Ol'1'obeb 20, 



THE GARDENERS' CHRONICLE. 



449 



who spoke as follows : — It is my duty, aud I think it 

 is a most agreeable duty, having the honour of hold- 

 ing the office of President of the Royal Horticul- 

 tural Society, to make a few — and I promise they 

 shall be very few — introductory remarks in opening 

 the exhibition of this very extensive collection of 

 fruit. I should desire in the first place to disclaim in 

 the strongest possible way any pretension whatever 

 to be entitled to express any opinion on the 

 subject of fruit-cultivation myself. At the same 

 time a very large amount of interest is being at the 

 present moment brought to bear upon the question 

 of fruit-cultivation, 1 believe in some measure due 

 to the observations that have been made by gentle- 

 meu occupying positions in the political world, very 

 often somewhat at a loss for a subject. I think 1 

 may venture to remind you that an address of some 

 considerable length was delivered lately at Hawarden 

 by Mr, Gladstone, but I am not quite sure that those 

 persons who read the accounts of the ladies who 

 kept thirty or forty chickens and made £5 pet 

 annum out of them, or of the persons who made 

 £40 from 1 acre of Strawberries, will not be disap- 

 pointed if they expect to repeat so remarkable a 

 success. It is a matter of importance in dealing with 

 this subject that we shall not pitch our anticipations 

 too high, and it should not be supposed that in 

 extending, as reasonably as may be extended, the 

 cultivation of hardy fruit that any real panacea for 

 the troubles which have been afflicting the agricul- 

 tural classes of this country will be found. The 

 utmost that can be done will be done to give the 

 agricultural classes some help where intelligence and 

 skill are brought to bear. As long as we continue 

 to import such large quantities of fruits and vege- 

 tables as we do — between six and seven millions in 

 value annually — that fact will be pointed to as indi- 

 cating a direction in which more may be done in this 

 country ; but it must not be forgotten that the total 

 includes some fruits that cannot be cultivated in 

 this country, and it is a further matter for con- 

 sideration that it is by no means clear at 

 the present moment that where hardy fruits, such 

 as Pears and Apples can be successfully cul- 

 tivated, that can be done to bring in anything 

 like a satisfactory profit. Since I have been 

 in the gardens of the Koyal Horticultural Society 

 I have asked two authorities what they thought on 

 that subject. Une gentleman, who is a most success- 

 ful cultivator of fruit, told me that with all the care 

 and intelligence which could be brought to bear in 

 the cultivation of Apples and Tears, the profit to be 

 made would not perhaps be more than 6V. a sieve. 

 If it be so it is not a very good profit. The other 

 gentleman said he was quite certain that for all the 

 bardy fruit that could be grown in this country a 

 good market could be found. I trust the latter is 

 the correct view. The present Conference has a 

 different object to those of 1883 and 188.3. On the 

 previous occasions an attempt was made to collect 

 every prescription of known Apple, with the view, to 

 a certain extent, of eliminating those varieties that 

 were of little value for purposes of cultivation. And 

 that was also the case with Pears. The present 

 Conference proposes to invite the exhibition of such 

 varieties only as find favour, or may be considered 

 thoroughly worthy of cultivation, and one object of 

 this Conference is to illustrate by facts and examples 

 the present state and future prospects of commercial 

 fruit culture in this country. I venture to think 

 that our object is a thoroughly practical one, and 

 when you pass through this conservatory and the 

 tents which are adjuncts to it you will see that, having 

 regard to the exseedingly unfortunate season which 

 we have passed, the exhibition made by the leading 

 fruit growers of the country is one which is emi- 

 nently satisfactory. It appears to me that what the 

 Conference can most wisely do, and that which the 

 papers to be read promise to do, is to draw attention 

 to the varieties wliich can best be cultivated, both 

 of Apples and Pears, throughout the country, having 

 regard to the various conditions of climate and soil. 

 Having read the programme for the week, which we 

 have already published, and remarked that the 

 Chairmen for the three last days of the Conference 

 were all excellent men, who would bring additional 

 light to bear on the subjects of discussion, the 

 Chairman went on to say: — One matter of import- 

 ance has been dealt with by the House of Commons, 

 and that is the question of railway charges for 

 carriage. As Mr. Gladstone justly pointed out in 

 justification of the preferential rates that they have 

 been charging, it was owing to the fact that in 

 dealing with the foreign producer they dealt with a 

 trainful of baskets or hampers, whereas when they 

 came to deal with the local producer they had to 



collect the fruit, which puts them to considerable 

 expense. At the same time I think the Legisla- 

 ture has acted perfectly right in deciding that these 

 preferential rates shall be considered and revised by 

 the Board of Trade, for, as we all of us 

 are sometimes painfully aware, the railway 

 companies have had given to them a mono- 

 poly of the means of transport of this country. 

 I have observed in the newspapers that as a result 

 of one of the conferences that have lately taken 

 place, 6ome attacks on the gentlemen who devote 

 themselves to the calling of nurserymen. We are 

 told that nurserymen keep large quantities of worth- 

 less varieties of Apples and Pears. I have no doubt 

 that that is the case, but what I should think would 

 be ground for blaming them would be if they repre- 

 sented those worthless varieties as good varieties. I 

 have not the least doubt that there is no gentleman 

 connected with the trade who, if I were to get him t" 

 recommend me the very best variety for my soil, 

 but who would honestly and judiciously recommend 

 the best varieties. There are persons who desire to 

 make experiments for themselves, and they will not 

 be satisfied that such and such varieties are 

 worthless unless they have tried them them- 

 selves. I cultivate a good many Orchids, 

 some of wliich are considered by my friends 

 to be worthless varieties. At the same time I always 

 cultivate them, and when I go to other gentlemen to 

 purchase them I should not like to be told that they 

 were worthless. It is really a matter of trade, and I 

 think the attacks which have been made are un- 

 generous and uncalled for. I am quite certain that 

 with regard to the cultivation of hardy fruit exactly 

 the same conditions are necessary for success as with 

 every other description of gardening, that is to say, 

 you must display skill, care, and intelligence, and I 

 think you will find that has a good deal more to do 

 with the result than climate. I remember at 

 the Conferences which took place in 1883 and 

 1885 a good many of the best exhibits came 

 from the Xorth of Scotland, where the climate is 

 represented to us who live in the South as some- 

 what severe. However that may be we have got 

 to make the best we can of our climate and taking 

 one year with another I think on the whole 

 it is a very good climate, and if we do not 

 succeed we shall be wiser if we place the fault 

 on our own shoulders than on the shoulders 

 of the climate. I do not think I can add anything 

 else, except to say that the Koyal Horticultural 

 Society is extremely indebted to the very large 

 number of persons who have contributed to this 

 show. It is a most satisfactory ami numerous one, 

 and one wliich is most creditable to the exhibitors. 

 The Society have been most anxious to do all it 

 could to promote the undertaking, aud they hope to 

 do something to lead the public in wisely making 

 use of the feeling which exists at present in favour 

 of the cultivation of hardy fruits. I trust the 

 Conference will bear good fruit both practically and 

 figuratively. 



Mr. Shiklet Hibbekd moved a hearty vote of 

 thanks to the Council for inaugurating the exhibition. 

 It had been attended with considerable difficulty, but 

 up to the present everything seemed to have passed off 

 smoothly, and he congratulated them on the success 

 attained. While they had been organising the exhibi- 

 tion other persons had been busy in the same kind of 

 work, and those persons appeared to him sometimes 

 to be freer in their mode of operation. This Society 

 appeared to be more fettered, — it might be to their 

 advantage, — but he had no confidence in any of the 

 associations which had been started lately, and he 

 thought the Koyal Horticultural Society rendered 

 them unnecessary. Political, economical, and com- 

 mercial questions were involved in the ques- 

 tion of fruit culture but this Society was 

 content for the present to determine the 

 merits of varieties. This Society should be the last 

 to convert itself into a political agency. They did 

 not want that; but he thought their Fruit Com- 

 mittee should have their powers extended to deal 

 with such things as market tolls, the conveyance by 

 railway, and other difficulties which stood in the way 

 of the seller. 



Mr. Cheal seconded the motion, 'and expressed 

 his gratification that the Council had stepped for- 

 ward at this moment to place before the country in 

 a practical form what ought to be done, and the best 

 way of doing it. 



The Chairman, on behalf of the Council, returned 

 thanks for the vote, and added that the Council were 

 most anxious to give all assistance to growers in all 

 branches of horticulture. As to whether the questions 

 referred to were within the province of the Society 



it was a matter about which opinions might differ. 

 He was one of those persons who believed that the 

 more the cobbler kept to his last the better he was 

 likely to do his work. The questions were important 

 to the subject of fruit growing but they wanted to 

 give every assistance to persons who devoted them- 

 selves to the cultivation of hardy fruit — that was 

 clearly within their province. One great advantage 

 of the Conference was that it showed that the collec- 

 tions were more accurately named than was the case 

 in either 1883 or 1885, which proved that the people 

 understood their business a good deal better now 

 than then. 



THE EXHIBITION. 



( Ictobeb 10, 17, 18, 19 and 20. —This meeting is 

 now an accomplished fact, the fruits were numerous 

 beyond all expectation, and ofa quality and size which 

 the ungenial season of 1888 scarcely gave promise of. 

 In forming an estimate of tnese two points, the mind 

 naturally reverts to the Conferences of 1883 and 1885, 

 which were held in years when the weather during the 

 period of growth and ripening had been almost all 

 that could be desired by the cultivator ; and this 

 method of comparison allows us to perceive that the 

 fruit of this year lacks colour — always a desideiatum 

 — and the size is not quite up to that commonly 

 observed in the years named. 



Some abnormally fine specimens of both culinary 

 and dessert Apples and Pears were to be observed in 

 collections from Home, Southern, and Western 

 Counties, whilst in Northern, and in some Midland, 

 fruits of large size, seldom very observable in fruit 

 from these parts of England, was rendered still more 

 marked, owing to the cold character of the past 

 summer. 



Although in point of numbers and general 

 excellence, the trade collections head the list, 

 it is not to these we ought to look for fine 

 specimens ; for out of the numerous young trees 

 in nursery quarters, it is always possible to 

 select fine specimens for the show-table. But 

 when the private grower, with his comparatively 

 few trees can put up, say twenty-four dishes of Pears, 

 and the same number of Apples of good quality 

 we may be pretty sure that the varieties shown are 

 such as are suited to the soil and climate of the par- 

 ticular locality — good cultivation being equal in all 

 cases. The method of training the tree does much 

 to influence size and colour ; hence we found that 

 the best specimens were the produce of cordons, 

 espaliers, and pyramids — these modes of training 

 admitting the maximum of sunlight to reach the 

 fruits; the thinning of the latter can be likewise 

 easily carried out. And, as a rule, the converse holds 

 good, the produce of aged and large-headed standards 

 being mostly under-sized, and of good colour only 

 when found at the extremities of the branches. 



Some of the finest fruits observed at the show 

 were, we understood, to be from miniature trees 

 grown in pots and assisted with surface dressings of 

 artificial and other manures. 



In our lists of varieties from various parts of the 

 country many of those now popular will be found 

 amongst them, and these of large size and general 

 excellence, but whether these varieties crop equally 

 well in all parts the exhibitors themselves afforded 

 no information. Local varieties were not many, and 

 were chiefly noticeable in those exhibits from 

 Western Counties. The Home Counties, which have 

 never made a speciality of fruit growing -at least, 

 of Apples — seem to have but few local varieties of 

 Apples, and none of Pears, and these few of the 

 former are getting rapidly supplanted by improved 

 varieties. ISeyond the Trent, local varieties find 

 place in most gardens, some inherent good property, 

 it may be, of prolific cropping, late flowering ; the 

 readiness with which the wood ripens in the cool 

 summer of the North, or the smaller size of the 

 fruits, which prevents them being blown down by 

 boisterous winds, causing them to be generally 

 planted. 



Home Counties. — Fifty varieties most worthy of 

 cultivation. — In this class Mr. C. Turner, Koyal 

 Nurseries, Slough, exhibited Blenheim Orange, Lord 

 Derby, Annie Elizabeth, Hollandbury Pippin, Nel- 

 son's" Glory, Lord Sheffield, Broadeye Pippin, 

 Golden Noble, Mere de Menage, Norfolk Beaufin, 

 Keswick and Manks' Codlins, Kibston, Peasgood's 

 Nonsuch, Golden Spire, Lane's Prince Albert, Eck- 

 linville, Cellini, Grenadier, Baumann's Reinette, 

 Scarlet Nonpareil, Cox's Orange very poor, 

 Wellington, Stirling Castle, Frogmore Prolific, 

 Emperor Alexander, &c. The tickets were marked 

 to indicate on which kind of stock— Crab or Paradise 



