■ 



THE 



GARDENERS 



MAGAZINE. 



SATURDAY, OCTOBER 8, 1898. 



Plums and damsons 



ELE „ « when upwards of ^125 will be given in prizes, including six bilver C 

 ***** . , , 898, Jn Zo Certificates. For Schedules apply 



*^rMed«ls,and tw jCerU Ai-i en Ham., Secretary, 4, Preston Street, Batley. 



CLAPHAM 



BA" ^^rirULTURAL SOCIETY'S EIGHTH ANNUAL EXHIBITION of 

 AND HO?,Vms FRIDAY and SATURDAY, November 4 and 5. Classes for 

 rHRYSANTHEML ilb, , r * Claphara Junction. Schedules, &c , on application to 



2*»s a rad ' T 0 ™I angkish, Hon. Sec , 167, Elsley Ro ad, Battersea, S.W. 



DON 



J 



rHRYSANTHEMUM SOCIETY. — The ELEVENTH 



Public Halls, Croydon, TUESDAY and WEDNESDAY, 



dote 



and 2, 1898. Chall 

 October 27. 



method appears to be difficult of improvement 

 were packed in the old-fashioned round basket, and with 

 ference to them it will suffice to say that it is matter for 

 regret that the value of inexpensive, non-retu rnable boxes, such as 

 are so largely used by Belgian and French growers for sending 

 their produce to this country, is not appreciated by growers at home. 

 Happily there were some innovations in the methods of packing apples 

 and pears, and Mr. Basham's basket of Ecklinville Seedling apples and Mr. 

 Wyatt's box of Durondeau pears, of which illustrations are given on another 

 page, represent distinct improvements. Mr. Basham's was one ot the four 



^TctrOURNE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY'S 



rASTDUUiv NQ CHR YSANTHEMUM SHOW. 



L TUESDAY and WEDNESDAY, November i and 2. _ 



Good Prizes. Entries close October 28. Send for Schedules to 

 Sntai open classes. ^ A NewmaNj B|j Brock i yn Terrace. Eastbourne. 



EYMOUTH CHRYSANTHEMUM SHOW, October 27 and 

 £* las. for 36 JaP s in 2 < varieties (open class). 

 Stoles on application to fc ^earce, Ass!st> Sec>) 



ChioDenham Lodee Gardens, Exmout 



S^Portia nd Road, South Norwood. baskets for which he was awarded the first prize for four varieties, and 



the only possible objection that could be raised to this system of packing 

 is the cost of the baskets, rendering it necessary to return them. The 

 fruit, which had undergone a long journey, was without a blemish, and 

 the cost of the wood wool used in packing each basket, Mr. Basham 



assured us, did not exceed one penny. n 



whether inexpensive boxes could not be substituted for baskets, that by 



28 



know 



reason ot tneir cost, must be returned, 

 Basham will give his views upon this point. 



Wyatt 



f t DDERSFIELD and DISTRICT CHRYSANTHEMUM SOCIETY. 



H tL SEVENTH EXHIBITION of the above Society will be held in the Town Hall, 

 hJLk'field on FRIDAY and SATURDAY, November ii and 12, 1898. Entries close on 

 MM November 4. Entry Forms and Schedules may be obtained from 

 i^ 1 * T John Bell, Hon. Sec, Marsh, Huddersheld. 



I EEDS PAXTON SOCIETY'S CHRYSANTHEMUM SHOW, Town 



Lt Hai l Leeds, TUESDAY and WEDNESDAY, November 15 and 16. Upwards 

 d /1I0, including fcur Challenge Cups, will be given in prizes. Schedules from the Hon. Sec, 



James Campbell, The Gardens, Methley Park, Leeds. 



AID KN HEAD CHRYSANTHEMUM, FRUIT and VEGETABLE 



SHOW, Town Hall, Maidenhead, November 3 and 4. Entries close Octobir 29. 



Sdbdnlts free. _ ,__ _ _ _ _, 



J. W. Stone, Hon. Sec, 



Cookham Dean. 



y TTINGHAM and NOTTS CHRYSANTHEMUM SOCIETY. 



IN NINTH ANNUAL EXHIBITION. 



Mechanics' Large Hall, Nottingham, November ii and 12, 1898. 

 Urge prizes in open classes for Chrysanthemums and Fruit. For Schedules apply 



E. Hummel, 12, Alberta Terrace, Sherwood Rise, Nottingham. 



THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY OF SOUTHAMPTON. 



1 KXHIBITION of CHRYSANTHEMUMS, AUTUMN FRUIT, FLOWERS, &c. 

 XnflOBK 1 and 2 . Liberal prizes and classification Schedules of 



C. S. Fuidgf, Hon. Sec , 17, New Alma Road, Southampton. 



\UOOLWICH, PLUMSTEAD, and DISTRICT HORTICULTURAL 



>V SOCIETY FIFTH ANNUAL CHRYSANTHEMUM AND HORTICULTUAL 

 SHOW, Novemeer 3, 4, and 5, at the Drill Hall, Woolwich. For Schedules and 

 pticaUrs aoply to 



K J. Worthington, Hon. Secretary, 32, Acacia Parade, PJumstead Common. 



packed in a shallow box with pink tissue paper between them, and no 



better method of sending these fruits to market or to purchasers resident 



some distance from the source of supply could well be devised. The 



four varieties of dessert apples and the " any one variety » of dessert and 



cooking apples were packed in round baskets, and it was distressing to 



see the first prize in each of the two classes for single varieties awarded 



to baskets in which the fruit was heaped up some five or six inches above 



the edge. The baskets were, in fact, so packed that they could not have 



been placed one above the other in a van or railway truck without the 



fruit being much damaged, as the weight of the baskets above would 



have to be sustained by the fruit instead of the sides of the baskets. 



This system of packing is only adapted for sending a few baskets to a 



contiguous market, and for this reason it is much to be regretted that the 



judges should have shown a preference to it, and made awards that 



must retard rather than hasten the reforms so necessary in methods of 

 marketing fruit 



DETAIL IN NATURE. 



HORTICULTURAL SHOW ADVERTISEMENTS are inserted in this 



1 1 tolamn at One Shilling per line, the minimum charge being Five Shillings, Advertise- 

 ■ttOice, 148 and 149, Aldersgate Street, London, E.C. 



Notes of the Week. 



The comparison of a wasp's sting with the point of the finest needle 

 is well known as exemplifying the marvellous finish which characterises 

 the work of Nature on the one hand, and on the other the rudeness of 

 man's handiwork when viewed by a powerful lens. The one loses all its 

 polish under such scrutiny, and is seen to be bluntly ended and roughly 

 surfaced, while the other betrays absolutely no defects, and reveals more 

 and more perfection the higher the magnifying power which is brought 

 to bear. So it is throughout Nature, wear and tear may damage the 

 finished article, so that the butterfly's wing may here and there be de- 

 void of feathers, or the originally perfect flower may display defective 

 petals, but these are always accidentals. Take the butterfly just emerged 

 from the chrysalis, or the flower from the bud, and the more we can pry 

 into the details of their construction the more we are astounded by the 

 finish which pervades them. Mere size goes for nothing 1 ; the zoologist 

 form may take the elephant, and dissecting it display to our wondering gaze 

 •attract the attention of purchasers. Hence the action of the Council the marvels of anatomical, muscular and nervous organisation which go 

 to* Royal Horticultural Society in offering prizes for competition 

 growers for market for examples of packing of the chief kinds of 

 n a deserv ing of the warmest commendation. 



PACKING FRUIT FOR MARKET. 



One of the most important of the questions relating to the production 

 JUniit for commercial purposes is unquestionably the determination of 

 •e methods of packing, by which the several kinds can be placed upon 

 « market inexpensively, in the best possible condition, and i 



in a 



If the results were not 



UiW * v - — — 7 w — 



to constitute that hugest of beasts ; he may even go further, and giving 

 us microscopic sections of bone and tissue, open up another realm of 

 structural and functional marvels ; u but the entomologist will take one 



•4* whole so satisfactory as could have been wished, the Council were of the tiniest insects and do as much, and more, for in many cases there 

 00 w ay to blame. Thev nrnvirl^H ac enffi. are metamorphoses in insect life which have no parallel in that of 



jj^. . They provided numerous classes with prizes suffi- 



: - liberal to ensure a considerable number of entries, and they were 



animals. A fly of any sort lives two distinct lives, each with utterly dif- 



SV° Se,CCt as - jud 2 es experts conversant with the ways of the ferent organisations, and each one fraught with its own particular marvels 



*ark« 



J^ tl growers and salesmen, is a question that is open to discussion, 

 are of the opinion that it would have been better to have included 



Whether it was wise to limit the judges in the packing classes of detail. The breathing apparatus of a caterpillar, : for instance, and 



that of the subsequent butterfly, are as different as it is possible to 

 imagine, while anyone who has seen the plumage of the latter would at 



em» l t™" •* wuuiu nave ucni ueuer 10 nave mciuueu imagine, wmn_ . » ^ , 



■ y free from mark et traditions. However that may be, once admit that the peacock itself was surpassed m splendour of detail 



■"tinier Ut ' 0nS t0 thC section °P en to market growers formed one of the 

 '■^^nte^hTK ° f thC features of that great gathering, for in it were 

 ** e of th ^vL g0od and bad methods, and the awards afforded evi- 



**evtr rJ dlfficult y some men have of breaking with old practices, — , - ., . t t - 2 m 



^ objectionable they may be. In the classes for grapes there was no scamping or patchwork in Nature's creations, from the smallest to the 



55 (ST T thC methods of P ackin & 5 but, as it was stipulated, in largest, each one is a masterpiece, and size is merely the upheapmg of 



l u»e four classes that th» — «. t« *w„£ „ TLu mltmte nerfections. A yard long cattle horn may seem a clumsy article, 



and colouring, unless he had seen beforehand that every filament in that 

 bird's plumage was an equal marvel. So it is with plants, every hair, 

 everv cell, nay, every granule of chlorophyll within those cells, are 

 beautifully and wonderfully made, and perfectly finished off. There is 



^ m a"b" £' aSSes tnat tne g ra pes were to be shown in a single 

 ^fconhdas- f ,fk et '" trie re was not much scope for originality. In 

 ^P^s Da fc 0 ^ . any otne r package," the premier award was made 

 _ . c ed m a cross-handled basket, and as grapes so 



may be 



Provided 2 ^ Stances by post or rail without the slightest 



the bunches are firmly secured to the sides, this 



minute perfections. A yard long cattle horn may seem a clumsy article, 

 but slice off a section anywhere, and its innate beauty of structure comes 

 to light ; the elephantine tusk, the roughly corrugated tooth of the 

 horse the gnarled trunk of a tree, one and all need but dissection to dis- 

 play the same perfection internally. The roughness is due to wear and 

 tear or, it may be, to vital purposeful need, but never to defective work 



