814 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[ October 9, 189o 
- The Portsmouth Floricultural Society and Chrys¬ 
anthemum Show. —The Portsmouth Chrysanthemum Show is an 
annual event looked forward to with much interest. From compara¬ 
tively small beginnings it has grown to be one of the largest Exhibitions 
in the country, and it owes its development in no small measure to the 
energy of Councillor F. Power, who has been Honorary Secretary of the 
Show since its establishment. The organisers of the Show have formed 
the Portsmouth Floricultural Society, an institution for encouraging the 
cultivation of fruit and flowers generally, and Chrysanthemums in par¬ 
ticular. The Mayor for the time beiog will be President of the Society, 
and the first to hold office is Sir William King. The Committee for the 
first year consists of the Mayor, Alderman G. E. Kent, and Councillors 
G. Ellis, Ward, Winter, Corke, Barnes, Fulljames, and Power, who will 
have the assistance of four professional gardeners—namely, Messrs. 
Penford (Leigh Park), Collins (Waterlooville), Kimber (Borough 
Asylum), and Hatch (Victoria Park). The first Show under the 
auspices of the newly formed Society will be held in the Volunteer 
Drill Hall, Alfred Road, on November 5th, 6th, and 7th, when prizes of 
the total value of £250 will be offered for exhibits of Chrysanthemums, 
other flowers, and fruit. Schedules are now ready, and can be obtained 
from Mr. Power. The principal prizes offered are that known as “ The 
Jubilee,” for eight show plants, the total value of this being £22 ; the 
challenge vase, valued at £25, and £23 in money prizes for forty-eight 
cut blooms ; and (in the fruit list) £10 for fifty dishes of Apples and 
Pears. 
- An Echo from Guernsey.—Tomatoes for Profit. —The 
excellent paper on Tomatoes read at the British Fruit Growers’ 
Brighton Conference has attracted some attention here among Tomato 
growers, especially as it came from Mr. W. Iggulden, whose practical 
book on Tomatoes and their culture has had a fairly good sale among 
the growers. As to the Tomato being overdone, we do not here think 
there is much chance until the English nation can supply itself with 
this wholesome vegetable, and the foreign fruit is no longer needed. 
Prices may fall for early grown fruit, but the demand, increasing as it 
certainly is among the masses, will provide an outlet for the increased 
supply. While on the subject of foreign goods it will be news to some 
of the British fruit growers to learn that the majority of the population 
of the Channel Islands are English—not foreigners—and I maintain 
that the constant quoting of Channel Islands produce as foreign is 
uDjust to the growers here, and shows a lack of knowledge of these 
islands and of the nationality of their inhabitants. As Mr. Iggulden 
remarks, there are crops produced here that would be an “ eye opener ” 
to many smart professional gardeners. I last week saw a span-hou3e 
260 feet long 45 feet wide (cool house) that had yielded a crop of 
8 tons of Tomatoes, and the plants are showing flower now, so that if 
heat could be applied t' ere would be fruit until Christmas. The 
variety usually grown is a good strain of Large Red. The Perfection 
and other kindred varieties do not meet with much attention from 
growers for profit, and only a few have persevered in keeping one or 
more small houses especially for this variety. The Cladisporium has 
created great havoc and loss here, as on the mainland, and as yet we 
have not discovered any really effective means of checking its ravages. 
Medium sized houses properly heated, with careful attention to culture, 
will as a rule insure a fair crip if not a heavy one, and the fruit in this 
case will swell up to full size. The output next year from this island 
will be enormously increased, as more houses are being erected than 
has ever been known before at one time, and consequently builders and 
timber merchants are woiking at high pressure. As these houses will 
be utilised for growing Tomatoes it is to be hoped the British public 
will favour fruit grown by British subjects, and in an island free from 
cholera and contagious diseases.— SARNIAN. 
THE GUILDHALL FKUIT SHOW. 
October 6th, 7th, and 8th. 
The history and scope of the remarkable Exhibition of fruit 
organised under the direction of the Fruiterers’ Company in the Guild¬ 
hall, London, this week are dealt with in the article on page 305, and it 
is therefore unnecessary here to refer to the origin of the gathering. 
It wi 1 be necessary, however, to describe as briefly as possible the 
general characters of the Show, and to give particulars of the more 
important exhibits. In a display of such magnitude and comprising 
so much that is noteworthy it is difficult to make a selection of the 
more important, and a detailed report would require a large portion of 
the Journal to do the matter full justice. With regard to the posi¬ 
tions taken by the successful competitors, the official list of awards 
appended to these remarks supplies all the information needed, 
and we will endeavour to give a general review of the Show 
as likely to be of most interest to our readers. To give the names 
of all the varieties shown in the piizewinning collections would 
involve the repetition of many familiar names, as except in the 
trade and large collections the varieties represented were not very 
numerous. It was, however, a subject of common remark amongst the 
experienced fruit growers present on the three days that few could have 
expected in a season like the present to see so large a number of entries 
and such good even quality as characterised the Show under notice. It 
is true that nearly all the best fruits staged were from private gardens, 
ami that they were selections in many cases from numerous trees, and 
consequently could not be taken as average samples, yet they proved 
that even in a season of general scarcity there is still plenty of good 
fruits to be obtained in England. In size and colour the majority of 
the Apples shown left little to be desired, and though the Pears were 
necessarily wanting in the tints which render the Apples so attractive, 
some extremely fine fruits were included, especially from the south¬ 
eastern gardens. 
The classification of the exhibits in geographical districts was instruc¬ 
tive and interesting ; it was also fairer for the competitors to have only 
to contend with the contributions from growers working under the same 
climatal conditions. Until the principle adopted was thoroughly under¬ 
stood it was, however, somewhat perplexing to visitoi'3, and even to 
experienced showmen, for the same class numbers were repeated three 
times, and after seeing the prizes and entries in a certain class at one 
part of the Show it was rather puzzling to find the same class repeated 
in other widely separated apartments. Perhaps a word of explanation 
may be useful as indicating the plan followed in the arrangements. 
The first section, comprising six classes, was appropriated to cottagers, 
defined as “ persons of the working class who do not employ professional 
assistance or paid labour in the cultivation of their gardens or allot¬ 
ments.” The exhibits in each of these classes were then classified in 
three “ zones ” as follows :— 
(1) Northern Zone.—The Counties of Northumberland, Cumberland, 
Westmoreland, Durham, Yorkshire. Lancashire, Cheshire, Derbyshire, 
Nottinghamshire, Lincolnshire, Staffordshire, Shropshire, Leicestershire, 
Rutland, Flint, Denbighshire, Carnarvonshire. Anglesea, Merionethshire, 
Montgomeryshire, Cardiganshire, and Radnorshire. (2) South-Western 
Zone.—The Counties of Cornwall (and Scilly Islands), Devon, Somerset, 
Dorset, Wil s, Gloucestershire, Monmouthshire, Herefordshire, Wor¬ 
cestershire, Warwickshire, Pembrokeshire, Carmarthenshire, Glamorgan¬ 
shire, and Brecknockshire. (3) South-Eastern Zone.—The Counties of 
Hants (and Isle of Wight), Sussex, Kent, Surrey, Berkshire, Middlesex, 
London, Essex, Norfolk, Suffolk, Cambridgeshire, Huntingdonshire, 
Northamptonshire, Bedfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Oxfordshire, and 
Hertfordshire. 
This system was applicable to sections 1 to 4, thus increasing the 
nominal number of c'Lsses (19) to 57, as prizes of equal value were 
offered for exhibits staged from the respective “ zones.” There was a 
great difference not only in the number of entries in each class but in 
the divisions of those classes also, except in the cottagers’ and tenant 
farmers’ sections, neither of which were largely represented. In the 
amateurs’ and gardeners’ section, especially from the south-eastern zone, 
the competition was extraordinary, reaching as many as forty-four in one 
class, and the quality all round was superior there to either of the other 
geographical districts, though neatly equally fine examples were 
staged by some exhibitors in smaller numbers from the south-west and 
north. 
It will not be necessary to take the classes in the order of the sche¬ 
dule, as prominence must be given to the gold medal class as the great 
feature of interest in the Exhibition. Tnis was for “a collection of 
fruit, to consist of thirty varieties of Apples and twenty varieties of 
Pears, five specimens of each,” and were to be shown only by amateurs 
or gardeners in the United Kingdom, the prizes consisting of a gold 
medal, a silver-gilt medal, and a silver medal, without money prizes. 
The twelve exhibits in this Gass, comprising 600 dishes of fine fruits, 
occupied two tables 6 feet wide, extending from the dais at the end to the 
centre of the Great Hall, and constituted one of the most handsome 
classes of competitive fruit ever seen in England. The remaining two 
tables, extending from the centre to the opposite end of the hall, with 
some side tables, were occupied with the trade exhibits, and the 
table across the hall above the dais, shown as the extreme boundary 
in the engraving (fig. 36) was occupied with the 300 dishes of 
fruit from the British Fruit Growers’ Association. To these ex¬ 
hibits we shall have to refer again, but returning now to 
the fruit class, it must be said that the gold medal was 
well and easily won by Mr. G. Woodward, gardener to Roger 
Leigh, Esq., Barham Court, Maidstone, who had magnificent Apples 
both in size and colour, fully equal to the Barham Court records of 
pre\ious years. The varieties were as follows:—Apples: Warner’s 
King, Alexander, Claygate Pearmain, Belle Dubois, Royal Russet, 
Yorkshire Beauty, Stone’s, Golden Spire, Cox’s Orange Pippin, Brabant 
Bellefleur, New Hawthornden, The Queen, Flower of Kent, Bismarck, 
Ribston Pippin, Northern Greening, Minchull Crab, Gascoigne’s Scarlet, 
Peasgood’s Nonesuch, Lady Henniker, Alfriston, Lord Derby, Mere de 
Manage, Reinette de Canada, Cox’s Pomona, Grenadier, Washington, 
Tower of Giamis, Bedfordshire Foundling, and Calville Malingre. The 
Pears also were very fine, but, of course, owing to the want of colour 
thay did not form so bright a part of the exhibit. The varieties were 
General Todtleben, Emile d’Heyst, Marie Louise, Doyenne de Mersode, 
Easter Beurre, Brown Beurr£, Doyennd du Comice, Louise Bonne of 
Jersey, Ilacon’s Incomparable, Pitmaston Duchess, Vineuse, Glou 
Monieau, Catillac, BeuriC Hardy, Doyenne d’Alenqon, Beurrd Diel, 
