e?6 



TEE GARDENERS' CHRONICLE. 



[Decbmbeb 8, 1888. 



efficient as possible, and hope that it -vVIll keep as 

 free from undue influence as I now believe it to be. 

 George F. Wilson, 



— — The very few certificates ordinarily granted 

 by the Fruit Committee of the Royal Horticul- 

 tural Society, probably save those awards from 

 criticism. Although it is just possible that some- 

 times vegetables and even fruit may get certi- 

 ficated almost too freely at Chiswick. Such is 

 human nature that we are usually very good- 

 natured in dispensing of that which costs us no- 

 thing, and the giving not only pleases, but possibly 

 benefits some one else ; hence many certificates 

 are granted out of pure good nature. But it must 

 be admitted that the Floral Committee not only does 

 not err on the side of selfishness, but sometimes 

 seems to have extraordinary outbreaks of good 

 nature, so that certificates fall about " thick as leaves 

 in Valombrosa," hence too many of these same 

 awards obtain much criticism. But the weakest 

 element in the awards is, as you have pointed out, too 

 often found in the fact that they are made by a very 

 small minority of the committee present, and it is 

 obvious that whilst in such cases the granting is a 

 poor compliment to either the object certificated or 

 to the exhibitor. The proposal that such awards 

 should be made only on the authority of a full 

 majority of the committee, seems to offer a very 

 valuable improvement upon the present system, as 

 not only would awards then have tangible worth, but 

 negligent members of the committee would be forced 

 to discharge on one side or the other the duties they 

 have undertaken. That all such awards would be re- 

 garded with considerable respect may be taken 

 for granted ; but with regard to the proposal 

 to publish the names of the members of the com- 

 mittee voting, I think that would, if sought to 

 be enforced, create a revolt. The present method of 

 voting does not always prove advantageous, as, 

 although fairly private, yet no member can vote 

 without the knowledge of all the others at the table, 

 and possibly a desire to please, or to refrain from dis- 

 pleasing, may lead to votes being given somewhat par- 

 tially ; also it doubtless leads now to that abstention 

 from voting which seems to be so unfortunate. Now, I 

 venture to propose that, if voting be enforced on all 

 the members present at any meeting, and such enforc- 

 ing will be needful if a full majority of votes alone 

 will carry Certificates, then voting by ballot should 

 be adopted, each member being provided with small 

 pieces of paper or cards, on which shall be printed 

 " for " or " against," which shall be dropped into a 

 box, passed round the table, and, being shaken up, 

 should be turned out on to the table, and be assorted 

 and counted by the chairman. The work would be 

 very easily accomplished, as twenty or so votes could 

 be counted in so many seconds, and the result would 

 be the real opinions of the members as to the 

 merits of the respective exhibits without fear or 

 favour. It is little less than a scandal when a certi- 

 ficate is lost by seven votes against, and six for, 

 when the very next plant perhaps gets a certificate 

 by five votes for, and four against. Compulsory 

 voting would not only keep the members more 

 thoroughly up to their work, but would also check 

 that tendency to break away into gossip, and 

 that upon irrelevant subjects, which a strong 

 chairman should instantly repress, even at the 

 expense of giving offence. It would not only be right 

 to record the number of votes given in each case, but 

 they should also be published, so that both exhibitors 

 and the public might learn how large a proportion 

 of the committee favoured the granting of the certi- 

 ficate. The method of recording votes proposed 

 would, I believe, do very much in the provinces to 

 strengthen confidence in the decisions of the com- 

 mittee. Without doubt certificates are eagerly sought 

 for, not only by the trade, but also by amateur 

 horticulturists, and as the Royal Horticultural 

 Society is just now in great need of help, as well as of 

 confidence, such action in relation to the committee, 

 which would strengthen confidence in them, would 

 also materially assist the Society in its efforts to win 

 the confidence of the horticultural community. The 

 proposal to appoint sub-committees having special 

 knowledge to examine and report when such things 

 as Orchids, florists flowers, hardy plants, Ferns, &c, 

 are sent, is an excellent one ; and provided the full 

 committee would, after all, give to their recom- 

 mendations full consideration if it was thought that 

 the awards were made by small or select bodies of 

 specialists rather than by the whole of the Floral 

 Committee, the result would hardly prove unaccept- 

 able. The Council of the Royal Horticultural 

 Society is very conservative in its actions, and hesi- 

 tates to adopt broad views. Hesitancy kills, whilst 



boldness and breadth of view bring life and renewed 

 confidence. A determined plunge, therefore, into a 

 path of healthy publicity might be productive of the 

 most satisfactory results. Spade. 



I have a rooted aversion to bush-fighting, 



and I think the Irish way of settling landlords 

 most objectionable ; the old English highwayman's 

 " Your money or your life," is far preferable, to my 

 mind, as writing under pseudonyms always savours 

 of cowardice mure or less ; let me, however, briefly 

 review your correspondent (p. 607). " Over the 

 sea," appears to me very much at sea ! The com- 

 position of the Floral Committee under his guidance 

 would be a doubtful one. As a rule, the ubiquitous 

 gentlemen, known as " the trade," are fifty to one more 

 alive to the value of a new plant than the amateurs ; 

 they know the horticultural world, and can tell 

 almost at a glance the value, or want of value, of 

 any plant placed upon the table, for after all, " the 

 trade " may be selfish in their judgments, but these 

 judgments usually result in the right estimate of 

 value'and beauty. Having to cater for the taste of the 

 hour, the trade cannot afford to have fads, and if 

 they award a first-class for a third-class production, 

 they are soon brought to a sense of their error by 

 the fact that the thing will not sell, and after all, 

 money's worth must be the ultimate test of general 

 value and utility. As a rule amateurs are specialists, 

 and specialists are valuable when we do not get too 

 many of them, but the composition of the Floral Com- 

 mittee is a very cosmopolitan one. They are specialists 

 for hardy trees, for Orchids, for Roses, for Ferns, 

 for herbaceous plants generally, and also for parti- 

 cular ones, as per example for Chrysanthemums, and 

 almost every section of the vegetable world ; but if 

 we let the amateur element predominate where will 

 the new plants come from ? Bray tell me the result 

 (without the trade), to the Begonias, the lovely green- 

 house hybrid Rhododendrons, Azaleas, and Roses, or 

 Gladioli, indeed, of every beautiful plant or tree 

 which lends itself to hybridisation ? Where would 

 the present race of the most magnificent and useful 

 flowering hardy shrubs in existence — the Bhoden- 

 drons — have been without the trade ? My position 

 will doubtless be assailed by young England with its 

 exuberant specialism, but my three-quarters of a 

 century experience can stand the onslaught. I next 

 come to " Head Gardener " and agree with him in 

 every particular even to the exhibitor's "selfishness." 

 Just so ; who is not selfish ? Next comes "L.," " Cer- 

 tainly Chiswick ; but no Drill Hall." Then, " H.," " In 

 the name of common sense don't have shows at 

 Chiswick!" To " H." I will answer, In the name of 

 sound sense go to Chiswick, and if the shows are 

 worth coming to, the people will be sure to come ; at 

 all events people will not come to the Drill Hall ! 

 With " M.," I cordially agree : and now I come to 

 "A Fellow," and I beg to say to him, " You are a very 

 good fellow, indeed, and have put the matter well to 

 the fore." May such good fellows increase, and when 

 the Drill Hall has gone back to its former obscurity 

 and been forgotten, the Royal Horticultural Society 

 may cease to be a laughing stock to its best friends ! 

 Just a few lines more : the threats of one or two ex - 

 hibitors who say that they will not exhibit at^Chiswick 

 are worth very little, the loss of these few would be 

 made up by twenty to one for each defaulter, I feel 

 certain, and perhaps the presence of these loud- 

 voiced gentlemen who will condescend to exhibit in 

 London may not be absolutely essential to the stability 

 of the Royal Horticultural Society, at any rate the 

 subject is worth considering. Charles Noble, 



PROLIFEROUS ORCHIDS.— I saw in two recent 

 Gardeners' Chronicles a figure and account of the 

 development of leaf-buds in the inflorescence of 

 Ehalamopsis. I have just found here a somewhat 

 similar case in a little endemic Oberonia, viz., 

 Oberonia longi-bracteata, Lindl. It is a small plant 

 with sword-shaped distichous leaves and a raceme 

 of minute orange flowers. In the lowest axils of the 

 inflorescence the flowers (especially when the plant 

 grows upon rocks and the inflorescence nods so as 

 to touch the damp stone) are replaced by axillary 

 buds which reproduce the plant. This is not an 

 unusual or exceptional occurrence, but very common ; 

 in fact, almost invariable in damp rocky spots. I 

 have seen whole patches of the plant layering thus. 

 Another little Orchid peculiar to Ceylon behaves in 

 a somewhat similar way, viz., Fodochilus saxatilis 

 — a little white-flowered Orchid, with stems about 

 3 inches long, covered with short distichous recurved 

 leaves. The flowers appear in short few flowered 

 racemes in the upper axils, and very frequently if 

 the apex of the stem touches the tree or rock on 

 which the plant grows, roots are emitted from it, 



and eventually a stem is formed at this point, and 

 the plant thus reproduces itself by layering. I have 

 no doubt but that similar methods of reproduction 

 occur constantly in damp tropical forests in other 

 and more important species of Orchids. Henry N. 

 Ridley, Peradenya, Ceylon. 



BEURRE SUPERIEUR.— Since my notes on the 

 Bears of this season I have had a communication 

 from Mr. Bunyard, who tells me that he is unable to 

 find Beurre superieur in my list of Bears, and he is 

 disposed to think it one of the synonyms of Comte 

 de Lamy. This may be the case. I have grown B. 

 superieur for thirty-five years, and have always found 

 it as I have described it — a Fear of great excellence, 

 but I have not grown Compte de Lamy. W. Ingram 

 Bclvoir, Grantham, Dec, 2. 



WEATHER IN YORKSHIRE.— We have here in the 

 north of Yorkshire, passed one of the worst seasons. 

 Some say the season is unprecedented. So far as my 

 experience goes, I have seen nothing like it in the 

 last forty years. In the spring everything was late, 

 and what fruit escaped the frost was nearly all 

 spoiled by the coldness of a sunless summer, so much 

 so that Apples and Fears were not more than half 

 their usual size. Farmers, too, suffered terribly from 

 the same cause. Turnips and Mangels are only half 

 the weight on the same ground. To add to this 

 calamity, on October 2 we had 14° of frost, with a 

 great quantity of unripe corn standing in the fields. 

 The question now is, Will the unripe frozen corn 

 make seed, or malt? I am trying the experiment 

 now with some such corn for a farmer. Field Beans 

 in many places were frozen to a pulp, and were a 

 dead loss to the grower. Unripe Blums were spoiled 

 on the trees, while the ripe fruit fared better and 

 could be used for tarts, &c, but the flavour was very 

 inferior. Bears and Apples grew very little after 

 the frost, and are certainly the worst I have ever seen 

 here. Beans, Beas, French Beans, and in fact every- 

 thing tender shared the same fate. In consequence 

 of the early frost the flower garden could be cleared 

 off, and the spring plants planted out early. Since 

 October 2 we have had a warm wave passing over 

 us, so that in the North we are getting quite a St. 

 Martin's summer. Grass and plants in the spring 

 garden are in a fine growing state ; Bolyanthuses 

 by the thousand are in fine bloom, the yellows show- 

 ing off like a Calceolaria in summer — whites, too, are 

 very conspicuous at this dull season; Bansies are 

 also very gay, in fact every bed is now showing its 

 proper colour ; Violets are in good bloom ; Beach 

 trees are showing a new growth at the points ; late 

 Cauliflowers and Spinach are giving a good supply. 

 William Cicluerwcll, Thorpe Perrow. 



THE WEATHER IN WALES.— I have sent for your 

 information a list of outdoor plants at present in 

 flower in these gardens. The present mild weather 

 if it continue will soon do damage to vegetation — 

 last night gave a temperature of 50° as the lowest, 

 and a warm rain of 0.37 inch, and it is making 

 many plants begin to move. The stormcock was 

 singing his loudest, and the thrush is in full 

 song, presaging windy and perhaps cold weather 

 — which cannot come too soon. Red Currants 

 are swelling their buds fast; Vicomtesse H. de 

 Thury Strawberry is almost in full bloom, and 

 other varieties are getting forward. The frosts 

 at the end of September and beginning of 

 October ruined all outdoor vegetation which was 

 making up time for the paralysis of the cold wet 

 dripping months of July and August, and the wood 

 in fruit trees, &c, is indifferently matured. P. Middle- 

 ton, Wynnstay, Dec. 4. [Our correspondent obligingly 

 sent us names of about eighty different plants of which 

 we note Broad Beans, Beas, Foxgloves, Roses, 

 Scabious, Hydrangeas, Folyanthus, Auriculas, Cur- 

 rants, Ivy, perennial and annual species of Campa- 

 nula, Nicotiana affinis, Laurustinus, Sunflowers, 

 Cydonia japonica, Bhloxes. We reiterate the wish 

 of our correspondent that a seasonable change would 

 soon occur. Ed.] 



SOILING DOWN MUSHROOM BEDS.— Mr. Perkins, 

 the gardener at Greenlands, Henley, adopts a very 

 simple and practical way of covering his Mushroom- 

 beds. The beds are made up in the usual way, but 

 instead of putting sifted soil on the surface of the 

 manure he places turves cut fresh from a pasture, and 

 about 2 inches in thickness. All the long unsightly 

 blades of grass, &c, are cut off, then the turf is 

 laid on the bed in the same position as it grew 

 in the field, presenting at once a natural covering 

 and tidy appearance, Another advantage is, the 



