288 



JOURNAL OF nORTICULTUKK AND COTTAGE GAEDENER. 



[ Soptember 23, 1875. 



from sheer love of them, for his Bpaee and the time of his men 

 eould assuredly be occupied with things that would pay him 

 better. But he has clung to their culture through pure love, 

 and has exhibited them where no prizes could be obtained 

 simply to show people what lovely flowers they were neglecting. 

 The fine stock which he raises every year finds its way, how- 

 ever, mainly to the midland and northern parts of the kingdom , 

 where certainly florists' flowers are more at home than in the 

 south. I was here much interested in seeing some rows of 

 what I believe will be found to be one of the very best Peas in 

 cultivation — Dr. Maclean, so named by Mr. Turner to com- 

 memorate the name of a raiser to whom we are indebted for 

 Little Gem, Princess Royal, Advancer, Best of All, etc., some 

 of the best-flavoured Peas we have. Its productiveness is 

 something wonderful. I saw it when two crops had already 

 been gathered, and yet the pods there hung as thick as on an 

 ordinary Pea. Mr. Turner, than whom there is no better 

 judge, says it is an excellently flavoured Pea. It is about 

 3 feet high, and literally covers itself with pods from top to 

 bottom. There ia one thing I never cease to regret when going 

 to Mr. Turner's in the autumn — viz., that he has abandoned, 

 save in the matter of seedlings, the cultivation of the Dahlia. 

 We miss his highly finished flowers at the exhibitions, and I 

 can only hope that he will some day resume its culture. 



Need I say that every department exhibited the care, skill, 

 and neatness which always characterise this nursery ? It is 

 no light matter in such a season as this has been, and with 

 the perplexities of the labour market, to keep a garden neat ; 

 but it has been done here. The pot Eoses, Azaleas, Camellias 

 — all, in fact, were in the rudest health ; and the fine ccllection 

 of Auriculas shaded by a fine row of Poplars were in snug 

 summer quarters, giving promise of a fine spring bloom. 

 By-the-by, why are not these Poplar hedges more used ? I 

 saw a grand lot of them at Mr. Ware's at Tottenham, and 

 there is nothing where shade is required that makes a more 

 eileotive hedge. Foreigners would perhaps laugh at us in 

 England (where the greater number of them believe that the 

 sun rarely shines, and that we are enveloped in fog for mouths 

 together) for requiring thade ; but in many of our southern 

 counties there are gardens where it is most difficult to obtain 

 it, and in such places no quicker or more effective hedge can be 

 had than that composed of the Lombardy Poplar.— D., Deal. 



GKEAT INTEENATIONAL FRUIT AND FLOWEE 

 SHOW AT EDINBURGH. 



In submitting a report of this great Exhibition last week, we 

 could necessarily not do more than give a brief record of the 

 successful exhibitors in the most important classes. In that 

 report a few unimportant errors had crept in in transmission by 

 electric telegraph. It is only necessary to correct two. Mr. 

 Hunter was made to be the winner in "light" varieties of 

 Grapes, it should have been " eight " varieties ; and Mr. Mathie- 

 Bon was awarded the Veitch Memorial medal for the best stove 

 plant ; the report was otherwise correct. Our further remarks 

 win be commentary, descriptive, and supplementary. 



The Exhibition was held in the Music Hall and Assembly 

 Kooms, the plants in the former, and the fruit in the latter 

 portion of the same edifice, but only a glance was needed to 

 show that the Exhibition had quite outgrown the space which 

 the large building afforded. The managers did their best — did, 

 indeed, all that energy and skill could do — yet it was imposBible 

 to prevent undue crowding of plants, fruit, and visitors. We 

 greatly fear that had southern managers to deal with tho same 

 amount of produce with the same limited means of staging it, 

 that the Exhibition would have resulted in a failure, whereas in 

 spite of tho crowding this great gathering was a great success. 



This success was directly contributed to by the energy of the 

 Secretaries, Mr. Stuart and Mr. Young; and to Mr. Dunn, Dal- 

 keith ; Mr. Downie, West Coates ; and Mr. Lament in the plant 

 department; and to Mr. Thomson, Clovenfords; Mr. LcLeod, 

 Newbattle ; and Mr. Anderson, Oxenford Castle, in the fruit 

 section. Iheee are men who refuse to fail, and they averted 

 failure by a determination to work the whole of the night, and to 

 have all in readiness for the Judges by six o'clock of the morn- 

 ing of the Exhibition. This resolve was carried out, aud the 

 Judges were promptly at their duties at that early hour. The 

 room was dingy, but by carrj ing the Grapes, &c., to the windows 

 the work was persevered in, and the awards were attached before 

 breakfast. This energy was most commendable, and one could 

 not help wondering why a plan in all respects so good should 

 not be adopted and carried out in all exhibitions of magnitude 

 and importance. 



The system adopted, too, was of the simplest, and the same, 

 we believe, as that which is carried out at the Crystal Palace. 



It is this : Each exhibitor's name is legibly written on the card 

 which denotes the class in which he competes ; this card ia 

 turned down and the class and exhibitors' numbers are written 

 on the back cf it, and the Judges give the awards to the re- 

 spective numbers. An assistant, who has ready printed sUps of 

 " firEt," "second," and "third" prizes, turns over the cards 

 and afiixes them, and the work is doue. For perfect fairness, 

 smoothneEs, and celerity no system can be better ; and by the 

 side of it the plan of exhibiting under numbers and the con- 

 sequent delay ensuing, to say nothing of its unpleasant sug- 

 gestions, sinks into insignificance. 



This early judging and prompt attachment of the awards 

 enabled another most worthy plan to be carried out — of admit- 

 ting gardeners, on payment of a shilling each, to inspect the 

 Show during one hour and a half before the public admission 

 at II A M. The eagerness with which the gardeners availed 

 themselves of this privilege proved how much it was appreciated. 

 It seems almost incredible, but we state it on good authority, 

 that i'40 were taken in gardeners' shillings within the first hour 

 of their admission. What earnestness and interest does that 

 pourtray ! and what sympathy it must call forth — it cannot be 

 otherwise — between the managers of the Society aud the men 

 who are the mainspring of the success of that management! 

 What a stimulus this reasonable concession must be to young 

 gardeners who are permitted to enjoy a critical survey of the 

 exhibits in their first fresh state ! and what encouragement it is 

 to more experienced men to feel that their efforts are appreciated 

 and their position officially recognised in such a graceful and 

 substantial manner! On grounds both of justice and policy 

 this plan is commendable, and we draw attention to it as one of 

 the most gratifying as well as one of the soundest features of 

 management cf this great Show. Another feature we must 

 notice which is worthy of general adoption, and that is the pay- 

 ment of the prizes on the first day of the Exhibition. Such 

 promptitude fosters confidence, creates sympathy, and in no 

 small degree promotes success. 



Judging, we have said, commenced at 6 a.m., and in half an 



hour afterwards we were enabled to quote the awards and note 



i the characteristics of the successful products. This early 



I judging contributed in a great degree to the success and enjoy- 



1 meut of the Show. It is an immense improvement on the old 



j and too common system of not completing the awards until 



mid-day. The clumsiness of the latter plan was very apparent 



when thought of in connection with the business-Uke efi&ciency 



of the former. 



The judging and weighing of the elephantine bunches was an 

 exciting moment. Mr. Curror's compact bunch was marked by 

 the grower as weighing 26 lbs. 4oz3. It was transferred to the 

 scale, and a shout ascended when the result was seen. In the 

 excitement of the moment the weight was variously announced, 

 oneshoutiiig261bs. 1 oz., another 26i lbs,, and a third 2G lbs. }oz., 

 but the official record was, we believe, 261b8. 4oz8., and the 

 Judges awarded the prize to this as the heaviest bunch of 

 Grapes which the world has ever produced. The Vine was 

 planted by Mr. William Thomson of the celebrated Clovenfords 

 Vineyard, and carried, besides this monster, three other bunches, 

 one of which weighed 18 lbs., and received one of the Veitch 

 Memorial medals. The 26-pounder was a remarkably compact 

 heavily-shouldered bunch, tapering to a point. It was very full 

 and the berries good, thinning having been done with great 

 care. Mr. Dickson's bunch, represented as weighing 2-5 lbs. 15 ozs., 

 was apparently much the greatest in point of size, and as seen 

 with its ponderous shoulders tied out covered an immense 

 amount of space. The berries of this were finer than those of 

 its great rival. It had clearly been overthinned when it ia 

 considered that the prize was for weight and not for quality. 

 In the production of bunches in which weight is the primary 

 consideration, it is clear that there must be little or no thinning 

 of the berries. This was a forked bunch, but yet not unshapely. 

 We shall next week be able to present an engraving of this 

 gigantic bunch of Grapes from a photograph taken when it was 

 hanging on the Vine. Owing to the extraordinary pressure of 

 visitors it was hardly possible to make a critical examination of 

 these bunches; they appeared, however, to be perfectly honest 

 specimens of cultural skill, aud if we judge them, as we must 

 do, by the characters of the men who produce them, we must 

 accept them as bona fide productions unparalleled in the history 

 of Giape culture. In such a contest it was honourable to lose, 

 but to win a triumph indeed. 



The next great contest was for eight varieties of Grapes, won 

 by Mr. Hunter. These were huge massive bunches of Gros 

 Guillaume, Calabrian Raisin, Buckhardt's Prince, Muscat of 

 Alexandria, Alicante, Royal Vineyard, Gros Colman, and Treb- 

 biano. These bunches would range from 5 to 8 lbs. Mr. John- 

 son's (second prize) were smaller bunches, but the berries were, 

 perhaps, finer, and the finish superior to the preceding. In this 

 collection was a handsome example of Dnke of Bucclench and 

 ft grand bunch of Muscat of Alexandria, which worthily won a 

 Veitch Memorial medal. Mr. Reid's (third) contribution was 

 also of very high quality, the berries of Golden Champion being 



