64 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[ July 22, 1888. 
fouth border is a good breadth of Pea American Wonder, one part of 
which has been dressed with fine i'One flour, and it can be seen to an inch 
where it has been applied. In the winter garden are several handsome 
shaped Camellias in excellent health. These are planted in the large 
centre beds, and have a very imposing appearance. The side stage? are 
occupied with decorative plaut°, of which large numbers are required, 
principally during the winter and spring months. In this house a large 
plant of the old Luculia gratissima is also noticeable. The Ro°e house i? 
well filled with healthy plant 0 , which are quite free from mildew. The 
plants are well syringed with the mixture recommended by Mr. Bardney. 
A collection of Orchids is being formed. In the cool house are numbers 
of healthy plants of Odontoglossum Alexandra, O. Pescat >rei, O. Rossi 
inajus, and good plants of Disa grandiflora advancing into bloom. In 
another house are healthy pieces of Dendrobium crassinode, D. 
Wardianum, Laelia purpuraia, Cattleya Mossise, C. Trianas, Cypripedium 
Spicerianum, C. Lawrencianum, & The stove has quite a tropical 
appearance, being filled with healthy and well pitchered plants of 
Nepenthes, several Dracrena Goldieana, of which Mr. Bardney speaks very 
highly, D. Lindeni, D. gracilis, Phalfenopsis, &o. The back wall of this 
house is covertd with Selaginella umbrosa, which has a pleasing appear¬ 
ance, as well a9 being u-etul for cutting purposes. Another house is 
occupied with Cucumbers and Melons, which also does duty for a pro¬ 
pagating house. A large house is filled with Azaleas. In the vineries 
good crops of Grapes are hanging. These houses also do duty for plant¬ 
growing, in one of which were several good useful plants of Imanto- 
phyllums, which Mr. Bardney finds useful for winter flowering. Each 
plant is grown singly in a 6-inch pot, and is shaken out and repotted 
into the same sized pots annually. Heaths for winter flowering are 
largely grown, and I also noticed some healthy Chrysanthemums. 
Visitors to Norris Green could not fail to be impressed with the feeling 
that Mrs. Heywood is a great patron of horticulture, and that in Mr. 
Bardney she has a worthy gardener.—A. Y. 
THOUGHTS ON CURRENT TOPICS. 
The last topic touched on in these random jottings was the then 
^pending, but now passed, yet not forgotten, provincial Show of the R.H.S. 
What I thought of the Show can be of small moment, and all I will say is 
that it was far too great and too good for the occasion—a grand Show, 
4>ut unfortunate. Whethtr it was the oppressively hot weather, the un¬ 
welcome “ election,” the greater temptations of the Shipperies, a want of 
adequate publicity, faulty management, a lack of local interest in horti¬ 
culture, or a combination of all these circumstances I cannot tell ; but 
this I know, the attendance of visitors was of the most meagre descrip¬ 
tion, and the financial loss incuired by the venture must of necessity be 
considerable. 
It is hard for those who labour, not for gain, but in the promotion of 
an object good in itself, and believed to be fraught with good to others, to 
find their labour so ill tequited. Almost everyone believed the directorate 
of the Society took a right step iu g' ing to the provinces, and there was a 
consensus of opinion that they bad fixed on the right place if not the best 
time for holding the Show. Tie fix ore, however, proved a mistake, and 
it is to be feared the experience gained has been rather dearly pur¬ 
chased. 
It was thought, I believe, by not a few, and especially local promoters 
of the undertaking, that the “ Shipperies ” would prove a feeder to the 
horticultural exhioition. It i-eems to have been exactly the reverse, and 
proved a most powerful comp ti»or. A? the Colonial Exhibition in 
London overshadows evoiything else provided for the delectation of the 
public, so does the great affair at Liverpood. It is a question of the fat 
eating up the lean kine in both cities. 
Persons are not in r r* quently taunted with being wise after events. 
But they ought to be wi er than netore, or what is the use of experience ? 
and in all probability the tents of the Royal Horticultural 8oc'ety will 
not soon be pitched again in any place where there is a greater exhibition 
or centre of attraction established than the resources of horticulture can 
provide. Ascendancy appears neces-ary to command success. 
Then, again, the lesson is enforced that while it may be philanthropic 
to educate the public in the pursuit of h rticulture by a gigantic effort, it 
is costly. The masses and classes, which are ins parable for ordinary 
purposes, must be first educated in the only sure way—by degrees, locally, 
before they can feel sufficient interrst in and appreciate that which is 
presented to them in its higher forms. The publ o must “ want ” a great 
national horticultural show before they will flock to one when it is pro¬ 
vided. A certain amount of local enihusiasm must be manifested and 
zealous local leaders secured before a decision is anived at. It is not all 
towns that have such diiect and active workers in a cause of this kind as 
Manchester and Birmingham in their Bruce Findlays and Badgers ; or 
at least they are not develop d. And, fur her, local and capable officials 
are the best judges of the time at which exhibit! ns sR uld be held, and 
such successes would not be won at Manchester, York, Shrewsbury, New¬ 
castle and other place 0 , if the >>e~t po ail le da'es were not selec'ed. Smell 
are a few “thoughts” to which the great Show has given birth ; and it 
is earnestly hoped that the ntxt “ptovincial” will be financially 
successful. 
I went to see the boiler trials at Liverpool, and did not think them 
very conclusive. The preparations must have involved great cost ; that, 
however, is a competitor’s question. The trials were, perhaps, as in¬ 
teresting to gardeners as an\thing on the ground, but as an old stoker 
I could see very well that this work was not equally well done. The 
man who smashed his coke and threw it on in small particles and 
thin layers, so as not to check the flame, heated the water quicks than 
he could possibly have done had he thrown it into the furnace in large 
lumps and great heaps. In this matter Btoking must have, and I 
believe at Liverpool did have, an important iufluence on the results, 
though I do not suggest that anyone lost a prize by bad stukrng 
alone, though I do think that at least one boiler would have been 
nearer winning with different stoking. Th-n there is this to be re¬ 
membered, that only a few boilers were tried, and it is a question if 
some others are not frilly equal to any that were in operation. I shall be 
curious to see how the iudges arrive at their deeisons, for it is certain 
that some of the pipes from the same boiler and on tbe same level were 
hotter than others, and thermometers were not inserted in all. 
I HAVE not hitherto referred to the subject of ammonia in vineries 
and p'ant houses that hair b en introduced as if it were a new notion. It 
has been brought before the readers of the Journal repeatedly, and even 
more prominently than recently. I wrote on the fubjeettwenty years ago, 
and was a follower of others. I was under the impression that many of 
our most successful cultivators are fully alive to the importance of damping 
their vineries with liquid manure, and many of tR m I know do so with 
excellent results. The practice of iniroi uciDg fermenting materials in 
vineries for inciting a strong and even “ break ” is also a very old 
custom. I can remember it tor forty years. It is not all growers who 
can adopt it, but all who can should do so, for it is undeniably good. 
When adopting that practice I have never had occasion to syringe the 
rods, and with an ammonia-impregnated atmosphere afterwards it was 
not necessary to syringe the foliage for the prevention or destruction of 
insects. 
That the leaves of Vines absorb both ammonia and carbonic acid gas 
is, I think, beyond question. It is certain they absorb something that is 
evolved by liquid manure, and are eith r benefited or injured atcor ling to 
circumstances. I have seen striking examples of both good and evil 
result from the practice in question. The best time to use liquid manure 
in vintries is in the evening. Leaves transpire in the day, absorb at 
night. Vines have been very seriously injured by the excessive use of 
ammonia in the daytime. Night, l repeat, is the time for the applicate n ; 
quite a pungent smell in the bouse then does good, and is perfectly safe 
with early morning ventilation, this being an important condition—the 
safety valve, in fact, of the whole process. 
Roses have naturally been in the ascendant during tbe pa°t few 
weeks. No new and striking varieties appear to have been forthcoming. 
Amongst the lights Lady Mary Fitzwilliam seems to have held her own ; 
and amongst the darks A. K. Williams has not diminished in numb' rs nor 
brilliancy. Both theBe Roses were last year referred to as “ bad growers." 
This year the plants are reported as growing freely. Is it not the old 
case over again of express propagation impairing tbe constitution of the 
plants, for a time at leasi, and tbeir recovery under a better system of 
propagation—that is, plants raised from better wood and well fed and de¬ 
veloped buds ? 
Professional gardeners if not too “ bumptious” may often pmfit by 
a hint from earnest amateurs. The last hint 1 have gathered was dropped 
in a casual manner by a sell-taught rosarian, who his begun to take or z s 
at the “National” Shows. Speaking ot the requirements of diff-ieut 
Roses, he remaiked he had found out one thing—namely, that light Ro°es 
as a rule like light soil, and dark R ses stronger land, anl he int nds 
preparing his bed? accordingly. He contemplates having one bed ot Her 
Maje-ty, which Rose he has bought and is propagating freely. Other 
growers are presumably doing tbe same, so that at last there s ems a 
I robability of the hiddeu beauty “coming out” in England, ti e 
“ almighty dollar ” having nearly spent its force iu keepiug her m 
obscurity in her native land. 
Mr. Abbey is evidently a very ingenious man, but he sometimes 
misses the mark. His comparison of pulling up twitch “every time it got 
large enough to lay hold of,” to kill it, does not apply to cutting the 
young growths of Asparagus wben they appear above ground, ti r the 
simple reason that these, wben cut at all are only cut oi.ee, and not 
repeatedly “as they can be got hold ot." Tbe question is, whethei a'-er 
this first cutting, as soon as they are a few inches high, say early in May, 
other growths do not spring from the crowns and get even strong r the 
sitne season than the originals W' uld if they were left to grow udcI ei ked. 
That is the question, and it is not to be dispo ed o f in the light tr i p eg 
manner adopted by your corre-pon lent on page 42. Asparagus beds 
from which the you g growth or ■■ sprue” has been cut iu th. in i uer 
suggested l. r thriy years still produce splendid head-*, so that tbe ci.tt ng 
mu-t kill very slowly. Some good growers for market believe that the 
practice alluded to is the best, and when my jaunty critic has had auothi r 
*• rut in ” (1 thiuk he had better s.-tile this matter bef .re demolishing me 
on the fru t bud question) I may, perhaps, reemd a little exoenu.eut 
bearing on the subject now under notice, and which tends to sh ov that 
the good old- ashamed vegetable growers of the past were uot so tar 
wrong as some m dern scientists ai>p «r to imagine. Try again, Mr. 
Abbey, and you will oblige.— A Thinker. 
