CO 



THE GARDENERS' CHRONICLE. 



[January 27, 1912. 



Then, again, the question of colour is un- 

 doubtedly an hereditary one also. In some 

 varieties the colour varies but little whatever the 

 environment, while in others a slight change 

 will often produce marked results. It would 

 perhaps be of interest to your readers if a column 

 in the next fruit report was set aside for 

 remarks on the colour of Apples, and these, 

 if read ill conjunction with the local soil and 

 weather conditions, might give some useful data 

 on a very important subject. Wm. II. Johns, 

 Kilmarnock. 



Our soil has been dressed with many 



tons of wood and other ashes from the garden 

 fire every season for some years past in order to 

 improve the ground, which has a clay subsoil. 

 The colouring of the Apples last season was 

 exceptional in many varieties, such as Worcester 

 Pearmain, Beauty of Bath, Lady Sudeley, Mere 

 de Menage, Baumann's Red Reinette, Bismarck, 

 Blenheim Pippin, Lord Burghley, The Queen, 

 Adams's Pearmain, American Mother, Annie 

 Elizabeth, Langley Pippin, Cox's Orange Pippin, 

 and Gravenstein, but they did not develop the 

 very deep bronzy-red colour that I noticed in 

 fruits from the southern counties at the October 

 Fruit Show of the Royal Horticultural Society. 

 These gardens are situated about 700 feet above 

 the sea-level, and have a northern aspect. I am 

 sending a small box of fruits for your inspection. 

 G. F. Hyland, Ashby St. Ledgers Gardens, 

 Rugby. [The fruits were not only highly col- 

 oured, but excellent specimens in every respect. 

 —Eds.] 



Iris stylosa. — The beautiful, sweet-scented 

 Iris stylosa (unguicularis) appears to have 

 benefited greatly from the long drought and 

 tropical heat of the past summer. We are 

 gathering hundreds of flowers from a small colony 

 growing on a south-west border, in well- 

 drained soil. Not only are the plants more 

 floriferous this eeason, but the length of stem 

 is greater, and the individual flowers finer than 

 usual. From enquiries I have made in this 

 south-west district, other gardeners have speci- 

 mens equally as fine this season. All this shows 

 that to be successful with this lovely species of 

 fibrous -rooted or rhizomatous Iris the plants must 

 be thoroughly ripened. F. W. Rich, Elfordleigh 

 Gardens, Plympton. 



Gardeners. 



the 



in 



— I have been 

 discussions at the 



Certificated 



deeply interested 

 N.E.H.S. meetings on this important subject — 

 important because something must be done and 

 done soon to satisfy the demand of gardeners 

 for some sign of recognition. So far as I am able 

 to do so, I would like to sum up the debates. (1) 

 The first point that struck me was the desire of 

 competent gardeners to be distinguished from 

 mere " hewers of wood and drawers of water." 

 (2) The next point which seemed to be unani- 

 mously agreed upon was the little value attached 

 to a first dass R.H.S. Certificate by practical 

 men. (3) The problem resolved itself into the 

 question how can head gardeners be practically 

 examined? (4) The one-man examiner was at 

 once vetoed. (5) Then again, the financial aspect 

 comes in — who is to pay the £3 3s., or whatever 

 the fee is? This brings the owner of the garden 

 at once into the question. (6) A small visiting 

 deputation was ultimately, so far as I could 

 gather, agreed to be the solution. _ (7) The all- 

 important question of the composition of this 

 deputation was not thoroughly discussed, al- 

 though several members assumed that it would 

 be a miniature inquisition ! (8) From certain 

 remarks made, I gathered that a deputation of 

 four would be suitable — two head gardeners, 

 whose names would first be submitted to the 

 gardener, and who could be protested against if 

 desired, and two independent gentlemen, quali- 

 fied to take a general practical view of the whole 

 question. I also gathered that the gardener 

 would have every opportunity of stating his dis- 

 advantages and limitations. I see that the B.G.A. 

 Journal has some quite unnecessary sarcastic 

 remarks about schoolmasters and other amateurs 

 forming the deputation. I suppose the writer 

 in that Journal is ignorant of the fact that there 

 are some excellent and intensely practical school- 

 masters in the very front rank of horticulturists ; 

 also ignorant of the fact that the N.E.H.S. has 

 some first-class head gardeners on its committees 

 who would naturally be the advisers of the coun- 



cil regarding any scheme finally agreed upon ; 

 otherwise he would have never tiraded against 

 1 ' amateurs, schoolmasters and others." Why 

 weaken a cause by excluding amateurs, who can 

 stand the same identical, practical tests — on a 

 smaller scale it may be — as a professional, from 

 obtaining certificates? Engineers and merchant 

 shipping officers do not exclude efficient amateurs 

 from certificates; also, do not amateurs in open 

 competition often beat the professional? (9) As 

 a matter of fact, the two visiting head gardeners 

 would in less than a quarter of an hour have a 

 very good idea of the work being done, and the 

 two independent gentlemen would be there to see 

 fair play, and, if necessary, criticise the owner 

 for expecting " bricks to be made without 

 straw." (10) To my mind it is hopeless trying 

 to make some people see that, speaking gener- 

 ally, the owners of gardens, and I speak from 20 

 years' experience of masters and mistresses, 

 highly esteem and value the work of their head 

 gardener, and would gladly help their " fellow 

 worker " in the uplifting and ennobling art and 

 science of horticulture to obtain his " dues " and 

 rightful " mark of appreciation." There are a 

 few mean interfering masters, but the only way 

 to settle them is to obtain a certificate of merit 

 from some society willing and able to grant the 

 same. S. E. C. 



Sweet Pea Senator Spencer. — This Sweet 

 Pea was introduced by the American firm of 

 Burpee a few years ago. The ground colour of 

 the flower is pale French grey, with chocolate- 

 coloured stripes. Messrs. House, of Westbury- 

 on-Trym, have a somewhat similar variety which 

 they name President. It is one of the most 

 distinct Sweet Peas, reminding one of Iris 

 Susiana. The flower has excellent form and 

 proportions. During last summer I could not 

 help observing how this most distinct variety 

 (Senator Spencer) appeared as a rogue in most 

 unexpected places. One plant appeared in the 

 pure white Etta Dyke. One appeared in 

 Aurora Spencer, which is a distinct and beauti- 

 ful rose flake on white ground. One appeared 

 in a seedling Cream (parentage The King x 

 Primrose Seedling). One appeared in F 3 of 

 The King x Burpee's Primrose Spencer. One 

 appeared in F 5 of The King x Rose Helio Seed- 

 ling. Two appeared in F^ of The King x Zarina. 

 It is worthy of note that the variety The King is 

 one of the parents in each of the above crosses. 

 The parentage of The King was Countess 

 Spencer X King Edward VII. The question I 

 should like to put is — Does Senator Spencer 

 come into the family through Countess Spencer ? 

 Was Countess Spencer one of the parents of 

 Etta Dyke and of Aurora Spencer ? What was the 

 parentage of President? Had the exceptionally 

 dry summer of 1911 anything to do with the 

 appearance of Senator Spencer in such un- 

 expected places as amongst seedlings of Etta 

 Dyke and the seedling Cream referred to above, 

 which was grown in large quantities and was 

 pure but for the one rogue in a thousand, or 

 might it be the conditions which prevailed in the 

 previous autumn? W. Cuthbertson. 



Fruit Trees in Grass Land.— The pro- 

 minence which you have kindly given to our 

 last Woburn report induces me to believe that 

 sufficient interest may be taken in the matter 

 there dealt with, to allow me to correct what 

 might prove to be somewhat misleading in your 

 reviewer's suggestions in reference to our ex- 

 periments in growing grass in trays immediately 

 over the roots of trees. These, we believe, afford 

 the strongest evidence yet obtained that the 

 effect of grass is due to something emanating 

 from the grass itself, and not to the abstraction 

 by the grass of anything from the soil in which 

 the tree is growing ; and it is important, there- 

 fore, to point out that the suggestion that the 

 particular results obtained in these cases were 

 due to the presence of the trays themselves, was 

 put out of court by the trees grown under such 

 conditions being compared with trees growing 

 in other parts with precisely similar trays of 

 sand above their roots, but without any grass 

 growing in them (p. 89), all the other conditions, 

 also, being precisely similar. Your reviewer very 

 correctly remarks that leachings taken from grass 

 grown away from the trees, would, when poured 

 into the latter, reach the roots in less than a min- 

 ute, and hence finds some difficulty in understand- 

 ing why different results should have been ob- 



tained in this case, and in that wherein the grass 

 was grown in the trays immediately over the roota. 

 The reason is that in the former case ample op- 

 portunity was, as a matter of fact, allowed for 

 the leakings to become oxidised before they were 

 applied to the trees, and it was in order to 

 ascertain whether their oxidation was responsible 

 for the results, that the experiments with trays 



over the roots, where oxidation would be re- 

 duced to a minimum, were devised. Spencer 

 Pickering. 



SOCIETIES. 



ROYAL HORTICULTURAL. 



January 23.— The usual fortnightly meeting 

 was held on Tuesday last in the Society's Hall, 

 Vincent Square, Westminster. The exhibition 

 was a remarkably good one, and, although the 

 weather was most unfavourable, there was a good 

 attendance of visitors. Th-3 chief exhibits before 

 the Floral Committee were of Carnations, Pri- 

 mulas, Cyclamens, Ferns, and flowering shrubs. 

 The Floral Committee made no award to a 



novelty. 



The most important exhibits before the Fruit 

 and Vegetable Committee included a collection 

 of Apples shown by Messrs. Geo. Bunyard & Co., 

 for which the Society's Gold Medal was awarded, 

 and a collection of vegetables shown by Messrs. 

 Sutton & Sons. This Committee also made no 



award to a novelty. 



The exhibits of Orchids were remarkably fine, 

 both from traders and ajnateurs. The Orchid 

 Committee recommended one First-class Certi- 

 ficate and five Awards of Merit. The lecture on 

 "Horticulture and the Proposed Taxation of 

 Land Values " by Mr. H. Morgan Veitch was 

 postponed, owing to the indisposition of Mr. 

 Veitch. 



Floral Committee. 



Present : Henry B. May, Esq. (Chairman) ; and 

 Messrs. W. J. James, W. P. Thomson, G. Reuthe, 

 John Dickson, Charles Dixon, W. J. Bean, R. C. 

 Notcutt, John Green, Chas. T. Druery, E. H. 

 Bowles, C. R. Fielder, J. F. McLeod, J. Jen- 

 nings, W. Howe, Herbert J. Cutbush, Arthur 

 Turner, E. H. Jenkins, Chas. E. Pearson, George 

 Paul, and R. Hooper Pearson. 



A beautiful group of the blue-flowered Saint- 

 paulia ionantha, arranged in the centre of 

 a batch of Euphorbia jacquiniaeflora was set 

 up by Lord Salisbury, Hatfield (gr. Mr H. 

 Prime). The Euphorbia flowers were very richly 

 coloured, whilst the other plants were model 

 specimens. (Silver Flora Medal.) 



Messrs. W. Cutbush & Son, Highgate, London, 

 filled a table with greenhouse plants, forced 

 shrubs, Carnations, and Alpines. The forced 

 shrubs were interspersed amongst the greenhouse- 

 plants, and furnished a remarkable wealth of 

 gay blossoms. Peaches, Magnolias, Lilacs, 

 Azaleas, Prunus triloba, and Pyrus Malus Schei- 

 deckeri were all carrying a wealth of flowers. 

 The Alpines included a selection of the choicer 

 kinds in season, the more notable being Eranthus 

 cilicicus, Anemone blanda, and Iris Danfordise. 

 The Carnations completed a pretty group, the 

 principal novelty in this section being a scarlet- 

 coloured " Malmaison " named King George. 

 (Silver-gilt Banksian Medal.) 



Messrs. Sutton & Sons, Reading, showed a 

 splendid exhibit of Chinese Primulas and Cycla- 

 men latif olium. They were shown in batches ot 

 plants of distinct sorts, the Primulas alternating 

 with the Cyclamen in mounds. The fine Reading 

 Blue (a shade of mauve), The Duchess, Royal 

 White, and The Czar Primulas were all remark- 

 ably good. The Cyclamens included varieties 

 with fringed petals and the handsome White 

 Butterfly variety. The exhibit included some 

 of this firm's fine strain of Primula obconica. 

 (Silver Banksian Medal.) , 



Messrs. Jas. Veitch & Sons, Ltd., Kmgs 

 Road, Chelsea, staged a beautiful group of in- 

 door flowering plants, in which Begonias, 

 Azaleas, and Camellias were conspicuous sub- 

 jects. Amongst the other subjects, Senecio 



