July 20, 1871. ] 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



47 



■which you cannot get a stock of at once without expense. If you have 

 none get an odd plant or some seeds of each. 



I think, too, if you had your beds looldnff gayer in spring yonr em- 

 ployers would not be so anxious to start bedding-out so early ; and, 

 though I do not wish to touch upon this subject, I may remark by the 

 way, that in small places particularly, you would have more time to 

 collect your stock of plants together and to get them of a more uniform 

 size, which is a very important matter in bedding-out. 



A very effective plant I omitted to mention is Omphalodea verna ; I 

 noticed some grand clumps of it at Heslington Hall in early spring, of 

 a much brighter blue than the Forget me-not. Ah! I think I have 

 not mentioned that before ; but if ten thousand more beautiful plants 

 bloom at the same time, we cannot do without that. Shakespeare 

 says, " What's in a name." Who dares to say there is nothing in the 

 name of this Forget-me-not ! How many thousands of these flowers 

 are annually sent on their mieaion of love ! — more than the Postmaster- 

 General knows of — they tell their own tale. It is an old flower, and 

 at is an old tale, and I venture to say both will be in existence as loDg 

 as this world lasts. Will your Gold and Bronze Geraniums last so 

 long? 



Now, take as much care about your strain of Wallflowers, &c,, 

 as you do about your Primula and Cineraria ; grow the other spring 

 flowers as assidaously as you do your Gerauiums and your Verbenas ; 

 study their arrangement as tastefully as you do your bedding-out 

 plants, and I most unhesitatingly assert that before long you will 

 realise a display for three or four months in early spring little, if 

 anything, inferior to your best show in summer. 



In conclusion, I have no doubt to many of you, perhaps to most of 

 you, all I have said is like an old song. You know books are not in a 

 general way written for schoolmasters, though they may refresh their 

 memory from them. A parson does not expect to reclaim a whole 

 •congregation ; he will tell you if he has done one good he has suc- 

 ceeded in his mission, and allow me to add, if any one remark I have 

 made, or any hint I have thrown out be of the slightest service to any- 

 lOne, my time will not have been spent in vain. 



COVENT GARDEN MOKOPOLISTS. 



What we require to open the eyes of both buyers and sellers 

 of fruit in the London market is positive information as to the 

 prices paid and received for fruit, &c., at certain dates. I have 

 given the price charged in Covent Garden in May. A gentle- 

 man, whose letter I enclose, sends me a list of prices he re- 

 •ceived. Tou will see he says for very superior fruit carried by 

 hand he received in March 16s. a-pound ; in April Ss., except 

 -once, when he obtained 12s, ; in May Gs. to 7s. I think you 

 will find, judging from information I receive, that producers 

 who get about one-fourth of the retail price are not considered 

 &adly paid. It is when they get lees than this that they begin 

 4o grumble. — J. B, Peakson, Chilwell. 



"July 7th, 1S71. 



" Dear Sir, — Having read your article on * Covent Garden Mono- 

 polists,' and being, like yourself, disgusted with the prices allowed to 

 4;he producer, I have sent you a copy of the account for forced Straw- 

 berries which I have sent to what is supposed to be salesman Al. The 

 •Jrnit was fine, and in market two hours after having been picked, as I 

 sent my man up with each lot required. I also give the price in the 

 main avenue of the market each morning. The fruit not being so 

 fine as mine, and partly stale, I fully expected to see half these prices 

 in my return. Those eutered as seconds were nothing but refuse, for 

 which I have received more than half the price of fine fruit. I am 

 an amateur, and not depending on the produce. How those get on 

 who have to make a living by forcing I cannot tell. I have only been 

 at it two years, and have had good crops, but this has nearly given me 

 a sickener. No doubt there are hundreds like myself who will be 

 greatly obliged if this evil can be removed, and a fair price allowed to 

 4he producer. — I remain, &c., George Lee." 



'* The following is the statement of prices :" — 



1871. My price. Price in the 



Avenue. 



March 29 .... 10 ozs. beat .... Is. per oz Ss. per oz. 



April 1 1 lb. best .... Is. per oz. 



M 3 4 lbs. best .... 12s. per lb 44s. per lb. 



,* 5 .... 2i lbs. best .... 8». per lb S6». per lb. 



„ 10 .... 5 lbs. best .... 8s. per lb. . . ... 82s, per lb. 



1 lb. small .... 43. per lb. 



1) 12 .... li lb. best .... Ss.perlb 82s. per lb. 



i lb. seconds 25. per lb. 



„ 17 .... 2| lbs. best .... 8s. per lb 208. per lb. 



„ 24 .... 4 lbs. best .... Ss.perlb.) 19, tr.9n« 



8i lbs. best .... Ss.perlb.} *•" 12s. to 208. 



1 lb. small .... 5s. per lb. 



May i 3 lbs. best 6s. per lb 12s. to 20», 



4i lbs. best .... 7s.perlb.>^ [Fortheselots 



J 1 did not flet 

 12 .... 3 IbB. beat 7.,;,»rih;i " ' " ' 1 P^es in the 



17 



J lb. small 

 3 lbs. best 

 3 lbs. best 

 IJ lb. best 



S3, per lb, 

 6«. per lb. 

 73. per lb. 

 7». per lb. 



ments of a similar character, which, by means of the powerful 

 and wide-spread agency of The Journal of Horticdltuee, 

 shall challenge and fix the attention of all persons interested 

 in such matters, or who are desirous to occasionally dispose of 

 their snpetflaoua garden produce. As this would, doubtless, 

 be a very costly and speculative undertaking, could not some- 

 thing be done by the Eoyal Horticultural Society ? 



So many gentlemen now dispose of the choicest productions 

 of their gardens, that surely the Society would not consider it 

 derogatory to its dignity to afford them and others greater 

 facilities for doing so than now exist. 



Do not the permanent exhibitions of horticultural implements 

 in the arcades at South Kensington, and the nurserymen's 

 stands in the International Exhibition, point the way? If 

 some such plan were adopted I think it should not be confined 

 to the Fellows of the Society, but garden produce of a superior 

 quality should be received from all, as, otherwise, it might prove 

 hurtful to the market gardeners. 



Moreover, for such a plan to be successful there must be as 

 full and constant a supply as the nature of the season will 

 admit of, so that purchasers when going to the market might 

 always be able to obtain what they wanted. 



If a suitable building were provided, good taste would pro- 

 duce such an arrangement of the goods oSered for sale as 

 would always form an attractive sight. We should thus have a 

 market without the filth or clamour of Covent Garden ; for, if 

 eostermongers were admitted, both they and greengrocers 

 should, I think, be compelled to make their purchases and 

 remove them by a stated hour every morning, after which no 

 wholesale business should be done. Respectable persons would 

 thus be able to inspect the goods, and make purchases, free 

 from annoyance, or to enjoy a stroll through what must be a 

 pretty and animated scene. — Edwaed Luokhdbst. 



AvcDue. 



One's first idea in connection with an attempt to quash 

 such a monopoly is to endeavour to start one or more establish- 



VILLAGE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETIES. 



[We are so frequently asked to furnish approved rules for 

 these societies, that we reprint those which follow. They were 

 the result of the long and successful experience of the late 

 Eev. Abner Brown, founder and manager of the prosperous 

 " Village Horticultural Society," at Pytchley, Northampton- 

 shire. — Eds.] 



Why should not thousands of similar villages have their 

 little societies ? Most parishes contain some active young 

 people who take delight in their gardens, and can afford a 

 day or two now and then, and a few shillings yearly (a very 

 few are needed) to promote such innocent and healthful en- 

 joyment, such advantageous means of good, to themselves and 

 others ? 



It is evident that the rules suited to one locality will usually 

 require some modification to adapt them to another. But it 

 such societies are fully to exert the beneficial influence of which 

 they are capable, a few broad and fundamental principles, such 

 as the following, must not be overlooked, whatever be the minor 

 details adopted. 



The circle of neighbourhood should be so restricted, as that 

 each member may know with whom he will probably have to 

 compete, and that the distance of the show-room from each 

 cottage member's home will not require him to lose any part of 

 his day's work in bringing his specimens, or seeing the show. 

 The expressions, " our parish," — " our village," — comprise so 

 many old-English and home ideas, that the expression "our 

 society," may advantageously be made to correspond with 

 them. Whatever be the limits fixed they should be steadily 

 adhered to ; for the advantage of doing so will eventually 

 overbalance any temporary advantage resulting from breaking 

 through them. 



The exhibitors and specimens should be classified, in order 

 that those who have small or poor gardens should not feel suc- 

 cess hopeless, by being required to compete with such as have 

 necessarily much better means of gardening. By classification, 

 also, an opening is made for members who have no other gar- 

 den than a cottage window for a few flower-pots, and even for 

 school-children, who have nothing beyond the wild flowers from 

 the lanes and hedges. 



In order to prevent general discouragement, professional 

 gardeners who may be members should be restricted as to the 

 number and amount of their prizes. Their prizes should be 

 for such specimens as require unusual skill and opportunity to 

 bring to excellence, and for which, therefore, there will be 

 necessarily few competitors. The profits of such members 



