June 5, 1884. ] 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
445 
specify this, as has. been the case in the schedule of the Royal Botanic 
Society of London. The challenge in question remains open for accept¬ 
ance till the 30th inst. 
—— The Inner Temple Gardens. —By permission of the Benchers 
the Inner Temple Gardens on the Thames Embankment were opened to 
the public on Monday last, and will continue open during the months 
of June, July, and August, from six to nine o’clock every evening. This 
is a great boon to dwellers in the densely crowded district adjacent, and 
thousands of children cannot fail to be benefited by the advantage 
accorded of disporting themselves on the spacious lawn, to which, Mr. 
Newton has informed us, they do little or no damage. 
—•-» Food Plants Injured by Insects. —In connection with a 
flower show to be held at Frome on August 4th, there will be a novel 
competition, being a class for the best collection of food plants injured 
by insects, accompanied by specimens of the insects injuring them. 
Each of the collections must be accompanied by a short and simply 
written account of the attacks represented, and what were done to get 
rid of the insects, and whether successful or not. No scientific 
descriptions are needed, but only a simple statement of facts. The prizes 
offered are £3, £2, and £1, and are given by Miss E. A. Ormerod, F.M.S., 
Consulting Entomologist to the Royal Agricultural Society of England. 
They are open to the whole of the United Kingdom. As the entrance 
fee is only 2s., and as the competition is the first of the kind ever held, 
this ought to be a most interesting feature of the flower show. The 
Hon. Secretary is Mr. Henry F. Moore, Frome. 
- The annual Exhibition of the Royal National Tulip 
Society was held in conjunction with the horticultural Show at the 
Botanic Gardens, Old Trafford, on Saturday last, and a highly interesting 
display was provided ; the number of exhibitors and general quality of 
the Tulips staged being fully equal to preceding shows. Manchester 
people are accustomed to and welcome these shows ; but in the south of 
England such an exhibition would now be quite a novelty, for compara¬ 
tively few are acquainted with the beauty of florists’ Tulips. The 
principal class was for twelve dissimilar varieties, two feathered and two 
flamed in each section. In this the Rev. F. D. Horner won chief 
honours with beautiful fresh blooms of Mrs. Cooper, Industry, Garibaldi, 
Queen Mary, Duchess of Sutherland, Rose Celestial, Dr. Hardy, Annie 
McGregor, Sovereign, Sir J. Paxton, and Talisman. Closely following were 
Messrs. J. Thurston, J. Knowles, J. Morris, and D. Woolley. In the 
classes for smaller numbers of varieties the competition was very keen 
but it was particularly so for single specimens, some hundreds of blooms 
being staged, the above-named exhibitors, together with Messrs. Baker> 
Barlow, Prescott, and Woolley, taking the leading prizes. 
- A novel Exhibition was opened at the St. James’s Hall, 
Manchester, last Thursday, and though devoid of the interest attaching 
to competitive exhibits, it was remarkable for the excellent taste dis¬ 
played in the arrangement. A large number of Rhododendrons, Azaleas, 
Roses, Spiraeas, and similar plants had been purchased for the occasion, 
and under the superintendence of Mr. J. F. Johnson these were dis¬ 
posed in bold handsome groups which, in the spacious hall above 
mentioned, had a most beautiful effect. Mr. Johnson deserves much 
praise for the skilful manner in which the Show was arranged, and 
proved conclusively that there is yet much room for improving the 
effectiveness of horticultural exhibitions generally. The Rhododendrons 
were superbly flowered, the colours bright and varied, and the Azaleas 
were not only brilliant in colours, but filled the hall with their powerful 
fragrance. 
- Messrs. Cassell & Co , Ludgate Hill, send us samples of the 
current issues of several of their serial works, including the following :— 
Part 46 of “ Paxton’s Flower Garden,” which gives coloured plates of 
Qncidium cucullatum, a very poor variety and dull-coloured, and Azalea 
amcena, which is also rather unsatisfactory in colour. Part 2 of “ Popular 
Gardening” has a continuation of “Roses and Rose Culture,” “Garden 
Walks and Roads,” “The Life History of Plants.” Chapters are also 
given on the “ Flower Garden,” “ Kitchen Garden,” “ Garden Pots and 
Potting,” and “ Florists’ Flowers.” Part 64 of ‘ Familiar Garden 
Flowers ” describes the Tulip and Saxifraga peltata ; Part 37 of “ Familiar 
Wild Flowers ” being devoted to the Teasel, the tuberous Moschatel, the 
style of both the latter being similar to that in preceding parts. Part 5 
of the “ Encyclopaedic Dictionary ” is continued in the same admirable 
manner as we have previously commended, and Part 2 of the “ Book of 
Health ” contains a continuation of the description of fruit and yegetable 
foods. 4 r , . 
-An Australian Vineyard. — Among Australian vineyards 
that of Mr. John Wyndham, Dalwood, New South Wales, occupies a 
prominent place. The Vines cover an area of 70 acres, the quantities of 
Grapes produced annually varying according to season, The vintage of 
1883 exceeded 45,000 gallons, after the loss of nearly half the crop by 
hail, &c. The vineyard covers an area of 70 acres. The cost* of .cultiva¬ 
tion per acre is from £18 to £ 20 , the whole vineyard being kept at all 
times in perfect order. The character of the wines ranges from light to 
medium full-bodied, strength from 20 per cent, to 24 per cent, natural 
proof spirit, the bulk being 21 per cent, natural proof spirit. The wines 
are not fortified. The soil is a red sandy loam, generally of great depth, 
with a substratum of ironstone gravel ; then a rich marl clay, inter¬ 
mixed with small globules of lime. The Vines are staked and trained on 
wire espalier fashion. The Vines were first planted by the late George 
Wyndham, the father of the present proprietor. After the new planta¬ 
tion began to bear fruit the old Vines were taken up. The industry has 
been established at Dalwood for more than fifty years, and nearly the 
whole life of the presept proprietor has been devoted to its development 
and perfecting. The vineyard is kept in the highest possible state of 
cultivation, and all Vine and wine refuse is regularly returned to the soil 
in a systematic manner. The quantity of wine in stock is over 71,000 
gallons, and the quantity produced since 1876 was over 276,000 gallons. 
PRUNING AND SIZE OF ROSES. 
The mistake “ J. A. W.” makes about big Roses is much the same as 
“ A. C.” and “ W. C. T.” make about pruning. There is no laying down 
a general law. I do not think a beautiful Rose is made any worse by 
being made larger by good care and treatment. Her Majesty is large, 
but it is by no means coarse ; it is like an improved form of a very good 
old Rose, Charles Lawson and Baronne Prevost. The old Blairii. again, 
is not easily surpassed, or the Cabbage and Moss. I would not think of 
putting Her Majesty into a lady’s bouquet, but we do not grow our Roses 
for ladies’bouquets only. There are plenty of smaller buds and flowers 
from the side shoots for that purpose ; but I fear if “ J. A. W. ” were to 
try to persuade exhibitors to put them up in their stands the verdict of 
the judges would not be in their favour, and I have had more than usual 
share of experience, having judged perhaps about 500 times, more or less. 
Bennett’s seedling is certainly a wonderful development of size, though it 
cannot be called graceful any more than a big Dahlia or a large blossom 
of Hollyhock. 
When judging at Manchester the first time A. K. Williams was 
exhibited, I and my co-partners had finished the nurserymen’s classes 
before the amateurs’ had been judged; so my friend “ D.” of Deal said to 
Mr. Cheales and me, ‘‘Go and do the new Roses.” At once I said, 
“ There, that’s the best Rose I have seen as a new one since I was so 
taken by a stand at Birmingham of Dupuy Jamain.” It was large. My 
verdict was wonderfully true, as last year it was at the top of the tree or 
Rose list, equal with the old champion Marie Baumann. Now, there is 
no Rose that opens every bud, great or small, better, and no Rose better 
for the front of a house. I cannot praise it too much for forcing either, 
and it strikes like a weed ; so will almost any Rose if persons would get 
out of the absurd plan of trying to strike them by sticking long hits in the 
ground under a north wall. Every Rose will strike if strong young shoots 
just after the blooms have been cut are put into pans in a warm propa¬ 
gating house. No one, I believe, hardly knows that bottles of water in a 
stove will strike plants that refuse to strike in any other way, Lapagerias, 
for instance, and many other plants. This makes me somewhat digress, 
but such criticisms, or we will sry remarks, as those of “ J. A. W., 
Alder minster," will not, I expect, in any way alter the opinion of 
rosarians about big Roses. The way to appreciate them is to put them 
in shallow glasses, hut sufficiently tall to hold each a single specimen, or 
in a stand at a show.—C. P. P. 
AURICULAS IN SCOTLAND. 
DURING- the blooming season just closing I have had the pleasure of 
seeing a number of collections in Scotland, from those of two or three 
thousand each at Raploch near Stirling, and Bankhead near Duns, down 
to such as my own of about as many hundreds. My impression ;s that, 
over all, the bloom was less simultaneous than we generally have it, the 
trusses on the whole smaller, and, while the quality was at least an 
average one, that there was in not a few varieties a greater tendency to 
“ sport” than usual. I noticed a most curious freak of this kind in the 
case of St. Augustine at Raploch, where the diversity in the pips of one 
truss was unusually singular. Among others General Neil, uncommonly 
good now and then, has varied greatly, and Imperator was everywhere 
unrecognisable. 
The friends of the veteran Mr. Meiklejohn, now close on eighty-seven 
years of age, will be glad to learn that he has rallied surprisingly from 
the severe bronchial attack of last autumn. I am reminded of a call I 
then made while he was nearly at the worst. A plant of Acme then in 
bloom had to be brought in, and I verily believe the sight of it did him 
more good than the previous medical potion. 
