226 



THE GARDENERS 9 CHRONICLE. 



[April 6, 1912. 



the order, and the persons were moneyed people 

 in no need of reduction." 



My Council takes strong exception to your 

 Btatement that " it cannot be contended that the 

 Committees are in ruinous competition with nur- 

 serymen." Your letter allows that the trees are 

 bought at cost price and passed on plus carriage 

 to the buyers. This means that the official ma- 

 chinery is employed to do away with the nursery- 

 man's profit and his establishment charges for 

 necessary office work, travellers, and other ex- 

 penses. The opinion of all concerned is that the 

 general extension of this system of supply, which 

 is going on all over the country is absolutely 

 ruinous to the Nursery trade, and will result in 

 throwing a very large number of deserving men 

 out of employment owing to the curtailment of 

 labour which is being rendered imperative. 



As stated in my former letter, no objection is 

 raised to assistance being given to small holders, 

 labourers and others who really need it, but re- 

 ports on all hands go to show that instructors 

 are pushing business in all directions, and official 

 powers and opportunities are being used to carry 

 on a ruinous competition with a trade which 

 deserves every consideration on the part of the 



authorities. 



It is most earnestly hoped that you will take 



immediate steps to test the correctness of these 

 statements and to put a check upon the misplaced 

 energies of your officials. 



For the Council, 

 (Signed) Chas. E. Pearson. 



Hon. Secretary. 



Department of Agriculture and Technical 



Instruction, Dublin. 



Dear Sir,— Mr. T. W. Russell desires me to 

 acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 

 8th inst., with enclosure, which shall have his 

 attention. 



(Signed) H. G. Smith. 



C. E. Pearson, Esq., 



Lowdham, Nottingham. 



February 23, 1912. 



Department of Agriculture and Technical 



Instruction, Dublin. 



Sir, — With further reference to your commu- 

 nication of the 8th instant, and previous corre- 

 spondence, I am asked by Mr. Russell to say 

 that he has nothing to add to the full statement 

 of the Department's position in the matter given 

 in my letter of the 4th ultimo, the correctness of 

 which your Council seem practically to deny, 



As already intimated, the various County Com- 

 mittees in Ireland arrange for the purchase of 

 trees from nurserymen by tender in the open mar- 

 ket, at the usual trade prices. Mr. Russell de- 

 sired me to explain to you, in my previous letter, 

 as a matter of courtesy, the arrangements in 



Siestion ; but I am now to remind your Council 

 at what is done with the trees thus obtained 

 in the open market by tender is a matter which 

 concerns the Department and the County Com- 

 mittees alone. 



(Signed) Herbert G. Smith. 

 The Honorary Secretary, 



Horticultural Trades Association 

 of Great Britain and Ireland. 



HOME CORRESPONDENCE. 



(The Editors do not hold themselves responsible for 

 the opinions expressed by correspondents.) 



Trial of Violas at Wisley. — A trial of 

 Violas will be conducted at the Wisley Gardens 

 during the season of 1912. It is hoped that a 

 large number of varieties will be sent to the 

 Superintendent, R.H.S. Gardens, Wisley, Ripley, 

 Surrey, for this purpose that the trial of so im- 

 portant and popular a flower may be made as 

 useful as possible. Six plants of each variety 

 should be sent at once. W. Wilks, Secretary. 



44 Wake-up" Manchester. — I purposely did 

 not wish to push the North of England Horti- 

 cultural Society unduly forward when I threw 

 out the suggestion of a Northern Wisley for Man- 

 chester, but now that our Society has been men- 

 tioned, may I say that if Manchester and Dis- 

 trict horticulturists desire it, we shall be glad 

 to run an exhibition there, provided, as now at 

 Leeds, Bradford and Harrogate, a strong local 

 management committee is formed. Anyone who 

 has watched our tactics will have seen for 

 themselves that we desire to be " true to name " 



taken in hand by the local management com 

 mittee. I would suggest, however, that indi- 

 viduals give the prizes and not the committee. 

 If four challenge cups can be easily obtained for 

 our Harrogate Show the first year, surely Man- 

 chester will not be behindhand in this matter- 

 in fact, cups to be won outright might also be 

 forthcoming ! I have said enough in detail. It 

 remains, Mr. Editor, for others to take the mat- 

 ter up, and then hold a meeting of all interested 

 I suggest for discussion the holding of an early 

 May show in 1913, also an October show in 1913, 

 if Nottingham does not desire it. I notice Dr 

 Weiss mentions that Manchester University ha* 

 grounds and greenhouses for experimental work, 

 as well as being interested in Holme's Chapel 

 work. If the N.E.H.S. were to hold a show or 

 shows at Manchetser, which I feel sure our 

 Council would agree to, providing the financial 

 difficulties were faced by a strong local manage 

 ment committee, we should also aim at popular- 

 ising the scientific work already being done 

 locally by means of lectures at the shows. 

 Palatine states that it is a great pity that the 

 promoters' of the N.E.H.S. did not enter into 

 some arrangement with the Manchester Botanical 

 Society before establishing a new society. I 

 could say something on this point, but I refrain. 



■ i 







FlG. 102. — CATTLEYA DIRCE " WESTONBIRT VARIETY 



>» 



FLOWERS ROSY-LILAC, VEINED 



WITH CLARET PURPLE. 



(Received R.H.S. Award of Merit on the 19th ult.) 



CATTLEYA DIRCE "WESTONBIRT VARIETY." 



The illustration in fig. 102 represents the pretty 

 hybrid Cattleya shown by Lieut. -Col. Sir George 

 L. Holford, K.C.V.O. (gr. Mr. H. G. Alexander), 

 at the Royal Horticultural Society's meeting on 



Committee 



an 



•North of England. Therefore, we have on our 

 council not only Professor Weiss, of Manchester 

 University, but also Mr. H. Hicks, of Messrs. 

 Dickson & Robinson. We have also on our 

 council Col. J. Rutherford, M.P., who kindly 

 acted as one of our delegates to the Liverpool 

 Spring Show this week. Mr. R. P. Ker also re- 

 presents Lancashire, as well as Mr. W. Bolton, of 

 Warrington, who, as prospective chairman of our 

 Orchid Committee, also represented us at Liver- 

 pool. Mr. Gratrix, of Manchester, is on our 

 council, and is keenly interested in our welfare. 

 As regards our work in Manchester, we have 

 already, at the invitation of the Orchid Society, 

 joined forces with them, and run a successful 

 joint show — last February. I only bring for- 



2^* T_l/i **• ~ ward all this to prove that we are working on a 



This cross from C. Miss u„™j w;. n ij ;^^a *~ —™ << ~n *u rt 



Harris " var. Vulcan " and C. Schilleriana is an 

 improvement on the form known in gardens as 

 Cattleya Vulcan, and one of the best of the 

 numerous C. Schilleriana crosses. The sepals and 



broad basis, and intend to cover 



all the 



Our policy is a non-local inclusive policy, an* 

 our aim and object is to promote and encourv 

 horticulture all over the North. I &ee also tna* 

 Palatine rightly suggests not only meetin 

 and exhibitions but also publications ^ 

 N.E.H.S. Monthly Magazine is intended to sup 



ply the means of publishing our n 10 ^^. 16 ^!. 

 and generally spreading abroad useful intori * 

 tion. It is not intended to be put on to " 

 "market" in competition with the re&uj 

 horticultural Press. But here is a way oi a« * 

 good work within the society, and S en f * n d 

 treating horticulture from the educationa 

 scientific point of view. In conclusion 1 teei . 

 Palatine's idea of -amalgamation p* * 



economy, working ,/* cl JJ^ cfc| but 



and 



petals 



tinged 



with claret-purple, extending into the well-defined 



margin 



ground " if possible. But before we can hold 

 an exhibition in Manchester we must be assured 

 of the support of local horticulturists, and feel 

 that we are wanted. I am perfectly certain 

 the trade would help us to run a first-class ex- 

 hibition in keeping with the traditions of Man- 

 chester. Money prizes, of course, we could not 

 give, but, if they were desired, they could be 



strength, economy, working 



generally benefiting horticulture "is 



the N.E.H.S. cannot touch this ^^.^n*. 



All we could offer to do is to run exhibit! j 



with lectures, if we were invited to do ** 



Bernard Hall. 



Failure of Strawberries (see p. -^ ^ 



failure of Mr. West's pot Strawberries » w* ^ 

 doubt caused by red spider doing damage 

 crowns last autumn. G. B. B. "*• 



