THE 



GARDENERS 



MAGAZINE. 



SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 26, 1898. 



iTiflNAL CHRYSANTHEMUM 



A 1 ROYAL AQUARIUM, WESTMINSTER. 



EARLY WINTER EXHIBITION. 

 December 6, 7, and 8, 1893.. 



SOCIETY. 



Schedule of Pmes from Richard Dean, V.M H., Secretary, Ealing, London, W. 



HE 



PECIAL NOTICE. 



NEXT BIRMINGHAM C H R Y S A N T II E M U 



(EXHIBITION 

 Will be held in Bikgley Hat.l 



On 



TUESDAY, WEDNESDAY, and THURSDAY, 



November 7, 8, and 9, 1899, 



M 



can be the most satisfactorily employed in the adornment of the home 

 can hardly have failed to note with gratification the prominent position 

 11 at floral decorations have now assigned them in the schedules of the 

 leading societies, more especially those intimately associated with the 

 chrysanthemum. During the season now brought to a close the arrange- 

 ments of cut flowers formed at some of the more important gatherings 

 a leature so large and attractive as to constitute of themselves an exhi- 

 bition of considerable importance. More especially was this the case at 

 the shows held at the Royal Aquarium and Hull ; and, without instituting 

 comparisons as to the relative merits of the respective displays, which 

 tor our present purpose are wholly unnecessary, the National and Hull 

 societies may be heartily congratulated on the success they have achieved 

 in their efforts to encourage taste in arrangement, in conjunction with 

 their endeavours to improve cultural skilL We make special reference 

 to the work of these societies because of the lead they have taken in the 

 development of the decorative aspect of the chrysanthemum and the 

 opportunities their exhibitions afford for gauging the public taste. At 

 Hul1 the dinner tables and other decorations are sufficient to fill a hall 

 insertio n, or altered, unless received before Four p.m. on that day. large enough to accommodate a moderate-sized exhibition, and here we 

 - find much t0 admire and something to criticise. The dinner tables are 



S f rre rariM 1 h h " g hes, High Street, Harbirre. 

 Secretaries { F w SlMpsoN| Victoria Road, Hai 



rbc rne , 



tJORTICULTURAL SHOW ADVERTISEMENTS are inserted in this 



H co i un in at One Shilling per line, the minimum charge being Five Shillings. Advertise- 

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



NOTICE TO ADVERTISERS. 



Owing 



Wednesday 



Notes of the Week. 



CONFERENCE ON CROSS-BRED AND HYBRID PLANTS. 



invariably so tasteful as to disarm criticism, but in the classes for 

 epergnes and other arrangements that are intended to be seen from all 

 sides we find, as at many other shows, the objectionable practice of 

 facing. The exigencies of space compel the executive to place the 

 The projected conference on crossing and hybridising, to be held decorations on side tables, and, knowing the positions their arrange- 

 iext year under the auspices of the Royal Horticultural Society, should m ents will occupy, the exhibitors proceed to so arrange the flowers that 

 beone of the most interesting cf the gatherings that have been held they wil i present a pi easing appearance to the visitor as he walks round 

 iitberto at Chiswick. The possibilities m this direction of adding to the room, while the other side of the receptacle is practically bare of 

 and embellishing our floral treasures by skilful alliances between them flowers. They wholly overlook the fact that judges who understand 

 have been so recently recognised that nearly all the results have been their duties know that a vase, a basket, or an epergne, intended to stand 

 obtained within comparatively few years, anterior to which very little upon a table, it may be in the centre of a room, should present an 

 tas done, and what was effected was mainly of an experimental equally attractive appearance on all sides, and that they are careful to 

 cbaracter, and not on the strictly selective lines now adopted. It is, determine whether the arrangement complies with this essential condi- 

 bt» ever, devoutly to be hoped that the exhibition will be subjected to t ion. It consequently follows that "faced" arrangements, which seen 

 stringent rules that the parentage of the crosses and hybrids be repre- f r0 m the dressed side are pleasing to the eye, occupy a low position, 

 anted in every case, as far as possible, by the plants themselves, i.e., muc h to the surprise of the exhibitor and those who content themselves 

 4e two parents and their joint offspring, so that the outside student with a superficial glance at the objects exhibited. The practice of 

 ■ay be able to see how the dual characters have combined. Without " facing" was also in evidence at the National Chrysanthemum Society's 

 m 1 evidence the known sportiveness per se of many plants might lead show, and greatly marred what would have been beautiful arrangements 

 • the belief that no cross had been effected, while with it the show, had they been completed, and some endeavour should be made to impose 



an effectual check upon it. The prizes are offered for the purpose of 



ut from the benefit of the conference itself, would afford a grand 

 •ject lesson in that mysterious capacity of the tiny pollen grains of one 

 fa of plants to transmit that type wholly or partially to a different one 

 •to deftly arrange a middle course and combine the two without 

 ■»Nng either. From the florist's point of view very few plants are 

 *% perfect, and it is often the case that when the flower itself is all 

 can be desired the habit of the plant handicaps it as regards pose 

 Prominence, and the fault is so obstinately transmitted that the merely 

 j~ llve breeder fails to eliminate it. The question now arises, what 



y elated Species is th^rft whirh thnnan with Iagc attrarhvp Klnnm 



encouraging taste in the arrangements of flowers for certain pur- 

 poses, and if the objects are so dressed as to be lendered unfit for these 

 purposes harm is of necessity done by awarding prizes to them. Hand 

 bouquets also have in many instances been so defective as to suggest the 

 desirability of more stringent regulations with regard to them. A hand 

 bouquet should, of course, be so arranged that it could be carried by a 

 lady, but in not a few cases bouquets that had an attractive appearance 

 on the exhibition table have, on being lifted out of the receptacle, been 



9 found to have handles so big that no lady could hold them, and in some 



? Possibly this virtue lies in some new instances a portion of the material so loosely fastened as to fall away 



nation, or it may be in an old and little appreciated one. An when the bouquet was handled This touching up should be checked, and 

 »K* w effected, and the desired habit obtained, and if the flowers of there is no better way of imposing a check than to handle the bouquets, 

 *rid leave something to be desired that is soon bred out, and the and to determine their relative merits after this has been done. 



■^wished for combination is obtained. There is much to be learnt as 



*• co $ I partial or entire sterility of the hybrid or crossed plants, and 

 nterence would afford a splendid opportunity of bringing to a 

 otk lmmense amount of unrecorded knowledge in this direction 



» d^h 1 ' S n ° W scattered aDOUt among the hybridists, many of 

 fc ° ubtles s can more deftly and more efficaciously apply the pollen 



* tho°T t0 another than the y can fertilise a sheet of blank paper 

 lej . U8 ts from their pen. A systematic schedule of points to be 

 ^ would facilitate the obtaining of this floating wisdom in a 

 0rm * There is far too wide a gap even yet between the 



poitot * h ' S imimate knowledge of the inner mysteries of plant Hall, who hasaccompi 



ARTIFICIAL MANURES. 



Artificial manures are now so largely used in the production of 



garden and farm crops that the desirabil ity of the general body of culti- 

 vators becoming fully acquainted with the properties of the several 

 kinds and their effects upon the various forms of vegetation under the 

 widelv divergent conditions of soil and climate does not admit of 

 cues ion Hence the lecture by Mr. A. I, Hall, M.A., on art.fiaal 

 fertilisers before the Royal Horticultural Society on Tuesday, was 

 of special interest to both scientific and practical horticulturists. Mr. 

 2L,? WaccomDl.shedmuch valuableexper.mental work in the college 



^ s ^ and ^ e man who handles those plants as living beings and 

 1 4 -C e ^ hahlts an d peculiarities from a different point of view 

 ^ but 'of haS own particular mass of data of inestimable 



Injected ° a ^ erent ^ass, and it is precisely such conferences as the 

 ^^one which bring the two elements together, and afford the 



^hiia.i or , that hybridisation of ideas to which mankind has often 

 ut Wy indebted. 



gardens at Wye, and on the hop farms in Kent, stated in his opening 

 remarks that faracrs are considerably in advance of gardeners in their 



manures 



BBOwicugc . f agreement with him that much 



T'ZZTlZTt"-^ .0 their protoabl. u>iU»,ion in A. 



LliXo J c cirtn t f\ nnr i/i#uc iir Mm t Hi* point on more 



game**. " - — - 



than one occasion, and 



^tion 



FLORAL ARRANGEMENTS. 



than one u,,j~ , ^ t rf gardfn management by 



acquisition of kno ' ■ h r ^ ^ ftUth<jrities> „ our 

 obtaining the co-oper, 



pages so 



nties, as our 



The use of simple manures was recommended 



n preference to mixed manures, 



because of the difficulty, when 



