

IV. 



[supplement.] 



THE GARDENERS CHRONICLE. 



[May 25, 1912. 



Robert W. Wallace (Director and Mem- efforts on behalf of the 



ber of Show and Site Committee). 



Mr. Wallace is the proprietor of the nur- 

 series of Messrs. It. Wallace & Co., at 



MR. S. T. WRIGHT. 

 (Superintendent of Arrangements.) 



Kilnfield Gardens, Colchester. He is a 

 specialist in hardy bulbous plants, rock- 

 gardens, Alpine and water plants, and bog 



He is a member of the Floral 



Horticultural 



plants. 



Committee of the Royal 



and is a Councillor of his own 



Society, 

 town. 



Edward White (Hon. Managing Direc- 

 tor). 



: At the first meeting for the pro- 

 motion of the International Exhibition 

 Mr. Edward White accepted the position 

 of Honorary Secretary, and he continued 

 to discharge the arduous duties of that 

 office until Auccust, 1911, by which time the 

 necessary work had become so engrossing 

 that further assistance was essential. 

 Mr. White thereupon was appointed 

 Honorary Managing Director, and he 

 was given the assistance of Mr. Geoffrey 

 Henslow, who was appointed Organis- 

 ing Secretary. Mr. White's honorary 



An international exhibition of horticultural 

 produce that will do justice to all concerned is 

 an impossibility. It has been tried over and 

 over again, with the invariable result that the 

 home country has always been an easy first and 

 the rest nowhere. The present exhibition at 

 Chelsea is no exception. Those of us who know 

 the capabilities of horticultural producers in 

 France, Belgium, and Holland recognise that, 

 excellent as are many of their exhibits, they do 

 by no means full justice to the admirable skill 

 of the Continental growers. Circumstance ren- 

 ders this result inevitable. Difficulties of trans- 

 port, incompatibilities of season, not to mention 

 commercial considerations, are obstacles that 

 cannot be surmounted. Precisely the same thing 

 has happened when England has attempted to 

 take part in international exhibitons elsewhere. 



Nevertheless, and despite the heavy handicap 

 which distance imposes on foreign exhibitors, we 

 are convinced that the interests of the world's 

 horticulture cannot be better served than by 

 the holding of occasional international shows. 

 They serve to mark the progress of horticulture 

 and help to define the special characteristics of 

 the various nations of the world. 



exhibition 



have been exceedingly onerous. A mem- 

 ber of the firm of landscape gardeners, 

 Messrs. Milner, Son & White, Mr. White 

 was called upon to design the flower gar- 

 den in the great marquee, and in many 

 other matters his 



expert 



ornamental gardening has 

 service to the Directors. 



knowledge 

 been of 



of 



Mr. 



great 

 White is 



both a landscape gardener and an artist, 

 and has two pictures in the Academy this 



season. 



George J. Ingram (Financial Secretary). 



Mr. 



the 



Ingram is widely known as 

 valued and hard-working Secretary of the 

 Gardeners' Royal Benevolent Institution. 

 The success of that Institution provides 

 ample proof of his fitness for the post of 

 Financial Secretary of the International 

 Exhibition. 



Samuel T. Wright. 



Mr. Wright is well known as the 

 intendent of the Wisley Gardens 



Super- 

 and of 



' MR. T. GEOFFREY HENSLOW, M.A. 



(Organising Secretary.) 



the Royal Horticultural Society's shows 

 and meetings. By an arrangement between 

 the Directors of the Royal International 

 Exhibition and the Royal Horticultural 



Society Council Mr. Wright was enabled 

 to take over the management of the 

 ground at Chelsea soon after May 1. 

 He is assisted by four or five head gar- 

 deners, who look after the various tents 



MR. OWEN THOMAS, V.M.H. 



and see that the plants are cared for as 

 much as circumstances allow. 



T. Geoffrey W. Henslow M.A. (Organis- 

 ing Secretary). 



Mr. Henslow was appointed to the oner- 

 ous post of Organising Secretary in 

 August, 1911, on his leaving the Festival 

 of Empire Exhibition at the Crystal 

 Palace. Besides discharging the duties 

 pertaining to this office, it has to be re- 

 corded that the Souvenir Catalogue of the 

 Exhibition was compiled exclusively by 

 Mr. Henslow. Fifty tons of paper were 

 used to print the fifty thousand copies 

 published. 



Owen Thomas, V.M.H. 



Mr. Owen Thomas is best known from 

 the fact that he was gardener to the late 

 Queen Victoria, at Windsor Castle. He is 

 assisting the International Exhibition as a 

 member of the Show and Spacing Com- 

 mittee. 



Apart from their historical and political 

 aspects which make international exhibitions a 

 necessity, it may be conceded that the nations 

 may learn more with respect to their several 

 horticultural gifts by each holding its own exhi- 

 bition and inviting foreigners thereto. 



Of the exhibits of our foreign guests at the 

 international show, we may say, without dis- 

 paragement to the others, that the Dutch display 

 is the best of the three. As an exhibition of 

 what can be done in "England," for we can 

 scarcely consider that either Scotland or Ireland 

 is fairly represented by the few exhibits from 

 them, we have no reason to feel dissatisfied with 

 the Chelsea display. 



The weather has not been kind to us. With 

 the best intentions on the part of our most 

 reliable growers, it has not been possible to 



effects, so as to present 

 best that we can do. The 

 Orchid growers appear to have experienced least 

 trouble in this respect ; but we know that in 

 every other department without exception con- 

 ditions have been unfavourable to the growers. 

 The greater credit, therefore, to those who have 

 contrived to make the exhibition what it is, 



control 

 on a given 



causes and 

 date the 



namely, a magnificent effort under the cir- 

 cumstances. Orchids, Roses, Carnations, Hip- 

 peastrums, stove plants, and, of course, 

 Ferns are superbly represented — there can be no 

 two opinions as to the merits of these exhibits. 

 Nor need we feel dissatisfied with the displays of 

 such plants as Gloxinias, Begonias, and Rhodo- 

 dendrons. Indeed, among those who admire the 

 splendid specimens of Gloxinias, Calceolarias, 

 and other tender plants exhibited in Messrs. 

 Sutton's most imposing group, none except the 

 practical gardener can realise what anxious care 

 must have been bestowed upon these plants dur- 

 ing the trying w-eeks which preceded the exhibi- 

 tion. Rhododendrons, as judged from the fine 

 exhibits in the main tent, notably the mass shown 

 by Messrs. John Waterer & Sons, appear to have 

 withstood the distracting climatic conditions 

 better than most plants, nor is there any sign 

 of anything but perfection in Messrs. Veitch s 

 superb collection of fine stove plants. 



The great feature of the exhibition is the 

 display of Orchids. The Orchid conference held 

 at South Kensington a quarter of a century ago 

 was considered at the time to be a great achieve- 

 ment, and those who saw it are able to gauge 



