4 



THE 



GARDENS k$ MAGAZINE, 



January i, i8 9 g. 



A New Year's G 



When my good friend the Editor, in his most insinuating tones, asKca 

 me if I would not write a message for the new year, I felt very much like 

 the fly in the fable, who was wheedled by the flattering words of the 

 spider to enter the pleasant house he had prepared for him, and I now 

 feel like the same poor fly buzzing about not knowing what he is to do. 

 I am, however, bound to say something, and I must be contented to 

 bear all the scolding that may be heaped upon me and the Editor for 



taking up valuable space. , 



In looking back upon the past year, so memorable in the annals ot 

 our country, the first thought that strikes one is, How has horticulture 

 fared in the Jubilee lejoicings? There were several attempts made to 

 connect the two together, but somehow or other most of them fell flat ; it 



It is somewhat curious to note how fashion changes with regard to 

 flowers. Many years ago a well-known London nurseryman asked me, 

 " What flowers shall we go in for now ? n and then added, " I think I 

 shall take up the tuberous-rooted begonia," and we know what marvellous 

 results were attained ; but now they have reached such a state of 

 perfection that very few persons think of growing the named varieties, 

 as nearly as good are to be obtained from mixed seed. The dwarf- 



flowered cannas have lately been much exhibited, and unquestionably 

 these are very ornamental and useful. Good results have already been 

 obtained by the hybridiser, and knowing what good things have resulted 

 in other flowers we may hope to see still more brilliant results, not only 

 are they useful for the garden in autumn, but they are eminently suit- 

 able for pot culture. The taste for herbaceous and Alpine plants shows 

 no sign of diminution, and although no very remarkable new species have 

 w^riave been' a^rand notion to have* carried out \he idea of building been introduced of late, yet more knowledge as to treating those we have 



it was one environed with difficuUiesTand I think it* must be admitted is 



has been acquired, and many who have had to deplore failure can now 

 speak of success. Probably the most striking of herbaceous plants of 



a UstiUfi dUcrace to all those in the metropolis who are supposed to be late years have been the eremuri and ostroskia, and we are continually 

 deeply interested in horticulture that the opportunity offered a few years hearing of the successful cultivation of both of these, large numbers being 

 1 J - • _-i r„ iu.. annually raised from seed. Orchids still hold the palm amongst stove 



and greenhouse plants, and when one sees the number of helias, cattleyas, 

 and cypripediums which are yearly honoured with decorations the 

 question comes home whether the complaint that there are too many of 

 these awards is not correct, just as in the case of the more plebeian 



A 



ago of securing a site for such a building was not seized upon, for this 

 is the great difficulty which confronts all those who wish to see the idea 

 -arried out. There is, however, one exception to this failure, and that 

 was the action of the Royal Horticultural Society in instituting, with the 



^ s it has been explained, the selection of the sixty recipients of the chrysanthemum and dahlia. 



\ onour did not owe that position entirely to the action of the Council, 

 horticulturists in all parts of the kingdom were invited to forward lists of 

 those whom they considered most worthy, and it was relying on those 

 lists and their own knowledge that the Council made the selection. Of 

 course there are a number of virtuous people who are above all such 

 petty distinctions, and who ridicule those who have gladly received, the 

 order ; but, with all that, I believe as time rolls on the initials V.M.H. 

 will be looked upon with more and more favour. 



It is needless to enter into details upon the many subjects which the 

 pursuit of horticulture brings before us, but there are a lew which have 

 particularly struck one during the past year ; thus, for instance, there 

 has been a marked increase in the taste for decorative gardening, and I 

 think that there are dangers connected with it. The bedding-out system, 

 which had so carried away people for many years, had grown more and 

 more into disfavour, and deservedly so ; it is still well adapted for public 

 parks, but has been more and more abolished in private gardens, while 

 at the same time on all hands it is said we want decorative flowers. Is 

 it the narrow-mindedness of an old florist that makes me nervous when I 

 see the extremes to which this is carried ? Take for example two flowers 

 in which I have ever been deeply interested, the carnation and the rose ; 

 with regard to the former the old florists' varieties are giving way in 

 many a garden to what are called the border and fancy varieties, 

 but it will be an evil day when the old bizarres and flakes, which used to 

 rejoice us, have to give place to those of modern introduction. It is 

 just possible that the over-dressing of the show flowers may have led 

 somewhat to this ; for it was often said, and I fear with some degree of 



The closing days of the year bring with them many a sad and painful 

 memory, and it is one of the sorrows of old age that we have to look 

 back and see what vacancies time has made. During the past year 

 several well-known horticulturists have passed away, many of them at a 



Of the former two stand 

 y years editor of the Journal 



old age, others prematurely cut off. 



ripe 



prominently out 



^ Horticulture , 



Manual." He was so constant an attendant at the meetings at the Drill 

 Hall that he has been much missed, for his wide and extensive know- 

 ledge was ever available in the deliberations of the Fruit Committee ; it 

 is a pleasant thing to think that his memory will be kept alive in the 

 quarter where he would have most wished ; friends have had a die cast 

 for a Robert Hogg memorial medal, which will be given to the Royal 

 Horticultural Society, who will from time to time award the medal for 

 successful exhibits in fruit. The other was Mr. James Bateman, at one 

 time, in the early days of orchid growing, the most successful cultivator, 

 and whose beautiful place at Biddulph Grange afforded one of the best 

 examples of tasteful and successful horticulture in the kingdom. Colonel 

 Trevor Clarke was another well-known character. He was fond of 

 scientific horticulture, and was the author of many experiments, which he 

 carried out with great skill. Mr. Head, the garden superintendent at 

 the Crystal Palace, succumbed after a long and most painful illness, which 

 had drawn out the sympathy of those who had been wont to admire 

 his energetic management of the various horticultural exhibitions at the 

 Crystal Palace. Two clergymen who did good work in their respective 

 spheres, I mean as far as horticulture is concerned, were the Rev. Charles 



truth, that no matter how well you might grow your flowers if either Fellowes, of Shottesham Rectory, near Norwich, to whom we owe many 



you or some one you employed could not dress them you stood but little 

 chance of obtaining a prize. There was a good deal of truth in this, 

 but I think the main reason for their supersession was the more showy 

 character of the fancy varieties, which made them so much more 

 conspicuous and effective in the garden than the older kinds. The same 

 holds good with regard to the rose ; there is a fashion for running down 

 the old well-established favourites, calling them fat and over-fed, and 1 

 know not what, and we are exhorted to give more attention to the " dear 



beautiful varieties of picotees and show dahlias ; and the Rev. E. N. Pochin, 

 of Karkby Vicarage, near Leicester, who was at one time one of our 

 most successful rose exhibitors and one of the best judges I ever knew. 

 We are sometimes inclined to question whether in this, as in other walks 

 of human life, adequate successors can be found ; we speak of our losses 

 as irreparable, but they are not really so. A great statesman dies or 

 passes out of public life and we are i 



on without him ; but somehow or other it does, and after a while we 



old garden varieties." It may be all very well for those who have got become reconciled to the loss ; and so in art and science we lose one and 

 tired of exhibiting, or have found themselves put into the background by another honoured name, but we find their place supplied by those of 

 successful competitors, to take up this cry ; I am not dead to the beauty w hom we had thought but little. 



of many of these garden varieties, they are well adapted for large places 

 where all varieties of the rose may be cultivated, but woe to the day 

 when they supersede the exhibition kinds — when Charles Lefebvre and 

 Marie Baumann, or Madame Gabriel Luizet are sneered at, and we are 

 told we must grow instead Bardou Job, Gustave Regis, or Macrantha. 



So again it is with the dahlia. It is the cactus varieties which now 

 seem to find favour, which in former years would have been discarded as 

 ill-formed, and the beautifully-modelled old flowers are now to be 

 relegated to a back seat ; we are a people fond of extremes. Some years 

 ago we ran after single dahlias, but these have been pushed on one side, 

 and now we are on a different track. Well, it is all good for trade, and 

 so we must look for a change by and by. There is another point which 

 the past year has brought prominently forward, and has occasioned, and 

 justly so, strong animadversions, the excessive multiplication of awards 

 for these flowers. When I see that between sixty and seventy honours 

 are given to the chrysanthemum and between forty and fifty to the dahlia 

 we must be sure there is something wrong. The former flower honours 

 were given to those of a wishy-washy colour ; and one may well ask, Can 

 these be distinct, and can anyone hope to keep up with such an out- 



ageous number ? Of course chrysanthemum growers feel that there are 

 too many new varieties honoured, but there seems to be a sort of moral 

 fibre wanting to stem this torrent. 



I do not think that there are any symptoms of an abatement in the 

 love for flowers amongst us ; quite the contrary, it seems to be increasing 

 every day, and the difficulty now is to keep pace with the demand. 

 Everywhere they are to be met with : they brighten up our wedding 

 festivities and our dinner tables ; we use them to signify our tokens of 

 respect for those who are gone, although I cannot but feel that this is 

 overdone, for when one reads that at the funeral which took place the 

 other day, of the late Mr. Terris, whose tragic death attracted such 

 general sympathy, six vehicles were required to carry the wreaths and 

 other decorations which had been sent in, we may well ask, Is not this 



going too far ? 



Now, let me add one word cf exhortation. We have no need of 

 commendation of Francis Bacon, who dilates so well on the pleasures 

 connected with the garden ; we cannot have followed our favourite 

 pursuit without ourselves being able to bear testimony to the happiness 

 and pleasure which it has afforded us. Surely it is a pleasant thing to 

 be able to look round continually upon the beauties with which God, our 

 Father in heaven, has endowed our earth, to see in the lowliest flower as 

 well as in the loftiest tree proofs of His handy work. We are sometimes 

 pitied by the town dweller because he thinks our life must be so dull and 

 monotonous ; I do not think it can be so where there is a love of Nature 

 in the heart, and when we look out, through the things which surround us, 

 up to Him who is the Maker alike of us and them. And so, my friends, let the 

 words of an old man encourage you to go on ; cultivate your flowers with as 

 much energy and intelligence as you can, but ever remember that they 

 are evanescent, and strive to look up to Him who ever used the t™"? s 

 around Him, the lily and the corn, to teach the solemn lessons ot His 

 holy religion, so that at the last, when your time comes, you may De 

 amongst those who shall be gathered into the eternal kingdom, wheie, 

 midst the never-withering flowers of the heavenly paradise, you may 

 learn more and more of the power and goodness of Him who calls ins 

 people out of darkness into His marvellous light. H. H. 



Oreasebanding Apple Trees.— I am deeply concerned for Mr. II. Clwkcs 



disappointment in not catching any winter moths on his greasebands, but am a S ai 

 solaced by the reflection that probably he has none infesting his trees to catch, 

 does not at all follow that because there are apple trees there are moths also, l ner 

 may be or may not be. If there are, and the greasebands are properly secured i 

 the stems of the trees early in the autumn, most of the female moths certain y *i 

 be caught. It the grease sets, paint it over occasionally with oil of P ractl f a W 

 description, though linseed oil is as good as any. Of course the bands should r>w 

 secured very tightly to the stems, and prior to doing so, it is well to scrape a 

 scrub the stems so that the paper bands are fixed tight to the stems.— A. V. 



