THE 



GARDENERS 



MAGAZINE 



SATURDAY, DECEMBER 10, 1898. 



HORTICULTURAL CORRESPONDENCE CLASSES.— For PROS- 

 PECTUS and LIST of PRIZES apply T. H. Smith, 18, Somervilie Road, Small 

 Heath, Birmingham. First Examination Paper ready November 5. Join early for the whole 



course. 



HORTICULTURAL SHOW ADVERTISEMENTS are inserted in this 

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

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



NOTICE TO ADVERTISERS. 



involved in the use of vases has been taken, and in consequence of this 

 many committees of societies have been afraid to break away from tradi- 

 tions and take a course that would result in the interest and attractive- 

 ness of their exhibitions! being greatly enhanced During the past 

 two or three years it has been proved to demonstration at several of the 

 important exhibitions that there is no justification for any apprehension 

 as to the result of requiring some portion of the blooms to be exhibited 

 otherwise than on the stands in general use. Nowhere has the proof 



Owing to continued increase in circulation, the " Gardeners' Magazine » been stronger than at Edinburgh, where during the past three years the 



e d competition in the vase classes has added immensely both to the interest 



Wednesday 



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



Notes of the Week. 



NITROGEN IN SOILS. 



In their annual report of the world's wheat supply Sir J. B. Lawes the 

 and Sir J. H. Gilbert discuss at some length the questions raised by Sir 

 William Crookes in his presidential address'at the meeting of the British 



and the attractions of the exhibitions. We specially refer to the Edin- 

 burgh shows because they have given us the most striking examples of 

 staging chrysanthemum blooms in vases, and the strongest possible proof 

 of the importance of a vigorous policy in reforming long-established 

 methods of procedure. Instead of allocating the principal prizes to the 

 blooms staged on the ordinary flat stands, they made the vase classes 



ost important of those provided, and at once ensured their 

 success. We had hoped that the National Chrysanthemum Society 

 would have been able to include a class similar to that which creates so 



Association held at Bristol in September, and thereby render the report much interest at Edinburgh in the schedule of the November exhibi- 



of exceptional interest to horticulturists. After dealing with the manu- tion, but financial considerations rendered it necessary to abandon it. 



facture of nitrate of soda, as proposed by Sir W. Crookes, by oxidating the There is, however, a good prospect of such a class having a place in next 



free nitrogen of the air by means of electricity, these eminent scientists year's programme, for the sum of ^25 has been already promised as a 



proceed to compare the composition of some typical soils as far as their first prize. If the remaining prizes are proportionate, there can be no 



richness in certain important elements of fertility are concerned. For doubt that the display of blooms will be of great magnitude and im- 



the purposes of this comparison they select their own soil at Rothamsted, mensely attractive. Much will, of course, depend upon the conditions, 



rich prairie lands, and some rich Russian soils, and the figures that are and fear is being expressed by some authorities, whose opinions are 



given with regard to the stores of nitrogen within twelve inches of the entitled to the highest respect, that five blooms, the number suggested, 



surface are especially deserving of careful attention. At Rothamsted the will be too many. Mr. Molyneux is afraid some difficulty will be ex- 



unmanured wheat plot is described as containing 3,139 pounds of perienced in judging the collections with five blooms in each class ; but 



nitrogen per acre, equivalent to 20,058 pounds nitrate of soda ; the it will probably be found that the exhibitor will have a greater difficulty 



average of four Manitoba soils, 10,458 pounds nitrogen, equivalent to 

 66)824 pounds nitrate of soda ; and the average of five Russian soils, 

 n )207 pounds nitrogen, equivalent to 71,609 pounds nitrate of soda. 

 Thus even in the poor Rothamsted soil the amount of combined 



in cutting five blooms in exhibition form of the several varieties than that 

 experienced by the judges in determining their relative merits. Hut 

 these are matters of detail that will in due course have full consideration. 

 We should like this form of exhibiting chrysanthemums developed on 



nitrogen is large ; but to the same depth the quantity is on the average lines adapted to the requirements of the exhibitors with limited means 

 ^ree times as much in the four Manitoba soils, while the Russian soils who compete at provincial gatherings, as, for example, by instituting 

 ar e even more richly stored with this important plant food. These large 

 stores exist in the soil in the form of organic nitrogen, and as such are very 

 soluble ; but the nitrogen, it is pointed out, is gradually, though very 

 slowly, oxidated into nitric acid, which forms with lime, soda, or other bases 



classes for vases in pairs, triplets, or sixes, each containing three blooms 

 of one variety. Even single vases will assist in rendering exhibitions 

 more diversified, and we would suggest that the whole of the contribu- 

 tions to the classes for six blooms of one variety should be shown in 



additional trouble. We should also welcome vases of sprays that have 

 not been disbudded, for they afford a pleasing contrast to the massive 

 blooms, and prove highly attractive to visitors, as so strikingly exemplified 



at York of late years. 



^»he soil, very soluble salts in which state the nitrogen becomes available vases, the prizes being increased to compensate exhibitors for the 



P' ant food. As indicating the slow rate at which nitrogen is converted 

 lnt o a form available for vegetation, it will be of interest to mention that 

 ^cording to the estimate of the authors of the report the unmanured 

 ^ble soil at Rothamsted yields up an average of 22 y 2 pounds of 

 tr °gen per acre annually, a mere fraction of the quantity locked up in 

 • e soil. The store in the Rothamsted soil, as stated above, in the first 

 twe lve inches is 3,139 pounds per acre, whilst to a depth of ninety inches The issue of a second edition of the Royal Horticultural Society's 



exce ll en t code of judging is an event of some importance, inasmuch as 

 it indicates a full appreciation by judges and exhibitors of the endeavour 

 of the Council to reduce the methods of making awards at horticultural 



POINT-VALUE AWARDS 



000 



ts from 1 5,000 to 20,000 pounds. It is of some practical utility to 



ow that recent experiments in the Rothamsted laboratory have brought w m wv 



to l>ght the fact that a larger proportion of nitrogen is more readily exhibitions to a well-defined system.^ The P^ bh ^°^ 

 wuble in rich garden soil than in arable land— a fact of importance, as " " " - «„™ 



c °nfirming the views of those who consider thorough tillage as an im- 



already had the effect of improving matters at a considerable number of 

 exhibitions, and there can be no doubt that as the value of an exact 



• W -r M. 



it can be readily assimilated and utilised in the building up of the 



P'ant tissues. Sir Tnhn T. 3w aq anrl Sir J TJ 



P^ant factor in converting-plant food stored in the soil into a form in sySte m becomes generally recognised many of the difficulties that arise 



•inch ir ra„ 1 ... . . - 1 :~ «v_ v..:u: r.u- at tne sma ller shows will disappear, and the utility of the displays be 



j - ... JU nn Liiweb anu on j ^ . greatly increased. The code, as originally published was so carefully 



?* under more thorough cultivation the rich American, Canadian, and Spared as not to admit of any great changes being made m the second 

 Ru *ian soils would yield up much i more nitrogen in an available form edition> but the minor points that required emendation have undergone 

 ' ^ey do at present, and that as the result the yield of wheat per lhorough revision, and an appendix has been added, in which po.nt- 



« and point-values are exhaustively treated. As stated in the 

 I nnint iudtrinir is the most exact of all the systems of making 

 ^r"fi«?Se competitions it is difficult to demonstrate the 

 correctness of a decision without giving a numerical value to every point 

 of merit discovered in the several items of a collection. Sometimes ,t 



■in 



* rc would be largely increased. What is true of the wheat crop is true 

 Wher crops, and those who fully recognise the importance of deep 

 borough tillage will not fail to obtain an abundant reward. 



CHRYSANTHEMUMS IN VASES. 



judged 



Woo 



*com 



method 



while in ouicis nit. j""t> — ... , , 



»ccom — ° u t, 11 irloDt. Except for classes of a special character the latter 



mpamed by some portion of their foliage, that we are of necessity they shau aa j « ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ resQrt - QT 



^pleased by the rapidly accumulating proofs of the success that has course cons ider desirable. When the competition is very close 



Jj* n <k a our 



Z^Se- We have from the °nrst fully recognised the increased diffi- 

 culties,^ .. . .1 1: .• • 



efforts in bringing about an admittedly much-needed 



com ^ 



accordance 



j"*^ not had the slightest doubt of the ability of exhibitors to readily 

 0Un t them. In some quarters an exaggerated view of the labour 



pointed ; but it would obviously be a waste of 



me c ™^^ jn ~ Dt ~ h y pointing the merits of exhibits so far removed from 

 J°f ° ther that t he untrained eye can readily distinguish them. As a 

 rnrollarv of the point system it seems at first sight as if the prize money 

 h Id 1 e divided in proportion to the number of marks obtained by 



