December 26, 1878. ] 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER, 
491 
Dijon might be used for the same purpose: and doubtless 
some of your readers have hit upon other materials which may 
be of advantage for use on particular soils and in particular 
localities—T. LAXTON, Bedford. 
LIVERPOOL CHRYSANTHEMUM SHOW. 
THE blooms exhibited at the above Show, according to Mr. 
Ollerhead’s letter on page 448, were without quality, size only 
having been the aim of the growers. We know that some of 
them were overgrown, but we do not hesitate saying that the 
first-prize blooms (Mr. Tunnington’s) were in form, colour, 
and general condition excellent. We ask Mr. Ollerhead to 
give his candid opinion respecting these blooms, and also of 
the first-prize six plants. Mr. Wallis of Keele Hall includes 
the first-prize twenty-four biooms with the others as being 
coarse, and describes Mr. Ollerhead’s as “a nice even lot,” 
and according to Mr. Wallis’s remark it would appear that he 
thought the Wimbledon blooms entitled to a prize ; yet if we 
remember rightly, when Mr. Ollerhead first saw Mr. Tunning- 
ton’s blooms he admitted their superiority, and it is evident 
therefore that they must haye possessed other good qualities 
besides mere “size.” 
We would now point to other matters of paramount import- 
ance. On what principles are Chrysanthemum growers to 
prepare their blooms for the future, and by what points ought 
judges to be guided to a right decision in making their awards ? 
How can a judge decide on the quality and the age of the 
blooms if the lower petals are removed and only a_ compact 
small ball of the centre of the bloom is left to be shown? 
With such treatment a “nice even lot”? could soon be made, 
but what is to guide the judge to the conditions of the bloom 
when the guard petals are gone, as we suppose they are shown 
in the south? There are blooms under cool treatment which 
require six weeks or more to open before the centre petals are 
properly developed ; in this time the guard petals are fading, 
and such blooms are of no use for showing at Liverpool, while 
on the other hand they would be fine blooms with a portion 
of the petals removed as shown in the south. We are at a loss 
to know if a bloom with its lower petals removed is a Chrys- 
anthemum proper or only half a flower: this 1s a point that 
should be made clear. 
The bloom we consider suitable for exhibition should be 
perfect in form, containing all its lower petals, and being at 
the same time well filled in the centre and as large as it is 
possible to grow it without being loose, ragged, and coarse. 
The first-prize blooms, in our way of thinking, were exhibited 
as Chrysanthemums ought to be. Jf Mr. Ollerhead thinks 
differently we hope it will be good enough to point out their 
faults for the purpose of affording instruction. The growers 
in this neighbourhood are anxious to have some recognised rule 
to direct them in the future. Are the blooms to be perfect, 
containing their lower petals, or may they be removed and the 
centres shown? and what varieties are allowed to be shown 
as incurved flowers, and if the blooms are to be shown on paper 
collars or not? If some idea is given of the standard to be 
attained we shall know in what form to exhibit in case of a 
contest next year in London, Birmingham, or elsewhere. I 
send by this post four blooms as grown in this neighbourhood 
for ordinary decoration. They are as they are cut from the 
plants, and, as you will see, a little past their best —WILLIAM 
BARDNEY, Vorvis Green. 
[The blooms are good as grown for decorative purposes, but 
they do not possess the solidity requisite for exhibiting at the 
southern shows.—EDs. ] 
Your correspondents Mr. Bardney and “ ALLERTON *’—(the 
latter I observe does not give his proper name)—both complain 
of my having omitted to give praise to other exhibitors who 
took part in the various competitions. I simply felt it my 
duty to make the now historical exposure and I left the re- 
mainder to the discretion of your reporter. They both say I 
haye given a correct account : this I always endeayour to do, 
and I feel they will pass the same yerdict on my last letter, 
which I hope has met their views. Your correspondent errs 
when he says that a stand containing Fingal and Faust would 
be disqualified in the south of Hngland. This would not be 
so, but an exhibitor would find that such coarse blooms would 
put him several points in the rear of his opponents with more 
compact blooms of the Rundle type. He is also, in my opinion, 
equally in error when he says they were two of the finest 
blooms in the Show; had he said two of the largest and 
coarsest-petaled blooms, counting the fewest points of merit, 
he would have been right. As I before stated, it is like putting 
a coarse Drumhead Cabbage against well-finished blooms and 
deciding in favour of size. 
As to the challenge of your correspondents to contest honestly 
and fairly with growers from any part either in or out of 
London if we only give them an invitation, I have to reply 
that I publicly gave them an invitation to Kingston, and told 
them what money and cups were in store for the successful 
competitors. The Liverpool growers must not forget that their 
representative at the Aquarium, Westminster, with his twenty- 
four blooms was nowhere against the southern growers. As 
regards the explicitness of our schedules, I enclose you a copy 
of the Kingston schedule, which is a fair sample of those issued 
about London, to compare with the Liverpool one. In the 
latter you will see prizes are offered for so many large-flowered 
and Pompon varieties. One would suppose the former meant 
large-flowered of any type, but on inquiry through the press 
I found it means incuryed varieties only. I should like the 
Kingston schedule to be forwarded to “ALLERTON,” and I 
ask him where we lack explicitness. 
As to names of varieties, whoever heard of an exhibitor 
writing to his opponent to know what dishes of fruit, vege- 
tables, or what varieties of plants or cut flowers he was going 
to stage against him? The Liverpool growers must use Judg- 
ment in the matter if they are going to compete against the 
south. 
As regards their challenge to meetus at any Chrysanthemum 
show out of London, or even in London, I think I may take 
the responsibility of saying that we accept the challenge under 
the following conditions—viz.. that the growers of Liverpool 
and northwards subscribe £10, £20, or £25, as may be approved 
of, to pit against an equal sum contributed by the southern 
growers, for the purpose of purchasing a challenge cup or 
trophy to be contested for next year, as may be arranged for, 
by the north and south countrymen. We need not depend 
on two cultivators to make the awards. I think Kensington 
will be the most suitable place for the contest, and the Floral 
Committee the best judges to make the awards, and I have no 
doubt they would be very pleased to make arrangements to 
meet the views of the exhibitors as to date of show, &c. If 
£50 could be raised it would make a handsome prize and 
bring out our best talent in Chrysanthemum growing, and 
would also be of great benefit to the Royal Horticultural 
Society. If this scheme is approved, Dr. Hogg, as Secretary 
of the Society, will by my reauest act as treasurer to the fund. 
I shall be glad to see any practical suggestions in the Journal 
relative to carrying out in a proper and satisfactory manner 
the proposed Chrysanthemum tournament.—J. OLLERHEAD, 
The Gardens, Wimbledon House, S.W. 
HEATING BY PARAFFIN STOVES. 
PARAFFIN stoves may be used in greenhouses without injur- 
ing the leaves of Geraniums or any other plaats in the house, 
by placing a large basin of hot water on the stove. If the 
water is warm when placed in the house it will keep hot all 
night, a guinea stove keeping a small greenhouse at the 
present time at a temperature of 45° during the night without 
other heating. The stove used is Rippingille’s patent. My 
son has used the stove mentioned most successfully in warming 
his greenhouse this winter, which was full of Zonal Geraniums. 
—E. G. H. 
THE EARLY HISTORY OF THE APPLE. 
THERE éan be little doubt that the Romans on their arrival 
in Britain found Apples growing there ; for the Crab is indi- 
genous to the sol, and the Apple is but a cultivated Crab. 
Cesar makes no allusion to fruit. He describes the Britons as 
more a pastoral than an agricultural people. But some parts 
of the island, he says, were already fruitful in corn, especially, 
as it appears, in the districts inhabited by the Belge, who had 
recently crossed over from the Continent. (‘‘ De Bello Gallico,” 
y. 14.) Tacitus, who in his “ Life of Agricola” gives the most 
interesting and trustworthy account of ancient Britain which 
has come down to us, does not mention either Apples or Pears, 
but expressly says, ‘The soil is adapted for produce of all 
kinds except the Olive and the Vine, and other things (fruit 
trees) accustomed to grow in warmer countries, (and is) fruit- 
ful: they are quick in coming, slow in ripening, both effects 
arising from the same cause—the excessive dampness of 
