September 7, 1912. 



THE GARDENERS' MAGAZINE. 



681 



ginian tobacco, but Mr. Brandon is culti- 

 vating some thirty other varieties at the 

 request of a member of the Development 

 Commission. With reference to the^^oom- 

 mercial side of tobacco culture, Mr. Bran- 

 don is of the opinion that a yield of be- 

 tween 1,500 and 1,600 lbs. per acre would 

 pay well. Last year he obtained 800 lbs. 

 per a<?re, and sold the crop to a firm of 

 tobacco manufacturers, who have offered 



to purchase the whole of the crop produced 

 this year. 



Horticulture in MancFiester. 



—Wo are pleased to learn from the Man- 

 chester Courier'' that a movement is on 

 foot for the purpose of bringing about a 

 irevival dn horticulture in the district of 

 which Manchester is the centre, and to 

 make the Royal Botanical and Horticul- 

 tural Society of iManchestor even more 

 famous than it was in its palmiest days. 

 Time was when the city of Manchester was 

 one of the chief centres of horticultural ac- 

 tivities, and its exhibitions such as to com- 

 mand the attention and evoke the admira- 

 tion of all who were interested in competi- 

 tivie gatherings. Many years have elapsed 

 since the Whitsun exhibitions of the society 

 were anticipated with not less iiiterest than 

 are these annually held in the gardens of 

 the Inner Templte, and for a considerable 

 period but little has been done at Old 

 Tr afford of direct horticultural interest. 

 Now we are told " The society is about to 

 place the district whtere it should be in the 

 matter of holding a great horticultural 

 show with others for the season, and with 

 the -wide co-operation and the enlistment 

 of many interests, is about to take a desir- 

 able lead in that dir*ection, and assume its 

 proper position." We trust this promise 

 may be fulfilled in the interests both of the 

 city and the society, for it appears to us 

 little short of lamentable that a great and 

 wealthy c'entre of industfi'ial activity such 

 as Manchester unquestionably is should bo 

 doing nothing beyond its public parks to 

 encourage a taste for flowers among those 

 who reside within its boundaries. Accord- 

 ing to our contemporary, Tliere are few 

 ar'eas more capable alone of supporting a 

 vast display of fruits, plants, flowers, and 

 produce, few with demesnes richer in glass- 

 houses, few -with more skilled cultivators of 

 the best of all things. With such a nucleus 

 to attract, the kingdom would come and 

 compete on a level." There is no occasion for 

 questioning these statements, but we do not 

 attach much importance to the fact that 

 the society has expended £100,000 in the 

 encouragement of horticulture. If the so- 

 ciety is once more to take a leading position 

 among the horticultural organisations of 

 the country and place the district 'Svhere 

 it should be in matters horticultural, but 

 little reliance must be placed' upon the tra- 

 ditions of the past. What wnll be found 

 necessary to ensure success is a scheme of 

 work, not based upon what was done during 

 the second half of the last <'(Miturv, but fo 

 prepared as to fully meet preseiit-dav re- 

 quirements. Procedure on the old linos is 

 not likely to result in so Irgli :i d('(i;r'o(^ of 

 success as could be desirod : hut sucli 

 change in the constitution as would eiiab'o 

 it to become a two-county society (i.e., for 

 Lancashire and Cheshire), and thus ex- 

 tend its operations over a wide area, 

 could hardly fail to obtain the sup- 

 port necessary for carrying out useful 

 work on a large scale. Among other 

 work that may be undertaken with advan- 

 tage is the provision of a Central Horticul- 

 tural Hall for the two counties and a good 

 library of works on gardening. Tt may not 

 be possible to provide a- hall and library at 

 once, but these are objects that should be 



aimed at fro.n the first. 



SHREWSBURY SHOW ON THE 



SECOND DAY. 



A Few Thing^s Seen and Heard. 



The International Show in London, of 

 course, stands out as the leading horticul- 

 tural event of the year, but we only have 

 Internationals at rare intervals, and 

 Shrewsbury comes every year, a grand 

 show, immense crowds, and enthusiasm 

 that is unequalled hi the country. You 

 may tell the annual visitor to Shrewsbury 

 Show, who goes as regularly as he spends 

 his holiday week at Blackpool, that Shrews- 

 bury is the best show out of London, but 

 he doesn't believe you, for he asserts, in 

 face of all and any argument, that London 

 IS not in it, and Shrewsbury Show is the 

 best in the country. In some respects I 

 am inclined to agree with him. 



On the first day Shrewsbury is not unlike 

 a metropolitan exhibition. There nre 

 judges who are familiar at London show.s 

 and I think Shrewsbury might change its 

 judges a bit more frequently witliout cast- 

 ing any reflecti on on their ability, because 

 changes of this kind are always good- 

 there are the reporters, the exhibitors in 

 force, the officials, and all the big-wigs 

 connected with this wonderful society who 

 attend en the first day. All these good folk 

 predominate on the opening day, but on the 

 second they seem to have vanished from 

 the scene, and the show becomes the pro- 

 perty of the cheap tripper. 



By a means of its own, the Shrewsbury 

 Committee has persuaded railway com- 

 panies to run the cheapest of excursions 

 from all parts of the country, and early 

 on Thursday morning the people come in, 

 a happy^ rollicking crowd, some of whom 

 have travelled a hundred miles or more with 

 fourteen in the carriage, and they protest 

 that they have enjoyed the experience. 

 The Shrewsbury crowd seems to come from 

 everywhere. They are mostly working folk 

 out for the day, and if you listen you hear 

 the broad dialects of the North and Mid- 

 land shires, and rub shoulders with the 

 cotton spinner from Lancashire, the cutler 

 from Sheffield, the potter from Hanley, the 

 farm lal>ourer from Salop, and the collier 

 from Wales, and ten to one most of tliom 

 have been to Shrewsbury many times 

 before. — — 



They haven't all the same object in view, 

 and one man in the carriage in which I 



travelled informed me that he was going 

 to hear the music, and if anybody wanted 

 to find him during the day, he would not be 

 far from the bandstand. It was true, and 

 several times I noticed him, oblivious to 

 everything except the music of the 

 band of the Coldstream Gxmrds, and it was 

 the same with hundreds of others who sat 

 for hours near to the bandstand sublimelv 

 happy. It struck one that this love for 

 good music is a fine trait in the character 

 of British human nature, and Shrewsbury 

 Show without its music would be destitute 

 of one of its great attractions. 



It doesn't seem to matter which of the 

 many attractions the crowd likes best, 

 every unit of it seems to make a rule of 

 going through the tents. In fact, the 

 Shrewsbury crowd is one that intends to 

 have its shillino;sworth, so it does the show 

 tents in a business-like manner ; thousand 

 after thousand they press through, good- 

 humoured, and laughing if they get vstnck 

 at a tight corner, and seeing as much as 

 thev can of the fruit and flowers as thev 



" _ ■ 



ar*^ carried along. I have been more tlian 

 ence in an aristocratic crush at a Tem]ilc 

 Show but for real good humour on the 



part of those who are crushed, give me the 

 second-day crowd at Shrewsbury. 



I rather admired the attendants at the 

 trade stands, who were there, of course, to 

 do business. They smiled quite patiently 

 as the crowd cracked jokes at their expense, 

 and I pause<l in front of a big rose exhibit 

 at a moment when tlie crush was not so 

 great. The attendant was in conversation 

 with a man, addressing him with '* Ves, 

 sir." and Xo, sir," just as he ^\■ould a 

 n^al livo lord at a Temple Show, pointing 

 out to liim the merits of this rase and that, 

 and taking down an order in his book. 

 " Thaiik you. .^ii-. where shall we send them 

 toy " when tlu^ transaction was finislied, 

 and as I listened it itan-^iHrrd that tlnMnan 

 ordering the ros.'.s and qnitt^a ;^<>(>il oiiler, 

 too — was a <()al luinrr f\*)ui the T'orost of 

 Dean. He would have looked a bit out of 

 place at a Temple Sliftw. hut then Shrews- 

 Iiury on the shilling day is a cosmopolitan 

 gath(M-ing. ami it contains ilorists as keen 

 as any who paid their two guineas to 

 the International. 



I imticed ene lady from Yorkshire von 

 can tell where most of the ]>eo])le hail from 

 if you listen to their talk — helped hcTsidf 

 very fretdy to the literature on the diffeicnt 

 trade stands, ainl hy tln^ tijne sin 

 finisheil she had gut rpiite an 



Wliat has ta g(jt theer. Mary? " 

 other lady, a]>])ar<^ni ly :ni 

 whom she met at exit 



Thev wor givin' orn awaA 



had 



a nti t'ul. 



■aid an- 

 a( (plaint aiu*e 

 of tht^ tent, 

 said the for- 



■ 1 



nisjM'ci a 

 with a Mnall 



mer. as she held up for 

 dainty little order booklet 

 ]>encil attached by a silken <'ord. "I 

 thought they'd he so nice for th' children ; 

 they'll he mighty pleastnl wi' 'ern. and vou 

 must tak' 'em sununat hack wtn A*'r 

 out for t' day." Sucli is oiu* of the ust\s 

 to wliich the literature <Iisti-iI)uted hv nur- 

 serymen at shows is put. 



I think I only saw one man who looked 

 as if he had iwei\ ed a shock of <lisappoint- 

 ment. He stood before Messrs. Blackmore 

 and Langdon's splendi<l exhihit of tuberous 

 begonias, and his face was hlank with aston- 

 ishment. He had evi<lently never been to 

 a big show^ before, and after he had re- 

 covered himself, he turned round to his 

 companion, and said, "Bill, I'm done; I 

 thought I could grow begonias, but I think 

 I'll throw my whole lot away wen I gets 

 whoam. Bill, aren't they grand " 

 Away in a little, probably home-built, green- 

 house^ not far from a Lancashire cotton 

 mill, that man grows begonias, and is a 

 local champion. He had come to Shrews- 

 bury to find that someone else coiild grow 

 them better, and tlie shock was great to 

 him. " Come vour wavs en." said the man 

 addi'essed as Ihll. as ho tugged at the arm 

 of his <i>mpanion. Vou won't he so cocky 

 al>out yer hegonia growin' after this, th^ 

 baloon nil be goin' up in a minit. and I 

 doan't want ter miss it." 



Call them dahlias! " said another 

 hornv-handed son of Slu^ffield or somewhere 

 in that locality. *' AVhatever are things 

 comin' to?" The man was looking at a 

 big displav of the modern Collarette dah- 

 lias, but, instead of admiring, a look of the 

 most intense disgust spread over his tace. 

 He was e\'idently a dahlia grower, and per- 

 haps an exhibitor of the eld school, and to 



what his favourite flower had been 

 broueht t<^ troublerl him. He moved on, 

 and the next time T saw him he was stand- 

 ing before a stand of show dahlias ex- 

 ]u*hite<l. I think, by Mr. J. Walker, of 

 Thame, as liappv as a sand-boy. looking, 

 after all. as if the world was not lost, and 



