184 JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER . [ August se, isso. 
stone, one of which is only half a mile away and the other about 
three miles, both of which produce lime of good quality. If any¬ 
one had told me that the soil here was likely to be deficient in 
lime I certainly should not have believed him, but nevertheless 
I have been here long enough to prove that it is exceedingly 
deficient in that essential, and am surprised at the results of 
applying lime to it. A similar thing may happen in other loca¬ 
lities with respect to other ingredients, and as it was ten years 
before the thought dawned on me of what the deficiency was, 
it may be so in other cases unless chemistry is invited to our 
aid. 
I am much obliged to Mr. Harrison Weir for giving me a peg 
to hang these rambling notes on, and will endeavour once more 
to attend to his subject. That writer says, “ The best remedy for 
shanking in my opinion is sulphur on the pipes.” If shanking 
were caused by fungus this would unquestionably be an effectual 
remedy ; but unfortunately for the fungus theory, as well as the 
proposed remedy, there is the fact that till within the last few 
years almost every grower was in the habit of placing sulphur on 
the pipes for another purpose, and it did not prevent the shanking, 
Shanking is always caused by a vitiated or a deficient supply, it 
may be owing to the want of sufficient foliage or of healthy roots ; 
it may be from the lack of some essential ingredient in the soil, 
or from insufficient water. Generally speaking, if the foliage is 
good, a little stimulant administered to the roots with warm water 
will temporarily check the evil. The writer says further on to 
the effect that the plan of cutting off the shanked part would be 
of no avail if the damage came from the root. I answer, Neither 
is it, except for appearance.— Wm. Taylor. 
The shanking described by your esteemed correspondent, Mr. 
Harrison Weir, is not the shanking with which experienced Grape- 
growers are so familiar. Shanking is a disease incidental to the 
critical stoning period of Grapes, just as shrivelling and falling 
off is incidental to the stoning or seeding period of Peaches, 
Plums, Cherries, and Apples, &c. In the Vine shanking always 
happens about the period the seeds begin hardening. The berries, 
instead of changing to the sugary state, lose their freshness and 
become mere bags of water of a most disagreeably sour taste, and 
shrivel and drop in the end, and this happens generally before the 
footstalks perish. If a berry be pulled off and squeezed it will 
drop nothing but clear water, and leave a skin behind. What is 
the immediate cause of the disease is yet a mystery, but one 
thing is certain, and that is that excessive cropping will produce 
it. If the shanked berries are allowed to hang the footstalks will 
turn black and shrivel, but that has little to do with the disease. 
—J. S. W. 
TAUNTON DEANE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 
I have again had the pleasure of officiating at the Exhibition of 
this very flourishing Society (and where all the airangements are so 
admirably carried out it is a pleasure), and again have been astonished 
at the zeal with which these west country shows are carried out and 
the interest taken by all parties in them. I cannot but contrast 
them with those of the south-eastern district. The value of the 
prizes, the amount of the exhibits, and the attendance of visitors are 
all in such striking contrast, that to compare them would be indeed 
Olympus to a molehill; and it must be recollected that it is not 
merely in the county town, but at Weston, Bridgewater, Sherborne, 
Barnstaple, and all towns of any size that these autumn shows take 
place. Railway stations and hoardings are covered with huge posters, 
in which the Societies seem to vie with one another as to which shall 
offer the best prizes and present the greatest attractions. Exhibitors 
leave, but others take their place ; the cottagers exhibit better every 
year, and some of their exhibits show that taste is not confined to the 
middle and upper classes. 
In noticing the stove and greenhouse plants, which are always so 
good here, some idea of their merits may be gained from the fact that 
Mr. Cypher of Cheltenham only came in second, the place of honour 
being allotted to Mr. Eawkes of Exeter, whose gardener Mr. Cole 
(one of the Manchester Coles) shows that wherever they migrate they 
carry with them their almost unrivalled skill as plantsmen. It were 
use’ess to give the names of the plants exhibited. We all know at 
this season of the year what they must be ; and when Mr. Cypher, 
Mr. Cole, and Mr. Tudgey were the exhibitors we may be quite sure 
that the very best were shown. There was a falling-off in the foliage 
plants and Ferns, but in the other departments there was a decided 
improvement. The cottagers’ productions were grand, and they might 
very easily have competed with the gentlemen’s gardeners. It was 
not simply that the vegetables and flowers were good, but the taste 
displayed in bouquets was very great amongst them ; indeed I have 
rarely seen more taste than in the bouquets of wild flowers, which, 
moreover, were so numerous that the Judges felt compelled to award 
double the number of prizes offered in the schedule. In this tent, 
too, were exhibited the table decorations and bouquets. In both of 
these Miss Cypher again took first, although it is evident the lessons 
that she has been teaching the Taunton folk have not been thrown 
away, for Miss Virgo had an arrangement very much in her style and 
very meritorious. It is not merely that Miss Cypher displays her 
excellent taste in the selection and arrangement of her flowers, but 
that all the appointments of the table were chaste and elegant; the 
centre one was too high for the present taste, where everything 
must be as low as possible. But by-and-by there will be a return to 
this style, which would never have gone out of fashion if it had not 
been for the monstrosities that some people erected, carrying the 
arrangement to its absurd extreme, and completely hiding those at 
one side of the table from those on the other. The latest absurdity 
I have seen of the present extreme was the scattering of Geranium 
j>etals on the cloth ! 
Nothing can possibly be more painstaking than the manner in 
which all the details of the Show are carried out under the direction 
of their able and indefatigable Secretary Mr. Clement Smith, and 
there are few places where a flower show can be more heartily enjoyed 
than in the pleasant county town of Somerset.—D., Deal. 
EARLY ROMAN HYACINTHS. 
The bulbs for producing the earliest flowers at the end of October 
and beginning of November have been potted, and successional 
batches will require potting according to demands. The potting 
of the last batch should not be delayed too long. It is a frequent 
practice to defer potting in order to maintain a supply of these 
delicious white flowers over the longest possible period. This is a 
mistake. The bulbs should not be kept too long out of the soil; if 
kept until a glutinous substance oozes out of them they seldom do 
much good afterwards, and those are frequently blamed from whom 
the bulbs have been purchased. The early nature of the Roman 
Hyacinth has taught us that potting should be done in good 
time, and retarding done when the bulbs are removed from the 
ashes or the material used for covering them after potting. It is 
important to remove them from the covering before much growth 
is made, at least as soon as the bulbs are well rooted, gradually 
exposing them to the light. Those of the latest supply should 
occupy a northern position. After becoming thoroughly green 
abundance of air and water should be given them liberally.— 
—W. B. 
TIIORRTON HEATH HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 
Much finer weather favoured the fourth annual Exhibition of this 
Society than that which rendered the Show last year comparatively 
unsatisfactory. The exhibits, too, were fairly numerous, one large 
marquee being filled with plants, cut flowers, fruit, and vegetables, 
which were generally marked by a freshness that is rarely exceeded 
at local shows. The schedule has undergone a careful and judicious 
revision, the money value of the prizes in many of the chief classes 
having been increased and other improvements effected that rendered 
it much better adapted to the requirements of the neighbourhood. 
Although the exhibitors came forward freely there was not any very 
close competition except perhaps in the classes for a group of plants 
and that for vegetables, in which the prizes were fairly contested. 
The vegetables were particularly well shown, not only by the amateurs 
and gardeners, but by the cottagers also. Cut flowers were bright 
and of good quality, plants numerous, but the fruit was poorly 
represented. 
The principal class was that for a group of plants arranged for 
effect in the shape of a half circle, the space occupied not to exceed 
10 feet by 7 feet, and in this there were seven competitors. These 
groups formed an important part of the display, for they occupied 
nearly the whole of the centre of the marquee, forming a line from 
end to end. The premier prize was gained by J. C. Banyan, Esq., 
Birdhurst, Croydon (gardener, Mr. G. Fewell), who contributed a 
tasteful arrangement of Liliums, Tuberous Begonias, Crotons, and 
Ferns. Mrs. Howes, Waldron, Croydon (Mr. A. C. Roffley), and 
D. Cornish, Esq., Dagnal House, Selhurst (Mr. Elsey), followed 
with pretty groups. Stove and greenhouse plants were not very 
extensively shown. In the class for six specimens in flower the chief 
collection came from Canon Bridges, Beddington (Mr. Penfold), who 
secured the first prize with neat specimens of Bougainvillea glabra, 
well flowered ; Yinca alba, Y. rosea, and Rondeletia speciosa major. 
The corresponding class for six plants remarkable for the beauty of 
their foliage brought three fine collections. Mr. Fewell took the 
first prize with handsome examples of Casuarina sumatrana, 5 to 
G feet high and in excellent health ; Stevensonia grandifolia, very fine ; 
Croton variegatus, good colour ; Theophrasta imperialis, vigorous ; 
and Latania borbonica. Mr. Penfold was awarded an equal first 
prize for a collection, including admirable specimens of Areca lutes- 
cens, Croton interruptus, and Davidsonia pruriens, the latter being in 
splendid condition. J. Donner, Esq., Wood Hall, South Dulwich 
(Mr. Bristow), secured the third prize with neat plants. Hardy Ferns 
were well shown by Messrs. Penfold, Fewell, and Roffley, who gained 
the prizes in that order. Exotic Ferns were also noteworthy, a Dick- 
sonia antarctica and Adiantum cardiochlsena in Mr. Fewell’s premier 
collection of six being equally fine. Mr. Penfold, who was second, 
staged a good specimen of Neottopteris australasica among other 
species, Mr. J. Bristow taking the third position. Fuchsias, Pelargo- 
