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THE GARDENERS' CHRONICLE. 



[Decembek 1, 1888. 



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 teed for advertisements occupying less space 

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 HTHE GARDENERS' CHRONICLE 

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J 'HE GARDENERS' CHRONICLE, 

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

 W. RICHAKDS. «, Wellington Street, Strand, W.C. 



APPOINTMENTS FOR THE ENSUING WEEK. 



WEDNESDAY, 

 THURSDAY 



WEDNESDAY, 



THURSDAY, 



MEETINGS. 



T\rn = f National Chrysanthemum Society : 

 »'■*■■ °\ Floral Committee. 



Dec. 6 — Linnean Society. 



SALES- 



(Dutch Bulbs, at Stevens' Rooms. 

 I Dutch Bulbs, at Protheroe & Morris ' 

 Dec. 3 < Rooms. 



| Bulbs, Lily of the Valley. &c, at 

 " Smail's Rooms. 



Dec. iV 



(Roses, Fruit Trees, Shrubs, Border 

 Plants, and Dutch Bulbs, at 

 Stevens' Rooms. 

 Lilies from Japan, Greenhouse 

 Plants. &c, at Protheroe & 

 Morris' Rooms. 

 Dutch and other Bulbs, at Smail's 

 Rooms. 

 ILilium auratum and other Bulbs, 

 at Stevens' Rooms. 

 Dutch Bulbs, at Protheroe & Morris' 

 Rooms. 

 Plants and Effects, at the Gardens, 

 Kersey Manor, Beckenham, by 

 Protheroe & Morris (two days). 

 ' Hybrid Cypripediums, from the 

 collection of R. J. Measures, Esq , 

 and other Orchids, at Protheroe 

 & Morris' Rooms. 

 j Dutch and other Bulb3, at Smail's 



Rooms. 



/Roses, Fruit Trees, Shrubs. Border 

 ) Plants, and Dutch Bulbs, at 

 Dec. 8< Stevens' Rooms. 



I Dutch Bulbs, at Protheroe & 

 \ Morris' Rooms. 



DEC 



Certificates at Among the many points which 

 the Royal Horti- require the consideration of horti- 

 cultural Society, culturists in the thorough revision 

 that is now going on is the system followed in 

 granting certificates by the Floral Committee. 

 These are now sought after for their commercial 

 value- -a matter of great importance to the 

 trader, but one in which the Society, as stich, 

 has, or ought to have, no concern. The com- 

 mercial value of a plant is something outside 

 the Society's purview ; still we must take things 

 as we find them, and endeavour to amend them 

 as best we may. Under existing circum- 

 stances it often happens that a certificate is 

 granted on the award of a very small proportion 

 of those present, the majority not voting. Fre- 

 quently also it happens that a multiplicity of 

 certificates is awarded to the same set of plants — 

 say Dahlias, or florists' flowers generally — espe- 

 cially at the beginning of a meeting where 

 one or two only would be adequate. Various 

 methods of counteracting the injurious effects 

 arising from this unsystematic and profuse 

 csrtificate granting may be suggested. One is, 

 that some means should be allowed to give the 

 committee the power of indulging in second 



thoughts, and of revising judgments made, per- 

 haps on insufficient consideration, or imperfect 

 evidence. Such power of revision might be exer- 

 cised if the awards were al trays made at one meet- 

 ing, subject to confirmation or rejection at the 

 next. Again, it may be suggested that, in many 

 cases, a sub-committee of specialists should report 

 to the general body on the merits of plants shown 

 for certificates, and that on the reception of 

 their report the whole committee should vote. 

 This plan is, we are aware, sometimes adopted 

 now, but too often it is acted on somewhat 

 capriciously although, it requires to be done 

 regularly and systematically. 



To avoid the unseemliness now often witnessed 

 of a certificate being awarded on the verdict of 

 two or three out of twenty or thirty then present, 

 it may be suggested that no certificate should be 

 granted unless it has gained an absolute majority 

 of votes — that is to say, the vote of at least half of 

 those present with one over. 



The names of those present at the meetings 

 should continue to be publicly reported, but in 

 addition the names of the voters for or against a 

 particular proposal should be recorded. 



Again, the commercial test — if it be sanc- 

 tioned at all — should at least only be 

 applied in those cases in which it is fairly 

 appropriate. The distinction may be difficult to 

 formulate, but practically there would rarely, 

 if ever, be any doubt at all upon the subject. 

 Certain plants have, or are likely to have, a 

 regular market-price, and may fitly be judged by 

 those competent to form an opinion on such 

 matters. Certain other plants have little present 

 and possibly less prospective market value, because 

 they oannot be, or are not likely to be, grown 

 and propagated wholesale for commercial pur- 

 poses, but only on a limited scale by amateurs. 



The intrinsic interest and value of this last 

 class of plants can only be indirectly estimated 

 in pounds, shillings, and pence. That, however, 

 affords no reason why they should be lightly 

 esteemed by a society representing all depart- 

 ments of horticulture. Rather may we not say 

 with truth, that commercial interests need no 

 encouragement from the Society ? The most 

 important duty the Society has to fulfil is, 

 on the other hand, to foster the interests of the 

 science and art of horticulture generally, and 

 specially as illustrated by the class of plants we 

 have in view. 



Bearing these things in mind, it may further be 

 suggested that in all cases the grounds on which 

 the certificate is awarded should be recorded. A 

 First-class Botanical Certificate should, at least, 

 rank as high as a First-class Floral or Fruit Cer- 

 tificate, though granted for a different purpose. 

 As it is, Certificates by the dozen are awarded to 

 Chrysanthemums, Dahlias, or other already well- 

 known and popular florists' flowers, of which we 

 have thousands already, while either no award at 

 all, or, at least, no higher form of award is 

 granted to novelties of far greater importance 

 and rarity. 



Take, for the sake of illustration, the Bego- 

 nias. First-class Certificates are awarder! to new 

 varieties, year after year, and will continue 

 to be awarded as long as the " improve- 

 ment" continues. There is, of course, no 

 objection to be raised to the judicious main- 

 tenance of this practice ; our point is, that the 

 original plants B. Veitchii, B. boliviensis, &c, 

 when first introduced could have gained no 

 higher award. Plants of that character when 

 first exhibited are often treated as mere botanical 

 curiosities, and either passed over or awarded a 

 Botanical Certificate. This award, by some 

 people, is looked on rather as a badge of dis- 



honour than as a mark of distinction, and yet on 

 consideration there is no one who will not see 

 that the importance, even from a commercial 

 point of view, of the original introduction, must 

 be higher than that of the offspring from it. 



The two classes of plants should, in fact, not 

 be looked at from the same point of view, but 

 each should be treated according to its merits, 

 and the Botanical Certificate should take, at 

 least, equal rank with the other. As it is im- 

 possible to make people appreciate things by tell- 

 ing them they ought to do so, we suggest that 

 newly introduced plants, new hybrids, and, in 

 fact, all plants not yet in commerce, and not be- 

 longing to groups in general cultivation, should 

 be subjected to the examination of a special sub- 

 committee of experts, chosen from any or all the 

 three committees, and who should be empowered 

 to grant Botanical Certificates. After all, much 

 must depend on the wide, if not necessarily deep 

 knowledge, of the chairman, his broad sympathies 

 and his taot. 



Pin US PlNEA — The following notes sent by Mr. 

 Geo. Nicholson, Royal Gardens, Kew, of the dimen- 

 sions of the specimen at Kew, figured in our last 

 week's issue, may be of interest. Height about 

 35 feet, spread of branches 40 feet, girth of stem at 

 4 feet from the ground, 6 feet. Mr. Nicholson con- 

 tinues : — " I regret I am unable to give any details as 

 to the age or history of this particular tree. With re- 

 gard to the two forms of leaves which are not unfre- 

 quently produced by some trees, it might be as well 

 to refer those interested in the subject to the figure 

 published in these columns for July 14, 1883, p. 45 — 

 which gives a better idea of this peculiarity than any 

 description. In an interesting account of the juvenile 

 forms of Conifers — a resumi of which is given by Mr. 

 Hemslet in the Gardeners' Chronicle of March 12, 

 1881, p. 333 — published in Hegel's Gartenfiora for 

 December, 1880, by Herr W. Hochstetteb, the 

 Superintendent of the Koyal Gardens, at Tubingen, 

 that writer informs us that he has succeeded in fixing 

 the juvenile forms of P. Pinea and P. canariensis by 

 cuttings. They form ' incomparably beautiful ' 

 bushes, with spirally arranged solitary needles." 



Society of American Florists.— We have 

 now before us the report of the fourth annual conven- 

 tion, held at New York in August last. The gather- 

 ing was evidently a successful one, and the record is 

 both amusing and instructive. To our taste there is 

 too much " voicing " in the report, and many things 

 that doubtless were appropriate and effective at the 

 time seem to us not worth reproducing in type. But 

 tastes differ, and while the Americans are mostly 

 good speakers, we "er — er — er" so much, as to have 

 provoked the just sarcasm, that we of all people best 

 illustrate the truth of the statement that to err is 

 human ! 



EEL WORMS. — Much destruction is done to 

 Cucumbers by the lodgment in the roots of minute 

 worms. It is not only the Cucumbers that are 

 affected but many other plants, while the leaves of 

 cereals, of Carnations, and even of Orchids, are 

 affected by creatures of this description. Dr. Chaklton 

 Bastian some years since published an elaborate trea- 

 tise on the species and varieties ; and certain Dutch 

 naturalists have taken up the work. Dr. J. Ritzema 

 Bos is the latest of these, and he has just published 

 a treatise in French on the " Anguillule de la Tige " 

 (Tytenatris devastatrix), and on the disease it pro- 

 duces. This worm occurs in the stems and leaves of 

 various plants, but never in the roots. It is curious 

 but satisfactory to read that decomposing organic 

 matter, such as farmyard manure, acts injuriously on 

 the creatures. A 1 per cent, solution of carbolic 

 acid kills the creatures, as also certain other acids 

 and caustic potash, all used at a strength of 1 per 

 cent. Dr. Bos treats in succession of the disease in 

 Barley, Onions, and Hyacinths. 



