102 



JOURNAL OF HOETICULTDSE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



[ Febrnarr ■), 1371. 



gli0i7 it yet. A plant of Mareohal Niel Rose against the sonth 

 front of the HaU, I am afraid is killed ; it was slightly protected. 

 — E. Sesdall, Bayiiingham Park, Hanworth, Norfolk. 



THE CHISWICK GAEDEN OF THE ROYAL 



HORTICULTUEAL SOCIETY. 

 On Tuesday nest the Royal Horticultural Society holds its 

 Annual General Meeting for the purpose of electing a new- 

 Council and office-bearers for the ensuing year, vrhen the 

 Fellows also will be made acquainted with the condition of the 

 Society, and will have an opportunity of discussing matters 

 with respect to its future management and arrangements. It 

 would be well for Fellows, therefore, who are interested in the 

 Society's welfare to attend the meeting and support the Council 

 in their good work, or, if necessary, to unsparingly condemn 

 it. From all outward appearances, as far as I have been able 

 to judge, I have good reason to anticipate a very favourable 

 report and a more pleasant balance-sheet than usual. I have 

 faith in the present Council and office-bearers that they will 

 not needlessly plunge the Society into debt ; in fact their special 

 mission appears to be to save the Society from the utter collapse 

 ■which seemed to be threatening it last year. I hope and believe 

 that the worst times of the Society are now past, and that the 

 present season, 1871, will be the commencement of a brighter 

 era for the Royal Horticultural Society than it has yet seen. 



There is something, tiowever, besides squaring accounts and 

 making two ends meet. The Society was incorporated for the 

 promotion of horticulture. This is the only legitimate aim 

 and object of the Society. For a time this end was faithfully 

 pursued, and immense have been the benefits derived by hor- 

 ticulture from the labours of the Horticultural Society in their 

 experimental garden at Chiswick. There is no need to enlarge 

 on this point, as Chiswick and the good it has done to horti- 

 culture are of world-wide renown. But can the same be said 

 of the doings of the pre-ent Society? What portion of the | 

 vast income of this great Society is being devoted to the pure 

 pursuit of horticulture ? I scarcely dare to ask. Yet I ask 

 this in the name of horticulture. As a horticulturist I do not 

 forget that at the last Annual Meeting of the Society one of 

 the most unwise proposals that ever emanated from a managing 

 body was brought forward — that relating to the giving-up of 

 our Chiswick Garden. Urgently as the sacrifice was advocated 

 as necessary for the very existence of the Society, happily 

 Chiswick yet remains to us — Chiswick yet remains for horti- 

 culture as the garden of the R:iyal Horticultural Society. It is 

 greatly altered, it is true— reduced in size, shorn of"its fine 

 arboretum and most of its ornamental portions ; but as now 

 heing remodelled it will prove far more useful as a great expe- 

 rimental garden than it has been for many years, if sufficient 

 funds only be allowed for that purpose. 



For the Society to give up Chiswick would be to give up all 

 that it possesses of the most useful. Chiswick has to contri- 

 bute even to the glorification of South Kensington. Without 

 Chiswick or some other equally suitable garden— and where 

 could that be found ?— South Kensington could not exist. All 

 the plants and flowers which are used for the decoration of 

 South Kensington are reared and nurtured at, and forwarded 

 from, the Chiswick Garden. Has it ever occurred to the 

 Council to inquire how much such a supply of plants and 

 flowers would cost, supposing they had to be procured elsewhere ? 

 I never see any mention of this as put down to the credit of 

 Chiswick, which in all fairness it should be. Quoting now 

 from official statements, I find that in the years 18G8 and 

 1869 there were each year sent up to Kensington over 30.000 

 plants, which at a very low estimate would represent a value 

 of £1200. That is what South Kensington would have to dis- 

 burse supposing they had to be purchased from any nursery- 

 man, and it is extremely donbtfal if anyone could be found to 

 supply the same quality of plants for anything like that sum. 

 Chiswick also provides, and supplies to the Fellows, every year 

 about 10,000 or 12,000 plants, besides many thousand cuttings 

 of fruit trees, &z,, from its magnificent collections, as well as 

 about 160,000 packets of seeds, which may be, as some of the 

 grumblers observe, of little account, yet by a great many they 

 are appreciated, and they represent a considerable amount o'f 

 value. These plants, cuttings, seeds, &c., which are supplied 

 to the Fellows represent a value of at least £500. In addition 

 to this Chiswick hands over in hard cash, as the receipts for 

 the sale of fruit, &o., an annual average of between £500 and 

 £600, which gives us, therefore, a yearly return of something 



like £2250 from the Chiswick Garden (and that, too, indepen- 

 dently of the value or cost of any experiments that may be 

 conducted, or reports and general information supplied to the 

 Fellows and to horticulture), equal to the total expenditure on 

 the entire garden. Chiswick, then, as I have shown, clearly 

 pays its way without the subscription money of a single Fellow : 

 and yet in the face of all this it was proposed to give Chiswick 

 up, as there were not sufficient funds to maintain it '. 



Chiswick remains — at least about 13 acres of it, which are 

 now being laid out in most admirable style by Mr. Barron. 

 When the works now in progress are completed, and the con- 

 templated arrangements carried out, Chiswick will be more 

 complete and better fitted as a great experimental horticultural 

 garden than it has been for some time. One of the most useful 

 works of the Horticultural Society was the publication of its 

 " Fruit Catalogue," and perhaps the best eolleclion of fruits 

 yet exists in the Chiswick garden. It is gratifying to leani 

 that this is to be maintained, and that the attention of the 

 Society is to be turned strongly in this direction in the classifi- 

 cation, description, and elimination, ol our fruits, in which there 

 is at present much confusion. The maintenance of a collec- 

 tion of our fruit trees true to name appears to me to be one of 

 the Society's most important duties. It is one of the bene^ 

 fits which are keenly appreciated by nurserymen, who can 

 depend upon getting their stock true. All fruits should bs 

 grown in the garden, proved, described, retained if worthy, if 

 not, discarded at once. I cannot enter here, however, into 

 what is the duty of the Society, or what might be done at 

 Chiswick. The Society has now in its Fruit, Floral, and Scien- 

 tific Committees such able bodies of men, that it only wants the 

 wherewith and it could be done. A great deal might be done, 

 yet it would be unwise to attempt too much. What is done at 

 all in the way of horticultural experiment ought to be done 

 well, and no restriction as to cost and care ought to interfere, 

 otherwise the trial may be abortive. Suflicient means and dis- 

 cretion ought to be allowed the manager to conduct in the best 

 possible manner whatever is attemfted, so that the desired 

 end may be obtained. Two-thirds of Chiswick having now 

 been given up, surely the one-third can be maintiined respect- 

 ably. I ask the Council for this in the name of hoit'culture ; 

 I ask them for this as trustees of all great horticultural in- 

 terests.- F.E.H.S. 



VERBENA CUTTINGS. 



I TAKE off cuttings or side shoots in the second week of July, 

 and, alter pinching out the bud or flower, insert them into pans 

 with sand, and apply warm water to half an inch above the 

 sand. I place them in a closed frame with no shading, and 

 take every precaution to apply three times a-day a little warm 

 water, if the sun is unobscured and bright, to prevent their 

 drooping. In nine days the pans will be filled with roots. 

 When this is the case I immediately proceed to pot them cfi, 

 putting five in a 3-inch pot, and replace them in the same 

 frame as before, shading and keeping them close for three days. 

 I then increase the amount of air and decrease the .'hading, 

 not forgetting with my thumb and finger to stop or pinch to 

 every third joint. I well harden them off before winter. In 

 this way I never fail to secure a good supply of Verbenas. I 

 have at present on the average thirty-five cuttings from each 

 five cuttings of last autumn in the 3-inch pots. — J. P. 



[There are many ways of attaining the same object, but we 

 do not see the particular propriety of using warm water to- 

 cuttings in a cold pit in Jnly ; we would rather wait a few days 

 longer for the rooting. As to the potting afterwards there can 

 be no objection, quite the reverse ; but many must have these 

 plants in abundance, and yet not find room for the potting. 

 Tho writer, to whose statement you allude, has had no trouble 

 with Verbenas, either with or without potling, and therefore 

 your plan, however successful, does not throw any light on the 

 cause of the disease. We are reminded of the time when the 

 black-spot leprosy appeared in many places among Calceolarias. 

 There were numerous statements as to how these plants were 

 managed successfully, and many prided themselves on their 

 own skill and treatment until the disease came upon them, 

 and they were forced to part altogether with some favourite 

 varieties. Just so in the case of the Cucumber disease — some 

 of the best Cucumber-growers made light of it ; while others 

 equally distinguished gave us the epitome of their practice, 

 with the side hint that if such practice were closely followed 

 there would be nothing seen of the disease. Bat as if to 

 teach ns how little we know, we may state that some of these 



