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THE GARDENERS' CHRONICLE. 



[October 20, 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. 



Now ready, in cloth, lis. 6d. 

 HTHE GABDENEMS' CHRONICLE, 



J- Vol. III., Third Series. JAN. to JUNE. 1888. 



W. RICHARDS, 41, Wellington Street, Strand. W.C. 



APPOINTMENTS FOR THE ENSUING WEEK. 



TUESDAY, 

 WEDNESDAY, 



WEDNESDAY, 

 THURSDAY. 



MEETINGS. 



5 — Exeter Apple 



Manchester : 

 1 1 Pears. 



Oct. ! 



WEDNESDAY, 



SALES. 



(Dutch Bulbs, at Stevens' Rooms. 

 Dutch Bulbs, at Protheroe & Morris' 



Rooms. 

 Nursery Stock, at Mr. C. Noble's, 

 Sunningdale, by Protheroe & 

 Morris (six days). 

 Nursery Stock, at the Grove. Park 

 Nursery, Lee, by Protheroe & 

 Morris. 

 Dutch Bulbs and Lilium auratum, 

 at Smail & Co.'s Rooms. 

 ' Nursery Stock and Greenhouse 

 | Plants, from sample, at Pro- 

 theroe & Morris' Rooms. 

 Golden Euonymus and Young Coni- 

 I fers, at the Wood Lane Nursery, 

 '. Isleworth, by Protheroe & Morris. 

 /Dutch Bulbs, at Stevens' Booms. 

 I Lilium auratum, African Tuberoses, 

 Oct °<1< Lilies, and other Plants, at Pro- 

 ' "' i theroe & Morris' Rooms. 



I Azaleas, Lilies, and Dutch Bulbs, at 

 ' Smail & Co.'s Rooms. 

 /•Dutch Bulbs, and Lilium auratum 

 Oct ''o <r - from ' Ta l? an ' at Stevens' Rooms, 



I Duplicate Plants from the Collec- 

 tion of F. G. Tautz, Esq.. at 

 Messrs. Protheroe &. Morris' 

 \ Rooms. 



I Azaleas, Dutch Bulbs, and Lilies, at 

 '„ Smail & Co's Rooms. 



In spite of the many and sore 

 Confess'' reverses that the Royal Horticul- 

 tural Society has had to endure, 

 there is still an amount of vitality in it which 

 if properly directed by those at the head of 

 affairs, must lead to ultimate and permanent 

 success. The magnificent display of Apples and 

 Pears that has this week been made in the 

 Society's gardens at Chiswick, brought together 

 without fee or reward, from all parts of 

 Britain, must surely have convinced the Council 

 that the Society has only to continue in the 

 course it now appears to have embarked on — 

 namely, that of carryii g out a strictly horticul- 

 tural policy — to receive the unwavering support 

 of horticulturists generally. The opening of the 

 exhibition on Tuesday was decidedly a red-letter 

 day in the annals of the Society, not only by 

 reason of the number and quality of the exhibits, 

 but also for the fact, that President and 

 Council were present in full force ; once again, 

 after many years of neglect, the head-quarters of 

 the Society was really visited by its President 

 and Council, all of whom, it is to be hoped were 

 so impressed with the enthusiasm that their in- 

 vitation to exhibit had aroused amongst fruit 

 growers generally, that future laxity of duty, so 

 far as regards visits to Chiswick, are at an end. 



With regard to the special aims of both 

 exhibits and Conference, namely, the ex- 

 tended and improved cultivation of Apples 



and Pears, as a means of profit and an auxiliary 

 to agriculture, horticulturists of all grades are 

 in entire sympathy. To avoid disappoint- 

 ment and failure it may, however, be necessary 

 to warn those not conversant with fruit culture, 

 but who, enamoured by the sight of many 

 hundreds of dishes of splendidly coloured Apples, 

 and but slightly inferior Pears, may be inclined 

 to embark in their cultivation, that this show of 

 Apples and Pears is something above the average 

 standard of excellence that they may them- 

 selves annually expect to realise. Dissent from 

 this opinion is sure to be rife, in presence of the 

 extremely unfavourable season we have passed 

 through. It will be argued, ' ; Surely, if in such 

 an exceptionally cold and sunless season so high 

 a standard has been attained, it is only reason- 

 able to expect that at least as high a 

 rate of excellence will be possible in the 

 average of seasons." This is a great fallacy ; 

 first, because every dish shown contains selected 

 fruit of the particular variety ; and secondly, 

 because not a few of the collections have many 

 dishes of fruit that have not been grown in the 

 open air at all. What renders the exhibits of this 

 section the more misleading is, that the exhibitors 

 have, in most cases, not taken the trouble to 

 state that the examples were the products from 

 glass structures. This is a serious error, and 

 one that, in all future exhibitions, should be 

 avoided, by the adding of a class, or classes, for 

 orchard-house fruit. There is one other re- 

 spect in which it is possible that some 

 intending planters may be misled, and that is, 

 in respect of the varieties of Apples and Pears 

 best adapted for certain districts. For instance, 

 the schedule asks for ' twenty-four varieties of 

 Pears best adapted for the exhibitor's district. 

 A difficult demand in any season for the largest 

 grower to comply with, and specially so in this year 

 of scarcity of this fruit in many parts of the 

 kingdom ; and to the credit of the exhibitors only 

 two or three have attempted the task. At the 

 time of writing we have not seen the jurors' 

 awards, or commendations of the most meritorious 

 exhibits or varieties; not do we know what 

 the readers of the various papers may have to 

 say on this head, but we should prefer the 

 decision of either body, rather than any 

 collection that has been got together under 

 such unfavourable weather conditions as have 

 prevailed this year. On the other hand, it ma)', 

 with truth, be asserted, that fruits that have 

 turned out well in such a season must of neces- 

 sity do so in more favourable seasons, and if 

 production — i.e., growth of fine fruit — were the 

 fi lale, we should not have a word to say against 

 this view of the matter. But we require, not 

 only well grown and handsome, but long-keeping 

 fruit, and the keeping powers can only be had 

 by plenty of sun-heat. 



Both Exhibition and Conference are un- 

 doubtedly calculated to do great good, and it is 

 with a view of making this good a permanency 

 that we have thought well to allude to one or 

 two of what we consider the weak points of this 

 matter. 



One result of the Conferences of 1883 and 

 1885 is conspicuously apparent at the Conference 

 ending to-day, namely, that of the correct 

 naming of the fruit, there being very few wrongly 

 named exhibits, either amongst Apples or Pears. 

 Add to this the fact that fruit cultivation has 

 been taken up by, and is largely on the increase 

 amongst farmers, as well as professional growers 

 for market, and that at least a part of this increased 

 activity in fruit cultivation — bad season and not- 

 withstanding — may safely be credited to the in- 

 fluence of former Conferences. These are results 



that may well stimulate the Council of the Royal 

 Horticultural Society to continue their present 

 line of policy till the numerous special societies 

 that have sprang into existence owing to pre- 

 vious apathy shall have been merged into an 

 indissoluble because a united society. 



This action of the Society is of the more im- 

 portance at this juncture, as its operations and 

 its decisions will, and deservedly, secure an 

 amount of credit with the general public which 

 other associations got up merely for private ends, 

 however legitimate, can never do. No one 

 doubts that the increased cultivation of well 

 selected fruit, carefully grown, and judiciously 

 marketed — if we may coin the word — will be of 

 material benefit to the depressed agriculturist, 

 and especially to the small cultivator ; but to 

 hold out the promise that fruit culture is to be 

 an El-Dorado — " the salvation of British agricul- 

 ture " — is to raise hopes that can never be realised 

 in this, or, indeed, in any other country. 



Dragon Trees in Madeira (see Supplementary 



Sheet).— The garden with the Dragon trees shown in 

 our illustration is in the environs of Funchal, and is 

 known as the Quinta do Til, that is, the country- 

 house of the Oreodaphne fostens, one of the native 

 Laurels, the stump of an old tree remaining in the 

 ground. The curious but uncouth Dragon tree, a 

 near ally of the Lilies, is also an indigenous plant 

 but so few wild specimens are left on the island that 

 they may almost be counted on the fingers of one 

 hand. Trees are, however, to be seen in several 

 gardens, the finest being at The Mount, 1800 feet 

 above Eunchal, but there is not one fiat approaches 

 the age of the venerable tree that grew at Orotava, 

 in Teneriffe, and was blown down in a storm in 1868. 

 A branch of this celebrated tree is preserved in the 

 Museum at Kew, and the tree itself was illustrated at 

 p. 713, June 9, 1888. The house in the illustration 

 was erected some three generations ago by one of the 

 British wine merchants, who planted it on a large 

 scale, intending to build a palatial residence. But bad 

 times came, and only a part of the design was carried 

 into effect. There is a tank in the grounds to which 

 a melancholy interest is attached, for in it the 

 statesman Canning's only son, a captain in the navy, 

 was drowned whilst bathing. Our illustration, as 

 also the one that preceded it, was taken from a 

 photograph obligingly communicated by T. II.vbcoukt 

 Powell, Esq. 



Fruit Drying Industry at Portici.— We 



have received the following notice for publication 

 from the Agricultural Department, Privy Council 

 Office, 44, Parliament Street, Westminster, S.W., 

 dated October 13: — 



"Sir, — I am directed by the Lords of the Com- 

 mittee of Council for Agriculture to inform you that 

 an intimation has been received from the Italian 

 Government that the Exhibition of Fruit Drying 

 Industry, which was to have taken place at Portici 

 during the month of September last, has been put off 

 until September, 1889. — I am, sir, your obedient 

 servant, C. L. Peel." 



The United Horticultural Benefit and 

 Provident Society. — On the 13th inst. the 



annual dinner of this Society took place in the 

 Cannon Street Hotel. There was a large attendance 

 of members and visitors, with Dr. Hogg in the chair, 

 and H. J. Vp.itch, Esq,, in the vice-chair. The 

 Chairman, in proposing prosperity to the Society, 

 pointed out that the Society is not a provident and 

 charity Society, but a trust Society, in which the 

 surplus funds are divided among the members, and 

 invested for them in stocks. The funds of the 

 Society consisted of three different accounts, viz., 

 the benefit or sick fund, out of which payments were 

 made to sick members, who in order to enjoy this 

 advantage need not of necessity be totally incapaci- 

 tated from work. Then there was the management 



