292 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND C0T1AGE GARDENER. 
[ April 9, 1835. 
ception of Mr. D ibree of Wellington, have abandoned their culture because 
of the disappointment occasioned by the continual loss of bulbs. When a 
lover of flowers sees a magnificent stand of these flowers exhibited he 
determines to go in for them ; “ be takes the shilling,” but like the recruit 
he soon finds out that it is not all sunshine and glory ; better be honest 
with him, then, and tell him what he is to expect. In writing, however, 
of my little greenhouse I have no melancholy things to record. It has 
been as usual a great success, and I believe there is no house of the same 
size out of which the owner gets more pleasure than I do out of mine. 
I have again been very successful with my Disas they gave me some 
fiae blooms, and have again largely increased. I have been able to distri¬ 
bute it to some friends, and the pans are again full of plants, young and old, 
with a promise of good bloom. A controversy was aroused concerning it 
in a contemporary because of inferior varieties which are in cultivation; 
indeed, it is by some questioned whether that to which I allude is not a 
distinct species. At any rate, I can only repeat what I have said elsewhere, 
that there are some varieties of Disa which, compared with others, are not 
worth growing. As I am mentioning Orchids, I may say that last year 
I attempted to grow a few more. I had a couple of plants of O. Alex¬ 
andras and half a dozen Masdevallias; these were placed at the end of 
the house close to the Lapagerias ; they were kept moist and somewhat 
shaded. The temperature of the house never goes above 40° even at 
night in the winter months; the fire is not kept up continuously, and yet I 
was rewarded with blooms on the Odontoglossums and a few of the Mas¬ 
devallias. Of the latter, however, M. tovarensis succumbed to the cold. Of 
course, the sDike of Odontoglossum was small, and would have perhaps 
raised a smile on the face of a grower of Orchids ; but that one must put 
up with, still I think it an achievement to have done as well as I did. 
The Lapagerias, of which I wrote last year, have done well, although 
the intense heat of the summer was against them, especially as they were 
trained up to the roof of the house. So strong was the effect of the light 
that the colour was almost taken out of the red variety in some cases, and 
I can only conclude that while it may like the shade it is sufficiently hardy 
to bear the very reverse. One of your correspondents said that I might 
do very well for a year or so, but what was I to do when they filled the 
pots ? Well, I have taken them out of these and put them into a wooden 
box, which i3 placed on the footstage, and there will be plenty of room for 
them for a few years. They are again making fresh growths, and are 
very satisfactory. I find the white variety quite as hardy and vigorous 
as the red one. The plant of Mardchal Niel which I have in the little 
annexe gave me some sixty or seventy excellent blooms. It has clean 
gone through the pot and rooted itself in the ground, so that I can only 
feed it by supplying surface dressing and liquid manure. It is again 
rapidly developing its buds, and I hope they will be over before the Vine 
begins to push, so that it will not be interfered with. 
Among the plants which I have been most pleased with in my green¬ 
house have been the Freesias. In writing about them last year I said I 
feared that they would prove intractable like the Ixias, and not flower 
well after the first year of cultivation. In this I have been agreeably dis¬ 
appointed. They have flowered well this spring, and even pots of seedlings 
of small size have grown fair heads of bloom. This being the case, one 
may fairly pronounce them to be amongst the valuable introductions of 
recent years. I have not grown them to the same perfection as my 
friend Mr. Tymons; but I am convinced that though they may succeed 
better when grown in warmth, it is not absolutely necessary for them, 
and their curious refracted spike of blooms, with their purity of colour 
and deliciousness of perfume, make them really a great acquisition, es¬ 
pecially as they come in the earlier part of the year. Allium neapolitanum 
is another very valuable bulb, producing a good umbel of pure white 
flowers, and lasting a long time. We are astonished at the smallness of 
the bulbs which produce these flowers. 
I have made one alteration in my manner of fi'ling the house in the 
later summer months, when I used to depend a good deal on Lilies in 
pots; but I have eschewed their cultivation in that style. They are, as 
most people have found them, not very amenable to pot culture, and as 
they do fairly well in my light soil I have relegated them to the borders. 
I was the more ready to do this, as many of them when in flower were 
too late for my house, and consequently could not be well seen. There 
is one drawback in trying to grow L. auratum out of doors—that if the 
weather is bad the flowers soon become soiled by the rain; but these, 
moreover, except in some favoured places, can hardly be treated as more 
than an annual, and even now, as most people buy their Hyacinths 
annually, so they buy their auratums. Lacking these, I have supplied 
their place with some of the Meteor strain of Begonias of Messrs. Sutton 
of Reading, and with dwarf plants of Abutilon, Amongst the very best of 
plants for early spring or winter blooming is the hardy Doronicum 
austriacum. I know nothing of its colour to at all equal it, and it is in¬ 
valuable f >r cutting. The colour is of the brightest yellow, and Etoile 
d’Or Chrysanthemum looks washy alongside of it. I turned my plant 
out in the summer and lifted it again in the autumo. 
I have flowered some of the new varieties of the show Pelargoniums, 
but I really can see but little advance. There is no new strain hit upon ; 
and although to the practised eye some slight improvement may be 
traced, I fancy it is so very slight that few persons would see it. The 
same may be said of Zonals. I have had some of ihe newer varieties, 
but I cannot say that I see much improvement in them; in fact, as one 
looks round the question seems difficult to answer which is the next 
flower to be improved. 
This brief record of my greenhouse experience for the past year 
will show that in a small space a good deal may be done, and friends 
who come to see me from time to time are amused at the changes 
that take place in the house. I hope, too, that this record will cause 
your correspondent “Thinker” not to believe I am the “melancholy 
Jacques” he fancies.—D., Deal. 
MANAGEMENT OF HORTICULTURAL SOCIETIES. 
I fully agree with Mr. A. R. Cox (page 229) “ that horticultural 
societies are established to promote and encourage the cause of horti¬ 
culture ” and as euch thos9 who claim a foremost position in the 
country similar to the Liverpool Horticultural Association, I venture to 
assert, ought to invite the co-operation of all to compete in its exhibi¬ 
tions. 
I am somewhat surprised at Mr. Cox, who is not easily daunted, 
admitting that “ its own members, through no fault of their own, are 
debarred from competing with the slightest prospect of success.” The 
schedule of 1884 contains bat eight classes of vegetables of outside culture, 
Tomatoes and Cucumbers being grown under glass. For each of these 
eight classes three prizes are offered with the following results :—That 
growers within the ten-miles radius of Liverpool secured five first, four 
second, and three third prizes. Surely that i3 with some success. Last 
year was undoubtedly a splendid fruit season, the entries exceeding all 
previous autumn shows, in some classes reaching to as many as sixteen. 
The twenty classes for fruit are not open as might be understood by the 
majority of the readers of the Journal, the whole schedule, with the ex¬ 
ception of one class (for a bouquet), being confined to amateurs. The 
statistics in this case are not so favourable to Liverpool growers as the 
vegetables, owing probably to a great extent in the grand season for 
quantity, colouring, and finish of all kinds of outdoor fruit. The classes 
for Apples and Pears number ten, Liverpool taking sixteen prizes out of 
the thirty offered. This is, I must respectfully urge, a sufficient answer 
that there is a good prospect of success. Undoubtedly some districts have 
grave disadvantages to contend with, such as soil, position, and atmosphere, 
but I venture to think that localities such as Magull. Wallasey, Spital, 
and Eastham ought to produce splendid vegetables and hardy fruits. 
Another important consideration is that all other large societies throw open 
their schedules, and in most cases free ; and from the number of Liverpool 
growers who exhibit at these it appears to me hardly creditable to refuse 
the same advantages to outsiders. “ Do as you would be done unto ” 
will apply well in this case. Strong competition means a good show, and 
that will draw a large attendance, which is one of the objects to he at all 
times wished for. 
I regret if either Mr. Cox or the readers of the Journal should accept 
the sentence as quoted to tend in any way to bring the Liverpool 
gardeners into discredit; these valuable columns from time to time would 
refute any such idea. Liverpool, I firmly believe, will hold its own in 
any department of horticulture, and I think if open classes in all sections 
were continued a large proportion of the awards would go to home produc¬ 
tions. — R. G. Waterman. 
I feel much obliged to “ A Northerner ” for his kind attention to 
my query addressed to Mr. Waterman. Your correspondent is evidently 
no stranger to Liverpool or the exhibitions held by its Association ; there¬ 
fore it is the more remarkable he is not more deeply impressed with the 
difficulties of the neighbourhood in relation to horticulture. The majority 
of the gardeners of the district are situated perhaps not mere than four to 
five miles from the Exchange, thus being affected by the smoke, sulphur, 
&c., from the many thousand chimneys of the city. On the opposite side, 
and at no greater distance, are emitted the obnoxious and destructive 
fumes from the chemical works of Runcorn, Widne a , and other places. 
All around our immediate vicinity forest trees may be seen dying by 
hundreds. Conifers are a sad failure, if planted they only die lingeringly. 
Some few are certainly to be met with, but they are anything but erna- 
ments. I might write more in this vein, but perhaps I have stated suffi¬ 
cient to prove we are not labouring in the paradise some are inclined to 
think. “Northerner” would be quite right as to the contention of 
Liverpool gardeners being able to hold their own against all comers if he 
confine! it. to the many productions grown under glass ; but when they 
have to depend on the mercies of our external atmosphere, there the 
contention must end. Perhaps the most difficult and at the same time 
most important of our outdoor operations is the kitchen garden. Hundreds 
of my neighbours can bear me out as to the diffici lties of growing many 
kinds of vegetables, especially such as Carrots and spring-sown Onions, 
while Parsley requires more skill in its cultivation than many of the 
choicest Orchids. Still, in face of these difficulties, “ Northerner ” would 
have us believe it is no discouragement to be beaten by those who are 
situated in the most favourable localities. 
I remember the first exhibition held by the Assoe'ation and referred to 
by your correspondent. Messrs. Iggulden, Richardson, and Hinds were 
the exhibitors of vegetables from a distance, while the produce cf local 
competitors was certainly very inferior to that staged by the three named 
exhibitors, I also readily admit that considerable improvemrnt has been 
perceptible in the local exhibits at the last two or three shows, and I am 
asked to explain the cause of this improvement. The cause, as 
“Northerner” is well aware, is not far to set k. It is a further proof, if 
such were needed, of the grand stimulating effects of horticultural 
societies. It is that spirited, but friendly, rivalry created by competition 
which has been the cause of improvement in our local vegetables. But 
surely it will be admitted that the improvement has not been confined to 
vegetables. Has not the advance been general ? Indeed, are not the 
strides made in some other departments far in advance of those made in 
vegetables ? The improvement made since 1882 has not been sufficiently 
