann, 

 OUbo, and all the new ones. I wandered down long lines of 

 such shy bloomers as Louis Van Houtte and Lord Maeaulay, 

 and each Rose seemed to me more perfect than the last. I 

 could have spent a week in that nursery, and then not cry 

 " Enough." The hospitable owner had almost to drag me to 

 dinner. 



Well, gentlemen, this grand old grower, who, as he fondly 

 and proudly boasts, has taught the Rose world a principle 

 which is the very foundation of success in exhibiting — viz., 

 disbudding, came to Frome, and not only came, for t-enit, 

 vidit.etiicit. He took the first prize ; he did more— he actually 

 took it home with him in his coat pockets, "all in .<ilrer." 

 Yes, that game old fellow with a most smiUng face and a most 

 loaded person, walked off with £15 in shilling pieces, paid to 



