JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
August 31, 1882. ] 
classes are offered here, and cottagers are well provided for. The 
vegetables of the latter throughout South Wales are always a great 
feature, and as a whole they surpass those from the professional 
gardeners. Indeed the cottagers take a wonderful delight in trying 
to excel, and many of them are not satisfied with their own classes, 
but enter and do well in the open ones. Fruit and plants were very 
attractive at Bridgend this season, the finest coming from Evvenny 
Priory, the Glamorganshire seat of Col. Turberville. 
Neath Show.— This was held on the 10th inst., and is one of the 
best conducted shows in the country. Upwards of £300 is given in 
prizes annually. The Hon. Sec., Mr. Whittington, is a gentleman of 
the greatest tact and energy, and his Committee work so hard and 
close together that it would be well in many instances were their 
system adopted. Long lists of committeemen’s names occur often 
enough, but how seldom are they all workers. The burden is gene¬ 
rally thrown on two or three, and failure is often the result. Every 
department of horticulture was well represented at Neath. The 
principal plant prize—viz., £10, went to Mr. Cypher of Cheltenham, 
and it is well known that his plants give a high tone to any show. 
We have never as yet seen a bad specimen in one of his many collec¬ 
tions. Golden Champion Grape was well shown, and was justly 
awarded the first prize as a dish of whites. Black Hamburghs were 
shown in prime condition from the garden of J. T. D. Llewelyn, Esq., 
Penllergare, Swansea, and the Carnations and Picotees from the same 
source were splendid. The attendance of visitors at this Show is 
always great, and we were more than pleased to see the crowd as 
bulky this season as ever. As before stated, no show could be better 
managed, none is worthy of greater support, and we hope this will 
never be wanting. 
Aberkenfig Show.— This was held on the 16th, and is conducted 
on the Margam principle, and we can only hope it will support itself 
as w r ell and do as much good. 
Aberavon Show.— This is the name of a Glamorgan borough, and 
the chief members of the Corporation are on the Flower Show Com¬ 
mittee. The Mayor, T. D. Daniel, Esq., was the originator of the move¬ 
ment, and is now the permanent President. This gentleman, along 
with the Committee, •worked hard to secure success, and they were 
richly rewarded, as the Show itself was most notable for the great 
merit of the exhibits. Subscriptions came in well, and the attendance 
was extraordinary. The Earl and Countess of Jersey opened the 
Show, and before the close it was visited by many thousands of 
people, the receipts at the entrance gate being over £122. Mr. 
Cypher’s plants were again conspicuous, and the collections of wild 
flowers were the finest I have seen at any show. 
Cardiff Show. —This is always a grand one. This year it was 
held on August 23rd. All the tents had been erected on the night of 
the 22nd in a field close to the town, and it was intended to have the 
Show in them as usual next day, but during the night the tents were 
all blown down, and a hurried arrangement of the exhibits had to be 
made in the Market Place. Notwithstanding this the Show was a 
most excellent one, all the classes being well filled with produce much 
above the average in quality. The best of the plants came from Mr. 
Cypher, Cheltenham, and Mr. Howells, Caidiff. Cut Hoses ■were 
numerous and good. Mr. Crossling, St. Fagans, who is about to enter 
in the nursery business at Penartb, near Cardiff, had, as usual, some 
splendid stands of blooms, and secured the principal prizes for Hybrid 
Perpetuals and Tea varieties. Mr. Pettigrew, Cardiff Castle, also 
showed well in several of the Rose classes. 
Fruit was better than we ever saw it here. The first-prize collection 
of nine dishes was superb and came from Mr. Crossling. One of his 
two dishes of Grapes was Alnwick Seedling, good in size of bunch 
and berry, and finely finished. For Black Hamburghs and Muscats 
Mr. Coomber, Hendre Park, Monmouth, was first, his Hamburghs 
being particularly fine. For any other black and any other white 
Grape Mr. Pettigrew was first in both instances, in one with grand 
Alicantes and the other with well-ripened Foster’s Seedling. Pines 
were numerous and good. Mr. Wood, Maindiff Court, Abergavenny, 
showed some very fine Queens and Smooth Cayennes. Mr. Hawkins, 
Ewenny, had also some grand dishes of stone fruits. 
All the prize money was paid the day after the Show, and this is 
worth noting, as carelessness in this matter frequently tells sadly 
against a society in time to come. Exhibitors who have a difficulty 
in getting their prize money one year are not very anxious to do all 
they can for the society the following show, and we do not blame 
them ; but this character does not apply to the shows in South 
Wales, and it is our opinion that they are a credit to all connected 
with them, and deserve to be supported in every possible way.— 
A Scotchman in Wales. 
LOBELIA CARDINALIS. 
Attention has been worthily directed to this grand old herba¬ 
ceous plant. It has been described on page 175 as growing 3 or 
4 feet high under favourable circumstances, but I have had quite 
a forest of brilliant spikes 5 feet high, and nothing in the garden 
was so gorgeous. They were grown in the lower pockets of a 
rockery at the margin of a lake, and the roots of the plants no 
doubt penetrated quite through the soil into the water. The 
compost was further prepared for them, and consisted of a mix¬ 
207 
ture of burnt, or rather charred, clay and cow manure, in which 
the growth of the plants were most vigorous. They could not, 
however, be safely left out all winter in such a position, and the 
best of them were always taken up and wintered in a cool pit, 
the roots being packed together and soil worked amongst them 
as if preparing Rhubarb roots for forcing. In drier borders plants 
have survived the winter, but were never so fine the following 
year as young plants were that had been preserved, prepared, and 
planted in rich fresh soil. In planting in the borders the practice 
was to have a barrowful of soil at hand, dig out a spadeful or 
two from the border and spread it, add the fresh, and insert the 
plants. A splendid return was always had for the little labour 
thus invested, and the fresh, heavy, and rich compost. Well- 
grown examples are grand also in pots for the conservatory in 
the autumn. For this purpose the dark-leaved sorts, L. fulgens 
or L. ignea, are well adapted ; but it was the true old green¬ 
leaved species, L. cardinalis, that I had so fine in borders and on 
rockeries thirty years ago. It does not appear to be by any 
means plentiful now, and it ought to be increased, for no plant 
will better repay for good culture nor produce a more dazzling 
display under favourable circumstances.— A Retired Gardener. 
MR. TAYLOR’S ESSAY ON VINE CULTURE. 
My absence from home has prevented me answering Mr. Taylor 
sooner. To use the words of “ Single-handed ” on a former 
occasion in reference to Mr. Taylor and his Vines, I am “ aston¬ 
ished he should seek to evade the responsibilities of his asser¬ 
tions ; ” but I can well understand his confessed aversion to 
“parallel passages.” As he makes no satisfactory attempt to 
defend himself in regard to the last and other points raised by 
me, I feel I can safely leave the verdict with those of the public 
who understand such matters. Mr. Taylor’s attempt to divert 
attention from the real issue by proposing to compare our Grapes 
is too transparent. It is not his Grape-growing that is assailed, 
but something else equally precious to him I should think. I 
should not have had the least objection to accept his challenge 
now, or at any time since he began (and if he had included other 
fruits besides Grapes I should have been still better pleased), had 
he been able to show how the comparative merits of our fruit was 
going to prove his avowed all but total ignorance of other people’s 
writings and systems, more particularly in view of the fact that 
he is an expert shorthand writer and admits to using it in his 
notes ; but he is unable to do anything of the kind, and I decline 
the frivolous and irrelevant contest. 
I have on many occasions entered the lists among my fellows 
and equals and staked my chance there, and that is the course I 
should choose to adopt again if so disposed, and I could boast 
that I grew the best Grapes “in the Queen’s dominions ; ” but I 
never did meet Mr. Taylor on any of these occasions, nor never 
heard of him meeting anybody ; but that is the place I should 
have thought he would have chosen to exhibit his productions had 
he the confidence he professes. I do Mr. Taylor the justice to 
believe that his own account of his successful practice is true, but 
he must be conscious that to many readers, and certainly to me, 
his methods of culture are “ paper methods ” and no more ; but I 
should be sorry to use that and the like expressions in an offensive 
sense to any man whose practice and results I was personally 
wholly unacquainted with. 
Had Mr. Taylor been pleased to stake a benevolent wager in 
the hands of the Editors, and challenged me to prove from his late 
essay that he was perfectly well acquainted with the writings of 
other authors and their systems—if he is not open to the suspicion 
of being indebted to them for some of his words and ideas, not¬ 
withstanding his declaration to the contrary—I should have taken 
him up, and am ready to do that yet. I should have felt, had I 
been in his place, that it was there my “honour gripped,” and 
should have acted accordingly.—J. S. W. 
-JaN. 
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kitchen garden. 
Cabbage as a spring crop is one of the most important, a supply 
being necessary in all gardens. The plants from the July sowing 
should as soon as fit be planted out in rich soil, choosing an open 
situation, but if possible sheltered from winds, as the autumn gales 
