112 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[ August 7i 1884. 
latter Lave been more quickly removed in a small than in a 
large state, and the fertility of the soil conserved insead of 
uselessly abstracted ? 
Then we have Vines in the spring and fruit trees bristling 
with growths. They are allowed to extend day by day, while 
eventually it is imperative that something must be done. 
An hour with the finger and thumb in disbudding promptly 
would have saved ten hours of pruning long delayed, while 
the earlier and quicker work is infinitely more satisfactory 
than the later and slower. Half an hour’s finger-and-thumb 
work among Vines, Peaches—indeed, all kinds of fruit trees, 
also Melons, Cucumbers, and Tomatoes—in preventing over¬ 
crowding is immeasurably more efficacious than any amount 
of after cutting. By the first process an evil is averted, by 
the last it is incited, and a remedy must of necessity be 
sought which in itself is often, when roughly and hurriedly 
applied, almost as bad as the evil it is intended to cure. 
It is little short of deplorable to see the overcrowding 
that is permitted, and which, by foresight and promptitude, 
might have been prevented in gardens. A few extra hours 
in early morning and in the cool of the evening at a critical 
time may make all the difference between confidence and 
distrust, comfort and disappointment, success and failure. 
“ It is easy to preach,” does some one whisper? “ but what 
about practising ? ” Just this : it is only by years of prac¬ 
tice that the truth of what is stated has been proved. It is 
the outcome of long experience; of years of labour, early and 
late; the lesson taught by many a struggle and many a 
failure, but at last success. —An Old Gardener. 
EXHIBITIONS FEOM THE EMPLOYEE’S 
POINT OF VIEW. 
In your issue of July 24th of the current year I notice an excel¬ 
lent article on the subject of exhibitions from the pen of Mr. W. 
Iggulden. He writes chiefly from the employe’s view, and I wish 
to show that his arguments hold equally good from the other 
side. My chief excuse for reiterating almost all that Mr. Iggulden 
says must be that what I write comes from an employer, who might 
possibly look at matters in a different light. 
On the broad question of exhibitions in general there can be but 
one opinion. The quality of every article, both of commerce and 
luxury, has most undoubtedly been improved by the exhibitions that 
have been so frequent and so common of late years. There is not 
within my knowledge a single commodity produced in any trade or in 
any art that has not felt the beneficial stimulus of public competition. 
I see no reason wliji- it should be otherwise with garden produce. Did 
the principle of exhibitions require any apology I could enlarge on 
the subject more than you or your readers would care for, but where 
the practice is univeisal the princijrle seems to require no defence, 
and if gardeners are not to be allowed to exhibit, how are we to have 
horticultural exhibitions ? So much for the broad question. 
I have frequently been argued with by friends as to my admitted 
favour towards exhibitions, local and otherwise ; and Mr. Iggulden 
has touched nearly every argument used by my well-meaning friends. 
He has, from his point of view, refuted these arguments, and I may 
at once say that his reasoning is so impartial as to hold good from 
my point also. A favourite plea of my friends against exhibitions is 
the damage done to plants in the journeys to and from the show hall. 
It would be a truly remarkable preparation for a plant intended to 
take a prize to damage it in transit. Another dissuasive argument is 
that the gardener times his plants so as to be at their best at show 
time. I would rather see a really fine bloom at one time than my 
plants and flowers coming to perfection by driblets, so that to find a 
really fine specimen one must wander through a thicket of faded or 
immature plants. This is not an argument against a proper succession 
of plants and fruits, which I consider the acme of gardeners’ ability, 
because there is a limit to all things, and no one is likely to show 
every plant on his place ; and the plants not intended for show can 
be worked on proper successive principles. Mr. Iggulden mentions 
the argument of light cropping in order to secure heavy fruits, and 
he specifies Grapes and Melons. He says nothing is gained by light 
cropfiing of these fruits. I am under the impre.ssion that weight of 
bunch, size of berry, and weight of fruit would be gained by light 
cropping, but my gardener could answer the question better than I. 
However, if an employer takes no interest in Grapes, Melons, and 
Peaches, and if he does not watch his gardener’s goings on, and if he 
is foolish enough to have no idea of what crops his plants ought to 
caiT}', all I can say is he does not deserve to have a garden nor a 
gardener. Again, I have a sufficiently high opinion of human nature 
to believe that most gardeners would study the interests of their 
employers to some extent, and after all the master has the remedy in 
his own hands about forty days before the 11th of November. If 
men of such respectability and education as gardeneis usually are 
cannot be trusted in such a matter there is an end to all comfoit for 
employers, and a cessation of all the understanding that ought to 
exist between man and man. 
With regard to large specimens which, with Mr. Iggulden, I 
admit are apt to become a nuisance, I think I could suggest a rernedy 
for that complaint. In the first place, I am not sure that there is so 
much merit in a large specimen of anything that grows, isize means 
generally age, or room. A large-foliage plant or Orchid means 
simply that it has lived several years, and that the owner or grower 
has a house large enough to hold it. In local shows at least the 
space allotted for exhibits should in all cases be restricted, and 
quality more considered than quantity. The craze for gigantic 
Grape bunches is fast dying out, and my experience of such monsters 
is that they are useless for all purposes other than for showing at a 
few exhibitions. If judges would in all cases award prizes to exhibits 
for quality at the expense of size this argument against shows would 
fall to the ground. 
In encouraging mj^ gardener to exhibit at local shows I have 
another aim in view, that of encouraging others to spend some time 
in a pursuit so healthful to body and mind as gardening. To persons 
engaged in sedentary occupations all outdoor pursuits are invaluable, 
and gardening has the merits of cheapness, intelligence, and hygiene. 
Shows not only’- encourage such persons to outdoor work, but they 
help by prize money to paj’^ what might be a burdensome expense. 
Where will one find a village so pretty or so healthy as where there 
is an annual show of produce from the gardens ? Did not the prizes 
offered bj’’ a certain railway company at once have their effect by the 
beautifying of every station on the line ? 
But I would venture to offer a few words of advice to gardeners 
on the subject of local shows. In the first place, don’t be greedy. 
Don’t show every plant, fruit, and vegetable in your garden, but let 
there be moderation in all things. And especially you gardeners who 
have large establishments, be careful not to discourage others by 
wholesale sweeping away of first prizes. “ As you are strong be 
merciful.” It looks greedy, and it is greedy. What we want is 
encouragement to our art, and not discouragement to our weaker 
artists, fchow only what is of the very best quality intrinsically, not 
merely what will suipass other people’s exhibits. Lastly, remember 
that you have a trust imposed upon you, and that your duty is to do 
your best for your employer, as ymu have a right to expect from him 
the best terms of which you are worthy. —Employer. 
NOTES AT KEW. 
The rather severe drought earlier in the season followed by 
the recent heavy rains has caused gardens generally to assume 
an aspect that is unpleasantly suggestive of the fast-approaching 
autumn. Even Royal Kew is not exempt from this depressing 
effect, and where all w'as bright and beautiful a few weeks ago 
there is now a comparative dullness; and in the herbaceous 
ground, whic’n usually furnishes so many attractions during the 
summer months, the supply of flowers is clearly on the wane. 
The trees, however, which have been uncommonly handsome this 
season, are still beautiful; and a walk through the arboretum, 
a portion of the gardens that quite escapes the attention of the 
ordinary visitor, would yield much pleasure to any real admirer 
of arboreal beauty. Some jottings upon this depai-tment must, 
however, be reserved until another occasion ; for the present we 
will take a glance at the houses and a few of their more notable 
inmates. 
The Water Lilies. —The old Lily house near the Palm 
stove is now devoted to these charming aquatic plants Nymphseas 
and a few other plants of similar habit, and the large circular 
tank has a charming appearance in early morning, some scores 
of handsome flowers being expanded. The condition of the 
plants proves conclusively that their requirements are carefully 
studied and provided for, and generous treatment in the matter 
of soil and manure has resulted in the production of gi'and leaves 
and large well-coloured flowers wdiich rise strongly above the 
surface of the water. It is intended, I understand, to keep this 
house open during the whole of the season, and to render this 
practicable it is now heated independently of the Palm stove by 
a boiler placed in the rear. Many disadvantages attended the 
former system, as, owing to the distance the pipes had to be 
taken underground, a considerable loss of heat was incurred, 
and in consequence the temperature of the house in cold weather 
was often dangerously low. It was chiefly upon this accoun 
