> 



* 



THE 



GARDENERS 



7 



MAGAZINE. 



SATURDAY, MARCH 12, 1898. 



A SCOT, SUNNINGHILL, SUNNINGDALE, 



AND DISTRICT be no doubt that the concentration of the efforts of the society upon a 



1^ 



Cla*sx. 

 Class 2. 



Class 3. 



HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



CHRYSANTHEMUM SHOW, November 16 and 17. 



Open Prizes — f 

 Best 24 Japanese Blooms, distinct varieties, 1st, £6 ; 2nd, £4', 3™, £2 ; 4th, 

 Best 24 Incurved Blooms, distinct varieties, ist, ^4 i° s - ; 2nd > *3 1 3™, X»i 10s. , 



Fofthe'Best Group of Chrysanthemums, mixed with Foliage Plants and Ferns to 

 occupy a circular space not exceeoing 8 feet diameter ; quality and general effect 

 to be the leading features (presented by Miss J. Durmng Smith), 1st, £4 , 2nd, £3 ; 

 3rd, £2. 



RIGHTON and SUSSEX HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



GRAND SPRING SHOW. 



March 29 and 30. 

 For Sche dules apply Secretary, 37, Preston Road* 



OYAL BOTANICAL AND HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY OF 



MANCHESTER AND THE NORTHERN COUNTIES. 



£600 IN PRIZES. 



Schedules of the Manchester Flower Shows are now ready, and may be had free 



application to 



P. Weathers, 



Curator and Secretary, 

 Royal Botanical Gardens, Manchester. 



smaller number of exhibitions would be in every way more satisfactory. 

 The question of the place of holding the exhibitions will, it may be 

 assumed, come up for discussion, and having regard to its importance we 

 would suggest that, while we should rejoice to see the exhibitions held in 

 a building wholly devoted to them, no decisive step should be taken in 

 the [matter until the several aspects of the question have been fully 

 discussed and a well-devised scheme formulated. 



on 



WOLVERHAMPTON FLORAL FETE.— THE TENTH 

 HORTICULTURAL SHOW AND FETE, 

 will be held July 12, 13, and 14, 1898. 

 Prize Schedules and Entry Forms from — ■ 

 William E. Barnett, Secretary, Snow Hill, W r olverhampton. 



ANNUAL 



HORTICULTURAL SHOW ADVERTISEMENTS are inserted in this 

 column at One Shilling per line, the minimum charge being Five Sb illings. Advertise- 

 ment Office, 148 and 149, Aldersgate Street, London, E.C. 



Notes of the Week. 



THE NATIONAL CHRYSANTHEMUM SOCIETY. 



SUCCULENTS, 



It is a very remarkable thlfig that the grea majority of succulent 



plants— that is, plants with thick^fleshy leaves, containing an abundance 

 of moisture within their tissues— are inhabitants of the very driest parts 

 of the earth's surface, where one would imagine the existence of succu- 

 lents in any form an absolute impossibility. The next curious thing is 

 that if, under the impression that moister treatment would help them, we 

 subject them to it, the greater number would inevitably resent such 

 mistaken kindness by dying offhand. In the splendid collection existing 

 at Kew we find hundreds of species — cacti, euphorbias, agaves, semper- 

 vivums, and others— thriving under conditions of drought which give 

 the visitor the idea that the watering cans, so freely used in the adjoining 

 houses, have been absolutely forgotten, while the soil in the pots looks 

 as kindly as so much dryilime rubbish, which indeed it is in many cases. 

 Yet cacti almost as juicy-looking as cucumbers ; euphorbias trying 

 their best to look like the cacti, spines and all ; agaves with huge leaves 

 of great thickness, and so vigorous in growth that the swelling foliage is 

 squeezed together so as to leave deep imprints of its shape on the 

 adjoining leaves — these andjall the rest of the tribe find an adequate 

 supply in some inscrutable fashion, and apparently grow fat on nothing. 



Recent events have created fresh interest in the affairs of the Here in our humid climate we may conceivelthat the aerial supply is 



National Chrysanthemum Society and brought us many inquiries having sufficient ; but if we icould go to their native habitats we should find 



reference to that body. It is not surprising a considerable number of them still thriving, though the sun would be much hotter, and for many 



members, who have written to us on the subject, should evince some signs months in the year the rainfall would be practically nil, while in many 



of apprehension as to the future and of a desire for guidance at the cases huge plants may be found rooted in mere rock crevices baked, one 



present juncture. The position of the society is not, we confess, such as to would imagine to utter desiccation. Even at home we may see our humble 



afford satisfaction to those who are deeply interested in its welfare and in houseleek {Sempervivum tectorum) perched on a roof or a stone dyke, 



the cause of the flower in whose interest it exists ; but from the spirit and spreading its plump rosettes year after year, despite whole weeks of 



displayed by the members at the annual meeting, which stands adjourned burning sunshine and lack of water supply. The connection, however, 



until the 2 1 st, it is possible to regard the prospects of the society with a . between droughty habitats and thick leaves is so clear, that we must con- 



spirit of hopefulness. It is not satisfactory that the affairs of the society sider the latter as the results of evolution ; and if we regard this thickening 



should have been so managed that at a time when 'it was enjoying a as the result of ever-recurrent checks upon transpiration, tending to 



high degree of popularity it should have to face a deficit, or that the reduce surface area to a minimum, we can see at once the reason, since, 



executive should have prepared a programme for the current year - weight for weight, the surface or transpiring area of a Cereus giganteus 



that could not have been carried out without having a balance on 



or Agave mexicana is hundreds of times less than that of many thin- 



. i o ™ — — ui agavt iin-A.n_a.**t* ■«# a*u*»*~ — ~ ~ ; — j 



me wrong side. This is all the more regrettable from the fact that the leaved plants, such as caladiums, which form the other extreme of 



society is in a position to estimate its annual income and expenditure foliation in conjunction with the finely dissected fronds of many ferns, 



with a greater degree of exactitude than can those societies who have T n these the leafy tissues, i.e., the transpiring surfaces, are expanded to 



to depend for a considerable proportion of their income upon money paid the utmost, with the result that unless constant and very liberal supplies, 



or admission by the general public, as this, to some extent, is an unknown Q f water are present, either in the soil or the air, the plants cannot exist, 



quantity. The responsibility for the state of affairs rests upon the Viewed in this light, we can understand how a euphorbia, one of the self- . 



executive, but the situation proves to demonstration that the members have same family as our common milkweed (or spurge), a soft-tissued plant 



not m the past been sufficiently careful in the formation of that body and which exudes a quantity of milky sap when cut, can be evolved in a dry 



wh y 1 f eC0 f ni j ed the importance of placing upon the committee members country into huge, spiky leafless green-jointed stems, as cactus-like as 



0 nave had the advantage of business training. It is in the highest sense possible - and on the other hand, how a species of cactus, such as the 

 oesirable the several classes of cultivators should be properly repre- ' * " J 



cnvshouW V S 1CSS necessar y that members possessing business capa- assume me gu»c « . - - , , . , - 



y snouid have a seat at the committee table ; for without due regard to features in the leafless cacti and similar plants, is the entire transforma- 



iness principles the financial results must be more or less unsatis- t ion of the stalk into a leaf substitute capable of carrying on the vit 



des ' I ° f thC trUth ° f this P r °P° sition no better proof could be functions of foliage ; and another is the transformation of the leaves into 



pereskia, can, given more humid conditions, produce leaves proper, and 

 assume the guise of a shrub. Certainly, one of the most interesting 



mere 



rudimentary spots bearing the prickles, little and big, so characteristic 



of the tribe. 



FLOWER SHOW 



, , t-t-*~ *" fiv^^iuvn nu ucuer prooi couia De 



wired than has been afforded by recent events. Had the business side 

 the 7 COn ? m,ttee not been weak th ere would have been no occasion for 

 finan P t0 the members assembled at the annual meeting to place the 



mem ? S ° n a satisfactory basis. We would, therefore, strongly advise 



with t0 P this fact in view at the ad J' our ned annual meeting ; for The laws that govern the proceedings of horticultural societies and 

 ment nf ? gthemng ° f the commit tee in this direction, and the appoint- the competition for the prizes offered at their annual exhibitions are of a 

 tainina 3 manCe Commit tee, there should be no great difficulty in main- very varied character, and the study of a representative collection of sets of 

 up a suh T OI>er baIanCC between recei P ts and expenditure, and building rules as given in the schedule would be interesting, if not particularly 

 of param.* reSerVe fund The q uestion of finance is, to our mind, "* " " 



will the k importance ' and not until that has been disposed of 

 that shnuiA ? be in a P osition to profitably discuss the other matters 

 ^ possibl t COnsideration - 11 will, probably, be found that it will not 

 have ahead h feduce the number of exhibitions this year, as contracts 

 fu ture years 7 entered into ; but the members should, with regard to 

 a multiDliriA, CXpr f ss a de cisive opinion on the question of reduction, for 



profitable. 



can 



trained 



to appreciate nice distinctions ; some are remarkable for the ingenuity 

 displayed in concealing what those who compiled them desired to convey 

 to exhibitors, while others are so difficult to understand that there is some 

 excuse for a failure to appreciate the object for which they have been 

 drafted. One of the most peculiar rules that has come under our notice 



. - - — " J "cucasaxi 



w 'thout bringing credit 



imposes a heavy tax upon the society** 

 to the .society. There can, indeed 



annual 



1 



Needwood Horticultural 



tspondent 



