26 



JOUENAL OF EOBTICUIiTUKt: AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



[ July 13, 1871. 



decorated with flags of all natiosa, whicli was done under tlie personal 

 supervision and through the kindness of Mr. Liuch, dock-master at the 

 Victoria Docks. The liowers were arranged on tables down the centre 

 of the room, and had a very pretty appearance. For the embellish- 

 ment of the show, sume choice cut flowers were kindly cnntribnted by 

 Sii" Antonio Brady, Mr. Christopher Boyd, of Cheshunt, Mrs. Adams, 

 of Plaistow, and Mr. Bidder, of Mitcham. The competitors exhibited 

 some fine specimens of Petunias, Mignonette, Fuchsias, Calceolarias, 

 Mask Plants, and Geraniums. 



The attendance daring the afternoon was very satisfactory. The 

 proceedings were enlivened by the performances of the drum and fife 

 band, in connection with the Bishopsgate Schools. At half -past five 

 o'clock the prizes, thirty-one in number, and consisting of writing 

 cases, desks, books, pictures, games, etc., were distributed to the suc- 

 cessful competitors by the Eev. H. J. Bodily, president of the com- 

 mittee, who in the course of a few appropriate remarks to the children, 

 said there eeemed to be a determination on the part of the committee 

 to cany the show on for another year. He expressed the great regret 

 he felt at the absence of Mr. Boyd, as he knew how much tbat gentle- 

 man would have liked to have been present. Before his departure for 

 America he expressed his great sympathy with the scheme, and was 

 very desirous that it should succeed. Mr. Gatty,the Honorary Secre- 

 tai-y, also addressed the meeting, urging on the children the necessity 

 for cultivating cleanliness and neatness of growth in their plants. He 

 stated that upwards of £20 had been raised towards expenses, from 

 friends iu the country and a few local gentlemen, and after meeting 

 all demands there would be a substantial balance. This announce- 

 ment was received with applause. Each recipient of a prize was 

 loudly cheered on stepping forward, and a little fellow named Taylor 

 received a very large share of applause. 



Tea was now provided in the adjoiuing school-room, when about 

 one hundred sat down. After tea a social meeting was held, when 

 there was a large audience. Several glees were given by the choir of 

 the ii'on church ; Mr. aud Mrs. Everett gave some excellent specimens 

 of vocalisation ; pianoforte and vocal selections were performed by Miss 

 Adams aud Miss Brown, of Plaistow ; while some excellent recitations 

 were given by Mr. Hernaman, and one of the boys in the band. With 

 such attractions the proceedings could not fail to be pleasant. 



[I was remarking a Bhort time ago to a London city man, that 

 not only had profane swearing ceased among gentlemen, but it 

 was happily much less heard among the poor. He replied, " You 

 should hear bow they swear at the Docks. If you ask a man to 

 lend a hand and he is willing, he adds an oath to conviace you 

 that he is ; if angry and unwilling he swears at you ; ia work- 

 ing they swear, in idling they swear. Oh ! b >w they swear 

 at the Docks." I remarked with a shudder, " What an atmo- 

 sphere to bring up children in !" 



Such was my connecting idea with the Docks of London, and 

 when the foregoing report came into my hands, as I sat 

 here, in leafy west of England, amid the trees and flowers, and 

 the smell of the new-made hay, borne through my window, 

 mingling its sweetness with that of the Roses before me, and 

 when I read its title, " Children's Flower Show at Viatoria 

 Docks," I added, "An! and how they swear at the Docks!" 

 but having read the article bow miich better an association of 

 ideas shall I now have with those Docks, This is, indeed, the 

 age for giving advantages to children. What cheap, and pretty, 

 and interesting books are now issued for them, instead of the 

 dear, dull, didactic ones of our childhood ! Now, there is 

 education to raise the poorest, hospitals to nurse them if sick, 

 days in the country for town children, clergymen and ladies 

 working for them and with them, so many means aud appli- 

 ances are there to train them for future usefulness and re- 

 spectability. And I have the greatest possible pleasure in 

 recording yet another means of doing heart-good to the poor 

 town children — viz., the starting a children's flower show at 

 the Victoria Docks. If children cannot be brought up in the 

 country, the nest best thing is to endeavour to bring the 

 country to them, and this is most readily done by giving them 

 an opportunity of gratifying that taste for flowers which all 

 children have naturally. How strong an instinct or taste this 

 is! Eich little one as soon as it walks among the Daisies, 

 stops, and stoops to pluck them, gathering a posy of them in 

 its warm plump hand. I have sometimes thought that this 

 arose in part from the nearness of the children to the flowers ; 

 their eyes look straight and close into them, and the flowers 

 look straight up to them, the two are so near; whereas we, 

 tall grown-up folks, are high above them, and look not so 

 closely into the world of flower beauty at our feet. Bat the 

 poor town children cannot get to the flowers, they make at- 

 tempts and get hold of dying cast-away nosegays, and play 

 with, and pet, and caress them, sitting in their raga on door- 

 steps, up courts and back streets, but they seldom get near 

 flowers in their bloom and beauty. Surely, then, it was one 

 of man's best thoughts which prompted the good people at 



Victoria Docks to have a children's flower show in their infant 

 school-room. What pure pleasure was given to the little 

 Sarahs, and Ellens, and Fannys, and Williams, and Georges 

 who gained a prize, pleasure for their mothers too. What a 

 world of happiness to very many must that show have caused ! 

 I commend the account of it to our readers generally, but par- 

 ticularly to town clergy and other town dwellers. I hope this 

 good example may find many imitators, and so a pure taste will 

 be nourished, and it may be both heart and life raised to a higher 

 standard, for contact with purity always benefits, and nothing 

 on earth is so pure as its flowers, for truly and sweetly thus 

 sings of them John Eeble — 



" Relics ye are of EiJen's bowers, 



As pure, as fragrant, and as fair 

 As when ye crowned the sunshine hours 



Of happy wanderers there. 

 Fallen all beside — the world of life. 



How is it stained with fear and strife 1 

 What passions rage and glare ! 



But cheerful and unchanged the while 

 Your first and perfect form ye show. 



The same that won Eve's matron smile 

 In the world's opening glow." 



I wish all success to the good endeavoura of the good people 

 at Victoria Docks. — Wiltshire Eectob.] 



POTATO DISEASE. 



I HiVE a plot of ground 30 yards square, planted with 

 American Early Ease Potato, the greater part of which is very 

 much aSected with the Potato blight. I have dug-up several 

 of the affected roots and find the tubers very much diseased. I 

 have also some Bovinia and Ked-skinned Flourball, similarly 

 affected, but not to such an extent as the former. I beUeve 

 all the above to be American varieties. I have some of Pater- 

 son's Victoria planted alongside the Americans, and they are at 

 present free from disease. I believe the disease to be at 

 present confined to the Americans, as I have not beard of its 

 appearance amongst any of the English varieties, — T. J, 

 Harrison, Famden, Cheshire, 



ROYAL BOTANIC SOCIETY'S SHOW. 



July 12th and 13th. 



This has proved one of the hest of the shows held by the Society 

 this summer, although the weather on the first day was by no means 

 favourable ; but the absence of many of the large specimens seen at 

 the earlier shows is compensated for by a very good exhibition of fruit, 

 which is always an attraction at London shows, especially as there has 

 been of late so little of it. Of table decorations, epergnes, et hoc 

 genus oinne, there is a large display, exciting among the ladies a great 

 amount of interest, though it may be questioned whether such objects 

 would not be better relegated to a place by themselves, instead of 

 forming a part of the contents of the great tent. The attendance of 

 visitors was very good. 



Among the exhibitions of stove and greenhouse plants in flower, 

 those from Mr. Ward, gardener to F. G. Wilkins, Esq., Leyton, both 

 of twenty iu l"2-inch pots, and of sis in pots of any size, deserve par- 

 ticular notice, especially the latter, although they come second to a 

 collection from Mr. Baines, gardener to H. MichoUa, Esq. Mr. "Ward 

 has a splendid specimen of the richly coloured Erica Parmentieriana 

 rosea, and of Pleroma elegans one of the finest specimens we have 

 ever seen, being covered with its large violet flowers, which render it 

 so effective when " well done," which it seldom is. Allamanda gran- 

 diflora in the same collection is also fine ; Statice profnsa, very good 

 though beginning to pass ; and Erica obbata. Mr. Baines, however, 

 well deserved the first position, having a magnificent Erica obbata ; 

 Anthurium Scherzerianam, very fine, with twelve spathes, and in fruit ; 

 Allamanda Aubletii ; Hedaroma tulipiferum, very fine ; Dipladenia 

 amabilis, and Erica Parmentieriana rosea, splendid. Mr. Wheeler, 

 gardener to J. Philpott, Esq., has also good specimens, as also have 

 Messrs. Jackson & Son, of Kingston, and Mr. Kemp, gardener, Albary 

 Park, in the class for plants in 12-inch pots. 



Of fine-foliaged plants, Mr. Baines sends a magnificent pan of 

 Sarracenia purpurea, Phcenicophorium sechellarnm, Croton pictnm 

 large and beantifally coloured, and Theophasta imperialis. Messrs. 

 Barley and "VVright take the remaiuing prizes. 



In Orchids, of which there are but few, Messrs. "Ward, Wright, and 

 J. Wheeler among amateurs, and Messrs. Williams, Kollisson, and 

 Bull are the successful exhibitors. 



Palms and Exotic Ferns are freely contributed, the best coming 

 from Mr. Williams, of HoUoway, Messrs. Barley, Baines, Carr, and 

 Wright; we noticed among the Palms fine specimens of Latania bor- 

 bonica, Sabal Blackburniana, &c. 



Of British Ferns Messrs. Ivery, as usual, have a large assemblage. 



Tricolor Pelargoniums from Messrs. Stevens, Carter & Co., E. G. 

 Henderson, aud E. & A. Smith are, as usual, excellent ; aud among 



