28 



JOUENAL OF HOETICULTUBE AND COTTAGE GAEDENEE. 



[ Jaly 13, ISn. 



calty in growing fair plants. When long enongh they must be 

 pegged down, and every after-shoot must be kept down by 

 means of pegs, or ties of Japan flax. The Balsam is even 

 more brittle than the young shoots of Vines, and the trainer 

 must exercise considerable caution in tying or pegging. Some 

 people feel satisfied with an 8-inoh pot for their largest plant, 

 and we believe this to be the most economical and most 

 useful system. Very nice plants, loaded with bloom, can be 

 grown in 8-inch pots with very little trouble; but to grow speci- 

 mens is a very difierent consideration — an 11 or 12-inch pot 

 will grow a specimen Si feet in diameter, and this we consider 

 a fair specimen. If plunged in a spent hotbed, with the sashes 

 tilted to admit as much air as possible, and every bloom picked 

 off as it appears, they will grow like WUlows ; and when the 

 roots have thoroughly searched through the soil and exhausted 

 it, they will stand any reasonable amount of feeding. The 

 best Balsams we ever saw grown were at Culleu House by 

 Mr. Milue in 1868 ; and being one of Mr. MUne's assistants, 

 we had the advantage of seeing their treatment. The plants 

 alluded to were trained as we generally see show Pelargoniums. 

 A treUis was formed of green-painted sticks and dark cord, so 

 that every shoot could be pulled down by means of soft flax 

 ties, at the same time hidden from the eye. By the month of 

 August the plants were all that could be desired ; certainly 

 their appearance in the show-room at Cullen could not but 

 satisfy Mr. Milne for all his trouble as regards the training. 

 Will you, Mr. Editor, or any of your correspondents, be good 

 enough to state which is the proper mode of training? We 

 saw Balsams at different shows in Lancashire last summer 

 trained as Chrysanthemums are in Scotland, and we think the 

 system highly objectionable, as they look unsightly unless they 

 are shouldered up by a Geranium or two to hide their bare legs. 

 — Wir. Hinds, Childwall Lodge, Liverpool. — {T]ie Gardener.) 



THE NIGHT-BLOOTHNG CEREUS. 



Of this, CereuB grandiflorus, there is one large old plant here 

 which I have heard several gardeners and gentlemen ssy is the 

 largest of its kind in England. It flowers here every year, 

 and in 1869 there were 131 flowers opened from May 29th to 

 .Tune 28tb, and as many as sixty-seven open in one night. 

 This year it has just finished blooming ; the greatest number 

 open at one time being thirty-one, when we had the plant pho- 

 tographed by the magnesium light. The size of the plant is 

 as follows — 5i feet high, 9 feet across, and li foot through. 

 It is trained on a strong iron trellis, and every year's fresh 

 growth is laid on the top and closely tied-in on the sides. — 

 E. Mattlan'd, Pendyffnjn Gardens, Conway. 



[This is the finest specimen bloomed in this country of which 

 we have any information. We have more than once been taken 

 to see, by lantern light, one or two blooms on small specimens. 

 The finest we ever saw was trained over the trellised arcade 

 admitting from the Ganges to the house of the Curator of the 

 Botanic Gardens at Calcutta. Its hundreds of blooms and the 

 fire-flies darting among them are vividly remembered. — Ens.] 



WINDOW GAEDENING. 



We are glad to see that societies for tlie encouragement of tius very 

 desirable object continue to find promoters in the metropolis. Lately 

 an exhibition of plants was held in the front court of the Eoyal 

 Hospital, under the auspices of a Society lately formed in Upper 

 Chelsea, under the presidency of Lord Cadogan, and the vice-pre- 

 sidency of the parochial clergy. In spite of the prevalence of adverse 

 •weather, the plants which had been registered sis weeks previously, 

 did credit to their owners, and prizes were awarded to about sixty 

 competitors. The noble President, who distributed these prizes, had 

 a hmd word of encouragement both for successful and unsuccessful 

 exhibitors. A band of the corps of commissionaires played a selection 

 of popular music during the afternoon. The result of this first 

 attempt to promote window gardening in ih'^. parish was very satis- 

 factory, and gave abundant promise of greater success in the future. 



Lord Shaftesbury presided over a meeting in the well-tnown Dean's- 

 yard, "Westminster Abbey, for the promotion of window gardening, a 

 purpose supported by the Lord Chancellor, the Dean of Westmioster, 

 Canon Conway, and others of the clergy and laity of the surrounding 

 districts. A spacious tent in the enclosm*e held the flower show, the 

 result of the spring and summer cultivation by dwellers in the neigh- 

 bouring noois and comers. Of three hundred exhibitors, sixty were 

 awarded prizes, which were duly distributed before a very fashionable 

 assembly to the winners, who were chiefly of the lower class in the 

 labouring population. Lord Shaftesbury, after giving all the prizes 

 awarded, told the other exhibitors, amid great cheering, that though 

 they had not won prizes, yet it had been determined to give them some 



' crumbs of comfort "' in adding something for each. He assured 

 them, however, that it was well to begin in most things with a failure^ 

 for success in starting made people " priggish " and " cocky,'' while a 

 breakdown often led to renewed effort and to a more certain and con- 

 tinuous success. He then spoke of the benefits arising to the poor 

 and lowly from the cultivation of flowers, even though it might be in a 

 tiuy pot on a narrow ledge. In that cnlrivation the dullest mind was- 

 expanded, for the man, woman, or child who cultivated a flower saw 

 the benefit of air, water, and light to the growing plant, and the 

 blooms which followed care, and they naturally would have their 

 thoughts directed to the Providence who bestowed all these gifts on 

 His creatures, and to the advantages of ventUation and cleanliness. 

 He dwelt particularly upon the existing need for some of the exhibi- 

 tors and dwellers in these comers to use water,'with soap, on them- 

 selves — an admonition not uncalled for as regarded some present. 

 After a jesting comment on the combination of pleasant names, as- 

 Kosemary, Sweet Apple, Cherry Tree, and Paradise, with most un- 

 pleasant places in London, he congratulated Ms old friend, Old Pye 

 Street, upon taking prizes at this Show, and said that whatever 

 education the London School Board decided upon giving the street 

 Arabs, he should not be satisfied unless a knowledge of Nature's 

 beauties was imparted, and with this they would find sermons in 

 bubbling brooks, open books in the green fields, and God in every- 

 thing. The Dean of "Westminster and Canon Conway spoke, and the 

 meeting concluded with cheers for the noble Chairman and for tha 

 Dean, who is the President of the Society. 



SHOULD ONE EXHIBITOR RECEIVE ALL 

 THE PRIZES? 



At the leading exhibitions there are, now, restrictions in th& 

 size of pots in large collections of plants, so as to allow young 

 exhibitors a chance for competing, and I think the time is 

 opportune for drawing attention to a practice that prevails at 

 small local exhibitions, and which in my opinion equally needs 

 reforming. The question I would like to ask and see discussed 

 in your columns is this — Is it fair, or not, that an exhibitor 

 should be allowed to carry off all the prizes in a single class ? 

 The practice prevails in this locality as well as in others, and 

 what I am surprised at is, that in the open classes or in collec- 

 tions of plants or fruits it is disallowed, but with single speci- 

 mens and single dishes of fruit or vegetables it is the rule. Why 

 the line is drawn I cannot understand. One reason 1 have 

 heard urged is, tbat better exhibitions are obtained by per- 

 mitting this ; but I greatly doubt if such is the case, as in small 

 districts it is well known where there is an exhibitor who excels 

 in any particular thing, and his productions in that class are 

 soon left to compete amongst themselves. It may be the right 

 way to get a good exhibition, but it is not tha right way to 

 create a competition. I always understood that the first and 

 proper aim of flower shows is the advancement of horticul- 

 ture, by causing an emulation amongst gardeners or amateurs, 

 and when an exhibitor showed the best he had, and took the 

 first prize, it showed his superior skiU ; he should then be con- 

 tent with the honour he achieved, and allow the next best 

 exhibitors to take the other prizes. It would appear as if the 

 relative merits of the exhibitions are not considered at all 

 according to this rule, that one might bring all his produce in 

 any class, stage it in single specimens or dishes, and let tho 

 judges pick out which they might think proper, thus setting up^ 

 his own produce to compete against itself. 



My motive in bringing this question forward is entirely in 

 the interest of fair play to small growers. I believe that many 

 are deterred from exhibiting, knowing that they have no chance 

 with a few of the local lions who go in and devour the lion's 

 share, while they must stand back aghast until the noble ani- 

 mal is overgorged ; then they may go in and pick up a few 

 crumbs here and there. 01 course there is no blame attached 

 to the exhibitors ; they receive the schedule, and are bound to 

 accept its conditions, right or wrong. I have conversed with 

 several gardeners on the subject, and nearly all were of my 

 opinion. It is the committees who draw up the schedules to 

 whom we must look for reformation ; all that the exhibitors 

 can do is to protest against such conditions. I shall be glad to 

 see the matter discussed. — A Xoeket. 



ON THE PROTECTION OF FRUIT TREES 



FROM LATE FROST. 



A VEF.T large number of gardeners deem protection of some 



sort necessary ; a few declare against protective measures in 



any degree, and not very fairly comparing small things with 



great, class them in the same category with corn laws and pro- 



