62 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[ January 24, 1884. 
Mr. James Douglas is in Ihe secret counsels of the fraternity, and ought to 
know, and be thanked for his frankness on that point. It is too good to 
pretend, after such an admission, that Auricula shows are “promoted” 
with the object of “pleasing the public” or even a “certain portion of 
it.” . Your special florist is simply a person with more than usually 
restricted sympathies and views on flower culture, who “ does not trouble 
his head about national utility.” A special society to improve the Potato, 
for example, or some other subject of importance, one can understand ; but 
one like the Auricula Society, which it is confessed has no useful purpose 
to serve, and which serves none, is not worth encouraging or defending, and 
certainly not worth making so much noise about.— Boeder Flower. 
When we begin to answer questions on any subject connected with 
these special societies it seems that there is no end to them. Your 
correspondent, “ Auricula,” now wishes to know how the large growers 
can be prevented from competing against the small ones. 1 really cannot 
say. “ Exhibitors in A and B cannot compete in C and D,” but if a large 
grower chooses to compete in C and D there is no rule to prevent him. 
I do not think it is often done, and I fancy even in the case mentioned by 
“ D., Deal," that gentleman made a mistake. The grower referred to was the 
late Mr. Thos. Woodhead, and he was not the man to take advantage of a 
small grower. The only way is for the Press to notice any flagrant 
instances of it. A man who had a surplus stock of 1000 plants ought not 
to have competed in C and D when the choice was given him of two out 
of the four classes, and I do n t think it was done. At one time all the 
classes were open, but at that time also there were few exhibitors. Now 
that the alteration has been made it must be left to the honour of the 
exhibitors. It would scarcely do to define the number of plants an 
amateur should grow.— J. Douglas. 
1 Sohe friends of the Societies under discussion will be inclined to regret 
that Mr. Douglas has undertaken the championship of their cause, for 
while practically admitting their defects he has represented them in a far 
worse light than I should have thought of doing. If the e s cieties are 
confined to “a few old fogies” who do not “trouble their heads about 
national utility,” what claims have they to the title they have adopted, to 
the publicity that is accorded them in the press, and to the funds they are 
•so assiduous in collecting ? If they had chosen to follow their hobbies in 
a private manner, none could have objected ; but they have courted popu¬ 
larity, and “ national ” institutions must be necessarily exposed to the 
criticism of a utilitarian age. When funds are being expended for any 
presumably “ national ” purpose, we have a right to know whether such 
funds are being applied to the best possible advantage, and in the case of 
the special societies I consider this is not done. 
As to the number of prizetakers at these shows, there is no question 
whatever that the projectors and those who appear to take the greatest 
interest in the matter are really those who are most successful, and there¬ 
fore their testimony cannot be regarded as impartial. For instance, at 
the National Auricula Society’s Southern Show last year I find, from the 
reports given in the gardening papers, that there were thirteen prizetakers 
and nearly 100 prizes offered, while at the Carnation and Picotee Show there 
were only eleven prizetakers. At the latter, too, in the classes for single 
specimen blooms, sixty-five prizes were offered and divided amongst four 
exhibitors, one of whom gained thirty-three of the total—a great victory 
undoubtedly, and one that should be “proclaimed from Land’s End to 
John o’Groat’s,” but to the uninitiated it savours much of monopoly. 
Cannot this be remedied ?—X. 
As an admirer of the Auricula, but not an exhibitor, I do not exactly 
see why those who choose to contribute to a special society should not do 
so if it affords them pleasure. Auricula shows are very beautiful; indeed 
it is questionable if there is so much real beauty in a similarly small space 
as in a collection of these charming alpine plants. The Auricula exhibi¬ 
tions in London have enormously improved since the present Society was 
established,. and this fact presumably satisfies the subscribers, whether 
they win prizes or not, or, in fact, whether they compete or not. It is not 
claimed, I think, that the Society in question is perfect. Most organisations 
of this nature are open to improvement. The question is, In which way 
can the National Auricula Society be improved ? What rule can be 
altered or change effected to widen its popularity ? It is to this question 
that your critical correspondents might usefully direct their attention, and 
at present I fail to see that anything has been suggested that will render 
the shows more generally satisfactory.— Non-Exhibitor. 
VINE ECONOMY. 
Mr. Taylor’s questions (page 37) show what a vague and uncertain 
meaning he attaches to the term “ Economy of the Vine.” According to 
his statements it might be something in the ground and not in the Vine 
at all. I decline to recognise his unintelligible and unscientific interpre¬ 
tation. I understood him to use the term in the same and proper sense 
that physicians employ the words “economy of the human body or 
system —referring to the circulation of the blood, assimilation, growth, 
&c., or in other words functional development. The economy of the 
^ ine is like that of other plants—especially those in its own section—in 
these respects. It lives on the same food, thrives in the same soil, feeds 
in the same way, breathes the same air, has a similar structure and 
systein to other plants, and finally dies just in the same way. Mr. 
Taylor’s notions of analogy are indicated by his comparison of the Vine 
with Geraniums and Hoses, &c., and his knowledge of his subject is 
shown by his question, “Will the Gooseberry root grow wrong end 
up P ” Clearly he does not yet know that it will do so, and many other 
plants besides. I thought the inverted Gooseberry cutting was a familiar 
example with most people. For a more intimate acquaintance with this 
subject I would refer Mr. Taylor to modern works on plant-structure and 
physiology. 
I expected an answer from “ Credo ” about elaborated sap, and I 
here beg to submit that elaborated sap does not return to the leaves, and 
that such a thing has never been proved notwithstanding the confident 
“ undoubtedly ” of “ Credo.’’— Non-Believer. 
The annual meeting of the Royal Horticultural Society 
will be held at Kensington on February the 12th. The gentlemen 
recommended by the Council as officers for the year are as follows:— 
President, the Right Hon. Lord Aberdare ; Treasurer, William Haughton ; 
Secretary, Major F. Mason ; Auditors, John Lee and James F. West. 
To fill the vacancies in the Council caused by the retirement of Sir Chas. 
W. Strickland, Bart., James McIntosh, and Henry Webb, the Fellows 
recommended are the Right Hon. Viscount Enfield, Professor Michael 
Foster, F.R.S., and Frederick Du Cane Godman, F.R.S. 
- The International Potato Exhibition will again have 
the advantage of facilities, generously granted by the Royal Horti* 
cultural Society, for the trial, culture, and cooking of new varieties 
submitted for certificates of merit. Persons intending to compete are 
requested to send, carriage paid, not more than eight varieties, six fair 
samples of each, to Mr. A. F. Barron, Horticultural Gardens, Chiswick, 
near London. At the same time a communication on the subject 
should be made to the Honorary Secretary of the International Potato 
Exhibition, 23, Upper Thames Street, London, E.C. 
- The Dundee International Horticultural Exhibition 
will be held in the Drill Hall and grounds of that town on the 11th, 12th, 
and 13th of September, 1SS4, when upwards of £1000 will be offered in 
prizes. Very liberal provision is made for exhibits of fruits, seventy-one 
classes being devoted to them. About 120 classes are appropriated to 
plants and cut flowers, and nearly thirty to vegetables. In all the 
leading classes the prizes are liberal, the most important being that for 
sixteen sorts of fruits—namely, £20, £15, and £10 ; while for a collection 
of twelve sorts, £15, £10, and £5 ; and in a third class for eight sorts, 
£10, £G, and £4 are offered, these being open to all. 
-A correspondent suggests that the balance in the hands of the 
Pelargonium Society be given to the Gardeners’ Royal Benevolent 
Institution on the ground that “ if added to the funds of the Auricula 
and Carnation and Picotee Societies it would practically be placed in the 
pockets of some half-dozen individuals.” 
- “ P.” writes respecting Delphinium nudicaule as follows :— 
“ In 1882 I saved seed of the above and sowed it in heat in the spring 
of 1883, growing the seedlings and planting them out during the 
summer. They gave us a beautiful show of flowers in the autumn, and 
are still in bloom. I intend to place them under glass and plant them 
out in the spring. They were so beautiful that I almost feel inclined 
to employ them for bedding-out this year. Have any of your readers 
bedded them out, and with what results ? ” 
- The same correspondent also, referring to Anomatheca 
cruenta, remarks :—“I have been agreeably surprised by plants of the 
above from seed sown last spring without any extra care. The seed was 
sown in pots in ordinary soil kept in a cool pit, and they have given us 
a fine display of lovely flowers. They are now perfecting seed, so that 
we may have a display of them in autumn treated as annuals.” 
- Messrs. Paul & Son, Cheshunt, send us examples of real 
Autumn Roses in the form of a few tops of the good old Bourbon 
Rose Souvenir de la Malmaison, and the new H.P. Grandeur of Cheshunt, 
off two rows they are pruning for very early flowering. They seem to 
illustrate the perpetual habit it is so desirable to obtain in new Roses, 
every shoot terminating in a flower bud. 
