242 



THE GA S DENES S' CHS ONI CLE. 



[September 1, 1888. 



Advertisers are specially requested to note, that, 

 under no circumstances whatever, can any 

 particular position in the paper be guaran- 

 teed for advertisements occupying less space 

 than an entire column. 



NOTICE to SUBSCRIBERS and OTHERS. 

 Post-office Orders and Postal Orders should 

 be made payable at the Post Office, 

 No. 42, DRURY LANE. 



APPOINTMENTS FOR THE ENSUING WEEK. 



/"Horticultural Exhibition at Rugby 

 Q .) in connection with the Warwick- 



&Epr. 4< shire Agr ; cultura i society (two 



t days). 



/"Royal Caledonian at Edinburgh 



WEDNESDAY, 



-J (two days). 



( the Crystal Palace (two days). 



SALES. 



i Dutch Bulbs, at Stevens' Rooms. 

 Dutch Bulbs, at Protheroe & 

 Morris' Rooms. 



1 Imported Orchids, at Protheroe 

 TUESDAY, Sept. 4-> & Morris' Rooms. 



( Dutch Bulbs, at Smail's Rooms. 



WEDNESDAY, Sept. 5— Dutch Bulbs, at Stevens' Rooms. 



( Dutch Bulbs, at Protheroe & Morris' 

 THURSDAY, Sept. 6-> Rooms. 



( Uutch Bulbs, at Smail's Rooms. 



/ Imported Orchids, at Protheroe 8c 

 1 Morris' Rooms. 

 FRIDAY, Sept. 7/ Leasehold OiRoyal Nurseries, Ascot, 



j at The Mart, London, by Messrs. 

 (. Protheroe & Morris. 



/"Dutch Bulbs, at Stevens' Rooms. 

 oimrmniv c-*.r,m q J Dutcli Bulbs, at Protheroe & Morris' 

 SATURDAY, bEPl. S< EoomSi 



(.Dutch Bulbs, at Smail's Rooms. 



Some quarter of a century ago 

 the bedding-out fever was at its 

 height. Brightness of colour and violent con- 

 trasts were everywhere seen. It seemed as if 

 there could not be too much of it to please the 

 public. Long ribbon borders trailed their 

 glaring lengths from lodge-gate to entrance- 

 door. Everywhere there was fiery glare with- 

 out shade, without half-tints — everything seemed 

 to the fore — and what there was in the middle 

 distance or background could not be even 

 guessed. Space and repose, such essential features 

 in good gardening, were almost entirely ignored. 

 Of course the florists met the popular demand. 

 " Scarlet " and yellows were produced in endless 

 profusion. As for the gardener, his pits, his 

 frames, his shelves, his houses were crowded to 

 excess with bedding stuff, and much of his time 

 and resources were taken up by providing for a 

 short display. The beauty, the interest of a 

 garden, were sacrificed to the mania for colour. 

 But at length the rage culminated ; even those 

 who advocated bedding-out began to see that the 

 thing was overdone. 



Spring gardening as practised by Mr. Ingram 

 at Belvoir, by the late Mr. Fleming at Cliveden, 

 and by others elsewhere, led the public to see 

 that much more chaste effects could be produced 

 by subdued hues, cleverly harmonised, than by 

 any pretentious display of ardent colour. Then, 

 again, those who loved their garden for the sake 

 of the plants that were in it, began, and not 

 without grave cause, to complain that this " glare 

 of the garden" had banished all interest from 

 gardening. There may be some persons who 

 prefer the senseless stare of a hairdresser's 

 dummy, or the meaningless grin of a waxwork 

 figure, to the charm of a countenance which tells 

 of difficulties successfully surmounted, of troubles 



perchance endured, but radiant withal of intel- 

 ligence and appreciation. Just as a man's 

 temperament and history may often be read in 

 his face, so may the history of a plant be 

 divined by the appreciative observer ; and the 

 interest this adds to the pursuit of gardening is 

 incalculable. But much or most of this was 

 crushed out by the terrible chromato-mania of 

 the time we are speaking of. Spring gardening 

 did something, as we have said, to reduce 

 the infatuation ; the renewed introduction of 

 herbaceous plants in decorativa gardening did 

 more ; and for this we have especially to thank 

 Mr. Robinson. At any rate, save over public- 

 house doors and windows, we rarely see the 

 chromatic horrors that were once so prevalent. 

 The fear now-a-days is, that the pendulum may 

 swing too far in the other direction, and that sad 

 and muddy colours, and washed-out tints, which 

 the complaisant florists are already providing to 

 meet, as they say, the requirements of the ladies, 

 may occupy places where a reasonable amount of 

 bright colour would be appropriate and desirable. 



On terrace gardens, and in formal gardens, in 

 juxtaposition with architecture, the introduction 

 of herbaceous plants is generally quite out of 

 place. Their varying habits, their unequal 

 heights, the short duration of their flowers give 

 them in such situations a weedy, uncared- 

 for look, and a style of ornamentation that 

 should be symmetrical and graceful becomes 

 thus represented by a meaningless muddle. 

 The truth seems to be, that in particular 

 situations herbaceous plants can never take 

 the place of bedding plants, used with judg- 

 ment, and the converse is also equally true. 

 Carpet-bedding with Alternantheras, Gibraltar 

 Mint, Sedums, and such-like, still enjoys much 

 popular favour, and when well carried out 

 and judiciously situate, it cannot be denied the 

 merit of prettiness. Moreover, it appeals to the 

 popular taste, which sees in it difficulties over- 

 come, and is always ready to applaud ingenuity, 

 however perversely applied. Gardeners worthy 

 of the name, however, are not likely to feel much 

 interest in this sort of work, which could be as 

 well done with bits of coloured glass or stone as 

 with leaves. The dotting system is better, and 

 some good illustrations may be seen at Kew. 

 Out of many, one may be mentioned as very 

 effective. The groundwork is the Biccarton 

 Fuchsia, now in full bloom, dotted among which 

 uprise spikes of Hyacinthus candicans. Were 

 the bed less formal in outline, its appearance 

 would be improved. 



The mention of Kew leads us to note 

 with pleasure the recent formation of shrub- 

 bery beds filled with select varieties of Ber- 

 beris, Euonymus, Ceanothus, Hydrangea, and 

 other ornamental shrubs, evergreen, varie- 

 gated, or flowering. This notion of picking out 

 the best and most suitable varieties and showing 

 them in the mass, is an excellent one, and the 

 gardener who has— as so many have in these 

 days — to produce an effect at the lowest cost and 

 at the least expenditure for maintenance, may 

 learn many useful lessons from the Boyal 

 Gardens. In addition to the mixed beds are 

 isolated masses of Japan Anemones, Helianthus, 

 Delphiniums, Carnations, and other perennials, 

 the only objection to which is the formal out- 

 line of the beds, though when in immediate 

 proximity to the straight lines of the building 

 this may be a necessity. 



Of the large rock-garden at Kew we need 

 hardly speak in this connection. It has been a 

 great success, and is a delight at all seasons. 

 The principle might be extended, and much of the 

 monotony of modern flower gardening avoided by 



the construction of small rock borders near the 

 edges of the lawns, or anywhere where they 

 would not interfere with the view of that most 

 delightful feature of English gardens. Low 

 rockwork of this character, filled with appro- 

 priately selected plants, seem to offer a judicious 

 compromise between the utter barbarism of 

 bedding-out as it used to be and the unsuitability 

 for the particular purpose and locality of her- 

 baceous plants generally. 



Combined with a rock garden there might be 

 a portion of the garden around the mansion set 

 apart for beds of foliage plants of a hardy as well 

 as tender character, interspersed with beds of 

 flowering plants among which the now too ob- 

 trusive Pelargonium and Calceolaria might find 

 place, as patches of desirable enlivening colour. 

 Amongst the foliage plants suitable for the pur- 

 pose may be mentioned the Aralias Sieboldi, 

 spinosa, and papyrifera, Japan Maples, Dracaena 

 australis, D. brasiliensis, Costus imperialis. the 

 Chusan Palm, stately Yuccas, Tritomas which 

 combine beauty of flower with sightly foliage. 



With the experience of the present year before 

 us, the too free use of tender exotics of either 

 section should be avoided, and preference given 

 to things of known hardihood. The late flower- 

 ing Teas and Noisette Roses might be made 

 much more use of, as well as the monthly Rose, 

 and that fine dark Rose, Cramoisie superieure. 



The Local Government Bill. — This very 

 complicated and unwieldy measure stood in need of 

 what Mr. Chambers has now supplied, viz., a classi- 

 fied abstract. Many of our readers, members of the 

 Court of Quarter Sessions andothers will be interested 

 in ascertaining precisely what is to happen to them, 

 what is to be the mode of election of the new County 

 Councillors, and what their duties. All this is told 

 in A Popular Summary of the Law relating to Local 

 Government, by Mr. G. F. Chambers, and published 

 by Stevens & Sons, 119. Chancery Lane, E.C. Most 

 country gentlemen will be glad of this book for 

 reference. 



Conference of Fruit Growers at the 



CRYSTAL PALACE.— A meeting of the Executive 

 Committee of the above Conference was held in 

 Anderton's Hotel, Fleet Street, on Tuesday last, 

 August 28, T. Francis Rivers, Esq., in the chair. 

 The principal business was the consideration of a 

 number of communications received by the Hon. 

 Secretaries, Messrs. Lewis Castle and Wm. Earlet, 

 offering papers and suggestions, and the determina- 

 tion of the programme for the Conference. The 

 committee now comprises about seventy of the lead- 

 ing fruit growers, nurserymen, and amateurs through- 

 out the kingdom, all of whom had expressed their 

 hearty approval of the scheme, and their desire to 

 assist in rendering the meeting both useful and in- 

 teresting. After considerable discussion it was 

 decided that the subjects should be taken in the fol- 

 lowing order, each paper to occupy about twenty 

 minutes in reading to allow ample time for discus- 

 sion. The Conference will be held in the Crystal 

 Palace (the place will be notified on the morning of 

 each day) on September 7 at 3 p.m., and September 8 

 at 2 p.m. On September 7 the first subject will be 

 " Fruit Culture for Profit," by Francis T. Rivers, 

 Esq., to be followed by Mr. Coleman, Eastnor Castle 

 Gardens, and others. The second subject will be 

 " The Packing, Carriage, and Marketing of Fruits," 

 by Mr. AVebber, of Covent Garden ; and Mr. Samuel 

 Rawson, of Birmingham. On September 8 Mr. 

 Tallerman will deal with " Fruit Distribution," Mr. 

 Manning with " Fruit as Food," and Mr. Albert 

 Bath with " Land Tenure in Relation to Fruit Cul- 

 tivation." All who intend taking part in the discus- 

 sion will facilitate the arrangements if they send in 

 their names to the Hon. Sees., Mr. Lewis Castle, 

 Hotham House, Merton ; Mr. AYm. Earley, Ilford ; 

 or to the Chairman on the day of the meeting. 



