October 1, 1874. ] 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



29 



tion, which is the chief point. The satisfaction of exhibitors 

 must never be taken into account ; all but the first-prize men 

 are sure to be disappointed. 



Difficulties often arise from the wording of the schedule. 

 Species are wiitten where varieties are meant ; culinary and 

 dessert fruits aie lumped together, and classes are to be deter- 

 mined by the shape of the fruit. For instance, at a recent 

 important show, it was thus : " Glass 61, dish of Plums, oval. 

 Class 62, dish of Plums, round." One judge wished to give the 

 first prize to an extraordinary dish of Green Gages, the other 

 preferred a fine-looking culinary Plum. There was no chance 

 of the two agreeing, and there was no time to be lost ; it was 

 finally decided to award a special extra prize to the Green 

 Gages, and all went on smoothly. But these hitches should 

 not occur. Would it not be well if compilers of schedules would 

 submit a copy to some competent authority for his approval ? 



Another thing which deserves attention is, prizes are offered 

 for things which are of no value, and which require neither 

 taste nor skill to exhibit ; for instance, a device in flowers. 

 What hideous things we see exhibited and gain prizes under 

 this name. A hard-hearted judge will say, " This is not worth 

 a prize ; these shows are intended to be educational, to elevate 

 people's tastes." The accompanying official replies, " It is 

 only 5s., and the poor thing has had a lot of trouble." Judge 

 No. 2 says ditto, and the prize is awarded ; the result is, the 

 following show sees a device a little larger, a little more crammed, 

 and altogether a little uglier than its predecessor. 



I could enlarge considerably on this subject, but I trust I 

 have said enough to draw the attention of some of those con- 

 cerned. And there is just another hint I should like to give in 

 the gentlest possible manner. It is not a good plan to have 

 always the same judges. They should not all be local men, and 

 those who do come from a distance should have their travel- 

 ling expenses paid voluntarily, as a matter of course, and not 

 let it depend merely on whether or not they choose to hunt- 

 up the secretary to bid him good-bye. Such matters should 

 not be left to secretaries. Good gardeners are too much in- 

 terested in the progress of their art to refuse to lend a help- 

 ing hand when required ; they often put themselves to much 

 inconvenience to do so ; they do not go to shows for pleasure, 

 but because they feel it a duty to go when called upon ; and 

 they should not be expected to give their money as well as their 

 time and talent. — W. Taylor. 



STKAWBEERIES AND STRAWBERRY CULTURE. 



In the midst of many counsellors surely there must be some 

 wisdom, and it gives me pleasure to see that the opinions ex- 

 pressed in this Journal from the Editors* and Messrs. De Joughe 

 and Gloede, down to the more humble, practical, working gar- 

 dener, will stUl rise triumphant above the statements of Mr. 

 Douglas, and that the truth disinterestedly stated will yet 

 prevail. One or the other must have been in error. While I 

 am thankful to those who have taken the trouble to record 

 their opinions, I have never courted an encomium in any 

 single instance. What interest could M. De Jonghe have had 

 in making the remarks he did concerning Early Prolific in the 

 number for July 20th, 1871 ? I never saw M. De Joughe, never 

 corresponded with him directly or indirectly in my life ; we 

 are perfectly unknown to each other. 



M. De Jonghe, in the article above alluded to, says, " Early 

 Prolific, one of Dr. Roden's seedUngs, is a masterpiece." I 

 must here correct my impression that the words were " a 

 masterpiece of skill." I spoke then only from memory, but 

 the import is as stated, and is stronger really without the ad- 

 denda. He goes on to describe what he is pleased to call its 

 good properties. These are, " Early ripening. At the present 

 time (June 10th), though it is a late season, out of twenty- 

 eight plants in a bed some 40 feet long by 7 wide I count 

 twenty-three large fruit ripe and ripening ; whilst on May 25th, 

 1870, there were several fruit ripe. I have never met with 

 any variety which sets its fruit so freely, or ripens it so quickly, 

 as this. Its great productiveness may be judged from the fact 

 that on two three-year-old stock plants there are respectively 

 five and seven trusses of flowers, and 107 berries set in the 



* The writer, before brioging out these Strawben-ies, took an opportmiity 

 of ehowing them to Dr. Hogg and several members of the Frnit Committee 

 who happened to be at Chiswick at the time ; and in the Journal of the 

 following week the Editors kindly append their opinion to my article describ- 

 ing them, saying they had seen and tasted the frait of these Strawberries, 

 and considered them a marked improvement on existing early kinds, or words 

 to that effect. , 



one case, and ninety-two in the other, neither flowers nor 

 berries having been injured by the lato spring frosts. Its 

 hardiness is sufficiently proved by what is stated above." 

 And he adds in a postscript, " I have delayed sending this 

 article till the present time in order to assure myself of the 

 accuracy of my observations. I think English growers who 

 have the two Strawberries referred to (the other being James 

 Veitoh, raised by M. Gloede) will confirm, if they have not 

 already proved, the truth of what I have advanced." Now 

 after such a statement as this (as perfectly disinterested as it 

 is possible to be) from, perhaps, the greatest authority on 

 the Strawberry in any country, I do not think I have much 

 to fear. 



Mr. Douglas goes on to say, " Does ' W. R.' think that gar- 

 deners will believe him when he says that he saw ripe fruit of 

 Duke of Edinburgh early in April, produced with little or no 

 artificial heat ? They must have been forced Strawberries in 

 the usual sense of the word." Of course they must. Mr. 

 Douglas must be very ignorant of his profession if he does 

 not know that Strawberries will force by sun heat under glass, 

 even if there is very little artificial heat. Possibly any little 

 heat that was given was given at night, but of this I knpw 

 nothing. I can quite believe the statement of the accom- 

 plished gardener who grew the Strawberries in question, and 

 if he happens to see these remarks he may possibly echo that 

 statement. When I called to thank him for such a fine speci- 

 men of his productions, he observed that even finer fruit had 

 been sent into the house, and what is more, he added it forces 

 with so little heat; in fact (I uuderstood him to say), it was 

 grown in quite a cool house. I merely mentioned the subject 

 to show the great capability of one variety over another in 

 this respect. 



With reference to the annual renewal of Strawberry beds, I 

 have no reason to alter the views already expressed. I have 

 no doubt that a few fine berries are grown on first year's 

 plants, and, indeed, at one time I adopted the plan to some 

 considerable extent ; but having of late years tried the oppo- 

 site plan, I have quite satisfied myself that frequent renewals 

 are unnecessary, and, of course, lead to a great amount of 

 extra labour. Mr. Douglas says as one of his arguments, that 

 several plants die every year, which does not improve the 

 appearance of the beds. I beg to inform him that my plants 

 do not die at aU, but instead of that, continue to increase in 

 strength and productiveness for several years, as already stated. 

 If only a few plants die, my sense of order and regularity 

 would be so much disturbed that I should order the entire 

 bed to be destroyed. This shows me that either the soil or 

 the cultivation at Mr. Douglas's place is not congenial to the 

 Strawberry, and hence his want of success in the infrequent- 

 renewal system. If I found, too, that the plants produced 

 only small, ill-shaped berries, though they might be numerous, 

 I should not recommend the plan ; but I do recommend it as 

 saving an enormous amount of trouble, and as being capable of 

 producing a large quantity of fine handsome fruit, finer and 

 handsomer, regard being had to the quantity, than can be 

 obtained in any other way. If the season is fair for Straw- 

 berries in general, I say to all disputants. Come and see. 



If Mr. Douglas ever ventures to submit his favourite Black 

 Prince for competition as the best early Strawberry, I hope 

 somebody fond of this kind of excitement will oppose him 

 with Early Prolific and Duke of Edinbmgh, and give him a 

 good thrashing. That is all the harm I wish him. — WiiiLUM 

 KoDEN, M.A., M.D., Morningside, Kidderminster. 



ELECTION OP ROSES.— No. 2. 



In giving the lists for publication I also endeavour to show 

 in some degree the relative value of the Roses in the southern 

 and the less favoured parts of the country. Perhaps I have 

 made the division too southerly, but it was necessary in order 

 to give some voters northwards. The line has been drawn in 

 such a way as to leave Norwich and Leicester north of the line. 

 By this means I have divided the voters into twenty-nine 

 southern and nine northern. 



I have not attempted again to distinguish the value of the 

 vote as to the best twenty and second thirty, but have simply 

 taken each Rose as named in the fifty. I have further mixed 

 the two classes of voters together. It will be seen that the 

 highest possible numbei; of votes is twenty-nine in the south 

 and nine in the north. In the following table the two divisions 

 are arranged side by side, so that at a glance the different 

 position of a Rose in the north and south can be seen. In each 



