148 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER, 



[ August 22, 1872. 



iron espalier trainers, and a very useful iron stile called a 

 ladies' stile,, which moved on pivots sideways to allow a person 

 to pass, and then closed again after passing. The glass in 

 the house was fixed in a special manner. The mode of con- 

 struction consists in using specially rolled channelled iron 

 rafters, on which the side edges of the glass are laid, the squares 

 overlapping each other at their ends. Along the rafters over 

 the edges of the glass, iron cover plates are fixed in lengths 

 corresponding with the panes, with flanges or tails to hold up 

 the glass, screw pins with brass nuts retaining them in position. 

 By this arrangement the glass is securely kept in place without 

 being nipped upon the iron, so that either the iron framework 

 or the glass is free to move under the influence of variations in 

 temperature, whilst the channelled rafters carry to the eaves- 

 gutter any rain which may get under the cover-plates and 

 effectually prevent the possibility of its dropping into the house. 

 Stands 70, 71, 72, and 73 were occupied by collections of 

 plants, Conifers, &c, exhibited by Mr. Smith, of "Worcester; 

 Dickson, of Chester; and Vertegans, of Edgbaston. 



Stand 74. — Messrs. Carter exhibited their large collection of 

 seeds, roots, &c. 



Stand 74a, contained a veryuseful collection of charcoal filters 

 of all sizes, exhibited by Mr. Busse, of Manchester, and which 

 will be found of great service wherever the water for the use of 

 the house is liable to be contaminated by any impurities, and 

 we can strongly recommend them to the use of paterfamilias 

 or rnater. 



In stand No. 75, Mr. Unite exhibited a collection of small 

 tents, flexible tarpaulins, rope, and cordage, all of good quality. 

 Stand 76 we have already described at stand 34. In 76a were a 

 collection of garden-pots. 77. Mr. Weeks exhibited his boilers 

 and models of boilers ; and 78 was another boiler by Mr. Clarke ; 

 and 79 contained Mr. Rendle's exhibits, which we have already 

 noticed. Stand 80 contained models of ash-screening closets, 

 &e. From Messrs. Bamford, Stand 81, came garden engines, 

 water-barrows, &c. 



In Stand 82, Phipps & Co., Gold Street, Northampton, ex- 

 hibited rustic flower vases, garden seats, arm chairs, &c, and 

 some of the other accessories of the croquet lawn. Stand 83, 

 Messrs. Hill & Smith, Dudley, showed ornamental flower stands, 

 hanging flower-baskets, &c; Stand 85, Leicester vases, seats, 

 tables, &c. In Stand 88, Mr. Inman, Rose Bank, Stretford, Man- 

 chester, exhibited a variety of rustic garden houses, rustic tables, 

 vases, seats, stools, &c, 



Mr. Harris, Bristol Street, Birmingham, in Stand 89, had a 

 very good assortment of garden implements. We could have 

 wished that, as Birmingham is the centre of the hardware trade, 

 there had been a greater variety of ordinary garden tools shown, 

 as rakes, spades, trowels, forks, &c, as it struck us, and we have 

 little doubt others as well, that there was, as a rule, a great 

 deficiency in these smaller useful articles. Stand No. 90 was 

 occupied chiefly with wirework ; and in Stand No. 91 was one 

 of the most beautiful collections in the Show of fountains, vases, 

 &c, from Mr. Andrew Handyside, of Derby. 



This concludes our general summary of the exhibits, and we 

 shall conclude another week with a review of the different boilers 

 exhibited at the Show, which we have hitherto deferred, hoping 

 that the full report of the trial of boilers at the Show would be 

 published, but it seems unnecessary to wait any longer. Al- 

 though we cannot but regret that the full report has not been 

 given to the public, yet we must also raise our protest against 

 the manner in which some of the disappointed exhibitors have 

 tried to throw discredit on the whole trial. It was a very thank- 

 less oflice to act as judge, but when some of the exhibitors 

 have been defeated, it is very unjust, and we might add un- 

 English, to accuse three judges who have, no doubt, done their 

 best to give a fair trial to all, of combining together to favour a 

 particular maker. If judges are to render themselves liable to 

 accusations of this kind, it will soon be difficult to get persons 

 to act at all. 



BOILER TRIALS AT BIRMINGHAM. 

 At a meeting of competitors in the trial of boilers at Bir- 

 mingham, held at Kettlewell's Rooms, Covent Garden, on the 

 14th inst., the following protest was unanimously agreed to : — 

 To the Local Committee of the Royal Horticultural 



Society's Meeting held at Birmingham, June, 1S72. 



Protest of the competitors at the late trial of boilers at the 



Lower Grounds, Aston, Birmingham, against the decision of 



the Judges, by which they assigned the gold medal to Messrs. 



Hartley & Sugden, of Halifax, against the evidence and in 



violation of the regulations for the conduct of the trials, 



which award, therefore, the undersigned believe to have been 



improperly made, and which should, therefore, in their 



opinion, be withdrawn. The undersigned base their protest 



upon the following facts : — , 



1. The boiler to which the medal was assigned was entered in 



the catalogue as being of the value of £15 10s., whereas the true 



value was, as they, supported by the opinion of other boiler 



makers, believe, double that amount ; and thus the regulations 

 of the Committee were violated, and the boiler ought to have 

 been excluded from competition ; in proof of which they refer 

 to the Witley Court boiler, very similar in construction, and 

 only about 6 inches longer, and which was sold, with fittings 

 complete, for £54. This latter boiler was awarded a silver 

 medal by the same Judges. ^Zt 



2. Messrs. Hartley & Sugden's boiler was entered for 1000 feet 

 of piping, but was in the first instance tried with only 500 feet, 

 and was after this again attempted to be tried with the same 

 length of piping, but upon the remonstrance of some of the 

 competitors the trial was discontinued, and it was afterwards 

 tried for 1000 feet. The size of this boiler was excessive for the> 

 quantity of pipe (500 feet) with which it was tested, and there- 

 fore any result obtained by such trial was unfair. 



3. The first trial of this boiler, though so large, and set with, 

 the greatest care, under the immediate and careful supervision 

 of Mr. Sugden, of the firm of Hartley & Sugden, by the person, 

 in the immediate employment of the Judges for the manage- 

 ment of the trials (which person supplied the fuel, took the- 

 management of the fire, and, indeed, conducted the trial through- 

 out), was yet a palpable failure, as it failed to preserve a fire and 

 proper heat during the night, and the fire was found to b e out 

 and the pipes cold in the morning. 



4. In the judgment of the competitors this failure, after sc- 

 full and complete a trial under such highly favourable circum- 

 stances, ought to have entirely disqualified the boiler in question 

 from further competition. 



5. After the above failure, the boiler was allowed to be reset 

 with extended masonry, new arrangement of doors, flue frames, 

 and dead plates, and thus made really into a different boiler from 

 the one originally entered for competition ; and, contrary to 

 custom in similar cases, and contrary to the expectation of the 

 other competitors, this new, or renovated, altered, and improved 

 boiler, was allowed to be tried a second and a third time, and 

 thus secured the medal, the whole of the new fittings used being: 

 supplied by Mr. Hassall, one of the Judges. 



6. Application for a second trial, made by two at least of the 

 competitors (Messrs. Cannell and Deards), owing to the inclemency 

 of the weather, and under circumstances much more clearly 

 justifying a concession, if such were allowable at all after a full 

 and complete trial of any boiler, was refused by the Judges, and 

 therefore ought not to have been granted to Messrs. Hartley 

 and Sugden. 



7. "Whilst desirous of avoiding any imputation of wrong 

 motives or conduct, the competitors cannot divest themselves 

 of the conviction that there was shown to Messrs. Hartley and 

 Sugden a great amount of partiality by the Judges, and that those- 

 gentlemen were in their third trial supplied with fuel of a much 

 superior character to that supplied to the other competitors. 



8. The undersigned believe that Messrs. Hartley & Sugden 

 failed to show the essential qualities of a boiler calculated to 

 command a general sale or use, inasmuch as it was evident to 

 them the boiler would, in order to keep up a regular and uniform 

 heat in the required quantity of pipe, demand constant and unre- 

 mitting attention during the day, and that it could not with any 

 safety or security be left for a long winter's night without atten- 

 tion, or without the certainty of being found, in the morning 

 with the fire out and the pipes cold, as the competitors believe 

 was the case in most, if not all, the trials made with this boiler- 



9. The boiler is of too costly a construction to be generally 

 useful, and therefore does not meet the requirements of horti- 

 culturists, or the conditions of the trial. 



10. The competitors consider that no person should be allowed 

 to judge an article or articles of which he is a seller. In this 

 instance such, however, was the ease, Mr-. Hassall, one of the 

 Judges, being a dealer in the boilers manufactured by Messrs. 

 Hartley & Sugden; this alone should disqualify them for com- 

 peting for a prize. 



11. That after the three trials they, Messrs. Hartley and 

 Sugden, did not gain the points which are the most essential in 

 a good hot-water boiler, the water in the pipes being cold, and 

 the fire out (or nearly so), on examination at the unsealing in 

 the morning. 



12. That no report has yet been published, although the trials 

 terminated six weeks ago, and repeated applications have been 

 made by the competitors. (Signed) 



Henry Cannell, Chairman. 

 Frederick John Mee. 

 T. H. P. Dennis & Co. 

 B. Harlow. 



Samuel Deards. 

 Thos. Green & Son. 

 Edwin Lumby. 



Fine Llliuji auratum. — We have here a very fine specimen 

 of Lilium auratum ; it was one bulb shifted on, and is now in 

 a 20-inch pot. Nurserymen and gardeners calling here tell me 

 they have not seen anything approaching it in size. Height 

 9 feet, number of blooms 1S5 ; the largest flowers 11 inches in 

 diameter. There are six strong stems — two with twenty-two 

 flowers a-piece — and several smaller stems. In 1870 there were 



