THE 



GARDENERS' MAGAZINE. 



SATURDAY, AUGUST 6, 1898. 



ISHOP'S 



STORTFORD FLOWER SHOW 



WEDNESDAY, August io. 



W. Smith, 



Hon. Secretary. 



HOBBIES. 



AND SUSSEX HORTICULTURAL 



GRAND SUMMER SHOW, August 23 and 24 



Entries close Wednesday, 17th August. 

 Schedules of Secretary, 37, Preston Road, Brighton. 



JgRIGHTON 



ANDY, BEDFORDSHIRE.— THIRTIETH ANNUAL SHOW, 



^ THURSDAY, August 25th, 1898. Plants, Flowers, Fruits, Vegetables, Corn, Roots. 

 Does, Poultry, Pigeons, Rabbits, &c. ; Honey, Butter, &c. Prizes ^440, including Prizes of £12, 

 /o £6, and £3, for Ten Stove and Greenhouse Plants. 

 ' Entries for Dead Stock close August 18th, 1898. 



Her .Majesty's Grenadier Guards' Band, and Reynolds' Anglo-American Minstrels. 



Secretary, E. T. Leeds Smith, Sandy. Assistant Secretary, Edward Sills, Sandy. 



SHREWSBURY GREAT FLORAL FETE, 



>j) August 17 and 18, 1898. 



The Prizes in the Schedule amount to ^950, with Gold and Silver Medals, &c. 

 •Schedules post free on application to the Hon. Sees., 



Messrs Adnitt. and Naunton, The Square, Shrewsbury. 



The pursuit of a hobby, especially if it be connected with some 

 particular branch of Nature's handiwork, is like working in an inex- 

 SOCIETY.- haustible mine of precious materials, in which there is the constant 



chance of something especially precious turning up. Our gardens are 

 the riding grounds of many hobbies, for the general one of gardening for 



own 



innumerable special hobbies as particular plants absorb the attention and 

 render the grower a fancier. Degustibicsnon est disputa7idum is especially 

 applicable to hobbies, and every hobby-rider finds far too little enthu- 

 siasm evoked by his treasures amongst the majority of his friends. Even 

 the rabid rosarian in leading his enraptured lady friends through his collec- 

 tion of gems often misses the true ring of fine appreciation in the general 

 chorus of " Oh ! how lovely ! ■ which greets alike his latest and finest 

 acquisition, and others of which he thinks but little. The fern maniac at, 

 shall we say, the other end of the scale, is also but little elated when his 

 choicest forms of cresting evoke the inevitable reference to parsley, the 

 " Oh ! how lovely ! " notwithstanding. How often, too, do we see at the 

 special shows of particular plants— cacti, carnations, dahlias, and even 

 chrysanthemums— that the particular differences and delicacies, or it may 



be, curiosities of the exhibits, are completely ignored except by a small 



Owing to continued increase in circulation, the " Gardeners' Magazine » coterie of the hobbyists themselves, the general public contenting them- 



"""""" Wednesday. No advertisement can he guaranteed selves with an ex{ra stare a , thfi groupg tQ whkh pr ; zes ^ ^ 



accorded, and uttering the customary laudatory ejaculations aforesaid> 

 under such guidance only. Yet it is to the hobby-nder that the world 

 owes much of the beauty it enjoys as well as other blessings. It is the 

 man who makes a hobby of a thing who gets below the surface, and by 

 his special study and attention develops the possibilities as well as 

 the actualities. Any man can buy a packet of seed of a good thing, sow 



HORTICULTURAL SHOW ADVERTISE 

 column at One Shilling per line, the minimum char, 

 pent Office, 14S and 149, Aldersgate Street, London, E.C. 



NOTICE TO ADVERTISERS 



insertion, or altered, unless received before Four p.m. on that day. 



N 



OF THE We 



REFORM OF THE ROYAL BOTANIC SOCIETY. 



XOTWiTiiSTANDiNG the fact that the results of the movement it, and with reasonable care deck his garden or his table with the results ; 



originated by Mr. J. S. Rubinstein for the purpose of effecting changes ^ut i tne eded the hobby rider to raise the strain whence the seed resulted, 



in the administration of the Royal Botanic Society which he regards as anc * a hundred generations of growers would do nothing to improve it, 



irable, have not been very" encouraging, that gentleman is evidently un ^ss someone made a hobby of it, studied it crop by crop, picking out 



eadily following the course he marked out. On Wednesday next the the best > P rofitin g b y ever y "break," and so enriching the floral, vege- 



iety will hold its annual meeting, when Mr. Rubenstein will take table, or fruit world with better and better products. It is the same in all 



vantage of the opportunity thus afforded for submitting to the Fellows branches, the inventor rides his hobby, and in ten thousand different 



posals for giving effect to his 



views. 



We do not for a moment wa Y s a dds to the facilities and enjoyments of existence ; the physiological 



:ard as probable the acceptance by the Fellows of the resolutions of student strikes a hobby, potters about, to his friends' disgust, with 



rfiich he has given notice, and although we believe that some changes 

 >ght be made with advantage to the society, we do not consider it 



ridiculous microscopic matters, and succeeds in tracking the fell disease to 

 its origin in tiny black dots of ten thousand to the inch, studies the habits 

 of these little wretches, and knowing these, circumvents them, and down 

 goes the mortality rate with great rapidity as another result of hobby- 

 riding. There are, of course, hobbies and hobbies, and many are purely 



with Nature's secrets, and it is the hobbyist who finds them out and gives 

 his fellow-men the benefit of his discoveries. 



visable that questions of so much importance should be decided by 

 tje small number of Fellows usually present at the annual gatherings. 



* more unsuitable date, or more inconvenient hour, for the annual « ~ . . ... - 



ctmg could not well have been selected, for a very large proportion useless, but this can only be said of mere purposeless collections of odd 

 .0 the Fellows have left town by August io for the moors, the seaside, and incongruous things, and does not apply to the studies of natural 

 e q uietud e of their gardens in the country, and the majority of phenomena in any of their departments, living or not Each is replete 

 remaining in town evidently have an objection to attend a meeting * *"" "~ ■ ' 



■» hour when they usually sit down to luncheon. The charter 

 e beheve responsible both for the date and hour, and to make 

 e \r 'p u tCr is b0th troublesome and costly. In the first 



the ml k Wi " recommend that "the present system of elect- 



lected v^ erS / C ° Unci! ' Whereby they are Poetically elected and 

 t the n! yCar by the COuncil itself ' be brou S ht to an end, and 



ows a i SSary alterations be made in the bye-laws to give 

 stion i. V ° ,Ce m the nominati °n and election of members." 



It of IT T Whi0h mUch might be said on either sid e> but as the 

 societies an 0056 ™' 1 ™' WC are Str ° ngly in favour of S^mg Fellows 

 governing b° P d POrtU ~ ty0f n ° minating and electin & the members of 



the 

 This 



ches with ~~~ J ' ThC formation of scientific and administrative 

 will' be JT a u ager f ° r each ' in accordance with another proposal 

 eous to thT • y Mn Rub enstein, would probably prove advan- 



ely in ™ r° lety ' but lt is doubtful whether a chan &e involving a 

 Nation nf e ? pendit f ure would be expedient at the present time. 



' ^ but bete th? S StUdy ° f b ° tany may ° r may not be 



*»« do wel • • aCtS Up ° n Mn Rub instein's suggestion 



°Polis to ml ?j V,CW ° f the numerous cIasse s already held in the 

 itie s for s COnsider w bether there is a sufficient demand for further 

 , at efiSS * sc:encet ° Justify the establishment of botanical 



R «benstein' s grCater CarC wiU be necessar y 5 n considering 



t0 serve as a Pr ° P ° Sal for the erection of a floral hall of adequate 



chaste white flowered species indigenous 



structure of the ch • ** au 5eason5 » Dec ause the erection of s 



* nd thereby add eretf " mdicated wouId involve a h eavy expenditure, 



rhich would I hr X t0 _ the financiaI responsibilities of the society, a 



ard, y be regarded as wise at the present time. 



r -al promenadZ lnter ,5 arden > wh erein flower shows, receptions, and 



erection of a 



WATER LILIES. 



The meeting of the Royal Horticultural Society on Tuesday should 

 prove of exceptional interest, for the Fellows and other visitors are 

 promised a paper on water lilies by M. Latour-Marliac, who, as the 

 result of his continued and well-devised efforts, has given us a class of 

 these fascinating aquatics in which the brilliant colouring of 

 the exotic species is combined with the robust and hardy 



constitution of the 



to the United Kingdom. We do not know whether M. Latour- 

 Marliac will be present to read his paper, but we hope he may be, 

 and should he undertake the long journey that will be necessary to enable 

 him to be present, we trust he will have an audience that will show in 

 some degree how heartily the horticulturists of this country appreciate 

 his efforts in providing material for enhancing the charms of our water 

 scenes. Twenty years ago the hardy nymphceas were limited to six or 

 seven species and varieties, of which one half had white flowers, and the 

 other half flowers coloured yellow, rose or pink ; and now, thanks to M. 

 Latour-Marliac, we have a large number, of which a considerable pro- 

 portion bear flowers rivalling in effectiveness of colour some of the 

 species that are natives of the tropics, and require the protection of 

 glass, and the assistance of a liberal degree of artificial heat for their 

 successful cultivation in this country. M. Latour-Marliac has long taken 

 great interest in the various forms of aquatic vegetation, and recognising 

 the possibilities of the nymphoeas, he commenced the work of hybridisa- 

 tion in 1879, but as he crossed the hardy with heat-loving species, th 



