THE GARDENERS' CHRONICLE. 



389 



I'D 



voice as falls to their share, they can, as I 

 %Z£L hinted, sing nothing badly. 

 ■^£d hi shop to inquire for some young red- 

 Whit chatting to the dealer I observed a very 

 loS nightingale at the end of the shelf, and 

 7S5d-^ tot might be his age ? The man at 

 Jeme his history. It appeared his master 

 iJE f\ was tired of him, and had brought him to 



sold The man candidly told me he was a 

 » in his second year, and he knew nothing 

 ^^Ur about him. His old master wanted 10 J. for 

 CflLre was something about this bird's eye, some- 

 * his bearing, that won my heart over at once. 

 t^fct him at his estimated value, intuitively feeling 1 

 mil right," and that 1 had won a prize. 

 NVrer bad I shown more judgment. This very bird, 

 of his old master, became my most intimate 



sang 



pledge held out by this country of good fellowship to all 

 mankind. (Loud ^cheers.) And however much we 

 may admire what has been done by the talent of Mr. 

 Paxton, and by the exertions of others in designing and 

 carrying out the work — if it fail in accomplishing that 



have any doubt fti to ripeness, viz., marketable or 

 eatable ripeness, I taste them with my brother judge, 

 and unless we agree that they are marketably ripe, no 

 prize is awarded. I must beg to differ in opinion with 



^._ ^ , " A. H." as to not giving prizes for fruit till July. The 



great good we anticipate from it, the promotion of good Society's object is, as in my opinion it ought to be, to 

 will and fellowship among men — better were it, I say, j reward the skill of the practical gard — * •* 



timi 



.fchungale, a thrush, a blackbird, and a sky. lark. 

 ZwJ « everything by turns, and nothing long. His 



wmm perpetual when I was at home. When absent, 



^woold sing to his mistress in a kind of interrogative 

 Xiin • throwing himself into the most grotesque atti- 

 ind listening, arrectis auribus, to every arrival at 

 &r door. To sav that this bird recognised my step, 

 gri knew my voice, is nothing— when compared to his 

 ifation for me. He not only sang out, at the top of 

 gifoicf. the moment I entered the door, however late 

 fchour'of my arrival, but I was obliged to open the 

 fcor of his cage, and let him out to sit on my finger. 

 There Alone would he rest contented, and sing in that 

 position so long as a lighted candle remained in 

 room. I then kissed him — I am not ashamed to 

 go— and my own hand conducted him to his apart- 

 1 This bird was murdered— by Quassia. I en- 

 joyed his society three years only. 



It must, however, be understood, that although these 

 handlers kd nestlings will sing anything "well," it is 

 fcfhly desirable never to hang them up with any but 

 pod birds. Those I have mentioned are quite un- 

 objectionable ; as are also the tit-lark, wood-lark, robin, 

 and canary. Keep them quite out of the way of parrots 

 and macaws ; and all such shrieking animals. If they 

 bear these, and imitate them, it will be a kindness to at 

 once shorten their days— and so add to your own at the 

 ttme time. There can be no mistake about this. 



There certainly is one advantage in keeping nestlings 

 and branchers, which those who are not enthusiasts will 

 highly prize. These birds do not, as I have already 

 shown, actually require to be fed on raw meat and egg. 

 They will live on German paste and sweet bun, if accus- 

 tomed to it when they are two months old. A meal- 

 worm every now and then, when they droop ; an earwig, 

 a wood-louse, some ants' eggs, or a spider — will keep 

 them in excellent trim. 



As for tameness, — no bird is more alive to kindness 

 than the nightingale. If only you show towards him 

 om tithe of the affection that is so frequently lavished on 

 the ugliestof our ugly half-shorn French poodles — who 

 never by any chance value it, — you will find him the 

 best of companions — the very firmest of friends. 

 William Kidd. New-road* Hammersmith.* 



that the glass and the iron remained in the ground. 

 (Cheers.) I trust no foreigner will come to our shores 

 to examine the innumerable productions collected to- 

 gether in that building from all parts of the world, but 

 will return to his own country convinced that we are 

 not the churlish barbarians we have been supposed to 

 be, but that we have hearts open to receive our fellow- 

 men with kindness and hospitality, and that we possess 

 ideas which we are ready to communicate for their 

 advantage. (Cheers.) So far as regards horticulture, 

 we all know the beneficial effect it has on the human 

 mind. In my earlier days I remember the attractions 

 which the ale-house had for a large proportion of the 

 community, but now, thanks to the improved state of 

 horticulture, and the taste which has in consequence 

 grown up for it, almost every labourer and every 

 tradesman in the country devotes his leisure to the 

 garden, in which he finds a relaxation which ennobles 

 his mind and enlightenshisunderstanding. (Hear, hear.) 

 Mr. Spencer concluded by observing that the love and 

 fellowship they were that day exhibiting to the indigent 

 and the helpless would be permanent in its results, and 

 by again thanking the company on the part of the 

 horticulturists. 



1 



GARDENERS' BENEVOLENT INSTITUTION. 



We understand that a donation of 501. has been made 

 to this Institution by the Queen and H. R. H. Prince 

 Albert, and that her Majesty has graciously condescended 

 te become Patroness of the Institution. 



The following speech, in reply to Mr. Chad wick's 

 toast, * Market Gardeners and Horticulturists," was 

 inadvertently omitted in our report of the anniversary 

 ting last week : 



Mr. Spencer returned thanks for the honour which 



A been conferred on the horticulturists. The gentle- 

 who had proposed the toast (Mr. Chad wick) had 

 dilated on the advantages which the agriculturists had 

 dffived from the exertions of the horticulturists. I 

 (said Mr. Spencer) agree with him, and I believe if the 

 agriculturists would take more from us — if they would 

 adapt themselves still more to our practice — they need 

 have no fear whether they have protective duties or not. 

 (Hear, hear.) No one can deny that the horticulturists 

 ■ave taken immense strides of late years — no one can 

 deny that the art and science of horticulture has pro- 

 posed to an extraordinary extent. (Hear, hear.) I 

 claim for it no pre-eminence ; but I say, however great 

 the advance which may have been made by other arts, 

 our art has advanced to an equal extent. (Cheers.) We 

 have an immense advantage in the name of our Chair- 

 n&p ; and his presence amongst us to-night as one of 



is sufficient, I think, to show that we have ability, 

 ^fSy* a nd perseverance enough to undertake and 

 •Aieve any object within the limits of our art, and 

 «*m beyond them. (Hear, hear.) What gardener ever 

 entered the Glass Palace in Hyde-park without feeling 

 frond of his art, when he reflected that that grand idea 

 ^anated from one of his own profession — (applause) 

 rj*? at it was a gardener that had the genius and the 

 Wdness to conceive a plan in every way so admirably 

 *»pted for its purpose, while it sets all the ordinary 

 njtes of architecture at defiance, (Cheers.) But, 

 j^tlemen, I am sure you will agree with me when I say 

 in u Elding, great as it is as a work of art, is 



I w li r aSpeet an ob J ect of far hi S her importance— 

 *joukl look for a moment at the future, not at the past 



^") that view I regard the Great Exhibition as a 



ORCHIDS FOR THE MILLION.— No. V. 



By B. S. Williams, gr. to 0. B. Warner, Esq., Floddesdon. 



Treatment of Plants in Flower, and the best 

 Mode of Protracting their Bloom. — There are 

 many Orchids that will succeed, when in flower, in a 

 much cooler house than that in which they are grown, 

 or even in a warm sitting-room. In the following 

 remarks I shall endeavour to point out the advantage of 

 keeping them during their period of flowering in a cool 

 and dry atmosphere rather than, as is frequently the 

 case, in a hot and moist house ; in the latter, the flowers 

 do not last nearly so long as they do when moved to a 

 cooler house or a warm room. Perhaps there are not 

 many cultivators who have studied this point more than 

 myself, and I never found the plants injured by this 

 treatment. Some imagine that, if they are put in a cool 

 place, they will be injured ; but this, according to my 

 experience, is an error. During the time they are in a 

 roomjthe temperature should not be below 50°. At 

 night the room should be kept quite dry, and, before 

 they are removed from the stove, they should be put at 

 the coolest end of it ; or, if there are two houses, those 

 that are in the hottest should be moved to the coolest for 

 a few days before being taken into the room, a*id they 

 should be allowed to get nearly dry, and should receive 

 but very little w ? ater— only enough to keep the roots 

 moist The flowers should not receive any moisture. 



I will name a few that I have tried in a room during 

 the months of May, June, July, and August. I have 

 kept Saccolabium guttatum in this way five weeks, 

 Aerides affine the same time ; A. odoratum or roseum 

 and some of the Dendrobiums, viz., nobile and cseru- 

 lescens, I have kept in a room four and five weeks. 

 D. moniliforme, D. macrophyllum, D. pulchellum, D. 

 Ruckeri, and D. secundum, last a much longer time in 

 bloom if they are kept cool. Brassias and Oncidiums, 

 Epidendrums, Odontoglossums, Cyrtochilums, Tricho- 

 pilia tortilis, Lycaste Skinneri, L. aromatica, L. cruenta, 

 Maxillaria tenuifolia, Aspasia lunata,and all the Cattleyas, 

 succeed well in a cool room or house, and last for a 

 much longer time in flower. I have kept Lselia majalis 

 in a cool room four and five weeks, and L. flava will 

 keep a much longer time in blossom than in the warm 

 house. When the bloom is past they should be removed 

 to the stove, where they should be placed in the coolest 

 end, and where there is plenty of shade ; they should be 

 kept there for about ten days, as, if they are exposed to 

 the sun, they are very apt to become scorched. 



Treatment of Plants previously to being taken 

 to a Flower Show. — It is my practice to move them 

 to a cool dry house or room for a few days. If the 

 plants are growing in the hottest house, I move them to 

 the cooler one ; they should not receive any water for 

 two or three days, and should be allowed just enough to 

 keep them slightly moist. When it is probable that the 

 plants will come into blossom earlier than is wished, the 

 time of flowering may be successfully retarded by taking 

 them to a cooler part of the house, or even putting 

 them in a greenhouse, keeping them slightly shaded 

 during the brightest part of the day. 



TRADE MEMORANDA. 

 James Watson, 4, Edge Terrace, Kensington Gravel 

 Pits, and Gravesend. 



would be comparatively little skill required to produce 

 good Grapes in July. As to the idea that the kinds of 

 Grapes named by the Society, having been brought to 

 the highest perfection, ought not to be shown, may 

 not the same be said of Pelargoniums, Orchids, Azaleas, 

 Heaths, and almost every other article exhibited ! As 

 respects foreign visitors, I feel quite satisfied that they 

 were as much pleased with the exhibition of Grapes as 

 with that of Strawberries and Pine-apples. The show 

 of fruit, as a whole, was, in my opinion, highly creditable 

 to* the gardeners of this country. J. Mills, Lor aim 

 Cottage, Hammersmith. "A. II. M has charged the 

 judges of fruit with profusely awarding prizes for un- 

 ripe Grapes ; and although in his second letter he 

 modifies the hasty opinion he had previously expressed, 

 still, as one of the judges, I consider it right to reply to 

 him. He says, that when he penned his first letter he 

 had not examined the programme of the exhibitions, 

 and It appears to me that he had not done so even when 

 he wrote his second, inasmuch as he therein states, 

 that there is no longer any stipulation that the fruit 

 shown shall be ripe ; whereas it is distinctly laid down 

 in the printed schedule that * all fruit must be suf- 

 ficiently ripe for market." As regards the black Grapes, 

 he considers that perhaps five medals would have been 

 sufficient, while we, in what he terms our " abuse of the 

 Society's liberality,'* awarded six ! viz., three to private 

 growers, and three to market gardeners ; and so far 

 were we from thinking we had been too liberal, that we 

 regretted the rules laid down for our guidance precluded 

 our granting anything to several other specimens of 

 black Hamburgh of excellent quality, which we would 

 gladly have rewarded had it been in our power. I deny 

 that the white Frontignans, Sweet waters, or Muscadines, 

 which gained prizes, were unripe ; they were well 

 coloured, and, to our knowledge, extremely well flavoured, 

 notwithstanding "A. H." appears to suppose that we did not 

 taste them. With respect to the Muscats (apparently our 

 most heinous offence), they certainly did not possess that 

 rich golden colour, always to be wished for, but not fre- 

 quently met with in that superb Grape ; and on that account 

 they attracted our particular attention ; but after a careful 

 examination of them, we did not think it a case that 

 would justify us in taking on ourselves the invidious 

 duty of depriving the exhibit Drs of the prizes which had 

 been publicly offered by the Society. My brother judge 

 and myself have each had more than 40 years' expe- 

 rience in the London fruit markets, and we were per- 

 fectly satisfied that the Muscats to which we awarded 

 medals were * sufficiently ripe for market," and in 

 better condition in every respect than can generally be 

 purchased. * A. H." has fallen into the not unusual 

 error of treating as an established fact, that which is 

 merely his own surmise, inasmuch as he states that the 

 judges " do not pronounce on the quality of a Melon 

 without tasting it— why then do they give prizes to sour 

 Grapes without tasting them?" Thus insinuating 

 (though I cannot imagine on what grounds) that we 

 awarded the prizes to sour Grapes without tasting 

 them ; but the fact was that we did taste the Grapes, 

 and they were not sour. " A. H ." charges us with 

 inconsistency ; but I think that charge may fairly be 

 retorted on his proposal to discontinue giving prizes in 

 May, when the production of first-rate fruit is extremely 

 difficult, and increasing the rewards for it in July, when 

 it can, of course, be procured in plenty at every fruit 

 shop : surely such a system would not be carrying out 

 the declared object of the Society, viz., the reward of 

 horticultural skill. " A. H." writes of " our exhibitions," 

 * our visitors," and " our show of fruit ; " I therefore 

 assume that he is connected with the Society, and if he 

 possesses any influence in its direction, I venture to 

 suggest to him, that if the Society would maintain its 

 pre-eminence over rival establishments, it should in- 

 crease rather than curtail its encouragement to horti- 

 culture, for at the present day it is only by the pro- 

 gressive development of liberal views that public 

 support can be secured. One of the Judges. 



Orchid Shows. — The two last shows at Chiswiek and 



Home Correspondence. 



the Chiswiek 



TV "1 »■»"•_ • 'W Ti 





Notices to 



Your correspondent 

 " A. H." charges the judges of fruit with being profuse « 

 in their award of medals for Grapes in Class 3 at the 

 May and June exhibitions, and also charges them with 

 giving them for unripe fruit ; to which charges, as one 

 of tlte judges, I must beg to plead " Not Guilty." 

 There is, as you are aware, different degrees of ripe- 

 ness at which fruit is used ; the growers of fruit for the 

 market cut their Grapes as soon as they are saleably 

 ripe, and I consider it would be wrong to disqualify such 

 Grapes at the Horticultural Gardens. The principle by 



which I am tniided ia mnrWnhlA r!npnP« R • still, if I ' ™™* v;«^« <» «1i«iM **•« *- mneh greater vane 



the Regent's Park confirm me in my opinion that it 

 would be expedient that there should be some en- 

 couragement for the exhibition of smaller specimens of 

 the rarer kinds of Orchidaceous plants, and if not for 

 all of the rarer kinds, but for the encouragement 

 of beginners in this branch of cultivation. Now I 

 am not in the least inclined to deny the value of 

 offering prizes for finely grown plants and large 

 specimens. I fully believe that but for this great en- 

 couragement offered, both in the prizes and in the 

 opportunity of our great gardeners gaining fame (for I 

 will not believe that such cultivators as Mr. Mylam and 

 Mr. Williams are solely stimulated by the value of the 

 medal) have led to the wonderful specimens of good 

 culture that every year's show produces. But as there 

 is a feeling that only large plants covered with masses 

 of flowers are fit to show, the result is, that the com- 

 petition mainly lies between the few possessors of very 

 large specimens, and the very same plants are produced 

 year after year, though they are grown larger 

 than the year before. Now I do not advocate the 

 abandoning the existing prizes ; I cannot but think, if 

 there were also nrizes Hven for smaller specimens of the 



