.] 



THE GARDENERS' CHRONICLE. 



461 



i* 





§ 







% 



~i mT~his extensive judicial experience? If not, from 

 hat motive has this particular case been selected from 

 ail others as the groundwork of his animadversions ? It 

 elv cannot be possible that a judge who professes so 

 much liberality, would thus wantonly accuse his fellows 

 of "exceeding their duty, overstrained discretion," &c, 

 ■t the instigation of any disappointed exhibitor. For the 

 ke of his°consistency, I hope that this very just judge 

 was not one of the fruit censors, because they acted on 

 precisely the same principle that governed me and my 

 colleagues ; they withheld the principal prize from the 

 Grapes exhibited by market-gardeners, because in their 

 opinion the Grapes did not deserve the principal prize ; 

 they likewise gave a Silver Banksian Medal only to the 

 second best Grapes in the same class, thus lowering the 

 best production one degree, and the second best produc- 

 tion three degrees in the scale of prizes. Of course your 

 very censorious correspondent could not have been 

 aware of this, or he would not have blamed us exclu- 

 sively for merely doing the same. The matter has been 

 brought so prominently forward, that I feel bound, in 

 justice to myself and colleagues, to state the grounds 

 upon which our decision was formed. There were two 

 collections of six Heaths exhibited, one belonging to a 

 nurseryman and the other to a private gentleman ; con- 

 sequently, as they stood in different classes, and did not 

 compete one against the other, each would have been 

 entitled to a Silver Gilt Medal had the plants been good 

 enough to deserve it. The judges, however, considered 

 that they were not, because, although there were some 

 Tery good plants in both collections, they were not all 

 good ; and it was our opinion, and still is mine, that 

 there ought to be six good Heaths shown to deserve a 

 reward of 4/. In the nurseryman's collection all the 



Slants were in good health, but two, if not three of 

 lem were much too young and small to justify their 

 admission into a collection of six. The best grown 

 plant, because the most difficult to grow well, in the 

 other collection, was splendens ; the other five (if I re- 

 member correctly, but certainly four) were critically 

 compared with plants of the same kinds which formed 

 pirt of a collection of twenty in the same tent, and in 

 every instance to the disadvantage of those belonging to 

 the smaller collection ; we considered, in fact, that three 

 separate collections of six plants might have been 

 selected from the aforesaid collections of twenty, good 

 enough to beat the two small collections now in question. 

 Our decision, therefore, was not governed by "ideal 

 notions of perfection," but by critical examination and 

 careful comparison ; and however loudly interested or 

 inconsiderate persons may clamour against it, I feel con- 

 fident that no conscientious man, who is in the habit of 

 seeing good Heaths, would have decided differently. 

 The office of censor at horticultural Exhibitions is by no 

 means an enviable one, for, however anxious a man may 

 be to do right, there are always some who, from interest, 

 ignorance, or pique, are ready to repudiate his judgment, 

 or impugn his equity. In the present case there must 

 nave been a stronger motive than ordinary to induce a 

 person, who acknowledges that he has himself been per- 

 secuted by similar complaints, to come forward volun- 

 tarily and make a charge which I have shown to be 

 wnol/j unfounded. Before leaving this subject, I wish 

 ro add my testimony to one part of the statement you 

 made m reply to » One of the Judges." I have myself 

 oeen a judge at the Society's Exhibitions for several 

 years, and in no one instance have 1 ever known an offi- 



im? if j CIety attem P t fc o ^ w er the prizes which the 

 ..A!? award ed ; the whole responsibility of the 



awards consequently rests upon that body, and I, as one 



vni, .. \l m r / ady at ail times t0 take my share of it; 

 !"! e f he ;. ef °re at liberty to append my name to this 



o/HeaZ lf y ° U thiDk P r °P er — ° ne of the Judges 



aJZi? iS Q Flamed Tul *P ?— I am induced to ask this 

 Tnlin m lr \ conse q u ence of what occurred at the York 

 varieties Z ' U the York Tuli P schedule flamed 



them 'as Z™* mentloned » and sums of money attached to 



▼ery naturaii e v S L a r nd a™** jud « e U P on that oc ™*'™> l 

 which th* retuse <* to judge as flamed flowers those 



<juence of t v°™ mittee had selected as such, in conse- 



An umpire *t* JS? A h " in * had a beam U P the centre ' 



decision wa- "? t0 decide the dis P ute ' and the 



because th 3 fl ^ lVen a S a * nst me for this reason, viz. — 



them T wers nad the mother or breeder colour in 

 <TOote th. * an8W€r t0 * hat « « Earned Tulip ? I will 



Journal" I ^T? of Mr - Groom ' g iven in the " Florist ' s 



top after A J* 184 °* Iq P a £ e - 57 ' line 15th from the 

 — ** Next tl l > S afeat hered Tulip, he proceeds thus : 



W besW *i! 8 C ° meS the flamed floveer » which 8hould 



«* the netRl k feather ' a "ch beam up the rib of each 



toeetingthe f a i n ° hing ° ff ° n either side > and the P oint8 

 ficiency f +l r ' at tbe 8ame tlme preserving a suf- 

 tiisplay it to tk ground - c olour between the flaming, to 

 Of a flamed Tr 8r f eatestad ™ntage." In this description 

 a flamed Tuli P P erfectl y agree : for what constitutes 

 beam is this •L^ru ept ^ e Deam - — and tne cause of the 

 leaves a portio t ^ u ^ p in breaking from the breeder 

 'ans up thp n ° ^ e m °tber or breeder colour which 



the real colon?* \° f the P etal > and tben strikes off wi,h 

 Mystery wn jl ° the fathering ; but why this is so is a 



* nd "e can 7* cannot unravel. It is so, however, 

 br «ak would J , 8urmise - To say it is an imperfect 

 are *hat are t J * 3 the ma J orit y of the finest Tulips 

 the y are di«n»F£ , med one8 ; and if on lhat account 

 wha t are tl r ' i /^ there wiU onl y "main a few of 

 Ros » >-a Z a fir8 !" rate varieties. What is Salvator 

 th « finest ?«u td -™ 1 **- Would you disqualify one of 



0r toe mother I T cult,vation on account of the beam, 



w colour, whichever you may be pleased to 



term it ? What are Pandora, Thalia, Heine de Sheba 

 altas Mentor .Ponceau tres blanc alia, Madame Cata- 

 hna, Aglaia, B'jou des Amateurs, Bacchus, Cerise a belle 



S^^SL M «^ !?*>■ Holme.'. King, Poly- 



Editor 

 is pro- 



; u- cltT~Z ZT~ r T , wtMC » luc ™ >nTo six parts, and 

 in his 6th section of the properties, he comes to the 

 marking, and he thus writes :_* The marking of the 

 petals regular and uniform, whether it be a broad or 

 narrow feather round the edges of the petals which are 

 exposed, or a flame up the centre, and branching off, and 

 though very rarely uniform in this respect, the nearer 

 approach the better. So much in regard to the proper- 

 ties for showing." But the writer must have forgot this 

 published opinion, when so lately as the 29th of June he 

 says--" No flower can be good for show if it has the 

 breeder colour in it ;" and on the 6th July he says—" A 

 Tulip should not have any of the breeder colour in it " 

 I can only account for this on the following grounds 

 namely :— The question has not been fairly stated to 

 him. If it was a feathered variety, and had breeder 

 colour in it, I agree with him that it ought to disqualify 

 a pan, providing the other pan or pans have not the same 

 glaring fault. There has never been but one instance, 

 I believe, of the beam and feathering being of the same 

 colour ; but I must admit that the nearer the approach 

 to the colour of the feathering so much the better. A 

 Tulip in the north, if the beam is very pale, is not con- 

 sidered of so much value as one very dark. Aglaia, 

 although a pretty variety, is very defective in the beam. 

 In some instances it is uncommonly pale, and at other 

 times the colour is tolerable. The same may be said of 

 many others. If the taste of the York florists is correct, 

 then it will be a mere mockery to offer prizes for flamed 

 Tulips, if those only which are what are termed, and cor- 

 rectly so, neither feathered nor flamed, are to be classed 

 as such. I have a work before me upwards of J 00 years 

 old, written by the celebrated Dutch florist Nicholas Van 

 Kampen, and the properties he lays down are in accord- 

 ance with what has been previously expressed. The 

 authorities quoted, however, are sufficient to satisfy any 

 Tulip-grower, they being, as they are, the opinions of the 

 best florists in the country ; and I trust that the proper- 

 ties already alluded to will for the future form the 

 standard of a flamed Tulip, being persuaded that they 

 are strictly in accordance with the opinions of all Eng- 

 land, excepting within a circuit of about 30 or 40 miles 

 round York. I must, in justice to Leeds, Wakefield, 

 Halifax, and their neighbourhood, say that their opinion 

 is. in accordance with the general one, and all flamed 

 flowers are judged according to Mr. Groom's standard. 

 — John Slater, Cheetham Hill, near Manchester. 



Raspberries.— In the " Theory of Horticulture/* the 

 practice of training trees upon a horizontal plane is con- 

 demned, and reasons for objecting to the plan are 

 given. It is there stated that " such a mode of training 

 exposes a tree as much as possible to the effect of radia- 

 tion. " A proof of this has occurred with me this season. 

 A part of my Raspberry plants is tied to upright stakes, 

 another portion is arched. We had a severe frost here 

 on the morning of the 20th of May, which did consider- 

 able injury, and Raspberries came in for a share of 

 the suffering. Those plants, however, that are trained 

 in an upright manner, appear to have suffered less than 

 those that are arched. They are growing in the same 

 soil and situation; on some of the arched plants scarcely 

 any fruit have set, and I can give no other reason for the 

 failure than that they have had a greater surface exposed 

 to the frost than the others. — Peter Mackenzie. 



Plantations. — Much has been said and written on this 

 subject; and whilst the advocates of the several methods 

 recommended for the improvements of our plantations 

 have occasionally differed, so far as to afford room for 

 controversy, it may nevertheless be said, that such dif- 

 ference was not so much in principle, as in degree ; con- 

 sequently the discussions which from time to time have 

 arisen, do not so much refer to the merits or demerits 

 of any particular system, as to the extent to which an 

 acknowledged system ought to be carried. Of the advan- 

 tages resulting from the operations of pruning and 

 thinning, no one in the smallest degree acquainted 

 with the management of young plantations entertains a 

 doubt ; but as to the time and manner in which their 

 operations ought to be performed, and the extent to 

 which they ought to be prosecuted, there are still 

 many waverers ; and if those who, through the medium of 

 the Press, have favoured us with their views and notions 

 on these important points, differed in degree, so also 

 have their followers ; and it may be said that the hand 

 of the wood-forester of the present day, so far ai 

 regards pruning and thinning, is heavy or light, just in 

 proportion to the extent of his faith in the efficacy of the 

 same. The writer has been led into these remarks from 

 what occurred to him on a late visit to the woods at 

 Nerquis, in Flintshire, belonging to Dr. Thackeray, of 

 Chester, (a gentleman favourably known as a planter of 

 forest-trees.) The plantations here alluded to extend 

 to about 450 acres. They were planted by Dr. Thacke- 

 ray, in 1814, and have been pruned every year, and 

 throughout the whole year round from that period to the 

 present time, (some of the trees several times in one 

 year,) the effect of which has been, that whilst there is 

 perhaps not another plantation in the kingdom of 

 similar extent, where the proper system of early pruning 

 and thinning has been prosecuted with the same degree of 

 nicety, there is not to be met with, in any other part of 

 the country, a plantation more uniformly thriving, or 

 that bids fairer to become in time a source of wealth to 

 the proprietor, an ornament to the country, and a luxury 



to all who possess any u.te for magnificent forest-trees. 

 In these plantations there is no exemption from the 

 pruning process,— every tree in the wood having been 

 reared under the influence of the knife and chisel. The 

 Oak, the Ash, and Elm, together with the Larch, the 

 Scotch Fir, the Spruce, and other varieties of the Pine 

 tribe, are made to share the same fate* and in every 

 case the success has been complete. There are many 

 who maintain that pruning of a kind so rigorous as 

 that here instanced, is calculated to weaken and produce 

 sickness in the stem ; and there are others who, while 

 they approva of, and extensively practise pruning 

 of all descriptions of hard- wood, object to the process 

 being extended to Larch and Fir, on the ground that if 

 it would not be detrimental, it would at least be an un- 

 necessary expense. Without meeting these objections by 

 a train of arguments, which might be satisfactorily done, 

 suffice it to say, that the evidences of results prove the 

 contrary ; and were those who still adhere to the 

 objections noticed, only to visit the plantations forming 

 the subject of these remarks, there would be no resisting 

 the evidence which they furnish ; there they would not 

 merely have an opportunity of witnessing the beneficial 

 effects resulting from a complete system of training, 

 but they would also have an opportunity of witnessing 

 the injurious effects resulting from an opposite course of 

 management; for in the plantations, not only in that, 

 but in the adjoining counties — particularly in Dela- 

 mere Forest, belonging to the Crown, planted at the same 

 time, and possessing greater natural advantages—the 

 system of ■■ Let nature work," appears to have met with 

 but small interruption. In the one case we have clean 

 vigorous stems, standing at proper distances, and uni- 

 formly handsome ; whereas in the other we have only a 

 thicket of dwarfish bushes grown wild from neglect, 

 and having more the appearance of puny shrubs than 

 forest trees ; and, but for abundant evidence to the con- 

 trary, the failure in this would, no doubt, as in similar 

 cases, be attributed to an unfavourable climate, sterility 

 of soil, or some such cause; in short, to everything but 

 the real cause — neglect of culture. In highly favoured 

 situations trees will push up almost in defiance of neglect : 

 it is not so, however, in regard to all situations ; 

 and those who would successfully grow timbsr on poor 

 mountain-land, must have recourse to the arts devised 

 by human skill, otherwise it would be in vain to hope for 

 favourable results. As a further proof of the good effects 

 of early and regular pruning, there are some trees grow- 

 ing at Craiglelo, near Ruthin, in Denbighshire, planted 

 also by Dr. Thackeray, about 38 years ago, for W. Jones, 

 Esq. ; several of these contain upwards of 35 cubic feet 

 of timber, and they were regularly pruned for 14 years 

 after they were planted. The situation of the planta- 

 tions noticed above is not by any means favourable ; that 

 at Nerquis stands at least 800 feet above the level of the 

 sea, has a northern exposure, and is as poor mountain- 

 land as is almost anywhere to be met with. It was pur- 

 chased by Dr. Thackeray expressly for the purpose of 

 planting, for a mere trifle ; yet, although planted only in 

 1814, many of the Larches contain from 8 to 9 cubic 

 feet of timber, and there are Oak saplings that measure 

 from 25 to 30 feet in length, and that girt from 30 to 

 32 inches at two feet from the ground ; from these, and 

 other similar instances, we may conclude that very great 

 improvements might be effected in planting, by adopting 

 a system of treatment of the kind practised, in the cases 

 to which I have directed attention. In most parts of 

 North Britain the art of pruning, accompanied with, 

 proper thinning, is well understood and generally prac- 

 tised ; but there are other parts of the kingdom, equally 

 adapted for planting, of which so much cannot be said ; 

 indeed, in the principality generally the woods are ne- 

 glected, and there is reason to fear that the great indif- 

 ference on this subject so prevalent in that part of the 

 country is neither more nor less than the offspring of 

 ignorance. — A Scotchman 9 Wales. 



Thrips. — These are more easily destroyed in Cucum- 

 ber and Melon-frames than in a greenhouse or a conser- 

 vatory. Let a common Cucumber-frame, say a two- 

 light box, be provided with 12 or \6 common garden 

 flower-pot pans large enough to hold a quart or three 

 pints of water; fill them and place them between the plants, 

 or wherever it is convenient ; procure as many pieces of 

 fresh unsiacked lime as you have pans, and pour on each 

 piece a few drops of spirit of hartshorn ; then place the 

 lime in the pans of water, taking care to keep the part 

 on which the hartshorn was dropped a little above the 

 surface of the water ; afterwards, shut down the lights 

 close, and let them remain so for two hours. If the sun 

 shines so much the better, provided you have not too 

 strong a bottom-heat. By this means a gas is generated 

 which is destructive to animal life, and at the same time 

 beneficial to plants. In the case of Cucumber-frames, 

 the pans of water may remain until the water evaporate., 

 and the Cucumbers will even be all the better if the pans 

 are again filled up. — IV. P., Shirley Nursery. 



Potatoes.— Pulling off the blossom has, to my know- 

 ledge, been practised most beneficially for more than 20 

 years. It stands to reason that, if the plants exhaust 

 themselves in forming seed- pods, the produce of the root, 

 must be diminished. Let any sceptic select four rows of 

 Potato-plants, planted at the same time and of the sams 

 sort, and from rows 1 and 3 pluck off every blossom ai 

 it appears, and upon the plants in rows 2 and 4 permit 

 every blossom to come to maturity, and when the root, 

 are ripe let him weigh the produce of the rows 1 and ^ 

 against the produce of the rows 2 and 4, and communi- 

 cate the result honestly to the Chronicle ; and I shall be 

 surprised if he persists in permitting bis Potatoes to 

 expand their bloom.— A West Countryman; 



