December 31, 1898. 



THE* GARDENERS" MAGAZINE. 



861 



A 



MOR 



3 Ml 



saluberri 



This is a time of year when a little " looking backward " is indulged in. 

 Not quite so far as the late Mr. Bellamy threw his revolutionary survey 

 in the book under the title quoted, for we gardeners are on the whole 

 rather too much absorbed in the practical questions of the moment to 

 dream advanced social dreams. We pass in placid review the more 

 notable events and controversies of the year, The Victoria Medal of 

 Honour, founded last season, has matured this. Even those who are 

 not recipients will think with pleasure of this event. There may be here 

 and there a disappointed one who is inclined to carp because his personal 

 expectations were not realised, but the great majority realise too clearly 

 how great an honour and dignity have been conferred upon horticulture to 

 do other than rejoice. The inspiration which led to the founding of this 

 medal was a happy one ; the choice of persons upon whom to confer it 

 was (if I may be permitted to say it) most admirably made. ^ Doubtless 

 more than one of the sixty would gladly have stood aside in order to 

 allow Sir Trevor Lawrence and the Rev. W. Wilks to come in, but the 



1 • • m *m mm .... I'.l 



If the Hall of Horticulture is quiet just now the same cannot be said of 

 the National Chrysanthemum Society. Vigorous discussion goes on 

 about it Week in, week out the debate is continued. This is not by 

 any means so bad a sign as some people think. There are nervous 

 persons in the world who dread dissolution directly controversial matter 

 crops up, yet there are facts in support of the opposite theory, namely, 

 that differences of opinion, freely and openly expressed, are an indication 

 of health and virility. Freedom of inquiry and the thorough thrashing 

 out of any knotty point form the keynote of our parliamentary and legal 

 institutions, which are the admiration of the world. Therefore I for one 

 refuse to believe that the N.C.S. is in danger of collapse because a strong 

 Opposition has arisen in its debating chamber. With wise management 

 and prudent forethought the criticisms which are being hurled at the 

 society must serve to strengthen it. Having very carefully studied the 

 matter at first hand I have come to the conclusion that the Opposition is 

 just strong enough to do good by its policy of criticism, but not strong 

 enough to do the harm which might ensue if the present management 

 were completely overturned. 



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decision of the Council excluding its own officers was generous and in the And what of the National Rose Society ? A few years ago there was 



best of taste. 



The affairs of our leading societies come under consideration at any 

 moment of leisure. The R,H.S. stands first, and it is safe to say that it 

 will continue to do so while its present vigorous policy is pursued. It is 

 in a stronger position now, perhaps, than it has been any time during the 

 past half-century. The move to the Drill Hall, so thoughtlessly, and 

 even rancorously, criticised by considerable numbers of people who are 

 incapable of taking a broad view of any matter, has proved to be 

 thoroughly justified. Of course it is not an ideal place ; we all know 

 that, but it is a place the public are quite prepared to go to if they 

 believe there is anything worth seeing. Certain persons still affect to 

 believe that a London centre ought to be given up altogether and 

 Chiswick reverted to. Let us be mild and charitable, and, instead of 

 saying all we could say about these excellent persons, merely remark 

 that they are suffering from shortsightedness. The attack is not quite so 

 severe as it was, their vision is gradually improving, and I am not with- 

 out hopes that with care and patience we shall bring them round 

 altogether. Let them take the "Magazine mixture" regularly, and 

 things will further improve. 



My heart is so full of kindness towards many of the people who still 

 cling fondly to the idea of a great Horticultural Hall— they are in every 

 way so estimable and well-meaning— that I cannot bring myself to pour 

 ridicule upon them as unsparingly as I should if they were merely 

 blatant self-seekers. As, with identity all unsuspected, I wander round 

 the Drill Hall, or through the Crystal Palace, or the Royal Aquarium, or 

 about the other places where gardeners most do congregate, I perceive 

 that the hall still weighs heavily on the minds of many. They speak of 

 it with a tender melancholy, as of a beauteous project which soulless 

 Philistines have crushed, and not with the hopeful anticipation of former 

 years. But the idea is there still. In the minds of these good souls the 

 Horticultural Hall rears itself aloft in a prominent position, somewhere 

 not far from the Thames Embankment. It is a noble and majestic 

 structure. Crowds line the approaches to it, and crowned heads and 

 courtiers'throng it. It is a place where summer perpetually reigns— and 

 —and— it pays its own expenses ! Mere prose cannot do justice to it. 

 Let me imitate the harmonious Peter, and tell its story in verse- 

 There is fog along by Blackfriars, fog on Ludgate Hill, 



Thicker still it rolls by Waterloo ; 

 The wheezing City magnate goes home to make his will, 



His clerk locks up and sneezes— at i-choo ! 

 The Strand is bare and vacant because the road is up — 



Lumbered in the old familiar style ; 

 The passer-by who hurries across the Thames to sup 

 Thinks with envy of the mud-banks of the Nile, 



Fleet Street is black and grimy, as it always used to be, 



You really couldn't clean it if you tried ; 

 The Temple is not much better, and, 'twixt you and me, 



It's hard to penetrate a lawyer's hide. 

 Up as far as Holborn, down to Billingsgate, 



Over there beyond the Borough Road, 

 * The streets are like a mud bath, the sky is like a slate, 



The river's of the colour of a toad. 



Ugh ' You squirm and shiver, dismal citizen, 



All your pride in London's flown away ; 

 Even St. Paul's the mighty, beautified by Wren, 



Swiftly loses all its wonted sway. § 



In the square where Nelson, towering m the sky, 



Turns his face of stone to Britain's foes, 

 Smuts and sooty flakings from chimneys downward fly, 



All adding to the burden of your woes. 



But there beside the river, vision fair and bright, 



Stands a hall with high and eilded dome, 

 Odours rare and dainty, through the murky night, 



Flow from London's treasured floral home. 

 All the choice exotics, all the native flowers, 



Give the tortured eye and brain relief ; 

 Hither hasten gladly, to while the dreary hours, 



Clerk and lawyer, leaving desk and brief. 



Shed O hall of beauty, shed your light afar, 



Guide the weary million's wandering feet ; 

 Exorcise the demons, happiness that mar, 



Or warp the rightful base of reason s seat 

 Helo the weary toilers in their upward climb, 



Give of joy and sweetness ;to en soul, 

 Spread illumination till *e hoped-for time 



When each name's inscribed on Flora s roll. 



a little controversy regarding it. Did the criticisms indulged in do 

 harm ? Quite the contrary. The measures for rejuvenating it proposed 

 by some active spirits, led by Mr. C. J. Grahame, were not all carried 

 into effect, but several that were sharply debated came to maturity and 

 answered well. I am not at all sure that more good might not be effected 

 by reopening other controversial matters, although the officials who have 

 to bear the sting of attack, may not agree with me. If you criticise a 

 public body, those who belong to it are aroused from their lethargy by 

 the necessity of repelling assault, and become active fighters in its cause, 

 while it and its affairs are advertised to the outer world of non-members. 

 However, I for one am not going to begin this week. Let the old 

 year go out in peace, rather than the officialdom of the N.R.S. in pieces. 



In bidding farewell to 1898 we of the older generation do so with 

 a little regret, for we feel that our number of years is all too few. But 

 do not let the young blood think we are played out yet. Not a bit of 

 it. We are full of courage and cheerfulness for the future. Whether 

 our allotted span be short or long, we mean to go ahead as hopefully 

 as of yore. We know that gardening is a noble cause to work in, that 

 it is worthy of all our energy, all our love, all our enthusiasm ; and, even 

 if it be not the most lucrative profession on earth, it still remains in our 

 regard one of the greatest and best. 



Farewell, farewell, O Ninety-eight, 



Hark I a chime 



Reminds me that the hour is late, 



Tis Ninety-nine I 



There, good friends, is our New Year card to you.' 



Lu.K. 



Ripening of Pears. 



Favoured by good weather during the autumn months, the pear crop 

 in the south west of Scotland was a very satisfactory one, both for the 

 size and quality of the fruit, and also, I believe, in most places for a fair 

 average crop. In these gardens early varieties, as Beurr£ Gifford, 

 Jargonelle, Williams' Bon Chretien, and others, bore a full crop, which, 

 owing to a plentiful rainfall and the bright warm weather at the time of 

 ripening, finished off better than usual. Later sorts were also very good, 

 and, as frost was not in evidence until November was well advanced, these 

 were allowed to hang upon the trees as long as possible, and in consequence 

 the season of some of the better varieties was considerably prolonged. 

 Marie Louise is the most popular pear here, and, as it is more extensively 

 planted than any other, an effort is always made to have some of the 

 fruit ripe as early as possible, and by leaving others on the trees until the 

 leaves fall it may in seasons of plenty be had fit for use for six or eight 

 weeks, during which no other variety is inquired for. This season the 

 last fruits were used early in December, at which time Beurre Diel and 

 Doyenne du Cornice, which usually succeeds it in order of ripening, were 

 also past their best The two last-named varieties can generally be 

 depended upon to keep up the supply until Christmas, and sometimes 

 even later. 



To illustrate the irregular manner in which late varieties are ripen- 

 ing, I may state that Easter Beurr^ is at present date, December 14, 

 being sent to table, and the fruits, both for size and quality, are superior 

 to any that have been ripened here for several years past. This freak of 

 precocious ripening is not due to early gathering of the fruit, as this was 

 not done until November, and afterwards the fruit was kept as cool a 

 possible. Other late sorts, as Winter Nelis, Nouvelle Fulvie, Oliver de 

 Serrcs, and Ne Plus Meuris, are also showing indications of early 

 maturity, so that the prospect of a plentiful supply of fruit after the new 

 year has commenced is not promising. 



Galloway House, Garliestown, NJ3. Tames Day. 



A Oood Winter Tomato. In a low fire-heated pit at Clandon Park I 

 recently saw one of the finest crops of tomatos that have for the time of year come 

 under my notice. I saw the plants on November 22, that terribly stormy day. 

 The entire portion of each plant, about four feet in length, that was trained 

 upwards close under the pit lights, was thickly hung with fruits, ripe and 

 green. These were of nice medium market and table size, rich in colour, perfectly 

 handsome, and quite free from fungus, although growing in a low, close, stuffy 

 pit with hardly any head room, and the crop would doubtless continue to be pro- 

 ductive of good ripe fruit up to the end of February. The variety is not properly- 

 known, as it originally came as a single plant from a sowing of Kuby, from which 

 it greatly differs, and it enjoys the privilege, strange for a tomato, of having no 

 name. The lower part ot the stem had cropped heavily from the beginning of 

 August. — A, D. 



